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- Custom Content - Custom content Recolors not showing up properly
Replies: 6 (Who?), Viewed: 2292 times.
#1
18th Jan 2020 at 4:49 AM
Posts: 117
Custom content Recolors not showing up properly
Okay so, I've made some sign recolors in SimPE. I have recolored with this sign before so I don't know why all of a sudden it's not working. I hit the recolor button in the object workshop and select the "grilled cheese" poster. I could swear I'm not recoloring a recolor. I'm using the original. I also have the latest edition of CEP installed in my game so I don't think it's that. This is how it's showing up in-game.
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#2
18th Jan 2020 at 3:37 PM
Last edited by simmer22 : 18th Jan 2020 at 4:00 PM.
Posts: 12,936
Thanks: 3 in 1 Posts
Did you use DXT recoloring? Preferably 3 or 5, because it can give a somewhat grainy result (usually not as bad as Import).
If you use Import, the result is often not as good, and you have to update all sizes (when using DXT, you don't need to do that step).
Also make sure you're using the proper size texture (should always be either the same size as the original or sized up proportionally - so if the original is 512x512, the new one needs to be 512x512. If you want it smaller or larger, you'd need 256x256 or 1024x1024, or basically either double or half of the size of each number to get a workable one). If it's a different size like 522 x 513, it won't show properly, and even a pixel too wide/narrow can make it act strange. And use PNGs.
If you use Gimp, you may have to do some changes to the PNG to make it to show properly (I'm not entirely sure, but mentioning it just in case - it's more of an issue with BMPs which need to be set as 24-bit, usually more of an issue with Bodyshop, possibly Homecrafter).
It looks like something has happened to that recolor, so make sure you haven't accidentally recolored a glass part or some such. You'll want to check that.
Naming can occasionally cause items to misbehave, so make sure you don't have any unwanted characters in the filename (like an extra punctuation mark).
If you still can't figure it out, could you upload one of the recolors here so we can take a look?
If you use Import, the result is often not as good, and you have to update all sizes (when using DXT, you don't need to do that step).
Also make sure you're using the proper size texture (should always be either the same size as the original or sized up proportionally - so if the original is 512x512, the new one needs to be 512x512. If you want it smaller or larger, you'd need 256x256 or 1024x1024, or basically either double or half of the size of each number to get a workable one). If it's a different size like 522 x 513, it won't show properly, and even a pixel too wide/narrow can make it act strange. And use PNGs.
If you use Gimp, you may have to do some changes to the PNG to make it to show properly (I'm not entirely sure, but mentioning it just in case - it's more of an issue with BMPs which need to be set as 24-bit, usually more of an issue with Bodyshop, possibly Homecrafter).
It looks like something has happened to that recolor, so make sure you haven't accidentally recolored a glass part or some such. You'll want to check that.
Naming can occasionally cause items to misbehave, so make sure you don't have any unwanted characters in the filename (like an extra punctuation mark).
If you still can't figure it out, could you upload one of the recolors here so we can take a look?
My site - TS2 baby stuff - ToU
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
#3
27th Jan 2020 at 5:17 AM
Posts: 117
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Did you use DXT recoloring? Preferably 3 or 5, because it can give a somewhat grainy result (usually not as bad as Import). If you use Import, the result is often not as good, and you have to update all sizes (when using DXT, you don't need to do that step). Also make sure you're using the proper size texture (should always be either the same size as the original or sized up proportionally - so if the original is 512x512, the new one needs to be 512x512. If you want it smaller or larger, you'd need 256x256 or 1024x1024, or basically either double or half of the size of each number to get a workable one). If it's a different size like 522 x 513, it won't show properly, and even a pixel too wide/narrow can make it act strange. And use PNGs. If you use Gimp, you may have to do some changes to the PNG to make it to show properly (I'm not entirely sure, but mentioning it just in case - it's more of an issue with BMPs which need to be set as 24-bit, usually more of an issue with Bodyshop, possibly Homecrafter). It looks like something has happened to that recolor, so make sure you haven't accidentally recolored a glass part or some such. You'll want to check that. Naming can occasionally cause items to misbehave, so make sure you don't have any unwanted characters in the filename (like an extra punctuation mark). If you still can't figure it out, could you upload one of the recolors here so we can take a look? |
I update all sizes after I'm done, if it's not cropped correctly SimPE crops it for me and all is well it seems, but when I get to the game it messes up. I also don't think I recolored anything glass related saying as I'm recoloring posters. I put numbers in the filename, is that bad? Here is one of the files:
It won't let me upload the SimPE one. is this good?
