Transcript

Hello and welcome to lesson 3.3 VTFEdit: Opening and Exporting Files of How to Create Texture Mods presented by MLPTF2Mods.com. Now that we’ve extracted the texture from GCFScape, we need to turn it into a format which our image editing program can understand. Let’s start by opening up c_shogun_kunai in VTFEdit. It is a simple texture that you can easily assume where each part is going to go on the model. Flip over to the info tab and take note of the image format. You can see it is DXT5. This will be important when we go to import our modified file back into VTFEdit.

When we go to export the file, we want to make sure to use TARGA or TGA format. Whichever name for TARGA you prefer. The reason we choose TARGA is because not only does it save in a lossless format, it always stores the alpha layer as a separate channel. What we are looking at right now is the alpha channel. This is a layer which provides information in the form of a grayscale image. In the case of the Conniver’s Kunai, it provides information for how to apply the phong shader, which modifies how lighting works with the material. Without it, the texture won’t look as nice in game. So we want make sure we keep it by exporting it in TGA format.

Speaking of which, we should export this texture now using the export function. For the save file type, ensure .tga is selected. You can rename the file if you wish but I am going to keep it as c_shogun_kunai. Once everything is good, save it.

Now that we’ve got the texture in a format our image editors can read, it is time to move on to the next lesson. For those who use Photoshop, please view lesson 3.4a Opening and Saving Files for VTF Use in Photoshop. For those who use GIMP, please view lesson 3.4b Opening and Saving Files for VTF Use in GIMP. I will see you there in which ever one you choose.