Texturing:: Painting Creation (GIMP)

[InsanitySorrow]

Thank you Who, something kept telling me that there should be a flatten step. I forget where I was instructed in this...Maybe DarkRiders blanket recolor? I`ll try that now. IS, I can see why you`ve been away some. You`ve been a busy busy modder. Thank you so much for taking time to help me, I`ve got all these powerful tools in my tool box and learning how to use them takes so long.

Yup I have been busy, but I always try and make time to help out someone in need if I have the answer. Glad you are finding this all helpful

[donnato]

And so, here`s where I am so far. Does the .dds get filed as "textures", and the _n.dds as "meshes"?

Then, folders to desktop ( for convenience) and into Oblivion>Data>Textures, and Meshes respectively?

[WhoGuru]

.dds and _n.dds are both textures. Not meshes. The files extension for a mesh, which you wont need, is .nif

[donnato]

Of course, I`m sorry, I know this stuff. Guess I am getting a little confuddled here. Thanks. Also the "flatten image" button was grayed out until I saved, then I had to hit "anchor layer" then I could flatten. Totally wierding me out. It appears to have worked though, as long as it goes in-game.

[WhoGuru]

LOL No worries! I stumbled and stuttered through my first few paintings too. Trial and error will later to lead to expert work. Every mistake teaches you something.

[donnato]

Pretty much what`s keeping me going...that and y`all. Wanna ->

[WhoGuru]

Don't mind if I do.

[RedDragonDreamer]

Not sure whether I should post this snippet but move it if you want.

Now after doing numerous paintings, thanks to this tutorial, I have a good pointer I stumbled accross, if you're like me and like your pictures unblurred up close in game, instead of clothyfying your picture, do apply canvas and set it to 1 (trust me, 1 is perfect), now I know you're saying, wait, 1, it won't show the canvas look ingame.

Actually, it does, also when making your picture, the .png works best, and if you follow Insanity Sorrows tutorial ( like me ) when you go to save as a copy, if you want a superior quality painting look, save as DX3 alpha. then go and use it to make your normal map.

Another thing, colourful pictures work best for this, like daytime screenie landscapes.

Oh and if you want your picture to fit the rectangle sized painting frames better, change the size to 256 height and 512 width.

Thanks Insanity Sorrow for teaching me how to create a painting, hope this post doesn't offend you. Kudo's to you.

[InsanitySorrow]

It does not offend me it anyway , Its actually some good advice and definately welcome here

Edit: I quoted you and placed in the second post to help all newcomers

[freewaydog]

This must be done w/ GIMP? Can it not be done w/ paint.net or just ms paint? What else do I need, a nif program?

Edited April 7, 2010 by freewaydog

[InsanitySorrow]

This must be done w/ GIMP? Can it not be done w/ paint.net or just ms paint? What else do I need, a nif program?

Photoshop, GIMP and even Paint.net can do it, problably others too. Though you need some filters and the layer ability. Yes you'll need Nifskope , the first post should explain what you need.

[freewaydog]

Ok. I don't want to pay for photoshop, but I will try w/ paint.net which I do have, or I can download GIMP, it's free, right? I used to have it on my old computer when I played Morrowind.

[InsanitySorrow]

Yes GIMP is free, that's the main reason I wrote this tutorial for GIMP becuase many of our members here use it , Paint.Net may work, I have not tried making a painting in it before, so I'm not 100% sure if it's capable.

[freewaydog]

I downloaded GIMP anyway. If I use a photo from my computer that I already have, do I still need the GIMP? I am not really an artist, therefore I can't draw very well.

[InsanitySorrow]

Yes you can use whatever source picture you like, well as long as it's not a rule breaking one , So yeah photos and things like that can be used. The image I used in the tutorial is a picture from Morrowind

[Khettienna]

I have a tip to add as well. Anyone who can follow this tutorial can also likely do it.

If the .nif you've chosen stretches or crops your picture in ways you don't like, you can edit the UV map right there in Nifskope. The UV map is the thing that tells the .nif what parts of the texture to display where.

Right-click on the part of the displayed model in Nifskope that is showing your painting texture. From the context menu that appears, choose Texture, then Edit UV. A little window will appear showing your painting texture, as well as the points and lines of the UV map.

From the screenshot, you can see how the points on the UV map correspond to the corners of the painting. Just use your left mouse button to hold and drag these points around as needed to get exactly what you want in the picture. You may have to experiment to get it just right - but it can help you correct odd stretching and cropping if your texture wasn't quite the right dimensions/proportions for the frame you want to use.

