Step by step
01Bring your artwork
“Add image” takes PNG, WebP or JPEG. Everything transparent stays skin. If the artwork sits on a white (or other flat) background with no transparency, the studio removes the background by itself, with clean line edges; the “Remove the image background” box on the “Artwork” tab brings it back if you want it.
Before importing, you pick “Resolution for new images”: 256, 512 or 1024 px. 512 covers almost any tattoo; 1024 is only worth it for large back pieces. The artwork fits into a square and keeps its proportions.
02Put it on the body
A new design appears in the middle of the chest. Grab it with the mouse right on the 3D body and drag it wherever you want, even onto another arm or a leg; dragging the background orbits the camera. With “Position” on, a click on the skin moves it there in one go.
On the tattoo, Shift + scroll makes it bigger or smaller and Alt + scroll rotates it. The “Front”, “Back”, “Head”, “Torso” and “Legs” buttons take the camera where you need it.
The body zone follows where you drop it. With “Keep the design upright on the body when you move it” ticked, the design stays upright and reads correctly wherever you put it. “Rotation” and “Mirror X” are relative to the upright design: 0° and unticked means it looks like the image, and “Straighten the design on the body” brings it back to that.
For fine tuning, switch to “UV map”. There you drag the artwork straight on the body texture, and on the right you have “Position X”, “Position Y”, “UV width”, “UV height” and “Rotation”.
03Make it look like ink
On the “Artwork” tab, tick “Uniform ink colour” when you want the whole piece in one colour, usually a slightly faded black. “Opacity” lets it sink into the skin instead of sitting on top.
“Catalog label” is the name the player sees in the tattoo shop. “Unique identifier” goes into the file names: up to 24 lowercase letters, digits and underscores, starting with a letter.
04Both bodies, separately
The male and female bodies have different UV maps, so each tattoo has two placements. You switch bodies with “Male” and “Female”, above the preview.
“Copy to the other body” starts the second placement from the first; then you check it on the other body. If a tattoo is for one body only, untick “Include this variant in the export” on the other.
05Save and export
A pack holds up to 24 tattoos. “Save project” downloads a JSON with the images and both placements; you reopen it with the folder button.
“Resource name”, on the “Pack” tab, becomes the resource name on the server: 3–32 characters, same rules. “Export pack” builds the ZIP for the server. Exporting the pack or a single PNG costs 10 credits.
Questions
The tattoo shows in the menu but not on the body.
Usually the server wasn’t started from scratch after the install, or the chosen body doesn’t have the variant turned on. Also check that the YTD sits in stream/ with the name from the collection.
The design shows mirrored or upside down.
Press “Straighten the design on the body” on the “Position” tab: rotation and mirroring go back to the upright design, as in the image. Older projects may have positions made before the studio kept designs upright.
On the female body the tattoo sits somewhere else.
Each body has its own UV map. Switch to “Female”, click where it should sit and adjust it there. The two placements don’t affect each other.
The import says I went over the pixel budget.
A pack holds at most 48 MB of pixels, for example 12 tattoos at 1024 px. Import the rest at 512 px.
Can I add the tattoos to a pack I already have?
Yes. Copy the YTDs into stream/, add the collection XML as a separate file and the files and data_file lines to your manifest. INSTALL.md has the steps, with a backup first.
How much does it cost?
The project and saving are free. Exporting the pack or a PNG costs 10 credits.