How do I save make a texture with transparency?
Mike
Photoshop with transparency?
I'm familiar will making transparent Gif's, but Not transparent. pcx's.
What I did was, I made a picture 128x128. 256-index colors, and used the
Magic-Transparency eraser in PhotoShop6 before saving to the (PCX) format.
However, when tiring to save the Transparent image in .pcx format, I get the
warning that says (Not all the file info will be saved in the format you
have chosen) And the doesn't work if the editor. When using the" special
brush" the mask option enabled.
I guess what I'm tiring to ask is:
How do I make an image with transparency, just like the flame in a torch is
made ( The picture doesn't have to be animate either, just a still image.
Mike
me try this again
Just wandering if someone could please help on making a texture image in
Photoshop with transparency?
I'm familiar will making transparent Gif's, but Not transparent. pcx's.
What I did was, I made a picture 128x128. 256-index colors, and used the
Magic-Transparency eraser in PhotoShop6 before saving to the (PCX) format.
However, when tiring to save the Transparent image in .pcx format, I get the
warning that says (Not all the file info will be saved in the format you
have chosen) And the picture doesn't work in the editor. When using the"
special
brush" with the mask option enabled.
I guess what I'm tiring to ask is:
How do I make an image with transparency, just like the flame in a torch
( The picture doesn't have to be animated either, just a still image.
Andy Ford
I think when you import your masked textures such as grates etc, it is the
first colour in the palette that automatically becomes transparent. Im sure
someone will correct me on this if im wrong :o)
For UT Mapping Reference's, Tutorials, Utilities, Patches and some of the
best Links for mappers, visit my site : www.planetunreal.com/fordy
Regards
Fordy
Andy Ford
Texture dimensions
Unreal texture dimensions may be any powers of two from 1 to 1024. Textures
need not be square. For example, many of the textures in Unreal 1 are
128x128, 256x128, and 256x256. Unreal's software rendering code supports
textures of any size from 1x1 up to 1024x1024.
Unreal's 3D hardware rendering code gracefully handles textures of all sizes
from 1x1 up to 1024x1024, though the actual rendered texture resolution is
limited to texture sizes which the hardware supports. All current hardware
is limited to 256x256 textures. For example, when you see a 1024x1024
texture on 3dfx hardware, Unreal substitutes a lower resolution (256x256)
version of the texture. The texture is scaled up properly, so that the only
noticeable artefact is blurring of the texture.
Because most current 3D hardware only supports textures up to 256x256, we
generally don't use higher resolution textures in our game.
Creating and importing textures
Unreal textures are palettized, 256-color textures. Each texture in Unreal
may have its own palette. The result is that you can achieve a lot of color
variety by using textures with different palettes, while benefitting from
the space savings of 8-bit textures.
The Unreal team creates textures in Fractal Painter and Photoshop, always
working with the source art in 24-bit color. When a texture is complete, it
is converted into a 256-color, palettized .pcx or .bmp file and imported
into UnrealEd. To import a texture into UnrealEd, go into the texture
browser (on the right side of the screen), and click on the "Import" button.
When importing a texture, you can specify its name, the texture group it
should appear in, and the package (.utx file) it should be saved in.
Unreal a texture mapping feature called "masking", where color zero is
treated as if it were transparent. We use this for textures like vines,
grating, and sprites. To create a masked texture, you will need to use a
256-color paint program to edit your image and apply color zero to the
transparent portions of the texture. Then, import the texture and click on
the "Masked" checkbox in the texture importing dialog. If you don't click
on the "Masked" checkbox, the texture's mipmaps will not be properly masked.
When you import a texture, UnrealEd will automatically create mipmaps for
the texture (mipmaps are lower resolution versions of the texture, used for
antialiasing far-away polygons).
When you import two textures which use the same palette, UnrealEd makes note
of this fact and takes advantage of it for optimization. In hardware
rendering, the frame rate is partly dependent on the number of palettes
visible in a scene, so there is a performance advantage to forcing textures
to have the same palette. Programs like Image Alchemy can convert groups of
24-bit color images to 8-bit and force a common palette.
Graphics tools we (Epic) use and recommend
Fractal Painter: For realistic painting of textures.
Photoshop: For realistic painting of textures and retouching of digitized
textures.
Deluxe Paint: For creating masked textures, and for creating custom
palettes.
