Creating Custom JN Art in Adobe Photoshop

This tutorial guide was written for Adobe Photoshop versions 4.0 and 5.0. Most techniques are applicable to earlier versions, except for those relating to layers. In writing this tutorial, I am assuming that you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop's basic functions.

First off, whenever you first start working with a piece of artwork for JN6, consider its color mode. Until your image is ready to be saved for JN6, you will probably want to do all your work in 24-bit color (called RGB color in Photoshop). This will provide you with the most tools and flexibility to work with. I always keep a RGB version of my artwork, since you never know when it might come in handy down the road.

Below, you will find different sections relating to JN6 artwork. This includes instructions for creating hole overheads, objects, horizons, and textures.

Hole Overheads

1. Download the TEXTURES.ZIP file. This is a texture template you'll need to use for this technique. Feel free to adjust this template, or create your own to fit your design.
2. Open up one of the BMP hole snapshots from your course. Under Mode, choose RGB Color.
3. Double-click on the Magic Wand tool. Within its palette, make sure that the Tolerance value is 0 and that Anti-aliased is deselected.
4. With the Magic Wand tool, select one of the overhead's terrain's. Next, go to the Select and choose Similar.
5. Go to the texture template PSD file and select the appropriate terrain layer. Do a Select All and a Copy.
6. Return to the overhead image and choose Paste Into under the Edit menu.
7. Continue steps 4 - 6 for the rest of your terrain's. You'll want to flatten the image once you are done.
8. Use Photoshop's Dodge and Burn tools to create the illusion of hills and elevation changes on the hole. Dodge will make areas lighter, while Burn will make them darker. Within each of these tools' palette, you will probably want to set the Exposure down pretty low to allow for detailed work. Also, under your Brushes palette, you will probably want to choose one with a soft edge. Work with Dodge and Burn to create the illusion of rises and dips in the land.
9. Now it is time to add trees. Create a new layer and call it something like 'Trees'.
10. Go back to the texture template PSD file and choose the Trees layer.
11. Use the Rubber Stamp tool and make your origin somewhere among the mess of tree overhead graphics.
12. Return to your hole overhead and start cloning trees in the appropriate spots on the hole. You may have to go a reset the origin from time to time.
13. If the hole has bushes or a large mass of foliage, you can clone from the big blob of green mess that is on the lower portion of the texture template's trees layer.
14. Next is to create some shadows for your trees. Select All on your overheads tree layer and do a Copy. (If you are using Photoshop 5, you can use can use a Layer Effect to create your shadows and skip to step 20.)
15. Create a new layer beneath the one called 'Trees' and name it something like 'Tree Shadows'.
16. Paste the trees from the clipboard onto this new shadows layer.
17. With the trees still selected, choose black as your foreground color. Next, choose Fill under the Edit menu. Take the defaults and press OK.
18. Under Select, choose None. Go to Filter and select Blur and then Gaussian Blur. Use a small value around 1 or so to give you shadows a soft edge.
19. Go to the 'Tree Shadows' layer's Opacity slide bar and change it to something around 50%.
