Make Pilot Patches for UH1H ?

[Fredzered]

First thank you for your work with the UH1H ! I'm really fan !

A nice graphical option is the badges you can put on pilot's an co-pilot shoulders ... and i'm working on it !

I already found a "patch" file i reworked ... so, i got a simple .psd with the alpha channels gone ! :(

My questions are :

How to make alpha channels in my template ? (i understand the principles but ...)

In which format do i have to save my file and how ?

In advance ... an enormous thank you ! :pilotfly:

Fredzered

Edited June 3, 2013 by Fredzered

[Ali Fish]

most commonly DDS file is used. i use photoshop so i use some of nvidia`s texture tools, DDS tools.

 

some are using a program called DXTBmp, this will convert bmp to DDS and vice versa, it should also alow you to access an alpha channel.

 

the alpha channel will only be used to knock out everything but that pilot patch , ie everything around it.

 

--------

 

after that you will need to edit the decription.txt file to point to your newely created patch specifically

[Home Fries]

If you're using Photoshop with the DDS plug-in, save the files as DXT3, which is best for discrete alphas (like patch boundaries).

 

There's also nothing that says you can't just save the file as a TGA. That will work as well, though the file is twice the size of a DXT3.

[Ali Fish]

also. DDS contains mip maps. of which you should not need many of.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mip_map

[Axion]

If your stuck I'll send Speckfire your way, he has made some great patches and skins for our squad.

 

 

 

 

[Fredzered]

Thank you for your posts, guys !

 

In summary :

1. I make first my template in .psd

2. I create a layer in whitch i knock everything but the patch

3. I compress my layers

4. I save my file in .dds (to be later converted with DXTBmp)

Question : RVB 16bits or 32bits ?

5. And i save it in .dds DXT3 with DXTBmp

 

That's it ? :book:

[Home Fries]

Close.

 

If you use the DDS plug-in for photoshop, you can save it directly as DXT3 without using DXTBmp.

 

If you use DXTBmp, you don't save your file as DDS in photoshop, but as TGA. You then open the TGA in DXTBmp and save as DDS. I believe it will automatically save as DXT3, but I don't use DXTBmp so I could be wrong on that. It should automatically be 32 bit, since it has the alpha channel.

[Ali Fish]

if you are using photoshop, use this. https://developer.nvidia.com/legacy-texture-tools

[speckfire]

For any TGA conversion, I first save the dds file in question in PS as a PNG file then use Paint.Net and re-save it as a TGA. It takes care of the Alpha channel stuff ;)

Edited June 3, 2013 by speckfire

[Fredzered]

Thank you all ! Got it ! It works fine !

:cheer3nc: