1 Intro

(R2.0)

This tutorial covers working with and saving .dds formats with the nVidia DDS Tool. I also cover areas of NifScope and some asset creation tips.

Medieval Tunic & Helm: The Lays of Althas: Sundered Oder.

Dynamis Sword: Skyrim Mod.

2 Contents

Intro ............................................................................................................................................................... 1

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

DDS Formats & Sizes .................................................................................................................................... 3

DDS Formats & Sizes (Other Texture Sizes & Types) .................................................................................. 4

DDS Formats & Sizes (Other Texture Sizes & Types Continued) ................................................................. 5

DDS Formats & Sizes (Final Saving) ............................................................................................................ 6

MIP Maps ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

MIP Maps (continued) ................................................................................................................................... 8

Texel Density ................................................................................................................................................. 9

Opacity Map & Transparencies ................................................................................................................... 10

Resizing Images .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Resizing Images (continued) ....................................................................................................................... 12

Mesh Exporting: 3ds Max ............................................................................................................................ 13

NifSkope Settings: Alpha Property .............................................................................................................. 14

NifSkope Settings: Alpha Property (flags) ................................................................................................... 15

NifScope Settings: Glow Maps .................................................................................................................... 16

NifSkope Settings: Setting Material Types .................................................................................................. 17

NifSkope Settings: Setting Material Types (continued) ............................................................................... 18

NifSkope Settings: UV Editing ..................................................................................................................... 19

NifSkope Settings: Shader Editing .............................................................................................................. 20

NifSkope Settings: Moving a Mesh .............................................................................................................. 21

NifSkope Settings: Miscellaneous Settings ................................................................................................. 22

nVidia .dds Tool: Normal Maps ................................................................................................................... 23

nVidia .dds Tool: Importing / Exporting ........................................................................................................ 24

nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / MIP Maps ...................................................................................................... 25

nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Sharpening .................................................................................................... 26

nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Normal map settings ...................................................................................... 27

nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Normal map settings ...................................................................................... 28

nVidia .dds Tool: Using the Pre-Saved nVidia Tool Settings ....................................................................... 29

Credits and Links ......................................................................................................................................... 30

3 DDS Formats & Sizes

Left: Diffused Center: Specular Right: Normal

• DXT1 RGB 4 bpp | no alpha is the most common setting used for the diffused map unless your texture has area’s that are completely transparent or semi-transparent and you need an alpha channel. A few examples of this could be hair or the fringe on a rug.

• DXT1 RGB 4 bpp | no alpha is most commonly used for diffused maps, environment maps, and glow maps.

! Note: If you’re having saving issues and the nVidia tool is creating an unwanted alpha channel save as DXT1 ARGB 4 bpp | 1-bit alpha but be sure the alpha channel is deleted.

• This is most commonly used when saving out the normal map because the specular map is placed in the normal maps alpha channel.

4 DDS Formats & Sizes (Other Texture Sizes & Types)

All of these settings fall under the same category and are normally used for the same map types.

• DXT 1, 3, or 5 with Alpha – is most commonly used for diffused maps when a transparency is needed, this is also known as an “opacity map”. Some game engines use a separate file for the opacity map, .dds files in Skyrom, Oblivion, Fallout, etc, have the opacity map built right into the diffuse map using the alpha channel.

• DXT 1, 3, or 5 with Alpha – is also used with the normal map, and is known as the specular map. Once again, with .dds files, the specular map is built right into the normal map.

! Note: You may use DXT1 or DXT3; however I recommend skipping it and using DXT5. DXT5 carries more shades of grey and offers a smoother transition. DXT1 or DXT3 is still viable with textures that have a direct 100% transparency, and no transition is needed.

• Going from DXT1 or 3 to 5: Once the file has been saved out as DXT1 or 3, the resolution of gray is set. If for whatever reason you plan to switch to DXT5 format, the alpha channel needs to be remade. If not, the lesser resolution from DXT1 / 3 will just be copied over to the new DXT5 format not giving you the true DXT5 gradient.

• Saving a diffused map with transparent background: If you’re working on a texture map with a transparent background, similar to how a .png file from the internet works, the alpha channel and its gradients will be automatically created.

