Want to kill some texture...

[Rarity]

Here is a unit I have texturing it...

You see, the hat is quite annoying! Can you tell me how to delete it, I know I must use 3D max, but I don't know how...

[ByzantineKnight]

I have never done any modeling for Total War, but I think you can fix it in one of two ways

1. Use 3DS Max to change the model so that the texture wraps correctly (the plume appears to be a big rectangle which does not have any texture information so it appears as black)
This can be corrected by changing the plume from a rectangle (the black area) to a semi-circle that is just as big as the plume itself. This will result in a higher poly count but it will look most realistic
or 2. Change the textured information so that the unused black area is clear (Most engines have some color that they ignore when rendering the character and this acts as a see-through area) If the black rectangle attached to the plume was that see-through or clear color instead then you wouldn't have to mess with the character model itself, just the texture. Sadly I have no idea what that see-through color is for RTW...

Like I said before, I havn't done any modeling for RTW however I have done some animation so this was my best guess. If someone else could confirm this, that would be great!

[Rarity]

I'll try to do what you said...
Happy Halloween!!!

[ByzantineKnight]

Happy Halloween to you too!!

I sent the question on to some people that I know did some skinning and I'm hoping to hear back from them about what I suggested ^_^ so hopefully your answer will come in sooner rather than later

[Vuk]

This should answer your question. Alpha Channels are screwy things. If you still cannot get it to work, let me know.

[Rarity]

I don't really understand what Suraknar said. But I decided to remove the plume not only make the hat less annoying, but also make them cooler. If you can, maybe you should explain more clearly what Suraknar said to help the ones who don't know (including me :D)

[ByzantineKnight]

Do you have photoshop? If not you can always use a free program called paint.net or if gimp is also free and you can use that as well. Those will give you basically the same capabilities

Alpha Chanel...

In photoshop, load the original Texture, in your Layers Window switch to the Chanels tab and scroll down you will see a Black and white Immage...

Activate it you will notice that only the plume area is white and everything around it is Black, which transalates as transparent.

So you can select and copy paste that area from the original picture in to your own texture.

If your own texture does not have an Alpha chanel create one just as if you were creating a new layer but under the chanels tab, it should be all White.

Then finally make sure to save your Texture as 32 Bit TGA if your saving in TGA allong with alpha chanel, alternativelly if your working directly on DDS, then save as DXT5 compression.

That should fix it! :)

To start off, open the original texture (the one that the unit had before you started modding. When you open it, look for some window that says layers (you can probably check the help and it will tell you how to use it). Once you find it, there should be at least two tabs, one titled Layers and the other Channels. Keep switching through the channels until you find an image that is completely black and white. That is your Alpha Channel. If you are still unsure how to find it, google is your friend ^_^ and if you are still having problems, let me know and I'll try and learn one of the programs and post a picture tutorial

Copy and paste the Plume area from the original texture and paste it into the texture you are trying to mod.

I don't think I can explain the last part any better than he did but if you need clarification on something, just reply and I'll do my best

[Rarity]

Ok, I'm quite get it now. Thank you ByzantineKnight!

[ByzantineKnight]

Ok, I'm quite get it now. Thank you ByzantineKnight!

Anytime, glad to help!!