Creation/usage textures in UE5: parms and options in Gimp/UE5?

Hi, I have been struggling to paint my landscape.

I am trying to figure out specific values/parms of textures creation in Gimp and their usage in UE5, because when painting any textures I created, they are brighter than what they really are. I did a bit of internet search but the information is confusing. Can someone clear this out ?

The below questions are for for diffuse, normal, ambient occlusion, height, roughness, metal, specular and emission types of materials created in Gimp and used in UE5.

In Gimp, when creating the above types of materials:

  • which image precision do I use? 8, 16 or 32 bits?
  • when exporting, do I export in PNG or DSS (plugin?) ?
  • which compression do I use and how? (DXT1, …)

When importing into UE5 Content Browser as a new texture:

  • do I change the sRGB value?
  • do I change any of the Adjustment values (ex:Brightness)?

When adding the texture in a brand new landscape layer material:

  • do I change the Sampler Type option to Color, Linear Color or anything else?

Anything else I have to change depending on the type of material to use?

I wish there was a table somewhere showing all the above for all those material types.

Hi Browserice,

I think this is two separate questions - maybe create a new question regarding the landscape issues, if possible include some snapshots (you can copy/paste images straight into your posts).

Regarding importing textures, here’s a few tips I’ve picked up along the way - there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution, but there isn’t too much to it if you know the basics.

If you’re wanting game textures that aren’t perfect, but optimal for games (most games use this type) - go for .png files when saving out and use 8 bit. These will copy through all your transparency data too.

These will automatically import as DX1 which is the best compression for games - except for normal maps which will import as DX5.

sRGB is the default colorspace for Gimp so sRGB should be enabled for your Diffuse texture - if it looks funny, just try turning it off to see the comparison.

You can change the Brightness etc values - up to you.

To get an accurate view of your textures, view them in “Unlit” mode - then no lighting is applied and you’ll see the texture as it is.

If your textures are looking too bright or washed out, try turning off “Bloom” in the Project Settings.

If you’re wanting hi-res, very accurate colors, go with a 32bit pixel format if you can and export as “exr” - these will be imported into UE with lossless compression and the higher pixel format. (It will default to HDR, you can also change that to Compressed HDR).

Thx, what about the Sampler Type value? Color, Linear Color, …

The “Linear Color” sampler type is for the higher quality type textures (eg exr/HDR) - these take more video memory but have a higher quality finish.

The “Color” sampler type is for the DX1 type compressed textures and the “Normal” sampler is for Normal textures.