1. Introduction
This tutorial is your starting point for dressing avatars with your own creations, selling them in the IMVU Catalog, and making money!
Let’s dive in and make your first T-shirt.
We will take you through each step of customizing a T-shirt. At the end of this guide, you will be able to add your personal touch to adapt any existing IMVU product to your style.
You can watch the video below that describes the process of how to make a shirt, or read on!
This tutorial is part of the Creator Program. To learn more about the Creator Program, please click here.
2. Download the materials to make your shirt
Many products in the IMVU Catalog can be derived. This means that if a product is set as derivable, other creators can make a newly edited version of the item and sell it as their own.
To create your own shirt, you will use the Bella Crop Top. This product contains 3 textures (front, back, and sleeves). In this case, textures are the surfaces of your Bella Crop Top.
Go ahead and download the textures to your computer.
Download these three textures only.
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Click on a texture link
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Save the texture to your computer
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Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other textures
After downloading the textures, you will see the following files in your computer’s “Downloads” folder.
If you are not familiar with textures, please read Introduction to Textures.
3. Customize your shirt
Before uploading your product into IMVU, you will customize its surface using Photoshop 
or Gimp 
software.
If you are not familiar with Photoshop or Gimp, do not panic. Just follow the steps and you will see that there is no need to be an expert to make amazing products. All you need is a basic understanding of using a Painting (texture-creation) application.
First, you will start with the front of the T-shirt. Once the front texture is done, you will repeat the same process for the back and sleeves.
Photoshop requires a paid license and Gimp is free.
Click on one of the links below to get started. Completing this step is required before moving on to “4. Final materials.”
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Customize T-shirt using Photoshop |
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Customize T-shirt using Gimp |
To download Photoshop or Gimp, please click Download Photoshop or Download Gimp.
4. Final materials
Repeat the same process for the back and sleeves textures, and your new shirt textures will be ready.
5. Choose a base product
It is time to see how your avatar looks with the new T-shirt.
Before jumping into Create Mode, if you are not familiar with IMVU’s Editor Mode and Creators Guidelines, please read the articles:
For those who have not downloaded and installed the IMVU Desktop App yet, please read Download and Install IMVU Desktop App.
Open the IMVU Desktop App and Log In. Click on the Create button.
When you click on the Derive New Product button, the Derive a new 3D product window pops up.
Let’s specify the product you will base your shirt on.
Enter Product ID 34767742 in the Specify Product ID field. Click Go and the Editor Mode will open.
For future reference, Product IDs can be found at the bottom of product pages if you access from the IMVU Classic Website and it is also the number at the end of a product page’s URL if you access from the IMVU Classic Website or the IMVU Next.
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From IMVU Classic Website
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From IMVU Next
You can also Derive your T-Shirt from the Product Page. Click Derive from product at the bottom of the page.
A window will pop up asking you to open IMVU. Click Open IMVU (you may be asked to log in as well).
6. Product creation
A default avatar is displayed on your screen.
If you want to see your own avatar, go to the Bottom Toolbar and click Outfits 
.
Click the avatar you want.
The one on the screen will be substituted with the one you have chosen.
It allows you full access to your clothing inventory. You can add any product or outfit to the avatar you’re using, as long as it does not conflict with the product you’re creating.
See how your avatar looks! Just a few more steps and you will have achieved your goal.
Select the “front texture” asset and click Edit.
- Browse the folder where you saved the textures and select the front texture.
- Click Open.
- Now, the front texture is the one you created.
- Repeat the same steps for the back and sleeves textures.
Once all textures are uploaded, click Apply Changes and see your t-shirt on your avatar.
After applying changes, you can save your product by clicking on the Save button.
- You have two ways to save your work. You can use either Save (by clicking the Save button) or Save As (by clicking the small arrow to the right
). - Save will save your file in your IMVU Projects folder with an automatically generated file name.
- Save As allows to use a unique file name of your choice, making your file much easier to find if you decide you want to work on it later. You can also Save As by pressing Shift + Ctrl + s.
Once you have saved your product, you can upload it to the IMVU Catalog and make money.
To learn how to Upload a Product, please read Upload a Product.
CONGRATULATIONS! You have derived your first T-shirt!
You can market your products by taking photos of your creations and sharing them with the IMVU Community. Click on the following links to learn how to take photographs and how to post pictures in the IMVU Feed.
7. Take your T-shirt to the next level
Now that we’ve shown you the basics, we highly recommend that you take your tee to the next level by choosing unique colors and even adding images or words.
Add your own style to make your T-shirt even more chic!
● Add an image to your T-shirt
Why do not add a personal touch to your T-shirt?
It looks cool!
You can use whatever design you want, as long as you follow our IMVU guidelines. Let’s start by adding an image!
Click here to get started.
● Get creative with colors
Do you want to turn your T-shirt into something even more stylish?
Wow! These vibrant colors turn your basic tee into a must-have for your IMVU wardrobe!
Click here to start customizing the colors of your T-shirt!