Skinning Problems

[Blayaden]

Hey! I'm new to the forums, but I've been lurking for a while.

I'm a big fan of Warcraft II, and got WCIII recently, and have been having fun with some of the models and guides you have around here. I downloaded R.A.N.G.I.T.'s Halduron Brightwing and have been REALLY enjoying it.

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to edit the skin of the model so that the cloak display's team color, and haven't had much luck. Either the cloak turns up black, or the model disappears with only the cloak (black again) showing.

I don't really have any money for rescources, so I've been using free tools like The GIMP 2, WC3 Viewer (to view models and convert to/from blp), well as a copy of Photoshop Elements I bummed. I'm using Windows Vista Basic.

What I eventually want to do is have the cloak show team color, remove the green eye glow (or replace it with blue), and give it facial markings that also reflect team clolor like the Ranger from Warcraft II.

Any help at all would be really appreciated. If you need any additional information, I would be happy to provide it. I'd love to start making models myself, eventually.

 

[Revolve]

Perhaps it isn't what you meant, but to make Team color on a skin you have to make an Alpha Layer, and Threshold it (In Gimp it will show as grey squares). Was a while since i skinned so i may be wrong at some point ^^

 

[A.R.]

Team colour is part of the model, you'll need to edit the materials if there isn't team colour already on the part you're texturing. You can do this pretty easily in Mago's Model Editor, just look at how team colour materials have been done on other models.

If you need an archer closer to the Wacraft II version, I made one recently here.

 

[Linaze]

To add team color, you must alpha out the areas you want team-colored in photoshop or another image-editing program that allows you to do this (ms paint does not work ), and then go into the model and find the material that you want the newly added team-color to be on. Now set the "Filter Mode" on this material to blend. Now create a new material layer (not a new material, a new material layer on your currently selected material) move it to the top of the material layers list (right click > move up), go into this new material layer that is now on the top and set the texture to Replaceable ID 1 and tick the Unshaded box. That should be it, IIRC.

 

[Blayaden]

Perhaps it isn't what you meant, but to make Team color on a skin you have to make an Alpha Layer, and Threshold it (In Gimp it will show as grey squares). Was a while since i skinned so i may be wrong at some point ^^

Yeah, that makes the cloak black even though its transparent in Gimp...

A.R. Your archer looks neato, but I can't make it work in-game, also Mago's Model editor won't open the Halduron Brightwing.mdx, it says it can't find the texture...

Linaze, I mean no offense, but I lost you after "go into the model and find the material layer..." ;_; I think I need an intelligence buff.

 

[Linaze]

Well, the Material Manager is found in Magos Model Editor under Windows - Material Manager. To find which material is the right one, CTRL + LEFTCLICK on the model part which material you want to find. Let's say you want the head team colored and alphaed out the head on the texture, then you CTRL + CLICK the head and it will be highlighted in the Material Manager.

 

[Blayaden]

Ok, I understood that! I was able to check the alpha on the Sylvanas and Archer model, but I still can't open "Halduron_Brightwing.mdx" in the viewer- it says it can't find "Halduron_Brightwing.blp"

How can I fix this? Is the model broken? Is there an other program I should use?

 

[Revolve]

In case you haven't already, you have to set the path to Halduron_Brightwing.blp only, remove the war3imported/.

 

[Linaze]

It's because the skins path is wrong, I'd guess, put the skin in a folder named Textures, like in this example, where both files are at desktop.
Desktop\Model.mdx
Desktop\Texture.blp
Should be:
Desktop\Model.mdx
Desktop\Textures\Texture.blp

 

[Blayaden]

It's because the skins path is wrong, I'd guess, put the skin in a folder named Textures, like in this example, where both files are at desktop.
Desktop\Model.mdx
Desktop\Texture.blp
Should be:
Desktop\Model.mdx
Desktop\Textures\Texture.blp

THAT works! OK! I have the model in the editor, and one of my skins with the Alpha the way I want it, but the material manger doesn't give me the option for Replaceable ID 1. It only lists:

(None), Replaceable ID 2, textures/green_glow 3.blp, textures/halduronbrightwing.blp

Currently, the cloak is transparent and when I change the cloak to Replaceable ID 2 it changes to black (with slight translucency).

What else should I do? I REALLY appreciate your patience!

 

[THE_END]

Post the tga or blp file on here and we'll get it figured out

 

[Blayaden]

Actually, I figured it out through trial and error! There wasn't a replaceable ID 1 in the Texture Manager, so I added a new texture and called it "Replaceable ID 1" and I was able to select it in the material manager! It worked! The cloak now displays team color!

While I was there, I modified the model itself a tad, made the ears a little more "high elven." Made them stick up more.

The only thing left is to add the (team color) facial tattoos, but I'm kinda stuck there. How do I separate the markings from the face without messing up the rest of the model?

 

[EPW]

Hey hey hey, make sure you have permission to edit it T.T

 

[SunfireX]

Hey hey hey, make sure you have permission to edit it T.T

If you check the read-me, RANGIT doesnt require you to ask him for permission as long as you give him credit for the original model. So he is in the clear. BTW, Blayaden, when you do finish working on this new version of Halduron, make sure you upload, cause I am excited to see it and maybe use it on my map.

 

[Blayaden]

If you check the read-me, RANGIT doesnt require you to ask him for permission as long as you give him credit for the original model. So he is in the clear. BTW, Blayaden, when you do finish working on this new version of Halduron, make sure you upload, cause I am excited to see it and maybe use it on my map.

Really? I didn't think it would qualify for an upload. As it stands right now, the only real difference is that the cloak is red/blue/green/etc. instead of brown.

With the exception of the facial tattoo's (which I'm debating whether or not to make team color, due to redundancy) and eye glow the model is pretty much done.

If for whatever reason I change it enough and I DO post it, I certainly will be giving MANY thanks to RANGIT. He did a lot of work on this thing.

 

[Blayaden]

Sorry!

Heyas! Sorry for the double posting, but no one has responded to my previous question. When I try to add team color to the torso, it adds team color to all the other "alpha"d parts.

Team color on the Cloak is working great, as you can see. But team color to the torso (or face, as I was working on earlier) adds annoying boxes/lines on all the other transparent parts. Could someone help me out?

 

[THE_END]

Thats's because you can't add TC to the chest or the face, those planes on the model are not set to be able to have alpha channels...your efforts are futile

 

[Blayaden]

Well, crap. After all that work, I thought I almost got it...

Isn't there any other way? Is it possible to separate the bow/arrows plane from the torso? I've seen other models with team color on the torso/face- The Orc Far-seer and A.R.'s Archer for example...

 

[Blayaden]

Sorry to double post again, but is there really nothing I can do? I REALLY don't want to give up this project.