Hi there. First of all, thanks for the support and the suggestion but I honestly don't see the need for a FOMOD. Making a FOMOD is quite a bit of effort and one including all the options will be a massive download. Plus, the FOMOD will only present you with exactly the same options as the download page does: Choose one and install. Hope you understand.
Your textures are fine; the only problem is, the vanilla one has these 'bright areas' and they're indicating the edges of the bowl. Since your textures don't having this 'trick', you barely see the depth of the bowl, unless you move and change angle. Check what I mean (in my edited texture I'm using):
https://prnt.sc/LW8ux3O9vRjP
You see those 'bright' parts on the metal (bronze/copper in my version, because a marble bowl would be very heavy to be placed on that wooden base)? These parts gives more 'pump' to the texture, on the (very low poly) Bethesda's mesh. Check the mesh:
https://prnt.sc/sBBmoAPGAHN0
You see? This is a 'trick' to make the texture 'pump' even more on the mesh.
So, the only thing you need, is to create 'round masks' in several parts of the bowl and create white outlines, then blur them, then 'overlay' them to blend on the bowl's material and you're fine. You may need to create 'fake shadows' as well, at the opposite side of those 'bright areas'.
Hi. Thank you for your suggestion and advice. I fully agree that my textures would benefit from the shadows and highlights you describe. This is something that I have considered on several occasions. My problem is I would like to have the unwrapped texture UV to use as a guide that I can overlay onto my texture during editing to indicate exactly where the highlights and shadows should be placed and sized. For a round object like the basin I suppose simply adding round masks blindly and then adjusting the the UVs to fit can work but I have wanted to do the same to more complex objects as well. I suppose I can take a screen shot of the UVs in NifSkope and somehow use that an "opaque" layer in GIMP to guide the edits? But surely there must be a better way? If you know of a way to do this I would greatly appreciate any info or suggestions you might have.
PS. Your bronze texture for the basin looks amazing! Did you make it for personal use only or is it available on the Nexus? I would love to see what it looks like in my load order :D
No, I'm not uploading stuff to Nexus - I'm just sharing some to friends. I simply picked the vanilla textures, I "blurr" it (to keep the shadows/lights-bright parts) and I masked on it a nice bronze texture I found on Yandex (forget Google, use that one - you can place filter "2K" and you'll get fine stuff).
So, after I placed the bronze texture, I simply "blended" the vanilla thing I kept (for shadow/bright parts) and then I made a normal map using the CrazyBump tool); that's all.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate that. Using the vanilla texture to create a mask is brilliant. Unfortunately I'm not very proficient yet at using Photoshop or equivalent software. I currently make use of a free-ware program called GIMP and am still learning the ropes. The textures I used were procured from the Poliigon website and I simply converted it to make it compatible with the Skyrim engine. Poliigon is a very nice resource site that caters to 3D artists. Aimed more at professionals or enthusiast hobbyists, so their stuff is top quality. I make use of their free assets. I was introduced to the site when I started learning to use Blender and one of the tutorials I followed pointed me to it. Check it out, you might find something you like.
I understand. In other uses (3d modeling), don't matter if the textures are in 3K or 7K. But for Skyrim, ALWAYS must be in resolutions divided in two - otherwise, you have CTDs (crash to desktop).
I am aware of the 3K issue, unfortunately there was no 4K option on the Poliigon site. NifSkope did worn me about the resolution so I tested the retexture on both the Special Edition and VR versions of the game. I found no issues whilst testing so presumed it is safe to publish.
Just had a look at the edited textures you posted, and man, it looks amazing! Really a big improvement to the "flat" texture. Thank you so much for all the effort.
Did you get the files I've send you yesterday? I re-made all your textures - edited them, I mean - and I super-edited the UV maps of all the different meshes/versions you have.
I think, the BEST version of yours is the green marble, looking very good ingame. The white choices are too bright, even after my editing. The wooden version is "ok".
I may send you my bronze version to use it too - I'm not publishing mods myself, I don't care.
Yes, I have received the files. Sorry it took me a while to respond but I am working night shift at the moment and my schedule is all over the place.
Thank you so much for all the effort. I really appreciate it. I agree, the Green Marble is my favorite as well and it is the version I am currently using myself. Although I'll be using your edited version in my game from now :). I had experimented with a few options when I started looking for a replacement texture and decided to include all the options as peoples tastes and load orders might differ from mine.
It would be great if you are willing to send me your bronze version as well, it looks really good in the pics you sent and I believe many other people will agree. I might actually end up using that as my preferred version as I believe bronze is a more fitting and realistic material for use with a wash basin.
I am still new at creating my own mods. I only started about two or three months ago so , again, I can't overstate how much I appreciate all your effort and advice. You have taught me quite a bit.
PS. Obviously I will give you full credit on the mod page. After all, this is now more your mod than mine ;)
I'm using your mesh with my (bronze) version. Although I loved your textures, the marble versions feels too 'heavy' to be placed on a wooden base like this. (And your wooden version is.. wood; I wanted something different, a different element).
Thanks for the mod the basin gets overlooked for retextures. After using Vortex and manually downloading the "Wash Basin Retexture _ Water In Wash Basin _ Green Marble 3K" I'm getting errors saying that the archive is broken. I did try to manually extract the archive but the same error occurred. Just thought you should know.
