How should one go about making a texture for a model? I mean if someone uploaded a model and requested a texture how should I start making the texture? Surely if I just start building it'll end up misaligned or something like that.
First step is to export a UV template (load the NIf into Nifskope and click on the Nitristrip of the model and do a Texture - Export Template (repeat for each tristrip if the model has more than one) - this will export a .tga file that has a wireframe model of the UVMap that you can then use to design the texture by importing those into a photo editing program like (GIMP or photoshop) - combine them if there are more than one tristrip and the layout of the UVmap will allow it (or make seperate textuures for each tristrip but that causes the model to require more than one texture !) - THis assumes the creator of the model made a UVMap for it in the 3d program (if not you'll need to do that first !)
Create your texture using that map and creating the texture for the various parts of the model Here are some screenshots of the process I use in Photoshop for example :
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/Templateoutline.jpg
I then make a selection template by using the magic wand tool to select the white background - inverting the selection to get all of the wireframes selected - expand the selection by 2 pixels to give some margin of error in placement around the edges and then adjust the lightness to make it black - http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/UVtemplatecompleted.jpg - Doing this then allows me to go to that layer and select the piece or pieces I want to texture easily using the magic wand tool (or select by color and delte he pieces I do not want selected)
For example I then select the boxes for the gold portions of the throne and using a gold texture I made paste it into the selection - http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/Goldpasted.jpg - I then repeat those steps for the rest of the pieces (go to the selection template layer select the piece(s) that I am working on - move to a new layer and paste the texture in the selection - repeat for the next piece ) Until I wind up with sometthing like http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/completed.jpg
Save that texture and then use it as a base to create your normal map
For the Normal map :
Open the .dds texture and do a select all - Copy (to place a copy of the image into the clipboard)
Then run the Nvidia tools Normal Map FIlter on the texture ( http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/Normalmapsettings.jpg )
After it runs go to the channels tab and paste the image from the clipboard into the alpha channel (create aa new alpha channel if one does not yet exist) - It will greyscale the image automatically when pasted. and adjust the brightness (I usually darken by about 50 -60 % to reduce the reflectivity of the model in game but the setting will vary depending on the object (Note you can also darken just portions to make some parts reflect more\less light as desired) - http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/Alphachannel.jpg
Save the normal map with the same name as the texture but with the _n.dds extension and be sure to save as DXT3 or DXT5 (I use DXT5 in most cases). (http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/?action=view¤t=normalmapcompleted.jpg)
Load the model in Nifskope and change the texture paths to point to your newly created .dds file and save the new NIF - load up the CS create the item using your new NIF and place in game !
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/SNAKETHRONE.jpg
This is a fairly quick rundown f the process for creating a texture and getting a proper textre may take several attempts and adjustments during the process but should at least give you a starting point !!