Second Life has grown so popular over the years that now people are using it beyond creating avatars and interacting with other users. This virtual world is now used to make academic and business presentations, advertisements, live music, and more.
Some people are now using this platform as a workplace and holding virtual meetings. And these Second Life avatars are also used on various websites and social media platforms for various reasons.
However, using the avatar or photo directly from Second Life sometimes does not seem good enough. So some people choose to edit them using the Photoshop application to enhance them and give the image a better makeover. And if that’s what you plan to do, make sure you know all about Second Life Photoshop tutorials.
Generally, editing Second Life images in Photoshop involves removing backgrounds, adding shadows, highlighting certain parts of the image, giving the avatar a facial makeover to make it more attractive, or adding necessary details, etc. And in this article, I have discussed some of such important tutorials along with other necessary tips.
Second Life Photoshop Tutorials
Even though many people are still unaware of the magic that Second Life can do, it is still one of the most commonly used platforms to create virtual images, backgrounds, interaction worlds, and more. And beyond that, this virtual platform now helps people gain more audience by using these images for various other purposes.
As a result, users now prefer to edit Second Life images in Photoshop to make them more attractive and unique. And if you want to do that same, I would suggest learning the following Second Life Photoshop tutorials.
- How To Remove Green Screen Background Of Second Life Image
- How To Remove Other Second Life Image Background
- How To Blur Second Life Image Background On Photoshop
Read More: How To Resize A Layer In Photoshop
How To Remove Green Screen Background Of Second Life Image
Just like real-life photography, Second Life photos also often contain green screens. But you may not need it for every project. That’s why you need to learn how to remove the green screen background from an image.
But if you are using this method, make sure the subject does not have any green in it, except the background.
Step 1: Open The Image
Start by launching the Adobe Photoshop application and then opening the image. To do that, you should go to the top menu bar and select the File panel.
Then select Open to choose the Second Life image from your device. You can also open the menu by pressing CTRL+O (COMMAND+O on MAC).
Step 2: Duplicate The Layer
If you want to do multiple edits, it is safer to duplicate the layer first. It helps you make more changes or make adjustments later if needed. So go to the Layers panel from the top menu bar and select Duplicate Layer from the drop-down menu.
Make sure the layer you want to duplicate is selected and unlocked prior to doing it.
Step 3: Select Background Eraser Tool
Then go to the Toolbar on the left side of the screen and click on the Eraser tool. If it opens a few eraser tool options, select the Background Eraser Tool.
The brush size should depend on the size of your image. The bigger the image, the larger the brush size should be to use it easily.
Go to the Sampling option and keep it to Once. Set Limits to Discontiguous and Tolerance to your preferred level based on how many details you want. But keeping it close to 100% could be great.
Read More: How to Remove the white background in Photoshop
Step 4: Erase The Green Screen
Now, with the Eraser and its settings selected, click on the green screen of the image once. That will help the tool pick the color you want to remove. Then hold and drag the pointer across the image as you want to remove the entire green screen.
As long as the image subject does not have any green or even green undertone, the tool will only remove the green background and nothing else.
Step 5: Fix Imperfection
Using the Background Eraser Tool might not always give a flawless result. Some areas of the image or the subject may still have some green left that needs removal. In that case, you can create another duplicate layer and go to the Hue/Saturation option.
You can change the green to a different color by dragging the Hue and Saturation slider and later remove the unnecessary changes on the subject using the masking tool.
Read More: All You Need to Know About Hair Masking
How To Remove Other Second Life Image Background
The previous method I mentioned works great if your Second Life image has a green background or any other solid color background. However, that method will not work if your image has a different kind of background. So if you want to remove the SL image background in a different way, here is the best way to do it.
Step 1: Open The Image
If you have your SL photo saved, you need to upload it to the Photoshop application. For that, you need to select File from the top menu bar and that will open a drop-down menu with various other menus and options. From there, you need to select Open. It will let you select and upload the image easily on Photoshop workspace.
Step 2: Select The Pen Tool
You can find the Pen Tool on the Toolbar on the left side of the screen. But if you cannot spot it, you can just press P from the keyboard and the shortcut command will open the tool.
As you select the tool, it will open a few options and settings on the top. There, keep the pen mode selected as Path because that’s how you need to remove the background.
Step 3: Draw Path/Make Selection
Now carefully draw around the image subject to separate it from the background. You should be aware that using the Pen Tool is pretty challenging for newbies as you have to make the selection manually.
So take your time as you draw the path. You can click and drag the straight lines to make curved selections. If you make any mistake, you can undo it by pressing CTRL+Z (COMMAND+Z on MAC).
