[Tutorial] Making a Poster Overlay

[Nineaxis]

Making a Poster Overlay
by Nineaxis

Here is my tutorial on making poster overlays for Team Fortress 2. Today we'll be making this:
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/redhillcattle.png
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=513

Creating the Base
The image creation program I'm going to use Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (unconventional, yes), but the program doesn't matter, so open up your favorite.

I'm going to start by opening up the TF2 palette to use as reference. You can download it here (http://fabrydesign.com/tf/images/tf2_palette.png).

Now I'm going to make my image 512x512 square. On top of that, I'm going to make a 384x512 rectangle, left justified. I'm going to use the lightest tan color on the palette, the first one in the tan row.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image1.png

Next I'm going to add a 354x482 rectangle on top of it, so that the tan forms a 15 pixel border on all side. I'm going to use the light red color, 3 from the left on the red row.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image2.png

Congrats! You've made a base for your poster!

Creating the Image
Oh noez! Your poster is just two colors and boring! Time to add some fun to it. Since my poster is red, I'm going to do a product ad that follows RED's agricultural theme. Likewise, if I had chosen to make the second rectangle a blue color, I'd choose something related to BLU.

So, I'm going to do an ad for Redhill Livestock. I'm going to search on google images for a good picture of a cow. It needs to be a very clear pic and people should be able to easily understand the silhouette as a cow. I found this:
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/cow.jpg

To give the poster the propaganda feel, I'm going to reduce the cow to a mere silhouette with some defining features highlighted- the spots. To further give the propaganda look, I'm not going to trace over it with the pen tool, but use the line tool to give a more blocky feel while not turning it into a cubist piece. So, on a new layer, I make this cow "wireframe".
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image3.png

Now just start filling it in with colors off the palette until you get something you like. Just avoid using anything off the team-color row your poster isn't from. Since this is a red poster, no colors from the blu row should be used.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image4.png

The cow looks kind of alone there. It needs a background. So let's start a new layer behind the cow. I'm going to add a farm fence just by making some lines with the line tool. I'm going to make two lines spaced slightly apart, and copy and paste them to form a second row above. After that, I'll just add some vertical lines and copy and paste them at 30 pixel intervals for fenceposts. I'm going to color them the red to the right of the one used for the background, as well as fill in the ground below the fence to seperate it from the sky.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image5.png

Adding your Text
So now we have a cow and a fence. That doesn't seem like a very good promotion for Redhill Livestock. It needs some text!

A really defining feature of mid-1900's posters was the text and the focus on styling it. Accent text was usually done in a "brush" style, making short exclamations about the product. So we'll start with the font.

Windows comes standard with a font called Brush Script (surprise!). That one works, but because it comes with Windows, people have beat the crap out of it and if you're like me, you can recognize it immeadiately and the initial reaction is "those people are cheap". No one had Windows in 1946 either. I like to use Dafont (http://dafont.com) for getting new fonts to use. Check the Brush section in the Script category for some good ones. Here are 3 fonts I downloaded and Billy Gates' Brush Script:
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/fonts.png
Download Express (http://www.dafont.com/express.font)
Download Forelle (http://www.dafont.com/forelle.font)
Download Marketing Script (http://www.dafont.com/marketing-script.font)

I use Express for all my RED posters, so I'm going to use it for this one too. What is Redhill Livestock's unbased claim to fame? Let's go with "World Class". So, I use the text tool to make World Class with the Express font at size 62. I'm also going to set it at a slight angle. I am going to make it the same color as the fence/ground. (Wait for the reason!)
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image6.png

Now, copy that text and paste it in the same place... and move a bit to the left and up, and change the color to the midtone tan. Amazing! Overlayed text! Fancy drop shadow! So now our Redhill Livestock, which no one has ever heard of, is "World Class".
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image7.png

For the bottom, I'm going to add a logo for Redhill Livestock. You might think Redhill is a cheesy name for a RED company, but judging from what Valve does, cheesy is the way to go. It's a red company and farms are generally near hills, so why not Redhill? I think Cliffe Rocks, Gray Gravel, and Red Valley Mining all fall into the same category.

