Help with Blender UV unwrapping for Source with VTF texture

[Trumple]

Hello all,

I'm totally new to modelling but I needed to whip up a simple model so I decided to give it a shot myself. I followed a tutorial to UV unwrap a cuboid, exported the UV map, edited it in GIMP, and re-set the source image to the edited version so it looks like this:

[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10518681/Screenshots/2014-07-28_21-07-08.png[/IMG]

Seems okay so far, but I'm using a PNG for the texture. Now the tutorial I'm following loses me a bit here: I need to use a VTF texture if I'm not mistaken. I have the SMD tools setup for Blender, but it doesn't seem to like loading the VTF in the UV editing window:

[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10518681/Screenshots/2014-07-28_21-09-26.png[/IMG]

So I'm a bit lost here. After trying to load the VTF, it just makes the model blank and says that error ("Can't load image") I don't really know what to do next - do I just export despite the fact my model seems textureless? Do I export with the PNG that works (as per the first screenshot)? Do I apply the texture at a later point?

Am I even supposed to load a texture image at this point?:
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10518681/Screenshots/2014-07-28_21-11-36.png[/IMG]

If not, how do I load in the VTF so I can select it from the material option for the object itself?

Thanks very much in advance!

[Sgt.Hunter]

You just have to assign a texture with the same name as the .vtf image that you want to use for the exported model.
By default SMD tools uses the name of the material to define which texture has to be loaded for every individual face. Just make sure the name of the material is identical to the .vtf you are going to use with the finished model (without the file extension).

For Blender and the further process it doesn't matter what image type you use to load the texture in.

Edit: When I say .vtf I mean .vmt as seen below.

[Jeff_epic_mopeds]

No no no, that's not it at all.

The name of your material must match the name of the VMT file. The VMT folder must match the $cdmaterials path, and the $basetexture command in the VMT must match the folder of the VTF.

The image in Blender doesn't matter, it's just for you to use as a reference for UV mapping.

[Trumple]

Ah, thanks! That clears things up a lot. So I just have to set the name and path of the material correctly in Blender and in the QC file. For anyone who finds this thread later, this option can be changed so that it uses the name of the texture (file name of the image) instead of the material name: [URL]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Blender_Source_Tools_Help#Source_Engine_Export[/URL]