Tutorial: How To Create A Proper Control Texture For Hairs

[Anubis360]

This tutorial will teach you how to make proper Roots/Highlight/Tips for hairs. I’m going to use my conversions of Agustin Kate Hudson’s Ponytail and Raonjena Hair 77 as examples.

What you need:
-In this tutorial, I use the free graphic editor Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/).
-Milkshape 3D (http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/), to, well, make the mesh itself and test the textures.
-My Control Base texture, which is uploaded in this post.

What this tutorial WON’T teach you:
-How to convert a hair, for that, you have to read HP's Hair basics (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Hair_Basics) tutorial.
-How to create the diffuse or the specular, read HP’s tutorial for that.
-How to retexture a hair, there a plenty tutorials of that at MTS and Garden of Shadows.

:here: Everything said so, here we go!

1- Open your diffuse texture. Now import my ControlBase.dds texture. Remember that you don’t have to load the mip maps.
2- Select from Layers window, the ControlBase layer. Go to Mode, and select Grain merge. Your texture would now look like this:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069903_Photo1.jpg

3- Right click on any of both layers and combine the visible layers. Save as “Control.dds”, don’t compress and use RGBA8 format. Check (if unchecked) the “Generate MipMaps” option.

4- Go to Milkshape, and import your mesh. Go to Group tabs and select your mesh.

5- Now, go to Materials tab, click “New” button and then “Assign” button. Click the first “<none>” button, and select your “Control.dds” texture.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069904_Photo2.jpg

6- Your hair should look like this:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069905_Photo3.jpg
If it looks weird, do right click over any of the four windows, go to “Transparency/Depth Buffered with Alpha Reference”

7- The control it’s undone now. You need to add roots and tips or delete them if it’s necessary. Go back to Gimp.
8- Click “Edit/Undo” or type “Ctrl+Z” to separate the layers. Go to “Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Channels”.
9- Unselect all the channels you don’t want to edit. In this case, I left just “Blue” channel selected. Select the “ControlBase.dds” layer.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069906_Photo4.jpg

10- Pick “Select” tool on the Toolbox and select the bottom of the image, where the blue tips are. Type “Ctrl+C”.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069907_Photo5.jpg

11- Now, paste it but keep the selection (that means, just paste). You have to move until it fits the bottom of the hair textures.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069908_Photo6.jpg

12- Most of the times, the tips and roots have to be in different places for each piece of the texture. So now, select just the part of your pasted texture that it’s on the right place, so you can get rid of all the rest of the blue. Then, click twice anywhere else but inside the selections.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069909_Photo7.jpg
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069910_Photo8.jpg

13- Now, if you need to delete a part of any of the channels, select the part of the texture you want to clean, and fill it with black. To clean a specific channel, select the one you want and unselect the others.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069912_Photo9.jpg

14- Repeat step 11 with all the pieces. Tip: if a any of the parts ends straight, it probably won’t need tips.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069913_Photo10.jpg

15- Combine the visible layers and save, now go to Milkshape and select “Edit/Refresh Textures”. Your hair may look like this now:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069914_Photo11.jpg

16- Some parts of the hair wouldn’t need tips or roots, and other parts would be missing the roots, you have to fix that.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069915_Photo12.jpg

17- Repeat steps 9 – 15, now selecting and editing the red channel. If the roots look excessively long, you must make them shorter, so be moving the texture after you’ve pasted it, or scaling it. You can scale it going to “Layer/Scale Layer” and uncheck the little button with the clasp next to the sizes, so you can change the height/width separately.
18- Now your control should look like this:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069916_Photo13.jpg

19- Sometimes, one piece of the texture is used for different parts of the mesh, and it may need roots or tips depending on where they are located. Don’t worry if you see that a part of the hair that shouldn’t have roots has them, if it needs roots for another part of the hair, of course.
20- Once you’re done, go to Gimp and delete your diffuse layer. Change the “ControlBase” layer mode to normal, and save without compressing, in RGBA8 format, and generate mip maps. Your control texture is done! :D

:here: Curvy Texture? No problem!
Sometimes, the highlights have to have a different direction that the straight default. Let’s see an example.
This is Raon’s Hair 77, and it has curvy textures.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069917_Photo14.jpg
To match those curves, you have to use the “IWarp” filter.

