How do I convert a .dds file to greyscale?

[deanej]

How do I do this? I send it to Photoshop Elements from DXTBMP, convert it to grayscale, then sent it back to DXTBMP, but it won't save the file! I appears to have saved, but the next time I open it, it is just as it was before this whole process!

 

[Refar]

As far as i know .dds format can not be grey scale. It needs to be saved as RGB color.

You can use the the Hue/Saturation tool in PS, taking the color saturation all the way down. This will give you a greyscale look, while the picture is still RGB.

BTW. there is a plugin for PS from nvidia (somewhere on they website) to read/save dds directly, saving the conversion step via DXTBMP.

 

[deanej]

I guess that's why it wouldn't save them. However, I don't have Photoshop - just Photoshop Elements, which I don't think has that feature (at least I couldn't find it in the time I took to look). I wonder how Firaxis did it, as the religion icons are greyed out until founded.

 

[Gordon Farrell]

Download GIMP. Is free.

Open your jpg in GIMP, then follow the same suggestion offered by Refar: "You can use the the Hue/Saturation tool... taking the color saturation all the way down."

Save + convert to dds.

 

[Refar]

I dont know this Elements thingie... If not having a saturation tool, you can convert to grayscale, which will discard the color information, then convert back to RGB, export and save.