Ps_View_help-sheet

Player Studio help sheet

[Detail select color keys](link to color keys found on ps forum)

Q > I've noticed that the details do not really show up in PSView unless you edit the "Detail Strength" property of your texture. What are the values that show in game for the Detail Strength and Detail Frequency? (They default to 0 and 20 respectively right now.)

A > They are set to whatever you set them to in the tool. I suggest playing with the strength and scale to maximize readability.

>The "_TM" textures are the Tint Masks. White is camo'd, black is no camo.

>UV1 = Diffuse/Spec/Normals [_C.tga / _S.tga / _DS.tga(_DS(detail select) ARE the normal/bump maps detail)/_E.tga / _TM.tga(camo where white = on, black = off)/ _M.tga(mirror)/ _N?]
UV2 = Detail detail normals _N?
UV3 = Decals (just copy uv1)

>Yeah uv1 = looks / UV2 the scale and only the scale of those details selected via UV1?

>The little pile of UV islands in the corner of UV2 are for things that don't receive tints nor' detail normals (visors, emissives, etc)

>You have to look at the different sheets to get an idea of what's happening in their shader. _tm _ds _e _m . all of those are on uv1, whilst it might be 1 colour swatch it might have 4 areas of _m with different values. Same for areas of_tm , white in tm = camo areas , black is non camo, white in _e is glow black is no glow, white in _m is very reflective, grey is half reflective black is no reflection, etc.

>Uv2 has to be laid out perfectly across the sheet, sizes of UV islands scale the detail normals across the shell larger piece means more tiling , smaller is less etc.
  -tiles directly represent resolution. Less tiles =  less resolution, more tiles = more resolution
>Big square and small square mappings means your texture resolution will vary.

You also want to keep your squares as square as possible, at the moment you have some stretching going on.

>UV1: Your regular kind of UV set. See the notes below for more.
UV2: The scale and direction of any repeating texture that UV1 references. This includes both the detail normals and camo coverage.
UV3: Used for placement of decals. Don't have to worry about this one for helmets currently (just copy UV1). It's unknown how to handle this for objects that do have coverage (such as vehicle cosmedics). Hopefully an incoming how-to from Bishop will help.

> UV1 determines what detail normal appears on the UV2 for its section via the "DS" texture. Refer to this post. Sections of the UV1 map on one color will use the detail normal in UV2 related to it.
- Similarly, UV1 determines whether the section will use camouflage/tint mask or not via the "TM" texture. If the section is white then it'll have camo. If it's black then it won't have camo.

>Uvs should be oriented the same as the 3D mesh in order for the normals to read correctly.

>To stay within tri limit, find areas of your helmet that can use normal map detail

>Uvs on the 2nd UV set are kept uniform so that the patterns and detail normals of the detail select mappings flow nicely on the model.

>UV2 does 2 things. It scales normals. And it scales camo. There's no other way to scale the camo except UV2, whilst normals can be scaled in the psviewer awell (frequency) so make sure that you prioritze camo in your UV2.

>The rectangular squares you get when your UV unwrap isnt done properly, for example if you have made an UV island more narrow on the X or whtaever.

>try and make the squares the same size across all parts. If they're different sizes then the camo will be different scales. Also they would be squares not rectangles so the camo and normals aren't stretched. This in all in UV2.
	-mandatory squares for helmets rather than vehicles

>its really up to you. the frequency is in direct correlation to the size of your UV2. So for example you could keep detail scaling to 20 and then if you want really detailed normals you would have to scale up the UV2. However that would also scale down the Camo. So its really about finding the balance.

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(An entire answer)
>Overlapping UVs: Can't have any part a UV map on top of another UV map. Note: If you were texturing a model, this would usually be the case for UV1 as well.
Mirrored UVs: If you have a UV map that's identical on both sides of the map, in UV2 and UV3 they can't be on top of each other. For example, take the above picture. If all the UV maps on the left side were still exactly on top of their counter-parts on the right side, that'd be invalid. Note: If you were texturing your own model, mirrored UVs on UV1 are the single scenario where you are allowed to have overlapping UVs.

That's what he means by mirrored UVs, I know it can be a bit confusing. The mirrored UVs rule is just an extension of the overlapping UVs one, and mostly helps to remind us to not overlap.

It's good practice to have symmetrical UV islands laid out like the example there; at least, when you can't keep them on top of each other mirrored. It keeps things tidy and nice, and if you were making your own texture it'd be easier to deal with.

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(An entire answer) >You have to use the same UV1 islands for all of the texture maps.

Unfortunately, you can't just choose whatever detlail select map you want willy-nilly. I.e. If your UV1 map goes onto color swatch A, you're using whatever colors, effects, if it accepts camouflage, and the detail select that swatch has.

Think of the UV1 as a piece of clothing, and a nearby dresser has a red, clean shirt and a blue, worn shirt. You can put on either shirt, but you can't make the red one worn or the blue one clean.

And, just so we are clear on things, UV2 will effect two things: camouflage and the detail select. As far as you're concerned, it only affects the scale of the camo and detail select. Larger UV islands make the camo smaller and the detail select smaller, while smaller UV islands zoom into the camo/detail select and make it larger.