IMVU is all about creating a place for people all over the world to meet up and express themselves, all within a virtual 3D environment. What your avatar wears is one form of self expression, but just as important is the place you choose to gather within.
What is a Room?
Rooms are very much like Avatar Clothing, Furniture, or Accessories, they are 3D products that can be purchased and “worn” by its owner. The main difference is that Rooms can contain your invited friends, exist as a persistent Public place, and act as the setting for an activity or game. They can be simple and small or large and complex, such as an outdoor environment.
New Room Project
The best way to learn how something works is to roll up your sleeves and dive right in. In this spirit we have created this tutorial to help you become familiar with the process of creating a room project and getting the new product into the IMVU Catalog.
Creating Your Product
In order to create your room product you need to first derive from an existing room product. To do this you will need to fire up IMVU Studio. So, let’s get started!
For more information on searching for a PID and deriving from it, you may wish to read this tutorial.
STEP 1. Create a new Product by clicking the Create button (top right) or the + sign in IMVU Studio.
OR
STEP 2. Derive from the Basic Room by searching for its name or PID. We’ll use a PID. Type 55595321 into the Search bar and we’ll get a preview of what we want, then click the Derive button in the lower right corner of the app.
Material Replacement
As we’re deriving all we need to do is replace the textures already assigned to the product. Okay, here is where we get to redecorate! Swapping textures in Rooms can really transform a space dramatically. Below are some textures to get you started, but we encourage you to create textures of your own!
STEP 3. Select the materials you want to edit by opening the Material panel by clicking on Components tab and then the Materials icon in the left-hand panel. For this tutorial we’ll start by selecting the first material room_wall in the Materials panel.
STEP 4. Import the textures you downloaded by opening the Inspector panel by clicking on the Inspector tab on the right-hand panel. Hover over the thumbnail beside Diffuse and click the 
button.
In the pop-up window, browse to and select the replacement image, room wall.png, and click Add Image to import the texture.
STEP 5. Preview the texture swap by clicking the Preview button in the upper right corner of the app.
STEP 6. Repeat this for the remaining materials room_floor, room_doors, room_ceiling, and room_divides.
STEP 7. Change the Opacity textures. For the two room_glass materials we are going to replace both the Diffuse and the Opacity textures.
Select the first material named room_glass and in the Inspector panel and hover over the thumbnail beside Diffuse and click the button. Select the replacement image room trellis.png and click Add Image to import the texture.
Now hover over the thumbnail beside Opacity and click the button. Select the replacement image room trellis (MASK).png and click Add Image to import the texture.
Repeat this for the second material named room_glass
Click Preview to see your changes!
Save and Submit your Project
Time to save your project.
STEP 8. Save your project by clicking the Save button in the upper right corner of the app next to the Preview button. Give your project a unique name.
STEP 9. Edit your product information by filling out the details under the Info panel.
The Info panel is where you can edit the Product details that will show up in the Shop, such as the product icon, product name, markup, search keywords, and more.
When Creating a product, make sure it meets the guidelines in IMVU’s Virtual Goods Policy!
STEP 10. Submit! Once you’re done filling out your product information, click the Submit button.
For more information on submitting and publishing a product click here.