Below
i will try to explain how you can edit the alpha layers that came
with your purchase to match your shape. In this example I'll use
Photoshop but the same method probably applies to other graphic
software like Gimp as well.
Download
the Upper Body and Lower Body templates of the SL Avatar and open
them in a graphic editing program like Photoshop. In SL, open the
alpha texture/s that came with your purchase and save them to your
HDD as .PNG and also open this in Photoshop. Drag a copy of the alpha
texture (white/transparent) and place it on top of the SL avatar
template as a 2nd layer. The borders of the alpha texture need to match up with the borders of the avatar template and should
'snap' into the right place when moving around.
Once
the alpha texture is correctly placed on top of the avatar template,
you can start adding or removing transparency. If you need to reduce
transparency (show more skin), you can do so by drawing more white on
the alpha texture (2nd layer) at the areas you want to
make visible. If you want to add transparency (hide more skin), you
can do this by erasing parts of the white alpha texture.
Now
its time to test your edited alpha texture. Hide the background layer
(= avatar template) so only the white/transparent alpha texture is
visible and save this image as .PNG. Upload the image to SL, create a
alpha clothing layer and apply your alpha texture.
You
will probably need to edit the alpha texture multiple times before
you get the desired result so its best to either use temporary
uploads or log in to the beta grid to avoid unnecessary upload costs.
Of
course you can also create a new alpha layer from scratch. A well
explained tutorial on how to do this, can be found here.