#s3cc tutorial

¹ lots and worlds: for lots, i extract the sims3pack into a folder and then run that folder through delphy's dashboard to find the lot file. if using sims 3 pack multi-extractor, make sure 'Rename files on Save' is checked. if the lot has no cc, the .package file will have the same name as the sims3pack. bonus: s3ps strikes again! a bug feature can help you find the lot file (shoutout to the evil writer on MTS for discovering this):

When you drag files into [s3ps], it doesn't accept lots. So you can move all those files it does take into a subfolder, and the lone file in your original folder is the lot.

there are a different ways to convert worlds, but i just run the world file through s3ce/multi-extractor the same way i would with any sims3pack. 99% of the time the largest .package file in the conversion output folder is the world file, but not always! best to double check in s3pe. if it has a WPID resource, you're golden. rename the file to match the original sims3pack and change the .package extension to .world. then move it to The Sims 3 > GameData > Shared > NonPackaged > Worlds. not your Mods or InstalledWorlds folder! the folder you're looking for will be in a different location depending on your install:

ea app: Program Files > EA Games steam: Program Files (x86) > Steam > steamapps > common disc: Program files (x86) > Electronic Arts

² Bulk Rename Utility is another great program with a more user friendly approach to renaming rules if you're less familiar with using regex or pascal scripts. too many drop downs and text fields for me though. you can grab the pascal script i use to rename my ts3 cc here. ³ copying and pasting keeps the original/uncompressed files as backups as in case anything goes wrong.

last bit: how i organize my cc in cc magic. this structure influenced how i prioritized categorization within s3ps.

This reduces blockiness and color bleed significantly! Note: For maximum visual clarity and the sake of our eyes, starting from now, I will show just the contents of the individual color channels of the image, specifically green and blue. If you click on a single color channel in Photoshop, it will be represented in greyscale. My screenshots therefore also represent a single color channel and do not show how the colors interact with each other. I thought it would be distracting and hard to see if I presented everything in color and this tutorial is not about how to build a pattern, but how to get crisp outlines and the best possible quality.

What is the issue with compressed textures? EA's pattern textures are DDS files that use DXT compression (DXT1 for non-alpha/5 for alpha images, BC1/3 in the newer plugin). If you save your image as a compressed DDS file and reopen it, you will notice that certain areas are blocky/blotchy. That is because lightness and color information is not retained for every pixel, but areas get grouped together in a more or less chessboard-like fashion. In this first example, I increased the contrast to make these compression artifacts more visible so you can see what's going on: Notice the grey blocky areas?

These cause color bleed in the final pattern and the textures look blurry or washed out. EA's textures have this issue too, because they use compression. In some patterns, the effect is less noticeable than in others, but compressed files will always have a reduced image quality compared to the original image. Deciding to go with uncompressed textures was essential for me to achieve the quality I offer. I reasoned that the patterns are only 256px in size and the performance impact should not be very noticeable. I once made a survey in which I asked whether my patterns cause performance issues, and most said they did not, so I stuck with it.

You could test it out for yourself and decide! If you want to continue to use compression, make sure to change the quality of the compression algorithm to get the best possible result. In the screenshot I posted at the beginning of the tutorial, you can see that I set it to "highest" instead of the usual default "fastest", though this is not really needed if you save uncompressed files. The old DDS plugin used on older Photoshop versions also has that setting, it is just a bit more obscure. I do not have that anymore so I cannot say where exactly. Is it a bug? Lines all around the edges of some channels could also be a Photoshop bug*. This was a regular occurring bug in older versions (before CC 2020 or so.) The issue was that when you scaled down or sometimes even just saved an image that was not just the background layer but had stuff on other layers, there would be a faint line around the whole image. Suuuper annoying! *clarification: It's not an official bug, but a lot of people get annoyed by it. I still had this happen to me with the current 2023 Photoshop version when using bicubic (sharper) on an image with layers, but I do feel there are less problems with saving layered images now. Idk, this might be "feature quirk" after all... Anyway, to avoid the faint lines around your image, follow these tips: Using the bilinear mode when reducing an image's size helps, as does flattening the image before image reduction or file export. I like to create a copy of the entire document using the shortcuts ctrl+shift+alt+e to make sure it appears flattened without actually flattening everything. You could also paste the flattened copy into a new document, merge it down and export the dds file from there. Just try what works best for you. Retaining maximum quality on resizing Most images need to be resized to the pattern size, or you might have made a larger pattern and want that in smaller sizes. You may never have paid much attention to the settings in that image size dialogue, but it holds some key elements to make sure your pattern comes out in the best way possible! Per default, the resizing mode that is used by Photoshop to make an image smaller is "bicubic (sharper)". This mode has a sharpening algorithm that causes halos if the pixels are not white or black, which can create unwanted effects such as white outlines around grey pixels, or grey ones around black areas. Note: even if you have the "bicubic (automatic)" setting, it will still use the "bicubic (sharper)" if you reduce the image size! Let me show you an example: Below, you can see a comparison of bicubic (sharper) reduction vs bilinear reduction. The channel with the black and white checkers has some greyish edges after using bicubic (sharper), which can cause the texture to become unwantedly transparent in these areas, making the colors become muddled in these areas. Using bilinear or nearest neighbor modes (the latter is great for very geometric, crisp shapes), the result is very clean.

