DIRECTORY

Introduction

Software

Classes

INTRODUCTION

How do textures and bones work? What is the hair metadata for?

SOFTWARE

Programs with a * are the most used by the community

For extracting textures & models:

  • Textoools*

  • Penumbra

Assigning materials in Textools can be a little tricky sometimes. Always make sure that you have all of your materials installed in the same model for the race/gender you want or you might end up with invisible hair/gear

For reizing/porting/mashups:

  • Blender **

  • 3DS Max

  • Maya

  • SketchUp

A lot of 3D tutorials you can find on youtube for making hair are meant for stylized 3D art and cannot be used with a game engine.
Most games use the “hair cards” method, which heavily relies on good textures with alpha (transparency) information.

For making models from scratch:

  • Blender *

  • 3DS Max

  • Maya

  • SketchUp

  • Zbrush

Hair does not need a colorset. The hair color is determined by the game’s shaders by having the right information in the Normal and Mask.

As of 7.0 Hair highlights are determined by the blue channel in the Normal Map. Whatever you paint white in that channel will be affected by the highlight color

  • Adobe Substance 3D * ✓

  • Photoshop + DDS Nvidia Plugin * ✓

  • GIMP ✓

  • Photopea ✓

  • Clip Studio Paint

  • Paint Tool SAI

  • Procreate

  • Blender

For making textures:

If you are making or editing a Normal or Multi map, you will need a program that edits and saves channel information (Format: DDS, preferred compression: BC7).

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

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 hair. 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 Hair (the fast and easy way)

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