[TUTORIAL] Applying Valve's dirt to your own textures

Dec 25, 2007
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439
This tutorial uses Photoshop CS3. It should work fine in slightly earlier versions of Photoshop, but some things may be done slightly differently if you're using Paint Shop Pro or The Gimp. The end result will still be achievable with those tools.

We're going to steal the dirt marks that you can see on concretewall002b. This will work because apart from the dirt, the texture's identical to concretewall002:

concretewall002b


concretewall002


And put it on concretewall011, which lacks dirty variation. You could substitute your own texture here, too.

concretewall011


So let's start. Create a new image the size of the texture, 1024x1024, and create a new layer group. Make sure it's selected:



Using the VTF plugin (or loading the TGAs exported from VTFEdit if you don't have the plugin), we open concretewall002.vtf and concretewall002b.vtf. Selecting first the clean texture, then the dirty one, drag the background layer of each from the layers palette into your new image. They will end up in the group like this:



Change the render mode of the dirty texture to "Difference", and that of the group to "Exclusion". You'll end up with the dirt marks sitting on the white background, like this:



Select the background layer. Now open concretewall011.vtf, and drag its layer into your new image. Et voila! We now have a dirtified concrete wall:



Finally, select the group, and add a Curves adjustment layer. This will let you easily adjust the darkness of the dirt layer for a good looking result:



Before and after:



 

AWESOME-O

L10: Glamorous Member
Mar 20, 2008
779
132
Nice tut, but can you make it more detailed, like where to click to add a curve adjusment layer etc?
 

Ninjilla

L420: High Member
Sep 13, 2008
445
116
I know this is late, but I have the .vtf plugin, which file are the textures located in exactly? I still cant find them x_x
 

Ninjilla

L420: High Member
Sep 13, 2008
445
116
Ooh, thank you. I heard about that before, but never bothered to get it. My bad:blushing:
 

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
GENIUS
This is clearly an excellent idea. Top and bottom textures add an excellent level of professionalism, and now I can achieve this with anything.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Yea, the trouble is that this only works with matching materials with a dirty floor/ceiling version, since they are required to cancel each other out to grab the unique dirt from one (difference). Handy, nonetheless.
 

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
Yea, the trouble is that this only works with matching materials with a dirty floor/ceiling version, since they are required to cancel each other out to grab the unique dirt from one (difference). Handy, nonetheless.

I think I just found a use for this.
http://www.mediafire.com/?lfyzywzwnwz
Threw that together in about 15 minutes using paint.net. Expect a texture pack.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
pictures?

Complete with alpha mask. I apolagise in advance if this post is too long. If you would like them right now, send me a PM. I will release this once I've done most of the effects.
Concrete_painted1.png

Concrete_painted1_example.png

Concrete_painted2.png

Concrete_painted2_example.png

Concrete_painted3.png

basestain1.png

basestain1_example.png

basestain2.png

basestain3.png

basestain3_example.png

basestain4.png

basestain4_example.png

moss_overlay1.png

moss_overlay1_example.jpg

Clearly, vfig was onto something. Between this tutorial and the earth he made, he has become unto a genius.