Tue May 08, 2007 12:20 pm
Need help re-texturing Juni...
OK, so I'm trying to re-texture Juni's clothes for my single player mod. I've made several attempts at this, and get better every time. But there is one problem I just CANNOT seem to solve...
I open up the DFM file for the model using UTF_Edit_w/MFC. I export the MIP0 (the largest one) as a TGA file to my working directory. I open up the file in my graphics programs (I use both Photoshop CS2 AND Paintshop Pro 9... depending on what I'm doing). I edit the file until I'm satisfied with the way it looks. I open the file in Photoshop, flip the image vertically (this step seems to be necessary for all textures), and save as DDS format, generating MIP maps (the number of MIP maps I generate depends on the image size... all textures are some power of 2, I generate MIP maps equal to the power... so for a 256x256 texture image, 256 is 2 to the power of 8, so I generate 8 MIP maps... this seems to be in line with the FL originals as a 256x256 texture in TGA format will have MIP0, MIP1... MIP7, and MIP8).
Now, I have successfully re-textured ships, Trent's Clothes, and Trent's and Juni's faces (not to say the new textures looked good, but they did work properly). However, when re-texturing Juni's clothes I run across an interesting graphical anomaly in-game (I say "interesting" but it is more annoying than interesting)... The re-textured model has these weird "strings" attached to to it.
Now, I noticed a similar thing with my re-texture of Juni's face where there was this "string" that appeared in her right eye, like a single, narrow, elongated polygon of the model had been textured but wasn't supposed to be textured. When I looked at the texture, I noticed that there are two rows of pixels at the bottom (now top) of the texture that were black rather than skin colored, so I thought... maybe that part is supposed to be transparent. So I redid the alpha channel for that texture to include a two-pixel wide strip of total transparency at the bottom of the the neck, and viola! no more string in the eye!
Now with the re-texturing of Juni's clothes I am noticing the same thing... strings of what seem to be polygons of the model that are supposed to be untextured are being textured and showing up in the game. So I figured, ok, there has to be something in these texture files that is supposed to be transparent like with the face texture. But I haven't yet been able to figure out which sections need to be made transparent (I've tried 2- and 3-pixel wide strips on each of the four sides of the textures, but while this does have an effect, it makes necessary things transparent and leaves the unnecessary strings still textured).
So at this point I could try to find some systematic way of figuring out what parts should be transparent (I was thinking something like setting up a texture of nothing but alternating bands of distinct colors and seeing which colors show up on the strings), but it would be MUCH easier for me if someone happens to already know what parts need to be transparent. As such, I would be interested in getting a copy of the alpha channel layer from anyone that has gotten a successful re-texture of li_hatcher_body (Juni's original) and/or pl_female2_journeyman_body.
Any and all help is appreciated
Drake
I open up the DFM file for the model using UTF_Edit_w/MFC. I export the MIP0 (the largest one) as a TGA file to my working directory. I open up the file in my graphics programs (I use both Photoshop CS2 AND Paintshop Pro 9... depending on what I'm doing). I edit the file until I'm satisfied with the way it looks. I open the file in Photoshop, flip the image vertically (this step seems to be necessary for all textures), and save as DDS format, generating MIP maps (the number of MIP maps I generate depends on the image size... all textures are some power of 2, I generate MIP maps equal to the power... so for a 256x256 texture image, 256 is 2 to the power of 8, so I generate 8 MIP maps... this seems to be in line with the FL originals as a 256x256 texture in TGA format will have MIP0, MIP1... MIP7, and MIP8).
Now, I have successfully re-textured ships, Trent's Clothes, and Trent's and Juni's faces (not to say the new textures looked good, but they did work properly). However, when re-texturing Juni's clothes I run across an interesting graphical anomaly in-game (I say "interesting" but it is more annoying than interesting)... The re-textured model has these weird "strings" attached to to it.
Now, I noticed a similar thing with my re-texture of Juni's face where there was this "string" that appeared in her right eye, like a single, narrow, elongated polygon of the model had been textured but wasn't supposed to be textured. When I looked at the texture, I noticed that there are two rows of pixels at the bottom (now top) of the texture that were black rather than skin colored, so I thought... maybe that part is supposed to be transparent. So I redid the alpha channel for that texture to include a two-pixel wide strip of total transparency at the bottom of the the neck, and viola! no more string in the eye!
Now with the re-texturing of Juni's clothes I am noticing the same thing... strings of what seem to be polygons of the model that are supposed to be untextured are being textured and showing up in the game. So I figured, ok, there has to be something in these texture files that is supposed to be transparent like with the face texture. But I haven't yet been able to figure out which sections need to be made transparent (I've tried 2- and 3-pixel wide strips on each of the four sides of the textures, but while this does have an effect, it makes necessary things transparent and leaves the unnecessary strings still textured).
So at this point I could try to find some systematic way of figuring out what parts should be transparent (I was thinking something like setting up a texture of nothing but alternating bands of distinct colors and seeing which colors show up on the strings), but it would be MUCH easier for me if someone happens to already know what parts need to be transparent. As such, I would be interested in getting a copy of the alpha channel layer from anyone that has gotten a successful re-texture of li_hatcher_body (Juni's original) and/or pl_female2_journeyman_body.
Any and all help is appreciated
Drake