TGA
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Beside the three basic channels (that define the red, green and blue content of the image), targa files can also contain a fourth channel, called the alpha channel, containing information that the VMF shaders can use for effects such as transparency or specularity.
Targa for Vtex
Valid format
For a targa image to be recognized as valid by Vtex, it must meet the following criteria:
- It must be 24 or 32 bits/pixel in depth. (16 bits/pixel is not recognized.)
- Its dimensions (height and width) must have a pixel size equal to a power of 2. (i.e. 2^4=16, 2^5=32, 2^6=64, 2^7=128, 2^8=256, 2^9=512, etc.)
- Its dimensions can not be bigger than 2048 pixels.
- The height and width doesn't need to be the same - 64x128, 256x512 works fine - but square images are preferred by the Source engine, so use them whenever possible, even when it doesn't seem like the best way to go.
- RLE compression is optional, but should be avoided due to occational convertion troubles.
Scale
The default texture scale in Hammer is .25. This means that 4 pixels (in an image) = 1 Hammer unit = 1 inch (in game).
For textures that appear on large surfaces a good scale is 512 pixels for 128 Hammer-units. This is the default scale at which Hammer will apply textures and equals about 10 feet or about 3 meters in the game.
Save location
Remember that Vtex is only able to locate targa images located inside the /materialsrc/ folder of the current game, so you may want to save it there directly to spare you the trouble of having to move it there later.