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  • Multiple maps workflow

What is the preferred/most workflow when working with multiple maps (Emission/Normal maps) + skins? I’m talking about an easy roundtrip between Photoshop > Spine > Unity (especially the latter two). I know this has already been asked (e.g. I made a post back in 2020), I was wondering if stuff changed for the better.
I don’t need spine to auto generate normal maps or such, I just need to know the roundtrips and workflows.

It's so much to think of, it all feels like a cumbersome workflow, or I am missing something. Maybe it’s a feature request, could we please get easier workflow when working with multiple maps, e.g. Secondary Textures like Unity has (that get automatically added split into their own separate image files, positioned in the same layout) < this, is what I really want.

  • Misaki ответили на это сообщение.
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    PeterBacall There should be no need to create a secondary skin to use emission or normal maps. You can see the example of using normal and emission maps can be found inSpine Examples/Other Examples/Sprite Shaders:

    Stretchyman, which is used in this example, has no skin other than the default skin. The Spine/Sprite/Vertex Lit shader is used for the Material, with Normal and Emission maps set.


    When using the “Export”, there is no “Combine subdirectories” that I can uncheck (said in this post to be unchecked), it’s only present when using the separate Texture Packer > Settings.

    The Combine subdirectories option will not appear unless Image folder is selected in the pack settings of Texture atlas:

    However, if you want to pack normal maps or emission maps, you should run the texture packer separately and pack the specified image folder. The reason for this is that the images actually used in the skeleton will be affected by the skeleton's mesh settings during packing, which may result in a different placement of the normal maps and emission maps.

    Both exporting skeletons and packing textures with the texture packer can be done from the CLI, so once the export and packing settings are set, the later export process is quite easy. For more information about the CLI, please see the Spine User Guide:
    https://esotericsoftware.com/spine-command-line-interface

    Updating the Spine assets in Unity can be done by overwriting their source file, so if you specify the output path to the folder where the skeleton data files are located in your Unity project, adding animations or skins to the skeleton data is quickly reflected by re-exporting your skeleton.

    If you have any questions about the detailed procedure, please do not hesitate to ask additional questions.

    6 дней спустя
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    Thank you! What workflow/roundtrip with Photoshop would be recommended?

    I create Emission variants of the images in Photoshop together with the default images

    1. Export the texture from spine using the Texture packer, to make sure the placement is the same. I export both the Emission and Default texture from Spine. Question: How do I export the “Emission” variant of the character texture without having to create a separate skin? Can I swap images during export?
    2. Now I have the two textures and add them to the characters Material (e.g. Albedo and Emission in Spine/Sprite/Vertex Lit)

    Or

    I create the Emission map AFTER the spine Export

    1. Export the texture from spine using the Texture packer, to make sure the placement is the same.
    2. Paint the exported texture in Photoshop (black and white etc, creating the emission map)
    3. Now I have the two textures and so on (same as the other)....
    • Misaki ответили на это сообщение.

      PeterBacall The former of the methods you mention is the most common way!
      If the Image folder is selected in the Texture atlas option, all images placed in the skeleton's image path will be packed. In other words, images that are not actually used in the skeleton will also be packed as long as they are in the image folder. This is why there is no need to create a skin or otherwise have the emission variant images for the skeleton.

      Note that the latter approach may not work because some image editors, such as Photoshop, may lose the color values of transparent pixels, which can cause artifacts around attachments. Please see the video below starting at 04:50 for a detailed explanation:

      Therefore, if you want to create an emission map or a normal map, you must first prepare the images in black and white or painted in normal map color, and then pack them with Spine's texture packer.

      • PeterBacall ответили на это сообщение.

        Misaki Thank you! Almost got it right now (the default and emission texture are two separate textures now), except the placements are wrong. (Even though I use the Texture Packer). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

        @PeterBacall Are you sure that you've disabled Strip Whitespace X/Y during packing? Otherwise some attachments will be cut to a smaller size when they contain transparent areas in the color attachment image compared to e.g. the normalmap attachment image (where there is usually no transparency). As a result, differently sized attachment images would be packed differently.

        • PeterBacall ответили на это сообщение.

          Harald That solved it, thank you! Totally missed that one

          @PeterBacall Very glad to hear, thanks for getting back to us!