• Note: Even though you have, and intend to use the alpha channel for transparency effects, settings need to be made in nifScope for the effect to work. The .nif file doesn’t automatically know and doesn’t automatically pull from the diffused maps alpha channel. (covered later)

Using environment reflections (A swords blade)

• TextureName.dds - DXT1 no alpha • TextureName_m.dds - DXT1 no alpha • TextureName_n.dds - DXT5 | interpolated alpha

No environment reflections (leather on an armor set)

• TextureName.dds - DXT1 no alpha • TextureName_n.dds - DXT5 | interpolated alpha

5 DDS Formats & Sizes (Other Texture Sizes & Types Continued)

• In most cases .dds files are saved with an equal length, and equal height, (ie. 512 x 512, 1024 x 1024, 2048 x 2048 etc.) with a resolution of 72dpi.

• You may also save .dds files in an 8x2 size format. An example of this could be 256 x 2048. • Another optional format that can be used in some circumstances is 8.8.8.8 ARGB 32 bpp |

unsigned. This is an uncompressed format, and the file size will be very large. The advantage of this is the texture should be almost 100% artifact free. However, I don’t recommend making a texture set using 8.8.8.8. If you do want to use this, offer it as an optional download

Oblivion and Skyrim use. dds (DirectDraw Surface) file formats for textures. The texture set is based off the diffused maps name, and following maps are assigned an ”_” and letter so the game engine knows what map type it is. Below is a list of those types are what it’s used for. I’m not sure if it matters in Skyrim anymore, but for Oblivion, it was never a good idea to save the image or mesh file with an additional underscore. This could sometimes confuse the engine, and could give strange results in game. An example of how not to save might be “my_file_01_n.dds”. Saving it like “MyFile01_n.dds” is what you want to do.

• TextureMap.dds: The diffused map; the colors and overall appearance of an object’s texture. If you are using it, the opacity map goes in the diffuse map’s alpha channel. In Skyrim, the opacity map goes in the diffuse maps alpha channel spot.

• TextureMap_n.dds: The normal map; Gives bumps, detail, and normal and shading to the meshes surface. The normal map fakes normal directions allowing for a much more detailed surface. In Skyrim, the specular map goes in the normal maps alpha channel spot.

• TextureMap_m.dds or _em: The environment / reflective map (mask). Skyrim uses static cube maps to fake environment reflections; the environment mask controls how strong this reflection is. White = 100% of the effect, Black = 0%.

• TextureMap_g.dds: The textures glow map. Tells the game engine what pixels to ignore the current lighting and maintain a set level of brightness or color. Note: Like the alpha channel on the diffused map, the glow maps settings can be changed in nifScope under NiMaterialProperty, (Oblivion) or BSLightingShaderProperty (Skyrim).

• TextureMap_msn.dds: The object space normal map. Works similar to a tangent space normal map. Object space normal maps can be opened and edited in Photoshop, but the initial creation requires a 3d modeling program or tool. The map itself is created directly from the model in a 3d application. If you do want to use this format, the UV’s need to be 100% unique with no overlapping or inverted UV islands.

• TextureMap_p.dds & TextureMap_h.dds: Height and parallax maps are greyscale textures that tell the rendering engine to add height to the surface of a mesh either by subdivision, or a shader technique. These are normally used on environment meshes; stones, rocks, bricks, etc.

6 DDS Formats & Sizes (Final Saving)

! If you want, you can set all file sizes to exactly the same width and height... To help reduce your mods overall footprint, and to ease the overall load on the computer additional maps like a glow, or environment map can be saved at a reduced size. I recommend up to 50% smaller.

Different size texture set example

• TextureMap.dds – 2048 x 2048 • TextureMap_n.dds – 2048 x 2048 • TextureMap_m.dds – 1024 x 1024 • TextureMap_g.dds – 1024 x 1024

• Above, highlighted in red boxes are the 5 common formats that can be used. As mentioned in Formats & Sizes, the DXT1 through DXT5 are compressed formats, 8.8.8.8 ARGB is uncompressed.

• Sharpen settings allow an additional sharpening pass just before the file is written. The Unsharpen Mask is a common way to give your texture an extra snap to help bring out details without oversharpening or making the image look blocky. (covered later)

7 MIP Maps

MIP Maps are used by game engines to help reduce the load on the CPU and GPU, and VRAM. For example, let’s say we made a rain barrel with a texture size of 2048 x 2048. If we were standing up close to it, we’d want to see the full beautiful texture resolution right? Well what if we had an additional 30 objects in our scene, some close, and some far, all with 2048 x 2048 texture maps. At some point,this would get taxing on our computer. A fix to this is to generate a series of smaller texture maps, also known as MIP Maps. With MIP Maps in the same scene, the objects further away would be using one of the reduced size MIP Maps, which in turn reduces the load on the computer. Then, as we move closer to another object, the next larger size MIP Map is loaded until we reach the full 2048 x 2048 texture.

