How to do the N and S tile

Hello everyone
i am using photoshop with the DDS plugin you must have this plugin !

step 1 lets start with the N
as you can see this is a D tile

step 2
here i am showing you its the D tile we be making into a N

step 3
now click on Filter move down to Blur then motion blur

step 4
at this point i leave the setting as you see it

step 5
Now go back to the filter then to Nvidia tools at the bottom and click on normalmapfilter

step 6
make sure you click these settings in the photo !

step 7
after that this screen will come up

step 8
now we can save it, just replace the D with N still keeping the name of the tile

step 9
now we finally save it under 3DC XY Normal map

thats it for the D to N
remember you need to do the N to stop the texture from the other tile showing through
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now for the S tile this alot shorter !
again open the first D tile

step 1

step 2
click on layer/new adjustment layer/black and white

step 3
at this point i have already made a setting and called it blackout, just to save time, on other tiles
what you need to do is make it dark because the S tile is shiney,some people use the gray scale
me i just moved the sliders right down to the left, as you can see in the pic

step 3 graphic setting to the above ^^^^ this is what i saved the setting as blackoout

step 4
now click save as

step 5
now change the D to a S and again keeping the name of the tile

step 6
when the next box opens click on DXT5 interpolted alpha and hit the save, thats it done
you have done the N and S tiles which took me years to do

at this point i would like to say thankyou to sivert/skeleton for putting up with
me over the past years, also meuh for all the help with links, and xrayjay for
his post on maniapark, thanks to xrayjay i now know how to do the tiles
for xrayjay post on maniapark
http://www.maniapark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22211

Last edited by WRAITH,

WRAITH

TM CLOSED BETA TESTER
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With your method doing the N files the result is not seamless anymore because you use a blur filter before the NormalMapFilter. Then you see all these borders of the textures in reflections and shadows because the textures do not fit together anymore. Of course you can use any blur filter, but for seamless textures you have to enlarge the canvas size, duplicate the layer 8x around itself and merge all 9 before. But a blur on the normal map mostly destroys the sharpness of the best diffuse map too - or you like blurred "special" effects like for the cliffs.
Try the xNormal plugin for Photoshop, you can do sharper normal maps without destroying the seamlessness (what a word xD) and the 3D-effect can be controlled better with it - and it works faster too: http://www.xnormal.net/1.aspx

part of your Road2Way:

better example, part of my CliffPxz, without and with enlarging the canvas before the blur:

I used both filters here, NormalMapFilter and xNormal, and mixed both layers. First filter with a big Gaussian Blur to keep a good 3D impression of the bigger wall and the xNormal to keep the details.

To the specular maps:
The gloss on your texture (left image part) and the mat on the default texture (right side) is the result of your method doing the specular maps and their alphachannels. Your white alphachannel (of the specular map) gives a full gloss to your diffuse texture and you try to compensate that with a almost black sp.m. But the result is just a glossy spot or plastic effect because you reduce the information of the diffuse map to a minimum with your dark specular map. Wouldn't it be nicer to have more contrast or a bit glitter or reflections on this good texture like on the original ?

More contrast to both (S and S_Alpha) could be a solution. I still wonder why nobody does specular color maps like the original files. It's not necessary to use colored files, but TM² works with them and the effect is easy to control.
Normally sp.c.m. are used for metallic effects to increase a colored gloss, but TM² works a bit different (as always ^^) and uses warm colors instead of black&white sp.m. Yellow e.g. gives a smooth and very shiny effect, green a bit less and red has almost no shine, just study the originals. Additional you can add information to your diffuse map which are not there. Try to do a complete different sp.c.m. of a orange Micky Mouse with green eyes instead of the diffuse texture and add a alphachannel of Goofy. xD
But if you want more information on your texture, it's not so important if you use sp.m. or sp.c.m., just increase the contrast and test it. 2 ideas for your Road2Way: same alphachannels and the sp.c.m. are almost the same, but the result is very different:

However, I don't want to say this or another method is better or your final texture does not look good in the game. I just prefer more details and contrast. But of course less contrast on the roads is better for racing.

Last edited by Dag@bert,

Dag@bert