I am using Affinity Photo to make a texture for a SkySphere. To do this I created a 1024x1024 image in Affinity Photo, then exported as PNG (16-bit) and imported into Unreal. I created a Material using the texture and applied it to the SkySphere.
In the content browser the texture looks the same as it does in Affinity Photo. However, in the material and on the SkySphere the colors look more saturated and have color banding. I also noticed that the Texture Sample node forces Sampler Type > Normal.
Can someone explain why the texture looks more saturated and has color banding when used in a material? This happens with PNG or TGA.
Affinity Photo:
Editor:
Scene View:
Hi TheCosmicACO,
It looks like UE has thought that the texture is a Normal - Normals have very similar colors in them.
Just open the texture in the texture editor, and change the Compression Settings to DXT1:
Hi @RecourseDesign thanks for quick reply. Yup, you’re totally right. I changed the Compression Settings > Default and also changed Texture Group > World, and enabled sRGB. That fixed everything.
I do have a related problem now which is that I cannot plug the Absolute World Position node into the Sample Texture node. I get the following errors:
[SM6] (Node TextureSample) Cannot cast from larger type float3 to smaller type float2.
[SM6] (Node TextureSample) Cannot cast from larger type LWCVector3 to smaller type LWCVector2.
Do you know what causes these errors and how to address them? Thanks!
New settings for texture:
Material without Absolute World Position:
Material with Absolute World Position:
Good to hear that worked. You can change a float3 to a float2 with the “ComponentMask” node - by default it takes the R and G channels to the float2 which is probably what you’re wanting…
I inserted the Component Mask node and the error goes away but it alters the appearance of the texture. I’m not sure how to interpret the result.
Do you understand why this was the result?
Have you tried without that at all? I think a skysphere would have correct UV’s anyway so a normal “TexCoord” would work.
Yes I have. It does look fine without the Absolute World Position node. My impression as the absolute world position was needed to truly position the texture. Perhaps not…
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