Period logo's were made to the same simplicity as the poster artwork, so I'm just going to make a lighter red diamond and put some text over it. For this I'm using DeJaVu Serif Condensed. I'd recommend a sans-serif font when you aren't putting a logo on the poster. "Condensed" fonts work very well. The font is colored the lightest tan, same as the border.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image8.png

Weathering
That poster can't be spiffy and new looking! It's in the middle of a run down farming area that's become a battle ground for corporate sabotage! Time to make it look like it's been there forever.

We'll start by "staining" it. I'm going to take the leftmost color on the red row and set it at 10% alpha (90% opacity). Use this color even for BLU posters. I'm going to take a midsize solid circle brush and do random vertical scribbles, keyword being vertical. Water drips would go downward, so make strokes from the top down. Another important thing is to cover large areas without making large blobs. Also, try and bring your splotches across area of different color. You don't want the splotches to be too noticable, but at the same time, because they are so opaque, you want to add some contrast by overlaying multiple colors providing visual variety.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image9.png

So now your poster is stained. But surely at some point in time it was hit by something. Maybe a farmer wasn't careful with his hoe, someone leaned against it, or confused bird hit the broadside of a barn, but however it happened, some holes got torn into it. So let's make some... Valve style. Select the gray which is the color farthest left on the blue row. Select a smaller solid circle brush, and start making random circle-like shapes of varying sizes.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image10.png

Now we need to cut some corners- literally. That poster couldn't have stayed a perfect rectangle with all that's happened to it. So I'm going to just cut some small amounts off the edges.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image11.png

Save your image as a transparent PNG.

Finally, we'll make it look like it was printed in 1940 instead of 2008. For this I'm going to use GIMP, but I'm sure Photoshop has the same effect somewhere. Start by opening your PNG.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image12.png

I'm going to add some HSV noise to make it look like it was printed on rough paper- the kind you'd want to print a poster on to hang outside. The effect can be found in the "Filters" section on the toolbar, under the "Noise" category. Through much experimentation, I've found that the default settings for noise works perfectly- noticeable but not too much.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image13.png

Finally, we need it in .TGA format to convert to a VTF- Valve Texture Format. So, a simple "Save As" and select TarGa format, leaving the default settings. Save it named something simple but descriptive of your texture. Hammer's Texture Browser searches the name of your VTF, so having it named something appropriate it important. I'm naming mine redhillcattle, because it is a simple, and if someone knows what the poster looks like they shouldn't have trouble finding it.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image14.png

[Nineaxis]

Making it Valve Texture Format
To have your poster work in Team Fortress 2 and the Hammer Editor, it needs to be a VTF, as well as have a matching VMT. Valve provides a program for the conversion of TarGa (TGA) files into VTF with the Source SDK. Unfortunately, it's inconvenient. Fortunately, it's extremely basic and easy to use.

Vtex.exe, the conversion program, is located in your Source SDK Orange Box "bin" folder, C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\***YOUR USERNAME***\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image15.png

For Vtex.exe to work correctly, your TGA needs to be located in your Source SDK Content Team Fortress 2 Material Source folder, C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\***YOUR USERNAME***\sourcesdk_content\tf\materialsrc . You may not have a TF2 materialsrc folder, just create one.

Vtex.exe will output your VTF in your Team Fortress 2 materials folder automatically, and it also respects subfolders. For a poster, it should go in the signs folder, so I will create a signs folder in the materialsrc directory and place my TGA in there.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image16.png

Now, to make Vtex.exe convert your TGA to a VTF, you need to drag and drop the copy in your materialsrc/signs folder onto the vtex.exe icon in the source sdk orangebox bin folder. This will open a DOS prompt. Vtex.exe will show an error message saying there is no config file for your TGA, which is not a problem, just follow its directions and hit a key to continue.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image17.png

If you look in your TF2 materials "signs" folder, you'll have a VTF! C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\***YOUR USERNAME***\team fortress 2\tf\materials\signs
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image18.png

You aren't done yet though- without a VMT (Valve Material Type), Hammer and TF2 won't know what to do with your VTF. A VMT is a simple text file that sets some parameters for your texture- like the fact that it is transparent, a decal, and should show up under the "tf" filter.

Here is the required VMT code for a poster overlay:

"LightmappedGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "signs/yourtexture"
"$decal" 1
"$decalscale" 0.25
"$translucent" 1
"%keywords" "tf"
}

Just copy and paste this into notepad, and save it as a VMT named exactly the same as your VTF, in the same folder. So, to complement my redhillcattle VTF, I'll have a redhillcattle VMT.

