'sup guys, its time i swallow my pride and admit i need some help, so here goes

as you might know i release CWs (id say pretty regularly but my shedule is horrible lol lets not pretend its not) but after a year of releasing my stuff i still do not know how to make previews! which is a little embarrassing, ngl.

Anyway, i figured it's finally time i get over myself and ask for some help, so is anyone here willing how to teach me how to make some previews myself? it's about time i knew how to do it so i dont constantly have to bother artists about it.

If you'd prefer that, i can give you my discord so we can use voicechat if that makes things easier? just let me know :) Thank you!!

Hey there! This is how I personally make previews tho idk if others do it differently!

1. You need an image editing program that can work with transparent images for instance photoshop. I use GIMP which is free to download
2. Make your preview in the wardrobe, put on everything except the item that you wish to be previewed. Imma use the as an example! So I would make a preview without the hair like so. Save it to your shared outfits, then go to your outfits and right click to save the HA in your computer
3. Open your HA preview in your program. Go to files -> open as layer and select the transparent CW overlay. It will look like you're wearing the CW
4. Go to file -> Export as and you can save it as a png/gif/jpg. Export, and click export again at the popup and you're all done!

If you use photoshop I'm sorry I can't help too much as I don't have the program and am unfamiliar with the commands, but I imagine it'll be something similar hope that helps and lemme know if anything is unclear! ^^ It becomes easier once you get the hang of it!

Hey! I actually recently made a tutorial video (kind of) on how to make previews in GIMP for a friend. If you’re interested (and if you use GIMP), maybe I can share it with you? Admittedly, Idk if my explanation is good or not, lol. X’D

it was this easy????? b o y do i feel silly, yikes

thank you so much tho! it really saves my butt c:

thank you for the offer but i've got it now! ^^

You'll be making previews like a wiz in no time!

I'll piggy-back on what offered The idea is basically the same with photoshop as well with a couple weirdo things thrown in.

1. Make an HA without the layer you want to add (ie, hair), save the outfit, then save that outfit's image by right-clicking and selecting "Save image as..." and saving it to your computer (ex:HERE). We're gonna pretend the overlay is

2. Open up your saved HA image and your overlay image. One REALLY annoying thing I haven't been able to figure out is that when I copy the overlay image and paste it into the HA image in Photoshop, it automatically default-positions the item to the middle of the image instead of to the same position it was at (ex: HERE).

2a. To avoid that, I make small markings along the corners of the overlay image. Once I do that, I can copy and paste it onto the HA and it will position itself appropriately (ex: HERE.) Then I just erase the extra markings.

3. The only time it gets mildly tricky is say you want to preview that hair but you also want a bow on top of it.. You'd have to follow the previous steps but also save the bow's image (right-clicking and saving image as on the item previews does NOT work in Chrome, FYI. It will try to save it as a ".webp" file. I use internet explorer to save those item image files and it works just fine (ex: here]).

4. From there I do the same thing.. Make the small markings along the corners, copy, paste, and then erase the extra markings. Voila! Newly-created preview :)(ex: Here.)

Sweet! Glad to hear that you’ve got it! :)

and for anyone else who has photoshop - If you want to place an overlay onto a HA without struggling, open up the item and the HA in photoshop. In the overlay file, go to Layer on the top menu -> Duplicate Layer. You'll get a window asking where you want to duplicate the layer. In the destination section, you will see a drop down menu named Document. Change the document to the HA file and click ok. :)

Alternatively, you can open the folder where the item is stored and drag the overlay into photoshop. It should go into the position it's in when downloaded instead of going to the middle. Sometimes the file doesn't come in the right size though, and I haven't figured out why for this method.

If you have any questions let me know! I'll be more than happy to show you with gifs or through discord screen share. c:

ah, thank you! That has been one of my most annoying parts of creating HA previews. LOL. I finally found the “write in the corners” trick after failing several times, but this’ll definitely help!

Also go figure that the free program is easier and less wonky than the expensive one! ;)

I actually use an online site (image editor thingy) but I need to do some tutorials for it since I have been asked for a few times but tis past midnight now XD

I shall return tomorrow once I wake up!!

[edit] FINALLY awake and functioning properly to type this out!! sorry to ping everyone but I thought it would be good to also share the site i use!

https://pixlr.com/editor/ is the site I use! its a pretty nifty site seeing that you dont really need to use a software offline

1. works like a simple version of photoshop
2. main functions to use : open image as layer / open image URL as layer (Under the layers tab)
3. What I do mostly is always do different kinds of HA bases (without hair/without clothes/without shoes etc/different color palettes)
4. Then I save em up on shared outfits
5. I use open image URL as layer to load my outfit + again open image as layer to load the saved overlay (my new CW that I want to preview)
6. Click Save (Under File tab), then save as PNG
7. Doneeeeee

Thanks for sharing! I actually can't seem to access it right now because I don't have Adobe Flash Player installed/updated on my Mac, lol. XD But when I get around to installing/updating it, I'll definitely check out the site! It always helps to have other resources at hand :)

ohh thank you!! I just tried it this way and i think i like this even more than GIMP, thanks!

To add onto what Wound suggested, you can also "Paste in Place". Select all, copy, go to the image you'd like to paste into, and Edit > Paste in Place. It'll put it in the same spot as in the original image. :) (but the duplicate method also rocks)