Modding:Face and body textures

Editing the CLEA/HMVY

To edit CLEA/HMVY textures, it is best to break them down to their RGBA channels and edit each channel individually.

For example in GIMP to separate them into their channels you would do this:

1. Open the texture in GIMP
2. Go to Colors > Components > Decompose > Switch Color Model to RGBA
3. Once the Color Model is selected press OK.
4. This will open another window/page with each channel as layers. You can now edit each channel separately using the guide below to know what each channel does.
5. When you are finished making your edits go to; Colors > Components > Compose > Switch Color Model to RGBA.
6. Once the Color Model is selected, press OK.
7. It will now open another window/page with the texture repacked with its channels together. You can now export your texture. When exporting your texture make sure the extension is .DDS not .dds, and the compression is either BC3/DXT5 or BC1/DXT1, as below.

CLEA

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear

• Red Channel - Cavities/Pores
• Green Channel - Eyebrows
• Blue Channel - Lips
• Alpha Channel - Ambient Occlusion

HMVY

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear
Skin tinting

• Red Channel - Hemoglobin
• Green Channel - Melanin (freckles)
• Blue Channel - Veins
• Alpha Channel - Yellowing

NORMAL

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear
Wrinkles, scars, any indents in the skin

To convert a "regular" normal map to BG3, put the Red channel into Alpha channel and set Red channel to black

MSK

DDS Format: BC1/DXT1 Linear

• Red Channel - Non-skin (horns, nail colour)
• Green Channel - Pigmentation (lighter = less, also vitiligo)
• Blue Channel - Tear/Lip Lines

Gallery

• 

  CLEA

• 

  HMVY

• 

  NM

Tattoo and Makeup Atlases

DDS Format: BC1/DXT1 Linear

Tattoos

• Red, Green, and Blue are all different tattoo designs. Can design on any.

Makeup

• Red Channel - Makeup options
• Green Channel - Gith spots
• Blue/Alpha - Not used

CTLO

CTLO - Cavity.Thickness.Lips.Occlusion

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear

• Red Channel - Cavity
• Green Channel - Thickness
• Blue Channel - Lips
• Alpha Channel - Ambient Occlusion

Thickness - it's inverted compared to one from Marmoset and much lighter

AO - it's much whiter then one you will bake in Marmoset or Substance, so adjust them if you want to mix with yours

HMVY

HMVY - Hemoglobin.Melanin.Vein.Yellowing

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear

• Red Channel - Hemoglobin
• Green Channel - Melanin (pigment amount)
• Blue Channel - Veins
• Alpha Channel - Yellowing

NORMAL

DDS Format: BC3/DXT5 Linear

To convert a "regular" normal map to BG3, put the Red channel into Alpha channel and set Red channel to black

MSK

DDS Format: BC1/DXT1 Linear

• Red Channel - Non-skin (horns, scales, any keratin parts)
• Green Channel - Convexity map
• Blue Channel - Emty black

This is just to show how exactly MSK channels works:

+ Small test to make more obvious how works R channel

DMSK

sRGB - every channel is decorative mask (trough them you make guilded mask, add details)

In the 2nd picture you could see DMSK blue channel as yellow guilding:

This document could also give you better understanding Dragonborn Skin Colour References by Padme4000

Draconic Bloodline DMSK

sRGB - every channel is draconic bloodline decorative mask - they will replace DMSK if gamer choose the DB subclass, keep it in mind

You could check every separate channel in files here Dragonborn head Substance Painter Assets all existing DGB head textures unpacked by channels in separate folders

Also you could see every DGB head material including NPC's with this mod Dragonborn head material checker - Modder's Tool.