This is why do not recommend to use the bicubic algorithm on your textures. Go for bilinear and nearest neighbor modes, these are perfect for patterns. I do any sharpening of the channels in a more controlled way later.

The best way to sharpen your texture To make the textures look as crisp as possible, you immediately think about the "unsharp mask" feature, right? This might not be your best option though!

If you have a white shape on a black background with a rim of dark grey pixels around it and you want to make it crisp and want that dark grey outline to disappear, unsharp mask will actually do a pretty good job, because it mainly targets those grey pixels and there is nothing to lighten or darken on pure white or pure black. But if you have a lot of grey tones, the algorithm "attacks" a lot in your image, depending on how you set your radius in the options dialogue. Most of the time, the radius is set to a small number, for sharpening details, but it creates a problem for us in the form of halos/bright or dark rims around shapes.

I like to increase the contrast of the individual channels to make the image appear sharper without those halo effects that the "unsharp mask " feature often creates. I love to use the "levels" tool for adjusting the contrast, I use it all the time! I have grey pixels as a starting point and then applied an aggressive "unsharp mask" (strength 100, radius: 1px) to it so you can see the effect. The results are bright halos around the shapes. This will make the edges of the shapes more opaque on the final pattern and can look strange! On very delicate lines, this might be what you want, but for larger areas, this is less desirable.

Sharpening without actually sharpening

Instead of using "unsharp mask", I like to increase the contrast of the individual channels to make the image appear sharper entirely without those halo effects that the "unsharp mask " feature often creates. I love to use the "levels" tool for adjusting the contrast, I use it all the time!

On this layer, I have some intricate shapes, which should appear fully opaque. The are already bright white, but the edges are a bit too soft right now to get a truly crisp result, so I use the "levels" tool to increase the contrast and make the edges crisper. You can also use the curves tool for this, but I find the levels tool a bit more intuitive for this process! The curves tool gives you even more control over pixel values and lets you adjust them individually, which can be great, but for the purpose of creating controlled contrast, the levels tool will suffice.

By moving the marked sliders towards the middle, the contrast is increased. This also works nicely on grey pixels without creating the halo problem.

Another use for the levels tool in this context is to control the thickness of your shapes by moving the middle slider too, like this:

You Will Need: 

Gimp

Gimp DDS Plugin

Tattooinator by CmarNYC

You will also need an image that you want to use. If you would like to use the image that I used, you can get it here.

Image Selection:

There are a couple types of images that work well as watercolor tattoos. Watercolor patterns (splats, textures, backgrounds, etc.) are the easiest to use. Watercolor images or paintings can also be used. I tend to search both Pinterest and Google Images for inspiration. Some suggested searches include:

watercolor

watercolor tattoo

watercolor splat/background/texture/pattern

watercolor painting

Polyvore watercolor splat (fantastic splatters)

CC watercolor tattoos end up resulting in blended colors instead of separate color channels (such as basic color tattoos). While we can adjust the colors in both tattooinator and cas, some images just won't look great unless they are in neutral colors.

The following images are some good examples of images to use that will work well. In general, images of just one color - but in varying gradients - will be the easiest to choose complementary colors.

The next images are also good, but the colors can be trickier because there is more contrast between colors. Sometimes choosing images like these may require you to choose neutral color tones (grayscale, sepia) for your tattoos.

