a really simple and really lazy bump map tutorial - for clothes but could work for hair too
i make my bump maps based on THIS tutorial here by MisterS on the sims 4 studio forums, but it’s a bit general and doesnt focus on the texture map of cc so i figured i would break it down.
also bump maps are great for adding some extra and light 3d-ness to your textures, it really prevents folds from looking flat!
photoshop or any 2d editor that can handle alpha layers
i personally use a nvidia .dds plugin (needed for the alpha layer), which you can grab here + use these settings here
1) open your texture & crop it into a 1:1 ratio (square). i usually use a white swatch just in case, what ever makes the folds most prominent. as for cropping, i start from all the way at the bottom and then drag the selection until it cant go further. **ALSO make sure the background behind your texture is WHITE. makes things easier in the future.
here’s how it looks before the crop & after
once you have that done save as a .png and remember where you saved it out.
2. Go to this Website -> http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/
upload the cropped .png into the box where it says ‘click or drag and drop’. a bump map should be generated for you like this. focus on the BLUE square:
you can adjust your settings to how u want, but i usually do this.
click the download at the bottom to save it out.
3. open your new (and blue) bump map onto photoshop. Bump maps are usually grey, so we have to adjust it to be like that now. this is when alpha layers come into play.
make sure your CHANNELS window is open, and make sure you only have a single layer on the bump map
NOW you have to make the alpha layer in the channels window– focusing on the channels window, click the icon indicated below to create a new alpha layer. **once you do this, the main window will show as black:
4. Copy your ‘Red’ Channel into your Alpha layer. Select the RED channel using ‘ctrl-A’, the selection box will select everything, as shown below
PASTE it into the alpha layer (a good ol ctrl-v should work!) it should now look like this.
5. Almost done! Using the same method above, copy and paste your GREEN layer into the Red & Blue.
your channels should now look like this:
your bump map is all done!!
SAVE OUT AS A .DDS and upload it into the designated section on Sims 4 Studio. it should look like this:
and ur done! it may seem like a lot at first but once you get into the groove of making bump maps it’ll be second nature!! i absolutely love them now, they’re a small touch but they make all the difference!
