Graphic Artistry: Lesson #1

[InsanitySorrow]

 

Part One: Getting Started

Before we get started, make sure you have read the Introduction to the Graphic Artistry course. This lesson will cover the very basics of making our very own re-texture for the first time, we'll go through the whole process from extracting our textures right through to seeing our work in-game.

Part Two: Extracting the Textures

The Introduction already covers the basics of extracting textures, but we'll go through it together here to make sure we all are working with the same textures.

FIrst thing we'll do is start up FO3 Archive, if you haven't downloaded this yet then use the link in the Introduction. Once it's open and looking all interesting, click File>Open, this will open a browse window. Locate your Skyrim Installation, head into your Data folder and find the Skyrim - Textures.bsa and open it.

With it open you will now be looking at this:

Use the little + signs next to the folder names to expand the tree, you'll see all the sub folders under the main Textures folder now.

Smarty Says: The folder structure you see inside the BSA archive is the exact same layout used inside the Data folder when you're using loose textures. This is something to keep in mind for later.

What were are going to do is give the Thalmor robes a little touch of colour, so we'll need to extract those textures. Click the Clothes Folder, then click the little + sign next to it to expand the folders like so:

Scroll down the list until you see the Thalmor folder and click on it to select it. With it selected click Action>Extract Selected Files, this will allow us to extract just these textures from the BSA file. This will bring up a browse window again, select the location where you want the textures to be extracted.

Smarty Says: I always place my extracted textures somewhere very easy to locate, like my desktop.

With the textures extracted we'll move onto the next part.

Part Three: Re-colouring a robe

Open up your 2D Application of choice, make sure you have all the required plugins (explained in the Introduction) and then open up the thalmorrobes.dds file located in the Textures>Clothes>Thalmor folder we have just extracted. You should now the looking at something like this:

Smarty Says: Depending on the 2D application of your choice you may see a message asking whether you want to load MipMaps and other additional data, select yes to this so everything loads correctly.

Strange looking isn't it?

This is our texture, this is what makes the Thalmor robes look like actual robes and fancy robes at that. The texture is basically a 2D layout of the model that allows you to paint the surface of the model. So for example you could have a nice Thalmor Robe model and using a texture you could give it a leopard print, though we aren't going to do that here, if you do please show us, ok?

We're going to make a very simple edit to this texture, so open up your Hue/Saturation tools (Or colorize tools if you prefer) and change the Hue to +90. This will give our robes a nice green colour instead of the gold.

Click the Ok button so our change is made, now we're going to save our texture.

Part Four: Saving our texture

When saving a texture you have to keep in mind what you need saved, for most textures the compression type will be DXT1. DXT1 saves the basic texture and non of the extra fancy stuff we'll be learning about later on.

Click File>SaveAs so we don't overwrite our original texture in-case we want to go back later and do things differently. Now you will get a little popup box asking you what settings you would like to use when saving, let's take a little look at what these are:

Photoshop users will see this box:

GIMP users will see this box:

Compression: This will allow us to select which compression type we will use for our textures: DXT1. DXT3 and DXT5. Each one allows us to save data a little differently depending on our needs.

Generate MipMaps: When a texture is saved with MipMaps it is saved with smaller versions of itself stored inside the texture. These smaller textures get used when the games texture settings are not set to the largest option. This helps to make sure the game looks correct.

The other settings are not important, so we don't need to cover those just yet.

For our green robes we need to make sure Generate MipMaps is checked and that our Compression is DXT1, once those have been selected you can save your texture.

Part Five: Getting our robe in-game

Remember what my buddy Smarty said earlier about keeping the folder structure in mind?, Well this is where we are going to use that. To make the game use our re-texture all we have to do is put it in the correct folders inside our data folder. So create the following folder structure inside your Data folder:

Textures>Clothes>Thalmor

Then copy our thalmorrobe.dds file into that folder. When we start up our game and see our Thalmor friends we'll see they will be using our new green robe instead of the normal gold one.

And this is the result of our work in-game:

Smarty Says: If you are using the High Resolution Texture pack released by Bethesda then make sure you have it unchecked when you go to test.

Posting Screenshots:

Post w screenshot of your texture in the 2D application with the Hue/Saturation Slider, another showing your save settings and finally an In-Game screenshot.

[InsanitySorrow]

The key to improving your skills is repetition. This assignment is worth 5pts and the extra credit is worth 5pts. You need 120pts to earn a medal for the Graphics Artistry Class. So do your assignment and post a screenshot here when you are done!

Assignment:

• Thalmor Boots
  
• Thalmor Gloves
  

Extra Credit:

• Thalmor Gloves Female
  
• Thalmor Robes Female
  

Post screenshots of each in your 2D Application of choice and the final result in-game.

[Maddox]

Here are my results/homework, I ran into two issues though.

The textures wouldnt change at first, turns out if you are using the HighResTexture pack provided by Beth through steam it will overrite the textures. So you need to turn that off in Data Files.

The other one was that there are no female Thalmor boots, the same ones are shared for both genders.

• Hue Slider
  

• Save settings
  

• Results in game, tried to give the male one blueish tint but it turned silver with all the lighting going on.
  

Edited February 14, 2012 by Maddox

[InsanitySorrow]

Welcome to the Class Maddox . And thanks for that, I've made a note of it in the class

Full marks there, you can move onto the second class

[ResolveThatChord]

Alrighty, here's my homework.

Thalmor boots, male gloves, and female gloves in-game:

And here they are in Photoshop:

I encountered a wierd problem when I tried to get the female Thalmor robes working in-game. Looks fine in Photoshop, but in-game there are these wierd splotchy artifacts. What do you think?

