Skins for tanks – a step-by-step tutorial

[ScoAtao 325]

Skins for tanks – a step-by-step tutorial

By ScoAtao

 

Hi guys,

 

Many great tutorials have already been published to show how to make nice plane skins. However, tank skinning is a very different process since you can’t get the base template directly from the game, nor usually need to modify the normal maps of your tank.

There are a few different ways to make custom skins for tanks in War Thunder. This is my method – I don’t claim to be its creator nor the only one who uses it, but as you will see, you can achieve very good results in a quite simple way.

This tutorial is made for Photoshop users. GIMP users will probably find some useful tips here though, as both editors essentially have the same functions.

You will need nVidia’s DDS plugin for Photoshop installed on your computer:

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

 

 

Preliminary steps – getting started.

Of course, the very first step is to choose the tank you want to make a skin for. In this example, I will use the American M10 Wolverine tank destroyer. We will see how to make a skin for this vehicle; you can download the final result here to see how it looks in the game.

http://live.warthunder.com/post/184006/en/

This is a skin I made last year and reworked with this method when the new rendering engine was introduced in late 2015.

So, fire up War Thunder, select the M10 tank destroyer and open the Customization menu. Click the Magic Wand button. This will extract the .blk file into a new folder called “template_us_m10”, which is located in your UserSkins folder, usually at C:\Program Files (x86)\War Thunder\UserSkins. The .blk file can be opened with any simple text editor such as the Notepad. It basically tells War Thunder to replace the base camouflage with your new one, but we will get back on this later.

 

 

 

Copy this .blk file (which in our example should be named “us_m10.blk”) to a new folder, named whatever you want and located wherever you want, since this is only a Work In Progress folder. Let’s create it on our desktop and call it “M10 skin”.

 

Still good so far? So, let’s start skinning.

 

 

Step 1 – extraction of the base template.

You will need the CDK installed on your computer. If you don’t have it yet, then get it here and install it:

http://wiki.warthunder.com/index.php?title=Download_War_Thunder_CDK

Fire up the Asset Viewer and find the folder with your tank’s base template. It will be located in pkg_main_tanks/usa_m10_wolverine in the list on the left side of the window.

Once you have found it, click on the files you want and extract them to DDS. Usually, you will only need the files which names end with _c  (not the files ending with _n or _ao). One file for the hull, one for the turret, sometimes a separate one for the gun. In our example, we will need “m10_wolverine_body_c” and “m10_wolverine_turret_c”.

For each file: click on it, untick the “Stretch texture” box and make sure that the “RGBA” option is selected, then click on “Export to DDS” and save the file into your “M10 skin” folder.

 

You should now have the following files in your folder:

 

 

Step 2 – conversion to a blank Photoshop template.

Open the first file (m10_wolverine_body_c.dds) with Photoshop. When a dialog box appears, choose ”Load using default sizes” and “OK” .

The extracted file is in 2K, which means its size is 2048x2048 pixels. We will increase it to 4K to have much more details in our insignia later on (in the art of skinning, the bigger the better). To do so, go to Image>Image size and replace both “2048 pixels” values in the Pixel Dimensions section for 4096 (the important thing is to keep the proportions). In the Resample Image box, choose “Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargements)” and click “OK”.

 

Note: remember to save your work in PSD format often, if you don’t want to lose it in a case of a computer crash or whatever alike.

 

In your Layers tab, create a new folder. Let’s call it “Camo & Markings”.

                 

Switch to the Channels tab. There is a Red, a Green, a Blue and an Alpha channel. Click on the Alpha channel, then hit Ctrl+A to select all the image. Hit Ctrl+C to copy the Alpha channel.

 

Switch back to your Layers tab. Create a new layer called “Alpha” and paste (Ctrl+V) the Alpha channel. Now you can hide it. This is only a backup copy, just in case something gets messed up.

 

Go back to your Channels tab, select the Alpha channel again, and Ctrl+Click on it in the list. You should see a selection of some areas in the file. Keep them selected and switch to the Layers channel. Select your “Camo & Markings” folder, and click the small “Create layer mask” button under the icons.

 

 

Now switch AGAIN to the Channels tab, click on the Alpha channel in the list, hit CTRL+A to select it all and fill it with pure black.

 

The boring part is now done! All you have to do now is the proper skinning process. Let’s see what comes next!

Edited March 3, 2017 by ScoAtao

[ScoAtao 325]

Step 3 – Begin real skinning!

