Hello everyone! Today, you'll learn how to make something like this! You'll need: Photoshop CS and above with the NVIDIA Texture Tools Plugin BeamNG Knowledge of making skins Step 1: Open any ***_c.dds file. I'm going to use hatch_c.dds. You should get a dialogue box like this: Check "Load MIP Maps". Step 2: Color each mip map a desired color. The biggest square/rectangle on the very left will be the color that you see when you're very close to the car. 4 or 5 colors should be good enough. Be careful not to overshoot the edges. Step 3: Saving the file. Go to File > Save As... and choose .dds as the extension. After you press the save button, another box should pop up. Use these options: It is VERY important that you tick "Use Existing MIP maps". If you don't, it won't work! Step 4: Move the file over to your vehicle's folder if it isn't there already and load the game. If you did it right, it should look like the first picture. How it works: MIP maps are basically optimized versions of a texture that you would see from farther distances to save performance and reduce aliasing artifacts. By manipulating the MIP maps, you can have a multi-colored model that looks like it has pearlescent/iridescent paint. It's an old trick that I learned in my Trackmania days. Have fun!
Well, this helps TREMENDOUSLY, I love pearlescent paint, but never had the time to research how to make it work. I plan on making a few fantasy type vehicles after I'm done with the one I'm currently working on, and this should make them look 10x better. But until then, do you know how to make a proper matte paint job, one of my conversions was meant to have one, but it gets a glossy paint job that looks wrong.
Making the alpha channel brighter usually makes it matte. Here is one of my skins that greatly relies on the alpha channel: Chrome parts are black in the alpha channel and the matte vinyls are white.
How many distance maps do you repeat a design (like a logo or different colored stripes) to? Is there a way to just do it on the closest (largest) one and have it carry over to the others?
You can make a design and save it as a .DDS (without ticking "Use Existing MIP maps"), then open it again so that the design is repeated for all distances. Then you can edit each individual MIP map to your liking.
