DDS Plugin for photoshop cs4 64bit?

Kawe · Mar 2009

Oh, I just realized that the nvidia plugins don't work for photoshop cs4 64bit. Does anyone have an alternative? I assume the best course of action is to get one of those free image viewers and save the images out in some other format. But I figured I'd check with people here before going through the hassle.

glib · Mar 2009

The best course of action for what exactly? Are you trying to view dds files and don't need to save them? Do you need a normal map filter?

The lack of vtools and the nvidia tools for cs4 has kept me from upgrading thusfar.

Eric Chadwick · Mar 2009

Someone said here it works for them, their French install of CS4 required them to move the plugins elsewhere.
http://developer.nvidia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2493

Edit... a good alternative is to simply use the newer command-line tool. It supports PSD format, and it's very fast. You just have to write a .BAT file for it, or better yet make a javascript tool like James did with vTools.

Kawe · Mar 2009

Right, the plugin doesn't work for 64bit version of Photoshop so the solution was just to use the 32bit version. heh.

glib · Mar 2009

I did a little more digging and found that vtools works fine under CS4 64 (at least the part I need) but the nvidia filter still refuses. xNormal's filters work just as well from what I've seen though, and support every version of photoshop I've ever tried them on.

Xoliul · Mar 2009

I really also want these Nvidia Filters on CS4 64 bit. Working with highres textures really is smoother when Photoshop has acces to more ram, but I find myself switching back to CS3 all the time due to the absence of the Nvidia filter...

Hazardous · May 2010

Sorry to dig up an oldy - anyone know if this been resolved yet ?! As far as i know my photoshop plugins still dont work with cs4 64 bit....

Eric Chadwick · May 2010

I put in a request for an updated Photoshop plugin awhile back. If more people put in requests, the priority will get bumped higher. If you do this, request 64bit support as well, just to make sure that gets in too.

crazyfingers · May 2010

Just downloaded GIMP today for this very reason. Kind of a pain having to shuffle programs to spit out simple 2d textures.

JAN2X · May 2010

guys..i really really need your help...sorry if i bump this post...

i have a problem about ps cs4 64 bit...i want to open DDS file in there but it says here that the plug in didn`t work for 64 bit so i want to change from 64 bit to 32 bit but i dont know how..plz tell me!!! i really need that ASAP!!

Froyok · Oct 2010

Hey, I found a little script for export dds file in photoshop cs4 64b, I hope that's help :
http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter

kendo · Oct 2010

Had the same problem now i use image converter plus, its not as good as simply having the photoshop plugin but its a pretty decent alternative.

System · Nov 2010

Is anyone working on an nvidia x64 normal map plug for phtoshop?

Eric Chadwick · Nov 2010

Apparently not.
http://code.google.com/p/nvidia-texture-tools/issues/detail?id=33#c8

But there is an alternative, as Froyok posted above!

mortalhuman · Nov 2010

I can confirm nvidia tools are working in cs4. They just need to be run from the 32bit version.

hyrumark · Nov 2010

Great find Froyok! With that script, it uses the CUDA-accelerated version of Nvidia's tools. Saving large dds files is ridiculously fast compared to the old Nvidia Photoshop plugin. It compresses and saves a 2048x2048 texture in less than a second - the old plugin could sometimes take about 10 seconds. I've bound it to a hotkey.

Thanks again!

Joshua Stubbles · Nov 2010

that script cant seem to find the dern pref file. its in the same dir! =\

**EDIT**
Okay scratch that. Got it working, but the damn thing doesn't support exportation of DDS cubemaps! what gives?

Not to mention you still can't open the DDS' themselves in PS5

eevans · Nov 2010

Joshua Stubbles wrote: »

that script cant seem to find the dern pref file. its in the same dir! =\

**EDIT**
Okay scratch that. Got it working, but the damn thing doesn't support exportation of DDS cubemaps! what gives?

Not to mention you still can't open the DDS' themselves in PS5

Excellent points, thanks for the feedback. If I can squirrel away some free time, I may see if I can address the issues that you mentioned. The import limitation seems particularly limiting.

Eric Chadwick · Nov 2010

For cubemaps, you can use the nvassemble command-line tool. Yeah, it's a bit more hassle, but once you make a batch it's pretty quick to run the next time. I haven't used it, but I bet the images are in the same order as the old plugin... +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z, ... which translates to the 3ds Max directions RT, LF, UP, DN, BK, FR.

Opening DDS, hmm, not sure about that one sorry, still using CS3 here. But... I think you can use the Texture Tools command line functions to spit out a TGA or PSD from DDS input? Edit.. yeah, nvdecompress.