Everything you will add now should be placed in the “Camo & Markings” folder. Since we have created a mask with the former Alpha channel, the scratches, dirt, mud etc. from the original template will simply appear ”over” your camo and various markings. Of course you can modify it, but we will stick to the basics in this tutorial.

Let’s add the camouflage paint. Create a new layer called “Olive Drab” inside the “Camo & Markings” folder. Select it all (Ctrl+A) and fill it with an Olive Drab shade. For US tanks, I use a Federal Standard reference:

Red: 81

Green: 80

Blue: 65

#: 515041

 

 

Now you can place any insignia, marking and detail that you want in new layers over the camo. For this skin, I have created all the insignia from original photographs in other Photoshop files and inserted them into the appropriate “Camo & Insignia” folder.

Once you are happy with how it looks, you have to save the skin as a .dds file.

Click “Save as”, choose your “M10 skin” folder then choose the DDS format. Make sure you tick the “Alpha channels” box, otherwise the plugin will create a new white Alpha channel which will mask your new skin… That’s not what you want, is it? Click “Save” without changing the file’s names and override the older file.

In the next menu, choose the format “DXT5 ARGB 8 bpp interpolated alpha” and “No MIP maps”, then click “Save”.

 

 

Now repeat the above process (steps 2 and 3) for the other files of your skin – here, the turret (m10_wolverine_turret_c.dds).

 

Step 4 – prepare the skin for the game.

Now that the skin itself is done, we need it to be usable in War Thunder.

Create a new folder called “French M10 Siroco - 2e DB”. Actually you can call it whatever you want – the name of this folder will be the name of your skin as displayed in the game.

Copy the extracted “us_m10.blk” file into this folder. Do not rename it!! If you rename it, War Thunder will not recognize it and the skin will not work. Open it with your notepad. So far, the default contents look like this:

 

name:t="user"

 

replace_tex{

  from:t="us_camo_olive*"

  to:t="us_camo_olive.tga"

}

 

This file tells the game to replace the default textures with your new ones. So replace the contents for this:

 

name:t="user"

 

replace_tex{

  from:t="m10_wolverine_turret_c*"

  to:t="m10_wolverine_turret_c.dds"

}

 

replace_tex{

  from:t="m10_wolverine_body_c*"

  to:t="m10_wolverine_body_c.dds"

}

 

Make sure that the .dds extension appears in the appropriate lines as above, after your new files’ names. Note that we have erased the lines referring to the default olive drab camo.

Save the .blk file.

Move your freshly created .dds files into the same “French M10 Siroco - 2e DB” folder. It should look like this now:

 

Cut or copy this folder and its contents to your UserSkins folder – the same one that we have seen in the Preliminary steps.

 

And… you’re done! You can launch War Thunder, select the M10 tank destroyer, open the Customize menu and refresh the User Skins list. If you have followed all the steps above, your new skin will appear in the list, ready to be selected.

 

 

A final word

Ok, I hope this tutorial helped you in any way. If it helped a few persons, then I am a happy man!

 

The “technical” Step 2 may seem a bit complicated in the first place, but you will quickly get used to it and make your base template very easily with little practice. It gives a very versatile file since you only have to add new layers for the camo and markings and you can move and modify them without erasing anything else.

 

Remember, you will probably have to test your WIP skin once or multiple times to adjust the colours, the insignia placing and size and any little detail you may add. All skinners do so. Speed doesn’t make one a good skinner, patience and attention to the details do. It goes through trial and error and that’s what will make you improve your skills. You will find out that skinning can be very rewarding when your own creation comes to “life” in the game!

 

You can download my M10 blank template here:

http://live.warthunder.com/post/194041/en/

It was created with this method, so feel free to use it and compare it to the steps above if it can help you.

 

I hope this tutorial is clear enough. Don’t hesitate to make suggestions and I will improve it! Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Edit 3rd March 2017: quick tutorial added down this thread if you want to make a skin with a separate camo file + insignia showing through it.

 

If you need help regarding skinning, check out this thread and ask your questions to the specialists:

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/271962-skin-help-forum-real-skinners-real-help/

There are some fantastic tank skinners in this community who are much better than me, and I guess they will happily help you.

 

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

 

ScoAtao

Edited March 3, 2017 by ScoAtao

[moddrym 1]

Very nice, thank you

[ScoAtao 325]

1 hour ago, moddrym said:

Very nice, thank you

Thanks a lot for your comment mate!