20. Next you have to "cut out" around your hole. Create a new layer with an appropriate name such as 'Mask'. For your foreground color, use something easy to see such as a purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123).
21. Using Photoshop's Pen tool, create a path around your hole overhead.
22. Once you've got the path set, save it and make a selection out of it.
23. Inverse the selection and fill it with the purple color you've mixed. Keep this selection active.
24. You now have to get this 24-bit color image down to 8-bit color. Since colors 0-15 are reserved for varying levels of transparencies in overhead PCX files, we won't use all 256 colors. Go to Mode and choose Index Color. Photoshop will probably ask you if you want to 'Flatten Layers', say OK. Under the Other Color selection, enter a value of 240.
25. Go to Mode and then Color Table. You should then see the 8-bit color palette for your object image. The purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123) needs to be in position 0, which is in the lower right corner. The color in the lower right will probably be black, so swap these two colors by reentering their RGB values in their new positions.
26. Next, to make the transparent colors (1-15 in the bottom row) easier to see, change them to varying shades of whatever color you like. I find that red works well. Color 1 is almost completely transparent, and color 15 is almost completely opaque. The color in between follow a steady and logical progression between the two. So, I change color 1 to R=250, color 2 to R=225, down to color 7 to R=100. I use these seven colors for the transparent shadow in the overhead.
27. Choose Save to store your color palette as an ACT file.
28. Go to the Swatches palette, and replace the color palette with the one you just saved.
29. Make sure your file is saved before continuing here. Select the transparent purple of your overhead with the Magic Wand (do a Select Similar if necessary) and choose Inverse.
30. From you color palette choose color 7 (the darkest red) and fill the selection with this color.
31. Next, select color 1 and stroke the selection with it using a pixel width of 1.
32. Deselect and use the Magic Wand to select the inside of your shadow (dark red).
33. Stroke again this time using color 2.
34. Repeat steps 32-33 until you have the selection stroked with color 6. You should now have a graduated red shadow.
35. Select the transparent purple again with the Magic Wand and do a Select Inverse.
36. Copy the selection to the clipboard and choose Revert to your original PCX file.
37. Once your original overhead is back on the screen, select the transparent purple with the Magic Wand.
38. Do a Paste Into. You can now position the shadow where you would like it to appear. I usually offset it to the lower right.
39. Go to Mode and then Color Table. Change colors 1-15 to black. You can actually use whatever color you want, just keep in mind that you will end up with a semitransparent version of this color in the game.
40. Save out your file in the PCX format in your course's folder. Here are some examples of the way your file should be named: HOLE03.PCX, HOLE08.PCX, HOLE12.PCX, etc.
41. Open your course in the designer and save it by pressing the 'Save' icon on the toolbar. This will save the entire course and will embed your custom hole overheads. If everything works right, it should appear the next time you play the course.

