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Author Topic: Painting, Skinning, & Standalone Basic Guide  (Read 1775 times)

[SJ]nissan man

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Painting, Skinning, & Standalone Basic Guide
« on: December 13, 2006, 01:30:18 am »
« Last Edit: December 13, 2006, 06:57:59 am by SJ_nissan man »
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[SJ]nissan man

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An Introduction & Guide to Stand Alone Car Creation Part 2
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2006, 01:34:45 am »
« Last Edit: December 13, 2006, 01:36:47 am by SJ_nissan man »
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[SJ]nissan man

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An Introduction & Beginners Guide to Stand Alone Car Creation Part 3
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2006, 01:38:59 am »
Written By: Dirtyvfr

Part 3 of 3

Post Stand Alone Preview and Icon Creation .bik & .tga files

This section of the guide can be used without reffering to the previous 2 Parts of the guide, but it does assume you have completed your stand alone car and we will pretend the car is a Cortina and it's number is 123 as before.

EDITING the .bik file and the .tga files.

here is a reminder of what the files are

filename
file description
 

941_SIM_TC_CORTINA.bik
This is the preview video you get when you select a car, you can make an effective static preview of you car using the BINK VIDEO RAD TOOLS from a screen shot of your car, The BINK VIDEO RAD TOOLS will convert your screen shot (.bmp or .jpg, .JPG's are smaller so it better to use a .jpg) into a .bik files, look a david's site Link 1 and check the screen shots of blink, you will see the screen sizes, i used 268 x 147 for both of the settings and it worked fine. (TIP, you can get a high quality screen shot of your car if you open GTL and select you car as if you are going to race, then click the view car ICON at the bottom of the screen, then just press "print screen" when the car is at the angle you want your view to be, then just paste it into paint or any other drawing prog)   


941_SIM_TC_CORTINAIconDisabled.tga
this is a small graphics files, the ones that you see on the right hand side of the screen when you are picking a car model or type, they have a black background, with an orange boarder, and a small static preview of the car and the number of the car in the top left, this one greyed out to show you don't own the car, you can open it in either paintshop or photoshop.  WIP


941_SIM_TC_CORTINAIcon.tga
this is a small graphics files, the ones that you see on the right hand side of the screen when you are picking a car type or model, they have a black background, with an orange boarder, and a small static preview of the car and the number of the car in the top left, and has a blue tick in the bottom right hand corner to show that you own the car, you can open it in either paintshop or photoshop.  WIP





We will do the .bik file first




.bik Editing Section using a Screen Shot and BINK VIDEO RAD TOOLS

Software Required

Bink Video Rad Tool, you can get the link from David Nissan Man's Guide Link 1

http://members.cox.net/nissan-man/gtlskinningtutorial.html 

there are also screen shots of the Bink Video Rad Tool, if you scroll down David's Guide.


Download and Install the Bink Video Rad Tool.


BINK VIDEO RAD TOOL is used to make a preview video of your car, but you can make a very nice static preview of your car using a simple screen shot, Bink Video Rad Tool will convert your .bmp or .jpg screenshot (using a .jpg screen shot will make the .bik file smaller) in to a .bik file, that you just need to copy into you 123 folder and rename.

here are most of Byrons words

To make a .bik it's best to take a screenshot of your car (by pressing Prnt Scrn).

Then make a new document in Photoshop and press Paste to paste your screenshot into that document. 

Use the rectangular selection tool to select your car then press Copy.

Then create a new Photoshop document sized 268 pixels by 147 pixels and paste your car into that. 

Resize the image you just pasted so that it fits nicely into the 268x147 document.

You can then save that image as a .jpg


Alternatively, you can use Paint as it loads up faster

do the same as above to capture a screen shot,

Paste your screenshot into Paint, use the box selection tool to select the part of the screenshot you want and click copy, click new and paste the selection into the new page drag it about until it looks about the same size as the preview video in GTL, then click save as, and pick .jpg

 


Converting the .jpg to .bik using Bink Video Rad Tool. (actually easy to do)

Open up Bink Video Rad Tool and Find the .jpg you have just saved.

