GIF supports animation (but has to be split it into frames to import them)Ģ4-bit PNG files support variable transparency, but don’t seem to import well into VTFEdit, so for variable transparency we must use TGA.If you are unfamiliar with the types of image formats, all you really need to know is: There is a much better alternative, VTFEdit which works with most image files and has many more features, including a straight forward user interface. Valve include one called VTEX with their games, it’s a basic command line tool that can only convert from TARGA (.tga) files. To get our image from a normal format to a VTF, we need to use a program to convert it. Images of 512×512 pixels are a good basis for most textures. In reality you would want to use the smallest possible size, and only use textures this big for important stuff. The image size is a whopping 1418×1418 pixels, which I resized to a power of 2 of 1024×1024.

The circular logo is surrounded by transparency, but we will deal with that later. I will be using the LambdaGeneration logo to make a texture from. Other advanced VMT features that make a texture more realistic will be covered in a future tutorial.Ī more detailed technical analysis of the VMT implementation can be found on the Valve Developer Wiki. You can have more than one VMT file pointing to the same VTF image, but with different properties defined, which will make Hammer and the game treat the image as separate textures. The VMTĪ VMT (.vmf) file is a plain text file which defines metadata about the texture. 64×64, 128×128, 256×256, 1024×1024 and so on…)Ī detailed technical analysis of the VTF implementation can be found on the Valve Developer Wiki. jpgs/.pngs can’t be used without conversion. The most important factor is that the dimensions of the image must be a power of 2, (i.e. The internal data is organised in a way which is most efficient for rendering, this is why normal.

They are created by converting an existing image file using a special program. The VTFĪ VTF (.vtf) file contains all the pixel data, alpha maps and mipmaps that a texture can use. Both are used together when displaying a texture in the games. Textures are split into two files: the VTF ( Valve Texture Format), a file containing the image data, the pixels of your texture, and the VMT ( Valve Material Type), a file containing metadata and shader details about the texture. Unlike modern engines, there is no “ drag and drop, and it just works” here, you must do most of the work yourself. Creating textures is not an intuitive process, but not an overly difficult task either.

How to get all textures for gmod