Edit edit... talk to your tech artists!

hyrumark · Nov 2010

For opening DDS files, you could use Irfanview to first save it in another format like tga then open in PS. It's one more step, but not too much of a hassle, since you can assign a shortcut in Irfanview to launch the image in an external editor like photoshop. So it's just a quick press of SHIFT-e and it pops the image over to photoshop.

For saving lots of textures, the blistering speed from the CUDA enabled version is totally worth the extra bit of hassle.

Ahrkey · Nov 2010

Anyone got that script working with cs5 x64? Nothing happends when I click the Save File button.

eevans · Nov 2010

Joshua Stubbles wrote: »

that script cant seem to find the dern pref file. its in the same dir! =\

**EDIT**
Okay scratch that. Got it working, but the damn thing doesn't support exportation of DDS cubemaps! what gives?

Not to mention you still can't open the DDS' themselves in PS5

Thanks for the feedback. : ) I just uploaded another version of the tool (really a set of utilities now). Most notably you can now import DDS files into Photoshop (still no cubemap support though). : )

Please let me know if you encounter any bugs etc.

http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter#Download

Eric Chadwick · Nov 2010

Eric you rock!

eevans · Nov 2010

qlz wrote: »

Anyone got that script working with cs5 x64? Nothing happends when I click the Save File button.

I developed the utilities principally in CS5 (64-bit), so they "should" work well in CS5. : ) Make sure that you do not drop the contents of the extracted "PS64_DDSUtils__v1.2" folder in the root of the Presets\Scripts directory. Instead the intact "PS64_DDSUtils__v1.2" folder (containing the prefs.jsx and the readme.txt files) should be placed in the Presets\Scripts directory, alongside the "PS64_DDSUtils_Importer__v1.2" and the "PS64_DDSUtils_Exporter__v1.2" files. See the image below for more information. Hope this helps. : )

eevans · Nov 2010

GCMP wrote: »

Is anyone working on an nvidia x64 normal map plug for phtoshop?

Have a look at this tool. I haven't actually used it myself as of yet, but it appears to be quite powerful.

http://www.cgted.com/
http://tech-artists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1217

System · Nov 2010

eevans wrote: »

Have a look at this tool.
http://www.cgted.com/

Great stuff, many thanks eevans! This is a well designed tool, normal maps are much better quality than nvidia and any other tools/plugins. The only downside is having to run a script, meaning you can't do anything else until you close it. Anyway, this is going to be used from now on so thanks once again for the link and thanks to the creator

ps: had some problems installing as there were no instructions so this is for anyone else who can't suss what to do: you have to install microsoft silverlight to view the install instructions but if you don't want to do that...

1. Extract complete rar to local disk.
2. Drag and drop the nDo.atn file to your Actions tab in Photoshop.
3. Remove the current "Script" tab (drag and drop it to the trashcan icon or click the menu tab and choose "Delete").
4. Hit the "Begin Recording" button.
5. Goto File > Scripts > Browse and browse to the location you choose to extract nDo.zip to and select nDo.jsx.
6. Close the script window after it opens and stop recording. Done.

Cheers

Ahrkey · Nov 2010

So I mailed nvidia and asked if there ever will be a x64 version of it. This is the answer I got:

Hi Robert,

We are currently working towards releasing a x64 version of the plugin soon. Please keep an eye out for it on developer.nvidia.com in the coming weeks.

Glad to hear from you.

--Eric Foo
NVIDIA Corporation

Eric Chadwick · Nov 2010

Awesome!!! The power of asking nicely!

Edit... I found this tool really helpful for keeping track of updates like this
http://www.changedetection.com/

eevans · Nov 2010

qlz wrote: »

So I mailed nvidia and asked if there ever will be a x64 version of it. This is the answer I got:

That's great news! Way to step it up, NVIDIA. : ) In the meantime, I just uploaded a fix for my work-around script utilities. Thanks to Kayo, a fix for some incorrect paths is now in place. Kayo also reported an as of yet unresolved issue. DXT1 1-bit alpha does not currently import correctly. The export works properly, and DXT5 alpha seems to both export and import correctly. I'll see if I can't come up with a fix shortly.

http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter

eevans · Dec 2010

eevans wrote: »

That's great news! Way to step it up, NVIDIA. : ) In the meantime, I just uploaded a fix for my work-around script utilities. Thanks to Kayo, a fix for some incorrect paths is now in place. Kayo also reported an as of yet unresolved issue. DXT1 1-bit alpha does not currently import correctly. The export works properly, and DXT5 alpha seems to both export and import correctly. I'll see if I can't come up with a fix shortly.

http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter

Never mind, DXT1 import/export seems to be working correctly after all. : ) As an aside, layer-based transparency (i.e. via masks) is currently discarded at DDS export. This is due to the fact that I'm using the TGA file format as an intermediary. As such, it is necessary to consolidate all transparency data into a single alpha channel prior to export.