Horizons

When creating horizons for JN6, three different screen resolutions must be taken into account. This means three different sets of files, including ones for 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 resolutions. To make the process a little easier, concentration is first put on creating the highest resolution horizon.

1. Acquire the imagery that you want to use for your horizon.
2. Go to File and choose New.
3. The width of your image will be 7168. The height can be anything from 110 to 400. Under Contents, make sure Transparent is selected.
4. Assemble the imagery for your horizon within this new window you just created. You'll want to create a layer for this horizon work, and fill the Background layer with transparent purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123). The Rubber Stamp tool will probably be of great use when creating the art for your horizon.
5. To make sure your horizon tiles together properly, you will want to use the Offset filter to adjust things horizontally. This way you can study the seam between elements to see what work might need to be done.
6. Once your all your imagery is set in the 7168 wide image, eliminate the sky with the Eraser tool. Make sure that the Eraser is set for Pencil before you start erasing. This will create a "hard edge", which is necessary when you convert your image down to Index Color. Erasing should reveal the Background layer which is purple and it should be easy to see as you work.
7. You may want to do some color adjusting to your horizon. A good place this can be done is under Image, and Adjust, and then Variations. This tool will let you adjust everything from brightness, adding other colors, and even the saturation. You will probably want to make sure the slide scale is set to Fine so that you can make detailed adjustments. Also, consider using Brightness/Contrast under Image, and then Adjust.
8. After the sky is eliminated, and the horizon is color adjusted, save the file in the Photoshop format (PSD file.) You'll want to keep a copy of your horizon like it is now, in layers and in RGB color. You never know when you might need down the road and this is the most flexible form it can be in.
9. Next, you need to split up your horizon into seven panels. Go to the File menu, then Preferences, then Units & Rulers. Set your Ruler Units to Pixels.
10. Click on the Info palette. Next, hold down the [Ctrl] key and select the layer of your image with your horizon art. Look back at the Info palette and take note of the height value it gives in pixels.
11. Select the Marquee tool and start in the far upper left of your horizon layer and move down to the lower right. Keep an eye again on the Info palette and stop when you have a width of 1024 pixels selected. When you do, Cut the image.
12. Make your Photoshop background color the transparent purple (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123).
13. Go to File and create a New document. The width and height should automatically be set to the image you cut onto the clipboard. For Contents, make sure Background Color is selected. Once the new document appears, paste the contents from the clipboard.
14. Under Image, choose Canvas Size. Make the Anchor to the bottom/center square and make the height the value you noted in step 10. After you've done this, you may need to refill your background layer with transparent purple.
15. After all of this is done, the image should be ready to be saved. It will be important to keep a copy of each panel like this in layers as we will use them again later. Repeat steps 11-15 until you have cut out all 7 panels to a width of 1024 pixels each.
16. Open up one of the panels you just saved out.
17. Go to Mode and choose Index Color.
18. Under Resolution, choose 8-bit. Under Palette, choose Adaptive. Under Dither, choose Diffusion. Under Colors, enter 255 as the number. Select OK.
19. Go to Mode and then Color Table. You should then see the 8-bit color palette for your object image.
20. The purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123) needs to be in position 0, which is in the lower right corner. Double-click on color 0 and change its RGB values to the above purple values. Wherever you see the purple value within your palette other than color 0, change its value to black. Select OK when done.
21. When you return to your image, the selected purple areas should now be black.
22. Select your foreground color, and change its RGB values to the purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123).
23. Under Edit choose Fill.
24. Save this horizon panel in your JN6 course directory as a PCX file with an appropriate filename. This will be a horizon panel that ends in a 3 before the extension since it is intended for the 1024x768 resolution.
25. Next, we need to create versions of this panels for 800x600 and 640x480.
26. With the PCX version of the horizon panel still open, also open the RGB PSD version of this same panel you saved in step 15.
27. Choose the RGB image and go to Image Size. Change the width to 800 pixels wide.
28. Select the RGB image's horizon layer. Do a Select All and Copy.
29. Return to the PCX image and go to the Image menu and Image Size. Make the width 800 pixels and choose Ok.
30. Save this panel as a PCX file with a 2 before the extension, indicating it is for the 800x600 resolution. This is just a precaution at this point to be sure we don't overwrite the other panel.
31. Choose the Magic Wand tool and make sure its Tolerance is set to 0
32. In your image, select the purple area of your image with the Magic Wand.
33. Go under Select and choose Similar. All of your transparent purple areas of your horizon should now be selected.
34. Go to the Select menu and choose Inverse.
35. Now, go Edit menu and do a Paste Into. The great part of this technique is that this step takes the RGB palette from the image you copied in step 28 and adapts it to the Index Color palette. So, you don't need to reset your transparent color.
36. You may want to do a little clean-up along the edge of your horizon.
37. Save your PCX image again, but be sure to NOT save your RGB version.
38. Repeat steps 27-36, this time using 640 pixels as the width and saving the file with a 1 before the extension.
39. Finally, repeat steps 27-36 until you have all of the horizon panels completed. There should be 21 total and they all need to be saved in your course's folder.
40. Make sure you add the appropriate entry in your INI file for your horizon.

Objects

Creating objects can be done from many sources. The imagery can be scanned from photographs, taken from digital photography, from Kodak PhotoCD’s, or even manually created. For this example, it will be for a scanned image.