• When don’t we need MIP Maps? Whenever textures are static like in HUD applications. Since the textures aren’t going from very large, to very small MIP Maps aren’t needed.

• UNSharpen Mask – Another option is to save the .dds file using the UNSharpen Mask filter. This can help reduce the “texture pop” condition many of us have seen in games. The UNSharpen Mask filter is found in a menu by clicking Sharpen when you save the .dds file.

Above is an image of the EbonyShield_n.dds file from Bethesda SoftworksTM. (with MIP Maps loaded)

8 MIP Maps (continued)

Most current game engines including Unity, Unreal, and the Creation Engine use what is known as DXT image compression. In the case where objects are viewed at different distances, MIP maps are also used, and what brings me to our next subject, texture sizes. The texture size chosen should be based on two major factors. What’s the closest the object will ever be viewed by the end user, and two, the overall surface area of the mesh.

Without our control, the display adapter (video card) automatically chooses a MIP map to be displayed based off how far the object is from the camera and the current screen resolution 720P, 1080P, 4K, etc…

Using the sword texture example from above, in the case of say a first person weapon, often larger texture sizes are desired, normally 2048 x 2048 or even 4096 x 4096 (large surface area). This is because it’s likely the largest MIP map will be displayed and in our case 2048. Armor and other character items can also be something that gets close to the camera and often has a lot of surface area. But be mindful, if for some reason your objects never get close to the camera (various props), the 1024 MIP map, or smaller will be loaded, and the 2048 version becomes nothing but wasted data sitting in the computers VRAM. An illustration of this could be when we are playing Skyrim or Oblivion in 3rd person, chances are we are looking at the 2nd or maybe even 3rd MIP map.

What’s my point? The purpose of bringing this up is an attempt to better illustrate what’s going on behind the scene when a user loads up your mod and to possibly create a more optimized package; something that looks great but is also optimized for real-time use. So just remember…

1. How far will the camera be? 2. Surface area of the mesh (a bucket vs a dragon for example) 3. End users screen resolution. (build you content around 1080P)

9 Texel Density

Since I brought up “surface area” of a mesh in the previous section I didn’t want to leave you hanging without talking about texel density. What this refers to is how many pixels there are on the UV sheet in comparison to a given unit in the game engine. For example, this could be 256 pixels for every 1 foot.

My goal here isn’t to make you sit with a calculator, being sure that you keep to an exact science, but rather something to just be aware of, and to try to build it into your workflow.

Above I have two examples of a cube with the size of 32x32x32 units. Take notice of the cube & UV sheet on the left, then compare it to the one on the right…

Next compare the number of checker tiles, and take notice how much denser the one of the left is. The cube on the left is higher resolution and has a higher texel density than the cube on the right.

Of course in this example we have two cubes both the same size, but the important parts to note is…

• The more surface area a mesh has, the larger the texture will need to be to maintain a particular texel density (unless tiled) and this is the main point I’m trying to drive home with this section.

• Texture baking loves high-resolution textures, especially normal maps. So if you are planning on using 1024 for example, I recommend baking at 2048, then if needed scaling back down to 1024 in Photoshop.

• Stick with what looks good. Don’t overanalyze your work, yet don’t get carried away with a texture size bigger than it needs to be.

10 Opacity Map & Transparencies

(The diffused maps alpha channel)

In this next section, I’ll cover the basics of the diffused maps alpha channel.

• Above, I made a quick example of a grey scale palette for visual reference. Essentially the alpha channel on the diffused map is nothing more than information on how opaque or transparent an area should be. An area that’s 100% black will be 100% transparent, and an area that’s 100% white will be 100% opaque. We also have shades of grey in between which will give a semi-transparent effect.

• Example: An example of a DXT1 or DXT3 use of this could be fringe on a rug. The white area would be the rug itself, then directly next to it (the space between) would be solid black.

• Example: An example of a DXT5 use would be the glass on an oil lamp. The bottom of the glass might be a dark grey. The top of the lamp you might want tinted from smoke and use, so this area could be a smooth transition of white (very dirty part), greys (semi-transparent), and black (completely transparent). This is where the use of DXT5 becomes more important.

• So why not always use an alpha channel? The simple answer to this is if you’re not using transparencies, it becomes nothing more than wasted data.

• Glow Maps: Everything I covered on this page also accounts for glow maps as well. Instead of defining how transparent as area should be, we would be defining where an area should glow, and how intense.

