How to view (or edit) dds file
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- Gremlin
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How to view (or edit) dds file
I'm trying to create particle effect, so I'm looking for a tool to do that.
I see that NVidia develops some tools to do that. I just try Windows Texture Viewer but with this tool, I can't see anything in the explode.dds file (download from Explosion tutorial) or I can't fully see SaintPetersBasilica.dds (where is the camera guy?).
So I wonder what tool that made these dds file?
I see that NVidia develops some tools to do that. I just try Windows Texture Viewer but with this tool, I can't see anything in the explode.dds file (download from Explosion tutorial) or I can't fully see SaintPetersBasilica.dds (where is the camera guy?).
So I wonder what tool that made these dds file?
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- Gremlin
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
Ok, so Windows Texture Viewer can only view simple dds file, if you want to view & edit complicated dds, you must use Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins. I think Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins is the best solution for me now.
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- OGRE Expert User
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
I use Photoshop and Gimp, both need plugins
- SolarPortal
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
For viewing, we swapped our main windows explorer for a tool called Directory Opus which allows DDS files to be viewed as thumbnails or in the view pane. Or if you add a dds.dll file into the viewers folder of that app, then you can just double click to open the file. It works with almost all the DDS files except dun dun ...dunnn... BC5_SNORM lol
As for editing, we use photoshop with the nvidia plugin..
As for editing, we use photoshop with the nvidia plugin..
Lead developer of the Skyline Game Engine: https://aurasoft-skyline.co.uk
- dark_sylinc
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
Two more choices:
- Visual Studio. It can view and even edit DDS files. Though most of the time I edit DDS files, it doesn't end up working the way I expected.
- texconv. It may be command line, but it's very powerful. You can convert between DDS back and forth.
- Kojack
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
I use Paint.Net (free paint program), it supports loading and saving DDS files (11 different DDS formats supported for saving).
DirectX Texture Tool (part of the June2010 DirectX sdk, called dxtex.exe) is awesome for many DDS things. It can do cube maps, volume textures, manual mipmap creation, etc.
DirectX Texture Tool (part of the June2010 DirectX sdk, called dxtex.exe) is awesome for many DDS things. It can do cube maps, volume textures, manual mipmap creation, etc.
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- Gremlin
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
So I got some programs to view dds file and I'd like to make a comparison
Sample Explosion & SaintPetersBasilica.dds
Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins: View & Edit capable, view completely.
Windows Texture Viewer (WTV.exe): View dds only, but can't view completely. Ops , I was wrong, please check this post
DxTex.exe (Path="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Utilities\bin\x86\DxTex.exe"): View dds, but can't view completely. Ops , I was wrong again, please check this post
Visual Studio 2015: View & Simple Edit capable, but can't view completely.
As you can see, only Photoshop can view the full content of the dds file, other program miss some content.
Sample Explosion & SaintPetersBasilica.dds
Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins: View & Edit capable, view completely.
Windows Texture Viewer (WTV.exe): View dds only, but can't view completely. Ops , I was wrong, please check this post
DxTex.exe (Path="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Utilities\bin\x86\DxTex.exe"): View dds, but can't view completely. Ops , I was wrong again, please check this post
Visual Studio 2015: View & Simple Edit capable, but can't view completely.
As you can see, only Photoshop can view the full content of the dds file, other program miss some content.
Last edited by 123iamking on Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:37 am, edited 3 times in total.
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- Gremlin
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
@paroj: thank paroj, I didn't see that :p
So I stand correctly: Windows Texture Viewer is good for viewing dds.
- press Left/Right arrow to navigate MipMap which is just the resolution of the image.
- press X and Z to navigate to other Side.
- Color effect: press R or G or B to filter color. Press A to toggle Alpha. Press N to navigate post-process.
- Press U to switch between RGB & Alpha (the explode.dds below is pink because it is in A RGB mode, just press U to switch to RGB or you can press A to turn off Alpha then you can see the explosion)
- Kojack
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Re: How to view (or edit) dds file
DirectX Texture Tool can fully view them too. Go to the view menu, you can see the shortcuts for changing volume slice, mip map or cube map face.
(The basilica image uses cube map faces)
I used it to make a custom debug texture. I manually placed solid colour images in each mip level (instead of auto mip generation). For example 1024x1024 was solid red, 512x512 was green, 256x256 was blue, etc. Then when you put that texture on a mesh, the colour on screen shows which mip level is used for each pixel. If your mesh never shows red, then 1024x1024 was a waste of space for it.
(The basilica image uses cube map faces)
I used it to make a custom debug texture. I manually placed solid colour images in each mip level (instead of auto mip generation). For example 1024x1024 was solid red, 512x512 was green, 256x256 was blue, etc. Then when you put that texture on a mesh, the colour on screen shows which mip level is used for each pixel. If your mesh never shows red, then 1024x1024 was a waste of space for it.