I've had a few reports of the script crashing on the first run, but I haven't been able to reproduce the issue myself. If anyone else is able to reproduce this crash (or any other issue for that matter), the information would be greatly appreciated.

malcolm · Dec 2010

Wow I can't believe they are actually going to update photoshp 64bit plugin.

eddybrown · Jan 2011

Eric Chadwick wrote: »

...
Edit... a good alternative is to simply use the newer command-line tool. It supports PSD format, and it's very fast. You just have to write a .BAT file for it, or better yet make a javascript tool like James did with vTools.

How would you write a .BAT file for the command line tool so that it would batch through a folder, converting to DXT1?

Eric Chadwick · Jan 2011

There are many ways, but the simplest (and least-featured) is good to get started with.

1. In the folder where your TGAs are, make a new TXT file.
2. Rename it something like DXT1.BAT
3. Edit it like this:

"C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Texture Tools 2\bin\nvcompress.exe" -color whatever.tga -bc1
"C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Texture Tools 2\bin\nvcompress.exe" -color somethingelse.tga -bc1
"C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Texture Tools  2\bin\nvcompress.exe" -color etcetera.tga -bc1

4. Save it and run it.

Each image needs its own line in the batch file. They might support feeding it a TXT file list of image names, not sure. But a better way to make this more flexible would be to write a Python script or somesuch that makes a list of all the TGA files in your folder(s) and writes them into a temporary BAT file with the syntax you want. A batch to make a batch.

Edit... here's the list of commands:
http://code.google.com/p/nvidia-texture-tools/wiki/CommandLineTools

eddybrown · Jan 2011

Thanks for your reply, that makes sense now. A batch file to create a batch as you say!

I'm not up on Python but can get by in maxscript so I'll give Python a look when I get some free time.

eevans · Jan 2011

eevans wrote: »

I've had a few reports of the script crashing on the first run, but I haven't been able to reproduce the issue myself. If anyone else is able to reproduce this crash (or any other issue for that matter), the information would be greatly appreciated.

Fixed a crash bug caused by invalid import file paths, Ergo, v1.3.5. : )
http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter

Numerator · Feb 2011

qlz wrote: »

So I mailed nvidia and asked if there ever will be a x64 version of it. This is the answer I got:

I just asked them and they are not going to update them "for now".

Froyok · Feb 2011

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

Nvidia have just updated their plugin !
Now available for 64bit and 32bit !

Champagne !

haiddasalami · Feb 2011

Froyok wrote: »

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

Nvidia have just updated their plugin !
Now available for 64bit and 32bit !

Champagne !

took them forever lol.

SpeCter · Feb 2011

Numerator wrote: »

I just asked them and they are not going to update them "for now".

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/p...s_plugins.html

Nvidia have just updated their plugin !
Now available for 64bit and 32bit !

Champagne !

About 2 weeks difference, fortunately Numerator was wrong:poly142:

malcolm · Feb 2011

I can't believe it, first Duke Nukem Forever and now this. Insane.

hyrumark · Feb 2011

Cool! For just exporting regular dds files, I still prefer the speed of this CUDA-enabled version though: http://docs.kaneva.com/mediawiki/index.php/Photoshop_DDS_Exporter

But now I can have the best of both!

malcolm · Feb 2011

hyrumark, I can't get that after market dds thing working?

hyrumark · Feb 2011

Just make sure you have the 64 bit version of Nvidia Texture Tools 2 installed FIRST. Then make sure you place the scripts in the correct folder ("\Presets\Scripts") as shown in the picture on the download page.

The export utility is accessed under the "File->Scripts" menu, not in the save dialog box. Then you can record an action to bind it to a hotkey. It compresses dds files SUPER fast, in the blink of an eye if you have a decent Nvidia card.

malcolm · Feb 2011

I did everything it said in the instructions but when I go to save a dds through the export script it just does nothing. Is this tested with cs5?

hyrumark · Feb 2011

Hmm, yes I'm using CS5 here with no problem. Just to cover all bases, you're not using some custom install paths or anything? Also I have UAC turned off, don't know if that matters either.

malcolm · Feb 2011

Yeah default settings all around and UAC off. I've confirmed the nv tools 2 exist in the correct folder and all the paths are correct. Running the scrips pops a dox box for half a second and then nothing happens.

Numerator · Mar 2011

SpeCter wrote: »

About 2 weeks difference, fortunately Numerator was wrong:poly142:

So I was. I was just going by what the manager of the group told me.

DDS Plugin for photoshop cs4 64bit?

Replies