Guest Workshop: Basic Texturing Tutorial - Part 2 (PS)

[Hanaisse]

Basic Texturing - Part 2 (Photoshop)

A beginners guide to texturing

by: Hanaisse

Continued from Part 1:

The Guard

Step 1: Guard Base layer

Click on the Group folder labeled Guard. Expand it and highlight the little square layer that’s there. Select the Paint Bucket tool and click on the foreground colour to pull up the colour selector. Enter 747474 and click Ok to close. Colour fill the square.

It’s a little flat, so I’ve added a Gradient layer.

Double click our layer to pull up the Layer Style box. Check and highlight Gradient Overlay. Set the gradient to “foreground to background”, style as “reflected” and change the angle to 45degrees. Click Ok to close the layer style box.

Step 2: Guard Overlay layer

Click File > Open and open Guardoverlay.jpg. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, select an area. This is the area I chose for the flaws and also the highlights/lowlights variations.

Click Edit > Copy. Return to our file simpledagger.psd, click Edit > Paste. Move the selection so that the flawed dot is in the middle of the left side portion of the UV layout. Resize if necessary. Don’t overlap other UV sections.

Change Blend mode to Hard Light at Opacity 75% to tone it down slightly.

Smarty Says: Selection and placement are important. Know your UV so you know where flaws and highlights will end up. In this case, the flaw will be on the side of the guard.

Save the file again as a .dds and look at it in Nifskope. Go back to the .psd and adjust if necessary.

Save the .psd. Save often.

Close out any .jpg files we’re finished with.

The Grip

Step 1: Grip Base layer

Click on the Group folder labeled Grip. You can close up the other groups if it gets confusing just make sure you’re in this folder now.

Click File > Open and open gripbase.jpg. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool make a selection anywhere you think has the best highlights/contrast, keeping in mind the size of the grip area we need. This is the area I chose.

Click Edit > Copy. Return to simpledagger.psd and click Edit > Paste. Move it over the grip UV layout, resize as necessary so it’s not overlapping any other UV section.

Step 2: Grip Overlay layer

Click File > Open and open gripoverlay.jpg. (Yes, it’s a metal texture!)

Smarty Says: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different textures as overlays if they have the right pattern you’re looking for. Using blend modes can soften and mask it.

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool make a selection slightly larger than the base selection. Make sure the marquee lines are not intersecting the prominent striped squares.

Click Edit > Copy. Return to simpledagger.psd and click Edit > Paste. Move it over our grip base layer. Carefully watching the edges of the UV layout resize/adjust so the sides will match up when put together - so we don’t have a nasty seam.

Tip: It’s best to pull the side edges of the texture outward to line edges up in between the prominent striped squares.

Change Blend mode to Soft Light at 100% opacity. You can leave it like this, it’s a good effect or for a bolder look duplicate the layer. I’ve duplicated mine.

Save as .dds and take a look at it in Nifskope. Adjust if necessary. Look around carefully at the sides of the grip for nasty seams. If you want, you could add a colour adjustment layer for a different look.

Save the .psd. Save often.

Close out any .jpg files we’re finished with.

The Pommel

Step 1: Pommel Base layer

Click on the Group folder labeled Pommel. You can close up the other groups if it gets confusing just make sure you’re in this folder now.

Click File > Open and open pommelbase.jpg. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool make a selection anywhere you think has the best highlights/contrast, keeping in mind the size of the pommel area we need. This is the area I chose.

Click Edit > Copy. Return to simpledagger.psd and click Edit > Paste. Move it over the pommel UV layout, resize as necessary so it’s not overlapping any other UV section.

Step 2: Pommel Overlay layer

Click File > Open and open pommeloverlay.jpg. Select the Magic Wand tool. Go to Select > Color Range and click anywhere in the black area. Go to Select > Inverse. This will capture just the ring.

Click Edit > Copy. Return to simpledagger.psd and click Edit > Paste. Move it over the pommel UV layout. Carefully resize the ring so the outer edge of the ring touches the second ring of the UV layout. Make sure it’s even all around.

Change Blend mode to Multiply. Leave at 100% or adjust opacity if you want.

Save the .psd.

Close out any .jpg files we’re finished with.

Toggle the UV layout layer off and save as .dds. This is our final texture.

Make a normal map. There’s a good tutorial here -- Normal Maps

Save the nif, put it in-game if you’d like.

For more advanced techniques, try StarX’s texturing tutorial.

