Before using this tutorial I want you to read and do Sinastra's In Depth Clothing Re- Texturing Tutorial for the TSR Workshop, if you don't know how to retexture yet!
New bumpmaps for clothing with the TSR Workshop Tutorial
Welcome to my "New bumpmaps for clothing with the TSR Workshop" tutorial. Before we begin, I assume you have read Sinastra's wonderfull In Depth Clothing Re-Texturing Tutorial for the TSR Workshop. Therefore I stress that this tutorial will not learn how to manipulate DDS files in any way.
This tutorial will help you get rid of the old bumpmaps and teach you how to create new ones with TSR Workshop. Re-texturing is new to me so this tutorial will not be perfect. I hope it still helps you with learning how to create new items for The Sims 3 without those hideous old bumpmaps.
Note: You can make the pictures bigger by right clicking and selecting "view image."
1: Let's get started!
As stated before I assume you have done Sinastra's tutorial. When you have finished it you sometimes (depending on the base mesh you used to retextured) see an old bumpmap showing trough in the game. Darn... Al that work just to see it being ruined by a bumpmap!
Well when I had the same problem (See pic above!), I fooled around and found a solution! I'll teach you how you can get New bumpmaps for clothing with TSR Workshop.
So, when you have retextured a mesh you should have a new Overlay, a new Clothing Multiplier, a new Clothing Specular. Here is my example dress with all these in TSR Workshop with my new DDS files next to it!
You have to import these DDS files in the right places.
To do this click "key:numbers" (in bold in TSR Workshop next to Overlay, Mask, Multiplier and Clothing Specular), there will appear three dots, click them and select import in the new window.
Your New Overlay must be entirely black.
On to the next part! -->
2: What to use as a bumpmap? The three options :
When it comes to choosing your bumpmap you have three options. All off these should be a DDS file created in the same way as a Clothing Multiplier or Clothing Specular.
1- No bumpmap.
This is the simplest option. For this you can use your New Overlay, the entire black one.
2- Complete bumpmap.
I recommend this option because it's the easiest and the one with the nicest result (in my opinion). You use your New Multiplier to create this bumpmap, so you don't need to edit it in Photoshop CS3, CS4 or Gimp or whatever program you use.
3- Partial bumpmap.
This one requires the most time because you've got to edit your New Multiplier. With this technique you can highlight parts of your clothing with a bumpmap. You can use an edited New Multiplier.
Once you have chosen which of the three you will use and done the necessary editing (if you chose option 3), move on to the next part/page of the tutorial.-->
3: Inserting the new bumpmap in TSR Workshop.
Now the slightly scary part. For this one you will have to trust me. Once you import the new bumpmap the preview of the workshop will become black and wonky. Don't freak, follow the tutorial!
After this little warning back to work! The first part of this tutorial has been located under the Texture tab in the TSR Workshop. Now we move to the Mesh tab (Click it).
Depending on the Base Mesh you have chosen there will be one or two Geometry Entries. This doesn't change the result if you change the same DDS files in both Geometry Entries with the same New File.
My Base Mesh has two Geometry Entries. Let's check out the first Entry. I'll explain what everything means.
A - Vertices: This is the base mesh (In one part if you have one Geometry Entry or in two if you have two Geometry Entries), you can edit this one with milkshape. But we will not be doing any meshing in this tutorial, so ignore it.
B - First DDS: When you click it you will see an unidentified DDS. This DDS has no obvious use and we don't need it for a new bumpmap so again ignore it.
C - Second DDS: This is an important one! Here you should import your new Bumpmap (See section 2: What to use as a bumpmap: The three options.) and thus replace the original. Once you have done this the preview will go black and wonky, how difficult it may be, ignore it.
D - Third DDS: Here you need to upload your New Clothing Specular, the same DDS you used under the Texture Tab.
If there are two Geometry Entries repeat this in exact the same order, with exact the same DDS files!
Almost there! Save your project and re-open it. Export and test in-game.
Hello, new bumpmap! Nice isn't it?
There we are, at the end of the tutorial. I hope I helped and good luck creating!
If you have questions or comments leave them here!
