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LuisFelizTirado

Photoshop Dxtbmp ImageTool and Road Textures

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Guest frankbergson

Is anyone using Photoshop to edit road textures. These are the roads in SceneryWorldTextures such as RoadsSu.bmp.Is there a short way to get the files back to FSim?I have been using Photoshop Version 5.5 for some time now, since it is easy to create edit and save transparent layers within the file for the various elements.For example I create one layer for the basic pavement, then build layers on top for tire marks, center stripe, cars and trucks, median strip, lights, shadows etc. This enables me to easily change color of pavement for example, or change the center stripe from white to yellow etc, without altering the other elements.Here is what I have been doing.For each version of the file:Save as a photoshop .psd file with all layers for future editing."Flatten" the layers then save as 8 bit .bmpDrag file into Dxtbmp.Click on Create Alpha from black.Save as Targa with Alpha.Open Imagetool.Drag Targa file into ImagetoolClick on Image>Format>8bitClick on Image>create mip mapsClick on SaveAs and select bmpRemember what I wanted to call the file and save.This was fine when I was dealing with a dozen or so roads, but my current project involves about 120 files. Every time I make an revison in a feature it may involve 60 to 80 files.Is there any way to automate this process?Photoshop will save 24bit Targa files with alpha, but Imagetool reads them, as well as photoshop .psd files incorrectly. (The alpha is fine, but the rest of the image comes out black)I tried creating batchfiles to feed imagetool, but it tells me the .tga files are incorrect format, even tho I can drag them into imagetool and they show up fine.Any suggestions.........frank

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Why not add the alpha channel to your texture in PhotoShop already? If you then place all PSD files in one folder you can use the batch function of ImageTool to convert them into FS textures at once. If you just type imagetool on your command prompt you will see the options you have.


Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Guest frankbergson

>Why not add the alpha channel to your texture in PhotoShop>already? If you then place all PSD files in one folder you can>use the batch function of ImageTool to convert them into FS>textures at once. If you just type imagetool on your command>prompt you will see the options you have.Thanks Arno for the fast reply!I was unable to figure out how to do this but tonight found a posting from rhumbaflappy from Jul-17-04 to Holdger giving step by step instructions to make a .tga or .psd from photoshop for imagetool.Ok, so now imagetool takes the file, accepts the Alpha, and makes a good bmp of 87kb. So I tried to run batch mode. Imagetool.exe and the batch file are in the folder c:imagetool. I put all the .tga files in c:imagetoolscource and made an empty folder c:imagetooloutputIf I run the following batch file:c:imagetoolimagetool -e bmp -o c:imagetooloutput c:imagetoolscource*.tga...then it appears to read all the .tga files, recognize the alphas, make the mips and convert to 8bit. It however only outputs one file into the output folder, named .bmp (whch is 87kb, and opens correctly with alpha and mips)If I change the switch to read -o c:imagetooloutput*.* (or *.bmp) I get NO output.How to I get output as multiple .bmp files with names corresponding to the *.tga files?......thanx......frank

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Hi Frank,What I normally do is type something like this:imagetool -dxt1 *.bmpYou need 8bit and not dxt1, but for the rest it should work. In your folder with the input files it then creates new files with the same name, but with extension .mip. These are your new textures. After that you can copy them to the folder you want them and rename to bmp again.


Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Guest jimkeir

Hi.The Microsoft DirectX 9 SDK comes with a photoshop plugin, which will apparently load and save DXT files directly. I've not tried it so I can't comment on how good it is (or if it works at all!) but it might be useful. The download is about 250Mb(!!!) but you can throw almost all of it away once you've got the plugin out.Cheers,Jim Keir

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Ouch! I would like to add this plug-in to my Photoshop folder, but it is too much for my slow modem connection.If anyone does get it and is willing, I would be grateful for the plug-in (and nothing else).Many thanks in advance.Best regards.Luis

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Guest frankbergson

Hi Arno,Thanx for the help. Your suggestion worked perfectly!Imagetool does not exactly have an "intuitive" interface!The line I used was:imagetool -e bmp *.tgaThe "-e bmp" forced the files to be saved as .bmp instead of .mip saving one renaming step. All my scource files are .tga files.thanx again.......frank>Hi Frank,>>What I normally do is type something like this:>>imagetool -dxt1 *.bmp>>You need 8bit and not dxt1, but for the rest it should work.>In your folder with the input files it then creates new files>with the same name, but with extension .mip. These are your>new textures. After that you can copy them to the folder you>want them and rename to bmp again.

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>The "-e bmp" forced the files to be saved as .bmp instead of>.mip saving one renaming step. All my scource files are .tga>files.Thanks, I should remember that :). But when you have the origional images as BMP and don't want to overwrite them the mip output is not that bad.


Arno

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.

FSDeveloper.com | Former Microsoft FS MVP | Blog

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Many, many thanks, Dick. Very kind of you.I had this fantasy of creating my textures and saving them directly from Photoshop to the texture folder. Too bad it was all a dream.If tdragger or any of the other guys who use that alias are reading, maybe they could consider putting together an ImageTool plug-in for Photoshop, if they don't already have one. It would definitely be highly appreciated.Best regards.Luis

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