[Alex Blacke]

http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/varga/index11.php I forgot who posted this link in the first place in the other thread, but BIG thanks for it (and to Paul Tosca for writing it up) It continues onward from page 11 as well, I still haven't read the whole thing- too busy. (started playing WoW, oops)

Bomret, I'll do a bit of thinking about how I can describe it a little better.

[Daddy Cool!]

Ok Ok, I think I'm getting the idea. Seems that my brain is low on battery tonight. Thanks for the tut, Kitty

So I did a very quick test with a texture I already had finished. The first one is the old normal map with the shabby blue channel, the second pic shows the just created normal where I used hard light for the red and green channel and multiply on the blue channels (which I copied into a new project, multiplied them and copied them back in after the normals have been flattended). It does make a difference (imho). Some of the elements have more contrast and seem to stick out a bit more. Take a look yourself:

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg135/Bomret/ScreenShot0.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg135/Bomret/ScreenShot1.jpg

The new normal map itself features all the fat oranges and reds you were talking about, Ghogiel

So I will amend my tut tomorrow. The method itself works as it should but the blue channel needs a bit more work to get an even smoother result. I'm really happy to learn something new here

[Amiee Kent]

With some searching we can fine many ways to normal. No one is the right way. They are ways which give you a different ending texture. If I'm looking for height I'll be loss detail. If I'm looking for find detail then I can't use the same way as I use to make it with height. If I want a smooth look As in Trottlekitty example then it still another way.

This are all good way. But remember it's the ending style that you'll need that will pick a way of doing it.

[Lauren Dale]

Edit: What I forgot. Ghogiel I think you forgot to reduce the normal map back to original size (cut of the edges). The normal map that's been posted is in a matrix. It looks heavily misplaced.

crap thats exactly what I did. sorry bout that.

New comparison- a tad unfair though.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c85/lego-botz/textures/Comparison1Bomrets.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c85/lego-botz/textures/Comparison1Mine.jpg

This time I used a plain flat white texture. all the detail you see is normal maps self shadowing. I exaggerated my normal quite a lot. I wouldn't do that with it really, just trying to demonstrate some features.


Edit: hehe, with normals like that, now you'll really see dxt compression play havok!

[cassy]

First off this is for my personal use and learning experience

I have only just begun looking into the Construction Kit and I know VERY little about modding or texturing and such. What I really want to do it very simple ... I think ... I have downloaded so many cool mods with really awesome looking equipment in but all the content or the enchantments and such ruin my idea of balance in the game. So what I want to do is simply change the look of the items I do use in Oblivion.

Example I really like the look of the knife from the shadow ranger mood, its looks really lethal or the little handaxe called Volkoth from a legendary weapons mods. I want to take those Meshes and Textures and make Methrunes Razor look like that. I love Nico's arrows but I think his bows are too extravagant and they look so cumbersome so I want to use his arrows instead of daedric and so forth.

I just want to improve my visual Oblivion experience and make my character look cool

Any help greatly appriciated

Eggz76 can you start by posting screens. :read:

[Rhiannon Jones]

http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/varga/index11.php I forgot who posted this link in the first place in the other thread, but BIG thanks for it (and to Paul Tosca for writing it up) It continues onward from page 11 as well, I still haven't read the whole thing- too busy. (started playing WoW, oops)

Bomret, I'll do a bit of thinking about how I can describe it a little better.

Throttlekitty Thanks for finding the link. Sometime a link will be dead over time. So if anyone find a dead link let me know. Also let me know if good new links are found. When we get to thread to the link page will all ways be the first page. So you'll never have to go back to the first thread to find link. When we get to 185 or so posts here someone p.m. me. So I can get the next thread ready. Because some of the most useful helpful hint will be moved into thread 2. I don't believe in going back threads if you don't have. So Ghogiel normals how to will move to a single post. Bomret will also move to a single post on the subject, and so on for everyone else.

[dav]

I don't have photoshop, and am still struggling through many areas of PSP. So many skills I still want to develop, and now that I am homeschooling our son, so much less time...