Attached files:
Pool sign 13.rar (42.4 KB, 6 downloads) |
#4
27th Jan 2020 at 11:36 AM
Last edited by clsve : 27th Jan 2020 at 1:54 PM.
Reason: second thought
Posts: 355
Thanks: 65 in 4 Posts
That recolor is a recolor of "A Stroke" by Alfred D'Simvo (GUID 0x4F88D37B, Group 0x7FCAD3F5) Price 1700 ยง.
It showa up in my game but you have to scale down your front side to the size of painted area in the original picture and perhaps change painting on the sides.
It showa up in my game but you have to scale down your front side to the size of painted area in the original picture and perhaps change painting on the sides.
#5
27th Jan 2020 at 3:56 PM
Posts: 12,936
Thanks: 3 in 1 Posts
The texture reads as DXT1, which makes it lower in quality, probably due to the import function. Using DXT3/5 gives a better result.
When that's said, clsve is right. Paintings can be a bit difficult to get right because they're mapped somewhat strange. The best would be to extract the UVmap, because then you know where the lines go. Some meshing programs let you extract UVmaps so they can be used as an overlay while you're making your design. It helps you keep within the lines. I tend to also use a meshing program to preview the recolors, because then you see the whole item.
I added the UVmap for the "A Stroke" picture below. It's see-through, so you can use it as a layer in for instance Photoshop, to guide where to put your texture. I also added a PSD with layers so you can see what goes where, and why the sides of the picture get all sorts of weird lines on them. It also shows why UVmaps are very useful when you recolor something, because the edges of an item don't always go where you think they do.
---
Tip:
Blender3D and Wings3D are free programs you can use for this. Personally I prefer Milkshape for the previewing, and lacking that, Wings isn't too bad. Blender's material/texture appliance is a bit nitpicky and complicated, but it gives good UVmaps and is very useful for meshing projects. With some tutorials you can actually do a lot of the texturing in Blender itself (it has painting tools and you can make somewhat detailed textures by painting directly onto the model, but I don't think you can have separate layers like in Photoshop). Milkshape lets you see the UVmap, but I don't think you can extract it from there. You can however have Milkshape running alongside your texturing program and do adjustments almost in real-time. Meshing programs can be surprisingly useful for recoloring
If you want a how-to on extracting UVmaps, I can either link to a tutorial or write up a quick one, depending on the program.
When that's said, clsve is right. Paintings can be a bit difficult to get right because they're mapped somewhat strange. The best would be to extract the UVmap, because then you know where the lines go. Some meshing programs let you extract UVmaps so they can be used as an overlay while you're making your design. It helps you keep within the lines. I tend to also use a meshing program to preview the recolors, because then you see the whole item.
I added the UVmap for the "A Stroke" picture below. It's see-through, so you can use it as a layer in for instance Photoshop, to guide where to put your texture. I also added a PSD with layers so you can see what goes where, and why the sides of the picture get all sorts of weird lines on them. It also shows why UVmaps are very useful when you recolor something, because the edges of an item don't always go where you think they do.
---
Tip:
Blender3D and Wings3D are free programs you can use for this. Personally I prefer Milkshape for the previewing, and lacking that, Wings isn't too bad. Blender's material/texture appliance is a bit nitpicky and complicated, but it gives good UVmaps and is very useful for meshing projects. With some tutorials you can actually do a lot of the texturing in Blender itself (it has painting tools and you can make somewhat detailed textures by painting directly onto the model, but I don't think you can have separate layers like in Photoshop). Milkshape lets you see the UVmap, but I don't think you can extract it from there. You can however have Milkshape running alongside your texturing program and do adjustments almost in real-time. Meshing programs can be surprisingly useful for recoloring
If you want a how-to on extracting UVmaps, I can either link to a tutorial or write up a quick one, depending on the program.