Image Alchemy: For batch converting 24-bit color images to 256-color images.
Editing texture properties
To edit a texture's properties in UnrealEd, right-click on the texture in
the texture browser (on the right side of the screen), and click on the
"Properties" menu item. Here you can customize many properties of a
texture. The properties which are not documented here are reserved for
future use, and not yet supported.
Animating textures
The easiest way to create a sequence of animating textures is to import a
bunch of textures with names that end in _A## (where ## is the number of the
animation frame, starting at zero). For example, to create a four-texture
animation sequence, import four files named:
MyAnim_A00.bmp
MyAnim_A01.bmp
MyAnim_A02.bmp
MyAnim_A03.bmp
When you import a texture into UnrealEd, it looks for _A## in the name and
then sets up the texture for animation.
When you import animating textures into UnrealEd, the editor shows all of
the individual frames of animation. However, you should always use the first
one (the one with the name ending in A00) when setting the texture's
properties and adjusting its frame rate. The following useful texture
properties are related to animation:
AnimNext: The next texture in the animation sequence, or None to indicate
that the sequence should proceed back to the first texture.
PrimeCount: For procedural animating textures, the texture internally
animates itself PrimeCount times before it's first rendered. Use this to
avoid algorithmic fire billowing up the first time it comes into view.
MinFrameRate: The minimum frame rate for the animation. The texture will
always animate this fast, or faster (0 indicates that the texture should
animate at the rendering frame rate).
MaxFrameRate: The maximum frame rate for the animation. The texture will
always animate this fast, or slower. If you set this equal to MinFrameRate,
the texture animation rate will never vary.
For texture animation, we support two animation rates (MinFrameRate and
MaxFrameRate) to prevent "animation aliasing": the annoying artefacts you
see when a texture animates through frames at a variable rate, such as "1 2
2 3 4 4 5". When the rendering frame rate is between MinFrameRate and
MaxFrameRate, the texture will always animate smoothly, i.e. "1 2 3 4 5".
Detail textures and Macrotextures
A texture may optionally have a Detail texture and a Macrotexture associated
with it. A detail texture is a very small, fine pattern which is faded in
as you approach a surface, for example wood grain, or imperfections in
stone. A Macrotexture is a large, scaled-up texture which is overlaid onto
surface. For example, Macrotextures can be used to add large-scale detail
to textures in outdoor spaces to avoid an overly "tiled" look.
Detail textures and Macrotextures only are visible on 3d hardware. For
performance reasons, they are ignored in the software rendering code.
When you bring up the "texture properties" editor, you can associate a
detail texture and a macrotexture with a given texture.
When you import a detail texture, you need to set its Scale value to a small
number (typically 0.25) to specify its scaling relative to whatever texture
it applies to. Macrotextures need to have their Scale value set to a large
number (typically 8) to specify its scaling relative to the surface it's
applied on.
It is valid to use procedural textures as macrotextures, microtextures, or
both.
Detail textures and macrotextures modulate (multiply) the surface they're
applied to. By modulating, they have the ability to scale the surface's
brightness up or down. Colors with RGB brightness values from 0-127 darken
the surface; 128 has no effect; and 129-255 brighten the surface.
Therefore, when drawing microtextures and macrotextures, it is important
that you design them with their brightnesses in the proper range so they
affect surfaces naturally. If a detail texture's average brightness deviates
too far from 128, then surfaces will appear to brighten or darken as you
approach them.
Procedural textures
To create a new procedural texture, click on the "New" button in the texture
browser and select a type of texture to create, for example "FireTexture" or
"WaveTexture". Procedural textures are animated algorithmically so they
have infinite, non-repeating animation. They also have the advantage of
taking up very little disk space (on the order of 4K) and they only occupy
as much memory as a single, non-animating texture of the same size. The
procedural texture types and their options are documented elsewhere.
Texture .utx files
Unreal saves texture packages into .utx files. A .utx file contains all of
the textures (one or more) in a particular package. The .utx file format
contains the raw texture bitmaps as well as mipmaps, texture properties, and
palettes. A game created with the Unreal engine will typically ship with
many .utx files (one for each texture package).