Creating your tattoo:

1. Create a new image in gimp. Make sure that the size is 512x512 and that the background is white.

2. Paste the image that you'd like to use into gimp. If needed, scale your image down so that it fits nicely within the 512x512 size. Once you're happy with the size, anchor your image (Layer > Anchor Layer/Merge Down).

3. Our image background will need to be completely white. If your background is already white, you can skip to the next step. Choose the bucket fill tool. Try clicking on the background - if everything deletes cleanly, you can move on to step 4. Otherwise, we're going to need to clean up our image a little bit. Go ahead and undo the bucket fill (edit > undo).

If your main image was whitened, or the background overall is still present ~ Double click on the bucket fill tool. In the popup, if you scroll down, there is a section that says threshold. If your image was whitened (covered up) you should slide the threshold bar to left (lowering threshold). If your background didn't really go away, slide the threshold bar to the right to increase the threshold.

If there are just a few areas that the background didn't erase properly ~ Since the majority of our image is good, we don't want to adjust the threshold. Instead, choose the rectangle select tool. For this to work properly, you are going to want your two colors (foreground is on top, background on bottom) to be black and white. We want black to be on top and white to be the background (opposite of the image below). Draw a rectangle over an area to delete it. You can also use the eraser if you prefer (second option below the bucket fill tool).

4. Once your image is ready, invert the colors (colors > invert). Go ahead and make sure that the background is gone (now, it should all be black). If you need to make a few touch ups and you want to use the select tool - you will need to switch your foreground and background color (white on top, black background).

5. Copy your inverted image. We are now going to start working with the transparency and layer mask. Since I am assuming that everyone knows how to create basic tattoos, I will be abbreviating this step. 

Go to Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel. Sometimes this will already be grayed out which is fine.

Start adding the layer mask. Go to Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask. When the popup appears, make sure transfer layer's alpha channel is selected!

Go to Layer > Mask > Show Layer Mask. Edit layer mask (Layer > Mask > Edit Layer Mask) must be checked for this to work!

Paste the inverted image. Anchor it (Layer > Anchor Layer).

Finally, we need to apply the layer mask. Go to Layer > Apply Layer Mask. Double check that you have only one 512x512 layer.

6. Go ahead and export your image as a .dds image. Go to File > Export. Save it somewhere in your picture folder (don't save the .dds elsewhere) and make sure you choose .dds as the file type. For the popup, choose BC3/DXT5 and check generate mipmaps.

7. Open up tattooinator. Choose select and find your .dds image to open. Make sure all color channels are enabled. Choose preview image.

8. The preview will show you the first preset colors. Now that we can tell what our image looks like, it's time to start changing the colors. Exit out of the preview. Click on a color to open up the color menu.

Keep playing with the colors and previewing your image until you are happy with the presets.

9. Once you are completely happy with your image, choose a unique name for it. Double check that all the color channels are enabled. Create your tattoo.

Note: I will be referring to both basic and body tattoos throughout this guide. Basic tattoos are standard ambitions tattoos that can be placed anywhere on the body. Body tattoos, on the other hand, are special placement tattoos and cannot be placed anywhere else. This guide addresses creating body tattoos.

You will need:

Gimp

DDS Plugins for Gimp - installed

Body Textures + UV maps (direct download!)

Tattooinator

Expanded Placement mods: XCAS by CmarNYC or Master Controller + MC Expanded Tattoo by NRaas

You will also need an image. I recommend starting out with black and white images. You can find the images that I used here.

Getting Started:

There are two options when first starting your tattoo. You can either choose to use a .dds image that you've previously made or you can start from scratch. If you create a new image, you are pretty much making a basic tattoo - you've reached the right point once you have applied the layer mask. 

Using an Existing .DDS Image

1. Start Gimp. Once the program loads, go to File > Open. Browse through your files and open the .dds that you'd like to use.

2. When the image opens, you'll notice that there are a ton of extra layers (from generating mipmaps). We'll go ahead and delete those layers now. Go to Image > Merge Visible Layers. A popup will appear. Make sure you check discard invisible layers. Hit merge.

 3. Your image should now have only one layer. I also like to simplify things by cropping all the excess frame from my image. The easiest way to do this is by choosing Image > Autocrop Image. 