Anyway, the hardest thing for me is making a good looking seamless tile, and one that doesn't have that quilted look to it. I know how to spot photos that scream out "Good for a seamless tile". But sometimes one has to use textures that aren't so seamless tile friendly. Like tree bark.

I know of Texture Maker, but the controls for that are too high level for me. Still, a definite to get later on, as it looks really good, once one knows what to do with it.

I found Seamless Texture Generator, by Shawn C. Swift, and it seems quite nice for many types of tiles. We're getting that when the income tax refund arrives. It's nice and simple to use, free-standing rather than a plugin, and quite affordable. It also looks like a good one for our 7 year old son to use for his graphic work. But it is a simplistic program, and I still would like to get another program as well.

Are there any other seamless tile programs that are either plugins that work with PSP9, or are free-standing programs, and are reasonably simple to use?

[Stace]

I don't have photoshop, and am still struggling through many areas of PSP. So many skills I still want to develop, and now that I am homeschooling our son, so much less time...

Anyway, the hardest thing for me is making a good looking seamless tile, and one that doesn't have that quilted look to it. I know how to spot photos that scream out "Good for a seamless tile". But sometimes one has to use textures that aren't so seamless tile friendly. Like tree bark.

I know of Texture Maker, but the controls for that are too high level for me. Still, a definite to get later on, as it looks really good, once one knows what to do with it.

I found Seamless Texture Generator, by Shawn C. Swift, and it seems quite nice for many types of tiles. We're getting that when the income tax refund arrives. It's nice and simple to use, free-standing rather than a plugin, and quite affordable. It also looks like a good one for our 7 year old son to use for his graphic work. But it is a simplistic program, and I still would like to get another program as well.

Are there any other seamless tile programs that are either plugins that work with PSP9, or are free-standing programs, and are reasonably simple to use?

Hi Redwoodtreesprite -

Have you seen my post in the thread at the Morrowind Modding forum? PaintShop Pro comes with quite a good plugin for making seamless textures. I think it's there in v. 9, but I'm not 100% sure.

Swiveller

[Trish]

Hi Redwoodtreesprite -

Have you seen my post in the thread at the Morrowind Modding forum? PaintShop Pro comes with quite a good plugin for making seamless textures. I think it's there in v. 9, but I'm not 100% sure.

Swiveller

It does, but it tends to make "quilted" looking textures or ones that don't blend as well as I'd like.

I need something that blends better and doesn't make bumps in the textures.

[Sophh]

I don't have photoshop, and am still struggling through many areas of PSP. So many skills I still want to develop, and now that I am homeschooling our son, so much less time...

Anyway, the hardest thing for me is making a good looking seamless tile, and one that doesn't have that quilted look to it. I know how to spot photos that scream out "Good for a seamless tile". But sometimes one has to use textures that aren't so seamless tile friendly. Like tree bark.

I know of Texture Maker, but the controls for that are too high level for me. Still, a definite to get later on, as it looks really good, once one knows what to do with it.

I found Seamless Texture Generator, by Shawn C. Swift, and it seems quite nice for many types of tiles. We're getting that when the income tax refund arrives. It's nice and simple to use, free-standing rather than a plugin, and quite affordable. It also looks like a good one for our 7 year old son to use for his graphic work. But it is a simplistic program, and I still would like to get another program as well.

Are there any other seamless tile programs that are either plugins that work with PSP9, or are free-standing programs, and are reasonably simple to use?

Can you start by posting bark. Post different ones and we'll show the up side of making a tilable and the things to look for and correct before going to the seamless step.
As for programs seamless texture generator (STG) Pro is the one that most's comes up as industry standards for doing it quick. But they later clone more and add grudge maps and other layers.
I like seamless factory as it works with the mathematics of the X sides and the y top bottom. So you can drag and stop at any point. Cloning after that will make it look nice.
Check your brushes to see if you have drop shadow brushes. psp and photoshop are close to the same thing but control may be in a different spot.

