Material Editor Problem

**physcostealth** · 03-13-2014, 07:58 AM

I have a problem. I'm trying to create a wall with a nice texture. I used CrazyBump to create the png files and photoshop to convert the spec. and nrm. files. However, when I open the materials editor and select a file for the NMAP, something is wrong with the nrm texture.

[Image: lwyqwxc]

The middle file is the one causing the problems. The image with the red and green bars. The file itself is completely fine and uncorrupted. I've exported it twice with the same results. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

**Mudbill** · 03-13-2014, 08:27 AM

It might just be the preview being messed up. This has happened to me many times. The file turns out fine, it just looks really strange in the thumbnail sometimes. I have one where the alpha channel illuminates a pale yellow version of the Finder icon (Mac) behind the actual texture. Otherwise it still works just fine.

I do recommend using .dds files instead though. Especially instead of .png files. You can export such files with Photoshop if you get the Nvidia plugin (Windows only).

**physcostealth** · 03-13-2014, 09:19 PM

(03-13-2014, 08:27 AM)Mudbill Wrote: It might just be the preview being messed up. This has happened to me many times. The file turns out fine, it just looks really strange in the thumbnail sometimes. I have one where the alpha channel illuminates a pale yellow version of the Finder icon (Mac) behind the actual texture. Otherwise it still works just fine.

I do recommend using .dds files instead though. Especially instead of .png files. You can export such files with Photoshop if you get the Nvidia plugin (Windows only).

I have a mac. Is there a version I can download for Photoshop that's compatible with my computer or is there another software that converts to .dds?

I have no way to export the texture files as .dds. I converted the texture instead to a targa format, reloaded the texture in maya, re-exported it and such. But now when I open it in the model viewer, I get the same pink and green bars at the bottom of the texture like I got in the model editor (shown in the image attached). This didn't happen for the png texture.

Also, in the model editor the file is very small. Now I know you said to export it twice and it worked. For me, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This time, exporting twice isn't helping.

I also resized the image texture in photoshop to conform with the game's standards (I did 2024x2024). This still doesn't help.

**Mudbill** · 03-13-2014, 10:08 PM

It says you're using 1944x1944 resolution files in the editor window. That's not good. And by the way, it's not 2024, it's 1024x or 2048x. I also found that I do not need to export the model twice, but rather delete the first .msh file that is generated, then reload the model in the model viewer.

There's no real way of making .dds files on Mac. .dds files are DirectDraw Surface files, primarily used for DirectX, which is a Microsoft software. There are alternatives though. Personally I have a VirtualBox virtual machine of Windows 7 that I just boot up, export the files, then shut down.

You should be able to get one for free. VirtualBox is free and you can download a Windows 7 .iso (64-bit or 32-bit) from Microsoft's websites. You won't need to license it, I'm pretty sure.

I also have a bootcamp partition of Windows 7 for when I need that, which I can use but the VM is a lot faster if I'm working in my Mac environment.

**Traggey** · 03-14-2014, 08:43 AM

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-text...-photoshop

There you are, Nvidias DDS tools.

**Mudbill** · 03-14-2014, 01:57 PM

(03-14-2014, 08:43 AM)Traggey Wrote: https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-text...-photoshop

There you are, Nvidias DDS tools.

Yeah, I already linked them up there, but seeing as OP is on a Mac, it won't do much unless ran from a Windows environment.

**physcostealth** · 03-15-2014, 05:21 AM

Mudbill, how do you transfer your .dds files from the Windows bootcamp onto your mac? I'm in VirtualBox right now and it's working just fine.

**Mudbill** · 03-15-2014, 01:47 PM

I personally just use Dropbox. I found that to be the first thing to work, funny enough. I tried having a "Drag-and-drop" system from host to guest, but it didn't work for me, so I just went with upload/download and Dropbox is definitely quicker than other things like Mediafire. I suppose Google Drive would give the same results as well.

**physcostealth** · 03-30-2014, 06:22 PM

Do you export the crazybump textures through your virtual machine as well or will it be fine just exporting the one texture as a .dds?

**Mudbill** · 03-30-2014, 07:21 PM

CrazyBump exports them as png so it doesn't really matter. You can do it in your virtual environment or not, you'll still need to export them using the .dds plugin.