Why? Why does my texture look so crappy!
Right is my texture in Photoshop, left is the compressed version in VTF viewer. Both are 256*256, blown up so you can more easily see the problems.
There has to be some way to circumvent this. The only point that I actually need a decent amount of detail is being compressed to nothing while the rest of the texture is relatively unscathed.
I'm using the Photoshop VTF filter using the default settings in the "Compressed texture with alpha" template - DTX5, Box Mipmap, Sharpen Soft, mipmaps and thumbnail ticked, 8 bit alpha flag ticked. I've tried messing with the sharpen filter settings but none of them seem to make a lot of difference. Tried dropping the image to 256 before compressing.
There has to be something I'm doing wrong, or some way to improve this, right?
Why? Why does my texture look so crappy!
Right is my texture in Photoshop, left is the compressed version in VTF viewer. Both are 256*256, blown up so you can more easily see the problems.
There has to be some way to circumvent this. The only point that I actually need a decent amount of detail is being compressed to nothing while the rest of the texture is relatively unscathed.
I'm using the Photoshop VTF filter using the default settings in the "Compressed texture with alpha" template - DTX5, Box Mipmap, Sharpen Soft, mipmaps and thumbnail ticked, 8 bit alpha flag ticked. I've tried messing with the sharpen filter settings but none of them seem to make a lot of difference. Tried dropping the image to 256 before compressing.
There has to be something I'm doing wrong, or some way to improve this, right?
Why? Why does my texture look so crappy!
Right is my texture in Photoshop, left is the compressed version in VTF viewer. Both are 256*256, blown up so you can more easily see the problems.
There has to be some way to circumvent this. The only point that I actually need a decent amount of detail is being compressed to nothing while the rest of the texture is relatively unscathed.
I'm using the Photoshop VTF filter using the default settings in the "Compressed texture with alpha" template - DTX5, Box Mipmap, Sharpen Soft, mipmaps and thumbnail ticked, 8 bit alpha flag ticked. I've tried messing with the sharpen filter settings but none of them seem to make a lot of difference. Tried dropping the image to 256 before compressing.
There has to be something I'm doing wrong, or some way to improve this, right?
256??? Why not work at 1024, then reduce that to 512 when saving. 256 seems unnecessarily small.
Working at a high resolution than your final is generally poor practice, particularly working with such low resolutions as it tends to result in loss of fine detailing.
Do you think it results in a better compression result? Maybe I'll experiment with a scaled up image.
Alright, screw it. If Valve come a-knocking I can deal with the oversized textures later.
Called the Helping Hand unless anyone has a more clever suggestion.
Props to everyone who helped get me to this point, especially RuskeyDoo who spent some of his own time pawing over my files trying to work out why the textures were busted.
Trying to compile model thru Item Test i always getting this problem with specular or something despite i have correct alpha in normal map. Whats wrong?
I wanted my reef to look more organic, so I figured that I would make a torus that had the faces following the rim cross over each other, and then include alphas with the texture. However, I can't seem to get consistent good results.
The rings are pretty obvious in the second picture. I'll keep trying to fix it, but any advice is appreciated.
Alright, screw it. If Valve come a-knocking I can deal with the oversized textures later.
Called the Helping Hand unless anyone has a more clever suggestion.
Props to everyone who helped get me to this point, especially RuskeyDoo who spent some of his own time pawing over my files trying to work out why the textures were busted.
That's looking great, really fits the engie style. Got it in-game yet?
These ones were scrapped (didn't want to spam the workshop)
They were part of a "Toy" pack
I think you should continue with the scrapped toy ideas you don't have to worry about spamming the workshop, alot of people have beat you too it and they may be added next year
@Jackablade: I like the Engie Hat idea, although I would have made the glove be like the one he wears over his hand/gunslinger.
@SkankerZero: Got to love those obscure holiday traditions. I think that if it goes in game and not every class wears it, only the Medic should wear it, as it is German in background.
In any case, I submitted my idea:
The Festive Flap
Those, really, are very good. The models and textures are very nice looking, but, unfortunately, they don't really fit withing the realm of the aesthetic used in TF2.
The texture work mainly is what makes the items not fit in. Notice how drastically the light characters clash with the dark, heavily contrasted backpack.
