odd texture problems

[huntsman2310a]

i'm trying to make a retexture of the Mark 2 Combat armour for Fallout New Vegas, so far I've done the body armour, now i'm working on the helmet.

 

heres my problem.

 

When I load up the .Blend file of the Helmet (had to save it as that, the new Blender doesn't have nifscripts) it hasn't changed at all, so I retexture it and save it.

 

HOWEVER, I went back into Blender and loaded it up, and there was no change to it. The weird thing is in my UV image window i've selected a retexture i've made for it on GIMP, but it doesn't appear on the mesh at all.

 

I'm a bit confused.....

[LHammonds]

I'm a bit confused.....

I am as well. A retex does not typically require using Blender. Typically, you take the model / mesh and copy it to a unique folder for your mod's use. Then do the same with the textures the model came with by placing them in a unique folder path. Then use NifSkope to open the NIF file and simply change the texture path to the unique texture path pointing to your new location. This process allows the exact same resources in the game to be ready to become unique resources.

 

You then convert the DDS textures to something like PNG and then proceed to edit the image in your favorite image editor...maybe even pulling in the UV map which you can do while in NifSkope by extracting a TGA image of the map.

 

I don't know why you are pulling the model into Blender unless you are manipulating the model itself or the UV map...which goes a bit beyond calling it a simple retexture.

 

If you have a valid reason for pulling it into Blender, I can explain a process by which you should use when you are making texture changes and wanting to see it be reflected while in Blender.

 

LHammonds

[huntsman2310]

I'm a bit confused.....

I am as well. A retex does not typically require using Blender. Typically, you take the model / mesh and copy it to a unique folder for your mod's use. Then do the same with the textures the model came with by placing them in a unique folder path. Then use NifSkope to open the NIF file and simply change the texture path to the unique texture path pointing to your new location. This process allows the exact same resources in the game to be ready to become unique resources.

 

You then convert the DDS textures to something like PNG and then proceed to edit the image in your favorite image editor...maybe even pulling in the UV map which you can do while in NifSkope by extracting a TGA image of the map.

 

I don't know why you are pulling the model into Blender unless you are manipulating the model itself or the UV map...which goes a bit beyond calling it a simple retexture.

 

If you have a valid reason for pulling it into Blender, I can explain a process by which you should use when you are making texture changes and wanting to see it be reflected while in Blender.

 

LHammonds

 

yeah I overcomplicated it a bit didn't I?

 

But the reason I used Blender was because it has 3d painting, which is good for me because I am fricking horrible at figuring out UV maps, they are always so jumbled.

[LHammonds]

Well, I don't know of anyone using Blender as their texturing tool.

 

The main thing to do is to figure out the existing UV map. 1st thing to do is use Nifskope to export the UV template. Then open it in your image editor and delete the white space.

 

Then add the existing texture to a separate layer and keep the UV as the top layer.

 

You might need to change the hue of your UV so it contrasts the texture and is easily visible.

 

Then add layers between the two as the start of your own texture.

 

I sometimes just paint solid colors around specific UV islands and export that to DDS format to see how it looks on the model and take screenshots as reference so I can tell what I am looking at when looking at the 2D image.

 

I have an example of this on my photobucket account but I'm on my iPhone right now and will have to add the link later.

 

EDIT:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee11/Conan_Lon/Oblivion/WIP/Ultraviolet-Katanas.jpg

 

LHammonds

[huntsman2310a]

So say if I have a scarred,worn gun metal material for the main casing, and put a texture over that, would the main casing retain the properties of the material and the colour of the texture?

 

Or could I just skip textures all together and just use materials.

 

that would make the finished product look like a lump of grey goo wouldn't it?

[LHammonds]

So say if I have a scarred,worn gun metal material for the main casing, and put a texture over that, would the main casing retain the properties of the material and the colour of the texture?

 

Or could I just skip textures all together and just use materials.

 

that would make the finished product look like a lump of grey goo wouldn't it?

I'm not sure I follow what you are saying. Are you talking about dropping textures completely and using vertex colors? If so, that won't work very well. Vertex shading can help add to a texture but relying on it as a primary color option wouldn't work very well. I have a mod called Buddah Statues which has no texture file and as such, is limited to outside use only with bright sunlight as opposed to indoor lighting which looks very bad.

 

There are various settings in NifSkope that can affect a texture's appearance but most should be considered "after-the-fact" kinds of settings unless you are designing for a specific special effect such as reflective metal.

 

Take a look at this thread which has links to a few mods I've done that include the source textures.

 

LHammonds