V4d312 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Hi guys, i need your help I have added a few ornament details on vanilla ebony armor using photoshop. DDS file has been sucessfuly created. Now my question is, the ornament details is not showing "3d" in game instead it looked flat as if the ornament is a sticker (if that makes any sense). What i want to do is to make the details I have added appear raised with depth in game. How do I do this? I am a noob modder, so if any1 can please provide me a step by step instructions and tools needed would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance!!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorgongon Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 You should use normal maps: (http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop) and save them as the _n.dss file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MShoap13 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Generally this type of thing would be done through altering the normal map of the texture in question. The normal map should share the name of the main texture only it will end with "_n.dds". This can be done in Photoshop though someone else may be able to point you towards some more specific directions as to how you could easily do this in Photoshop. In some rare cases (depending on how "3D" you want your additions to appear) mesh work is used to pull this off while the normal maps just enhance the effect. This would require Blender. I personally recommend for you to start with altering the normal map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4d312 Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) So basically I use the same edited armor.dds texture file, then convert it using normal map and save it as _n.dds file? Thanks guy i'll give it a shot. Edited January 21, 2012 by V4d312 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perraine Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 So basically I use the same edited armor.dds texture file, then convert it using normal map and save it as _n.dds file? Thanks guy i'll give it a shot. Sort of ... Although it will work that way, the results generally aren't great ... Have a look at this (old) tutorial, although It's not specific for Skyrim, it offers VERY valuable insights into how to create a "better" Normal Map from a texture file: Normal Mapping Also have a look at the following video, again although It's not specifically for Skyrim and it's using Gimp, the information and techniques are very helpful, particularly combined with the information in the above tutorial: Basically you can learn how to modify your texture file to get a MUCH better result when converting it to a Normal Map Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4d312 Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Awesome!!!!! That gimp tutorial video is exactly what I needed :D Many thanks buddy, kudos to you!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4d312 Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 I finally did it!!!! Thanks a lot guys :D but I encountered another issue., the fabric part of the armor becomes really glossy. How do I flatten the surface? Many thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perraine Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 This can be caused by a number of things ... Skyrim uses several different methods of applying "light" to an object as well as determining how the object "reflects' that light ...http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc411/lrg1602/Skyrimage/Meh2.jpg In the above image you'll see that the "textures" has several files listed: The first is simply your 'Texture' (or diffuse map)The second is the (with the _n) "Normal Map"The third is the "Specular Map"And the for the is the "Mask" Now, not all meshes in Skyrim have the third and fourth file (the Specular and Mask files) So this is where the next part comes in, The "Normal Map" will have an "Alpha Channel", this is what tells the game how "shiny" or "Oily" to make the texture appear and this is what normally causes the problem in game ...There is a little tutorial video here Which is a great way to add the Alpha Channel you want to the Normal Map So let's give an example:http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc411/lrg1602/Skyrimage/1a.jpg Now in the first part of the image we have our Nord hero in his/her shiny Gilded Armor, but how do we tell the game what's 'shiny' and what's not? The game is capable of making an "educated guess" based on the colors in the image, but it really does a bad job most of the time, so we add an Alpha Channel Mask to the Normal Map to help it out, by using the technique in the video above ... Now there are several ways to 'create' the best result from your original texture , but just making a 'greyscale' copy isn't always the best, so sometimes it's best to manually 'tweak' the image to get the best result: In the second image we paste in, we've simply made everything black, which the game interprets as "dull" but that doesn't really make our "Armor" look very "Shiny or Gilded"In the third version we paste in, we've now made the Armor stand out by coloring it 'white' which the game interprets as "Shiny" .. But It's still not perfect because his/her skin is now Shiny as well ...The fourth version we paste in is way better ... Now we've made the armor Shiny and (white) and we've made the skin a bit less shiny (grey, which the game takes to mean "a little bit glossy") like skin should be ... I know it's a bit silly and cartoonish but hopefully you can get the idea of how to make different parts of your texture Glossy, Shiny, Oil, Smooth, Dull ... etc, etc ... There are some other things that can also cause the "shiny" issue, but they are a bit more complicated so try the above out first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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