Simviation Forum - How to repaint DDS textuers?

Apr 4^th, 2011 at 5:18am

Demious Offline
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I've been repainting BMP files from Carenado models and this works fine. However, I got the Iris DA42 Twin star now and that one works with DDS files and when I open one in DXTBMP and send it to photoshop, I get a total white page, with some minor details from the aircraft and not the shapes of the fuselage, or any shading on it, as I"m used to from BMP files, so I cant repaint and layer this as I'm used to from BMP files.

Is there any good tutorial for repaiting those DDS files?

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Reply #1 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 5:48am

Hagar Offline
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The basic principle should be the same for both. Make sure you have the latest version of DXTBmp. http://www.btinternet.com/~mnwright/programs/dxtbmp.htm

You might need to flip the textures before & after repainting them.

I haven't got the Iris Twin Star so can't comment. I suspect the textures are laid out differently from what you're used to.

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Reply #2 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 6:48am

Demious Offline
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I though to just do the same as I'm used to with BMP files, but this isnt gonna work, since I dont get the right items on my page.

Let me show what I mean. This is what I normaly start out with:

Then what I do, is cut out the parts of the fuselage, paste those on a seperate layer and duplicate that layer, so I get 2 of those.
1 I use to give the new color and the other one for shading.
The colored one, I ajust to the original background layer with lighting effects, and the shading layer, I pull up the blacktone and ajust the transperacy to just give a little shade and highlight, instead of the full color.
I put all 3 layers together and save those to return to DXTBMP and this results in something like this:

You can see I got huge detail- and shading-effects and the color seems to come alive.

(I only did one part, just for the example)

However, with the DDS files, I get this to work with:

I got no outline for the fusalage, I got no shading to work with and just repainting one layer gives a way to flat color, with hardly any graphics for rivets and detailing. I get a flat basic color, which covers up the detailing of the rivets and all.

How do I create my color layer with only the fuselage parts and how do I create the shading layer from this flat surface drawings? Or how do I convert it to BMP, so I can indeed work with the items I'm using as in the top example?

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Reply #3 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 7:02am

Hagar Offline
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I suspect that's peculiar to the Twin Star. Nothing to do with the DDS format. To see what I mean try opening the main texture of a default aircraft in DXTBmp.

PS. The Twin Star package should include 2 paint kits to save you the trouble. http://www.irisfss.com/product-pro-da42.php

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Reply #4 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 8:37am

Demious Offline
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Ah... That I didnt see yet, now we're talking! Cheesy

Still I gotta change my techniques, but this looks like something I can handle.

Thanks a lot!

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Reply #5 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 2:41pm

Demious Offline
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Maybe it's just me, but I dont seem to understand how to proces this type of templates... Wink

I dont seem to get to a point where I can turn either the example above, or the one here into anything I can work with like I do with the BMP textures.

From this type, I can get the shapes, but no detailing or shading. From the type I showed above, I cant get anything to work with.
Has anyone experience with repainting these types of textures, or know where to find a decent tutorial? Or maybe a paint-kit which gives me base-textures, like the 2 I showed on top of the former post?

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Reply #6 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 3:25pm

Hagar Offline
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Which format are those paint kit files in? I believe most paint kits are in a format like PSP or PSD that preserves layers. If you open the files in Photoshop you can select the layers & paint them as you wish.

The Diamond Star & Twin Star are of composite construction which gives a very smooth finish with no rivets or visible panel lines. The paint schemes on the ones I've seen are very basic with perhaps a few cheat lines on a white surface.

This is difficult without having the aircraft or the paint kit. Perhaps someone like patchz can give you more specific help.

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Reply #7 - Apr 4^th, 2011 at 6:34pm

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Demious, just on a side note, all images must be uploaded to the simv server. Wink

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Reply #8 - Apr 5^th, 2011 at 11:31am

patchz Offline
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Hagar is correct about the Twin Star paint kit. I found it easier to make a copy of an existing paint in a new texture folder. Then open them in DXTBmp and send to

editor. I add a layer and place my registration and any design over the existing one, orienting the text properly based on the original. Then if I want to change the

base color, I add a multiply layer between the base and the layer I added. Then I go to the base layer and paint over the original text and design. It's a lot easier

than trying to figure out their paint kit, at least for me.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #9 - Apr 6^th, 2011 at 6:17am

Demious Offline
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@Hagar -The painted files are in DDS format, as the title of the topic suggests. The repaint files are indeed PSD, but they only give me some details per layer and one layer with lines, as shown above. I cant fill those, with colour because several pictures are overlapping or so close they will overlap when filling. Also the lines arent closed, so the whole page gets filled and the ones that are closed will run over the lines when filling a next area and the filling gets more and more outside the shapes, with every new area I paint. And still I'm missing my shading and highlight, which prevents me from using my normal techniques.
This results in a flat, dull color and not in the lively coloring as shows in the Carenado example above.

@BrandonF -I know the images have to be uploaded to simv, but I only get [img]-link options and no upload options, so I dont have much choice.

@Patchz-I know how to create extra layers from existing paint to work on, that's what I did with other repaints, but the files I get dont contain anything I can work with, as shown in my 2nd post in this topic. I only get a white page with the stripes on it and no shapes or shading of the fuselage, so that isnt gonna work.
In the 2nd post you can see the difference between fuselage images from the Carenado c340, which is great to create work-layers from, and what I get with the twin star. The ones from the twin star dont contain anything more than the stripes and some rows of rivets.

I've been searching youtube for tutorials already, but I only see videos where people start with a recognisable fuselage, as I've shown from the Carenado C340. I cant find any explination of how to work with imagies as those from the twin star.
Maybe I'm overlooking a very simple, silly thing, I've just started with repainting, so let's call this my learning-curve. Tongue