Skins

[russvox]

HI guys, im a bit of a noob with the skinning but im finding it almost impossible,

Ive downloaded the templates i need and painted them up, flattened them, saved an external DDs and put in the car texture file but the whole car ends up white.... every time.... wheels, windows, the lot!

Im using GIMP

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Sion Williams]

HI guys, im a bit of a noob with the skinning but im finding it almost impossible,

Ive downloaded the templates i need and painted them up, flattened them, saved an external DDs and put in the car texture file but the whole car ends up white.... every time.... wheels, windows, the lot!

Im using GIMP

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi,

Few questions that might help answer you questions!

Are you just replacing the 'external_textures...' file with one of the same name, i.e overwriting it?

When you flatten the image does it look the same as before?

When Exporting the Image are you exporting them as a DXT1?

Hopefully from there we can at least eliminate some things!

Sion

 

[russvox]

Hi Sion,

Thanks for the reply

Yes im just replacing the fabia2000_external.dds with the same file name, thats what im saving it from gimp as just to test

When i flatten yes it looks the same, Im keeping the skin as basic as possible (just a coulour change) as a test

Im sorry, im not sure what the third question means

Thanks so much for the help

Russ

 

[Sion Williams]

Hi Sion,

Thanks for the reply

Yes im just replacing the fabia2000_external.dds with the same file name, thats what im saving it from gimp as just to test

When i flatten yes it looks the same, Im keeping the skin as basic as possible (just a coulour change) as a test

Im sorry, im not sure what the third question means

Thanks so much for the help

Russ

This might explain your problem, when you save the file as a DDS you get a screen up called 'Save as DDS' Under 'Compression' select DXT1 from the drop down list.

Try this and reoprt back, not sure why it would affect your windows and wheels though as they are different files but might do!

Sion

 

[russvox]

Ahh,

Im not saving from GIMP as DDS because it says GIMP doesn't recognise the file format,

Im saving it as a DDS manually under rename

Russ

 

[Sion Williams]

Ahh,

Im not saving from GIMP as DDS because it says GIMP doesn't recognise the file format,

Im saving it as a DDS manually under rename

Russ

Yeah that doesn't work I don't think.

You can get a DDS plug in for GIMP, as thats what I've got and this creates the file. I'ts not really a special file type for a picture, it has mini maps etc. Have a quick google search for the plug in and save it as a DDS, then try it. I know this works because its what I do.

If you can't find the plug in I'll try and find it here and get it over to you.

Sion

 

[russvox]

HI Sion,

Thanks for that, i tried downloading and extracting to my plug in file of GIMp but it now shows an error message when i load gimp and still doesn't work

Not sure if i got the right download

Feel like pulling my bloody hair out!!

 

[Sion Williams]

HI Russ,

Have you got the right version for your machine? 32 or 64 bit.

I had this problem but can't remember how I overcame it I'm afraid, think it was the wrong file. Try all of the ones you can find (32 and 64 bit)

Sion

 

[Michael Nelson]

Here is where my DDS plug-in is saved:
C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

My typical workflow for exporting is:
Layer -> New Layer from Visible. This creates a new layer from all that you see on screen, it's similar to flatten image but preserves transparency and leaves all the other layers intact.
I right click this new layers and change layer to image size. This is pretty important, skins goof up for me if I don't.
I then right click that layer and add layers mask -> transfer layer's alpha channel. This allows you to edit the layers transparency. For the body skin, white (full alpha) is shiny metal and black (full transparent) is matte.
Since I made a new layer from visible and have all the other layers present, I can right click on sticker layers and click alpha to transparent, and then paint a dark grey on the layer mask of the merged layer.
After editing the alpha I click apply layer mask

When I'm done I make sure I have the merged layer selected and click Export to: filename.dds.
DDS can't have layers, so Gimp will save only the selected layer.

 

[russvox]

HI guys,

I have no GIMP data in my "programme files" only "programme files(x86)"

will this effect as it seems whatever plug in i try to install it comes up with an error when i open GIMP saying the DDS route was unable to open

cheers

 

[Michael Nelson]

Try the 32-bit plug-in then, as you have the 32bit version of GIMP installed. If that doesn't work, try the 64-bit.
(32: http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/downloads/detail?name=gimp-dds-win32-2.2.1.zip
64: http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/downloads/detail?name=gimp-dds-win64-2.2.1.zip
)

Can you confirm that your GIMP install is version 2.8.x?

Edit: Actually, you might want to try the 64-bit version of GIMP too.

 

[russvox]

Yeah got that bit sorted, I trawled the forums and found that someone could only work it on a guest log in, so i did that and now i can save the file as DDS but im really struggling with just creating even a basic skin, it still shows all the car white,
I know you have to do different layers for windows and scrape but i think im well out of my depth!!

Fancy making me a couple of basic white ones with my name/flag and a couple of the usual sponsors?? Ill pay ya!

 

[Michael Nelson]

I'm absolutely burnt out on skinning, at least for the next wee while sorry .

The windows and scrapes are different DDS files, not different layers. You need to make sure the image you want to export is only one layer. DDS files cannot handle layers.

Just in case you aren't aware, editing is made much easier with the use of templates.
http://szmodels.altervista.org/Rbr/template.html
These are blank white skins, and super easy to work with.

 

[russvox]

I've bloody done it!!!! The fabia I was trying was corrupt in the game file where I had been fiddling. Started from scratch and it works!! Thanks so much for the help!