11 Resizing Images

Talk to any photographer and I’m sure they’ll have a host of information when it comes to resizing an image from its original creation. Well, texture maps fall under the same category, and in some cases carry with it an even a greater urgency to be done right; mainly because were working with multiple layers and channels, all of which is put on a 3d object, and finally rendered in a 3d environment with shaders.

• Myth – Just because an image is large, even 4096 means it’s a high-resolution image. A large texture map only has the potential of being “high resolution”. You can’t take a 512 x 512 image, blow it up to 4096 x 4096 and expect quality results when working with raster images.

• Below - In the example below I took a standard .jpg format 100 x 65 image from the internet, then blew it up to 4096 x 2675. You can see the original (100 x 65) sample looks good, almost like a forums icon, but look what happens when it was blown up… The image became pixilated and blocky. This is what happens when you take an image from very small to large.

• The opposite happens when you take an image from large, to small. It becomes very blurry. Like when resizing your glow or environment maps. So when working with raster images (texture maps), resizing does have its limitations. Keep that in mind.

• Fortunately, there’s something that can be done about this, to a degree, and assuming the image was quality to begin with, and we’re not going too far from one size to the other.

• Photoshop has an image resizing, sharpening / blur algorithm built right into its Image Size menu. You can use this and possibly get decent results; however its downfall is it lacks control.

12 Resizing Images (continued)

What I recommend and use myself, is resizing the image normally, then applying a Smart Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, Gaussian Blur, or Smart Blur after the image has been resized. All of these filters are adjustable and can be changed based on the current project. So, if the image has been blown up, it might need a slight blur filter. If the image has been reduced, it might need a slight sharpen filter.

• Above is an image of the Smart Sharpen Filter. In the settings menu, you can save presets

like I have here. Overdoing the filters can have undesirable effects. Remember, all we're doing here is slight filter adjustments to help mirror what we had to begin with.

• Unsharp Mask Photoshop (final save) – One thing I like to leave as an option is using the Unsharp Mask filter as an absolute last step before saving out to a game texture. Using this can hep get the texture to pop and bring out small details you intended while texturing. This can be found under Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

13 Mesh Exporting: 3ds Max

Without going into extreme detail, above is the most common settings used for exporting a .nif file from 3ds max. If you need more information there are many tuts on YouTube about this subject.

Since we’re talking about exporters, one tool I’d like to mention is ChunkMerge. Essentially ChunkMerge allows for creating a more advanced collision that Skyrim uses as opposed to Oblivion called bhkMoppBvTreeShape. The reason we use this is because the current NIF exporters don’t support this type of collision. What this tool does is pull the collision type data from an existing mesh and applies it to your intended collision mesh, then compiles them both in a useable .nif file.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5622/?

http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/Skyrim/Adding_Collision_Mesh_using_ChunkMerge

14 NifSkope Settings: Alpha Property

For this example I used the default hair mesh from Skyrim. I also boxed (in red) the branch NiAlphaProperty, which is the topic of this section. The NiAlphaProperty block tells the mesh to pull data from the diffused maps alpha channel.

1. In some cases you can copy / paste this data from a current mesh, if you’re starting from scratch follow these steps…

2. Right click on the NiTriShape Branch. 3. Follow the menu to Block (click), then Insert. 4. You will see an NiA… Click that, and then select NiAlphaProperty. 5. At this point, the NiAlphaProperty will be in the data stack but might not linked to the mesh-like

shown in the picture above. To get it linked to the desired mesh follow these steps. 6. Click on the NiTriShape Branch. 7. In the menu below scroll down until you see a proprieties section. (see picture)

• In the None box is where we need to assign whatever number is next to the NiAlphaProperty. In my case, it was 12. Click None and enter the correct number.

• If this was done correctly, the NiAlphaProperty will be a part of the NiTriShape branch. Just like in the hair picture above.

• While working with edge blood effects (which uses the NiAlphaProperty) be sure have “Has vertex colors” set to yes, and under flags “hidden” should be checked.

15 NifSkope Settings: Alpha Property (flags)

Most 3D renders and game engines have different methods of setting up the alpha channel, and in the case of NifSkope, this is done under Flags section of the NiAlphaProperty. If you have an NiAlphaProperty node attached to your stack, click on it and look below under flags.

There are two ways to change the way the alpha is rendered. The first is to click on the box next to the flag icon and type in an already known number which changes the values in the input box automatically. In my case, it’s 4844. 4844 is what Bethesda used for this hair mesh and in turn set the values shown in the dialogue box.