And here's for a little explanation on everything:

$basetexture: The VTF that's the base for your texture, without the extension. So, for my poster, which I named redhillcattle, and put in the signs directory, my basetexture would be signs/redhillcattle
$decal: It's set to one, so it's a decal/overlay.
$decalscale: Doesn't appear to do anything if changed. Probably the default value for the scale if you were applying it to a wall. So, unimportant, but still there.
$translucent: It's set to one, so that Hammer knows it has alpha channel.
%keywords: Keyword for your texture. I haven't been able to successfully add more than one keyword without making it cause the texture browser to crash.

And viola! You should have a working TF2 styled poster overlay accessible in Hammer.

Make sure you pakrat (http://www.geocities.com/cofrdrbob/pakrat.html) your custom poster in before you distribute your map!

[ZargonX]

I somehow need to be able to apply even more thanks for this post. Excellent write-up!

[Vander]

I worship at the altar built by NineAxis. Excellent work!

[Nineaxis]

If any of you manage to follow it through, I'd appreciate any comments or questions if it is confusing at some point. Also, please post images of any posters you make following it!

[MangyCarface]

Excellent, but vtf plugin for photoshop might save a few steps in there.

[TeamNightHawK]

Very Nice Tutorial!

[Muffin Man]

This is awesome! I really feel like making a poster now. If I do, I'll show you how it went. =P

[Randdalf]

Is the colour palette workable in GIMP?

If not can I have the RGB codes for them?

EDIT: Hang on, silly me, I didn't realise it was a photo /facepalm

EDIT 2: I just realised you did the second part in GIMP /facepalm2 I have however managed to do the whole thing so far in GIMP, I'm up to the picture part now

Thanks Nineaxis!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/BioTerrorFrog/downpour_b3_base_blu_c30004.jpg

[Muffin Man]

Hey, that looks really nice, Randdalf! I happen to have GIMP, so I'm definitely going to think up some ideas for posters now.

[Randdalf]

The thing that's real difficult to get right in GIMP is the picture. Hence the reason why my gold bars looks like they were drawn in paint. I was going to do a nuclear barrel but I couldn't find a picture good enough.

Out of boredom I just did another one:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/BioTerrorFrog/downpour_b3_base_blu_c30005.jpg

[YM]

is that rotation done in the texture or afterwards? should definitely be done afterwards by rotating the overlay

[Randdalf]

I did it afterwards in-game, I have a habit of rotating every single overlay.

[YM]

You shouldn't rotate them as much, it looks a bit odd

[Muffin Man]

Well, I decided to try it, and just for the heck of it I used the original Redhill Livestock poster as...inspiration. >.>

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/Yellow22/pl_smoke_stage1_a10008.jpg
Mine's on the right. It's very similar, but it is made from scratch.

I downloaded the trial of Flash CS3 Professional, and while I really had to fight with it to do anything (could it be more complicated to tell how big your square is? >_<), I finally got it. Now for some original posters...

[Vander]

Nice work Bread!

[Nineaxis]

Looks good! Nice to see some people have made it through.

I find Flash easy for vector drawing... and it's not that hard to tell the size... it's in the bottom left.

[Muffin Man]

Looks good! Nice to see some people have made it through.

I find Flash easy for vector drawing... and it's not that hard to tell the size... it's in the bottom left.

D'oh. I used the ruler to find out the sizes. :P

[Memento Mori]

Now I'm going to make my image 512x512 square. On top of that, I'm going to make a 384x512 rectangle, left justified. I'm going to use the lightest tan color on the palette, the first one in the tan row.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image1.png


Right I've done this but in Photoshop how do I make the rectangle an exact size?

To give the poster the propaganda feel, I'm going to reduce the cow to a mere silhouette with some defining features highlighted- the spots. To further give the propaganda look, I'm not going to trace over it with the pen tool, but use the line tool to give a more blocky feel while not turning it into a cubist piece. So, on a new layer, I make this cow "wireframe".
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image3.png

Now just start filling it in with colors off the palette until you get something you like. Just avoid using anything off the team-color row your poster isn't from. Since this is a red poster, no colors from the blu row should be used.
http://fabrydesign.com/tf/tutorials/poster/image4.png


How do I do this in Photoshop? Lost me.

