Smivs' texture tutorial - Revision history

Debresser: Minor improvements.

2016-01-21T20:37:31Z

Minor improvements.

Svengali at 22:11, 5 June 2012

2012-06-05T22:11:31Z

Smivs: Minor change to text

2012-02-29T22:07:49Z

Minor change to text

Smivs: fixed broken links

2012-02-25T08:56:23Z

fixed broken links

Smivs: Added caveat to section on Indexing to relfect pssible pixellation on complex images

2011-09-17T13:19:05Z

Added caveat to section on Indexing to relfect pssible pixellation on complex images

Smivs: Added advice on reducing file sizes

2011-09-16T08:36:59Z

Added advice on reducing file sizes

Smivs: Added link to the BB thread

2011-06-08T19:06:55Z

Added link to the BB thread

Smivs: Added catagory link

2010-12-16T10:08:58Z

Added catagory link

Smivs at 01:56, 7 December 2010

2010-12-07T01:56:15Z

Smivs at 01:52, 7 December 2010

2010-12-07T01:52:09Z

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-'''Smivs' Guide to making Textures.'''
+== Smivs' Guide to making Textures ==
 Before I start I should point out that I have had no formal art or graphic-design training. What I will explain below is my personal method of preparing textures for Oolite, based on what I've learnt largely by researching on the 'net, Trial-and-Error and sometimes with some advice from people who do know what they are doing. There are almost certainly other, perhaps better ways of doing this, but this works for me. I suggest using images of 2048x2048px when preparing textures as this will allow a high level of detail. Oolite textures can be 512x512px, 1024x1024px or 2048x2048px. If you are working on an OXP for release, keep in mind some computers won't be able to handle lots of large textures, so you may choose to scale your textures down for release or produce more than one version, employing different texture sizes for each.
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 [[Image:plist.png|center]]
 Where the 'shininess' and 'specular-color' give a mild degree of shininess and a gentle reflectiveness of white light. These settings will look natural, but can be changed if needed.
 And this is what our Python looks like in-game.
 [[Image:smivs'-texture-tutorial-python.png|center]]
 For any questions, there is a discussion thread on the Oolite Forum [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8808 here]
 Start a New Game, and save it as 'Checker'. Open the Checker.oolite-save in an approriate text editor (NOT Notepad!!!) and then scroll about half way down and find:-
@@ Line 142: / Line 133: @@
 Save this and move it into your 'oolite-saves' folder.
-Make a mini-OXP:-
+Make a mini-OXP:
 Create a folder and call it "Shipchecker.oxp". Inside this folder create another called 'Config'. Inside 'Config' place a file called 'shipdata.plist'.
@@ Line 151: / Line 142: @@
 When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:11, 5 June 2012
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	When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.		When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.
		+
		+
		+	==Links==
		+	*[[OXP_tutorial\|OXP Tutorial]]
		+	*[[List of software]] that is helpful for creating OXPs
		+	*[[OXP Distribution]] for best practices on OXP packaging and distribution

	[[Category:Oolite]][[Category:Factual]]		[[Category:Oolite]][[Category:Factual]]

@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 We can now make our emission_map. We need to combine the two emissive images, but with different modes to get the desired effect - we want the spotlight to light the hatch but in a way that varies with ambient light falling on it, but we want the cockpit, portholes and 'glow' to be consistantly bright.
-Open 'spotlights.png' in Gimp and set the Mode to 'Multiply'. Drag and drop the 'lights.png' onto this. At this stage this will make the spotlight disappear, but that's OK. Set the Mode to 'Lighten Only' and the spotlight element will re-appear. You might want to add some white spots to the 'source' of the spotlights at this stage to give the impression of a bright light source. Go to 'Layer', 'Merge Down'. This will merge the image into one layer but it will retain the Modes we set earlier. For emission maps, it is necessary to leave the alpha channel in place, but your image can now be Indexed as described above to reduce the file size.
+Open 'spotlights.png' in Gimp and set the Mode to 'Multiply'. Drag and drop the 'lights.png' onto this. At this stage this will make the spotlight disappear, but that's OK. Set the Mode to 'Lighten Only' and the spotlight element will re-appear. You might want to add some white spots to the 'source' of the spotlights at this stage to give the impression of a bright light source. Go to 'Layer', 'Merge Down'. This will merge the image into one layer but it will retain the Modes we set earlier. For emission maps, it is necessary to leave the alpha channel in place, and they should not be indexed.
 Save as a .png and you have your emission_map. Call it 'yourship_emission_map.png' and move it into the textures folder.

