Leveling Up at Unit Creation

[topsecret]

Somewhat off topic: Rohan is almost done. ~7 more units.

 

[Bagdemagus]

Hi and Hello!

Building off of BossDaddy’s recent success, @Bagdemagus and I would like to improve our skills at glossing.

Spoiler Online Tutorials I used :

Here's the tutorial I used for my attempt at adding a gloss texture in nifskope: http://phantombunburyist.freedomforceforever.com/NIFgmax_simple_tutorial/index4.html

I followed this tutorial for creating a gloss file in GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Color2BW/

From my experimentation, getting a nice gloss requires not only a knowledge of the tools, but moreover seems to rely on artistic technique. So we would greatly appreciate hearing about various approaches

Here’s my first attempt at adding a gloss:

View attachment 611242

BossDaddy converted this scale armor from a RTW2 mod called Age of Bronze. The texture files came with gloss maps.

View attachment 611237

I tried to grayscale this (Image > Mode > Grayscale), then adjust brightness & contrast -- but I wasn’t satisfied with the result. So I took the ‘specular’ file, duplicated it, and repeated the process. Here’s the specular file with my resulting gloss:

View attachment 611238 View attachment 611241

I didn’t add the ‘normal’ file. From my understanding, this is usually reserved for LH’s?

View attachment 611239

I have attached the file as “Scale Armor” along with a note for the xml (HeavySwordsman anims). All feedback and criticism is welcome, please help us perfect our glossing techniques!

¡¡ Bonus Question !!: Does anyone have familiarity with Mask Files? This seems to be an overlay / filtering file that ‘tinges’ the file below it? But it seems that you can combine these files for colorful, spectacular results:

View attachment 611243 View attachment 611244 View attachment 611240

These colorful textures have been attached as “Scale Armor (additional files)”. Thank you very much in advance for any help or insights. Happy Weekending~!!

Hey thanks for this I will taker a look aty these tutorials and see what happens!