Attached files:
Guide.zip (176.0 KB, 4 downloads) - View custom content | ||
448204 2020-01-27 17:00 Guide.psd --------- ------- 448204 1 file |
My site - TS2 baby stuff - ToU
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
#6
28th Jan 2020 at 4:15 AM
Posts: 117
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
The texture reads as DXT1, which makes it lower in quality, probably due to the import function. Using DXT3/5 gives a better result. When that's said, clsve is right. Paintings can be a bit difficult to get right because they're mapped somewhat strange. The best would be to extract the UVmap, because then you know where the lines go. Some meshing programs let you extract UVmaps so they can be used as an overlay while you're making your design. It helps you keep within the lines. I tend to also use a meshing program to preview the recolors, because then you see the whole item. I added the UVmap for the "A Stroke" picture below. It's see-through, so you can use it as a layer in for instance Photoshop, to guide where to put your texture. I also added a PSD with layers so you can see what goes where, and why the sides of the picture get all sorts of weird lines on them. It also shows why UVmaps are very useful when you recolor something, because the edges of an item don't always go where you think they do. --- Tip: Blender3D and Wings3D are free programs you can use for this. Personally I prefer Milkshape for the previewing, and lacking that, Wings isn't too bad. Blender's material/texture appliance is a bit nitpicky and complicated, but it gives good UVmaps and is very useful for meshing projects. With some tutorials you can actually do a lot of the texturing in Blender itself (it has painting tools and you can make somewhat detailed textures by painting directly onto the model, but I don't think you can have separate layers like in Photoshop). Milkshape lets you see the UVmap, but I don't think you can extract it from there. You can however have Milkshape running alongside your texturing program and do adjustments almost in real-time. Meshing programs can be surprisingly useful for recoloring If you want a how-to on extracting UVmaps, I can either link to a tutorial or write up a quick one, depending on the program. |
A tutorial for milkshape would be nice please.
#7
28th Jan 2020 at 6:05 PM
Posts: 12,936
Thanks: 3 in 1 Posts
The main problem with Milkshape is that you can't easily extract UV maps from meshes with it, but you can use the UVs as a rough guide.
For any of the programs, you need a mesh (extracting the GMDC as an OBJ is the easiest) and the belonging recolor file (as PNG).
In Milkshape:
In Blender it's a little bit trickier, but here you can get the actual UVmap. This tutorial is just for UVmap extracting.
I don't have Wings installed on my new laptop because I no longer see a use for it (I used it for a while before I learned the Blender method, and because for a long time I couldn't get Milkshape to install on my old laptop), but UV extraction is a little bit easier there (I've found I do prefer Blender over it, though - I had a long frustration period with Blender, but I've started getting used to it).
For any of the programs, you need a mesh (extracting the GMDC as an OBJ is the easiest) and the belonging recolor file (as PNG).
In Milkshape:
- Open the program, click (in the menus at the top) "file" --> "import" --> "Wavefront OBJ"
- Select your mesh file
- Go to the "Groups" tab (to the right)
- either couble-click the group you want to assign a texture to, or click it once then click "select". The lines in the 3 grey windows should turn red.
- Click the "Materials" tab (to the right)
- Click "new", then click the first button that says "<none>".
- Select your texture (you usually have to reimport it after making changes, Milkshape works fine with PSDs and PNGs).
- Click "assign"
- Now, go to the "Window" tab (at the top), and click "Texture Coordinate Editor". You'll see the lines (the UVs) overlaid over your texture.
In some cases, the UVs will have jumped down a step (I don't know why this happens, but it seems to be a bug that happens in SimPE with the OBJ exporter). If this has happened, it's relatively easy to fix.
While in the "Texture Coordinate Editor"
- Click the "move" button, make sure all the UVs are selected.
- Where it says "Offset", fill in "-1.0" in the box. Click M.
- The UVs should now be on top of the texture.
You can scale the viewing size of the map with the "Scale" button at the bottom, if it's small. Go up/down just one size at a time, because the map will often shift position, and jump out of the viewing box. If that happens, click Ctrl + hold in the middle button/wheel on your mouse, and drag it around.
You can see where the lines go, and where to put your designs, plus preview in the blue window (left mouse button rotates the camera view)
- Select your mesh file
- Go to the "Groups" tab (to the right)
- either couble-click the group you want to assign a texture to, or click it once then click "select". The lines in the 3 grey windows should turn red.
- Click the "Materials" tab (to the right)
- Click "new", then click the first button that says "<none>".
- Select your texture (you usually have to reimport it after making changes, Milkshape works fine with PSDs and PNGs).
