Txture detail etc!

[shadow_dragon]

Okay, i'm working on a skinpack right now, but i'm wondering which ways are best to compile the textures and .utx without losing detail!

For example there are several file types that can be imported, .jpeg, .bmp, .tga. etc! I know a jpeg is less than a .bmp but does it amke a difference in the .utx, i'd of iamgined so, plus .tga's are quite a bit larger too but i need them for masked areas, would not a .gif be a more wise route or would i lsoe too much detail agian.

Then again once it is a .utx there is the DXT compression, which is best DTX1,DTX3 or DTX5? It can't be undone so i can't always tell the difference, is 5 more compressed? Etc etc! Also, is it better to keep all texture in one .utx and one .upl, like the default UT skins, or have them all seperate, as is most common!

I know that's rather a lot to ask but it would be itneresting if anyone could answer any aspect of any of those questions really, could help us all sort out are skins later on.

 

[klasnic]

Hiya bud... First off, stick with your .tga's then as far as compression is concerned... If it's really highly detailed stick with DXT3... If the detail is not paramount, use DXT1 as that's maximum compression. I've not seen a difference between DXT5 and DXT3 but 5 is the least compression and 1 the most. Another thing to consider is human skins (faces) really need to be DXT3 because otherwise it just looks wrong. Robots and many others can look good even on DXT1. You could always do what I did on my last few and use 512x512 textures on the heads that'll keep your file size down and you won't notice a difference. If you compress too much and it looks wrong just import the texture again and you can re-compress it again

 

[shadow_dragon]

It's all getting a bit on top of me to be honest, as so far i've got several filetypes kicking about and not even started importing to UT yet. :S Haven't even named the skins yet, ten skins, plus teams (+30textures) And more to go! Should i use .TGA for everything or jsut the masked, or if it's not masked use optimized .bmp's?

Thanks for explaining the DXT stuff, i've played with it a few times but i always forget which way round they go, every program numbers things differently. I think reducing to 512x512 will help in quite a few places too.

 

[klasnic]

Personally I use .TGA for everything and have done for some time. Epic used them too on the originals so it can't be bad. I always have two of each a .PSD (photoshop) and a .TGA for UnrealEd. There's also a DirectX texturing tool (on nVidia's site) where you can compress according to some algorithm or something lol - Best not get into that hehe. My advice use TGA for everything and compress to DXT3 or DXT1 depending on the detail

 

[shadow_dragon]

Okay excellent, thanks for that Klasnic! I used to do it all in .bmp! But i always keep the .psd file too, it's amazing how often you might need it!

 

[klasnic]

No probs... Keep the .PSDs - I've about 60 of them here of the skins I've done and each is about 20MB but they're handy to have when you want to skin the same character again

 

[shadow_dragon]

Too right, especially as one fo the first things i do to a skin is remove signature features, and as they're on layers i can always put them back if needed! Without .psd's and layers where would we be eh?