[Benvox2]

Hey I just followed through your tutorial and it worked great, but
CAn you please post some instructions on using VTFEdit instead of that stock valve program? I tried it myself but beccause it locks to 512x512 but the right hand strip is not transparent!?

[Benvox2]

I think i figured it out to an extent, I used VTFedit instead of the valve program but when I put my overlay on a wall, in hammer it flickers about similar to when two textures are on eachother and i cant figure out why? Nah its ok, just dont use VTFEdit for this ;)

[Reeftrigger]

Right I've done this but in Photoshop how do I make the rectangle an exact size?
How do I do this in Photoshop? Lost me.
for the first one go to the rectangular marquee tool and at the top there is an dropdown menu with default option "normal" switch that for "exact size" and type in how big you want it.

on the second its called the pen tool. takes a while tho...




I also have a question...
how the heck do you get it to show up in hammer...
I did everything the same and it still won't show...

[Sikyanakotik]

So why did you go with darkened "tears" and not transparent?

[Muffin Man]

...when I put my overlay on a wall, in hammer it flickers about similar to when two textures are on eachother and i cant figure out why?

That's supposed to happen, so don't worry about that.

...At least it happens to me, but my overlays still work perfectly.

[Nineaxis]

I guess I'll go ahead and say this:

I can't help you navigate Photoshop.
I don't have it, unfortunately. This tutorial was more on the art direction of making a good overlay poster (and how to get it into hammer!), not how to use any specific program.

Sorry. ;)

[Reeftrigger]

I guess I'll go ahead and say this:

I can't help you navigate Photoshop.
I don't have it, unfortunately. This tutorial was more on the art direction of making a good overlay poster (and how to get it into hammer!), not how to use any specific program.

Sorry. ;)

I however can (a little) so you can shoot meh of a pm if you really need help...
(not to take away any of the awesomeness of this awesome tutorial.)
or you could go on one of the many dedicated photoshop help sites/forums.

[Vander]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2831131098_a742401a99_o.png

You rock Nine! Thanks.

btw, I had to use VTFEdit to get the TGA converted to VTF. I couldn't get vtex to work.

[Reeftrigger]

Im having a problem with getting my custom thing to show up in hammer...
I put in in a vtf make a vmf for it and stick both into the "mysteamname"\team fortress\tf\materials\signs folder and no dice in hammer.... did I miss anything?

[Nineaxis]

Does it show up as purple checkers? Make sure your VMT's basetexture value is correct.

[Vander]

Gave another crack at it for the pig sign, you like this one better?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/2831686634_97a673e6b0_o.png

[YM]

Gave another crack at it for the pig sign, you like this one better?

Less noise, make the noise monochromatic and then yes.

[laghlagh]

Great tutorial! Oh, and in PS filters, film grain > noise

[Nightshde]

Great tutorial, really helped me with vmt issues I have been having. Still need to find a good tutorial on using vtfedit because the image looks all weird in the browser on the side of hammer but looks fine when i put it in the world so I'm guessing its something to do with my vtf.

[Username00]

Thanks! great tutorial, i had to figure out everything in GIMP though (along the way i discovered the magic of alpha channels, fun stuff), but i made this out of severe lack of an idea for what to do.http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6835/ductsm6.jpg

[Kill_the_Bug]

If I had a jpg/png of the map(an overhead view) of my map - do I use this same process so that I can add it into my map?

Clear as mud right? Let me explain - the old days used wally for cs 1.6 - made a custom wad texture then made a brush - then applied it to the brush so it was seen in map.

Hope that helped.

Great tutorial too!! will be using it for sure!

[Spike]

Very good tutorial but I would delete the gray dirt on it and make some alpha channel so it's like broken.

[dendster]

Here's my two attempts. If anyone can suggest some better fonts for BLU, I'd be very grateful.

Blu - http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm15/dendster/TF2/blutooling.png

Red - http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm15/dendster/TF2/redposter.png

[Vigilante212]

The last one should say. Come in first every time. The blue one needs a texture seperation like the red one with a dark red light red BG.

[Nineaxis]

Update, I tried a new style of poster I think much better matches VALVe's:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3293385809_c174a6aa06_o.jpg

Comment?

[NovaSilisko]

Nahh...It looks too realistic. Compare it to the valve posters.