Then CLICK ON the "BINK VIDEO" Icon in the bottom left hand corner of the Rad Tool Screen, you will now be looking at a screen with loads of boxes, DON'T PANIC we are only interested in 4 boxes, the ones by the convert button, called Width and Height.

Set both the Width boxes to 268
Set both the Height boxes to 147

WIP

 

End of .bik RAD TOOL Section








.tga ICON Section

http://www.simjunkies.org/Icon_TGA_Tutorial.html
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[SJ]nissan man

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Nissan Man's Skinning Guide
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2006, 01:41:20 am »
Since the RSC runs so slow most of the time, i thought it would be a good idea to make a Sim Junkies Skinning Guide:

Tools Needed:
a PSD file reader (photoshop, paintshop pro, etc...)
Geditor get it here
Car Templates get them here
DDS plugin get it here

Tools that make it easier:
Carview get it here
Car x-files get them here

Process:
First thing you do is make copies of the TEX.gtl and ULTRA_TEX.gtl files and move them to an easy access place (maybe My Documents area). then change the extension from gtl to gtr. now open each one up and make a note of the DXT level and the exact naming of the file for future referance. (Tip: body1 files are either DXT1 or DXT3 most of the time, windows are always DXT5.)

Now open the template up in your painting program. Create your paint job using different layers if possible, this way you don't messup the template. (Tip: make the wire frame layer viewable while painting. makes placement of lines and etc... easier.) (Tip: if you have carview open up the program and load up the x-file. go back to your paint program and save your template as a bitmap (bmp) over the body1 file. then in carview goto file/reload texture.)

Once your car is painted, it's time to save it in DDS format. goto file/save as.. and make sure you name it correctly and save it as a DDS file. this should bring up a nvidia utility. make sure you save the body as the correct DXT level. once it's saved, your skin is done. place the new DDS file in the file of the car you wish to repaint.(Tip: if you get the too many channels to export error when trying to same as a DDS, flatten the image and try again.)

Making a Car Standalone:
This process is somewhat more complcated than just making a skin.

Skin your car like listed above, but instead of saving of saving the file with the exact same name as the car you wish to replace, change the number(ex: 883_FORD_FALCON_BODY1.dds to 884_FORD_FALCON_BODY1.dds).

from the gtl files you have open in geditor, export the cockpit files and renumber them as well (ex: 883_FORD_FALCON_CPIT01.DDS to 884_FORD_FALCON_CPIT01.DDS). Once this has been done for all the body, cockpit, and windows files, it's time to repackage them in to gtl files. import all the DDS files needed for the TEX.gtl and the ULTRA_TEX.gtl files using the gtl files you got from the game as a guide. Remember once you have packed the file in geditor, you need to change the extension back to gtl.

now you need to use the icon template. once your icon is painted, size it to a 70 by 66 pixals and save it as a tga. Make sure you also make a grayed out version for the disabled icon.

Now for the CAR file, download a already standalone car of the model your making. make a copy of it's car file and open up the copy in notepad. edit the following lines:

883 - TC - Ford F, Simulation to "your car number" - TC - Ford F, Simulation ,
Number=883 to Number="your car number" ,
Team="Eva Racing" to Team="your team name" ,
Driver="David Banta" to Driver="drivers name" ,
Value=883 to Value="what ever value you want"

Save the car file as a .CAR file not a txt file

now place all these files in a folder with the car number, make sure all files are correctly named using original cars as your guide. place your new folder in the corect section in gtl and your done, enjoy your new car.

I have posted a version with pictures here just in case the a written discription is not enough.

EDIT (7-12-06): Binking guide with pictures now at the webpage above. ;D

Happy Skinning
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