Making a Normal Map from Scratch in GIMP - Part 2 of 2
If you haven't read part 1, then go ahead and find it here:
So you're making a recolor, and when you try it out in the game it has weird outlines for pockets and whatnot. What gives?? The Normal Map (
All caught up? Good. Your image should be all bluey and look something like this:
5.) Select Colors > Components > Decompose (Alt+C, Alt+O, Alt+D should be the shortcuts).
Change the Color Model to RGBA. Make sure "Decompose to layers" is selected, then hit "Ok".
6.) GIMP will open up a new tab with your converted image. You will have 4 layers in the Layers panel, labelled "red, green, blue, alpha".
It will also be all grey instead of blue now.
This part is a bit tricky. We need to copy/paste the Red Layer into Alpha, then copy/paste the Green Layer into Red and Blue. I'll break it down.
Select the Red Layer in the Layers panel. Hit Ctrl+A to Select All. Hit Ctrl+C to Copy.
Select the Alpha Layer in the Layers panel. Hit Ctrl+A to Select All (probably not necessary, but this eases my anxiety). Hit Ctrl+V to Paste. Hit Ctrl+H to Anchor the pasted image.
Select the Green Layer in the Layers panel. Hit Ctrl+A to Select All. Hit Ctrl+C to Copy.
Select the Red Layer in the Layers panel. Hit Ctrl+V, then Ctrl+H.
Select the Blue Layer in the Layers panel. Ctrl+V, Ctrl+H.
Now from the top bar, select Colors > Components > Recompose!
7.) GIMP should now take you back to your original image. It will be transparent-greyed like the image below! This is good!
Now, Normal Maps are (for some reason) a different size than Diffuse Maps. I had to learn this one the hard way. They are usually 1024x1024 instead of 2048x1024.
From the top bar, go to Image > Canvas Size. Under "Canvas Size", you should have Width and Height. Make sure that the little Chain next to them IS NOT linked. If it is, click it to unlink.
Width should already be 1024. Manually change the Height to 1024.
Below in "Offset", click "Center". In the little preview image, drag your image (darker box outline) up all the way. It's kind of hard to see, but the outline of your Normal Map should be up at the top now (instead of in the Diffuse torso space, which is halfway down the image).
Hit Resize. Now, just to be safe, hit Layer > Layer to Image Size. GIMP is weird about Layers sometimes and you'll occasionally find trouble in Sims 4 Studio if you skip this step.
7.) If you've made recolors using GIMP before, you probably know the drill now. File > Export As...
CHANGE THE NAME! I usually just tack NM or something onto the original file name. Make sure it is saved as .DDS!
Compression has to be set to BC3/DXT5.
Set "Mipmaps" to "Generate Mipmaps". Hit Ok and you now have your Normal Map file!
8.) If your CC was custom or a recolor of an EA item, go ahead and just open it again in S4S. Select "Normal" and Import your new Normal Map! Note that swatches all share the same Normal Map, and if you change it in any swatch it will copy it to all the other swatches.
I don't know how to work around this, but if your work is a recolor of another user's mesh... You have to basically remake your .package again to edit it. Every time I edit a recolor without the mesh included, S4S seems to add the mesh! >.< So I need to remake the CC from scratch or else violate the OC's ToU. If anyone has a work-around for this, PLEASE tell me!
Anyway, there ya go! You now have a Normal Map for your recolor!