# Tattoo Creator

:::hint{type="info" title="Premium"}
The Tattoo Creator needs Premium. There is no free tattoo allowance.
:::

Clothing packs often ship with matching ink. The **Tattoo Creator** lets you import tattoo art, place it on the freemode ped and build it as a real GTA V tattoo (a ped decoration overlay) — without leaving the tool.

## Opening it

Open a project, then open the app menu (click **Koja Cloth Tool** at the top left) and choose **Tattoos…**. The Tattoo Creator opens in its own window, with the tattoo library on the left, the ped in the middle and the inspector on the right.

## Adding tattoos

Click **Import images…** in the library and pick one or more pictures (`.png`, `.jpg`, `.jpeg`, `.dds` or `.ytd`). Each becomes a tattoo in the library.

The library can be searched and filtered by zone and by gender. Each row can be hidden in the viewport, and tattoos not included in the build are marked **Off**. **Swap artwork…** replaces the art of many tattoos at once, matched by file name; you review every match before anything is replaced.

## Placing a tattoo

:::frame{caption="Placing a tattoo on the arm."}
![The Tattoo Creator with a tattoo placed on the ped's forearm, its gizmo, and the zone, position, size and rotation settings](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/tattoo-creator.1e8b23f12e.webp)
:::

Select a tattoo and place it on the ped:

- **On the ped:** drag the gizmo — the centre moves it, the ring rotates it, and the edges and corners resize it.
- **In the inspector:** under **Placement**, set the **Zone** (torso, head, left or right arm, left or right leg), who it is **Worn by**, and type or drag **X**, **Y**, **Size** and **Rotation**. **Fit / reset size** puts the size back to fit.

When you move a tattoo to another zone, the camera glides round to face it where it now sits. What you see is what you get in game: the placement values are written straight into the tattoo files.

The window warns you when a stamp crosses a UV seam (it may tear in game), runs past the edge of the skin sheet, or reaches from the back onto the arm and under the armpit.

:::hint{type="success" title="Tip"}
Import your art at a high resolution and scale it *down* on the body — it's much cleaner than stretching a small image up.
:::

## Appearance and in-game properties

- **Appearance:** **Opacity** and **Saturation**. GTA V has no runtime opacity or colour for tattoos, so these are baked into the exported texture, and the preview matches the game.
- **Edit graphic…**, **Trim** and **Replace image…** change the art itself.
- **In-game properties:** **In-game price**, and **Included in build**, which decides whether the tattoo is part of the project's builds.

**Duplicate** and **Delete** are at the bottom of the inspector.

## Saving and shortcuts

Click **Save** (or Ctrl+S) to write the tattoos into the project. If the window closes with unsaved edits, the next time it opens it offers to **Recover** them.

Press **?** for the full list of keyboard shortcuts. The main ones:

| Keys | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y | Undo / redo |
| Ctrl+D | Duplicate the selected tattoo |
| Delete or Backspace | Delete the selected tattoo |
| Arrow keys | Nudge the selected tattoo (hold Shift for a finer step) |
| Ctrl+S | Save |

## Building tattoos

### With your clothing pack

When you build a FiveM pack, the build window's **Tattoos** section lists every tattoo with the ones **Included in build** ticked. Unticking one there affects only that build; the tattoo's own **Included in build** setting is what changes the project's default. Tattoos in a clothing build are converted for GTA V Enhanced along with the rest of the pack when you build for Enhanced.

:::frame{caption="Tattoos in the clothing pack's Build project window."}
![The Build project window with the Tattoos section listing the tattoos that will be written](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/tattoo-builds.c82ff44788.webp)
:::

### As a standalone resource

**Build standalone pack** in the Tattoo Creator builds tattoos as their own FiveM resource, with no clothing pack needed. Save your edits first: the pack is built from the saved project.

:::frame{caption="The Build tattoo pack window."}
![The Build tattoo pack window with resource name, collection name, fxmanifest fields, output folder, tattoo list and extra files](https://pub-57d6558d0e204696b4cdeee5d172e561.r2.dev/cloth-tool/features/tattoo-pack-settings.ca96684ec1.webp)
:::

New in 2.0.8, it opens the **Build tattoo pack** window, where you choose how the resource is made:

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Resource name** | The folder name, and what `server.cfg` starts with `ensure`. Lowercase letters, digits, `_` and `-` only, up to 64 characters, so the name is safe for FiveM. |
| **Collection name** | The name the tattoos are registered under in the game files and in tattoo menus. The window shows what it becomes, for example **Registered as** `mypack_overlays`. Leave it empty to use the resource name. |
| **fxmanifest.lua**: **Author**, **Version**, **Description** | Written into the resource's `fxmanifest.lua`. Empty fields use the project's own details. |
| **Output folder** | Where the resource goes. Left empty, you are asked when you build. |
| **Tattoos** | Which tattoos go in. This choice applies to this build only; the tattoo's **Included in build** setting is the default. |
| **Extra files** | **illenium-appearance entries**, **Include prices in the entries**, **INSTALL.txt with setup steps**, and **Open the folder when done**. |

A summary at the bottom counts the tattoos and zones and estimates the size. **Reset to defaults** puts every setting back, and **Build pack** builds it.

:::hint{type="info" title="A name of its own"}
A tattoo resource cannot share a name with your clothing pack: two resources with one name cannot both start on a server. In a project that also has clothing, the resource name starts as `<name>_tattoos`. If you type a name the clothing pack already uses, the window says so and offers **Use …** with a free name.
:::

Your choices are saved in the project, so the next build, or a teammate's, starts from them. A standalone tattoo resource is GTA V Legacy only; for Enhanced, include the tattoos in a clothing build with the Enhanced target.

### What a tattoo build writes

- one `.ytd` per tattoo in the stream folder, with soft edges kept,
- `<collection>_overlays.xml` and `shop_tattoo.meta`, in the game's own format,
- `illenium-appearance_tattoos.lua` — ready-to-paste entries for illenium-appearance's `shared/tattoos.lua`, grouped by zone,
- `INSTALL.txt` with the install steps,
- `fxmanifest.lua` with the author, version and description you chose.

In a standalone pack, `illenium-appearance_tattoos.lua` and `INSTALL.txt` can be left out under **Extra files**.

Every illenium-appearance entry can also carry the tattoo's **In-game price** as `cost`: in a clothing build when [shop export](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/shop-metadata) is on, and in a standalone pack with **Include prices in the entries**. Set `Config.ChargePerTattoo = true` in illenium-appearance's config to use it.

## Related pages

- [Building](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/building)
- [Shop Metadata](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/shop-metadata)
- [GTA V Enhanced](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/gta-v-enhanced)
- [3D Preview](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/3d-preview)