One of the best things to start out with when deciding to become an IMVU developer is eyes. Why? They’re fairly straight-forward, don’t require messing with opacity maps, and only cost 250 credits submission fee. All-around, a pretty good deal to play around with.

This tutorial will help you create a pair of eyes from scratch. The ones that following every step in this tutorial will create are sparkly, subtly glittery. The point, though, is to get you used to using the tools necessary to make IMVU products.

Ready to get going? Great!

Grab the Template

As far as I can find, there aren’t any eye “templates” available for IMVU eyes. So, to make this process easier, I’ve created one for use. You can grab it here. This is a fully layered .psd file, so you will need a graphic editing program that supports layers to use it – Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, GIMP, or (I believe, but don’t quote me on it) PaintShop Pro.

Color Overlay

Let’s jump right into this. When you open the eye template, the iris (the colored part of the eye) will be a really bright red. What we want to do is change this color to something more pleasing. I’ve used an aqua blue color – you can choose whatever color you want your eyes to be based on.

To apply the color overlay, click “Layer” from your toolbar and choose “Color Overlay”. In the dialogue that appears, click the colored box. Then, choose your color. Click OK in the color screen, and click OK in the color overlay screen.

Squiggly Lines

Right – this step will look messy and silly, but trust me – it will work. First, create a new layer (Layer, New, Layer). Then, grab your brush tool. Set your brush to 1 pixel in size and use black to create a series of lines that radiate outward from the pupil:

Gaussian Blur

Well, we don’t want it looking that silly, do we? So our first step is to blur the squiggly lines a bit. Click “Filter” in your Photoshop toolbar and choose “Blur”. From the pop-out menu, click “Gaussian Blur”. In the dialogue, apply these settings:

Add Noise

This step will add the sort of “glitter” look to the eye. Click “Filter” again, but this time hover on “Noise”. Choose “Add Noise” and apply these settings:

Overlay

Now to get rid of the lines that stray outside and make the glitter “blend” into the iris better. To do this, look above your Layers Palette. One of the drop-down options says “Normal”. Click the arrow on this option, and choose “Overlay”. You’ll end up with something like this:

Set Colors & Gradient

This step is 2 steps in one. First, set your foreground color to the same color as what you have used on the iris of your eye. Then, set the background color to a much darker version of that color.

Once your colors are set, go to your layer styles (Layer, Style) and choose “Color Overlay”. Un-tick the box beside this option, and then go to your “Gradient Overlay” option. Set your gradient like below:

Stroke

While you’re in the Layer Styles, click “Stroke” and apply the following settings, replacing the color with the same one you’ve been using:

Brighten the Iris

Now we want something really brightened in color for our iris. This is where you can introduce a whole new color – I’ve just used the same color I originally used for the iris. Grab your elliptical shape tool and draw a circle behind the pupil.

We want this just a bit brighter, and for the glitter to “show through”. So, hit the drop-down above your Layers Palette and choose “Screen”:

Now, we want to blur the circle. Click “Filter”, choose “Blur” and hit “Gaussian Blur”. Depending on how “blurred” you want your brightened color, adjust the slider until your preview shows something you like:

Let there be Light

To finish off the eye, grab white and your elliptical shape tool. Then, draw two circles on the eye something like the one below, on the left. Then, one last time, hit your gaussian blur and adjust the slider until you have something resembling the image below, on the right.

Note: The following steps are a bit outdated, using an older version of the Previewer. The process is the same, but  you may need to look for the items discussed. This will be updated as soon as possible.

Start the IMVU Previewer

The way that IMVU products work is that you always have to derive from another product. The least expensive option will, without fail, be the IMVU-created products. We’re going to derive from IMVU’s “Bloody Eyes”. Its CFL number is 148 – you can find CFL numbers beneath every product in the catalogue by going to its page and looking at the bottom. If it’s a Derivable product, you can type the CFL number in your Previewer to derive from it. Please note that many products are not derivable, and the Previewer won’t let you use them.

So, to derive. Click “File” and choose “Derive from Product”. It will pop up a box like the one below – just type the CFL number 148 (for the Bloody Eyes) in this box. Click OK and IMVU will begin to load the product.

If you have never derived from the product before, the Previewer will ask if you want to download/update product files. Choose “Yes” and click “Download” on the box that pops up. Then, when it has finished downloading, click “Close”. IMVU will load your product up for deriving from.

Edit Textures

Along the top of your Previewer are a series of tabs. First, click the tab that says “Edit Textures”. Then, scroll down so that you can see the image for IMVU’s “Bloody Eye”. Click the image and navigate to where you have saved the eye you created. Click OK and the Previewer will once again load everything up.

Check the Preview

If everything went right, you can now click the Preview window and zoom in to view the coolness of your new eyes.

Submit!

Are you ready to submit? First, you will need to save your product (click “File”, choose “Save As”). Then, you’ll need a 100 x 80 pixel preview for your catalogue icon. Finally, click the red Submit button in your previewer. This will pull up an IMVU page for you to type your information in.

Want more information on that particular process? Stay tuned – we’re going to tackle catalogue icons and submissions in an upcoming tutorial.