Cazzie
December 28th, 2009, 17:02
Part One: The Banner
As with most heavy laden graphic tutorials, I must make this on two parts, one for the banner itself and one for the banner's Alpha Channel.
One you have decide on which planes banner to change, it would be good to make a BU of that banner first and paste it back.
Now in DXTBitmap, open the banner you wish to edit, it is texture sq_b. When opened, click Image - Send to Editor, which will send the image to your desired graphics editor, mine is Photoshop.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/sendtoeditor_dxt.jpg
In Photoshop I use the norm bitmap to start my own banner, I highlight the old banner in the Background Layer and using the Magic Erasure at first (importanty unless you first save the norm.bmp to norm.psd), click the banner area, finish with the Brush Eraser while still highlighted.
While still highlighted, choose Layer - New Layer and name it bannercolor_outer. Now pick a color, I picked a deep blue here.
Using the Bucket Tool or Brush Tool, Paint the highlighted area.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/newlayer_outerbanner.jpg
Moving on, let's pick an inner color for the banner. Using the rectangle Select Tool, make a space inside the outer banner blue color. Again click Layer - new Layer and name it bannercolor_inner. Using your color palette, pick a color, I chose red. Using the Bucket Tool or Brush Tool, Paint the highlighted are red. leave the are selected.
Now uncheck the red layer and using the Brush Eraser Tool, highlight the blue layer in your layer section and erase the inner layer area of the blue.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/innerred.jpg
Recheck the red layer and chose a text Font, color, and size. All can be adhusted using the Text Monitor Tool next the File Browser in Photoshop. I chose white.
Type your script and size it to fit the inner banner color (if using one color for your banner, size it to fit one color).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/text_colorwhite.jpg
Now this is a very important step. Make a duplicate layer of the text and call it text 2. Most important: Move this new layer below you inner color layer, in my case, the red layer. Once moved, click Edit - Free Transform - Flip Horizontal.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/duplicatelayer_text.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/move_duplicatelayertext.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/fliptext2_horz.jpg
Now save the image in a layered format (.psd for me) in and folder of choice. But leave it open for the time being.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/save_banner.jpg
Now bring up DXTBitmap again and send the sq_b texture to your graphics editor. In your graphics editor, take your layered image and click Select All - Copy Merged (important). Highlight the norm.bmp and click Edit Paste. Next in the layer column, click Flatten Image. Click "X" on your norm.bmp and then Yes when prompted.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/flattenimage_save_yes.jpg
Bring up DXTBitmaps and click Image - Reload after Edit and Part One is over.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/dxtbitmap_reloadafteredit.jpg
I shall discuss how to do the Alpha Channel texture in Part Two.
Caz
As with most heavy laden graphic tutorials, I must make this on two parts, one for the banner itself and one for the banner's Alpha Channel.
One you have decide on which planes banner to change, it would be good to make a BU of that banner first and paste it back.
Now in DXTBitmap, open the banner you wish to edit, it is texture sq_b. When opened, click Image - Send to Editor, which will send the image to your desired graphics editor, mine is Photoshop.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/sendtoeditor_dxt.jpg
In Photoshop I use the norm bitmap to start my own banner, I highlight the old banner in the Background Layer and using the Magic Erasure at first (importanty unless you first save the norm.bmp to norm.psd), click the banner area, finish with the Brush Eraser while still highlighted.
While still highlighted, choose Layer - New Layer and name it bannercolor_outer. Now pick a color, I picked a deep blue here.
Using the Bucket Tool or Brush Tool, Paint the highlighted area.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/newlayer_outerbanner.jpg
Moving on, let's pick an inner color for the banner. Using the rectangle Select Tool, make a space inside the outer banner blue color. Again click Layer - new Layer and name it bannercolor_inner. Using your color palette, pick a color, I chose red. Using the Bucket Tool or Brush Tool, Paint the highlighted are red. leave the are selected.
Now uncheck the red layer and using the Brush Eraser Tool, highlight the blue layer in your layer section and erase the inner layer area of the blue.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/innerred.jpg
Recheck the red layer and chose a text Font, color, and size. All can be adhusted using the Text Monitor Tool next the File Browser in Photoshop. I chose white.
Type your script and size it to fit the inner banner color (if using one color for your banner, size it to fit one color).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/text_colorwhite.jpg
Now this is a very important step. Make a duplicate layer of the text and call it text 2. Most important: Move this new layer below you inner color layer, in my case, the red layer. Once moved, click Edit - Free Transform - Flip Horizontal.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/duplicatelayer_text.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/move_duplicatelayertext.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/fliptext2_horz.jpg
Now save the image in a layered format (.psd for me) in and folder of choice. But leave it open for the time being.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/save_banner.jpg
Now bring up DXTBitmap again and send the sq_b texture to your graphics editor. In your graphics editor, take your layered image and click Select All - Copy Merged (important). Highlight the norm.bmp and click Edit Paste. Next in the layer column, click Flatten Image. Click "X" on your norm.bmp and then Yes when prompted.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/flattenimage_save_yes.jpg
Bring up DXTBitmaps and click Image - Reload after Edit and Part One is over.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Banner%20Tutorial/dxtbitmap_reloadafteredit.jpg
I shall discuss how to do the Alpha Channel texture in Part Two.
Caz