01-15-2023, 12:11 PM
Okay, so after some digging I found answers for most of my questions, so I'll add it here for archival purposes.
It turns out that the .psk format is very specific to Unreal Engine, and the only instance where that format is useful is for working with the Unreal Developer Kit (UDK). It can be imported into Blender using an add-on, but it has limited usefulness, for example it was complicated to add textures and the models had really sharp edges, which they are not supposed to have. So it turns out there is an option in Umodel, the assets exporter for unreal engine games made by Gildor, to export them in .gltf format. That format works better with Blender, so I advice to take this one.
Exporting in .gltf doesn't produce an "Animset" folder, all animation information is stored inside the model. I didn't find how to exploit them though.
And so, applying the textures on the models in Blender is relatively easy. You just have to select what you want to texture, the texture you want to be applied, and poof, it works. There is no additional info to add, so the .mat and .props.txt files i mentioned have other functions.
So there are three images for every texture : one with DM in the name, one with NM, and one with SM. DM means Diffuse Map, and is the main texture, NM means Normal Map, and is used for details, and SM means Specular Map, which is used, I believe, for shading. Applying the Normal and Specular map is a bit more technical, so I advice checking the tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-uYPiRcqAk&t=2s "Blender Cycles, Diffuse, Normal, Specular maps" (it uses an older version of Blender so not everything is up to date, but it's quite useful), and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETMoOhAgXiY&t=45s "Beginner's Guide to Nodes in Blender" with the same warning than above (all of his videos are very interesting for modeling in Blender btw).
Blender uses by default "relative path" meaning that the folders can be renamed, shared and all without breaking the links between the models and the textures, which is quite useful. Don't forget textures must be kept with the .gltf for them to be applied later, they are not stored inside the file.
I didn't find yet what the .mat and .props.txt files are used for, I suspect it has to deal with details on shading (what amount of shading is applied to such texture, for example) but I'm not sure at this point.
Here it is, what i found so far! I feel like i learned quite a bunch, even though it's likely anecdotical next to everything there is to know
It turns out that the .psk format is very specific to Unreal Engine, and the only instance where that format is useful is for working with the Unreal Developer Kit (UDK). It can be imported into Blender using an add-on, but it has limited usefulness, for example it was complicated to add textures and the models had really sharp edges, which they are not supposed to have. So it turns out there is an option in Umodel, the assets exporter for unreal engine games made by Gildor, to export them in .gltf format. That format works better with Blender, so I advice to take this one.
Exporting in .gltf doesn't produce an "Animset" folder, all animation information is stored inside the model. I didn't find how to exploit them though.
And so, applying the textures on the models in Blender is relatively easy. You just have to select what you want to texture, the texture you want to be applied, and poof, it works. There is no additional info to add, so the .mat and .props.txt files i mentioned have other functions.
So there are three images for every texture : one with DM in the name, one with NM, and one with SM. DM means Diffuse Map, and is the main texture, NM means Normal Map, and is used for details, and SM means Specular Map, which is used, I believe, for shading. Applying the Normal and Specular map is a bit more technical, so I advice checking the tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-uYPiRcqAk&t=2s "Blender Cycles, Diffuse, Normal, Specular maps" (it uses an older version of Blender so not everything is up to date, but it's quite useful), and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETMoOhAgXiY&t=45s "Beginner's Guide to Nodes in Blender" with the same warning than above (all of his videos are very interesting for modeling in Blender btw).
Blender uses by default "relative path" meaning that the folders can be renamed, shared and all without breaking the links between the models and the textures, which is quite useful. Don't forget textures must be kept with the .gltf for them to be applied later, they are not stored inside the file.
I didn't find yet what the .mat and .props.txt files are used for, I suspect it has to deal with details on shading (what amount of shading is applied to such texture, for example) but I'm not sure at this point.
Here it is, what i found so far! I feel like i learned quite a bunch, even though it's likely anecdotical next to everything there is to know