Simviation Forum - of .dds textures and photoshop

Jan 19^th, 2009 at 4:58pm

HarvesteR Offline
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hello,

i was doing some reading here about textures in FSX and started wondering...

if one has the Nvidia tools plugin installed in photoshop, it is possible to save the images as .dds straight out of the 'save as' dialog...

what i was wondering was if an image saved thus would work in FS, or if an intermediary step is required (such as saving in DXT5, then to .dds)

also, if you have PowerToys installed, you get a shell extension option to change the format of bitmaps, and convert them to DXT or any other pixel format without using DXT Tool...

i was just wondering if anyone has tried these... as they seem like they would make things much easier

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Reply #1 - Jan 20^th, 2009 at 11:26am

Fr. Bill Offline
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I have used both the nVidia DDS plugin and the normal map plugin ever since beta testing FSX.

You can export your layered PSD files directly to DDS/DXT1, DDS/DXT5 or DDS/888-8 format directly from Photoshop. The only caveat is that you must manually "Flip Vertical" prior to DDS export, since DDS textures are stored that way.

Alternatively, you can use the ACES Imagetool.exe program to load and export your PSD files to DDS/xxx formats. Imagetool.exe will auto-vertical-flip the textures for you.

I use the nVidia normal map plugin to create my FSX "Bumpmaps." Full details with illustrations are available at http://freeflightdesign.com in the "Tips" or "Tutorial" forums.

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

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Reply #2 - Jan 21^st, 2009 at 7:54am

HarvesteR Offline
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cool, then it does work

making textures already requires us to switch back and forth many programs, and if you can remove even one from those many, it's a big improvement on workflow... plus it's just very convenient to be able to export the correct file format directly from your main design program

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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Reply #3 - Jan 21^st, 2009 at 1:05pm

Fr. Bill Offline
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now I have GMax!
Hammond, IN

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Indeed so! In fact, I use the master PSD files in Max/GMax's Material Editor, and simply flatten (if the plugin complains about "Too many layers to export") and export a fresh DDS to the sim after changes are mede.

If I do have to "flatten" to export a fresh DDS file, a couple of "Undos" in Photoshop restores my layers... Grin

This also allows me to toggle on/off layers in the PSD while working on the model, simply "reloading" the bitmaps as changes are made to keep the render window updated in Max/GMax.

Bill
Gauge Programming - 3d Modeling Eaglesoft Development Group Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-4GB DDR2 Crucial PC6400-800 GB SATA-ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256MB DX10 NOTE: Unless explicitly stated in the post, everything written by my hand is MY opinion. I do NOT speak for any company, real or imagined...

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Reply #4 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 4:25pm

HarvesteR Offline
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Mexico, DF :D

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life just got a whole lot easier Wink

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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