Search the archive:
YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
 
   
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
In depth tutorial needed... (Read 1472 times)
Sep 27th, 2011 at 6:28am

jon157uk   Offline
Colonel
I Love Beaver!

Posts: 45
*****
 
Can anyone point me towards an in depth tutorial for painting these aircraft please?
I've already seen and read the ones from other links in here but to be honest and no offence meant to the authors but they are pretty crap and not 'in depth' at all like they claim to be. All they actually do is teach you how to make a Cessna shaped splodge of paint fly around your screen. None of the ones I've seen so far even come close to telling you how to avoid losing all the aircraft detail or how to work with layers and alphas.

Thanks....
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #1 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 7:01am

todayshorse   Offline
Colonel
'Ten Thousand Blister.....'
England

Gender: male
Posts: 2806
*****
 
I found a great one somewhere - let me find it and ill get back to you with a link Wink
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #2 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 12:07pm

JoBee   Offline
Colonel
Better to give than receive.

Posts: 582
*****
 
jon157uk wrote on Sep 27th, 2011 at 6:28am:
telling you how to ... work with layers and alphas.

Thanks....

There are tons of tutorials all over the web on how to do these things, that are not specific to painting for flight sim.

There are differences depending on what program you are using.

Search for tutorials specific to the software you have and learn how to use it, then using those techniques to repaint planes will become second nature.
cheers,
Joe
 

Don't argue with idiots, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
IP Logged
 
Reply #3 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 3:24pm

jon157uk   Offline
Colonel
I Love Beaver!

Posts: 45
*****
 
I've told you before Jo, the techniques that I learned to use with both Photo Shop and Corel Paint Shop do not work with FSX aircraft for some reason. I've re-skinned and painted hundreds of things for other sims but these just don't work out with the same results, that's why I asked for a tutorial on how to handle 'aircraft' specifically and not another thousand Photo Shop or Paint Shop tutorial.
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #4 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 4:02pm

Club508   Offline
Colonel
I like repainting aircraft!
Planet Earth

Gender: male
Posts: 1528
*****
 
i don't know if it's what you're looking for, but here's one I whipped up myself real quick.  I originally made it for FS9 and I tried switching stuff for FSX, but I may have missed some stuff.

Necessary Materials

•      Microsoft Flight Simulator X
•      Dxtbmp
•      A good image creation/editing program

Main File Names

This is done by what the file names end with and what they control.

_T                  Main Outer Body of Aircraft
_C                  3-D Virtual Cockpit
_Specular            Controls the specular shine on an aircraft.
_bump                  Don’t edit these.
_Night                  These usually somewhat control the aircraft textures at night.
_LM                  These usually control things like aircraft lights.

Making the Textures Editable

Before doing this, I would suggest making a second copy of your FSX’s main “Aircraft” folder and calling it “Edits” and editing the textures in here so you don’t accidentally mess up the actual textures.

1.      Open the texture you want to edit in Dxtbmp.
2.      If it is a DDS image, you may have to flip it.
3.      Go to file save as, and save it as a 24 bit BMP Image.

Editing the Textures

1.      Open the texture in your image creator/editor and paint away.  Be aware that most of the aircraft _T textures have doors.  If they do, make sure you paint those as well, or the door section of the airplane will be the same as it was before editing when you put the texture into Flight Simulator.
2.      Save the image.

Putting Your Newly Edited Texture Into Flight Simulator

1.      Make a copy of one of the texture folders of the aircraft you’re repainting, and change the number after it to the next unused number.
2.      Open your newly edited texture in Dxtbmp.
3.      Save the file as an Extended Bitmap, and then DXT 1 if it is one of the 3-D cockpit textures, and DXT 3 if it is one of the _T or _L textures and overwrite the copy of it in the copy of the texture folder.
4.      If not already there, move the copy of the texture folder to the aircraft’s folder.

The aircraft.cfg File

1.      Open the aircraft’s aircraft.cfg file in notepad.
2.      In the aircraft.cfg file there will be a section that looks like this (except with things after the = signs.):
[fltsim.0]
title=
sim=
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=
ui_manufacturer=
ui_type=
ui_variation=
description=

Copy it, and paste one section underneath the last section of it for each new texture you add. Make sure there is an empty line between both the above section and the [General] section below.

Edit as following:
Descirptions of the Different aircraft.cfg File Sections

[flightsim.x]            Replace with the x with the next unused number of the sections.
Title=      Replace what’s after this with what you want the aircraft title to be.  Make sure the titles of all the sections are different.
Sim=            Do not change.
Model=            Do not change.
Panel=            Do not change.
Sound=            Do not change.
Texture=      Replace what’s after this with whatever you placed after the period in the name of the new texture folder.
Kb_checklists=            Do not change.
Kb_reference=            Do not change.
Atc_id=      Replace what’s after this with what you want the aircraft’s tail number to be.  Make sure it is no longer than seven digits, and that the letters are all capitals, and that you only use letters and/or numbers.
Ui_manufacturer=      Do not change
Ui_type=      Do not change
Ui_variation=      Replace what’s after this with what you want the aircraft’s variation to be in the aircraft selection menu.  Make sure it is different from the variation of all the other sections.
Description=      Replace what’s after this with what you want the description to be in the aircraft selection menu.