The actual mask could stay as is (perhaps water down a few details).
The painted shadow on the stick is a little too strong. If you make the darks a little less heavy, it will fit perfectly.
The backpack should be made lighter overall. A good example of how weaves are done in TF2 is the 'Old Guadalajara' hat for the pyro.
Just play around with it until it doesn't look like a foreign object when contrasted with the characters.
Could anyone give me a hand? I'm trying to get the $selfillum working on this texture, and when I update the .vmt it doesn't seem to change anything. I used itemtest for the initial compile so I don't know if that affects it at all.
I have an alpha mask that has the blue slots on the goggles masked out (white) and everything else black. The .vmt is the default one generated by itemtest, and then I added "$selfillum" "1" on the line below the base texture.
Any help would be appreciated, feel free to PM me for more info or add me on steam (jimpact). Thanks all and your holiday items look awesome!
Guys i really need help. I tested my item in sdk and it was fine with the texture and everything. Then i went to try it in TF2 and the texture was purple and black. Anyone know why?
Guys i really need help. I tested my item in sdk and it was fine with the texture and everything. Then i went to try it in TF2 and the texture was purple and black. Anyone know why?
Either your VMT isn't pointing to the right texture, you forgot a line in your QC, you didn't assign a material in your modeling program, or your materials aren't in the right folder.
The alpha should be correct, I've done them tons of times and itemtest recognizes that there is an alpha on there.
You code is fine, so the only thing I can think of is that it's not importing correctly, or your alpha is really wrong. I just tested your VMT code using an item I had compiled an sure enough, it lit like a Christmas tree.
Also, are you're compiling with itemtest? Why not manually first?
I think maybe it could be because I'm editing the vmt after itemtest does it's compile, so it's not being properly reflected. I'm not doing it manually because I'm horrifyingly bad at the process haha. I'll try to cobble a compile together with the files I have, hopefully that fixes it.
Good to know it's not the vmt syntax. Thanks for taking a look, I really appreciate it.
Well I got it working!! If anyone else uses itemtest and runs into a similar problem, all I did was set the "Color Alpha Type" option from Nothing -> Transparency. After it compiled, I edited the vmt files to have "$selfillum" "1" and voila! I think if it compiles with the Alpha set to nothing, it doesn't put an alpha flag in the qc (or something like that).
Those, really, are very good. The models and textures are very nice looking, but, unfortunately, they don't really fit withing the realm of the aesthetic used in TF2.
The texture work mainly is what makes the items not fit in. Notice how drastically the light characters clash with the dark, heavily contrasted backpack.
The actual mask could stay as is (perhaps water down a few details).
The painted shadow on the stick is a little too strong. If you make the darks a little less heavy, it will fit perfectly.
The backpack should be made lighter overall. A good example of how weaves are done in TF2 is the 'Old Guadalajara' hat for the pyro.
Just play around with it until it doesn't look like a foreign object when contrasted with the characters.
Gorgeous work, though. I really like them.
feedback implemented and will be resubmitting soon.
Replies
Right is my texture in Photoshop, left is the compressed version in VTF viewer. Both are 256*256, blown up so you can more easily see the problems.
There has to be some way to circumvent this. The only point that I actually need a decent amount of detail is being compressed to nothing while the rest of the texture is relatively unscathed.
I'm using the Photoshop VTF filter using the default settings in the "Compressed texture with alpha" template - DTX5, Box Mipmap, Sharpen Soft, mipmaps and thumbnail ticked, 8 bit alpha flag ticked. I've tried messing with the sharpen filter settings but none of them seem to make a lot of difference. Tried dropping the image to 256 before compressing.
There has to be something I'm doing wrong, or some way to improve this, right?
Maybe try our old friend, VTFEdit?
dxt5 is pretty destructive i'm affraid. Maybe try a higher resolution, if possible :[
256??? Why not work at 1024, then reduce that to 512 when saving. 256 seems unnecessarily small.
Working at a high resolution than your final is generally poor practice, particularly working with such low resolutions as it tends to result in loss of fine detailing.
Do you think it results in a better compression result? Maybe I'll experiment with a scaled up image.
And, yeah logically, if you have a 2 pixel line, it has better chance to survive the compression than a 1 pixel line.
