A Lockheed "Rounder"

[Willy]

I'm just glad you're getting good use of them.

 

[Willy]

Just uploaded BOAC G-AGCN "Lake Victoria" for either FSX or FS2004 (textures for both in the same zip file)

 

[djs1]

Many, many thanks Willy for the BOAC. Great to have something representing "home".
David

 

[Mick]

Yes, I use the old Photosuite IV for lightening up an alpha layer. It has a fog effect that does this quite well. I've got PSP X, but it does a lot of stuff that I have no idea on. But I don't see me replacing Photosuite any time soon. It's the best paint program I've found for "blending" something in.

PSP7 has a lot of stuff that I don't understand. In fact, there's far more than I don't understand than I do. I've barely looked at the old, paper manual that's the size of a small phone book. I also have PSP10 but I didn't like it, and only used it a couple times to open files that wouldn't open in PSP7. It's not even installed on my present confuter, which runs Win7pro, not Win8 or Win10. I envy Garry Smith, who still has a working XP rig, or at least did fairly recently when he mentioned it.

I still use MS Paint for most painting, and I have a version that's set to run in XP mode so it looks and acts like the old traditional Paint, not the slicked up, clunky version included with later Windows versions. What I can't do in Paint I do in PSP7, and I do some things in my favorite photo processing program, Sierra Snapshot Express, a W98 program that's so old that it's publisher claimed it couldn't be made to work in WinXP, though I managed to get the important parts working. It's the easiest and most intuitive photo program I've seen.

I once challenged a big time "early adapter" to tell me just one thing I could do on my Win7pro rig that I couldn't do on my first confuter, which ran Win98, and the only thing he could come up with is that in W98 I couldn't put photos in a regular folder and see thumbnails, I needed a program to do that.

Sometimes older is better in software, just as in airplanes!

 

[Willy]

I've got a fairly new 'puter which let me run FSX on Win 8.1. Photosuite came on a CD bundled with an IBM PCjr (Win Me) that I bought years ago. It will run on 8.1 but crashes a lot unless you run it in the compatbility mode, then, it runs like it as well as it has on Win 98, Me and XP. I mostly use it for basic paint slinging, flood fills, etc. Paint Shop Pro X, Mrs Willy found at a yard sale several years ago and I think she paid $1 for it without the manual. It's mostly been used to create alpha layers but I'm about to get the text function with it figured out. MS Paint, I'm just using the version that came with 8.1 and then mostly for cut & paste along with laying stripes which will be painted in with Photosuite. Pixia is a free download that until recently has used to add text to a bitmap, but PSP X has pretty much replaced it except in instances like where I want just the outline of the text.

One of these days, I'm gonna have to figure out how to do layers.

Taking a break from the Lodestars today and trying to sort out some problems I've been having with the P-80s, since I've learned a few more new tricks doing the Lodestars. Already figured out this morning how to get a checkered band around the nose which opens up a whole bunch more paint possibilities. Sometimes the best answer is how to hide the problem! Still need to better map out the canopy area better.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,
Last question, for a while......
Been practising with altering the alpha, but how do you create one from nothing ? Is it done with DXTBmp?
Andy.

 

[Shinden]

Andy,

read it here: http://www.gjsmith.net/Tutorial/tutorials.htm

cheers,
S

 

[Milton Shupe]

Hi,
Last question, for a while......
Been practising with altering the alpha, but how do you create one from nothing ? Is it done with DXTBmp?
Andy.

Andy,

First let's examine what file type you are using.

If the file name has no suffix of _T.bmp, then a darker alpha creates transparency.

But, if the file name ends with _T.bmp, a darker (non-white alpha) will add glossiness; the darker you go, the more toward chrome you get. For a basic glossy new paint application, values around 220-230 are good without overdoing it. Darker colors need less, lighter colors a little more.

Attaching a simple approach I used on the AC685 alpha using 225, 225, 225 for the alpha.

