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So how could I best absorb and retain the abundance of experience presented in front of me? Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible. I kept going back to my grandpa asking me how I could eat an elephant. Nobody would expect me to eat the whole thing in one sitting; that’s crazy talk. But if I were to pace myself and realize I’m going to be at it for a long time, I could go about my business: one bite at a time.

One of the brightest ideas that we came up with. After realizing Photo shop CS3 Extended has some new 3D capabilities, I wanted to play around.

We use Poser 7  occasionally in my friends shop to find great camera and lighting angles on the human form. Instead of bending around a hardwood manikin to look for figure positions, we’re able to adjust a virtual body joint by joint.

So why not send over that 3D file from Poser and open it up with the new Photo shop. There are other ways to change and edit the textures on three dimensional forms, but what imaging tool is more powerful than Photo shop? If I can mess with the texture – even add some tattoos – and the program with lay it on the surface instantly, it could be a great visual reference tool.

After placing the default Male figure (G2 Simon) within Poser 7, I posed him around in a mid-walking position. I want to place an image on his right arm, so I tried to adjust the lighting accordingly. Once finished, it was a matter of exporting the figure -minus the ground- as a Wavefront.OBJ file (3D vector file) then closing Poser to free up memory.

In Photo shop CS3 Extended, I created a New Document with US Paper settings. (8.5×11, 300dpi) and created a new 3D Layer in it.

Layer > 3D Layers > New Layer from 3D File…

Clicking the drop down box next to “Files of type:”, I selected an Alias|Wavefront (*.OBJ) file. Then, I opened the file Poser exported.

My workstation is an older dual processor Dell Precision with 2.5GB of RAM. I was worried it would take awhile to render, but Rendering all 82,000 polygons took about 45 seconds. It’s way longer than working with a standard image, but still not that bad

The figure is brought in as its own layer with whatever Texture attributes Poser gave to it.

To put a tattoo on the body, I just double clicked on the Body Texture. (In this case, the Simon Body Tex layer) Photo shop opens up the texture as a new image. Any addition or editing is applied onto the three dimensional shape as soon as the texture is saved.

(Poser didn’t send over the texture file in the Export. So I pulled open the SimonG2 texture and resized Photoshop’s to fit.)

Time to bring out the tattoo idea. I made a detailed ink sketch  of part elbow joint and part arm anatomy. I combined the two where I thought they’d fit and messed around with it.

Then I pulled that sketch into the texture file. It took some resizing, rotating, and tweaking. Finally, I set the Blending Mode to Multiply so the skin would be revealed and saved the texture file.

About 2 minutes layer Photo shop was done rendering. Then, it took a few tries get the sizing and placement close. Simply adjusting the sketch layer over the skin texture gave plenty of options to get it right.

You can’t move any part of the guy around (that’s what we used Poser for), but you can move the camera to your liking. Double clicking on the tiny cube icon (in the Layers palette) gives me 3D controls. Which give me the ability to move and rotate to find a better view.

Here’s three views, saved and pieced together.

In Poser, we can alter the shape and size of whatever body part we want – you know, to match the size of our lovely tattoo collector. I think this would be quicker and more powerful if I had a 3D form of individual body parts to work with, instead of the entire human form. I’m sure somebody has some good Lightwave or Maya figures out there…

Again, rendering is a different ballgame when it comes to time spent working. I’m not used to waiting, so the hurry up and wait take some patience. But if I get the process down and get to the point where I can save my own templates, I’m sure this will get some use. Now if I have a big project that I am working on this will help with all types of muscle tone and body features.

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Using a ruler

Maybe this is obvious, but I’ve only recently been using it a lot. This example was used for a cover up, but I use it even more when I’m planning a tattoo for a certain space.

All I do is hold up a ruler to the piece when I take a picture. That’s it.

After transferring the images to my computer, I open up Photo shop.
Create a new file (File > New). For a new document I always use the Photo shop Preset: U.S. Paper. (Size – Letter) This creates a standard 8.5″ by 11″ sheet at a 300 dots per inch resolution.

Next, I open the image I want and drag it onto the new document. Making sure the rulers are showing (View – Rulers) I click on the ruler and drag/pull a guide down to the inch mark. And I drag another down to the two inch mark.

Then it’s a matter of resizing the photo; enlarging or reducing enough so the inch and two inch marks line up with the guides.

Pretty easy.

Then I have my size. Sometimes I print it out and draw over it. Other times I use my Wacom and sketch right there. It’s perfect. And it helps with figuring out sizing for cover ups.

I also have paper rulers I print out and use as well. I like using a new one for every person, so I just print them out and throw them away. It’s nothing special, but, when I get time, I’ll throw it in the reference section so it’s easy to just grab and print.

Lately I’ve been pondering about the new year.  In case you’re reading this and you didn’t know, it is in fact, a new year.  Yes, that’s right, it’s no longer 2009.  It is now 2010. Yes I know I’m a lot late. I’ve never personally been the sort of person who gets all excited about a new year, but the fact of the matter is that a new year is like a clean slate or some would say, you can start all over fresh and new and try to do the things that you some how failed to do last year.

When I sat down and started pondering about all the things that I want to accomplish this year and the years to come, I realized something: the new year is the absolute best time to get a new tattoo!  The idea of getting a tattoo that represents a simble that you want to achieve this year or in the near future or maybe a tattoo that reminds you of something that you’ve been through in the past year – these are all perfect ways to either stick fast to your goals or hold past memories closer than ever. I know that is the case for me and all the tats that I have. I was reading this article and although the article itself doesn’t say much of anything new, this part in particular made me nod my head in agreement:

(For Soumya, tattoos are far more effective than New Year resolutions: “A new year is a time for resolutions and reflection. A tattoo can help remind a person of something he or she wants for a lifetime. So your reflections will remain with you not just for a day in the coming year, but beyond.”)

Sure, it’s hardly a new concept to get a tattoo to kick off the new year, but it is a concept that somehow just seems right.  Every year people make resolutions knowing full well that they won’t stick to them.  Maybe it’s time to get your resolutions or reminders of your resolutions stuck on you.