Mike
Now that was some kick ass info. I printed all of it out
That was exactly what I was looking for, Andy, are you a Level Designer? I
totally appreciate you giving me this information. I didn't realize Unreal
supported custom pallets. Just curious, have you ever used Debabelizer? I'll
probably use it to create a supper pallet. I'll have to see, but I think I
can lock the 0 index color using Adobe Image ready, but I'm not totally sure
on that just yet. Either way, all that information will help greatly.
I have your web site book marked, " Excellent resource"
Thank you again
Mike...
Andy Ford
A level designer? I am doing some in my spare time, but unfortunatly not
for a living. I get most of the answers to the questions people post here
from the UnrealED reference. I dont know if you have seen it on my site yet,
but I find it invaluable. Also, check out the UTX-Viever 2.0. Im using
that a hell of a lot for finding textures, even while im in UnrealED, it's a
big time saver (Im not just saying that cos I had a hand in writing it!)
Regards
Fordy
Mike
along with some other utillitities. I haven't installed any of them just
yet, but I did burn them to disk, along with the Editor Reference on your
site:
1. ModPlug Tracker
2. Umx player
2. Terra Edit, and the viewer. The Viewer will definitely help greatly. I
didn't know that the information you sent today was from the reference on
your site, that reference is huge, and probably has every trick in the
world.
I must mention again, you did a great job on your site. I'm still learning
how to build sites, but will eventually probably make one containing links
to as many resources for editing, as well as a little thumb nails of the
first page to every site I have a link to.
I use a program called Dreamveaver3, made by Macromedia. Did you use it on
your site? Making links in the program is the easiest thing in the world,
and fixing broken links is as easy as deleting the picture or link, and
reinserting it. It rights the code for you in real time as you are building
your page, as well as wrights the cleanest code possible. Its a cool
program... well, I guess I should try that UTX viewer now. I was talking to
Morgan 'Botman, Author of ( CTF-Chasm) the other day, and he worried my
about how addicting this editing stuff can be, I should have listened. The
last three nights, my mind has been racing with possibilities, while laying
in bed. Looks like I'm going to be hear for a while.
Andy, just curious your opinion on something. how do you like DirectX 8? I
just upgraded: It think it definitely seems faster, but not sure if the2.0ED
patch36 editor likes it as much as DirectX7. although, even with 7.0, my
view points are terrible at refreshing. sometimes I actually have to close,
and reopen them, because they don't always see the changes I make.for
example, I could be looking at a square brush in the top view, but not see
it in the side view, no mater how far I zoom out. the only thing that works,
is closing the view window, and adding another one. Has to be something to
do with the driver. I might try reinstalling win2k again, just to see it
maybe that helps. just curious if your ever seen this?
Talk to you
Mike.
"Andy Ford" <an...@andrewford.plus.com> wrote in message
news:6fiY5.7552$I5.72106@stones...
ogr81
for the 'paper colour' put the number 0 (zero) for the 'R' , the 'B' and the 'G'
(red, blue green) you now have the basest black, which is transparent in the
engine.
When you go to convert to 8 bit (under 'image') use a format that will not
change the black. (Optimal I think works best)
Mike
image/Blank Transparent sheet, everything looks great, even after I convert
it to index: Here is the problem: If I don't flatten the image before
saving, I get a warning message while tiring to save in .pcx or .bmp format,
that says (" Some of the documents data will not be saved using the chosen
format and options")
In an effort to try to get around this warning message, I tried to flatten
the image, but then the transparent background image becomes white.
I understand that, to create a masked texture, you need to apply color zero
to the transparent portions of the texture, but my question is: How do I do
that. for example: Looking at the moon in the sky, there is a mask around
the circular moon. I have no problem saving a gif for the web with
transparency, I just can't figure out how to make it work while saving in
the .pcx or .bmp format.
Mike...
"ogr81" <og...@kingosympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:3A340F34...@kingosympatico.ca...
Nicolay Korslund
> transparency, I just can't figure out how to make it work while saving in
> the .pcx or .bmp format.
This is because the .gif file format has support for transparency, while the
.pcx and .bmp formats do not. In other words, there is no way to "save"
transparency into pcx and bmp files. So instead you have to convert your
image to 8bit 256-color, and use the color zero to mark your transparent
areas. This is the only way to tell the unreal engine what areas are to be
transparent.
