Making a custom spray logo with transparent backgrounds thanks to Darkone.
So you want to make your own custom logo for HL2/CS:S... It's not too hard to do at all. But anythings easy when you know how huh? Well after this tutorial it will be easy for you too.
Ok lets get down to business. First off, images have to be divisible by 2. (example: 16x16 32x32 64x64 128x128 256x256 ect...). For basic images without transparency make sure its the proper size and save it as a jpg. Then open CS:S and import your spray. It's that simple!
However this tutorial is being written for those of you who like transparent backgrounds. It's slightly tricky but still easy if you follow these steps.
If you have Photoshop 7 and not CS get the plugin from here and install it.
Open photoshop and create an image 512x512 pixels and use transparent background. a) Label this layer "Background". (you can do this by double clicking on the layer in the layer pallette.)
Choose Layer/New Layer and click ok. a) Label this layer "image".
Create your image on this layer not the background layer. a) If you need more then 1 layer for your images continue to add more layers.
NOTE: If you dont use more then 2 layers including the background skip the following step.
b) when your done with your images and you have more then one layer other then the background. Uncheck the little eye in the layers pallette for "Background" then choose Layer/Merge Visible, then recheck the eye for background. Now you should be back to 2 layers including background.
Now we need to create our Alpha Channel. a) First Highlight your image layer then hold ctrl and click on the layer. You should see blinking dots around your image.
b) Goto your layers pallette and click the tab "Channels".
c) Now click on Create New Channel.
d) You should now have a black colored box with the dotted line from your layer in it.
e)Now make sure your background color is set to "White" (html code FFFFFF or rgb code 255 255 255) and press alt+backspace to fill the dotted area with your background color "White".
f) Now press Ctrl+D to deselect the dotted lines.
Now go back to your layers pallette by clicking the tab layers. (like you did to switch to channels) a) Set your background color to (html 808080 or rgb to 128 128 128 for a mid tone grey)
b) Select your background layer and fill it with this midtone grey. (alt+backspace)
Now that thats done choose File/Save As choose TGA. a) If you installed the plugin correctly or are using Photoshop CS you will have a checkbox for "Transparency".
Make sure thats checked and choose 32bit and save it.
Thats it for the photoshop part. Now we have to get it into CS:S (Don't worry, this parts easy)
Download vtex from here. a) extract contents leaving directory structure in tact.
b) Add your image.tga file to vtex\hl2\materialsrc\sprays folder.
c) Now run the tga2vtf.bat from the vtex folder.
If all goes well you will now have 2 files in vtex\hl2\materials\sprays called "yourimage.vmt" & "yourimage.vtf".
Add these 2 files to "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\your-user-details\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials\VGUI\logos"
Now open CS:S goto options and select your logo. Now you have your own personalized logo. w00t!
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