1. Scan the photograph of your object in 24-bit color. The image size varies, and relates to the type of object. For instance, a group of flowers do not need to be as large as a tall pine. A good gauge would be that a tall tree would be around something like 800 pixels in height.
2. Using the Marquee tool, select around the object in your scan. Choose Copy.
3. Make your Photoshop background color the transparent purple (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123).
4. Create a New file. For Contents, make sure Background Color is selected. Take the default size that Photoshop selects as this is the size of the image on your clipboard.
5. Once the new image window appears, choose Paste.
6. Save your object image in whatever format you would like. You might want to create a folder to hold your RGB JN6 objects. They might come in handy later.
7. You can now close the document that contains your original scan without saving it.
8. You may want to do some color adjusting to your object. A good place this can be done is under Image, and Adjust, and then Variations. This tool will let you adjust everything from brightness, adding other colors, and even the saturation. You will probably want to make sure the slide scale is set to Fine so that you can make detailed adjustments. Also, consider using Brightness/Contrast under Image, and then Adjust.
9. Once the object is color adjusted, it is time to start trimming it out. Double-click the Eraser tool. In the Eraser Options palette window, select the pull-down menu to choose a type of tool (it will probably say Paintbrush by default.) Choose Pencil as your brush type. This will give your object a "hard edge" while you erase around it, which is very important when the image is converted down to Index Color mode.
10. Reselect your object’s layer and using the Eraser tool, start eliminating the background imagery surrounding your object. This will reveal the purple background color, which should make it easy to see what has and hasn't been erased.
11. In using the Eraser, you might find it helpful to change the size of the brush for different areas.
12. Once the object is completely trimmed out, save your RGB color version again if you have not recently.
13. Go to Mode and choose Index Color.
14. Under Resolution, choose 8-bit. Under Palette, choose Adaptive. Under Dither, choose Diffusion. Under Colors, enter 255 as the number. Select OK.
15. Select the Magic Wand tool and make sure its Tolerance is set to 0
16. In your image, select the purple area of your image with the Magic Wand.
17. Go under Select and choose Similar. All of your transparent purple areas of your object should now be selected.
18. Go to Mode and then Color Table. You should then see the 8-bit color palette for your object image. The purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123) needs to be in position 0, which is in the lower right corner. Double-click on color 0 and change its RGB values to the above purple values. Wherever you see the purple value within your palette other than color 0, change its value to black. Select OK when done.
19. When you return to your image, the selected purple areas should now be black.
20. Select your foreground color, and change its RGB values to the purple color (Red=123, Green=0, Blue=123).
21. Under Edit choose Fill.
22. Save your object in your JN6 course directory as a PCX file with an appropriate filename. Add its entry to the INI file.

Next, you need to create a thumbnail for the JN6 Designer. In order for a custom object to work properly in JN6, it must have a thumbnail image.

1. Download this THUMBNAIL.ACT file. You can extract this file wherever is convenient for you.
2. Open the 8-bit PCX file of your object in the JN6 course folder that you want to create a thumbnail for.
3. Save the image to your course’s JN6 directory using the appropriate thumbnail filename. (It must have a T before the extension.)
4. Go to Image and then Image Size.
5. Change the unit of measure to pixels for both the width and height. Take the largest of either value and change it to 32 pixels.
6. Go to Image and then Canvas Size.
7. Change the unit of measure to pixels for both the width and height. Change it so that both values are 32 pixels.
8. Double-click on the Magic Wand tool. Under the Magic Wand Options palette, enter 0 as the Tolerance.
9. Click on the purple color in your image.
10. Under Select choose Similar. This will select the rest of the purple color in your image.
11. Use the Magic Wand tool to select any area to the outside of this purple color.
12. Go to Mode and choose RGB.
13. Go back to Mode and choose Index Color.
14. Under Palette, choose Custom. Under Dither, choose Diffusion. Select OK.
15. Select and open the THUMBNAIL.ACT file you downloaded.
16. Change your foreground color to black.
17. Go to Edit and choose Fill. Take the defaults and select OK.
18. Make whatever adjustment you want to the thumbnail.
19. Save the thumbnail.