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 To make this is a right pain in the Iron-Ass so here's one you can download and use.
-[http://www.smivsonline.co.uk/images/Smivs'-grey-texture.png  Metal-plate background texture]
+[http://www.smivsonline.co.uk/images/oolitepics/Grey-texture1.png  Metal-plate background texture]
 Next, open this background texture, and drag and drop the transparent silhouette onto it. This will give you the silhouette with the metal-plate finish.
@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 Next we want to add a spotlight to illuminate the hatch. Again these can be hard to make, so here is one you can use.
-[http://www.smivsonline.co.uk/images/Smivs'-lightbeam.png Lightbeam]
+[http://www.smivsonline.co.uk/images/oolitepics/light_beam.png Lightbeam]
 You might need to re-size this depending on your ship following the instructions given above.

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 Having the other emissive elements (cockpit and portholes in this case) on both the diffuse_map and the emission_map will make them nice and bright, but the 'glow' needs to be darker and more subtle, so that will just be on the emission_map as you'll see.
-This should complete your diffuse_map, but there is one more step to take. If you are using lots of textures or very large textures in your OXP, it is important to keep file sizes as low as possible to keep the download small. For a straight-forward diffuse map like the one we have made, firstly click on 'Layers' and go down to 'Transparency'. Click on 'Remove Alpha Channel'. This will remove a lot of un-needed data. Then click on 'Image', 'Mode' and 'Index'. You will see a conversion box, and just click on 'Convert'. This reduces the palette to 256 colours from the thousands that the RGB image we created has. For Oolite textures this makes no difference to the 'look' of the image but again reduces the data considerably. The end result is an image which looks the same, but is only about a third the file-size of the original. Save this as 'yourship_diffuse_map.png', and move it into the textures folder.
+This should complete your diffuse_map, but there is one more step to take. If you are using lots of textures or very large textures in your OXP, it is important to keep file sizes as low as possible to keep the download small. For a straight-forward diffuse map like the one we have made, firstly click on 'Layers' and go down to 'Transparency'. Click on 'Remove Alpha Channel'. This will remove a lot of un-needed data. Then click on 'Image', 'Mode' and 'Index'. You will see a conversion box, and just click on 'Convert'. This reduces the palette to 256 colours from the thousands that the RGB image we created has. For most Oolite textures this makes no difference to the 'look' of the image but again reduces the data considerably. The end result is an image which should look the same, but is only about a third the file-size of the original. However, if your texture uses lots of colour gradients and fades this process may cause noticeable pixelation and in this case an alternative form of compression may be needed. If you are not sure, the best thing to do is make a copy of your image and try it and see. Assuming your image is OK save this as 'yourship_diffuse_map.png', and move it into the textures folder.
 [[Image:smivs'-texture-tutorial9.png|150px|left]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:06, 8 June 2011
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	[[Image:smivs'-texture-tutorial-python.png\|center]]		[[Image:smivs'-texture-tutorial-python.png\|center]]
		+
		+
		+	For any questions, there is a discussion thread on the Oolite Forum [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8808 here]

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:08, 16 December 2010
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	When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.		When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.
		+
		+	[[Category:Oolite]][[Category:Factual]]

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 Change the 'ship_name' (Cobra Mark III) to your ship's name.
 Make a mini-OXP:-
@@ Line 146: / Line 146: @@
 Save it all, and move the "Shipchecker.oxp" into your 'AddOns' folder.
-When you start the game, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.
+When you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra, load 'Commander Checker' and you should be good to go.

@@ Line 142: / Line 142: @@
 Create a folder and call it "Shipchecker.oxp". Inside this folder create another called 'Config'. Inside 'Config' place a file called 'shipdata.plist'.
-To make the shipdata.plist, copy the section dealing with the Mk 3 Cobra player from the main Oolite shipdata.plist. Replace all the parts specifically referring to the Cobra with your Ship's details, and add the 'Materials' section as above.
+To make the shipdata.plist, copy the section dealing with the Mk 3 Cobra player from the main Oolite shipdata.plist. Replace all the parts specifically referring to the Cobra with your Ship's details, and add the 'Materials' section as above. You will need to add curly brackets top and bottom, '{' at the top and '}' at the bottom.
 Create a second folder within "Shipchecker.oxp" and call it 'Textures'. This is where your diffuse_map and emission_map go.
 Save it all, and move the "Shipchecker.oxp" into your 'AddOns' folder.