The second way is to manually change the values in the dialogue box and click accept. Doing this will assign a numeric value next to the flag icon. One of the easiest ways to set the alpha flag if you’re not sure which to use, or the one you are using isn’t working as intended is to look at another .nif files value and see what was used there.

There are a number of commonly used Alpha values, some of them are…

• 4844 (Hair Skyrim) • 21059 (Weapon blood Skyrim) • 21005 (Weapon blood Skyrim) • 4847 • 4845 (Oblivion era)

16 NifScope Settings: Glow Maps

Getting glow maps set up in NifScope is very similar to the way we got the alpha property set up earlier.

• In the above image, I’m using the Dawnbreaker.nif as an example. In branch # 101 we have the scabbard mesh labeled Scb. This is about as simple as it gets with no additional parameters needed for it to work. There are no alpha channels, glow maps etc… Take note of line # 103 BSLightingShaderProperty.

• In branch # 105 we have the Dawnbreaker sword itself, but instead of BSLightingShaderProperty alone, we have branches I labeled “Additional Data”, in blue. These are branches # 108, # 109, # 110, # 107. These extra branches not only tell the mesh it’s to use a glow map, but it also sets the glow color and intensity.

• Getting the extra parameters set is just like how we did it with the Alpha Property. You can also open up the Dawnbreaker.nif mesh with nifScope, and copy / paste its data to your own to help get started.

! If for whatever reason you need to add more arrays under the Properties, doing this is very easy. On the properties line and under array column you will see a number. This number sets the number of arrays for the NiTriShape block. To add or remove the number of arrays, change this number to the needed number, then click the green double-arrow button to the left.

17 NifSkope Settings: Setting Material Types

If you’re exporting a fresh mesh from a 3D package or grandfathering different assets together, you may need to change the material type in NifSkope. The first thing to point out is how it works and where it goes.

Essentially most of the collision in Skyrim (or any game) is made up of simple shapes, it’s not a vertex-to-vertex copy of the mesh. The actual collision itself is stored in the bhkCollisionObject branch shown under block 6.

If you have the parent branch selected (BSFadeNode) like in the screenshot, take a look at the bottom the “Collision Object” slot. Here is where the collision for on object will always go.

If for some reason your bhkCollisionObject has popped out of the stack or is pointing to the wrong branch, double-click where the bottom red arrow is pointing and enter the correct branch number.

The collision settings in NifSkope tell the engine how an object will react when it’s dropped or walked on. You can also test collision in the Creation Kit by clicking the Havok Icon.

18 NifSkope Settings: Setting Material Types (continued)

The next area to note is under the bhkRigidBodyT branch. Highlighted in red boxes are inputs that can be changed based off how you want the collision of an object to react.

• Weapons tend to use a particular set, static objects another, etc. You're best bet if you want to change these are to compare them against another similar object from the extracted BSA file.

19 NifSkope Settings: UV Editing

With the UV editor open you can select vertices and move them around on the UV sheet. If a modeling package isn’t available to you, this can be useful for making quick adjustments or getting rid of UV stretching. If you right click the UV window, a dialogue box will open up with extra options as shown in the second example.

20 NifSkope Settings: Shader Editing

Below are some of the most common areas to perform shader editing in NifSkope. I highlighted in red some sections to note, and where changes are made. If you need a more in-depth description as to what each of these do, you can click the Interactive Help box at the top of NifSkope, or go to the NifToolsmain page.

! Another quick tip when starting to perform some shader editing is to think back to some objects you saw in-game that have a similar look and feel. Then find the .nif from an extracted .BSA file and check out what settings were used on that. This can help give you a baseline as to where to start.

21 NifSkope Settings: Moving a Mesh

I normally recommend making mesh edits in some kind of a 3D modeling package, but NifSkope has a few primitive tools for moving and scaling a mesh. This can also be helpful for adding some final tweaks for positioning a weapon or piece of armor.

• Edit Window: To access the edit window simply select a mesh, right click the go to Transform > Edit.

• Once in the edit window, you can enter new values to scale or move a mesh to the desired location. When you're satisfied with the adjustments, click accept to close the window.

22 NifSkope Settings: Miscellaneous Settings

• Before saving the file, here is a few other setting to look over.

