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description
How to merge two or more existing tattoos

Merging existing tattoos

Summary

Published: Feb 03 2024 by manavortex, initial guide by Yggnire
Last documented edit: 18 May 2024 by YoursTrulyBilly

This guide will teach you how to merge multiple tattoos into one.

For this example, we'll be merging two VTK tattoos from Belly Tattoos Pack and Low Back Tattoo Pack by Yggnire

Wait, this is not what I want!

Level of difficulty: Easy

The guide is extremely detailed and has screenshots for each step!

Requirements:

  • The ability to read: mandatory, because I'm not gonna lie — this is gonna be difficult otherwise.
  • Knowing how to edit images: recommended, because this guide will not cover it. If you don't know it, the relevant section will tell you what to Google, though
  • The following two tattoo mods (kindly provided by Yggnire):

Expected time to complete:

<1h for total noobs, <15 minutes if you know what you're doing.

Prerequisites

{% hint style="info" %} To see which files you need to edit, check this: overlay-list.md. {% endhint %}

Step 1: Create a Wolvenkit Project:

Depending on the supported framework, you need to name your project like this:

Framework Prefix Example name
KS UV 004 004_my_tattoo_mix
VTK 00 00_my_tattoo_mix

If you don't know how to create a project, you can look it up on the Wolvenkit wiki.

Step 2: Add the modded files

Switch the Asset Browser tab to Mod Browser and find the two archives that you want to merge.

You'll have to add v_overlay.xbm from inside these .archives to your Wolvenkit project. Since they'll overwrite each other, read on to find out how to do that.

{% hint style="info" %} It's best to rename each tattoo after adding to make it easier for you to know which is which! {% endhint %}

  1. In the asset browser, find v_overlay.xbm inside the first .archive file and add it to your project (right-click or double-click)

  1. Re-name the file in your project to e.g. lowbacktattoo.xbm

  1. Add v_overlay.xbm from the second .archive file to your project

  1. Re-name the file in your project to e.g. skulltattoo.xbm
  2. Add the file v_overlay.xbm again — this will be your final overlay.xbm

{% hint style="success" %} If you want to merge into a clean template, check merging-existing-tattoos-into-a-clean-template.md. {% endhint %}

Step 3: Export for edit

  1. Go to Tools > Export Tool. You only need to export three of the files, but you can click Export All:
  1. You can now find the exported .png files in source\raw\base\v_textures\body. Time to look at them.
  2. If you can't see the files in the Project Explorer, switch it to either source or raw, or just navigate your Windows Explorer to the folder.

Step 4: Photoshopping

{% hint style="info" %} If you don't have photoshop, you can use photopea.com in your browser for free! {% endhint %}

I need a reference!

You can download Night City Tattoos, specifically the Layout Templates For Custom Tattoos:

Once downloaded, open the file named LayoutTemplate_tattoo_body__customisation.psd and drag&drop both of your tattoo files inside.

If you need the body texture as a reference, check merging-existing-tattoos-into-a-clean-template.md and export v_body_d.png.

  1. Open lowbacktattoo.png in Photoshop.
  2. Drag-and-drop the second file (skulltattoo.png) into your open tab.
  3. Optional: If the pictures aren't the same size, use the W: box at the top of the file to scale it up or down.

  1. If your added file has been pasted as a smart object, rasterize it by right-clicking on the layer in the Layers palette
  2. Merge the layer down on the base layer

Fixing the transparency

We have one last thing to do before we can import our file back, and that is fixing the transparency. Don't worry, we'll do it step-by-step:

  1. Ctrl+click on the thumbnail in the layer palette. This will select everything, considering transparency.
  2. Find the Channels palette. It should be right below your Layers palette, but if it's not, you might have to turn it on via Window -> Channels
  3. At the bottom of the Channels palette, click the "Save selection as channel" icon. This will create "Alpha 1":

Exporting

  1. Select File -> Export -> export as png
  2. Overwrite v_overlay.png

Step 6: Importing into Wolvenkit

  1. Return to WolvenKit, and open the Import Tool
  2. Find and select v_overlay.png
  3. In the sidebar, make sure that Transparency from alpha channel is checked
  4. Import!
  5. Check the files in Wolvenkit. They should have changed.
  6. Delete all files that aren't v_overlay.xbm, since we don't need them anymore.

Step 7: Testing the mod

  1. Make sure that no other tattoo mods are installed — or there's a chance that you'll get to see those, rather than your new edit.
  2. Install your mod. Time to test!

And there you have it! Go in-game and admire your new tattoos! 👏