All of the stock painting .nifs have very simple UV maps like this except the oval one - and that one is still fairly simple, but takes a little more effort to get "just right" due to the fact that the canvas itself is not completely flat. So you can use any frame with any painting without worrying about the proportions too much.

In addition, you can do the same to all of the stock tapestry .nifs and most of the stock rug .nifs (except, again, the oval one) to create your own rugs and tapestries using the same process IS has already described. Tailoring the UV to suit your textures will often yield much better results than trying to make the texture fit the mesh, and certainly can save you some wallbashing.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Khettienna

[donnato]

Ooh Khett, thank you so much.I`ve known that many things were possible in nifskope but have never been able to fully use it properly. This tip adds greatly to the tools I can use.

[freewaydog]

Second: Basic Normal Map

Note: This tutorial applies to any normal you want to create, this is a universal tutorial for creating basic normal maps

Step 1: So now we are going to create our normal map. The normal map is used to give our texture some more detail, with a detailed normal map you can give the surface of the texture a bump effect where the ridges etc stand out and look more detailed. The normal map also controls how the texture responds to some of the games shaders, for example it controls how the texture reflects the light.

Normal maps are saved as a .dds texture just like in our previous section, the major difference is that it is saved with a _n suffix.

Now make a copy of the texture we made in the previous section and add a _n suffix to it. After some changes this will become our normal map.

Is this right? Because my computer can't seem to handle a "_n suffix":

[InsanitySorrow]

It needs to be IC_n.dds, it goes at the end of the texture name.

[freewaydog]

AH! Thanks!

[freewaydog]

Ok, several things I don't get here:

1) Which texture do we use w/ the nif? We made 2 here, remember? So which is it, the 1st one that is a dxt1, or the 2nd one, which we made a "normalmap" out of & saved it as a dxt3? Or do we apply both? If we apply both, then how do we do that?

2) How do I get it to stick, once I AM able to determine which texture(s) to apply to the nif?

3) If by some miracle, I am able to make it stick, or what have you, what's this about w/ the saving, to "change the filepath"? Both my dds texture files were saved on my desktop! Should I have saved them someplace else? Please help me, I am just totally confused & frustrated!

Edited April 11, 2010 by freewaydog

[Arthmoor]

On 4/8/2010 at 4:25 AM, InsanitySorrow said:

Yes GIMP is free, that's the main reason I wrote this tutorial for GIMP becuase many of our members here use it , Paint.Net may work, I have not tried making a painting in it before, so I'm not 100% sure if it's capable.

It's capable. The only thing it lacks is a clothify/canvas filter. If you don't want that part done then it can handle the entire process, otherwise you'll still need GIMP. Paint.NET has a normal maps plugin that I think works very well and isn't anywhere near as complex as the one in GIMP.

Also, I've covered the process I use to make paintings. It's not nearly as great a tutorial as this one, but it gets the job done and I'm never disappointed in the results.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Arthmoor

[freewaydog]

Can anyone answer this please?

Ok, several things I don't get here:

1) Which texture do we use w/ the nif? We made 2 here, remember? So which is it, the 1st one that is a dxt1, or the 2nd one, which we made a "normalmap" out of & saved it as a dxt3? Or do we apply both? If we apply both, then how do we do that?

2) How do I get it to stick, once I AM able to determine which texture(s) to apply to the nif?

3) If by some miracle, I am able to make it stick, or what have you, what's this about w/ the saving, to "change the filepath"? Both my dds texture files were saved on my desktop! Should I have saved them someplace else? Please help me, I am just totally confused & frustrated!

[DarkRider]

Can anyone answer this please?

1) A texture gives a model it's color, and normal map gives it it's depth. So when you add a texture to a model, you want to add the texture not the normal map.

2) Once you apply the texture, save the model and overwrite the old model to make it stick

3) You want your textures and models to be in your DATA folder for your mod before you set texture paths.

[freewaydog]

1) A texture gives a model it's color, and normal map gives it it's depth. So when you add a texture to a model, you want to add the texture not the normal map.

2) Once you apply the texture, save the model and overwrite the old model to make it stick

3) You want your textures and models to be in your DATA folder for your mod before you set texture paths.

I still need to understand: So if I only apply the texture that is NOT the normal map, what do I do w/ the one that IS the normal map? And again, once I add the texture to the nifmesh, how to I apply it so it sticks?