How to do it in Photoshop? I have no idea :-)
Hope this helps! (probably won't :))
Phallicity
and that might be what is throwing you off. Forget about the
transparency when creating the image regardless of what paint program
you are using. I believe what you are trying to do is actually create
a masked image. Transparency and masked images are totally different.
Transparent images show all the image except for color index 0 but
everything is see thru or transparent, like using markers on seran
wrap. Masked images, are images which are lit just like any other
texture but color index 0 does not show up, what ever is behind color
index 0 will show instead. To create a masked texture start with an
image with a background color of solid black (RGB=000). Create your
image as you normally would but keeping the black background whereever
the texture should be invisible. Save the image in pcx or bmp with a
color depth of 256. Now when you use the image as a texture you must
specifiy that the texture is masked or transparent by changing the
surface properties of the textured surface. Right click on the
textured surface to open the properties dialog box and select the
appropriate options.
Hope this helps
In article <R%eY5.3468$g6.8...@news1.rdc1.il.home.com>,
--
Phallicity
"He must have a huge Schwanstucker!"
-Young Frankenstein
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Mike
That is exactly what I'm tiring to do, a mask. For some reason, the image
shows, but doesn't show the pure black arias as see though.
1. I went in to photoshop, and created a picture 128x128 with the entire
background as Pure black =000
2. Then I created a small box in the center using the color blue.
3. I then converted it to index 256 color using the Perceptual pallet.
4. Last, I saved it as a .pcx file.
5. In the editor I imported the index I had just created, and specified not
to create mipmaps, but I did put a check in for the mask option. Using the
special brush to apply the texture, I specified four options for the texture
Mask/semi soled/twosided/and unlit
I don't get it, still shows up as a solid picture, with a black background,
instead of the black being see through?
what's even stranger, is the picture shows up as a completely different
picture when playing the map, but looks ok in the editor.
I've already uninstalled and reinstalled UT with the 36 patch three times
now, restarting after each install and uninstall, but no difference. I
honestly can't understand how a completely different picture can be showing
up while playing the game, but looks fine when looking back in the editor.
Mike
"Phallicity" <phallic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9180ba$if4$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Mike
now.
I think the incorrect picture was becouse I didn't save the picture to the
MyLevel package. I never made a MyLevel, because I was just trying something
quick. You were right, it worked, thanks for explaining that. I would have
never thought it was that simple.
Thanks, Mike.
"Phallicity" <phallic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9180ba$if4$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Gerke Preussner
>> in a torch is made ( The picture doesn't have to be animate
>> either, just a still image.
i set up a tutorial for this. please visit:
http://www.gerke-preussner.de/standalone.php4?envCnt=work_games_uttut_tipstr
icks
cheers,
j3rky
--
homepage: http://www.gerke-preussner.de
UTToolkit out now: http://uttoolkit.gerke-preussner.de
UT coding forum: http://forums.gerke-preussner.de
Phallicity
that it will always be a masked texture, you can set the mask option in
the texture properties, then you don't have to specify the masked
option for the surface. To illustrate, build a simple room with a
sheet added to the center of it (just a regular add, no special) and a
light source. Apply the LND2_1 texture fopund in the Skybox.utx
texture file. It autopmatically makes the surface a masked surface.
If you look in the properties of the texture (right click on atexture
in the texture browser and select Properties) Under the surface
directory you will see bMasked set to true. This is how you specify a
masked surface in the texture itself.
As for .pcx files, I use PSP 6 and I tend to have trrouble with .pcx
files also. I usually use .bmp file to import into UED.
In article <8Bm_5.6$36....@news1.rdc1.il.home.com>,
Mike
s will definitely speed things up, I'll try it.
I use Photoshop6, so I know what you mean about having trouble with pcx
format.
After experimenting with gradients in Photoshop, I found out that, by using
the "Selective" pallet while converting to index seems to retain gradients
the best. The only part that make me wonder is: How dose Unreal look on a
Mac? Seems that everything in the editor caters to PC's. I don't mind since
I own a Pc, but I have to wonder what my map will look like on a Mac.
Thanks for the extra info, every little bit helps.
Mike
"Phallicity" <phallic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:91d6mu$qrr$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Mike
I tried downloading it again, and it worked.
something might have happened during my first download,
Sorry,... I should have tried that first.
Mike
"Mike" <mgi...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:vAz_5.1528$36.3...@news1.rdc1.il.home.com...