How to deal with Indexed Textures

[mnsg]

When editing character textures, some texture parts may require an indexed palette.  Indexed textures are textures that have either a +1 or a +2 in their file names.

Most indexed textures have to be indexed through Photoshop, especially those that use a small palette.

To index a texture in Photoshop, go to Image, then Mode, and then choose Indexed Color....



Looking at the above image, set the palette to Local (Perceptual), and then set the maximum number of colors for the texture.

Regarding transparency, all +1 textures have no transparency, so transparency has to be disabled for those textures.

For the +2 textures, however, they can have transparency.  If a +2 texture has any transparent parts, enable the transparency when indexing the texture.

For any +2 texture that has transparency, fill in the transparent areas with the color magenta (#ff00ff) before indexing the texture.

On a side note, magenta represents transparency ONLY for the +2 textures.  For the normal textures, you need to mess with the Alpha Channel in order to choose the spots that you want transparent.

[asdfman]

Very helpful.

[Lampp]

I don't have photoshop, i have Paint.NET. is there any way i can index a palette with that?

[Segtendo]

1 word Lampp: nope. I wish. I know GIMP does.

[TheVader74]

Ok, I've just managed to get this done in Gimp. Seeing as this is about Indexed textures, I figure this is the best place to post it for the cheapskates who can't afford Photoshop (I.E. Me)

Same as with the Photoshop Method, select Image from the toolbar, then Mode, and then click Indexed. You should then be presented with a menu. From what I've tried, you need to select Generate Optimum Palette and set the colours to 256, the highest value you can enter. This should be enough to get them to work in ASH. If the file is a +2 Texture, click the box at the bottom labeled Enable dithering of transparancy. This NEEDS to be activated on +2 Textures, or the game will freeze after selecting a stage.

This has worked with me on both +1 and +2 textures, so I have reason to beleive it's right. This gets the textures through ASH and they still work, so long as you don't exceed the colour limit, I'd guess. This any help at all?

[mnsg]

Ok, I've just managed to get this done in Gimp. Seeing as this is about Indexed textures, I figure this is the best place to post it for the cheapskates who can't afford Photoshop (I.E. Me)

Same as with the Photoshop Method, select Image from the toolbar, then Mode, and then click Indexed. You should then be presented with a menu. From what I've tried, you need to select Generate Optimum Palette and set the colours to 256, the highest value you can enter. This should be enough to get them to work in ASH. If the file is a +2 Texture, click the box at the bottom labeled Enable dithering of transparancy. This NEEDS to be activated on +2 Textures, or the game will freeze after selecting a stage.

This has worked with me on both +1 and +2 textures, so I have reason to beleive it's right. This gets the textures through ASH and they still work, so long as you don't exceed the colour limit, I'd guess. This any help at all?

Sorry, but not all indexed textures can be indexed properly with The GIMP.  Attempting to do so usually leads to the Erroneous Colors error or causes ASH step 2 to close before it's even complete.  Meta Knight's eye and Giga Bowser's eye iris are some examples of indexed textures that you HAVE to index through Photoshop.

[TheVader74]

Hmm, well, that sucks, but I guess something is better than nothing. I gotta be honest, I can't see why it would be different between files, but it's not important. Thanks for making that clear though M&SG

[??_?]

This also happens with Ike's eye, I just found out.

[ピカノ]

The difference is...

GIMP only stores necessary pallet data.
Photoshop stores all 256 values even if they aren't used; blank values are padding with data which is read as black in GIMP. (And this data is stored at the top of the file)

It's fully possible to use GIMP with everything texture wise... but ASH needs a modification.

[??_?]

Will this happen anytime soon?

[Pik]

I just indexed SonicBodyMask through Photoshop, but it still gets the erroneous colour message.

I think there was a topic on this in Help, but I tried everything listed there and it still didn't work.

[mnsg]

I just indexed SonicBodyMask through Photoshop, but it still gets the erroneous colour message.

I think there was a topic on this in Help, but I tried everything listed there and it still didn't work.

Something tells me that you goofed up somewhere.  I tried it out myself and it worked.  Try filling the body mask texture with just one color to see if that makes a difference.

[Pik]

Thanks, it worked. But now the colours are neutral, is there a way to fix that? Sorry if I'm being annoying.

[mnsg]

Thanks, it worked. But now the colours are neutral, is there a way to fix that? Sorry if I'm being annoying.

There is, but it depends on the colors that you're using for the mask texture parts.

[Pik]

So if I made the mask transparent, it would show the textures normally?