Looking for help exporting DDS from Photoshop v20

[DaveLang2907]

Hi! I'm new to skinning but have used Photoshop for years so I would like to figure out the workflow using that tool.

 

My goal is to add historic markings and the fantastic "goat on a mountaintop" emblem from JG51 to BlackHellHound1's Bf 109F-2 4k template (thank you for all that work btw!). Eventually I'd like to make other mods, but this is my immediate goal.

 

I have installed the latest version of NVidia's "Texture Tools Exporter" plugin for Photoshop.

 

I understand how layers work, but don't really understand the alpha layer issue.

 

I can open the psd template and (mostly) navigate the layers and make edits, but I can't figure out how to export the file to a DDS with the alpha layer (I think). I can get a DDS file exported, but it doesn't have that semi-translucent appearance that other DDS skins have.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I did find a youtube video where someone did their edits in Photoshop and then used Gimp to convert the edited PSD to a DDS, but I'm hoping to learn how to do it in Photoshop.

 

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

 

cheers,

dave

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by DaveLang2907

[Raptorattacker]

Dave, try THIS. It's an older .dds exporter but it's the one a few people (me included) use as it isn't 'hungry' at all. When you first try and open up a dds file then just go  with the default (it'll ask you). When you want to export the dds with Alpha then just use these settings...

 

I hope this helps...

Rap

Edited December 2, 2020 by Raptorattacker

[DaveLang2907]

Thanks so much, Raptorattacker!

I ended up using the NVIDIA tool I already had, but your screenshot and suggestion was the thing that pushed my experimentation to success. 

 

For the next person trying figure out how to do this in Photoshop, the trick is to recognize that the template PSDs contain an alpha layer and an alpha  channel. So after you've done your editing, you have to flatten the image, then go to the channels window and enable the alpha channel.

 

Then export per the above specs from Raptorattacker.

 

I'm attaching a screenshot of my first draft. I am not suggesting that I have got the emblem in the right place, or that it's good enough quality, or anything resembling historical, I just wanted to show what I am trying to do. 

And please note that this is an edit to the default Bf-109 F2 4k template created by BlackHellHound1, I didn't make the template / skin.

Finally, if anyone has a good quality "goat on the mountain" emblem that's ready to drop in, that would be great to have!

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by DaveLang2907