AH III skin tutorial

[Fencer51]

And... I saved the P-51D_S and P-51D_E files as 8 bit greyscale bitmaps... and in the skin view they are having no effect.  I set them to black and their is this wonderful shine and mirror finish all over... 

Crayons, basic, sturdy and in 100 colors.  That's what we need to move to.

[Devil 505]

Looks like your missing the _P file. Just copy _S and rename it _P.

[Greebo]

You don't have to save the psd as 32-bit, if its 24 bit or 8 bit per channel (same thing) that will do. When you are saving your skin as a bmp then save it as a 32-bit bmp. The game and viewer aren't ever going to see your psd file so it doesn't matter if that isn't 32-bit.

It is important the normal file is set up properly first or none of the other effect files will work.

[Vraciu]

Thanks guys,

I cannot save a psd doc as a bmp at 32 bit in CS2...  I think I know why the artists are all nuts... its not genetic, its from the work.

I have to use GIMP 2.6 to convert my files to 32-bit.  I still can't make normal files.   I am modifying my existing ones line by line and pixel by pixel.   

[Fencer51]

You don't have to save the psd as 32-bit, if its 24 bit or 8 bit per channel (same thing) that will do. When you are saving your skin as a bmp then save it as a 32-bit bmp. The game and viewer aren't ever going to see your psd file so it doesn't matter if that isn't 32-bit.

It is important the normal file is set up properly first or none of the other effect files will work.

I cannot save a bmp as a 32 bit file with CS2 or PS7.  I am not worried about the 32 bit PSD file, you misunderstood my frustration, sorry.

[Greebo]

Sorry Fencer, I misread your post. I'm using Photoshop Elements 10 and I can save as a 32-bit bmp with that.

[Vraciu]

And... I saved the P-51D_S and P-51D_E files as 8 bit greyscale bitmaps... and in the skin view they are having no effect.  I set them to black and their is this wonderful shine and mirror finish all over... 

Crayons, basic, sturdy and in 100 colors.  That's what we need to move to.

It is a bit frustrating at first, but in many ways easier than the old system once you get into the groove.

I still cannot stand the skin viewer controls.   

[Fencer51]

Ok...

Got Gimp.  Figured out that I needed to export to save as BMP.  Given options for saving as bmp for 32 bit.

First Choice. "Compatibility Options"  Click or unclick "Do not write color space information?"  ???????

Moving to "Advanced Options"  Under 32 bits I have an option to click "X8 R8 G8 B8"  Assuming that is a yes.

Now I get this nice BMP file at 4 megs..

Do this for both my "Skin file" and my "Normal" File.  Already have the S, E, and P files saved as 256 color greyscale 8 bit BMPs.

AND..... BLAMMMMOOO it shows the default skin in the viewer. 

There is not some weird thing where the files need to be lower case or something "Daleish" is there?

[Vraciu]

Ok...

Got Gimp.  Figured out that I needed to export to save as BMP.  Given options for saving as bmp for 32 bit.

First Choice. "Compatibility Options"  Click or unclick "Do not write color space information?"  ???????

Moving to "Advanced Options"  Under 32 bits I have an option to click "X8 R8 G8 B8"  Assuming that is a yes.

Now I get this nice BMP file at 4 megs..

Do this for both my "Skin file" and my "Normal" File.  Already have the S, E, and P files saved as 256 color greyscale 8 bit BMPs.

AND..... BLAMMMMOOO it shows the default skin in the viewer. 

There is not some weird thing where the files need to be lower case or something "Daleish" is there?

Of the conversion options it's the one on top (of the two).  I forget what it says but it's usually the default selection.

[Devil 505]

Ok...

Got Gimp.  Figured out that I needed to export to save as BMP.  Given options for saving as bmp for 32 bit.

First Choice. "Compatibility Options"  Click or unclick "Do not write color space information?"  ???????

Moving to "Advanced Options"  Under 32 bits I have an option to click "X8 R8 G8 B8"  Assuming that is a yes.

Now I get this nice BMP file at 4 megs..

Do this for both my "Skin file" and my "Normal" File.  Already have the S, E, and P files saved as 256 color greyscale 8 bit BMPs.

AND..... BLAMMMMOOO it shows the default skin in the viewer. 

There is not some weird thing where the files need to be lower case or something "Daleish" is there?

No. use A8 R8 G8 B8.

[Easyscor]

So many options... hehehe 

For GIMP with the TE and OE, I've found clicking (checked) the compatibility option "Do not to wright the color space info" is always required and the 24 bit option is the right combo for most things AH. The exceptions are when the alpha channel is required, but then these guys are much better advisors.

 

Edit: The "color info" is used for later versions of Windows bitmaps, 5 now iirc. Most games still use version 1.

[Fencer51]

No. use A8 R8 G8 B8.

No. use A8 R8 G8 B8.

That option is greyed out.

[Easyscor]

That option is greyed out.

Both are for the Alpha channel. Or at least one of them is.

[Vraciu]

That option is greyed out.

Here's how I do it in PaintshopPro to Gimp. 

I save my .psp file with all the layers.   This is what allows Gimp to convert with the A8 option. 

I open Gimp and save as a .bmp -- when the conversion menu pops up I leave the default selections (Merge Visible and A8) as they are and save it as P51d.bmp (or whatever). 

Copy/paste/replace in the AH3 directory. 

If you try to convert a .bmp it won't work.   Convert your original format file.

[Devil 505]

That option is greyed out.

When you save to .bmp, select "Merge visible layers" not "Flatten Image"