[Claire Lynham]

Can you start by posting bark. Post different ones and we'll show the up side of making a tilable and the things to look for and correct before going to the seamless step.
As for programs seamless texture generator (STG) Pro is the one that most's comes up as industry standards for doing it quick. But they later clone more and add grudge maps and other layers.
I like seamless factory as it works with the mathematics of the X sides and the y top bottom. So you can drag and stop at any point. Cloning after that will make it look nice.
Check your brushes to see if you have drop shadow brushes. psp and photoshop are close to the same thing but control may be in a different spot.

http://www.elricm.com/nuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=4218
I want to get good tiles of these for a Morrowind mod and mod resource. Redwood tree bark is tricky, as it tends to have longer "strips" of bark that spiral up the tree. I realize that would be very difficult to do though. So it will take some playing around to get the best look for the bark. I was able to get a smooth tile with PSP, but it didn't look good for a redwood tree.

------------------------------------------------------

EDIT - I just tried Seamless Factory, and it does look good. That and STG seems to work well together.

[Emerald Dreams]

http://www.elricm.com/nuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=4218
I want to get good tiles of these for a Morrowind mod and mod resource. Redwood tree bark is tricky, as it tends to have longer "strips" of bark that spiral up the tree. I realize that would be very difficult to do though. So it will take some playing around to get the best look for the bark. I was able to get a smooth tile with PSP, but it didn't look good for a redwood tree.

------------------------------------------------------

EDIT - I just tried Seamless Factory, and it does look good. That and STG seems to work well together.

They can be made into tree textures, but they will not look right. 1x width 2x height. So cropping it will leave us will little more then a big pattern that will be repeated. Redwoods are hard to take a pictures of. If your close, your too close if your further back other trees will start getting in the way.
check here
http://www.cgtextures.com/
go to wood/tree Bark/deciduous......or tree bark/pine Look at them all before you open a picture. if you click on it. It will load so you might as well save image as. Because you get a 15 mbs every 24hrs. So pick what you need the first day. Look for ones that are 1x wide by 2 x tall. Then we will have an image to work will that will not patten.
I'm guess you live somewhere around Santa Cruz. But know your textures I would have guessed Humbolt country. :bolt:

[Lakyn Ellery]

They can be made into tree textures, but they will not look right. 1x width 2x height. So cropping it will leave us will little more then a big pattern that will be repeated. Redwoods are hard to take a pictures of. If your close, your too close if your further back other trees will start getting in the way.
check here
http://www.cgtextures.com/
go to wood/tree Bark/deciduous......or tree bark/pine Look at them all before you open a picture. if you click on it. It will load so you might as well save image as. Because you get a 15 mbs every 24hrs. So pick what you need the first day. Look for ones that are 1x wide by 2 x tall. Then we will have an image to work will that will not patten.
I'm guess you live somewhere around Santa Cruz. But know your textures I would have guessed Humbolt country. :bolt:

The photos were taken in the Santa Cruz mountains. I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley, and my family spent 1-2 weeks in the redwoods each year. But then I moved to the wasteland of Texas. We took a 3 week vacation in the Bay Area last year, and I tried to get some decent pics of redwoods. Not an easy thing to do with a low-end digital camera. This summer we get to go back again, and I hope to have a better camera. I really want to get some nice pics of banana slugs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://rapidshare.com/files/86318974/PossibleRedwoods.7z Some I would need to tint.

We're still at least a week away from being able to get the two tiling programs though, so it just PSP for now...

[Ludivine Dupuy]

http://www.bmath.net/dc/ind.htm and PatternEditUndo are some great filters for working with seamless images. It doesn't actually *do* anything for you, just tiles the image differently, so the vertical and horizontal borders meet in the center, rather than the corners. And it works on selections, which I find useful. Any work afterwards is up to you, but it makes a great companion to an app that does do the seamless stuff for you, or minor corrections.

(the link is in with the DCPro pack) I think I may have to check more of these out- that outliner one looks nice.