Thanks for letting me know. Seems like the file was corrupted during upload. I get the same issue with the file version downloaded from Nexus whilst the original is fine. I have re-uploaded the file and it shows no errors now once downloaded from Nexus. You can simply download it again. Enjoy ;)
Thank you. I have actually considered using Base Object Swapper to include all the various version but I first need to figure out how BOS works. Maybe I'll include it in a future update.
34 comments
Glad you like it :)
It took me a while longer than expected, but the version 1.1 update now includes the SMIMed meshes for all options.
Enjoy!
First of all, thanks for the support and the suggestion but I honestly don't see the need for a FOMOD.
Making a FOMOD is quite a bit of effort and one including all the options will be a massive download.
Plus, the FOMOD will only present you with exactly the same options as the download page does: Choose one and install.
Hope you understand.
Since your textures don't having this 'trick', you barely see the depth of the bowl, unless you move and change angle.
Check what I mean (in my edited texture I'm using):
https://prnt.sc/LW8ux3O9vRjP
You see those 'bright' parts on the metal (bronze/copper in my version, because a marble bowl would be very heavy to be placed on that wooden base)? These parts gives more 'pump' to the texture, on the (very low poly) Bethesda's mesh.
Check the mesh:
https://prnt.sc/sBBmoAPGAHN0
You see? This is a 'trick' to make the texture 'pump' even more on the mesh.
So, the only thing you need, is to create 'round masks' in several parts of the bowl and create white outlines, then blur them, then 'overlay' them to blend on the bowl's material and you're fine. You may need to create 'fake shadows' as well, at the opposite side of those 'bright areas'.
I fully agree that my textures would benefit from the shadows and highlights you describe. This is something that I have considered on several occasions.
My problem is I would like to have the unwrapped texture UV to use as a guide that I can overlay onto my texture during editing to indicate exactly where the highlights and shadows should be placed and sized. For a round object like the basin I suppose simply adding round masks blindly and then adjusting the the UVs to fit can work but I have wanted to do the same to more complex objects as well.
I suppose I can take a screen shot of the UVs in NifSkope and somehow use that an "opaque" layer in GIMP to guide the edits? But surely there must be a better way? If you know of a way to do this I would greatly appreciate any info or suggestions you might have.
PS. Your bronze texture for the basin looks amazing! Did you make it for personal use only or is it available on the Nexus? I would love to see what it looks like in my load order :D
I simply picked the vanilla textures, I "blurr" it (to keep the shadows/lights-bright parts) and I masked on it a nice bronze texture I found on Yandex (forget Google, use that one - you can place filter "2K" and you'll get fine stuff).
So, after I placed the bronze texture, I simply "blended" the vanilla thing I kept (for shadow/bright parts) and then I made a normal map using the CrazyBump tool); that's all.
https://prnt.sc/ajb4TVVHJQMz
https://prnt.sc/m1MxI0wAHfeg
Btw, be careful my friend, your "4K" textures are not 4K, are 3K (and Skyrim can't "read" resolutions but those divided in two - 8K, 4K, 2K, 1K, etc)
Using the vanilla texture to create a mask is brilliant. Unfortunately I'm not very proficient yet at using Photoshop or equivalent software.
I currently make use of a free-ware program called GIMP and am still learning the ropes.
The textures I used were procured from the Poliigon website and I simply converted it to make it compatible with the Skyrim engine. Poliigon is a very nice resource site that caters to 3D artists. Aimed more at professionals or enthusiast hobbyists, so their stuff is top quality. I make use of their free assets. I was introduced to the site when I started learning to use Blender and one of the tutorials I followed pointed me to it. Check it out, you might find something you like.
https://prnt.sc/YfieUsUn19Cv
In other uses (3d modeling), don't matter if the textures are in 3K or 7K. But for Skyrim, ALWAYS must be in resolutions divided in two - otherwise, you have CTDs (crash to desktop).
https://prnt.sc/KLDdaDH5KD_I
NifSkope did worn me about the resolution so I tested the retexture on both the Special Edition and VR versions of the game.
I found no issues whilst testing so presumed it is safe to publish.
In that case I think I'll rather resize it to 2K and update the file on Nexus.
Thanks for the warning.
Thank you so much for all the effort.
(In oldrim, was the lack of memory).
I re-made all your textures - edited them, I mean - and I super-edited the UV maps of all the different meshes/versions you have.
I think, the BEST version of yours is the green marble, looking very good ingame.
The white choices are too bright, even after my editing. The wooden version is "ok".
I may send you my bronze version to use it too - I'm not publishing mods myself, I don't care.
Sorry it took me a while to respond but I am working night shift at the moment and my schedule is all over the place.
Thank you so much for all the effort. I really appreciate it.
I agree, the Green Marble is my favorite as well and it is the version I am currently using myself. Although I'll be using your edited version in my game from now :). I had experimented with a few options when I started looking for a replacement texture and decided to include all the options as peoples tastes and load orders might differ from mine.
It would be great if you are willing to send me your bronze version as well, it looks really good in the pics you sent and I believe many other people will agree. I might actually end up using that as my preferred version as I believe bronze is a more fitting and realistic material for use with a wash basin.
I am still new at creating my own mods. I only started about two or three months ago so , again, I can't overstate how much I appreciate all your effort and advice. You have taught me quite a bit.
PS. Obviously I will give you full credit on the mod page. After all, this is now more your mod than mine ;)
Although I loved your textures, the marble versions feels too 'heavy' to be placed on a wooden base like this.
(And your wooden version is.. wood; I wanted something different, a different element).
Nice retextures!