Work through this process until all the images that you'd like to add are ready. Once done, move on to the next section. Don't close out of the images, or you'll need to repeat steps 1 and 2. (:

Creating your Tattoo:

4. We are going to want to open up our body textures and uv maps now. In order to open the images in gimp, we'll need to open the .rar file, and copy/paste the images somewhere else on your computer. 

Within the .rar, you'll find four files: male/female body textures and male/female uv maps. Your tattoos will show up the best if you create a version for both genders rather than using (for example) a tattoo created with the male texture/map on a female.

In Gimp, go to File > Open. Browse through your files and open up either the male or female body texture. Now, choose File > Open as Layers and open up the same gender uv map. Your image should have two layers.

If you do not have a layer toolbox open, I'm going to recommend that you open one. You can do this by either hitting ctrl + l or choosing Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Layers. By clicking on the eyes, you can hide or unhide layers (which is really useful!)

5. We now want to create a 1024x1024 transparent layer. Go to Layers > New Layer. A popup will appear. Make sure you choose transparent layer. Hit ok.

6. Remember all those .dds images we prepped? We're now going to start creating our body tattoo with them. Choose the first image that you want to work with and copy it (ctrl+c or Edit > Copy).

7. Now go to the multi-layer image of the texture, uv map, and transparent layer. Choose Edit > Paste as > New Layer. After doing this your image should have four layers. 

8. We can now begin positioning our tattoo! We will be using two tools to do so: the move and scale tools.

Note: Unfortunately, this step will take some trial and error. Using this method of making tattoos, the images do not actually align with where the tattoo shows up in game. The more experience you have with making body tattoos, the easier it will get to estimate positions. There are screenshots of this tattoo in-game at the bottom of the guide.

Remember the eyes that I mentioned on the layer toolbox? You can click on them to hide/unhide layers. This will allow you to view the placement on the body textures and uv maps - utilize this while positioning.

a. I prefer to move my image closer to it's desired placement before scaling it. Double click on the move tool. A popup will appear. Make sure you select move the active layer. This will ensure that you cannot accidentally anchor the layer or move the background layer.

b. When you are ready to begin scaling your image, click on the scale tool. It's the second tool down from the move tool. To get the scale popup, click somewhere on your cropped image. Change one value at a time, hit enter, then change the other value and hit enter again. If you try to change both values then hit ok, only one value will change. Repeat this process as needed.

c. If needed, position your image again. Once you're happy with the size and position, go to Layers > Merge Down or Anchor Layer to anchor your layer. Your image should have three layers.

You can choose to add more images to your tattoo, or you can only have the one image. If you would like to add more, read on. If you are done, skip to step #10.

9. Basically, we will just be repeating the previous steps without any changes. As you add more images though, your full-size transparent image (that started out blank) will become filled with tattoos.

Copy another one of the .dds images that you prepared earlier (deleting layers, cropping).

Once again, return to the multi-layer body tattoo image. Choose Edit > Paste as > New Layer to paste the image. You will now have four layers.

Scale and position the tattoo.

Once you're happy, choose Layer > Merge Down/Anchor Layer to anchor the image. You will now have three layers.

Repeat until you've used all your images, then continue on.

10. Brace yourself - we're going to delete a couple layers now. Nothing essential though! Using the layer toolbox, click on either the body texture or the uv map layer. The layer should highlight (which means it's selected). There's a little trashcan symbol at the bottom of the toolbox - click that. 

Repeat with whichever layer you didn't use before. You'll end up with just the layer holding your tattoos.

11. We're almost done with gimp - we just need to export our image as a .dds. Make sure it ends up in your picture folder - for some reason saving elsewhere does not work. Go to File > Export. Export as a .dds. A popup will appear. Choose BC3/DXT5 compression and generate mipmaps. 

12. Open up tattooinator. Choose select and browse through your images until you find the .dds image that we just made. Give it a unique name. Enable all color channels (even if this is a unicolor tattoo). Preview if you want. Create your package file.

Your image is now ready to test out in game! If it didn't align to where you wanted, you can edit your .dds image rather than starting from scratch. 

This is what my image ended up looking like. I wasn't thinking about preview pics when I went with the heart on the wrist - sorry! You can download the tattoo here.

Part I: Image Selection

What to Look For ~

When it comes to making tattoos, not all images were created equal. Images with high color contrast, thick lines, and large details will always show up best in game.

