DyeManager SE WIP (Patreon)

Hey all, I've been working on re-doing the Dye Manager for SSE, for those of you unfamiliar with this mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56420

Here's the API functioning in SSE https://i.imgur.com/GWTTZ8P.png

For those of you who were users/authors of mods utilizing this API I wanted to clarify some changes since I've rewritten the colorization of the texture through DirectX.

What does this mean?

1. Creates a new diffuse with the effects applied (This means its not a tint mask anymore)
2. No longer replaces the shader type with Facegen, instead keeps the source shader e.g. (environment map, big plus here, this was a major drawback in LE)
3. Layers are blended iteratively
   • This means it is functionally different from LE as masks would be a layer group before blending onto the source, each layer is now blended iteratively in order
4. Mask dimensions are now the size of the source texture, masks smaller than the source will be upsampled (by DirectX)
5. Plain textures can now be layered on top of the source texture
   • Alpha supported, this allows for "decaling", though currently no way to actually change this texture other than the defined XML coming soon maybe
6. No layer limit
   • I don't know how well this will scale, it is all rendered GPU but it might get expensive depending on number of layers and dimensions of textures
7. Mask textures can now be ANY dds format
   • Recommended single channel for masks, otherwise it will take the color from the red channel
8. Blend modes can now be applied between layers
9. Shader file is in hlsl and is compiled at runtime (Meaning you can edit it if you choose)

XML file format changes:

1. The width/height property are no longer necessary
2. New "type" attribute on the "mask" element, valid values = [0, 1]
   • 0 - Normal - Layering an opaque texture, texel is multiplied by the "color" and "alpha" attribute if specified
   • 1 - Mask - Red channel of texel is multiplied by the "color" and "alpha" attribute
3. New "blend" attribute on the "mask" element, valid values = [0..10]
   • 0 - Normal
   • 1 - Overlay
   • 2 - Linear Light
   • 3 - Linear Dodge
   • 4 - Linear Burn
   • 5 - Lighten
   • 6 - Darken
   • 7 - Color Dodge
   • 8 - Color Burn
   • 9 - Soft Light
   • 10 - Tint (Looks very similar to overlay)

What does this mean for the future?

• Possibly merging normals or speculars with runtime masks or overlays
• Can be ported to Fallout 4 for better body tattoo layering