Step 4: Finalize Your Selection
Once you have connected the drawing point to your starting point, the path is complete. But now you need to select it or make it final. To do that, go to the Path panel on the right side menu and select it.
Read More: How to Use Color Replacement Tool in Photoshop
Step 5: Inverse The Selection
Selecting the Inverse option helps keep your selected subject safe and removes anything outside that. So it is more like a protection.
So go to the Select panel on top and then select Inverse from the drop-down menu. You can also do it using shortcuts by pressing CTRL+Shift+I (COMMAND+Shift+I on MAC)
Step 6: Delete The Background
Finally, remove the background by pressing the Delete key. And you will no longer see the old background.
Instead, you will get a checked gray or white background, which is also called a transparent background.
How To Blur Second Life Image Background On Photoshop
Some users like to blur their SL image backgrounds to give them a unique appearance. To do that, you can apply the following process.
Step 1: Duplicate Layer
To blur the background, you need to start by duplicating the image layer.
You can do it from the Layer panel on the right side of the screen or from the top menu bar. Make sure to rename the Layer so that you can spot it immediately.
Step 2: Select Image Subject
You can either select the subject using any selection tool, such as Object Selection Tool, Pen Tool, Lasso Tool, etc. Or, you can choose Photoshop’s AI tool to auto-select the subject.
To use that, go to the Select panel and choose Subject from the drop-down menu.
Step 3: Expand The Subject
To avoid imperfect edges around the subject, you need to expand the subject by a few pixels. So go to the Select panel and select Modify from the drop-down menu.
Once it opens the extended menu, select Expand.
Step 4: Add A Layer of Mask
Click on the new layer mask icon at the bottom of the layer panel.
It will help you create a mask in the foreground and helps you blur the image’s background in a non-destructive way. But if there is still an issue, you can always fix it by fine-tuning it.
Step 5: Convert To Smart Object
Now select the duplicate layer you made of the original image. Right-click on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object from the pop-up menu.
You can also select the option from the Filters panel on the top and then select Convert to Smart Object from the drop-down menu.
Step 6: Blur The Background
After that, once again go to the Filters panel and then select Blur from the drop-down menu. It will show you various blur options to select for your image.
You can choose any that fits your image type or just go with the Gaussian Blur. You can adjust the opacity level and pixels from the dialog box if necessary.
Read More: How To Fix Red Eyes In Photoshop
Why Edit Second Life Images On Photoshop?
So why do you think you should go through all these editing processes to change an already fully created image or avatar? Well, no matter what your purpose is, people now tend to learn Second Life Photoshop tutorials for the following reasons.
Better Outcome
One of the first things users wonder is why they should edit images in Photoshop when they can do it in Second Life. Well, that is true. But in certain cases, doing some editing, especially adding a customized background or adding light or shadow using Second Life software can be a nightmare. That is why Photoshop is a more convenient and easier option.
Enhance The Image
Adobe Photoshop is one of the best software when it comes to editing photos or creating various high-end graphic designs. So if you want to enhance your Second Life image or photography, there is no better way to do that than using Photoshop. You can get access to many amazing tools and features to help edit the images and make their appearance more amazing.
Add More Details
If you want to add more visual details to an image, Photoshop is your best shot. You will find tools to make the image sharper and add highlights, shadows, and more to ensure the overall image offers a better visual to the viewers. You can also add various graphics designs, shapes, texts, etc. if you want.
More Attention From The Audience
Editing Second Life images in Photoshop and enhancing their look is an excellent way to stand out in the modern marketing race. With such eye-catching photographs and mesmerizing details, you can promote your business or profession more successfully and gain more audience.
Be More Creative And Artistic
One of the best parts of using Photoshop to edit Second Life images is that it can give you a world beyond imagination if you know how to use them. With so many tools to use, you can change the images as you need. Thus, helps you explore your artistic side and get more creative with editing images.
Read More: Photoshop Drop Shadow Service
Conclusion
If you are already familiar with or experienced with the Photoshop application, editing Second Life images or avatars will be a piece of cake. And even if you are new to this, you can now see that the Second Life Photoshop tutorials teach you pretty much the same thing as editing any other image. However, this time you can exaggerate a thing or two to make the photos more eye-catching or enchanting.
Such photos are now widely used globally for various purposes from business marketing to creating gaming setups and more. The editing tutorials I mentioned are some of the commonly used processes for Second Life images. But depending on the user’s choice or requirement, many other edits are often done to the images to make them more captivating.
