Creating Uniform Skins

[IICptMillerII]

Hi all, hope this isn't a repeat or anything but a decent amount of Googling around hasn't gotten me any decent results so I figure I'll ask around here. 

 

I was hoping to make myself (and possibly share with others if it turns out alright) some Soviet-era uniforms for the Russians. I was thinking maybe the silverleaf pattern with a flak vest over it, or maybe just the good old Soviet tan uniforms. Anyways, I have no idea how to make the skins themselves. I know they have to be .bmp files and to edit them you use photoshop (which I have but don't really know how to use) I was hoping someone could explain how to go about making the uniforms and maybe giving a step by step through some of the harder parts of the process. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Vein]

1. Create your base pattern to be double the size you'll need it. Either from scratch or if it's a bugger like the US camo find a good swatch image online and splice it together using the clone tool or masked layers or whatever.

 

2. Fill the uniform layer with your pattern and resize so the pattern is the correct size to its real world counterpart. Make the pattern different for each arm/leg (move it up or down on one leg for variation), and make sure you note that the pattern is the right way up (as the arms on the bmp are head to toe).

 

3. Add in creases on a new layer using a much darker version of your base colour. Make a selection on your base layer pattern a little larger than a crease and use 'Transform/warp' to bend the pattern around the crease so that it looks more realistic.

 

4. Add a vest base colour. Find a few images of the vest you want and start selecting bits and reconstruct it on your vest layer. You will probably need to clone bits, warp bits and even redraw bits in to get a complete vest depending on how accurate you want it to look.

 

5. Add in shadows along the vest bits. Not too deep. A 4 pixel brush at around 60% opacity should do it. Or you could ultilise Drop Shadow if you know how to use it with deftness.

 

6. Repeat 4-5 for knee pads etc.

 

 

This is just a broad stoke guide to making a diffuse map. You could add in cloth texture patterns, dirt, desaturate bits where the cloth would be stressed - knees, elbows etc.

If you need any advice just drop me a PM.

Attached is the layout of the Russian uniform showing which bit is which (if I recall correctly).

Edited June 8, 2015 by Vein

[Stagler]

To start miller id get your hands on an existing bump map from the game of the unit you want to retexture and go from there.

[IICptMillerII]

Thanks for the responses guys! I'll give it a go and see how it plays out.

[Mord]

Man, when you jump in, you jump in! Unis are a hard one to start with for your first mod, unless you are just cutting and pasting. Prepare to cry a lot, but once you begin getting the hang of it, you'll be very pleased with yourself. The more you mod the better you'll get and you'll be able to self-critique much more effectively as you pick up new techniques and such and get a few years experience under your belt. I have been making portrait mods since 2008 and I am finally to the point where I think they are starting to look good (that just happened this week LOL). By comparison my very first one is/was so bad it's a blight on the human race and makes me want to puke. I can't even believe I thought it was decent enough to release.

 

So, good luck and don't get too frustrated. The mod that doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and nuttier...eventually you'll develop the thousand-pixel stare.

 

Mord.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Mord

[Stagler]

 

So, good luck and don't get too frustrated. The mod that doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and nuttier...eventually you'll develop the thousand-pixel stare.

 

 

 

So painfully true.

[Ivan Zaitzev]

This is an old thread but maybe somebody can help me. I'm trying to give the British infantry berets editing the MKII helmet to be a beret. What I did was:

- Copy all the smod_british_beret-afv files and rename them with the corresponding smod_british_helmet-soldier-mk2 filename

- I edited the smod_british_beret-afv (now called smod_british_helmet-soldier-mk2) with a random color to see if everything was working fine.

What I got was:

- MKII soldiers wearing the standard Beret-afv, not my modified file with the new color.

- Beret soldiers wearing chin straps!

So, my questions are:

Why I can't edit the beret skin?

How do I go about removing the chin straps from the MKII or from everyone?

Almost forgot, I tried to edit the stock beret-afv with a new color, but the afv crews are still wearing the old stock berets.

Thanks!

 

PS: I'm talking about CMBN, didn't realize this was the Black Sea section. Sorry.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Ivan Zaitzev

[TheForwardObserver]

I don't have my computer right in front of me, but from what I recall- and I'll check when I get to my computer, you need to replace the british chinstrap file with a translucent bitmap file, that'll invisiblize the chinstrap-- be sure it's actually translucent lest it appear white in-game.  Regarding the beret; your renamed beret to helmet files will still point back to the black AFV beret bitmap, so recolor that one directly and it should affect all the berets.   

[TheForwardObserver]

14 hours ago, Ivan Zaitzev said:

This is an old thread but maybe somebody can help me. I'm trying to give the British infantry berets editing the MKII helmet to be a beret. What I did was:

- Copy all the smod_british_beret-afv files and rename them with the corresponding smod_british_helmet-soldier-mk2 filename

- I edited the smod_british_beret-afv (now called smod_british_helmet-soldier-mk2) with a random color to see if everything was working fine.

What I got was:

- MKII soldiers wearing the standard Beret-afv, not my modified file with the new color.

- Beret soldiers wearing chin straps!

So, my questions are:

Why I can't edit the beret skin?

How do I go about removing the chin straps from the MKII or from everyone?

Almost forgot, I tried to edit the stock beret-afv with a new color, but the afv crews are still wearing the old stock berets.

Thanks!

 

PS: I'm talking about CMBN, didn't realize this was the Black Sea section. Sorry.

 

[Ivan Zaitzev]

39 minutes ago, TheForwardObserver said:

I don't have my computer right in front of me, but from what I recall- and I'll check when I get to my computer, you need to replace the british chinstrap file with a translucent bitmap file, that'll invisiblize the chinstrap-- be sure it's actually translucent lest it appear white in-game.  Regarding the beret; your renamed beret to helmet files will still point back to the black AFV beret bitmap, so recolor that one directly and it should affect all the berets.   

I managed to get the right beret editing the mdr files, thanks to the advice of kohlenklau that is coaching me on this. I will try that translucent thing but can bmp files be translucent?

EDIT: Thanks, I managed to do it and it's working like a charm!

Edited April 3, 2016 by Ivan Zaitzev