[SeanBod 20]

I hope you can help me out with this. This is my image that I have set up for my sherman vc firefly which was made in Photoshop but the problem is I don't have dds files so I was told tga files would work the same and that I would just code it differently in the blk but that didn't work. I get the files in and the code right compared to other peoples skins and then this happens (second image). The other problem is when saving tga files you can't pick the alpha checkbox there at all. Any suggestions or work arounds?

Edited December 23, 2016 by SeanBod

[ScoAtao 325]

Hi mate,

 

sorry for the late reply, I just came back from holidays and was sorting through my emails.

From what I can see in your 2nd pic, your Alpha channel wasn't saved correctly and the game applied a new blank one. It is coherent with your problem of not being able to save to TGA with the alpha channel.

I'm not home right now so can't check how things look when trying to save a file into TGA, but you can send me your skin (TGAs and BLK) if you want me to check them this weekend...

Anyway, your BLK seems to be fine since the game knows there's a new skin to apply. The problem is indeed with the Alpha channel saving process.

[SeanBod 20]

Ok sounds good I will let you take a look and also here is my forum post where tiger VI is helping me so that you can see where we stand now with the problem. I can send those files maybe later tonight or tomorrow but I will not be by my computer till then to do so. Thank you for the help, and hopefully with the big named people that I ahve asked to help we can all figure it out together!

 

[atomicgamernl 118]

Try DXTbmp, and go to ALPHA and Look for invert alpha.

2 hours ago, SeanBod said:

Ok sounds good I will let you take a look and also here is my forum post where tiger VI is helping me so that you can see where we stand now with the problem. I can send those files maybe later tonight or tomorrow but I will not be by my computer till then to do so. Thank you for the help, and hopefully with the big named people that I ahve asked to help we can all figure it out together!

 

 

[SeanBod 20]

10 hours ago, atomicgamernl said:

Try DXTbmp, and go to ALPHA and Look for invert alpha.

 

Thanks for the suggestion CmdNomad already gave me this tip and will be looking into to it.

[SeanBod 20]

Hey ScoAtao and anyone else,

 

I put the files up on my other forum post here so you could take a look and make it easier to not spam this one. If you guys have any tips or ways to help me out going there might be the best so we are pulling everyone together. 

Thank you!

[Shizaho 7]

Hello.

 

It works perfect, thanks for the guide.

 

Just one Question:

I am making a skin for the Tiger H1 and I am doing stuff with the gun image right now.

How do I find out which part of this is the gun? 

 

[Gallonmate 133]

You mean the gun barrel? Looks like it's the bottom. Generally you can make a mask layer and put a color grid or some other markings of your choice, update the file and then check the in-game view. And see where everything corresponds. But for this one you don't really need to. Just look at tank in the hangar close up and then look at the bottom half of the texture you have. Generally you can leave the game open while you edit the texture and see your progress.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Gallonmate

[Shizaho 7]

Thank you, that works good!

[ScoAtao 325]

On 7/1/2017 at 6:44 AM, Skytriqqer said:

Hello.

 

It works perfect, thanks for the guide.

 

Just one Question:

I am making a skin for the Tiger H1 and I am doing stuff with the gun image right now.

How do I find out which part of this is the gun? 

 

 

Thank you!

I'm happy that you found an answer to your question. This post may help you in the future, I use the same grid as __StrafeMike__ to locate parts on a template:

 

[Greencrusher44 22]

i got a problem with alpha channel, find information about it and spend 20 hours for it, and here i'm, realize that im not the only one who got the same problem, hope i can make it by this :p

 

 

Thank you very much, you'r post make me be able to Sleep in Peace now,,

Edited March 2, 2017 by Greencrusher44

[ScoAtao 325]

1 hour ago, Greencrusher44 said:

i got a problem with alpha channel, find information about it and spend 20 hours for it, and here i'm, realize that im not the only one who got the same problem, hope i can make it by this :p

 

 

Thank you very much, you'r post make me be able to Sleep in Peace now,,

Hahaha, thanks! 

Don't hesitate to ask if you need any further advice. 

[Greencrusher44 22]

welp, i'm still stuck about it, i follow your instruction about the alpha channel, but instead of putting a camo in the camo& insignia folder, i'm trying to use an independent camo file (Blue_c), like here i'm trying to put  experimental insignia, the camo is work, but it can't blend in with the turret_c file, my assumption is i miss something with the alpha file, can you help me with it?? but still my situation is better than yesterday.. :3

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 2, 2017 by Greencrusher44
Give more words..

