Chapter 1: Files, Embedded Textures

Finding files, exporting to XML, and learning embedded textures

Now that we've gone over concepts, let's actually get to work importing GTA assets into Blender with Sollumz. Even if you're not editing the GTA assets, you will still need to know how to import these things for creating your own custom clothing.

Although this is a guide for people new to creating clothing, from here on out this guide assumes you have the following installed and are familiar with basic Blender navigation:

• CodeWalker

• A Blender version supported by your Sollumz release

• The stable Sollumz release, installed by following the official installation guide

• Durty Cloth Tool

If you still need to install or check these tools, start with Blender and Sollumz Setup. Clothing adds skeletons, weight painting and LODs to the normal model workflow, so it also helps to understand Blender's Object Mode, Edit Mode, Outliner and Properties editor before continuing.

With that said, let's import a simple JBIB and familiarize ourselves with everything in Blender.

Open CodeWalker RPF Explorer and type mp_m_freemode into the search bar.

If you click "Name" at the top to sort by name, you'll see a list of MP Male folders. You may find the original DLC folder and later patchday folders that override individual assets.

The 🟥 outline is all of the base mp male DLC folders

The 🟧 outline highlights all of the DLC names. Notice the original DLC and all of the patchday hotfixes.

The 🟩 outlines the original base game DLC folder.

For this walkthrough, open the original DLC folder. For your own edits, also check later patchday folders for an override of the component so you do not begin from an older version.

Now that we're inside the base folder, you'll see a long list of all the base game components and their YTD textures. Make sure you're sorted by 'Name' so that everything is alphabetical, and then scroll down until you see the JBIBs.

For the purposes of our tutorial, let's export jbib_004_u.

1. Right-click on jbib_004_u.ydd

2. Select export XML...

3. Select an export location. For this tutorial, I've simply created a folder on my desktop.

Now let's quickly visit the folder you've just exported the file to. In the folder, you should have a couple of things. Firstly the .ydd.xml of our jbib, and there should also be a folder named jbib_004_u.

Whenever you export a model that has embedded textures, CodeWalker RPF creates a folder named after the model and places those textures inside it.

For jbib_004_u, you should see a normal texture and a specular texture. Other models may contain different embedded textures or none at all, depending on their material.

Export one diffuse texture

We are still missing the visible color texture. The normal external variation for this model is jbib_diff_004_a_uni.ytd.

1. Find jbib_diff_004_a_uni.ytd next to the model files.

2. Right-click it and select Export XML....

3. Save it in the same working folder as the YDD XML. We will add the YFT XML in Chapter 2.

CodeWalker will also create a folder for the YTD's exported image. Keep that folder with the XML. We will use it as a visual reference in Blender and add the texture variation to Durty Cloth Tool later.

Normal Texture / "normal map"

A normal map is an RGB texture where the color values change the direction a surface appears to face. Basically, this changes how light reacts to the object so small wrinkles, dents or bumps can appear without modeling all of them into the mesh. A height or bump map is a related idea, but it is not the same texture type.

Normal maps are widely used and can add a lot of surface detail without increasing the mesh complexity.

Specular Texture

Specular textures help control how a material reacts to light. For example, polished metal, skin and cotton should not all shine in the same way.

Exactly how the RGB and alpha channels are interpreted depends on the ped shader and material setup. A channel recipe that works for one shader should not automatically be copied to another. For this first edit, keep the original specular texture and material unchanged.

Like normal maps, a well-made specular texture can make a big difference. Materials and Textures covers the relationship between the shader, samplers and textures in more detail.

Normal and specular textures are common, not universal

Ordinary Freemode clothing using a ped material commonly embeds its normal and specular textures while keeping selectable diffuse variations in external YTD files. Special materials, such as decals or emissive items, can be different. The safest approach is to preserve the material and sampler setup from a working item with the same behavior.

You should now have the model XML, one diffuse texture variation and any embedded texture folder. In Chapter 2, we will add the matching skeleton XML, import the model and check that Sollumz found the skeleton correctly.