Also showing effects of that, and of other white and complex applications for the alpha channel.
White = no glossiness; black = max glossiness.

With that said, the artists here will have a much better explanation of how to do the complex ones.

 

[Mick]

Hi,
Last question, for a while......
Been practising with altering the alpha, but how do you create one from nothing ? Is it done with DXTBmp?
Andy.

Yes, just open the alpha channel in DXTbmp. If the file has no alpha or a blank one, you'll just get a black white file.

If a texture file doesn't have anything on it that you wouldn't want to be shiny, you can just make that white rectangle gray. What shade of gray looks best to you is a matter of personal preference, dependent on your computer and monitor settings and especially what enviro.bmp file you're using. (The stock one isn't all that conducive to really shiny reflections, so a number of people have published alternatives. You can find them on the big download sites. I couldn't begin to remember who made the one I use, but it's not the stock one.)

If there are items that you don't want shiney, the easy way to figure out where they are is to make an alpha template (it's on the alpha menu.) That's a gray scale image of the main texture file, so you can easily see what's where. The simple way to go from there is to make the parts you don't want shiny white or off-white (a simple white rectangle over the part is usually all you have to do,) then make everything else your selected shade of gray.

To save time, do some trial and error experimentation with the shade of gray in the sim on one very visible texture file. When you get the right shade, copy a bit of that color, paste it into the next alpha, pick up the color, and make the rest of the gray area(s) match it.

Another technique is to simply invert the colors of the alpha template. That will make the dark parts light and vise versa. On some planes the result is awful, but on some it's great. On the Lodestar it works out really nicely - that's what I did for the NE&WAT skin I made. I just made the alpha template, inverted the colors, and no further adjustments were necessary. It's not always quite that simple, but it's not usually terribly hard either. If it's too shiny or not shiny enough, fiddle with Brightness/Contrast, or put it into your favorite photo processing program and fiddle with Over/Underexposed.

As Milton pointed out, all this only works if the model and textures are reflective, and that's in the model, not the textures. Otherwise the alpha channel controls transparency. I don't think you can always tell if textures are reflective by whether or not they end in _t, as that's a convention that not all modelers follow. For example, some of the planes David Wooster made and I painted were reflective, but we never used the _t suffix in the file names. If a model isn't reflective you can make it reflective with the program Shiny (in the library here,) and the file names don't change. On some models changing it to reflective ruins the VC by making the panel reflective; on others that's not an issue. (I don't think you can make a reflective model non- reflective, and I don't think I've ever had reason to want to. You can make any skin non-reflective simply by whiting out the alpha channel.)

 

[Willy]

If I'm wanting something to be basically non-reflective, I'll paint it pure white in the alpha. And use varying shades of grey for other levels of reflection. DXT/bmp has a create alpha function, but it's been a long time since I used it. Something about it that I didn't care for, but can't remember what, so I started making my own with PSP.

I think everyone who paints has different methods to the their madness. Just keep trying different things till you find something that suits you.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,
Thank you all for this...fantastic advice and great patience.All I want to do is lower the shine on some aircraft and I think I have a handle on that now, so Thanks again

Andy.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi,
Putting into practice in a very basic way what has been shown me here, is the NEWAT texture which I have lowered the metal shine on a little. Even though I have done it, I still have no idea about layering or anything about repaints etc and this is about my limit I think!

Many thanks to Mick for the Textures and Milton and the Team for the aircraft .

Andy.

 

[Mick]

Hi,
Putting into practice in a very basic way what has been shown me here, is the NEWAT texture which I have lowered the metal shine on a little. Even though I have done it, I still have no idea about layering or anything about repaints etc and this is about my limit I think!
Andy.

By Jove, I think you've got it!

This is a good thing to know how to do, because the big issue with reflective textures is that they can look very different on different systems, depending on settings and especially on which enviro.bmp file you have. A finish that looks too shiny on one rig can look too dull on another, so it's handy to be able to adjust the shine to make it look right on your confuter.