1- Copy a piece of the ControlBase layer, and paste it in the center of the image. Go to “Layers/New Layer”, and then to “Layer/Layer to Image Size”
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069918_Photo15.jpg

2- Go to “Filters/Distort/IWarp”, this window will pop-up.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069919_Photo16.jpg

3- Keep the “Move” option. Change the “Deform Radius” to… well… change the deform radius. Now, click on the image next to all the options, and move the image. It would look like this:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069920_Photo17.jpg

4- Try to match the curve of the original texture the best you can, and press “Ok”. Change the layer mode to “Merge Grain” and move until you fit the texture under it. It probably won’t look right in your first attempt, so you have to keep trying, using and combining different deform radius. Remember to undo the modifications you did before you try again!
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069921_Photo18.jpg

5- Once you’re done, your control should look like this:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/1/3/1/0/6/9/MTS2_Anubis360_1069922_Photo19.jpg

I hope this helps to make nice roots/highlights/tips!
If you have a doubt, don’t hesitate and post it :)

Please, don't post this tutorial anywhere else :)
Feel free to translate it if you want.

[sims_reality]

A wonderful tutorial! Thanks~!

[Omgs its Jag]

i've been looking for a tutorial on how to do this for the longest. Too bad that I have photoshop and not gimp, either way I'll try to apply whats here to photoshop =/ ty :D

[1evilcutie]

i still dont get it like how did they open that window?

[Anubis360]

i still dont get it like how did they open that window?
What window?

[YunaStar]

Hm..I did exactly as the description told me, but the texture doesn't show up on the mesh!

[kalimero10]

How could I create the diffuse texture of my hair? Could you make a little tutorial for Gimp? I'd need it :)

[SeeMyu]

What an amazing tutorial! Great work! :) This will definitely come in handy! ;)

[drew10player]

Hi Anubis! (:
I'm in the process of following your hair retexturing tutorial on your blog, which then led me here. :3
As of right now, I'm at the part where I'm importing the mesh to Milkshape.
Unfortunately, I think (I could be wrong) that you need to have the full version to import the DDS files, not the trial version, which is what I have.
I was wondering if you perhaps knew of an alternative way? Like maybe using Blender? I have no idea if it's even possible with Blender, I'm just suggesting it because I've heard the programs are fairly similar.
Anyways, thanks for this great tutorial, even if I won't be able to make full use of it! ^_^

[Anubis360]

Hi Anubis! (:
I'm in the process of following your hair retexturing tutorial on your blog, which then led me here. :3
As of right now, I'm at the part where I'm importing the mesh to Milkshape.
Unfortunately, I think (I could be wrong) that you need to have the full version to import the DDS files, not the trial version, which is what I have.
I was wondering if you perhaps knew of an alternative way? Like maybe using Blender? I have no idea if it's even possible with Blender, I'm just suggesting it because I've heard the programs are fairly similar.
Anyways, thanks for this great tutorial, even if I won't be able to make full use of it! ^_^
I have no idea, but I think it should work with Blender as long as it accepts .dds extensions, if not, you could always test using .png or .tiff, and then finally export it as .dds :)

[drew10player]

I have no idea, but I think it should work with Blender as long as it accepts .dds extensions, if not, you could always test using .png or .tiff, and then finally export it as .dds :)
I'll give that a shot! Thanks! :)

[drew10player]

Hmm... So I guess my problem is that when I go to the Import tab in MilkShape, I don't see DDS as one of the types of files to import. Does it go by another name or am I just missing it?

[omegastarr82]

That's not where you would import the image. Once your mesh is loaded and selected, by face not verts, you go to the materials tab. Click "new" then <none>, pick your image then assign.

[drew10player]

That's not where you would import the image. Once your mesh is loaded and selected, by face not verts, you go to the materials tab. Click "new" then <none>, pick your image then assign.
Oh, I see! I was trying to import the wrong thing! x]
Thank you for clarifying. (:
So would the mesh be the hair package file itself?
If so, I don't think I see an option to import package files either.

