Author Topic: [Tutorial] Tips & Tricks in Reskinning  (Read 7407 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Not Yet Rated!

Offline nargil66

  • Forum Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Topic Author
  • Posts: 2490
  • Country: bg
  • Karma: +67/-1
  • Gender: Male
  • Mesh-Texturing Beautifier :)
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Time Zone: ?
[Tutorial] Tips & Tricks in Reskinning
« on: 28 June 2018, 11:15:31 »
Found this tutorial on Steam. It's for another game, but the main things apply for TQ:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1117908959
« Last Edit: 03 March 2019, 12:48:51 by nargil66 »

Rated 1 time
Excellent

Offline nargil66

  • Forum Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Topic Author
  • Posts: 2490
  • Country: bg
  • Karma: +67/-1
  • Gender: Male
  • Mesh-Texturing Beautifier :)
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Time Zone: ?
Re: Tips & Tricks in Reskinning
« Reply #1 on: 03 March 2019, 12:48:18 »
« Last Rated on: 15 May 2021, 18:27:30 »
Ok, here are some basic tips and tricks with reskinning. Just have in mind that my knowledge is limited, and I dont have much experience with Photoshop or even Gimp. Still using Paint.Net, because is simple to learn and has clear interface. If you CAN use something more advanced than this, i recommend you to use it instead. I'll try to explain things in general, so you can apply them with any painting program. Let's begin:

Tip #1 - Extracting the .TEX file you want to edit from the .ARC archive

You can use several programs to do that:

ARC Explorer
ARZ Explorer
ARC Unpack


You can find all 3 here:
https://mega.nz/#F!ALAwVQaD!EQB8u085VJZwGIuQuVq2Nw

ARC and ARZ Explorer work in the same way, but I recommend using ARZ Explorer - it has all features from the first one, but can also extract the game's records (.ARZ)
To use it, run the program, browse to the .ARC file containing the file you want to edit and load it. Now you have two options. First one is to extract the entire .ARC archive. To do it, go to "Extract"> All Files". The second option is to extract only the .TEX file you need. To do it, browse to it's location in ARZ Explorer, select it, and then go to "Ëxtract > Selected File". A window will pop, where you can choose a location to save it to.



ARC Unpack works in a different way. To use it, copy or drag the .ARC you want to extract and place it/copy it over the ArcUnpack.exe. It will be extracted automatically in the same location you copied it from. OR, if you dont want to do this every time: right click on any ARC file > choose "Open with...", tick "Always open with this program", then browse to ArcUnpack.exe and click on it. From now on all .ARC files will unpack automatically when you double click on them. I personally prefer this method.



---

Tip #2 - Extracting the .TEX file itself

You can use two different programs to extract .TEX files:

1. Texture Viewer:
https://mega.nz/#!1fBwUAbZ!IM9tjs8J0kIB3qJXTXIT8qOUJzbZI0pECalbDi-mZzE

2. TQ Texture Tools:
https://mega.nz/#!pPJ10C7D!d4c1smzJp0BOzU7igreZv_3cmIkDEUQtghT-Y4GxqfU

Each of these programs has it's own advantages, I recommend you to use both for different cases.

Texture Viewer - To use it, run the exe and browse to a .TEX file you have extracted from an .ARC, then open it. It will show the texture. Then go to "File > Export", choose a file format for the extracter file (TGA, JPG or PSD) and save it where you want.



TQ Texture Tools - It works similar to ArcUnpack in the previous tip. To use it, copy or drag one or multiple .TEX files over TQ.Texture.Extract.exe. It will unpack them automatically in .DDS format. OR, if you dont want to do this every time: right click on any TEX file > choose "Open with...", tick "Always open with this program", then browse to TQ.Texture.Extract.exe and click on it. From now on all .TEX files will unpack automatically when you double click on them.
The disandvantage of TQ Texture Tools is it adds a background when unpacking bitmaps (like the item pics for inventory), and extracts only to .DDS (not a readable format from the game). Its advantage is the .DDS texture can be loaded in MeshView over a mesh. The other advantage is that the DDS can be quickly recompiled back to TEX with TQ.Texture.Compile.exe with drag and drop, without building in ArtManager.

---

Tip #3 - Extracting the model's grid for texturing

There are two programs that can do it:

1. TQ Grid Extractor:
https://mega.nz/#!1GIUgA6I!f10UHD6B6bZx0Ngu9-s2tcWcWjZ7TYX0Wz7oY0TGU2c
To extract the grid, drag and drop a .MSH file over the TQ Grid Extractor.exe, like in the previous tips.

2. MeshView
https://mega.nz/#!oXYiQKQC!4jz-4ITdfWTOBjLA8A-GuTXMzy4zvIpJkg6pvY-ZdLk
MeshView can also extract the grid:



To do it, open your chosen mesh in MeshView and go to "Mesh > Mesh(v10/11) > Draw Call" and on the right click on "Save Grid". Name your grid and after the name put a .PNG extension, then save.



In your image editing sofware, place the extracted grid on another layer over the texture, if you want to see easily it's borders end.



---
« Last Edit: 03 March 2019, 15:06:13 by nargil66 »

Not Yet Rated!

Offline sunnysideup886089

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 129
  • Country: ph
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Time Zone: +8
Re: [Tutorial] Tips & Tricks in Reskinning
« Reply #2 on: 13 November 2019, 12:16:52 »
meshviewer and meshviewerfix, also tqgridextractor doesnt work for me... any other alternative tools to extract grid from the mesh files?
take it slow... make it happen

Not Yet Rated!

Offline nargil66

  • Forum Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Topic Author
  • Posts: 2490
  • Country: bg
  • Karma: +67/-1
  • Gender: Male
  • Mesh-Texturing Beautifier :)
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Time Zone: ?
Re: [Tutorial] Tips & Tricks in Reskinning
« Reply #3 on: 13 November 2019, 20:12:16 »
None that i know of. Maybe you are missing some system files? I cant think of another reason for the programs to not work.
Edit - See here, it might help, but its more complicated than drag and drop:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/t/how-do-i-export-uvs-out-of-max-to-edit-in-photoshop/1535969
« Last Edit: 13 November 2019, 20:48:24 by nargil66 »

Not Yet Rated!

Offline sunnysideup886089

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 129
  • Country: ph
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Time Zone: +8
Re: [Tutorial] Tips & Tricks in Reskinning
« Reply #4 on: 13 November 2019, 21:04:21 »
ill work it out... got a bucket besides me to catch my sweat anyway... appreciate the tip, lots of thanks
take it slow... make it happen

Tags:
 


SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal