# make an item dyeable for babies
hi.
what if YOU wanted to make your item dyeable
but colorset editor said (10000 rows of cryptic values)
fear not, you can actually ignore all of them for 99% of use cases.

there are roughly 3 aspects to making an item dyeable
1 - the alpha layer on your normal texture. it assigns "colorset rows" to parts of your texture, allowing you to apply different dyes to them later. [alpha guide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/175wTPmGZs7wqB3M05_XK_sLzNYeuKtlQYRocLMApKfw/)
2 - your base texture that the dye gets applied to. this can either be a very white diffuse (not recommended) or a multi (recommended).
3 - the "colorset" - some ffxiv shit that dictates how to dye each part. it uses the "colorset rows" from your alpha.
## base texture
depending on whether you pick diffuse or multi, you have to change the material to be either default(=multi) or diffusespecular(=diffuse)
if u want to mix and match diffuse and multi textures, make 2 different materials and seperate your model.
### diffuse
**there is basically no reason to do this** except if you are stupid like me. i dont know why im including it in the guide to be honest. you can save 1 material slot with this in some scenarios ig.
i just wanted to show off that it's something you can do, and that the result looks decent.

this is what a very white diffuse looks like
just edit the texture in your image editing software of choice
use hue and satruation to put satruation on 0
then use brightness and contrast to make it as white as possible while still retaining texture details
the result dyes pretty well despite its pepeganess

### multi
[photoshop action](https://mega.nz/file/09hR3KIK#wg_2NygzvmGNJfIVYObLNAvt0MJUM6ziPEyfWNKLPJM)
[strawberrys guide video](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JQYCSDyNrBofMhEKH1uoiSBc8zrARV16200MOZr7rOQ/edit#slide=id.g27ea7996dc1_0_87)
(this is what they do:
1. make it black and white
2. make the green channel white
3. make the red channel brighter with the Curves tool
4. copy the red channel into the blue channel
pretty similar to what i described for the white diffuse tbh)

ive also seen people just put layer color green in csp
this is an example of multi and og diffuse of an item

## colorsetting
first, import this base file on your colorset
https://files.catbox.moe/0ehdus.dds
you will see that every row is WHITE, except for the final row, which is HONEY YELLOW and DYEABLE.
COPY the honey yellow row ("COPY ROW" button).
locate the row for the part of your item that you want to be DYEABLE.
> you can use "highlight colorset row" in your model viewer, but ideally you already know which row is which because you just did the alpha
> **NOTE:** sometimes the rows blend into each other. the easiest fix for this is to just use up 2 rows for one color, since you probably don't need more than 8 colors anyways.

PASTE the honey yellow row onto the row you want to be DYEABLE.
now, copy and paste one of the white rows onto row 16 so only the row you want to be dyeable is yellow.
hit SAVE.
if you navigate to the model viewer now, you should see that your item has become dyeable and is dyed honey yellow.
### change the colors of the item
now you gave your item basic dyeability, but you probably don't want it to be yellow and you want to color other parts of it too.
first, click your DYEABLE ROW and click the drop down menu for PREVIEW DYE (marked as 1). select your favorite dye from here, and then hit COPY DYE VALUES TO ROW (marked as 2).
your item is now not yellow anymore.
for other parts of your item, like let's say you want the collar to be black - you basically repeat the same process.
find the row for your collar and copy your dyeable row onto it.
select "Jet Black" (or whatever color you want it to be) from the drop down menu on the right, and hit copy dye values to row.
After that, change "Dye Template" to "Undyeable".
I recommend using this method to dye every part of your item. You will know exactly what you are getting and the shades of black/white will match with what the player can achieve in game. I consider it good practice.
If you want a silver/gold part, do the same thing and select the "Metallic Silver" or "Metallic Gold" dye.
### other types of dye
in general, i would **highly recommend sticking to the default dye template whenever possible**. people have their favorite colors, their favorite shaders to fine tune them, they want to match with all their other items, etc.
if you can make your item look good with only black, white and the one dyeable color, this will be your best bet. a good idea is offering two versions:
(image taken from [BERRYBLUE] Street Kitsch Collab by Strawberry and Blue)

regardless of this "DISCLAIMER", there are times where you want to use different dyes.
#### dyeing darker or lighter
the most common ones are "dyes darker" and "dyes lighter"
penumbra has a nice preview for those:
101 dyes darker and is very satruated.
201 dyes darker, 202 dyes lighter, and they are normal in every other way. i recommend using them if you want to dye darker or lighter.
you can change the dye preset here:

#### dyeing metallic or having shine
get the level of shine that you want (for example via the earlier method of applying a metallic dye) and uncheck everything except "Apply to Diffuse".
This will allow players to dye the mod in their preferred color but keep your shine/texture
#### others\?
if you want something else, like an item that glitters like a crystal, latex texture, try out some of the other dye presets etc, id **HIGHLY** recommend copying the row from an existing item or messing around with it in penumbra where you can instantly see your changes.

### tiles\?
i would honestly say don't bother. just do the texturing on your actual textures. (i get killed for making a shitty guide)

## a little note on penumbra and colorset editors in general
i LITERALLY percieve colorset editors like this:
you can seriously ignore almost all the "information" they provide and make mods dyeable just fine. dont get overwhelmed.