As you can see having thick, defined lines, larger/distinct details, and good contrast makes a big difference in visibility. Thicker lines (top left) will always be best but lines that are clearly defined (ie: bottom left vs. bottom right) stand out very well. 

Having a strong contrast between in your image (both with the image colors and background color) is perhaps the most important factor. This contrast doesn't need to be black and white, but it will usually be your best option.

Where to Look ~ 

I tend to look for images in a variety of places (you can find my pending tattoo images here). There are no right or wrong places to look but I usually have good luck at the following places:

Pinterest - especially on the tattoo boards

Google Images 

I would suggest refining your tattoo to include keywords like "tattoo design," "tattoo sketch," or "drawing" instead of just "tattoo." Clipart and coloring page will often be good too. These keywords will have more black and white images rather than images of people's tattoos. While you can remove skin color from those images (and I'll tell you how), it's easiest to start with black and white images. 

Part II: Image Editing

Luckily, even if you want to make a tattoo out of a so-so image, there are plenty of tricks that will make the image better to use. However, you'll need the following items first:

Gimp

DDS Plugins for gimp

2.1 Adjusting Threshold

One of the easiest, and best, fixes is to simply apply a threshold to your image. As I've mentioned, sharper images with true black and white colors used will be the easiest to make into tattoos, as well as working the best when adding color. Applying a threshold will give you this result.

The image on the left is "fuzzier" than the image on the right. Without the threshold colors do not fill the entire space.

You can apply thresholds by going to Color > Threshold. A popup will appear. Slide the black triangle under the bar in either direction to adjust the threshold. Hit ok when done. Your threshold will now be applied.

Some images are darker in some areas and lighter in others. In those cases, it's often better to select portions (use the rectangle select tool to do so) of the image to apply thresholds to rather than selecting the whole image at once. There may be some areas that are leftover from the background - erase them using either the select tool or eraser. Once done, apply a threshold to the whole image just to make sure nothing was missed. 

While overall this may not seem like a big difference, the main stalk is noticeably softer. There are also more dandelion seeds on the right.

A few more examples:

2.2 Bucket Fill + Threshold

We can also adjust thresholds using the bucket fill tool. I typically prefer the first strategy, but this is a quick fix for color filled tattoos. If you like the main outline that you're using, but the color doesn't fill in the space entirely this is a great choice. This is also a great option for working with watercolor tattoos (will be addressed in a later tutorial).

Double click on the bucket fill tool. A popup will appear. Scroll down until you see threshold. Slide the bar towards the right. For interiors typically ~20 will be find while exteriors will probably need 60+. Just play around with it until you find the value that completely fills your image. Make sure to do the exterior as well (you can invert the image to test).

2.3 Removing Backgrounds

Depending on your search parameters, you probably find a lot of pictures of peoples' tattoos. We can use these images for our CC tattoos as well, but we have to play around with them first. Healed tattoos will be the easiest, because the skin color around them will be lighter and similar in color to the rest of the skin.

For most images, this can be done in three steps. 1. Crop your image so you only have the most relevant section. 2. Use the select tool to delete sections of skin and background. Or you can select the area you want to keep, then select > invert and delete. You should have black as your foreground color and white as the background. 3. Apply a threshold to your image.

2.4 Other Fixes

These are the main fixes that I use and I find that they are versatile enough using them alone or in combination. While I'm not going to go into more depth here, there are other options available. 

You can draw your images yourself. You may still need to apply a threshold, but that way you can control the thickness and contrast.

You can play with the colors in an image to make them respond better to either threshold or watercolor strategies (ie. grayscale, sepia).

You can make a watercolor tattoo (more info in another tutorial).

Trace over an image. For example, in the picture example above some of the letters in "freedom" are not as solid as others. I could use paint or gimp to fill in the empty spaces by either tracing with lines or using bucket fill if it's an enclosed space.

The best way to learn how to edit images for making tattoos is to practice and experiment. Once you figure out how you like your tattoos to look and what works best it becomes easier to pick out images and to know how to fix them up.

Getting Started:

I will be starting on the sixth step of my basic guide. Your image should look like:

Creating Our .DDS Image:

1. Just like with the very basic tattoos we need to define the areas of our tattoo that will be visible. Just like before, black will define skin areas, while white will define the visible tattoo. Go ahead and invert your image (Colors > Invert). At this point, be sure to copy your image (Ctrl + C or Edit > Copy Visible).