[Skwii]

Please sticky this. I bet many people are dying to make their posters but dont know how to get them working!

[Vigilante212]

bah I cant get it to work. I think im doing something wrong saving in photoshop. when I open up my file in gimp and deselect the alpha channel my poster disappears. same thing in vtf edit except where my poster is it turns white. In hammer all I get is the white line box.

[Vigilante212]

Ok I managed to get the poster to work, I still have to tweak it a bit. Let me know what ya think.

http://forums.tf2maps.net/picture.php?albumid=57&pictureid=379

[captainAngry]

I used this tutorial and made this:

http://gaming.calculatedchaos.com/images/calculatedChaosPosterRed.png
TGA DOWNLOAD (http://gaming.calculatedchaos.com/images/calculatedChaosPosterRed.png)

http://gaming.calculatedchaos.com/images/calculatedChaosPosterBlue.png
TGA DOWNLOAD (http://gaming.calculatedchaos.com/images/calculatedChaosPosterBlue.png)

[Vigilante212]

I dont care for the russian style text, but everything else fits the theme

[ClydeJr]

Only issue I can see is all that small text. Most people will see it and just go "words..." and run off to find someone to shoot. Maybe if you put it in a spawn room, someone might take the time to read it during setup.

[GrimGriz]

I got an error trying to convert one to vmt to put in my marp, anyone else get this error:

[a2h]

How's this?

CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 aus

[Vigilante212]

Thats a good one a2h.

Grim I use vtfedit now its just easier to deal with.

[GrimGriz]

The error was because the image wasn't 512x512

[midget31394]

http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n469/midget31394/dm_overlaytestmap0000.jpg

[kwagner]

Thanks for this tutorial! I'm just at the point where I need to make some custom signage, and this was just the ticket.

A couple things I've noted:

Vtex.exe: you don't have to pass files through this one at a time. You can select multiple .tga's and drag/drop them all onto vtex.exe at once, and it will convert them all properly. Handy, if you're in mass production mode.

Posters not showing up in Hammer? Odds are you've mistyped a filename in one or more places. The names of the .vtf and vmt files must match exactly, and the path and file names inside the .vmt must match the files and locations exactly. And if you move the files around, you must be sure to edit the .vmt path to match the change. I know it sounds simple, but I failed to do all the above precisely right and suffered great frustration as a result.

QUESTION: When pakrating these into my .bsp, do I need to include the .vmt's, or are just the .vtf's sufficient?

[YM]

QUESTION: When pakrating these into my .bsp, do I need to include the .vmt's, or are just the .vtf's sufficient?

Both, one can't work without the other.

[HojoTheGreat]

To add to Youme's reply, the consider the VTF as the image itself, and the VMT is the file that tells the program where the image is located, and what properties to apply to it. Thus without the VMT, the game/hammer will not know where to find the VTF on your Hard Drive (correct me if I've made an error guys :p)

[kwagner]

When you pakrat in the VTF and VMT, does pakrat create an internal folder structure, so that the VMT's filename ('signs/my_awesome_poster') makes sense? :confused:

[HojoTheGreat]

Pakrat will use whatever roots and extensions are already on the files, thus you should always keep custom materials within the tf/materials folder. So for example you should have your VTFs and VMTs in tf/materials/signs folder. Then just hit Auto in pakrat and it should add the correct folder structure.

[ProblemSleuth]

I wanted some way of inserting a Kopimi logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratbyrån#Kopimi) into my maps so people would know to feel free to directly use brushwork or concepts I've built, so this was the perfect solution! Thanks Nineaxis.

I just used Google Translate for the Swedish, so I have to hope this conveys the idea/translation of "Kopimi Northern Logging."

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3467214805_3068bd7bef_o.png
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3504/3468028274_240c1680d0_o.png

[Dr. KillPatient]

I've figured out most of this, but the part about taking the leftmost color on the red row and setting it at 10% alpha/90% opacity lost me. Any way to do that in GIMP 2?

[zpqrei]

I wanted some way of inserting a Kopimi logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratbyrån#Kopimi) into my maps so people would know to feel free to directly use brushwork or concepts I've built, so this was the perfect solution! Thanks Nineaxis.

I just used Google Translate for the Swedish, so I have to hope this conveys the idea/translation of "Kopimi Northern Logging."