Finally, you may want to create MIP maps for your custom objects. If you have Photoshop 5, you can download this ACTIONS.ZIP file I have created. It basically automates the steps I'm about to outline. To use the actions, open both the RGB and PCX Index Color versions of your object. Make sure you RGB version of the object is in layers, with your object trimmed out. Select the RGB image and run the '50% for RGB Mip' action. Next, select your PCX Index Color image and run the '50% for 8-bit Mip' action. This last step will bring up the save window. Save out your PCX object with a 2 (denoting the first MIP) before the extension. Repeat using the actions until you have as many MIPs as you want for your object. Be sure to NOT save your RGB version of your object though. These actions may work with Photoshop 4 (I haven't tested them with it though). Here are the "manual" steps I follow to create MIP maps.

1. Open the RGB version of your object. Make sure this file is in layers with your object trimmed out.
2. Go to Image Size and reduce your image by 50%.
3. Go to Filter and do an Unsharp Mask. Use an Amount value of about 20.
4. Select All of your image and do a Copy.
5. Open the PCX Index Color version of your object.
6. Go to Image Size and reduce your image by 50%.
7. Select the Magic Wand and make sure its Tolerance is set to 0. Use it to select the purple transparent area around your object.
8. Go to Select and choose Similar. This will select all of the transparent purple around your object.
9. Go to Select and choose Inverse.
10. Go to Edit and choose Paste Into.
11. Do a Save and put a 2 before the extension in the filename. This indicates that this is the first MIP map.
12. Repeat the above steps until you have created as many MIP maps as you want for your object. Be sure to NOT save your RGB version of your object.

Textures

One of the main keys in creating good texture maps for JN6 is making them tile together seamlessly. Below you will find the steps to do this. You will probably discover that this is harder to do when you have a complex material you are trying to represent. It can be difficult to hide the repeating nature of texture maps within a game like JN6. In creating texture maps, the process will most likely take some experimenting and trial-and-error work to arrive at something satisfying.

1. If you are working from an existing photograph, you will want to scan in the section that you want to use as a texture. Make sure you choose at least a 24-bit color scan. The size of this scan can vary. You will want to make sure it is at least as big as 256 pixels by 256 pixels or larger. Arriving at a final scale for your texture make can take some experimentation to see what looks good in JN6. You can also use stock photography or other digital images for creating texture maps also.
2. Go to the File menu and choose New.
3. For your new document, choose a pixel size of 256 by 256. Also, select your color mode as RGB.
4. Once you have your new empty document on screen with your scan (or source image) for your texture in a separate image, the real work can begin.
5. Use the Rubber Stamp tool and make its origin somewhere within your source texture map image.
6. Return to your empty texture map image and start painting with your Rubber Stamp tool. You may need to reset your origin again on your source texture image from time to time while doing this.
7. Once you have your image filled in with your texture map, it is time to remove the seams.
8. Go to the Filter drop-down menu, choose Other, and then Offset.
9. Under the Horizontal value you will want to enter 128. Enter 128 for Vertical as well. Make sure that Wrap Around is selected under Undefined Areas. By using the Offset filter, this will move the seams of your texture map to the center of the image.
10. Select the Rubber Stamp tool and set it origin point from within the current image or use your source texture image again. Paint along the seam to "erase" it. Experiment with the Rubber Stamp tool until the image looks continuous.
11. Once you have removed the seams, you may want to do some color adjusting. A good place this can be done is under Image, and Adjust, and then Variations. This tool will let you adjust everything from brightness, adding other tints, and even the saturation. You will probably want to make sure the slide scale is set to Fine so that you can make detailed adjustments. Also, consider using Brightness/Contrast under Image and then Adjust.
12. Make sure you save your texture map, and you will probably want to keep a version of it in RGB color for safe keeping.
13. When you have your texture map adjusted and ready for JN6, go to Mode and choose Index Color.
14. Under Resolution, choose 8-bit. Under Palette, choose Adaptive. Under Dither, choose Diffusion. Select OK.
15. Save your PCX file for your texture map within your course's folder. Be sure to add the appropriate INI information for your course's texture maps.