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Nvidia DDS tools


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First brought to my attention by a helpful forum member here:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=144444

 

Nvidia DDS tools. Essentialy an elaborate plug-in that allows to save directly from PSD to DDS format. Is it really any better then DXTbmp? And what are the best settings? I use these now. The image has the same resolution, but the resulting file is 8Mb instead of the 10Mb that DXTbmp has. Quality is good. I didn't push any of the buttons to change settings.

 

DXT%20settings_zpskpfewv5o.jpg

Happy Flying! :pilotfly:

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DXT5 is better quality.

 

I just tried. DXT1 filesize = 8Mb, DXT5 filesize = 16Mb. But not any significant change in quality. I do not see any improvement in quality, no artifacts on both. but a file-size that is twice as big. Why is it better?

 

I'm new to the DDS tools for Photoshop and I want to use the settings that gives me the smallest filesizes and the best quality. Right now that seems DXT1 is the most efficient.

Happy Flying! :pilotfly:

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DXT5 has no better compression quality than DXT1, DXT5 just includes the alpha channel. You most likely won't need the alpha channel, so check if your file has use for it and save accordingly.

 

I recommend using "Generate MIP maps" for a more natural and realistic look from a distance.

 

For compression, you should test and see what works best for you, although only modes that I know to work with DCS are DXT1 RGB, DXT5, 8.8.8 RGB and 8.8.8.8 ARGB.

 

Personally, I use 8.8.8 RGB for all of my work to achieve best quality. Downside is that with 8.8.8 filesizes are much larger and it might affect loading times.

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There's really not that much to set, so I'll give you some explanation of what you might want to use. And there's no best setting. If there was a best setting, then there wouldn't be a need for any of those buttons, right? ;)

 

DDS Format:

DXT1 = your standard DXT compression. Use this for images with no alpha channel.

DXT1a = same as DXT1, except with 1bit alpha.

DXT3 = low quality alpha (16 colors).

DXT5 = used for images with smooth alpha (256 colors).

 

So you'll use 1 or 5 mostly.

 

There's no color quality difference between DXT1 and 5, only difference is the alpha!!!

 

There's also a 8.8.8.8 ARGB and 8.8.8 RGB uncompressed setting. You might want to use it when saving the texture temporarily (for modelviewer check...), since it's saves much quicker or for saving normal maps, which you shouldn't compress with DXT. It'll also look better (who would have thought uncompressed texture will look better than compressed, right?) but at the cost of MUCH larger file footprint. It also requires some more realtime processing and might cripple the performance. DXT on the other hand is directly readable by the GPU and thus works much faster. Quality difference is also debatable, unless you're going to spend your time looking at every single rivet from up close. DXT has a lot of compression artefacts in direct comparison, but with high-res texturing, it's basically not noticeable at normal zoom levels.

 

MIP map generation

 

Not much to explain, you either generate mipmaps or not. But mipmap use is highly encouraged, both for performance and image quality reasons.

[MIP map filtering]

This is the kind of setting that where results may vary depending on the texture.

For the filter, I usually use Kaiser. Some examples here or here. You might want to experiment a little, though I suspect majority is using default Box filter anyway and everybody's happy, although I did find Kaiser giving a better results.

 

Gamma correct is another useful setting. See this. Some small and high-contrast parts of your texture might get lost and darkened with the lower mip levels and this is useful for bringing it back up. But again, it's not an universal setting and you might want to experiment a little as large gamma value might introduce some blurring at lower MIP levels. 0.4545 value should bring it up to gamma 2.2 (It's always 1÷Gamma=X, where X will be the value you have to put in)

 

The rest we'll leave at default for now.

 

[image options]

Production highest.

Error diffusion off (usually, as I found it introducing additional artefacts with some smaller, high contrast parts).

 

Rest default.

[sharpening]

 

As the mipmaps get smaller, they get a little bit blurry (especially with box filter). Sharpening will somewhat prevent this, but it might cause more harm than good as it introduces ringing artefacts, so don't overdo it. I rarely sharpen the mipmaps actually, or only use unsharp mask with really weak setting.

 

 

And that's probably all you want to touch, maybe the "save flipped vertically", if your texture ends up looking all weird with certain models, but that's rarely needed in DCS. So set DXT1 or 5, filter and gamma if needed, done.


Edited by GeorgeLKMT
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  • 6 years later...
2 hours ago, Butcher868 said:

Can you still get it to run with Photoshop 2022?

You can download the latest plugin here for Photoshop 2022:

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-exporter


Edited by EricJ

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