Skinning Chapter Three: Editing .DDS Images

1. Preamble

This section assumes you have a basic knowledge of how to use your paint program. ie. How to recolour images, how to cut and paste portions of images, how to resize portions of images and how to utilise layers to make editing easier.

2. Opening the .DDS file

Locate and open the 77824.DDS file in Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (you'll probably need to have added the .DDS plugin as outlined earlier).

I can't really help you with the artwork itself, but I will discuss a few techniques and step you through the TIE FIGHTER PILOT I made as best I can. But a few tips are to start a new layer on the image, do your working on that so as you leave the old image as a positional guide.

If you have a scanner you can scan minifigs and clean up the scan and paste into the working .DDS image then position and resize to suit.

You may be able to use custom decals as found on any number of Minifig Custom Decal sites in your skins, but be sure that you have permission from the original artist, and ensure the artist is credited in your file's readme and a link back to their website is provided.

Reminder: As mentioned earlier, some of the models use the same coloured area as the source for both the arms and torso, or the legs and torso, or the legs and arms etc. If you're using a model whose UVmap looks to the same area for both the arm texture and the leg texture for example, it is simply not possible to have different coloured arms and legs for that model. Maybe you will be able to find another similar model to retexture that does use different parts of the skin image to texture the legs / arms / torso. Otherwise you will have to work within the limitations of the model/UVmap for your reskinning. There are other issues too regarding stretching around some areas of the skin, as we'll see shortly.

There is considerable trial and error needed sometimes to get the positioning and colours of a reskinned character just right. You need to edit the .DDS file, reinsert it into the character's .hgp file, then put the .hgp file back into the game directory where it originally came from, run the game and check out the character, taking some reference screenshots. Then quit the game and go back to make corrections on the .DDS . And repeat as necessary until the final skinned character is complete and perfect.

3 . Working example: Turning the STORMTROOPER texture into a TIE PILOT texture

Gather reference shots of your minifig if you don't have one in your collection to work from (or other non-LEGO images if it's based on an EU character or something that doesn't have a real LEGO minifig).

If appropriate / necessary, make a scan of the minifig to base your design around. Extract the relevant areas from the scan and clean it up by hand, increasing brightness, sharpening lines, adding small details etc

Fig 3i. Torso Scan		Fig 3ii. Raw Torso Decal		Fig 3ii. Cleaned Up

Take the stormtrooper texture. "Negative" it so it's predominantly black. Edit the helmet section, removing most of the decorations, making the eye section a dark grey shade to give it some definition in-game. Even though the actual minifig's eye glasses are the same black as the rest of the helmet, sometimes it pays to forgo 100% accuracy to make the figure more visually interesting in-game. And add an imperial logo above the eye. Edit the back section (I kept the [OII] design on the back to make the figure more interesting, after all you're staring at the back of the character most of the time while playing)

Fig 3iii. 77824.DDS (50%)   Fig 3iv. Negatived   Fig 3iv. Decal Added

7. Saving the edited file

When you're happy with the image and wish to test it in-game, select "Save as". It's a good idea to change the filename slightly from the one you originally started working with or else you'll overwrite the original .DDS file and you'll need to re-extract it if you need to reference it again.

In this case I add a descriptive name to the start of the filename. You must keep the number in the filename as generated when the file was extracted though (in this case 77824) as this is the position in the .hgp archive where our edited .DDS file  needs to be reinserted.:

Save as -> tiepilot.77824.DDS

Use the .DDS settings exactly as seen here when you go to save (this box will pop up when you progress through the save procedure);

>> CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER FOUR: INSERTING .DDS IMAGES <<