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3467214805_3068bd7bef_o.png
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3504/3468028274_240c1680d0_o.png

The guy to ask would be Fearlezz, he's Swedish (I think).

[kwagner]

I've figured out most of this, but the part about taking the leftmost color on the red row and setting it at 10% alpha/90% opacity lost me. Any way to do that in GIMP 2?

I think that's the part about making parts that look like they've got water stains, etc...?

http://forums.tf2maps.net/album.php?albumid=73&pictureid=537

In that image I've circled the paintbrush tool above, and below I've circled the opacity setting.

If you set the opacity low, like around 20, the color you brush on will be quite transparent (see-through). If you set the opacity high, like 90 or 100, the color will be very thick (non-see-through)

[Angry_Ed]

Great tutorial, but I seem to have a problem. I followed all the instructions but when I tried to get my poster to show up in my map it's just a squashed black texture. Maybe it's because I don't quite understand overlays or maybe it's something else but I can't explain it. The poster shows up just fine in Hammer's texture browser, so I'm really confused.

EDIT: I just tried to apply an overlay using a pre-existing (i.e. from Valve) sign/poster texture, and the same thing occured. So I'm again unsure what I'm doing wrong within Hammer.

EDIT EDIT: Disregard my problems, I fixed it. I completely forgot I didn't have any lighting of any kind in my map just yet.

[Neprietenos]

Just finished this, used nothing but CS3

Hope image shows up

[fbbviv]

Yay finally I decide to post here.:P first post.
More Importantly; This is where I'm stuck. I'm not sure why it's not correct or whatever... :/
I just finished most of a room in my map I'm working on and wanted to add some custom "posters". Today I've been watching/reading tutorials like mad and now I got it in hammer, it's just purple and black textures unfortunately...
I have this:
"LightmappedGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\fbbviv\team fortress 2\tf\materials\signs/soldier_was_here"
"$surfaceprop""concrete"
}

I intend on adding alot of custom posters, overlays, etc to my map. Any help is greatly appreciated! :D
Does it show up as purple checkers? Make sure your VMT's basetexture value is correct.

EDIT nevermind it's fixed. :D thanks for the tutorial!

[Ankh]

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs47/f/2009/171/b/3/TF2_Sign_by_Ankhareon.png
Tried it, and with the help of photoshop plugins I can now not only do this but texture things. Now all I need to learn is modelling and I can make actual custom art assets. Thanks!

Fantastic tutorial - 10/10, would learn again.

[Mashpotatoe]

Fanatastic tutorial!

However I have done everythingyou mentioned, but I am stuck as to how find the texture in hammer texture browser ... what do I have to type in (filter/ keywords)?

[Mashpotatoe]

Actually Don't worry, I figured it out (didn't save the text file as a vmf, sillyl me :))

Awesoem tutorial man.

[Dr. ROCKZO]

You could also just make the "Marks" transparent to show that they've been torn..

[Shadow Monkey]

Yay! It worked! Thank you a lot! you are my hero <3

[XFunc_CaRteR]

Question:

There is not signs folder in some of these locations. Do we have to make it manually?

[Firest0rm]

thanks a lot! using your nice tutorial, i made a poster that fits a map im making perfectly (not really a great map, not really a great poster). i'll probably make more (and hopefully get better at it), so thanks!

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2568765/ctf_sigma/sigma_red.bmp

[SPHinx]

I also found this tutorial really helpful.

And if I may add, if you are using GIMP, I recommend taking your almost finished poster layer, duplicating it, and then applying an "Oilify" filter to the upper layer. You can then adjust its opacity to get a nice mix of detail vs. brush stroke. It helps to give your poster a painted look that fits in well with the rest TF2's art.

[Evang7]

I also found this tutorial really helpful.

And if I may add, if you are using GIMP, I recommend taking your almost finished poster layer, duplicating it, and then applying an "Oilify" filter to the upper layer. You can then adjust its opacity to get a nice mix of detail vs. brush stroke. It helps to give your poster a painted look that fits in well with the rest TF2's art.

I'll have to remember that.

[gamemaster1996]

Very useful btw for pallet i use eyedropper right?

[SPHinx]

Very useful btw for pallet i use eyedropper right?

Yup.

[Bob Ross]

after following the steps exactly and checking double checking and triple checking i get the error that the folder does not contain a valid .tga file when it clearly does. when i hit the key to continue it closes and doesnt make a vtf. any idea whats up?