2. If we were just doing a basic unicolor tattoo, just having black and white areas would be enough. However, we want some of the areas that are currently black to show up in color. We can use "pure" red, green, and blue (or RGB) colors to define the area. You'll need to use the colors below to color in your image for now; you can modify these colors in Tattooinator.

Green: 00FF00

Red: FF0000

Blue: 0000FF

Go ahead and fill in the areas you'd like defined now. Remember, if two areas are the same color now, they will remain the same color later on. 

Troubleshooting: If areas are not filling in completely, you can adjust the threshold of your fill bucket. Double click on the fill bucket for additional options. Scroll down until you see threshold. Adjust the value until the space is completely filled. Typically values of 15-20 are appropriate for inside smaller spaces, while 50+ would alter the entire background.

3. Once your image is filled in completely, we move on to transparency and layer masks. For more detail, please refer to the basic tutorial.

Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel

Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask (for popup "Transfer Layer's Alpha Channel)

Layer > Mask > Show Layer Mask (double check Edit Layer Mask is checked first!)

Paste the image that you had copied (black and white image only, before transparency added) and anchor it (Layer > Anchor Layer).

Layer > Apply Layer Mask

4. Export file as .dds. Make sure you save it in your pictures folder - saving elsewhere can cause game crashes.

Creating Our Tattoo:

5. Open up the .dds image that we just made into tattooinator. Add a unique name for your tattoo (remember to make it unique and/or check with Dashboard, otherwise it might not show up in game!)

6. Enable all the color channels. Adjust the colors as you see fit. To adjust colors, click on a color box and more color options will pop up. You can also move preset colors around by clicking on the green arrows.

7. Preview your tattoo! Did everything fill in? Are you happy with the colors? Now is the time to make changes.

8. Hit "create tattoo package" and save your new tattoo!

Congratulations! Be sure to test out your tattoo in game.

What You'll Need:

Gimp

DDS Plugin for gimp

Tattooinator by CmarNYC

Optional: Paint

You'll also need an image. You can find the one I used here.

Getting Started: 

This section will be very abbreviated. If you need help with individual steps, you should refer to the basic guide. 

Open gimp (with dds plugin installed!) and create a new 512x512 image with a white background.

Paste your image into gimp.

Resize your image to your liking - do not exceed 512x512. Merge your layers once you're happy with your image.

Apply a threshold to your image.

Copy the visible image (Edit > Copy visible). If you're using both guides: Skip the second step of creating a new image. We'll do that after we alter the positioning.

We can now edit the placement of our image. I personally like to do this in Paint. If you don't have paint installed or you don't want to use Paint, you can do it all in gimp. If you'd like the directions for gimp, skip below the next section.

Adjusting Image Placement: Using Paint

1. Open up paint. Your image will need to be 512x512. You can either do this manually by dragging the corners/sides until they're at the correct size, or you can click resize.

When the popup appears, choose "pixels". Make sure "maintain aspect ratio" is not checked. Now change values to 512. Hit ok.

2. Paste your image from gimp into paint. 

3. Select your image (Ctrl + A). 

4. Click on your image and hold the mouse button down to drag. You can now slide your image in any direction. Repeat until you're pleased with the placement. 

Don't go to the very edge of the image - this can result in clipped images.

Sliding Up: Your tattoo will be higher than standard tattoos.

Sliding Down: Your tattoo will be lower than standard tattoos.

Sliding Horizontal: Your tattoo will be either further left or right than standard tattoos.

I like to make sure that the border of my picture is aligned with the edge of the white 512x512 image so that I don't accidentally shift my image horizontally as well.

5. Once you're happy with the image placement, either click off to the right of your image or the select button to deselect. Now select the image again (ctrl + a), then copy (ctrl + c).

6. At this point we're ready to move back to gimp. Go ahead and open a new 512x512 image with a white background. Paste your image. Anchor it (Layer > Anchor). 

You are now ready to begin making your tattoo's .DDS image. If you're using the basic guide, you are at step 6. 

Adjusting Image Placement: Using Gimp

1. Create a new 512x512 gimp image with a white background. Paste your image into this one.

2. Choose the move tool. You can do this by: 

Type "m" 

Select it: Choose the Move tool in the toolbox

Select it: Tools > Transform Tools > Move

3. Click on your picture and hold down your left mouse button to drag. Repeat as needed.

Don't go to the very edge of the image - this can result in clipped images.