Now don't worry too much, i personally find horrible dxt compression gives a more TF2ish look.
Called the Helping Hand unless anyone has a more clever suggestion.
Props to everyone who helped get me to this point, especially RuskeyDoo who spent some of his own time pawing over my files trying to work out why the textures were busted.
This is all thanks to andrew and if you have questions, please voice out your words in the wiki or here.
I wanted my reef to look more organic, so I figured that I would make a torus that had the faces following the rim cross over each other, and then include alphas with the texture. However, I can't seem to get consistent good results.
The rings are pretty obvious in the second picture. I'll keep trying to fix it, but any advice is appreciated.
Link with Videos
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4864
These ones were scrapped (didn't want to spam the workshop)
They were part of a "Toy" pack
That's looking great, really fits the engie style. Got it in-game yet?
"Gift Grenades.".
Got a fist full of few hours with no connection to my home pc. should i go on? (rigging nightmares ahead and all)
I think you should continue with the scrapped toy ideas you don't have to worry about spamming the workshop, alot of people have beat you too it and they may be added next year
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4903
The Slaybells!
r13 and I submitted for the holiday thing:
Krampus set:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4927
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4928
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4929
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197960465342/screenshots/
[ame="
That's a wicked ass mask.
@Jman, I don't like xmas stuff all that much, but that's hilarious, I would totally use it.
@SkankerZero: Got to love those obscure holiday traditions. I think that if it goes in game and not every class wears it, only the Medic should wear it, as it is German in background.
In any case, I submitted my idea:
The Festive Flap
[ame="
Vote Here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4952
switch: 876
basket: 2642
I'll post up wires and all that good stuff a little bit later.
Thumbs up if like
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4777
Tunguska Turtleneck
Those, really, are very good. The models and textures are very nice looking, but, unfortunately, they don't really fit withing the realm of the aesthetic used in TF2.
The texture work mainly is what makes the items not fit in. Notice how drastically the light characters clash with the dark, heavily contrasted backpack.
The actual mask could stay as is (perhaps water down a few details).
The painted shadow on the stick is a little too strong. If you make the darks a little less heavy, it will fit perfectly.
The backpack should be made lighter overall. A good example of how weaves are done in TF2 is the 'Old Guadalajara' hat for the pyro.
Just play around with it until it doesn't look like a foreign object when contrasted with the characters.
Gorgeous work, though. I really like them.
Keepwarm Koala
I have an alpha mask that has the blue slots on the goggles masked out (white) and everything else black. The .vmt is the default one generated by itemtest, and then I added "$selfillum" "1" on the line below the base texture.
Any help would be appreciated, feel free to PM me for more info or add me on steam (jimpact). Thanks all and your holiday items look awesome!
Doesn't look like it's working.
"VertexlitGeneric" { "$baseTexture" "models/player/items/engineer/0x034284bb/glowgoggles/glowgoggles_color_blue" "$selfillum" "1" "$detail" "effects/tiledfire/fireLayeredSlowTiled512" "$detailscale" "5" "$detailblendfactor" .01 "$detailblendmode" 6 "$yellow" "0" "$lightwarptexture" "models/lightwarps/weapon_lightwarp" "$rimlight" "1" "$rimlightexponent" "4" "$rimlightboost" "2" "$cloakPassEnabled" "1" "Proxies" { "weapon_invis" { } "AnimatedTexture" { "animatedtexturevar" "$detail" "animatedtextureframenumvar" "$detailframe" "animatedtextureframerate" 30 } "BurnLevel" { "resultVar" "$detailblendfactor" } "YellowLevel" { "resultVar" "$yellow" } "Equals" { "srcVar1" "$yellow" "resultVar" "$color2" } } }The alpha should be correct, I've done them tons of times and itemtest recognizes that there is an alpha on there.
Frosty's Bitter End
Either your VMT isn't pointing to the right texture, you forgot a line in your QC, you didn't assign a material in your modeling program, or your materials aren't in the right folder.
You code is fine, so the only thing I can think of is that it's not importing correctly, or your alpha is really wrong. I just tested your VMT code using an item I had compiled an sure enough, it lit like a Christmas tree.
Also, are you're compiling with itemtest? Why not manually first?
Good to know it's not the vmt syntax.
Thanks a lot!