How to texture custom items

[amycus]

so what all i need to make my model work? I gues first i need the UV map saved as .dds and then the normal map item_n.dds?

 

Note: The UW map isn't saved as a dds, I think you mean the diffuse map (the map that gives the main color). The uw map itself should already be there when you export if you have the "unwrap UWV" placed on it and working.

 

 

 

I might be wrong, but from what I've read around it seems that after that you should just need to go to the "materials" window, select one of the grey orbs, and put the textre images in the relevant slots, then drag the now textured ball into your whole selected mesh (if asked, choose "assign to selection". Then render it to check that the textures look as they should. When all this is done you should be ready to export it as a nif. As for other tools like GECK and the process after that, I don't dare to make any further comments.

 

Since I have acess to the modders board (The TES specific one as well) I will post there to ask them to take a look at this thread. Should be better than that I post any further guesses :tongue:

Yes that is what i did and when i put it in game it was dark pink, so i read that i need to make those two dds files and as it looks now i dont even know how to create the not normal map one. So how do i make those dds files?

 

Let's see if I got this right, when you put the textures in the slots (in the material panel), you still had them in another format then .dds while exporting. Been there done that :P

 

If you have photoshop you need an Nvidea plugin, then choose "save as" and choose dds. A window will pop up asking you further details of where to save it. I will look around and post a download link and further information by editing this message later.

 

(If you have gimp, there should be another plugin for that too, but I don't know too much about that)

 

EDIT: Download link if you use photoshop: http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

Details for setting when you save coming up..

 

EDIT2: when the window pops up while trying to save as .dds, choose "DXT5" from the upper left drop down. That's what you do in DA:O and I see no reason why it wouldn't work in Oblivion

Edited July 17, 2011 by amycus

[GohanCZ]

Nono i did it like this. I unwrapped UV map, exported it as JPG file, opened in PS, coloured it and saved as jpg again. Then i went to material editor, loaded that as a diffuse color map and in 3ds max it looked ok. Then i exported it as nif, put in oblivion and got dark pink item.

And now i seem to be confused because i dont know where will i get the original dds file because i thought it is made from that exported UV unwrapped map and just opened in photoshop, coloured and saved as dds file.

[amycus]

Nono i did it like this. I unwrapped UV map, exported it as JPG file, opened in PS, coloured it and saved as jpg again. Then i went to material editor, loaded that as a diffuse color map and in 3ds max it looked ok. Then i exported it as nif, put in oblivion and got dark pink item.

And now i seem to be confused because i dont know where will i get the original dds file because i thought it is made from that exported UV unwrapped map and just opened in photoshop, coloured and saved as dds file.

 

Alright, I will see if I can make some sense of this :biggrin:

 

"opened in PS, coloured it and saved as jpg again"

After you are finished colouring it, choose "save as", and save as .dds while in photoshop. Then load that .dds file in the material editor. Note that when rendering it with a dds file while you still are in 3ds max, the colours sometimes look washed out (so don't worry too much if they do, and IF they do look as before that's not something to worry about either).

 

You will also need to remember, where exactly is the game supposed to find the .dds files? In DA:O you just put them in the same folder as the mesh files, but it might not be the same in oblivion (I will however say that if all the textures are only on your desktop for instance, there is no way that the game will know to look for them there). This should be mentioned in any tutorial about the subject, even if it is just about making armor in blender. I'm just saying this because it is a common error to "forget" to place the textures in the proper folder.

 

"And now i seem to be confused because i dont know where will i get the original dds file because i thought it is made from that exported UV unwrapped map and just opened in photoshop, coloured and saved as dds file."

Not sure what you mean by this. Can you clarify? Remember, the "exported UW map" is just a template (doesn't really matter what file format this one is, since it's not suppossed to be in the game itself. It's just there to guide you when painting the diffuse map), the picture that actually adds colour is the diffuse map (this one needs to be saved as .dds for the game to be able to read)"

 

EDIT: Some helpful guides that should help you.

 

Video tutorial for making weapons in oblivion (with 3ds max). Quality on the vid is a bit bad, but the tutorial itself is good.

 

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Blender/Custom_Sword

(yes, its for blender, but it should still be of help on the process. It's pretty much just the shortcuts that won't be relevant. AND you don't need to worry about 2ds max 2010 not supporting dds files. It should do that by deafult.

Edited July 17, 2011 by amycus

[GohanCZ]

 

 

"And now i seem to be confused because i dont know where will i get the original dds file because i thought it is made from that exported UV unwrapped map and just opened in photoshop, coloured and saved as dds file."