• Under NiTriShapeData “Num UV Sets” should be set to 4097. (for Skyrim content) • Under NiTriShapeData “Has Vertex Colors” Should be set to YES. (for Skyrim content)

• The Tangent Spaces should also be updated! (this is very important) You can do this under Spells > Batch, or by right clicking the mesh in the render window, or by right clicking the NiTriShape block and then going to Mesh > Update Tangent Space.

23 nVidia .dds Tool: Normal Maps

In this next section, I want to cover the nVidia .dds tool and the features it offers in Photoshop.

Once the plugin is installed, and with an image loaded go to Filter > NVIDIA Tools > NormalMapFilter. If you don’t have the plugin, it can be downloaded here.

Now that you have an image loaded and the normal map filter screen is up, here you’re able to create a basic normal map from an existing texture.

Although the NVIDIA normal map tool does create useable normal maps, decent ones, this tool is older and lacks features that some newer tools offer. If you’re looking to create just a basic normal map this should do the job. If not, there are other tools out there that are more robust and offer a better workflow. A few of these tools are CrazyBump and NDO.

Below is an overview of the normal map tool functions.

24 nVidia .dds Tool: Importing / Exporting

In this next section, I talk about importing and exporting. dds files into Photoshop, which is really the important part of the .dds section. Unlike saving other file types, saving .dds files with the nVidia .ddstool comes with many additional options and configurations. This is partly because we’re doing operations that in many cases the game engine would do like creating MIP maps for example.

The example I show here is the most common settings for performing an import. In most cases the only additional setting you would use is to Load MIP maps. Keep in mind that UI textures won’t have MIP maps.

As covered earlier in this tutorial, to the right shows where the format compression settings are located. No need to be overwhelmed be the number of choices, as we only use a few of them for Fallout, Skyrim Oblivion etc.

25 nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / MIP Maps

• In most cases 2D Texture will be used for the left box hilighted in red • To the right, Generate MIP maps, or Use Existing MIP maps should always be used unless

doing UI work. Unless you’re working on a .dds file that already had MIP maps and was imported into Photoshop, new MIP maps will need to be generated.

Below is the MIP Map Filtering box. This allows you to change the algorithm type and additional settings to further tweak how the MIP Maps are generated. This isn’t necessarily a performance option, but will change the look if you’re having issues with MIP Maps getting too dark, blurry, losing too much detail etc.

• Triangle: Default settings, offers decent results.

• Point: No Filtering.• Box: Fast Filtering. • Mitchell: High Quality Filtering.

26 nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Sharpening

Under Sharpening is additional settings you can work with to apply additional effects to your MIP Maps. A common one, and the one I prefer is UnSharpen Mask. This works in like the UNSharp Mask in Photoshop.

You can experiment on your own but I normally use a value of 0.3-1.4 on Radius and 0.25-0.8 on the Amount. Over sharpening will give a chunky contrasted look. All we are trying to do is match the original texture and bring back lost detail from scaling the image down.

27 nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Normal map settings

• Under Normal Map settings, Normalize can be checked. (optional) What this does is bring the RGB values of the texture that were translated to a normal value from a range of 0-1, back into a range of 0-1 if for some reason the pixel values were ever above or blow this. This can help reduce or remove possible artifacts.

• As a side note, I don’t know of this function works, or if so how well. When I use a function like this I use the plugin provided from xNormal.

28 nVidia .dds Tool: Exporting / Normal map settings

• In the Image Options box be sure to set the Compression quality to Highest.

• Color Map is used for the color textures and is meant for the full RGB color values. • Gery Scale is used for grey scale (non-RGB) textures. • Normal Map:Tangent Space is the most common type of normal map and has that blue and

purple look. These can be generated in Photoshop or baked from a mesh. • Normal Map:Object Space has a more orange, green, and pink look. This kind of normal map

is only generated from a baker using a high poly and low poly mesh.

29 nVidia .dds Tool: Using the Pre-Saved nVidia Tool Settings

1. First extract the NvidiaDDSPresets folder anywhere it doesn’t rely matter. Just put it in a place where you will remember where it is.

2. Once you’re in the nVidia .dds file save menu, like shown in the picture below, click on the “Set Profile Directory” button, and set the path to wherever you extracted the folder.

3. Now in the drop-down menu should show 6 different settings with a short description on what it’s for. Keep in mind these setting aren’t set-in-stone, but offer a guideline on where to start.

Thanks for reading!

30 Credits and Links

jdewey@jdgameart.com

Portfolio

Twitter

ArtStation

Steam

Twitch

YouTube

Nvidia DDS Tool

NifSkope

xNormal

3ds Max Importer / Exporter (nexus)

ChunkMerge