In part 1 I explained how to make paper-based sticker, this part is about holographic.

This is advanced difficulty part.

I don't want guide to be too bloated so I will skip many basic instructions, there a lot
of Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials in the internet for that.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246430441

When you first look at holographic mask file you will probably be stunned by what you see.
It looks like some trippy art:



Clarity comes if you look at separate channels:





Red channel is easiest to understand: it sets transparency for holographic layer. In places where it is white you will see full effect; black means you will see only the main texture, and grey means there will be semi-transparent holo effect (you will see both holo effect and texture below it)



Reflection on black border is from $envmap, not from hologram.

In fact, you can completely ignore other two channels if you already like the effect. For some designs that will be enough.

Basic part of guide ended, now the advanced stuff…


Green channel offsets spectrum horizontally. Black means 0° offset, White means 360° offset. Because 0° and 360° have same values on spectrum, you will typically need to use smaller values to see effect.

Lower values hard to see on mask…


…but on hologram they are noticeable.

Important. Avoid high contrast in green channel, because it will cause some weird artifacts:

On left: green mask with 50% transparency. On right: green mask with 1% transparency.

This is probably happening because of anti-aliasing, or anisotropic filtering, don't know.
I haven't found a solution yet. If someone know how to fix, write in comments.
As for now, avoid contrast in green channel.


Blue channel offsets spectrum vertically. On a default holowarp texture, vertical offset is responsible for saturation. Black = fully saturated color. White = very washed / desaturated color.

Unlike green channel, it is OK to use contrast values on blue channel.




Bright and desaturated colors get more specular reflections from phong shader:

This texture file sets color spectrum that is allpied to hologram. Note that color changes
from left to right, and saturation from top to bottom.


Default spectrum made by Valve.

You can make your own spectrum.


Mask used in next 4 examples. Click on image
to get zoomed version.


You can completely change look by tweaking spectrum map.

Making custom spectrum map is a good idea, because it will allow to match colors better:
sometimes default rainbow colors ruin entire design.

When you make your own spectrum, left and right should be symmetrical:

I will show how I make masks and my folder organization in PSD file.

Don't paint directly on r,g,b channels!

That is a bad practice. Channels don't support layers, transparency, blending modes, patterns
and masks. Instead, I will show better way…

Set-up folders

Click to get zoomed pics.

I have folder called Holo where I put 3 sub-folders – R, G and B – and black layer beneath them.
Those folders are for Red, Green and Blue channels accordingly. Black layer is to hide main texture.

Change R,G,B folders blending mode to Linear Dodge (Add)

If you want to change color of folders in layers panel, click right mouse button on them and choose color from menu. This is only to distinguish them from other folders, changing color here doesn't affect image.

I use mask on R folder so I never go out of circle when I put more layers inside that it. Note that my mask is smaller than sticker size: I want it to have black borded without holographic effect.
You can use same mask for G and B folders if you want, but it's optional.

Folders contain greyscale layers. This is where you paint. You can change layers blending mode too, if you want, or leave them as normal mode.

Make channels colored

By default, you will see only white color from layers. To make them colored, double click on folder,
and disable other two channels (GB for Red folder; RB for Green; RG for Blue)

Setup is ready, now you can start painting on layers, change their opacity and do whatever you want. Unlike unwear mask, you don't need to copy from layers to channels tab, you can save file and it will work.

Now you have both texture and holo mask in one PSD file, if you want continue work on texture, just hide the Holo folder. It is much better than having 2 separate psd files for texture and holo mask.


Unlike the main texture, holo mask should be saved in 24-bit TGA, not 32-bit. Remember that.
24-bit is RGB, 32-bit is RGBA. Since you don't need alpha channel for it
(main texture already have alpha channel), it will make your mask file smaller, including vtf.


Save in 24-bit, not 32-bit!


Don't forget to set these parameters every time you make/update file!

Clamp S and Clamp T both should be checked.
No Mipmap / No LOD should always be checked, or you will get graphical bugs.

It is possible to define color and shape entirely from holo mask, leaving texture file fully black.

I will show you a little-known technique for masks shading, it looks something like this:



I will only use that only for red channel, because I don't want to overcomplicate things.