[RonRay33]

Hana, thanks for this tutorial. Using PS CS2 was a bit different in spots, but I adapted well enough to finish the Tut with a reasonable match to your finished image. I made my Normal_n, but have totally failed to discover how to successfully add it into this Nif file. I have search NifTools and everything I could find via Google, but to no avail.  Your SimpleDagger.NIF is unlike anything I learned to use in IS's GA Lessons, or that I have seen otherwhere. If you could point me to where I can learn how to add a normal into this nif format, I'd appreciated it.

\Ron

[InsanitySorrow]

Take a look at Rider's tutorial, about halfway down it covers adding the textures to the NIF.

[RonRay33]

I will do, and thanks, IS...

\Ron

[InsanitySorrow]

[RonRay33]

Take a look at Rider's tutorial, about halfway down it covers adding the textures to the NIF.

Is, I read through DR's section, but that does not solve my problem. If there were already a Normal Map in this Nif file, I would have had no problem. The Nif in this Tutorial, has One texture file, the .dds. There is no other, and my problem is there are no other location with 'magic' flower to which anything will attach. It is even a greater puzzlement than your BuildyBox was when I tried to add to that. At least there, there were potential locations to make attachments, even though they would no activate in that case..

\Ron

Edited April 6, 2013 by RonRay33

[DarkRider]

In Oblivion, you do not add the normal map to the mesh, as mentioned in my tutorial, the game auto detects and applies the normal map as long as the name of the _n.dds file matches the .dds file it pairs with.

[RonRay33]

In Oblivion, you do not add the normal map to the mesh, as mentioned in my tutorial, the game auto detects and applies the normal map as long as the name of the _n.dds file matches the .dds file it pairs with.

Thanks, DR.  I am sure you read my question for Hana, and I can wait for her thoughts. Tonight was the 2nd or 3rd time I read through your tut and thought it was 'too different' for Skyrim... or , perhaps, just too far for me to stretch.

\Ron

[DarkRider]

This tutorial is for Oblivion. Are you actually working on Skyrim Ron?

[Hanaisse]

Yeah, I'm confused now. What exactly are you trying to do, Ron?

[RonRay33]

Skyrim is all I work on IS. Steam says I've done 1100+ hours in CK and 3100+ hours in Skyrim play. I gave Oblivion less than 40 hours and said the heck with it. So, unless it is generic knowledge - like Blender, etc., I really don't need to spend time on the stuff.  So, yes. My question is how to add a Normal Map to a Skyrim Nif file that only has a single .dds texture file to start with, thus, Ineed a Skyrim answer.

Hana's simpledagger tut shows a series of texturing steps, modifying a Nif file provided that only has a single .dds for those modified textures. Her tutorial ends by saying 'now make a Normal Map and add it to the file to complete the dagger.'  Thanks to your GA Lessons, I had no problem MAKING the Normal Map, but damned if I can find out how to add it to the provided Nif file.

 

\Ron

[RonRay33]

Hana, I think my post to IS and your's to me passed each other.  If you are still unclear after reading that post, let me know, please

\Ron

 

Ahhhh - was that tutorial meant for Oblivion and not for Skyrim ???

Edited April 6, 2013 by RonRay33

[Hanaisse]

I think I see what you're doing. You may have confused yourself. As DarkRider said, while this is a general "texturing" tutorial for Photoshop, the parts for applying the texture to the dagger are specific to Oblivion nifs.

 

If you've followed this to make a texture for a Skyrim nif - as in, you took a UV map from a Skyrim dagger and wanted to apply these techniques, that's fine, but the UV map in my package won't work, nor will the dagger mesh in my package work for Skyrim.

 

Just follow IS's basic Skyrim texturing tutorials to apply the texture and the normal map to a Skyrim dagger. Texture goes on first flower, nomal map on second flower.

 

Does that help?

[RonRay33]

I think I see what you're doing. You may have confused yourself. As DarkRider said, while this is a general "texturing" tutorial for Photoshop, the parts for applying the texture to the dagger are specific to Oblivion nifs.

 

If you've followed this to make a texture for a Skyrim nif - as in, you took a UV map from a Skyrim dagger and wanted to apply these techniques, that's fine, but the UV map in my package won't work, nor will the dagger mesh in my package work for Skyrim.

 

Just follow IS's basic Skyrim texturing tutorials to apply the texture and the normal map to a Skyrim dagger. Texture goes on first flower, nomal map on second flower.

 

Does that help?

Hana,  I do thank you ..... Yes, I see it all now.  I did go through your tutorial thinking it was for Skyrim. Nowhere was there any references to either Skyrim or Oblivion, so it never occurred to me that the 'strandedness' in the Nif file was because it was for Oblivion and not Skyrim

 

Sorry to  IS  and DR for my dens eness !!! 

 

\Ron