Topic: Recoloring an FX

[Jimaras8]

Hello, everyone. I wanted to know if it's possible to recolor an FX. I'm trying to take Man'o War's electric arc and paint it yelloow so i can create Miles Morales venom blast. I have gimp installed but i havent done this before so if you could walk me through this i would be grateful.

I assume i will have to start with the textures, right?

[Nyte Dragon]

 It has been so long since I even messed with FXs, that I have no idea. But I dug this up and it may be of some help.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080509141831/http://www.fxforce.com/Tutorials.html

 Hope that provides some form of help.

[daglob]

I haven't played with Gimp much, but it does work with layers. You can add a layer above the background (like a clear sheet of plastic), then fill it with the color you want it to be, and change the blend modes 'til it looks like you want. Where on the menus the blend modes are located, I can't tell you. You should be able to take the background layer and make it grayscale, but don't do that unless you can't get what you want with the original color.

Oh, yeah, flatten the image before you save, and never do this kind of thing on your original texture.

Anybody see something I missed?

[Jimaras8]

TBH guys i only gimp when i need to convert dds. I'm pretty much in the dark about the actual coloring capabilities. What do you use if you want to recolor an FX?

[detourne_me]

Another option, if you are unsure of doing any image editing, is renaming the texture file associated with the FX.
You could do this using Nifskope.
There are many texture files that are just recolors, like streak_blue.dds or streak_green.dds.  perhaps there already is a yellow texture file, and you could just rename the linked texture file in the core.nif

[Jimaras8]

That sounds like a simpler idea and a quicker fix for the time being. Two questions:

1. I cant seem to be able to find the electric_arc texture files in the library. How are they called?
2. Where exactly in the core.nif is the name of the texture file linked?

[detourne_me]

The texture files for built-in FX are 8n the art.ff file. It's basically a zip file, so you can extract all of the textures with 7zip or a similar program.

An FX core.nif is really similar to a character.nif file. So open it up in nifskope and click on the piece you want to looks at. You'll get information about the editable mesh in the Block List window, so just go down through the tree until you see the NiTexturing Property (i think that's what it's called).

[Jimaras8]

I found the texture for the electric_arc and its called spark_blue_01.tga. I also found a spark_yellow_01.tga on the MA folder. So now all i need to do is go to the end.nif of the fx and just replace spark_blue_01.tga with spark_yellow_01.tga? That should do it?

[Jimaras8]

So i changed the sparkles but i couldnt change the main electric circle which is the thing i want to turn yellow the most. I think its called Dummy_Scale. I couldnt find any NifTexturingProperty on that branch.

[detourne_me]

i think it's called electric_bolt.dds under Dummy_SwitchOff>Cylinder05,  you could try renaming it to spark_long_yellow.dds if you didn't want to mess with any recolouring.

[Jimaras8]

Is it the block details? I see Dummy_SwitchOff and Cylinder05 but under Cylinder05 there are only the zMode10 and the Editable Mesh. I cant seem to find a elctric_bolt.dds

[Jimaras8]

So, in case this one doesnt work what is in theory the easiest way to recolor an fx? Which program would you guys suggest for someone who has never done it before?

[oktokels]

So, in case this one doesnt work what is in theory the easiest way to recolor an fx? Which program would you guys suggest for someone who has never done it before?

Nifskope 1.1.3 (doesnt open some FXs so you eventually may want to try with newer versions)
Paint.net

1)open start, core or end.nif with nifskope
2)Search for textures in block details
3)Right-click, texture, choose
4)Search for texture and select it with right click
5)Open it with paint.net
6)Use recoloring tool
7)Save it with another name
8)Select texture in nifskope
9)Save nif

[Jimaras8]

Thanks oktokels, i will try it and get back to you . Also, i still cant find the cylinder texture in the electric_arc. I searc under Cylinder-05 and i see no electric_bolt.dds

[detourne_me]

[Jimaras8]

My nifskope doesnt appear like that dm. Which version are you using?

[spydermann93]

Open NifSkope, go to View > Block List > Show Blocks in Tree

[Jimaras8]

I found it eventually, it just was a little tticky since my nifskope format isnt like dm s.

Amyway, now to the tricky recoloring part. Is there any way to pick the specific color from electro_bolt_01, save it on paint.net and recolor the electric_arc?

[oktokels]

I found it eventually, it just was a little tticky since my nifskope format isnt like dm s.