Making an effect

Click to get zoomed images.

Make a new photoshop document (or you can do in same document, if you want)

Add a pattern overlay to layer. I choose stripes (it's not default – you have to make one).
After that, flatten that layer and blur it (without flattening, blur will not have effect on pattern!)

Staring at patterns for too long may cause dizziness.

Now make a folder and set blending mode to Hard Mix (not Hard Light!). Add layer inside it and start painting with black and white colors. Use soft brush for painting. You will start to see the effect.

You can modify pattern by copying layer, rotating it, setting to various blend modes (rotated by 45° and set blending mode multiply, in my case) That way you can get some crazy shading pattern.

If you made effect in different file, select all layers, right click and duplicate to your sticker PSD file, and put it inside R folder.

You can use different adjustment layers for pattern or for hard mix layer. You can also convert pattern to Smart Layer before adding blur to it – that way you can change blur strength any time
(I forgot to do that in my example)

You can tweak layers to get better effect. I switched 2nd pattern from multiply to darken:


Mask by itself looks like an art.


For halftone effect you would need blurred checkerboard pattern. I'm not gonna write how to make patterns, for that there are billion tutorials in internet.

Default spectrum map is a 512x32 file, but it is possible to make other size, such as 512x512.
It will give blue more colors for verical offset. For this tutorial however I will use default size.

I will show how I made one of spectrums (not exactly the same, because I didnt save PSD file
for previous example and forgot exact settings)



Combine different gradient layers in different blending modes and then add gradient overlay adjustment layer on top.


Same as holo mask, spectrum should be saved in 24-bit.


Save in 24-bit, not 32-bit!


Don't forget to set these parameters every time you make/update file!

Clamp S should be unchecked; If you check it, color will stop changing on extreme angles.
Clamp T should be checked. If you uncheck it, there will be bugs in blue channel of holomask.
No Mipmap / No LOD should always be checked, or you will get graphical bugs.

Glossy and holographic should have separate VMT files.

You don't have to use exact same parameters as I did. It is up to you and your artistic vision to tweak the phong and wear parameters around.


$holomask. Path to your holo mask file. Obviously, change to your path.
$holospectrum. Path to spectrum. If you want to use default colors then use this line:
$decalstyle should be set to 3 (that's holo sticker)

I set $envmaptint to "[ 0.02 0.01 0.04 ]" because I wanted to add blueish tint to sticker, to match colors better (also make it less reflective than glossy) for different holo spectrum I would use different tint.

$phongfresnelranges you can leave as "[ 5 5 5 ]", or you can change to something like "[ 25 25 25 ]" if you want more bright reflections.

Here are some patterns. You can use them in your work. Or get inspired by them and make your own patter. If you download my patterns, post a link to guide in your sticker description.

I uploaded all examples in google drive: link[drive.google.com]




Top row:
1. Circular ridges
2. Linear ridges
3. Checkerboard

Bottom row:
4. Circular ridges with fake "anisotropic" effect (it's hard to see on this screenshot; I used this effect in one of my stickers in workshop)
5. Vortex
6. Scales




Please note that with custom holo warps hologram may lose pattern because
of low contrast, you will need to increase opacity of green channel then.

• Holo masks and holo warps should be saves as 24-bit TGA.
  Main texture file should be saved in 32-bit.
  
• In VTFEdit, for holo masks and textures: check Clamp S and Clamp T. For holo warps, only Clamp T.

To publish sticker, you need to start CS:GO SDK, and then choose Workshop Item Publisher:



Add new sticker:


Select the files:


1. Make a preview image. This is a "thumbnail" that people will see when they go to workshop.
2. Upload files for different versions. VMT1 for glossy, VMT2 for holographic
(VMT3 will be for foil in future)
3. Select your VMT files, it will automatically select VTF files associated with them.
4. Base source image. Can be PSD or TGA.
5. Since I have base texture and holo mask in one file, I choose same PSD.
6. Custom specturm map that I made.

Now accept terms and publish.

After that you will need to make more screenshots, videos whatever you want to be displayed
on item page. One small thumbnail is obviously not enough.