Edit: Sorry, forgot the male robe. Here it is:

Edited February 17, 2012 by ResolveThatChord

[InsanitySorrow]

Smart arse , Would look nice with a gold trim.

Missing the picture of the robe in PS from the main class

[eloquate]

Hello Teacher!

Here are my screenshots for...

The Main Class

The Homework

CHECK THIS GUY OUT. HE'S AWESOME.

The Extra Credit

[InsanitySorrow]

Welcome to the class eloquate

Full marks there, you can move onto Lesson #2

[DotDotJerk]

Secondly, I did the assignment. :3

Classwork Hue Slider Settings:

Classwork .DDS Save Settings:

Homework Hue Slider Settings:

Homework .DDS Save Settings:

Extra Credit Hue Slider Settings:

Extra Credit .DDS Save Settings:

In-Game Screenshots:

[InsanitySorrow]

Welcome to the Class

I know you're trying to be helpful and that's great to see , But it's best to not post instructions like that in a class . Instead with have a Tips and Tricks thread you could post in, or the Study Hall.

Job well done there, full marks , You can move onto Lesson #2 when you're ready.

[InsanitySorrow]

Edit: Sorry, forgot the male robe. Here it is:

Thanks for posting the missing work.

Full marks for you too, you can move onto Lesson #2

[Arion]

Here's my classwork with homework and extra credit screenies for Class #1

In Game Shot

Hue Setting

Robes

Gloves

Boots

Female Robes

Female Gloves

Edited February 21, 2012 by Arion

[InsanitySorrow]

Full marks there Arion, you may move onto Lesson #2

[gahnzz]

I want to try this... can I be in two classes at once or do I need to complete the Basic CK Tutorials first? I'm itching to do a xmas colouring for the Thalmor robes.

[InsanitySorrow]

You can do both classes if you want to, though for Graphic Artistry Lesson #2 you'll need some basic CK skills, so would be a good idea to finish those classes before then.

[McSquirmie]

Here are my results for the first lesson, I have done both the assignment as well as the extra credit. Let me know if you need any other pictures:

Hue Change:

http://i.imgur.com/j1zTu.jpg

Save Settings:

http://i.imgur.com/kJZIa.jpg

Boots:

http://i.imgur.com/AvT5z.jpg

Gloves:

http://i.imgur.com/VdAVf.jpg

Female Robe:

http://i.imgur.com/ufpDW.jpg

Female Gloves:

http://i.imgur.com/Mh5jE.jpg

Male In-Game:

http://i.imgur.com/4i6YW.jpg

Female In-Game:

http://i.imgur.com/oVtRf.jpg

[InsanitySorrow]

Looks like you have everything there, looks good too, you can move on to Lesson #2

[Tamira]

Here comes my first try for the graphic lessons:

Thalmor Robes:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7HSCCj1_0NMqel9NbdkGm8PrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GebIzoK8JF4IAgzgnT1zfcPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gf3TZtnASTbaP17Oyi_NXMPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

Thalmor Boots:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RQ6BB4JAKQuAm7IakvKRYsPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

Thalmor Gloves:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E6pKxoNma_2FFfaP61mfx8PrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

Thalmor Gloves Female:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VCN6eJgLdKD5TlRI6VJ22cPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

Thalmor Robes Female:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Csn6VeZyKXo82SPbgtulMMPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

And here the results in Game:

Male:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WjYi6BhIIAYUgR0PK2ocNsPrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

Female: (indeed, this is a female )

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uExvxEc2AOikCJlcHKiep8PrtvMIsBCnarRlj-VdDU8?feat=directlink

I hope this is all for lesson 1.

[InsanitySorrow]

Well done Tamira, Full marks . You can move onto Lesson #2.

[aurora]

OK, finally, here's mine.

Note on the extra credit I'm trying to dress Lydia in the Thalmor gloves and boots but alas she does not like them so I have a screenshot with what they 'would' look like if she had more fashion sense. Now I know why I have never used her. I would have used another but alas I'm in the civil war as a Stormcloak so it's kind of hard to get next to anyone else, especial Thalmor's without being attacked.

Thalmor Robes

Thalmor Male stuff

Thalmor Female Stuff

[darkstone]

Thought I`d give this a go

Classwork

Homework

Extra Credit

Ingame Shots

[InsanitySorrow]

Well done you two ., Full marks for both, you may move onto Lesson #2

[lilith]

Now that I've completed the CK Basics course, I thought I'd like to learn how to pretty up my game.

I think I got all the screenshots and I do apologize for how ugly the Thalmor Robes look on my male Nord tester. But I love how they look on Gildii my Skyrim Character! However, the most important part is whether I've done them correctly.

Edit: The screenshots are rather small :/ If you need better, just let me know!

Classwork

Hue Slider Thalmor Robes Male

Save Settings Thalmor Robes Male

Thalmor Robes Male in game

Homework

Hue Slider Thalmor Gloves Male

Save Settings Thalmor Gloves Male

Hue Settings Thalmor Boots

Save Settings Thalmor Boots

Thalmor Complete in game Male

Extra Credit

Hue Settings Thalmor Robe Female

Save Settings Thalmor Robes Female

Hue Settings Thalmor Gloves Female

Save Settings Thalmor Gloves Female

Thalmor Complete in game Female

[InsanitySorrow]

Yep all done correctly and the pictures were fine, you can move onto Lesson #2

[lilith]

Woot! Thank you

*Glances at Lesson #2 and swallows hard* I'm so glad you teach terminology too!