To all experienced texture artists out there: what is the best program to use for texturing in Oblivion? And which has a good .dds exporter plugin for it? I tried downloading the command line exporter off of Nvidia's site, but it wasn't converting the textures for me, even though I did everything the included readme instructed me to. Lastly, could a master of conjuration perhaps tech me a spell to summon me a copy
I'm using photoshop all the way. And there's an okay exporter for it on Nvidia's site. For help with normal mapping Crazybump is extremely useful. Photoshop is of course not free but Crazybump is.
After that all you need is experience and a minor sense for what you're doing. Not sure if i'm allowed to call myself an "experienced texture artist" just yet though. Sadly I have no skills in any kind of magic.
Other than that, using photos of real objects that fit the texture you're about to make is always good to make it look more real. Most filters are banned in PS though (at least until you're good enough not to not rely on them). Layers are your friend.
Damn... I got off track there. Anyhow, that's what I think.
EDIT: And I think this should have been posted in General ES Modding (though I'd have to admit I don't look in there too much
)
photoshop me thinks. there are a couple of free options, but i think PS is still better in many respects.
http://www.gimp.org/
It's free and it's just as good as photoshop (the interface is a bit odd, but you get used to it). You can get a dds plugin for it
here.
PS all the way. Best bitmap editor out there. Not my opinion. it just is. I just started reading a book on photoshop. cool tips
I think I'll put this one on my christmas list
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240807685
there are other procedural texture generators that maybe of use and interest, I sometimes use them to anti alias images or to make a tilling pattern that can be used in PS selections to cut high res stone pictures or the like, Genetica, texturemaker, filterforge, profx/mapzone ect. If you learn how to use them, which isn't that hard for basics, but tricky to get creative, you can make some awesome sickness
Well I figure I'll give gimp a go for now, all I'm really concerned about at the moment is retexturing armors.
Maybe down the road if I get more serious about texturing I'll find a way to *conjure* myself a copy of PS.
EDIT: Once I've installed the .dds plugin for Gimp, where do I find it in the Gimp user interface?
Good choice! =)
Just type *myfilename*.dds when saving the file and it will come up with an option box - it treats dds the same as any other kind of file. If you want to edit the file again make sure to save it as .xcf as well.
Also if you want a normalmap plugin you can get one
here.
Ok cool, so that's how you save files (btw when it asks for compression, what type is used for oblivion?)
I can't figure out how to open .dds files for oblivion though.
Edit: Sweet nevermind, I just had to force them to open.
Photoshop.
Though I use GIMP because I haven't got the money to buy a copy of PS yet.
Why can't I open dds files?