Model exporting

[OriginalUsername]

Okay, it really really worked. Thanks again. But how do I compress the .dds file. Do I just make a UV snapshot in .dds format? I figured that was too easy, but I couldn't find another button which said:Compress to .dds.

Nah, dds has nothing to do with Maya. It's an image format and Maya can't convert images. You can convert an image file to a .dds with photoshop instead - just click "save as" and select .dds. If you can't find the format, your photoshop is lacking the required plugin.
But like martinnord said, a tga, png or jpg should work, too. dds is just the best texture format for games, because it supports mipmaps (to avoid moiré-artifacts when viewing the texture from a distance) and is good for performance.

The uv snapshot function is just there to give you a reference image that you can use to create your texture. It simply shows your uv layout, so you can make the texture fit to the UVs in Photoshop.

Ah okay, thanks! But what do I have to put in the .dds (or .jpg, etc.) folder? I know the textures, but I have several. Do I just have to make several? another stupid question

And is there a way to get photoshop for free? I'm not going to pay 900 dollars :S