Sorry to bother everyone again, but I can't seem to find the answer in the tutorials or with the search feature on the forum.

I wanted to know how to copy a texture from the internet to the standard Microsoft Paint application , save the file to bmp, and convert it to .wad, so I can load it in my GameStudio library. I've looked through the tutorials, but I can't find the procedure to do this.

"You can use any image for a texture as long as it is one of the following formats: .PCX, .BMP or .TGA."

I have the option in Microsoft Paint to save the texture either as 12-color, 256-color, or 24 bit .BMP file. I'm not exactly sure which type to save the texture as, how to convert it to a .wad file, and load it in the GameStudio library. And I know this is off topic, but I was also wondering how to toggle the "snap to grid" feature on and off. Once I figure out how to do these two things, I can get started on making my level without any further questions. I'd greatly appreciate the help, and again, I'm sorry for cluttering the forum with all of these introductory questions...

-Kravenwolf

You can save almost any image from the internet by right clicking on the image. Then click "save" or "save as" from the drop down menu. Make sure you know where you are saving the image to. Make sure you are saving the image and not a thumbnail. Make sure you are not stealing images.
Then you have to decide what you are doing with the image. To use the image as a tiling texture you must have it in the proper format (BMP, TGA, etc., you must have it in the proper size (128 and 256 are common, power of 2 is essential) The manual gives a good description of these issues under "wed level editor---information---texture types". It can also give you info on the proper size, 24 bit etc. Also your image must be seamless, you can buy or download seamless textures, or you will have to make them yourself.
I do not think paint can do all the converting that you need. You can download GIMP which is free and with it you can convert any image into something you can use for textures.
To get the image into a wad is simple. In wed click on the texture tab on the left hand side bar. Right click anywhere on the wads that come up. If nothing has been loaded the only one that will come up is the default wad. When you right click on the wad you will have several options. you can add a texture to the wad (dont add new textures to the default or standard wad) or you can use texture manager. in texture manager you can add wads, build wads etc. for new textures you want to build a wad, add it and then right click on it to add textures to that wad. A wad is basically just a folder that holds all your textures. Just click on a wad, click on add texture find the texture you want and save it to the wad.
Thats the easy part... the hard part is finding or making textures that look good

*EDIT*

Alright, I've added a new .wad to GameStudio, and am up to the point of adding a texture to that .wad. Now, when I try to add my textue that I saved in Paint, GameStudio says it is a bad texture size of 800x327. So, like the manual, and you have stated, this is because the texture is not set to a power of 2.

I downloaded the GIMP program online, and uploaded the texture to that. All I am trying to do now is figure out how to resize my texture in that program so that it will be in the power of 2. I was hoping you could tell me how to do that, and anything else I need to do in GIMP to upload the new texture to GameStudio. And I really appreciate the help

-Kravenwolf

open the image in GIMP.
to change the size go to image--scale image.
change the size to 256 x 256 pixels, or any other size that is power of 2. Be aware that if your image is not square to start with it will probably be distorted when you are done. you can use textures that are not square but they are harder to tile seamlessly. you can also use the rectangular selection tool, select a square section of your image, crop to that selection and then resize your image using the scale tool.
GIMP also has a tool to make your image seamless but it mostly works well with images with little detail. Go to filters--map--make seamless. Eventually you will want to use things such as sharpen, blur, brightness to get the texture that you want.
When you have the size and image that you want go to file--save as. do not click save or you will lose your original image. In the save as options you can change the format to practically anything you can think of. BMP and PCX are used alot, TGA is used alot but can cause some weird artifacts? Texturing can be really in depth, the elusive quant has alot to do with proper texturing and such things as locking your textures on blocks and shaders. or you can get lucky with some simple textures that look good.

Thanks, again Christian, you've been a big help . I'll give this a try, and let you know how everything went. Hopefully, it all goes well, and I can get started.

I know this isn't on topic, but would you also know how to turn off the 'snap to grid' feature in GameStudio? I can't align the walls of my room when I make them slimmer because the grid snaps them to a preset location automatically. I need to turn off the snap feature so I can manually align them.


-Kravenwolf

there is a check box on the tool bar at the top of wed, to the right of the delete object icon. when it is unchecked snap is off. also the number to the right of that is the grid that is snapped to. sometimes decreasing that number helps. It does seem easier to align things when snap is off but in the long run you may be asking for trouble. You have to zoom in as close as possible when you are aligning your blocks and make sure everything lines up or you will get gaps which leads to things like light leaks and can cause slow framerates because the engine is trying to render those gaps. It is recommended to use the snap feature whenever possible. Maybe you should start a new thread and see how many people have disabled snapping. Maybe someone with more experience can give you advice on snap. I built my first level without snapping to grid and everything came out crooked and the engine kept screaming about leaks and duplicate blocks, there were visible gaps everywhere and of course i used CGS subtract recklessly so I had weird thresholds and holes in the floors. Now I snap everything to grid and make sure everything lines up. its better than going back and trying to realign everything later!

WED works better with a 256x256 pixels texture (.bmp .Tga formats)

but you can use one from 4x4 < image < 1024x1024


In Photoshop:

To resize the image go to: Image-Image Size

Then save as Targa or Bmp


I am trying to import my textures to WED, but there nothing!
There are 4 panels: Object-Texture-Default.wad-Bookmarks

Do you know why there are the functions of the 4 panels?
and how do I import my textures and apply to 3D models?

Christian already explained it above, man; I had the same question. After reading what he said, it took a few minutes for me to experiment with it, but I figured out how to do it. (I think this is what you're asking)

Go to the textures folder on the right menu. Click on default.wed, and then right click on the single texture that's in there (it should be grey bricks). A list should appear. Click on texture manager. Then, click on New Wad. Create a wad (a wad is merely a folder for textures, I made a wad entitled "woodtextures", for all of the wood textures I upload). Then, your new wad folder will appear with the other ones (object, texture, etc) on the right menu.

Open your new .wad, and right click in the black area. Click on the "add texture" option. That's as far as I got tonight, thanls to Christian ^_^ Hope this helps you.





Christian, I can't thank you enough, man. I've taken your advice, I scaled down the snap to grid function (I didn't know that I could, but am greatful that I can), and it works perfectly now. The thickness of my walls of about 1/4 the width of a box, so I adjusted the snap grid function to that measure, and it's working perfectly.

I haven't done what you suggested in GIMP yet, but it's getting late, so I'll probably end up doing it in the morning. I'll let you know how everything goes, and again, many thanks!

-Kravenwolf