- Click "assign"
- Now, go to the "Window" tab (at the top), and click "Texture Coordinate Editor". You'll see the lines (the UVs) overlaid over your texture.
In some cases, the UVs will have jumped down a step (I don't know why this happens, but it seems to be a bug that happens in SimPE with the OBJ exporter). If this has happened, it's relatively easy to fix.
While in the "Texture Coordinate Editor"
- Click the "move" button, make sure all the UVs are selected.
- Where it says "Offset", fill in "-1.0" in the box. Click M.
- The UVs should now be on top of the texture.
You can scale the viewing size of the map with the "Scale" button at the bottom, if it's small. Go up/down just one size at a time, because the map will often shift position, and jump out of the viewing box. If that happens, click Ctrl + hold in the middle button/wheel on your mouse, and drag it around.
You can see where the lines go, and where to put your designs, plus preview in the blue window (left mouse button rotates the camera view)
In Blender it's a little bit trickier, but here you can get the actual UVmap. This tutorial is just for UVmap extracting.
- Open up the program.
- First, delete the starter box (delete, enter).
- Click "File" (at the top), "import", then "Wavefront OBJ". Find your OBJ file and double-click it.
- To the right, there will be a list of items. Find the mesh name here. Click the + button next to it, and then click the name again, next to the triangle. The mesh in the viewing window should light up in orange.
- Down to the left above soething that looks like a timeline, there's a 3D box with an up/down arrow. Click this. You get several options, one is called UV/Image editor. Click this. The window should change to an UVmap viewer. (You can get this in a separate window, but it's not needed just for the UVmap).
- If this one is not in the gridline box (has the export bug from SimPE), hold in Ctrl + the left mouse button, and draw a big circle around all the UVs, so they light up in orange. Then (without touching the mouse!) click G and Y, and then move the object with the mouse by holding in ctrl and moving the mouse up, until the UVs are within the box. At the botton a counter will say "1.0000 along Y" which is the right amount.
- Then click "Image" at the bottom (next to "view"), "Open image", find your image, and double-click it. This ensures the UVmap has the same dimensions as the texture.
- Click "UVs" (next to "image") and "Export UV layout".
- Give the new file a name, and save it somewhere you can find it.
- You should now have UVs that fit your texture. You can also export the UVs larger if you for some reason want to scale up the texture. When you export the UVs, there's a "size" box to the bottom left where you can type in the dimensions (but keep the numbers according to accepted sizes, such as 128/256/512/1024/etc.)
- First, delete the starter box (delete, enter).
- Click "File" (at the top), "import", then "Wavefront OBJ". Find your OBJ file and double-click it.
- To the right, there will be a list of items. Find the mesh name here. Click the + button next to it, and then click the name again, next to the triangle. The mesh in the viewing window should light up in orange.
- Down to the left above soething that looks like a timeline, there's a 3D box with an up/down arrow. Click this. You get several options, one is called UV/Image editor. Click this. The window should change to an UVmap viewer. (You can get this in a separate window, but it's not needed just for the UVmap).
- If this one is not in the gridline box (has the export bug from SimPE), hold in Ctrl + the left mouse button, and draw a big circle around all the UVs, so they light up in orange. Then (without touching the mouse!) click G and Y, and then move the object with the mouse by holding in ctrl and moving the mouse up, until the UVs are within the box. At the botton a counter will say "1.0000 along Y" which is the right amount.
- Then click "Image" at the bottom (next to "view"), "Open image", find your image, and double-click it. This ensures the UVmap has the same dimensions as the texture.
- Click "UVs" (next to "image") and "Export UV layout".
- Give the new file a name, and save it somewhere you can find it.
- You should now have UVs that fit your texture. You can also export the UVs larger if you for some reason want to scale up the texture. When you export the UVs, there's a "size" box to the bottom left where you can type in the dimensions (but keep the numbers according to accepted sizes, such as 128/256/512/1024/etc.)
I don't have Wings installed on my new laptop because I no longer see a use for it (I used it for a while before I learned the Blender method, and because for a long time I couldn't get Milkshape to install on my old laptop), but UV extraction is a little bit easier there (I've found I do prefer Blender over it, though - I had a long frustration period with Blender, but I've started getting used to it).
My site - TS2 baby stuff - ToU
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
My stories: Anna's diary - Memories are forever - Little Fire Burning
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