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  #1  
Unread 01-19-2010, 07:24 AM
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Thayilis Thayilis is offline
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A Little Help for a Newb, Please!!

I have been using other people's UI skins for LotRo for awhile now and I wanted to dabble a bit into creating my own to give back to a great site and hopefully add to some of the already great skins offered here!

So my question is this, where do I start? lol. As in, what programs do I need to get a hold of to start me on my way? I do have a general understanding of the relationship between the skindefinition file and the tga files and how they are edited though. I'm just not sure on how to set it up and what the best photoshop-type program would be the best to use in a situation like this.

Any help with this would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Last edited by Thayilis : 01-19-2010 at 09:39 AM.
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  #2  
Unread 01-19-2010, 10:16 AM
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Wicked Mouse Wicked Mouse is offline
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I use Adobe Photoshop to make the graphic files and export them to TGA. Since that's the only program I use for this, I have little notion of other programs being capable of doing the same thing(s). Maybe Paint Shop Pro. To make the transparancy in TGA files for these skins you will need to use the Alpha layer.
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  #3  
Unread 01-19-2010, 10:29 AM
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Thayilis Thayilis is offline
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Thanks Mouse. I will look into that.
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  #4  
Unread 01-19-2010, 10:35 AM
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as said PS is one of the best for the job. it is commercial program though.

I am not sure but you might want to see if Gimp or Paint.net have TGA support so you can edit alpha layers.

http://www.gimp.org/
http://www.paint.net/

For XML editing Notepad++ is a powerful text editor that has color coding build into it (very useful when coding).

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net
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  #5  
Unread 01-19-2010, 01:09 PM
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MrJackdaw MrJackdaw is offline
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Paint.net is free and adaptable enough to be usable, it's what I use, but then again - I'm no artist! However, being free, the price is right!

Can I also mention notepad++? Perfect program, and again free.
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  #6  
Unread 01-19-2010, 02:40 PM
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Brygard2007 Brygard2007 is offline
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This what I use for anything since I can't afford a commercial product's.
http://www.getpaint.net/

Plug-ins list I use with B.G.M and anything else even my avatar:

Alpha Mask:

Pyrochild:

Edharveys:

Curtis:

MadJik:

Shape 3D:

Borders and Shapes:

Align Objects:

Drop Shadows:

Tutorials how to's forum:

And the patience and time to experiment,there times I gave up then come back again.

Sometimes during the tutorials when I'm between steps I discover something and start experimenting with certain steps,then of sudden some ideas come to my head and it will do to you too.

I'm no artist either,heck B.G.M V1 was my first to do anything of advance editing.

P.S
If your using Vista 64 or maybe window 7 64 bit,to be able to see the thumbnails for the TGA files you will need to install the DX SDK.
Link

Last edited by Brygard2007 : 01-19-2010 at 02:46 PM.
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  #7  
Unread 01-19-2010, 02:51 PM
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Thayilis Thayilis is offline
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Wow! Thanks a lot for all the information. I will take a gander at these and see what I can come up with and what works for me.

Ya know, I never made an account for this site because I never really thought of being able to offer anything towards these skins. But now I can that the people on that run this site and are using it are actually extremely knowledgeable and helpful!! I should have made an account a long time ago and started asking these questions!

Anyway...thanks again!
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  #8  
Unread 01-19-2010, 03:12 PM
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here's a good guide to photoshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_X5uR7VC4M
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