http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy80/HupOranje/BlankSign.jpg

Can anyone explain why the texture in the picture is brown while the model in Nifskope with the texture is green?

Hmmmm that is strange, I'm not really sure to be honest - though I have had many textures that look wrong in NifSkope but come out perfectly in-game.

How does it look in-game?

Its the Mama Dolce (SignMamaDolce in Geck & Architecture\Urban\Signage\SignMamaDolce.NIF for the model) sign with the text branch removed so I can add my own and make a sign. It looks green in the game as well.

Man - how strange...

I used the tried and true Clyde Tambaugh blink-method, taking other NIF files that don't have the strange green-ness with the MamaDoche sign, and I could find No Key differences in the flagging that would cause this! It's strange, I can't tell if the NIF is just darkening the image and making it "look" green, or if the colors were actually modified to strip reds/blues out or add tons of green?

Sorry I'm not helping at all here, we need a real texture-expert to school us both. :ahhh:

It is strange. If I turn the sign on its side, the border does seem to match texture, but its small and hard to tell. Without the color matching, I can't really tell where to line up the text, or even if it will show up. I'm going to skip that blank I made for now until someone can clarify it for us.

I found the colors. Its in the NiTriStripsData under Vertex Colors. I think that makes it too difficult for me to add my own text to it. So unless someone can explain how to add text to a nif that is setup like that, I'm going to have to look for a different sign blank. Fortunately, there are 6-7 I found, and I have been successful with two of three so far.

I know diddly about nifskope. So personally, I would import it into blender and see where it lines up on the uvmap (and you can make it big and zoom in).

Not really helpful for the nifskope route, just the way I would end up doing it.

You delete the 'text' blocks from the sign.

Then you right-click on '7 NiTriStrips' and select >Texture and >Export Template and you will get the area of the texture that is used by the mesh. Now you know where to put your text on the base texture.

It might be more simple than that if you simply put the text/details right onto the texture, and save the texture as a new DDS. You will have one texture per-sign, which is how I ended-up doing it.

I don't like that sign, the green is strange - most of the signs are not like that. The posters for example don't have that strange green issue.

Thanks, WillieSea. I'll give that a go.

One more question. How can I dirty up the text?

This one is more challenging, but I think I can help a bit here. I faced the same challenge last year in wanting to age my textures, be it for posters, signs or anything. I ended-up turning to the professionals and got the DOSCH DESIGN Texture Aging Kit, which was a rosetta stone for me in learning how to make aged-textures. http://71.114.110.202/Poster_Quantum.jpg of one of my posters using their methods, and this isn't even a good one anymore (its older compared to some of my newer ones, which I don't have on-line yet). Still it will give you a general feel, they get ALOT better looking than this poster.

I'll try to abbreviate the process below for you tonight to try-out if your interested. All it requires is the GIMP, your textures and some aged-textures (many of which you can get free on-line). I'll try to send you some samples as well. The process of aging is all about adding new layers above your image that contain the aged textures, and then applying a "Soft Light" or "Hard Light" to those aged textures (which makes them blend-into your base texture instead of over-writing it).

I'm at work right now and don't have the GIMP in front of me, but I'll bang-out a procedure tonight for it. I really should add it as a new chapter into my Modeling/Texture tutorial to formalize it, which I may if the short-form tonight works well for you.

Stay Tuned,

Miax

That example may not be your best, but it looks awesome to me. I look forward to your short form tutorial. And, thanks!

I use photoshop.

What I do to 'age' text is to make the text layer a bit transparent so the rough background shows through. I will also use the 'erase' tool to make bits of the text vanish, like it was worn away.
Lastly, I will apply a texture to the text like sandstone, which adds 'noise' to the colors on the text.

My horse colliced last night and I've been up walking a trench in the arena most of the night, so I wasn't able to 100% complete this mini-tutorial. However I have all of the imagery and process done, and will have a complete tutorial (same format as my others) done tonight for your review. I include tutorials on two different methods I use for texture aging, hopefully it will help with an understanding of the process. Give me just one more day..

Stay Tuned!

Miax

(And for my FWE-friends, this was only a 48-hour delay on my Tommy Gun work, which is still proceeding apace.

Horse walking, tommy gun work, tutorial making, forum posting, work, ontario wife, real life, where do you find the time? Take as long as you need friend!

Insanity runs deep in my veins...

More to come soon

Finally got this put together, was 3 days total so a bit longer than I expected. The thread link is http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1077456

Let me know if you run into any trouble or have any questions.

Now back to the Tommy Gun - FWE Awaits! :gun:

Cheers!

Miax

Thanks Miax! I have been waiting ever so patiently. I'm gonna check it out right now.

The aging process went well, but I have run into another problem.

http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy80/HupOranje/Signs2.jpg

When I make a sign where the text spans two lines, the sign looks fine. But When I have a single line of text, part of the text appears on the top and bottom planes of the sign. It appears to me that the model is using the middle of the texture to paint the top and bottom planes. How difficult would it be to place a second copy of the blank portion (no text) of the texture and have the model use the second copy as a reference to paint the top and bottom of the model?

You are correct in that the sign's UV map is using a slice in the middle for the sign. The best way to fix it would be to load-up Blender and re-UV-map the edges - once you know Blender it will take you 5 minutes. Resistance is futile, you Will be assimilated!

However until that day, you have a couple of options:

1. Use another sign template instead of that one to avoid the problem.

2. Work within the limitations of the UV-map and avoid the problem.

3. Have a modeller here fix it real quick so you don't have the problem (I'd be very happy to, just let me know what NIF file your using).

4. Click on the Modeling and Texturing tutorial in my Sig, which will also lead you to Artisten's video-version, and join the dark side.

Up to you bud. I'll be happy to fix it if you like.

Miax

yup, its the way the faces are being mapped in the UV.

http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
blender 2.5 has some really nice features for UV mapping, you might want to check it out some time.

you can probably tweak the UV in nifskope if you really don't to use blender. of course if you make any changes to the UV map you will have to point the GECK to your edited NIF.

And to pump even MORE nanobots into your bloodstream, you should know that Echonite made one of the best video tutorials I ever studied - which was how to use Blender to UV Map a shield. That one lesson on UV mapping will change how you mod forever. The links to it are in my YouTube thread atop the GECK forum and in my Modeling and Textures tutorial.

LOL, I guess I have no choice but to be assimilated. I awlays wanted to be a Borg.

In the meantime, I opted for solution #2 and just made 2-line signs. I'd have you fix it for me Miax, but that would take all fun out of being assimilated. I shall endevour to read/watch the UV maping tutorials and add yet another tid-bit of Fallout modding lore to my brain.