[XFunc_CaRteR]

after following the steps exactly and checking double checking and triple checking i get the error that the folder does not contain a valid .tga file when it clearly does. when i hit the key to continue it closes and doesnt make a vtf. any idea whats up?

The HammerWiki, in a different tutorial, says the TGA image for a custom texture needs to be saved as 32 bit, uncompressed.

You'd think that would get mentioned in these custom texture tutorials more often.

[Bob Ross]

The HammerWiki, in a different tutorial, says the TGA image for a custom texture needs to be saved as 32 bit, uncompressed.

You'd think that would get mentioned in these custom texture tutorials more often.

that did not change anything.
EDIT: i discovered one of my problems but it now says that it cannot convert image from RGBA8888 to DXT1 in a CalcLowResImage

EDIT 2: used vtf edit instead and it works.

[Jack Riguel]

Oh wow, I remember using this tutorial ages before even joining this site. I totally forgot this is where I got it from.

+Thanks

[Nineaxis]

The HammerWiki, in a different tutorial, says the TGA image for a custom texture needs to be saved as 32 bit, uncompressed.

You'd think that would get mentioned in these custom texture tutorials more often.

I've never had a problem saving it as a compressed tga.

[Nosher]

Great tut Nine

And here is one I made today for my KoTH map

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w15/Noshdaminsk/hl22009-11-2119-31-12-43.jpg

Cheers muchly!
Nosh

[XFunc_CaRteR]

I've never had a problem saving it as a compressed tga.

Go here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/TF2/Modifying_the_Mission_Briefing

Read Point 2 under "Making a TGA Image".

If the author of that wiki is wrong, maybe you should contact Valve and tell them they are wrong.

[Angry_Ed]

Not sure if this can be answered, but I'm having another problem with my overlays. I've done everything according to the tutorial (albeit using Photoshop) and yet for some reason I'm getting a thin white border around the edges of my overlay for no discernible reason. The line seems to be only a pixel wide so it's even more confusing. I did double-check and the image size was set at 512x512, and if it hadn't I wouldn't have been able to run it through vtex anyway from what I understand. I've gone back and tried, repeatedly, to use alpha channels to make sure everything that isn't the poster will be rendered transparent, yet this border continues to persist. Below is an image showing what I mean, if anybody knows what might be causing this, I would appreciate the assistance.

http://i45.tinypic.com/118gdfn.png
(to make it easier to see I've circled/boxed in the artifacts in question)
EDIT: Direct link to image is here (http://i45.tinypic.com/118gdfn.png) for those who are having trouble seeing it

[Spammish]

I can't see the image, you could always just import it to photoshop and crop the border off.

[Angry_Ed]

I could but the border doesn't seem to show up on the VTF when I import it to Photoshop. As near as I can tell the only time the artifacts show up is in Hammer and in TF2.

[Gundam]

Thanks nineaxis! After reading your tutorial I feel like a custom texture pro!

Here's my first (shitty) attempt.

http://bur.st/~crooked/Demo/images/redtrainposter.png

[Spammish]

Train looks excellent and bottom text looks good but I would suggest changing the top font to suit better. And Angry Ed, have you tried opening the original image somewhere with a background that isn't white to see if you can see it there?

[Angry_Ed]

Opening it up in Photoshop and giving it a black background behind the image shows nothing out of the ordinary. I also tried removing the white background parts in the VTF itself, leaving it transparent where the alpha channel should be taking care of it anyway, and it still produces the same inexplicable result. I'm starting to wonder if it's just photoshop that's the problem and I should try doing it through GIMP instead.

EDIT: Alternatively, by messing with the U and V settings in the overlay properties I can crop out the offending lines, but this is not the best method for fixing this in my opinion simply because it will lead to there being one side of the poster just slightly more cut off than the other. Not that anybody would be able to easily tell.

EDIT EDIT: Also I tried doing this through GIMP and got the same exact problem. I am officially perplexed.

[DataTraveler]

Great tutorial helped me a lot. But I have one problem. Why my posters have white color? how to remove it?

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/7598/bandymassigns0000.jpg

[Angry_Ed]

It seems you forgot to have an alpha channel on your source image. Did you make sure you had a transparent background and then saved the .tga in 32 bit (if applicable)?