Worst-case scenario: the UEd Goblin wipes the map and burns down your house.
Legacy:Skinning
BEGINNER CHARACTER SKINNING TUTORIAL FOR UT2K3/2K4
This tutorial is going to teach you how to create new skins, which creates a whole new character that you can see. You can also send it to friends or other people so they can use it and see you using it. Keep in mind that you will not learn how to do all of the fancy techniques that the pros use: you are simply learning how to go about making the skin, and you can then learn new techniques elsewhere and use them.
Here are some programs you will need. UPaint (no, we will not be using it to skin, those of you who are afraid of it), and a Graphics Application (i would highly recomend photoshop. you can get a FREE 30 day trial of the latest version at adobe.com, if you dont already have it) and i believe that is all you need.
Getting started
Right now, i will explain editing a previously done skin. Open up your photoshop and upaint. In upaint, you need to load a character. how bout torch, just for example. you should see him and two textures on the left. Now, go to photoshop, and go to open>your ut2k3/3 folder>upaint>textures and find mercMaleABodyA and open it. also open in the same folder, mercMaleAHeadB. now, if you dont have these textures, then go to the cd you got upaint from, and i think its skinart, or something like that. that should have a way to install these textures. ok, now this is when you would make all of your changes. now, go to save as, and choose a name for it. save it somewhere,making sure it is in PNG format and go back to upaint.
ok, now you need to click on the box on the left that has the head skin in it. click anywhere in there. then go to file>import texture, and find your texture and click open(or import) you should now see your texture, and it should come up on the 3d model to the right. do the same for your body texture. now, this is where you can go back to photoshop, make a few tweaks or watever, and then resave and reimport to see it.
lets say your done now. MAKE SURE YOU SAVE NOW!!! go to File -> export character to unreal (in upaint) and it should start exporting. good, now you need to find the .upl file that it made, and make sure its in your ut2003/4 system folder. now, open the upl with notepad or something, and look at wat it says. now, you only need to do this if you want to make custom information for your new caharacter(age, race, data) if you do, follow along. see where it says (Text=xplayers. )and after the xplayers it has a race of somekind and two letters/numbers. change these numbers/letters to two different ones. open your system folder, and find the two files that are xplayers. NOT xplayersL1 or L2, XPLAYERS. there should be two. one of them is in spanish, so open the english one with notepad or something. set it for wordwrap, if not already, and find the race type that was in your new characters upl. make sure the two letters that you added are NOT the same as two already in the race type. now, anywhere on this page, add that word that came after text=xplayers.------ it should be similar to the ones on the page already. now, using the ones already there, set up that line to be like them i.e copy the line or something, just putting in your own info. your character should now be able to work. try it out by opening up the game, and setting your character to the one you made. make sure your skin is right, and your info looks correct. Congratulations, you just made a skin!!!
ok, now for part two. making a skin from scratch for a new model you made(or a current one) open your model in upaint, and click on either the head or body texture area. go to file, and i think it says create new texture, or something similar. do that for both head and body. save them, and open them up in photoshop. all the above steps are the same from here.
part three-team colors. i know you want team colors. now your going to need unrealed. first, in photoshop, make your team colored skins, and save them the same as the normal skin, just add a _0 at the end for red, and a _1 at the end for blue. open them in upaint, and export that character. remember, make sure you save before you export. now when its done, you can delete the upl file if you want to now. ok, go to unrealed, and find the texture package that was made with your red/blue skin. copy the red/blue part, and move it into the pacakage that has your normal skin. do it for both colors. now, that package should now contain three body skins(unless you did head instead/also) that are named EXACLTY the same, except for the _0 at the end of the red one, and the _1 for the blue one. you should also have the one/three head skins, and a portrait should be there too. now, the team colors should work.
ok, that wraps it up. i hope that you have learned something from this tutorial. i wrote it cause there are basically NO others on this planet. and people who are looking at it that have already skinned before, feel free to make changes(duh, its a wiki)
Related Topics
Discussion
Tarquin: Were is this page linked from?
Wormbo: Seems to be linked from Topics On Modeling and Unreal Modeling FAQ.
SuperApe: This tutorial needs love. The usual: more proper formatting, less commentary, more relevance, explanation, pics, concept and element definitions, linkage, etc.
Category:Legacy To Do – Make this tutorial look more like the other successful tutorials on the wiki. See Discussion above.