Not sure what you mean by this. Can you clarify? Remember, the "exported UW map" is just a template (doesn't really matter what file format this one is, since it's not suppossed to be in the game itself. It's just there to guide you when painting the diffuse map), the picture that actually adds colour is the diffuse map (this one needs to be saved as .dds for the game to be able to read)"

Okay, we are getting only deeper into my confusion :biggrin: so where will i get the file i am supposed to save as .dds? What file am i supposed to colour and then save as .dds?From what do i make the .dds file?

Edit: Oh not that vid, its so bad quality it makes my eyes hurt.

Edit2: im looking at the blender tutorial and i have no idea what is he talking about since i am using only 3ds max so that tutorial is kinda useless for me.

Edited July 17, 2011 by GohanCZ

[GohanCZ]

Ok so how do i create the original .dds file? Lets say all i have in 3ds max is now my model. I just have my model, didnt give it any materials or anything, so how do i get my dds file?

[amycus]

 

 

"And now i seem to be confused because i dont know where will i get the original dds file because i thought it is made from that exported UV unwrapped map and just opened in photoshop, coloured and saved as dds file."

Not sure what you mean by this. Can you clarify? Remember, the "exported UW map" is just a template (doesn't really matter what file format this one is, since it's not suppossed to be in the game itself. It's just there to guide you when painting the diffuse map), the picture that actually adds colour is the diffuse map (this one needs to be saved as .dds for the game to be able to read)"

Okay, we are getting only deeper into my confusion :biggrin: so where will i get the file i am supposed to save as .dds? What file am i supposed to colour and then save as .dds?From what do i make the .dds file?

Edit: Oh not that vid, its so bad quality it makes my eyes hurt.

 

Ok, maybe I will have some use of that vid to help you at least ;D

I will start over with step by step instructions.

 

1) Select the "unwrap uwv" modifier, predd "edit" to show a window similar to this:

http://waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/tut406_b.jpg

2) In the smae window, go to file-->export UW template in 2024*2024, save as .PNG (Will make things easier in photoshop.

3) Open photoshop. Open the newly extracted .png file. Go to the lower right and duplicate layer. Select the lower layer.

4) Now, start painting. The wire will be seen above, which in my opinion makes it easier. Just press the "eye" icon besides the upper layer when you want to see your colouring better. When you are finished, delete the upper layer and flatten image (assuming that you have made several new ones why colouring).

5) Go to "Save as" in photoshop. If you have downloaded and installed the plug-in from before (http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop), you should have the option to save as .dds. When you try to save as .dds this window will pop up:

http://developer.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/akamai/tools/images/Photoshop_TextureCompression.jpg

In the upper left corner, choose "DXT5", and hit save again. Congrats, you just saved it as a .dds Now do the happy dance :dance:

6) Go back to 3ds max with you mesh open. Go to the material editor and make sure that you fill the slot for the diffuse map with the .dds you just made.

Edited July 17, 2011 by amycus

[GohanCZ]

Allright so i make the dds file from the uv template afterall. Thanks.

[GohanCZ]

And i guess the normal map i ll make from the dds file right?

[amycus]

And i guess the normal map i ll make from the dds file right?

 

Yup. When you have made the "coloured map", just double the layer in the lower right corner, select the upper one and activate the nDO script (as said earlier you need to download this plugin. It isn't in photoshop by deafult). This will generate a "purple" version of your colour map. Just change the setting in the window that pops up after activationg nDO to change the details. When you are done, flatten the image and "save as" a .dds again. Just make sure to give it a different name so you don't overwrite the diffuse map.

 

EDIT: Found a written tutorial for 3ds max specifically on custom weapons for oblivion:

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/3ds_Max/NifSkope:_Custom_Weapons

Edited July 17, 2011 by amycus

[zerther]

And i make the texture, the colouring from the exported UV unwrapped map right? I mean i render it for export, save it as JPG, colour it and save it as dds?

Or where do i get the original.dds file? Not the normal map? I seem to be confused now

 

Hey, bro, got your pm. I'm not a pro at this, but I can tell you how I textured my sword.

I used Blender to model the sword/make a UV Layout, and Photoshop (with the Nvidia DDS plugin) to save the DDS file and Normal Maps (normal maps with the Nvidia Normal Map Filter plugin)

 

I'm not sure if this is the same in 3DMax, but I have to save an image as a Targa TGA file in order to load it up in the UV image editor in Blender. After I position my UV Layout (in Blender) over the TGA image in use, I go into Photoshop, save the TGA image as a DDS file, put the DDS file in the oblivion textures folder, and in Nifskope, set the texture location to that folder by clicking on the purple flower icon (I just found out that the texture location has to start with "texture\" so "texture\yourfolder\dds file" or "texture\dds file" (without quotations). Also, I've been able to load meshes in the game without normal maps--they aren't needed to use the item, but if you want it to reflect light and look pretty, then yeah you need one.

 

EDIT: Just noticed that someone gave you a pretty good answer. I guess two are better than one.

Edited July 18, 2011 by zerther