Amyway, now to the tricky recoloring part. Is there any way to pick the specific color from electro_bolt_01, save it on paint.net and recolor the electric_arc?

You can do that with the color picker tool. But i always use the hue and saturation tool, just move the bar to the color you want, that way you recolor the whole texture at the same time.

[Jimaras8]

I cant seem to find the hue and saturation tool, is it in the left side bar?

[oktokels]

I cant seem to find the hue and saturation tool, is it in the left side bar?

In the adjustments menu, top bar. Look for Hue / Saturation. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+U. The Hue control rotates the colors used in the image.

[Jimaras8]

I will see if it that suits me better than recoloring. I have another question. Does anyone know the texture for tombstone's phantom_pistol. I see two when i expand Box01, Lightning.tga and Lightning-glow.tga. I wonder which one should i recolor.

[oktokels]

I will see if it that suits me better than recoloring. I have another question. Does anyone know the texture for tombstone's phantom_pistol. I see two when i expand Box01, Lightning.tga and Lightning-glow.tga. I wonder which one should i recolor.

both
but i have 2 lightning.tga, so i'm kind of confused 

[Jimaras8]

I only have one but i'm wondering if it's better to use the hue tool. I will see what suits me most.

[oktokels]

I only have one but i'm wondering if it's better to use the hue tool. I will see what suits me most.

From my experience, is faster that way. Especially when you want to make a lot of FX for the lanterns, i just moved the hue to red, blue, orange, yellow or green, the program memorizes the position of the control if you want to use the same hue configuration for other FXs.

Remember if the FX has transparency in its textures, save it as a TGA (not DDS). It seems that the dds format doesnt work well with transparencies, at least from my experience.

[Jimaras8]

Thanks for all the tips oktokels, the hue tool needs some learning but it seems to be useful so far. I have encountered a couple of hurdles.

1.I dont know which textures to recolor in order for tombstone's phantom pistol to become silver. I'm trying to create a silver bullet fx for blade but there are still some white spots even when i recolor the Lightning.tga and Lightning-glow.tga for the box.

2. Some fx appear white no matter their actual color. Examples are the silver bullet fx and the dotfjoker_gas_grenade. They are both grey/silver but appear white in the RR. Does anyone know how to fix that?

[Randomdays]

I don't know anything about fx's, but is it a nif?

If so, I just put up a new meshing/ skinning walkthru for Blender that shows how to actually change the base color of a nif to a different color than the standard grey.

Also, if you right click on the material property - in the example given its "electricity" with the little picture of the palette next to it, and then click on "material" from the open menu, you can mess with some color circles and tinting.

RD

[oktokels]

1.I dont know which textures to recolor in order for tombstone's phantom pistol to become silver. I'm trying to create a silver bullet fx for blade but there are still some white spots even when i recolor the Lightning.tga and Lightning-glow.tga for the box.

There's two more textures to recolor, muzzleflash_orange_01 and spark_silver. You need to find ALL textures related to the nif. Make sure you check all textures in the Block Details windows and make sure to frequently press "Reset Block Details" to go back to a general view of all the files that compose the nif.

[oktokels]

I made a little ilustrated tutorial with screenshots, it should be easier for anybody who wants to know how to recolor a FX. My OS is in spanish, so sorry for that. This is the way that worked for me:

1. Open NIF with Nifskope

2. Search for textures in block details. Right-click --> Texture --> Choose

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3. Search for the texture in explorer window

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4. Right-click-->Open with-->Paint.net

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5. Open hue and saturation tool in the adjustments menu (ctrl+shift+u)

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5. Move the hue control to the color you like

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6. Save it (with another name, you can add just a number or a letter to make it easier to find; Remember to save it as a TGA if it has transparencies, otherwise the transparencies won't work in  )

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7. Select the new texture in nifskope (if you kept nifskope open during the recoloring, is faster to just go back to the previous select texture window)

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9. See how the nif looks in the preview window

8. If you're satisfied, save the nif

10. Now you need to add the new FX to the game in FFEdit (This is a whole other process that i can explain later  )

[Jimaras8]

Thanks for the tutorial oktokels, it's really helpful for anyone who wants an easy way to recolor fx. My Miles Morales venom blast turned out ok, i just dont know how to post pictures directly in this forum so you can all see.

Also, when it comes to phantom pistol, i have hidden the lightning parts that it had, os it's just the projectile visible. I still have to recolor every texture?