3.      Save and overwrite the aircraft.cfg file.
4.      Put the new texture folder and new aircraft.cfg file in the aircraft’s folder.
5.      Open the aircraft in flight simulator and check that it works.  If it doesn’t, check back and make sure you did all the steps correctly.


Other
Cool
Effects


Reflective Metal on the Aircraft’s Exterior

1.      Make a copy of the _T image and open it in your image editor.
2.      Edit the image using only shades of black, white and gray, making the area’s you want more reflective closer to black, and the areas you want less reflective closer to white.
3.      Save the image as a bitmap.
4.      Open the actual _T texture in Dxtbmp.
5.      Click on Alpha on the bar at the top, and select Import Alpha Channel.
6.      Click OK on the popup.
7.      Open the image you created.
8.      Save the image as an Extended Bitmap, DXT 3. (The whole image, not just the alpha)

Specular Shine

1.      Make a copy of the _T texture.
2.      Open the copy in your image editor.
3.      Edit the image as you want the color of the shine to appear on the aircraft
4.      Save it as a bitmap.
5.      Then, make another copy of the _T texture, and open it in the editor.
6.      Make it in only shades of black white and grey, with the closer to black the more you want the shine to appear and the closer to white for less shine. (Note: putting it at all black will not make the shine full time, but full white will still make no shine appear)
7.      Save it as a bitmap.
8.      Open the colored one in DXTbmp
9.      Click on Alpha on the bar at the top, and select Import Alpha Channel.
10.      Click OK on the popup.
11.      Open the black and white image you created.
12.      Save the image as an Extended Bitmap, DXT 3. (The whole image, not just the alpha)

 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #5 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 4:08pm

jon157uk   Offline
Colonel
I Love Beaver!

Posts: 45
*****
 
Well 508, that's certainly a lot closer to what I had in mind than anything else I've found so far. Thank you very much mate, I'll get back to the drawing board armed with your info now and have another go.
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #6 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 5:21pm

Club508   Offline
Colonel
I like repainting aircraft!
Planet Earth

Gender: male
Posts: 1528
*****
 
jon157uk wrote on Sep 27th, 2011 at 4:08pm:
Well 508, that's certainly a lot closer to what I had in mind than anything else I've found so far. Thank you very much mate, I'll get back to the drawing board armed with your info now and have another go.

thanks! Good luck! Wink
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #7 - Sep 27th, 2011 at 6:12pm

todayshorse   Offline
Colonel
'Ten Thousand Blister.....'
England

Gender: male
Posts: 2806
*****
 
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #8 - Sep 28th, 2011 at 4:06pm

jon157uk   Offline
Colonel
I Love Beaver!

Posts: 45
*****
 
Excellent TS!

Thanks a lot guys I feel ready to have another crack at it now.
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #9 - Sep 28th, 2011 at 8:08pm

Club508   Offline
Colonel
I like repainting aircraft!
Planet Earth

Gender: male
Posts: 1528
*****
 
jon157uk wrote on Sep 28th, 2011 at 4:06pm:
Excellent TS!

Thanks a lot guys I feel ready to have another crack at it now.

Just don't crack under stress or anything. Wink
Again, another bad attempt at humour, but I just can't help it! Smiley Cheesy Grin
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #10 - Sep 29th, 2011 at 7:28pm

jon157uk   Offline
Colonel
I Love Beaver!

Posts: 45
*****
 
Club508 wrote on Sep 28th, 2011 at 8:08pm:
jon157uk wrote on Sep 28th, 2011 at 4:06pm:
Excellent TS!

Thanks a lot guys I feel ready to have another crack at it now.

Just don't crack under stress or anything. Wink
Again, another bad attempt at humour, but I just can't help it! Smiley Cheesy Grin


I know exactly what you mean, I spent a good few hours pulling my hair out while I was in the early days of painting and skinning cars for the 'rFactor' sim......but you've got to have a go!
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #11 - Oct 4th, 2011 at 11:57am

rsoftokz   Offline
Colonel
FRANCE

Gender: male
Posts: 10
*****
 
I can add some things I experienced while repainting helos for FSX

about the Alpha chanel: you can open the T dds into DXTbmp and send this image to your editor (I used CS4 or PSP 12 either).
convert the image into B&W (grey scale) and increase the depthcolor to 8 bits at least.

you can now edit the image with dark or white aeras (blash = shining effect/reflection , white is gloss or matt finish)
you can also convert the image into "negative image" forom the converted B&W T dds .

for the specular, simply do the same to open the dds with DTXBmp and send the image to your editor.
play with light/contrast setting to have a clearest and more contrasted image. save it like xxx2_T_spec.dds (if the opened file was xxx2_T.dds).
the light effect should show you clearest colors when it shines.
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #12 - Oct 8th, 2011 at 12:41am

J2Summit   Offline
Colonel
I Like Flight Simulation!
Littleton, CO

Gender: male
Posts: 32
*****
 
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print