Parallax Signs

Parallax Signs are ZIP-files containing a couple of .dds files ("Direct Draw Surface") and a Skin.json file.

Create your DDS files

First you need a drawing program that allows you to draw your image in mutiple layers. Choose any you are comfortable with like Photoshop, gimp, paint.NET, Krita, etc..

Parallax signs come in 3 different formats: 1x1, 2x1, and 4x1. Make sure to choose the dimensions of your image to fit one of these formats. (e.g. 1024x256, 1024x512, 1024x1024).

Note: Parallax signs allow for a maximum of 8 layers.

Once you have drawn your image, export each layer into a separate .dds file. If your program doesn't support exporting to .dds, just export each layer as .png and convert those files to .dds via a png to dds conversion tool. Make sure to name your files in a way that you easily remember their order from foreground to background.

Create your Skin.json file

The Skin.json file is a simple text file. You can open and edit it with any text editor that can open .txt files (like Notepad). It looks something like this:

{
    "ClassId": "Parallax",
    "Layers" = [
        {
            Name = "Layer1.dds",
            Depth= "50"
        },
        {
            Name = "Layer2.dds",
            Depth= "100"
        },
        {
            Name = "Layer3.dds",
            Depth= "500"
        },
        {
            Name = "Layer4.dds",
            Depth= "1000"
        }
    ]
}

In this example Layer1.dds is the name of the file displayed in the foreground and Layer4.dds is the name of the file displayed all the way in the background. Additionally to the order each Layer gets a property Depth. This indicates how "far away" the layer is supposed to be. This is what will cause the parallax effect ingame.

Note: You can choose any Depth you like for every layer, even higher values for layers in the foreground and lower values for layers in the background.

Create and use the Parallax File

Once you have created both your .dds files and our Skin.json file, select all the files and put them into a .zip file. Depending on the format you chose for your parallax sign, save that zip file to one of these folders (if they don't exist, create them):

• Documents\Trackmania\Skins\Any\Advertisement1x1
• Documents\Trackmania\Skins\Any\Advertisement2x1
• Documents\Trackmania\Skins\Any\Advertisement4x1

Now start (or restart!) Trackmania, go into the map editor, place a sign and select the Skin Mode (F5). Click in the sign you placed and your parallax sign should be selectable from the menu.

Note: Selecting a sign or iamge from your local disc does NOT make it available to other players who download and play your map. In order to do that you need to upload your file somewhere (like dropbox, Google Drive, or ManiaCDN) and then create a locator file (.loc) for your parallax sign. (The locator file for MyParallax.zip must be named MyParallax.zip.loc and contains a single line with the url where the zip file can be downloaded from)