DIRECTORY

Introduction

Software

Classes

INTRODUCTION

What are gear and weapons made of?

SOFTWARE

Programs with a * are the most used by the community

For extracting textures & models or editing metadata:

  • Textoools*

  • Penumbra

You can also use devkits for specific bodies you want to use.
Some include the raw models and textures and most give you
a full set up in Blender to make ports easier and faster. Make sure to follow accompanying documents to learn how to use them

For reizing/porting/mashups:

  • Blender **

  • 3DS Max

  • Maya

  • SketchUp

While 3DS Max and Maya are considered the best software options for videogame industry standards, Blender has taken over as the main modder’s software since it is free and largely perceived as easier to work with

  • Blender *

  • 3DS Max

  • Maya

  • SketchUp

  • Zbrush

  • Marvelous Designer ** (Clothes only)

For making models from scratch:

You can technically make everything in Blender but everyone has their own workflow and preferences. The majority of modders use a few different programs for different parts of their process, like making the base model with Marvelous Designer, topology and UVs in Blender, and textures in Substance Painter. Learn what you can and find your preferred workflow!

For making textures:

  • Adobe Substance 3D * ✓

  • Photoshop + DDS Nvidia Plugin * ✓

  • GIMP ✓

  • Photopea ✓

  • Clip Studio Paint

  • Paint Tool SAI

  • Procreate

  • Blender

If you are making or editing a Normal or Mask texture, you will need a program that edits and saves channel information (Format: DDS, preferred compression: BC7 or ARGB 8.8.8.8 — BC7 is smaller but sometimes it gives a patchy look to Normal maps).

Currently this is only possible with a few programs (Marked here with a checkmark) ✓

While skin only needs a Diffuse/Base for color, most gear uses Index maps channels to make a Colorset. Colorsets allow for a number of things, including making gear dyable and giving textures leather or metal-like effects. These are some of the biggest changes with 7.0 and lots of people are still trying to learn them because of their complexity. If you struggle understanding Colorsets at first, there is no shame in making your gear’s colors just with diffuse/base colors at first.

GIMP is often recommended as an alternative to Photoshop but its UI is a nightmare and most guides are made with Photoshop in mind, which causes many compatibility issues. Photopea is a better alternative, but in order to keep the quality of your DDS you will need to export it as a PNG and then convert it into a DDS

In my experience while alternatives to Adobe programs are valid, they can be a bit of a pain to use when it comes to following guides. If you insist on using other type of software please take a look at this detailed graph first to inform your decision better.

If you are a complete beginner with almost no knowledge of 3D Sofware and textures, the best and fastest way to get acquainted with the basics is by refitting clothes. It will familiarize you with a bunch of terms and software and it will make more advanced concepts easier to grasp. Trying to make things from scratch with no previous knowledge is an easy way to get frustrated and quit early.

If you have zero knowledge about Textools, Penumbra and Blender make sure to check out the Sprout Kit before any of these classes

CLASSES

Refitting/Resizing Clothes

Refitting or Resizing has many other names in the community, like “Porting” and “Upscaling” but the word “Porting” is more accurate for making assets from other games compatible with FFXIV (which requires more work), while “Upscaling” is more commonly used to refer to making textures bigger and with better resolution

Bones & Weights

Tips & Tricks