Preforming a Custom Edit on a skill
For this tutorial I will be turning a Moonpiece into a Star.
Note: I am not very good at photoshop, so my skill edit won't look perfect, and my methods used won't be the best ones out there. But they do work, and that's what matters.
Due to the complexity of explaining this, I will try and keep it simple as possible, with plenty of images to help you out.
1. Choose the skill you want to edit, in my case it's Moonpiece.
Which is named MoonBolt.dds in the Mapping\Effect\Main Folder.
2. As always, make a copy of the file you wish to edit and create a backup folder to save the file in, just in case.
If you have one already, just place it in there.
3. Find an image you wish to turn the skill into, if you have one, open both the DDS file and image file in photoshop.
You should have two windows, one with the image you want and one with the skill in it.
We will call the Star image "
Image A"
4. Click the window with
Image A, and hit Ctrl+A. Then right click the image and select "Layer via copy."
You should see the layer on the bottom right corner of photoshop.
5. Click the window with the skill in it, on the bottom right is a channels tab next to the layers tab.
Notice that there is a RGB, Red, Blue, Green, and Alpha.
6. Click the Alpha Layer, and select the eraser tool, erase the alpha layer till it's completely black.
Then click the RGB channel and select the paint tool, paint the skill completely black.
Both should be black before moving on.
7. Go back to the window with
Image A, click on "Layer 1" and drag it to the skill's window. The layer should now be in the window where the skill once was.
You may then close the old window with Image A,
but keep the skill window open!
8. Erase anything around
Image A that you don't want. Once you have erased everything you don't need, go to the bar on top, and click Layers -> Flatten image.
9 .I Strongly Recommend reading the article on Perfect Cutting Methods and Alpha Layering.
The old method is still available for reading, but will not give the best results.
Spoiler!
9. You may use the magic wand tool to outline the part you want, Hold the Shift key and keep clicking to outline more, or Alt to remove outline. When you have your object outlined it should look like this.
10. Go back into your alpha layer, the outline should remain. Click the Paintbrush tool and colour this area white.
You can also use different shades of gray to make it semi-transparent, or shade small areas gray to make them fade more then the rest.
You can have fun playing with the alpha layer, Continue playing with this till you have satisfactory results. If it looks bad in game, then continue to change it to get the desired effect.
You should shade the edges gray, to give it a smooth edge effect.
11.Go into File -> Save as.
When at the name screen, the name should be the same as the original file.
Be sure that Alpha channels is checked! Otherwise the effect will be ruined.
After that you get the DDS format window.
Set it to:
Code:
DXT3 ARGB 8 bpp | explicit alpha
then save.
Give it a try, continue to edit till you are satisfied with the results.
To truly make lunia look like eye candy, you could share with friends and the community, the more edits that are available the more you can mix and match.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
For those who want the star Moonpiece:
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