How do I make custom texture signs and messages

[PR1Me T4RGET]

Iv'e seen in some custom maps in gmod that the creator puts a billboard or poster with their custom message like a list of people being credited for helping make the map or just something weird. How do I do that?

[spartic]

paint it on photoshop or gimp

Resize it in 512 512

Export it in a tga format.
Import it in vtf edit

then you can save it as a vtf and type this in the vmf


"LightmappedGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "mytextures/insanebillboarsign"
"$surfaceprop" "concrete"
}

[#WizardPan.]

Read this thoroughly to create your own texture step by step: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Creating_a_Material

[BJK51]

paint it on photoshop or gimp

Resize it in 512 512

Export it in a tga format.
Import it in vtf edit

then you can save it as a vtf and type this in the vmf


"LightmappedGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "mytextures/insanebillboarsign"
"$surfaceprop" "concrete"
}
I'll add to this, it does not always have to be 512, but any combination of a power of 2. So for a large horizontal billboard, you may want 1024 wide and 512 high.

2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096
People say it cannot go to 8192, but I could have sworn I pulled it off from Paint.NET.

[PR1Me T4RGET]

Thanks all for the assistance, and thanks for letting me know it can be perfect squares besides just 512x512. Things like that is very useful info. I think I'll check into the Paint.NET since it looks free. I'm trying to make school sign with its name that you would see on the side of the road, any idea what size I should use for that?

[caesar]

any idea what size I should use for that?
trial and error.

[Archanor]

512x512 is the size of a standard wall (a little higher than a player).

[PR1Me T4RGET]

How would I make a wide texture like a billboard?

[Archanor]

Just open a document as 512x256 and it should be fine, although there's nothing wrong with experimenting with the sizes. You can also look at other textures in Hammer.

[PR1Me T4RGET]

Are there like secret advanced textures I don't know about in Hammer besides the usual list in the texture browser?