I'm fairly certain this plugin will run on PSP. Ah, info is at the top of the page, it does run on PSP.

[Sophie Morrell]

http://www.bmath.net/dc/ind.htm and PatternEditUndo are some great filters for working with seamless images. It doesn't actually *do* anything for you, just tiles the image differently, so the vertical and horizontal borders meet in the center, rather than the corners. And it works on selections, which I find useful. Any work afterwards is up to you, but it makes a great companion to an app that does do the seamless stuff for you, or minor corrections.

(the link is in with the DCPro pack) I think I may have to check more of these out- that outliner one looks nice.

I'm fairly certain this plugin will run on PSP. Ah, info is at the top of the page, it does run on PSP.

Thanks Throttlekitty embarrassing question ( but then again I'm an Embarrassment ) I can't tell by your name are you male or female.
I'm putting you link up in the front page. Now to make you mad here's another link. This a direct link from the site to us with the owners blessings.

http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorials

It take me three hours to make the tutorial Mainly because I'm dyslexic so writing it wasn't easy. I'll try and check spelling later then post. When I was done. I starting the texture again as it was different colors to show where to blend. That one take me 17 minutes.

[Jessica Colville]

You'll need a swift player to watch.
http://www.globfx.com/downloads/swfplayer/
it's free
how to remove variations with the High Pass filter
http://www.cgtextures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=147

Also Creating tileable textures out of complex patterns.
http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=tilingpatterns

[Sierra Ritsuka]

Great thread here, guys! :tops:

Sorry I missed your post. I :bowdown: to you....We're not worthy.

Making worn out text on a metal surface
http://hfx.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorial1.html

Making a dark metal surface
http://hfx.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorial2.html

Making scratches on a metal surface
http://hfx.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorial3.html

Making a worn out metal plate
http://hfx.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorial4.html

[Misty lt]

For us real n00bs out here who want know how to start at the beginning with GIMP Conan_lon has kindly explained the real basics how to create a DDS file in the RELZ thread of Gimp (http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=801460)
Everything that's being said here is useful but I couldn't find out where to start..

it seems everyone knows how to texture items except for me

no Biggie I'll find it out with the help of TESwiki and some other tuts

ps. this doesn't mean I think this thread is useless or anything, it's just a little out of my league

[Javaun Thompson]

For us real n00bs out here who want know how to start at the beginning with GIMP Conan_lon has kindly explained the real basics how to create a DDS file in the RELZ thread of Gimp (http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=801460)
Everything that's being said here is useful but I couldn't find out where to start..

it seems everyone knows how to texture items except for me

no Biggie I'll find it out with the help of TESwiki and some other tuts

ps. this doesn't mean I think this thread is useless or anything, it's just a little out of my league

Can you ask conan_lon to put everything into one post and post it here. Over time a cross thread can go dead.
There are tons of nOObs. But for some reason they do not want to post a simple question. This thread is made just for that. But we can not make anyone post a question, even though everyone had to start somewhere.

[Reven Lord]

Man this whole normal mapping issue really needs some time to get familiar with It will take some time until I am able to update my tutorial.

[Katie Samuel]

Here's what Conan_lon said
he wasn't specific about making textures for items or anything just the basics about making a dds and the normal map etc..

Here is a quick tutorial for those that are new to GIMP and/or new to working with DDS files.

GIMP DDS Tutorial

Assumptions:
- You've installed GIMP 2.4.3 (or higher) with the necessary plugins - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14920

