The Texture Browser is one of several Resource Browsers in the UnrealEd Interface. By default it is docked in the Master Browser.
Uses of the browser:
- displays currently loaded Materials
- allows further packages to be opened
- Texture Import And Export
- inspect or set Texture Properties
- select textures to:
- apply them to surfaces
- Set The Resource Property of an actor.
Contents
Opening
The Texture Browser is accessed either of two ways:
- Do UnrealEd Main Menu -> View -> Texture Browser
- Press the texture browser button in the middle of the toolbar at the top of the Editor window. It looks like a little scenic display, to the left of the eye.
The Interface
In the screenshot above, from top to bottom:
- highlighted: the texture browser toolbar button
- the Texture Browser Menu
- Texture browser toolbar
- Three tabs: Full, In Use, MRU (Most Recently Used)
- right-clicking on a material pops up the Material Context Menu
Browser Toolbar Buttons
- Dock / undock from browser window
- Open Package
- Save Package
- Texture Properties
- Load Entire Package
- Previous Group
- Next Group
Full Tab
- List of loaded (or partially-loaded) packages: select one
- Second row:
- The exclamation mark animates textures
- Either push the "All" button to show the textures from all groups in this package, or pick one group from the drop-down box
Textures
The browser doesn't list only textures (big change from UnrealEd 2). The text below each item shows:
Type Name(*) [format and black magic codes] (dimensions)
Type
Type is one of:
- CubeMap
- Shader, marked with a red box
- TexEnvMap, blue
- Texture
- Final Blend, yellow
- ... and others
Texture Browser Menu -> Filter determines which are shown.
Formats
- DXT1
- DXT1 compressed texture
- DXT3
- DXT3 compressed texture
- DXT5
- DXT5 compressed texture
- G16
- 16 bit grayscale texture (for heightmaps)
- L8
- ?
- NODATA
- no data (?)
- P8
- 8 bit palettized texture
- RGB16
- three channels (red, green, blue) with 16 bits per channel (?)
- RGB8
- three channels (red, green, blue) with 8 bits per channel
- RGBA7
- four channels (red, green, blue, alpha) with 7 bits per channel
- RGBA8
- four channels (red, green, blue, alpha) with 8 bits per channel
- RRRGGGBBB
- ?
See Texture Format for more information.
Packages
Textures are stored in files called packages. The Texture Package gives a full list & a summary of their contents.
Because loaded packages use up system memory, it's advisable to use UTX-Viewer. This is an external package browser, which allows you to quickly look for textures without loading them into UnrealEd.
External Links
- Blacksway's UEd2 Texture Browser Tutorial – An excellent introductory tour of the Texture Browser
Related Topics
- Right-click a texture to open the Texture Properties.
- Texture Browser Menu
- Texture Topics
Tutorials
- Import The Texture
- Create a texture
Other browsers in the UnrealEd Interface
- previous: Sound Browser
- next: Mesh Browser