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Texturing Guide for Beginners


goyney

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THIS GUIDE IS OUT DATED AND MAY NOT DEMMONSTRATE BEST PRACTISE

Detailed guide to help any of you that want to start making your own textures to contribute to the server.

 

GUIDE

You will need:

Obtaining original textures to work with:

 

  1. Go to your Arma 3 installation folder. [C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 - mine for example]. 
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    2d592fda835fd5b8eaa8de58c5273a3e.png

     

  2. Click Addons. [This will vary depending on whether the texture you want is from an expansion or not]
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    08b05de7dbb20f9521552bb9fcd5e98b.png

     

  3. Find the relevent PBO. In my case I am looking for 'characters_f'. Look for the PBO which the wiki advises for your chosen texture.
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    381076875833e785cd821b53dca801fe.png

     

  4. Ensure that you open the PBO with PBO Manager.
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    1d6da395c0ee57c1dc715752aa232a5d.png

     

  5. Once you have the PBO open with PBO Manager, navigate through the folders to find your files. For me it is: BLUFOR>Data>clothing1_paa.co. *Some vehicles/clothing have 2 parts*
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    114cfe73480ecac343d98139c5cbdb91.png

     

  6. You will need both the 'paa' and the 'nohq'.(For me it is clothing1_paa.co and clothing1_nohq.co.
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    114cfe73480ecac343d98139c5cbdb91.png

     

  7. Open both of these files with TexView2.
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    1106537dd23daa5b25d26f65b9568ad8.png       69ddcb88e9db2e6cd6bf4fb359108d08.png 

     

  8. Save a copy of both files to your Desktop in a .TGA format. (Just type .TGA at the end of each file name).
    Spoiler

    2d97808157d1af8746b044405c998449.png [SAME WITH THE .CO FILE]

     

  9. These files can now be opened with GIMP or Photoshop to edit. When you are done, save the texture as a .JPEG. [I will cover how to apply it in game later in the guide].
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    a133959b84695f694f077763bc6e28c6.jpg

     

Texture Templates

You can also find templates online which are already set-up and ready to edit. However, the above process is important particularly for expansion items as there may not be templates created yet for these textures. You will also find that some of the templates are low quality, so it's worth just making your own if you can.

 

Creating an overlay with the texture map (nohq) to work with - Photoshop.

  1. You will need both the .co and the .nohq in the same window on Photoshop.
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    df822ccb3b3fdcd4cd5358c3d02d1cec.png

     

  2. Select the nohq layer (the ugly pink one) in the layers tab and press CTRL+A to select all.
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    82472ec1901c27b7f9fc0a0a72ca22a7.png

     

  3. Go to channels which is in the same tab as layers to the right.
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    8fe86283a0ae520f3a7f9d089f83434c.png

     

  4. Select the Red channel, and ensure you are still selecting all (there will be an animated selection line all the way around the canvas).
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    8fe86283a0ae520f3a7f9d089f83434c.png

     

  5. Press CTRL+C to make a copy of the Red channel. (The texture should appear grey on the canvas if Red is selected correctly).
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    86489a5a0f1c36ed4dedabf47181ce89.png

     

  6. Once copied, go back to the layers window and CTRL+V to paste the Red channel. (You will need to un-select by clicking anywhere in the right window first).
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    f638f279919cbe691cd7428fdb843e73.png

     

  7. Do the same process steps 3 to 6 for the Green Channel.
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    e5d6335390671fc54605893aad84ee0b.png

     

  8. Once you have both the Red and Green channels - name them 'R' for Red and 'G' for Green. Press the Eye Icon next to the nohq and co layers to hide them. The co is useful later if you need any support or reference from the original texture (incase you can't find a certain part of the texture etc).
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    cb402e2ff88725cc29ce60d5a4ee69bb.png

     

  9. In the layers windows you will see a drop down box which is set by default to 'Normal'. For both the Green and Red layers, set this to 'Overlay'.
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    830daca5b12277956bf038c62684c1d1.png

     

  10. This will make a transparent overlay, and you can place anything underneath these layers, whilst still having the overlay show for guidance around the texture map.
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    e25f1505bab9e2fd3e2d8e4f87b22968.png

     

 

Applying your new texture in-game

  1. Open the Arma Editor and choose a map [Singleplayer>Editor]. I like to use Virtual Reality. For light realism use Altis, as you will see how the light affects your texture.
  2. CTRL+S to save the singleplayer mission. I named mine Scenario for example.
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    91049a483499a8234782058c350d50f2.png

     

  3. Once you save the mission, go to your Documents folder and then to Arma 3 Other Profiles.
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    7bb9bbcc5df38582e1c8385c065abb20.png

     

  4. Click your Arma 3 name folder and then Missions.
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    becd2e78ce720ce881e3b242fde72223.png

     

  5. Find the name of the mission you saved, and place the JPEG that you saved into the folder. This will allow you to import the image in game now. *Give the JPEG a simple name eg. t1.jpeg*
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    da6aac39dd5b3f607b03be1210536cdb.png

     

  6. You will now need to use the editor to place the ie. vehicle/uniform into the mission.
  7. I will be placing an AI soldier into the mission as I am doing clothing.
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    67e20aef3bf11cd34994eb377d4465c9.png

     

  8. In my case, I will right click the AI and select 'Edit Loadout' to put the MTP Fatigues onto the AI. 
    Spoiler

    f660ba28602c102c36f0f84eec0efe5e.png

     

  9. Once this is done If you are doing a uniform, you will need to right click the AI again and select 'Attributes'.
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    ad950457fd802bb04266fdc211365f95.png

     

  10. In Attributes > the 'Init' box, type this code: this setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"];       - Replace "1" with the name of your .jpg in the mission folder.
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    efba8215c0fc45f4ac36706dbeb4477d.png

 

11. Once this is done, click Play Scenario. You should see your texture covering the base texture.

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For Vehicles:

  • Instead of the above step 7-10, do the below:
  1. Right click your vehicle and go to Attributes.
  2. Give the vehicle a Variable name; again something simple such as v1.
  3. Click Play Scenario.
  4. Press ESC for Debug Console.
  5. Type: v1 setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"];         - Replace v1 with the vehicle variable name and '1' with the name of the jpg in your mission folder.
  6. Execute the code locally and the skin will change.
  • In some cases, such as ifrits, there are two texture maps to the vehicle. In this instance:
    • The code would be: v1 setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"]; v1 setObjectTexture [1, "2.jpg"];          - Notice how the second line of code has a '1' instead of a '0'. This is used to select the other part of the vehicle. You will need to edit and save both parts to your mission folder as jpg's.

For Backpacks:

  • Same as clothing, except you place the backback on the ground and edit its attribute code from there. You pick it up once you start the scenario. It will be skinned this way.

For anything else:

  • You need mods, and that's a whole other story. (It's a fucking pain).

 

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Feel free to PM me with any questions/feedback regarding guide.

@InvictusTheReaper This will help you I hope.

@Infamous [FULL SEND] "Why would anyone want to follow your guide you make dogshit skins faggot". Beat you to it kid.

Edited by goyney
Batcan, Mada, zdeat and 16 others like this
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  • 1 year later...

Hey, genuine thanks for this guide! I knew how to do all the texturing bits and file ripping from elsewhere, but your mission file implementation helps tremendously, as I've nearly broken my ARMA about 4 times trying to jam custom scripts to load textures into the gamefiles. I'll reply with what I end up cooking up, if anything at all.

goyney likes this
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