1. Start GIMP
2. Click File, New
3. Set the following and click OK:
Width: 512
Height: 512 - Pixels
4. Select the "Bucket Fill Tool" and click on the image to fill it with a black color.
5. On the Layers window, click "Creat a new Layer" button.
6. On the New Layer dialog box, set the following and click OK:
- Layer Name: Initials
- Width: 512
- Height: 512 - px
- Layer Fill Type - Transparency
7. Select the "Paintbrush Tool"
8. Click the "Foreground Color" and change it from Black to a different color such as Red.
9. With the "Initials" layer selected, paint your initials on the image.
10. On the Layers window, click "Creat a new Layer" button.
11. On the New Layer dialog box, set the following and click OK:
- Layer Name: Outline
- Width: 512
- Height: 512 - px
- Layer Fill Type - Transparency
12. Click the "Foreground Color" and change it to another color such as Green.
13. With the "Outline" layer selected, paint around your initials on the image.
14. On the Image window, click File, Save As and change "Untitled" to "MyInitials.xcf" and click "Save"
15. Now let's prep this file for export to DDS format. Right-click on one of the layers and select "Merge Visible Layers", select "Clipped to bottom layer", check "Discard invisible layers" and click "Merge"
16. We now have a single layer. Click File, Save As and change the filename to "MyInitials.dds" and click Save.
17. On the "Save as DDS" dialog box, set Compression to "BC3 / DXT5", check "Generate mipmaps" and click OK.
18. Now we can create a normal map by clicking on Filters, Map, Normalmap.
19. On the Normalmap dialog box, click the "3D Preview" button.
20. Change Object type from "Quad" to "Teapot"
- Position the 3D Preview window so you can also see the Normalmap window.
- Click the "Rotate light" button on the top-left and then left-click and drag on the teapot to change the light position. I like moving it to the top.
- Click the "Rotate object" button on the top-left and then right-click and drag on the teapot to move the object closer/farther, left-click-n-drag to rotate the teapot.
21. On the Normalmap window, make adjustments appropriate for your normalmap:
- Filter: 4 Sample, Minimum Z: 1, Scale: 1 - Very slight depressions.
- Filter: 4 Sample, Minimum Z: 1, Scale: 5 - Deep grooves.
- Filter: Sobel 3x3, Minimum Z: 1, Scale: 1 - Deeper grooves.
- Filter: Sobel 3x3, Minimum Z: 1, Scale: 1 - Massive grooves.
- Invert X: Unchecked - Normal direction of light (you could inverse if you want)
- Invert Y: Unchecked - Normal direction of grooves (reversing turns grooves into raised spikes)
22. When happy with your settings, click OK and the image will turn into a purple normal map.
23. Click File, Save As, change the Name to "MyInitials_n.dds" and click "Save"
24. On the "Save as DDS" dialog box, set Compression to "BC3 / DXT5" and check "Generate mipmaps" and click OK.
25. Close GIMP

[James Rhead]

thanks yorkmaster this does help people.

Man this whole normal mapping issue really needs some time to get familiar with It will take some time until I am able to update my tutorial.

Bomret you say this as if you need another
http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=normalmap

[tegan fiamengo]

Cool! This could really come in handy (when I get off my butt and learn to really texture). Especially for making Normals. I'd like to think I did a pretty decent job with http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1308/mw33dy3.jpg for a mod I'm working on, but they probably could be improved more. For the time being
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7185/mw35bj7.jpg but I could look into seeing them made better later on.

Thanks for this Thread! :foodndrink:

[Miss K]

thanks yorkmaster this does help people.
Bomret you say this as if you need another
http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=normalmap

I already knew that one. It works similar to my method, but needs much more layers to accomplish a similar result. And it has the same issues with the blue channel. Although after doing a lot more testing I really can say that the difference between the initial method and the "new one" (where the blue channels of the normals are extracted, multiplied and copied back in) is hardly visible when normally playing.

[carly mcdonough]

Cool! This could really come in handy (when I get off my butt and learn to really texture). Especially for making Normals. I'd like to think I did a pretty decent job with http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1308/mw33dy3.jpg for a mod I'm working on, but they probably could be improved more. For the time being
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7185/mw35bj7.jpg but I could look into seeing them made better later on.

Thanks for this Thread! :foodndrink:

Ryu Doppler they look great



Heres another tutorial on high pass filter. It's 4 page with pictures. So click the next page at the bottom.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20010523/hajba_01.htm


Bomret I hope your feeling better. Have some http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v470/skydye/?action=view¤t=22778475.jpg that's get you 100% healthy.