chip said:re: the original question -- MilkShape uses only planar projection for its texture application, so it wouldn't be very useful as a skinning tool as it's too limited. if by "skinning" you mean just painting the textures for a model, then the apps mentioned earlier are OK, and i would add The Gimp to the list, as it is freeware and very capable.
but skinning involves much more than just the texture painting -- selection & application of a UVW texture projection method and editing of UVW maps are essential skills for a fullly-capable skinner as well, and you'll need different apps for those tasks. Maya & Maya PLE have efficient UVW mapping tools, as does Max. UltimateUnwrap3D is a low-cost app specifically for UVW work. if you're using MilkShape for modeling, UltimateUnwrap is a good companion tool for skinning.
so i can open a skin and edit it in this wings 3d program?????hpv said:Should probably throw in Wings3D which has a pretty decent AutoUV tool (which can be manually adjusted, obviously) that does a pretty good job of unwrapping the model based on edge cuts without a lot of distortion... usually. Like the Gimp, which also has an excellent TCO, it's open source, runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows, and has all that other stuff that just makes you feel all warm inside. Though it only supports .ndo (that's Nendo files), .3ds, and .obj for import/export.
the gimp can't import .dds files, so unless you can find the skins in a format the gimp can grab, you could do a screen capture of the playerskin texture from the Texture Browser @ 100% size, which depending on your monitor rez may not be very effective (might need to do multiple screen caps and assemble them in the gimp).Guan_Di said:thanx for the help chip but im looking to take a skin texture whatever its called for ut goty and change it using the gimp