Sliding Up: Your tattoo will be higher than standard tattoos.

Sliding Down: Your tattoo will be lower than standard tattoos.

Sliding Horizontal: Your tattoo will be either further left or right than standard tattoos.

4. It's now time to merge our layers. Go to Layer > Anchor Layer. We should now only have one layer.

5. Copy the visible image (Edit > Copy Visible). 

6. Create a new 512x512 image with white background. Paste your image into it (Ctrl+V). Anchor the layer (Layer > Anchor).

Getting Started:

Once you have gimp (with the dds plugin installed!), you're ready to get started.

1. Open up gimp and make a new image. For basic tattoos your image size should be 512x512. Fill in the background with white (under advanced options).

2. Now you'll need your image. Paste it into the new 512x512 image that you just created. When you paste the image, it will be a floating section. 

3. It's now time to resize your image. Go to Layer > To New Layer. Next select Tools > Transform Tools > Scale. Resize your image to the size you want (be sure to leave a bit of space between the image and image border). Once you're happy, merge down your image (Layer > Merge Down). If merge down is grayed out, choose anchor layer - this will get you the same result.

The larger your image is now, the better it'll appear in game. Remember you can still scale it down in game if you want it smaller. 

4. For the best tattoos you will need a sharper image of true black & white (see example below). For simple images, the easiest way to do ensure this is by applying a threshold. 

While it may not seem to have a major effect for basic tattoos, it's a quick fix and the results are worth it. Plus, as you move on to more advanced tattoos, this will become more important.

To apply the threshold, go to Color > Threshold. A popup will appear. Slide the black triangle under the bar in either direction to adjust the level of threshold and then hit ok once you're done.

5. We are now going to copy this image into a new page. Go to Edit > Copy Visible  to select your image. Now, choose File > Create > From Clipboard. 

Creating the DDS Image:

Your image is now fully prepped to begin making it into a tattoo!

6. We are now at the point that we can begin defining the visible areas of our tattoo. For an image like this, where we only have one channel we want visible (the arrow), we can do this quickly by inverting the colors. Go to Colors > Invert. 

At this point, anything that is white will be what shows up as visible for our tattoo. Anything that is black will be skin.

7. Copy your image! You can either hit Ctrl + C  or Edit > Copy Visible. You'll need to keep this image in your clipboard for the next few steps. 

8. Next up is making our image transparent. Some images will already have transparency, but it's a good idea to still check. Go to Layer > Transparency > Add alpha channel. If this option is grayed out your image already has an alpha channel, so move on to the next step.

9. Now that your image has an alpha channel, we can add image masks. Go to Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask. After clicking on "add layer mask," a popup will give you some options. Be sure to select: Transfer Layer's Alpha Channel.

Then, go to Layer > Mask. Make sure that Edit Layer Mask is checked. Once it is, click Show Layer Mask. The screen, if done correctly will be white.

10. Remember how you copied your image? Well it's time to paste it in now. You can either go with Ctrl + V or Edit > Paste. Your layer will be a floating layer again, so be sure to go to Layer > Anchor Layer.

11. Once your image is achored, it's time to apply our layer mask. Go to Layer > Mask > Apply Layer Mask.  We're almost done!

12. Go to File > Export. Name your image whatever you like. You can either manually type .dds after the name of your image (rather than .png, .jpg, etc.) or you can search under file type for .dds. Save the .dds in your pictures - saving elsewhere can lead to game crash errors.

After hitting export, there will be a popup. Select BC3/DXT5 for your compression option. Also, make sure that generate mipmaps is checked.

Creating your Tattoo:

You now have your .dds image that will turn into your tattoo. You can close gimp and open up Tattooinator.

13. Open up your image in tattooinator by clicking Select - choose your .dds file to open.

14. You must choose a unique name for your tattoo. If you have five tattoos labelled "tattoo," only one tattoo will show up in game even though you can preview them all in tattooinator. A program such as Dashboard will scan your tattoos to make sure they have unique names.

15, Check all the colors to enable them even if your tattoo does not require a particular channel. For this tutorial, Channel A is the only option that will impact our presets. Click on a rectangle to choose a new preset color.

16. Preview your image to make sure it looks good.

17. Create your tattoo! Click on create tattoo package, name it, and save!

Congratulations! Your tattoo is now ready to try out in game.