How can i create a custom decal? Created 11 years ago2013-02-13 05:57:13 UTC by Martinssj4

Hello, am new and i have this doubt..

I see this tutorial and its incomplete because the images
http://twhl.info/articulator.php?art=47

I want to creat a decal, can anyone told me how?

What you need:

1. Image size no bigger than 512x512 (256x256 MAX recommended). It has to be divisible by 16 also.
2. Image extension to be Bitmap (BMP) (Most recommended)

You would create it just like you would create any other texture. But the point here is to use 255 BLUE color for the parts you want to be fully invisible.

Here is an example image:So its just like creating a normal texture, but with some additional fixing.
Usually the best way to create a decal is by using multi layers. But keep in mind that only, and ONLY, 255 BLUE will get discarded and become transparent. All other colors wont. This includes alpha transparency in images and layers that go over blue, there must be no color differ like so.

Example:That is a bad because of the transparency, since the pixels with partial alpha transparency, that will go over blue, will only partially take 255 BLUE value and the result will end up in seeing bluish squares all around the decal.

So keep it clean and divisible by 16, don't make it huge unless you really need to, and also:

1. When naming you need to add a "{" in front of the name: {MyDecal
2. To use it on an Entity only (unless decal apply decal)
3. Entity render mode either Solid or Texture
4. Render FX 255

That's not a decal Stojke, that's a regular transparent texture. Decals are greyscale textures where white is transparent and black is opaque, and the greys in between represent the alpha channel. The final colour in the palette is the colour of the decal in-engine.

I thought decals used black or white for transparency, had only one single colour and variant shades of that in the last colour index slot.

edit: Pengyboy with the good information ^

Ive always called that a decal lol.
I understand the other thing as well.

256 Grays, where black is full color and white is transparent. Where the last color in the index indicates the color of the decal.

Also for transparent textures, the transparent colour has to be index 255 but its RGB values don't matter. But I digress.

Decals on HL use the first 254 colours as alpha greyscale values and the 255th determines the RGB values that will be used to colour the decal in-game.

@dDiscoStu:
Can you told me how can i create a simple decal like the decals of "decals.wad"?

No matter what program you used to actually draw the decal, you'll need Wally to import the picture into your custom .wad file.

Wally gives you easy access to the palette. Make the first 254 colours grayscale and let Wally fit your picture to those 254 levels. Then take the 255th (the last one, bottom right of the grid) and change it to the colour you want the decal to be.

Finally, remember to prefix a "{" (left curly brace, no quotes) before the texture name inside the wad (i.e name it {decal)

The end. That's it. It's not very complicated. I don't have Wally at hand right now but if you have further questions I'll find it and try to describe the steps differently.

I cant understand.. can you post an image?

what pallete i must choice?

http://i.imgur.com/GXfc2dN.png

and then what have to do?

You don't chose a palette. the image must be in Mode > 256 Grays.
Where the FULL black is SOLID Color with NO transparency, and everything below has a transparency value from 0 to 255.
FULL White is FULL Transparency, that is it does not have any color, meaning the thing thats behind it would be fully visible.

Knowing this you can construct your decals, example:As you see the entire image has below full black value, meaning the entire image is partially transparent.
In wally we see:That the image has a gray scale palette and the final indexed color is white.
Now we would go to Colors > Edit palette > Select bottom right color:Chose a color we would like and apply.
Now the decal has its color value set and is ready to be imported into a WAD file, save it using a name you like, while also adding a curly bracket [ { ]: {My Decal (example).

Black and white ,eh?
Racist bas*****.

lol

how can i set an image in mod 256 grey?

can you put an image?

thanks for the help.

You do that in the program you are creating it in.
You can do it in Paint NET (Free download: Clicky): Adjustments > Black & White

i put black & white to my image, i save with 0 transparency and i load to wally... y draw some figure in it but dont work..

i do this decal:

http://i.imgur.com/MYM8xCe.png

but dont work in cs, i cant see it.

Did you apply it with texture apply tool? Did you import it into a custom WAD file? Did you compile with that WAD file imported?

Write STEP by STEP what did you do.

The reason why your decal isn't working is because of the fact that you made the part you wanted to show in the game black, when infact, it needs to be white.

i make a video for show you how i do..

Put the video in HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHjRMeUnOn4

Video is private.

Video - Fixed..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHjRMeUnOn4

The way you are doing it is wrong, you select filter before you make the image.
Wait a bit i will make a tutorial about it, also PhotoShop PS2 is free.

ok. am gonna wait your tutorial with all hope.

send me a pm when you do it.