[ScoAtao 325]

So here’s a quick tutorial designed to explain how to make a skin with custom insignia and a separate camo file.

I wasn’t home when making it, so I could only include screenshots from Photoshop, not from the results in War Thunder.

 

 

This tutorial will show how to add some insignia and a new camouflage to the turret of the British AC Mk II AA.

First, you have to extract the base skin files from the CDK (see my previous tutorial to learn how to do this). You will need NVidia’s DDS plugin for Photoshop too (read previous tutorial as well). You will also need to create a template in the game’s  customization tab for your vehicle, which will give you the necessary .blk file and the default camo file.

 

Then open your extracted DDS file with Photoshop. You can upscale it if you want (4K is the most used resolution).

On a new layer, add the various insignia you want. Merge them into a single layer. The background remains the default rusted texture. Here, we have added two Free French insignia from my skin here: http://live.warthunder.com/post/573061/en/

 

With the magic wand tool, click in an empty area of your “insignia” layer. This will select all the parts other than the insignia.

 

Then invert the selection (Ctrl+Maj+I by default). This will select all your insignia.

 

Switch to your “Channels” tab (here, “Couches” in French) and activate the alpha channel only. Your insignia areas remain selected.

 

Pick up full black as your foreground color. Then click Select > Fill (Maj+F5) with foreground color and 100% opacity, and click OK.

 

As a result, the shapes of your insignia are now filled with black on your Alpha channel. You can unselect them. Remember that black on the Alpha channel is like a hole through the camouflage, which will let your insignia showing through it. [As a side note, you will understand that full white on the Alpha will be 100% camouflage, and shades of greys will progressively hide/show your insignia].

 

Now save your new file, either to TGA or to DDS as you prefer. DDS is the most used format now as it is lighter and still has a good quality. Either way, remember to save the file WITH the Alpha channel option ticked. Choose 32 bits/pixel when saving in TGA, to enable the Alpha to be saved.

 

Proceed the same way with the different parts of your skin if needed (hull, gun…).

 

 

Now open the TGA camo file that you got from the game. You can modify and rename it as you like. In our example, I simply made it blue instead of khaki, just to make it obviously different.

 

Here’s what we now have in the new skin folder:

 

And here’s what the contents of the CDK look like:

 

Make sure that the file formats (.dds or .tga) and their names in the .blk match your actual files. Do not change the name of the .blk itself.

Remember that you can name the skin folder the way you like (for example: “Blue AA Mk II”) – this is what will appear in the list of your custom skins ingame.

Place that folder in you WT UserSkins directory, launch the game… You should now see your new skin in the customization menu!

 

 

Hope this helps, please tell me if anything doesn’t work properly. 

Sco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2017 by ScoAtao

[Greencrusher44 22]

Hey mate, thank you very much for the help, everything that you tell me it's work correctly, but im still have the same problem with the alpha layers, i think because i'm lack of skill in my PS,, i'll doing skinning with the basic skinning that you taught to me, while learning for future improvisation, and of course with a little improvisation that i learnt from the problem of mine,.

I'll share this post on each camo that i make, so everyone will be able to make their own skin, thank you very much for all of this, warm regards ^^7!!

Edited March 5, 2017 by Greencrusher44

[I_Need_Some_Wars 0]

Hey bro, its was a very good tutorial. Btw i have some problem with user skin since i use photoshop to edit it. Its the "SAMPLE" mark on my created skin, even im not editing it yet its still has the Sample mark like this. I hope you know the problem i had with user skin. Thank You!

[pedrolucasjh 0]

I just wanna know how i fix this problem with my wheels.

[pedrolucasjh 0]

On 15/09/2018 at 02:26, I_Need_Some_Wars said:

Hey bro, its was a very good tutorial. Btw i have some problem with user skin since i use photoshop to edit it. Its the "SAMPLE" mark on my created skin, even im not editing it yet its still has the Sample mark like this. I hope you know the problem i had with user skin. Thank You!

You change the properties of .blk file with the new properties ? maybe this is the problem!

[Guest FroopyMcLoopy]

Can someone help me out? I followed the tutorial above to the letter, but once I finished the code and everything, the custom skin doesn't appear on the tank. I can select the custom skin, but I cannot see it physically on the tank.