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Aerosoft Beaver (Read 1304 times)
May 13th, 2009 at 10:41am

mykl8180   Offline
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Hello,

    I am new to trying to repaint FS aircraft so please bear with me.  I recently purchased Aerosoft's DHC-2 Beaver.  While I have had a great time flying the plane, I would like to try to make my own paint for it.  I downloaded the paint kit from the Aerosoft site.  When I opened it with Paint.net, I found a red and gray aircraft.  My question is how do I remove or paint over these colors so I can start with an all white plane?  I can cetainly paint over everything with white, but I lose all of the panel line, rivet, etc detail.  How do I keep this detail while removing or painting the aircraft white?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  
 
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Reply #1 - May 13th, 2009 at 1:56pm

garryrussell   Offline
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If it is not layered you should be able to paint over and keep the detail by using the multiply fuction.

Garry
 
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Reply #2 - May 13th, 2009 at 7:54pm

Travis   Offline
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For painting aircraft, you absolutely NEED a program that can handle multiple layers.  I broke down finally and bought PaintShop Pro, and haven't looked back since.  Some folks swear by PhotoShop, but I could never transition between the two interfaces, so I'm stuck using PSP.
 

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Reply #3 - May 14th, 2009 at 3:30am

garryrussell   Offline
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The paintkit itself may not be layered which is where the multiply function comes into play.

If the programme use does not support layers I doubt if it would have multiply so we are talking Photoshop/PSP and the like.

Garry
 
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Reply #4 - May 14th, 2009 at 4:17am

Travis   Offline
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If the paint kit doesn't include layers, you're pretty much out of luck.  You'll have to isolate the rivets and panel lines, then promote them to an upper layer.  A strenuous and tedious process, but worth it if you want to get a good repaint.
 

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Reply #5 - May 14th, 2009 at 4:18am

garryrussell   Offline
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or use multiply fuction which retains the detail.

Garry
 
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Reply #6 - May 14th, 2009 at 2:46pm

Travis   Offline
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garryrussell wrote on May 14th, 2009 at 4:18am:
or use multiply fuction which retains the detail.

Garry


Yeah, that will work, too.  Although I have run into issues in the past where having a multiply layer compromises some of the colors I'm using.  For instance: if a part is dark blue and you want it to be bright yellow, but retain the detail, you're kinda screwed.
 

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Reply #7 - May 14th, 2009 at 3:34pm

mykl8180   Offline
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Thanks for the info.  I think Travis was describing the problem that I am having.  The paint kit is red and grey.  I duplicate the layer, set the top layer to multiply, and begin to paint.  The top retains the white paint that I would like to have, but it erases the underlying detail.  When I merge the two layers, the white paint remains without any of the detail.  Any thought on how I could keep both the white paint on the panel lines, rivets, and other details?  Also, how would I seperate the layer of the original paint kit if it was layered?  Would it show up as a layered image when I opened it with the painting program?
 
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Reply #8 - May 14th, 2009 at 4:20pm

garryrussell   Offline
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If the paintkit was layered the layers will be already be seperated when you open it.


Garry

 
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Reply #9 - May 14th, 2009 at 9:38pm

Travis   Offline
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It seems that the image you're using didn't have any layers to begin with.  Where did you get it?  Are you simply trying to paint over the original aircraft image?  Most payware companies release paint kits for their aircraft.  Some are available directly from the distributor, while some you might have to search for on other sites.  I would recommend AVSim, but they're down for the time-being (everyone cross your fingers!), so why not try FlightSim.com, or even here.  We have a fairly large selection of paint kits, although I'm not sure about payware stuff.

EDIT:  Sorry, just looked at your original post.  Duh Roll Eyes.  If you can't seem to open a layered version, I suggest contacting Aerosoft.
 

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Reply #10 - May 14th, 2009 at 10:00pm

Travis   Offline
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Well, after downloading both Paint.net and the paint kit you mentioned, I'm a bit stumped.  How did you open the files in the first place?  Paint.net is incapable of opening that type of file.  Or at least it is without some kind of upgrade or plugin.

At any rate, this seems to be your issue.  If you're going to paint aircraft, the only answer is to get a good repaint program.  PSP or PhotoShop are fairly expensive (PSP ~ $100 US, PhotoShop ~ $700 US), but there are other options out there.  One of which is a dedicated program designed for FS.  It reads the FS model as well as the textures and renders a 3D image of the texture on the model itself, so you can see exactly what the changes you are making can do for the model.  It is called FS Repaint and is only $30 US.  Cheaper by far, and powerful enough for what you want to do.
 

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Reply #11 - May 15th, 2009 at 4:17pm

mykl8180   Offline
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Once again, thank you for the replies.  Travis, just out of curosity, did you by any chance try to open the paint kit with PaintShop?  If so, was it layered?  I was able to open the paint kit using the Paint.net program.  I had to download another program, the name of which escapes me at the moment and I am not at my home comuter to check, which changed the format of the file from a PSD to a DDS.  I was able to open the DDS with Paint.net.
 
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Reply #12 - May 15th, 2009 at 4:51pm

Travis   Offline
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I did open the files with PSP, and they are layered.  Your problem lies in the fact that Paint.net cannot open any file type that preserves layers.  You're pretty much out of luck unless you purchase a program that can handle something like that.
 

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Reply #13 - May 15th, 2009 at 5:03pm

Hagar   Offline
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There are several freeware graphics editors with a Layer feature that support the PSD format. You could try the GIMP or Pixia to start with.
 

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Reply #14 - May 15th, 2009 at 5:44pm

Travis   Offline
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Hagar wrote on May 15th, 2009 at 5:03pm:
There are several freeware graphics editors with a Layer feature that support the PSD format. You could try the GIMP or Pixia to start with.


Ah, yes!  I completely forgot about those!  Sorry . . .
 

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Reply #15 - May 21st, 2009 at 9:30am

mykl8180   Offline
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Thank you to all for the great advice.  I downloaded the trial version of Paint Shop Pro, and it works great.  Thanks again for your help.
 
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