I'm sure it's completely obvious and I'm just missing it. But I appreciate you guys who are willing to help.

[Esmeralda]

The hair package file is not the mesh, it's a package containing the meshes (there will be four, each for a different level of detail), the .dds files, and several other items.

In order to get a mesh into Milkshape, you have to extract it from the package file. Open the package with s3pe, highlight the four files that have a Tag of GEOM, and right-click, then in the pop-up menu choose 'Export To File' and save them somewhere, such as your Desktop. They will be files ending in .simgeom and they are your four Level of Detail (LOD) meshes.

Import the one that's the largest size (which is your highest level of detail) into Milkshape using the Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Importer plug-in. (You do have the Q-Mesh plug-ins, don't you? If not, they're found here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=357403 ) When finished editing, export it using the Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Exporter plug-in. Do the same with the other LOD meshes.

[drew10player]

The hair package file is not the mesh, it's a package containing the meshes (there will be four, each for a different level of detail), the .dds files, and several other items.

In order to get a mesh into Milkshape, you have to extract it from the package file. Open the package with s3pe, highlight the four files that have a Tag of GEOM, and right-click, then in the pop-up menu choose 'Export To File' and save them somewhere, such as your Desktop. They will be files ending in .simgeom and they are your four Level of Detail (LOD) meshes.

Import the one that's the largest size (which is your highest level of detail) into Milkshape using the Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Importer plug-in. (You do have the Q-Mesh plug-ins, don't you? If not, they're found here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=357403 ) When finished editing, export it using the Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Exporter plug-in. Do the same with the other LOD meshes.
I had no idea about the Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Importer plug-in. Thank you for telling me! I just installed it and it's allowing me to import the hair. (:

But once I finish with step number 5 of Anubis's tutorial, mine looks nothing like his.
Mine looks like:

http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa383/karatekidbb12/Capture-4.png

Not too sure what I did wrong.

Edit: I should probably mention that when I imported the mesh, I got a notice that said, "Import Progress: Unable to locate bone file; Default skeleton used." I just clicked okay.
Could that be the cause of the problem?

[omegastarr82]

You need to go read a tutorial or two on meshing and stuff before you continue. So far all your questions could be answered there. Your first question was in this very thread on this page. Do your homework first.

[drew10player]

You need to go read a tutorial or two on meshing and stuff before you continue. So far all your questions could be answered there. Your first question was in this very thread on this page. Do your homework first.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I have been checking out additional threads, but I haven't had any luck finding the answers I need.
I apologize for bothering you.

Edit: Re-reading this I realize it sounds like sarcasm, I promise it's not.

[Esmeralda]

Oh, I'm sorry.
I have been checking out additional threads, but I haven't had any luck finding the answers I need.
I apologize for bothering you.

Edit: Re-reading this I realize it sounds like sarcasm, I promise it's not.
Have a good read of this tutorial - it will hopefully tell you all you need to know (it was how I learned to make hair!) http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Hair_Basics (You can ignore the first part about extracting TS2 hair to convert to TS3, unless you are actually doing a TS2-TS3 conversion.)

[drew10player]

Have a good read of this tutorial - it will hopefully tell you all you need to know (it was how I learned to make hair!) http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Hair_Basics (You can ignore the first part about extracting TS2 hair to convert to TS3, unless you are actually doing a TS2-TS3 conversion.)
I've been trying to use this tutorial for a while, I just didn't really know where to start! x]
Thank you for clarifying that I can skip the conversion step! ^_^

To get rid of the blue lines that were showing, I just had to uncheck the "Show Skeleton" option under Joints. :]
As of right now, I've imported the mesh, and then imported the Wavefront OBJ and I can see the mesh fine. But once I finish with Anubis's steps 4 and 5, it doesn't look like his does. I tried going to "Transparency/Depth Buffered with Alpha Reference" like Anubis suggested, but that hasn't worked either. D:

Does anyone know what I may have done wrong?

[DarkWitchVampire]

Does anyone know if there's a way to do this with Photoshop?