When I made the NE&WAT skin, all I did was make an alpha template and reverse the colors. The result looks just right on my rig but it needed to be dulled down to look right on yours. Or you might just prefer a shinier or duller finish than the painter made.

 

[lemonadedrinker]

Hi Mick,
Thanks for the reply

So.....how do you make an alpha template, or rather, if you have an aircraft which has no shine (?no alpha) and you wanted to add one how does that work? All I'm doing after all, is lowering the shine effect. I have tried the create Alpha in DXTBmp, but nothing seemed to happen, so I was probably looking in the wrong direction !
Andy.

 

[Willy]

Hi Mick,
Thanks for the reply

So.....how do you make an alpha template, or rather, if you have an aircraft which has no shine (?no alpha) and you wanted to add one how does that work? All I'm doing after all, is lowering the shine effect. I have tried the create Alpha in DXTBmp, but nothing seemed to happen, so I was probably looking in the wrong direction !
Andy.

Try Alpha Template in the Alpha menu.

Back in the summer, I took Morton's CFS 2 paints for the AlphaSim F-80 and converted them to FSX with Morton's permission. They didn't have alpha layers when I downloaded them, so I had to create them. I used Paintshop Pro to convert the texture bitmap to a black/white (greyscale) image and worked on it from there. After I got Morton's paints converted, I made a set of master textures from them and have been painting more.

One of the batch that has been on hold since I started in on the Lodestars. I was trying texture aliasing (FSX only) and sent it to PRB for testing and he sent me the screenshot. It's still a work in progress, but has had much improvement since the screenshot.

 

[tgibson]

Hi,

How I do it:

1. Make a copy of your plane's day texture and rename it by adding _alpha to the end of the filename (it should still end in .bmp or your favorite format). (I use the 24 bit version I save for backup when I need to re-edit the bitmap)
2. Load this new texture into your favorite paint program.
3. Now use the magic wand (or equivalent tool) to select all the lettering and other areas you do not want to have a reflective shine. Sometimes it's easier to select all the bare metal instead - whichever is easier.
4. Invert the selection if needed to get everything *but* the bare metal selected.
5. Fill the selected area with 255,255,255 pure white. This will keep the lettering, etc. from "fading out". Use a high "tolerance" setting to allow the fill tool to completely fill the area.
6. Invert the selection, choose a gray color around 175,175,175 to 225,225,225 or so, and fill the entire selected (bare metal) area with this color. The lower the number the greater the shine.
7. Save this bitmap file. Keep this file open in case you need to change the bare metal alpha channel gray color after testing in FS.
8. Open DXTBmp and load your day texture (I use a copy of the 24 bit version, pasted into the plane's texture folder).
9. Choose Alpha/Import Alpha Channel and say Yes/OK to the warning.
10. Browse to your new _alpha bitmap and load it. You should now see it displayed in the upper right corner.
11. Choose File/Save As and select Extended Bitmap from the choices.
12. From the drop down box select your desired format. For flyable planes I use 888 32 bit, for AI I use DXT3 (FS9) or DDS (FSX). If the plane has a _L night texture, use the same format as that one.
13. Save the file, overwriting the copied bitmap *in the plane's texture folder* (not your 24 bit backup!).

Adjust the value of the bare metal alpha channel until you get the amount of shine you want.

Hope this helps,

 

[Mick]

You can skip the first step or two by simply making an alpha template and starting with that. Just select Alpha Template on the alpha menu in DXTbmp. Then send the new alpha image to your texture editor and invert the colors. In many cases you won't have to do anymore than that; other times you may want to do some tweakage.

 

[Willy]

My usual method after I get the inverted (negative) image is to paint the bits that are "paint" and leave the bare metal parts alone. Try it like that in FS and then if I think it's too shiny adjust from there.

 

[julesdr]

Good evening!Congratulations in all those who participated in the realization of this magnificent to lodestar! I have beaucou pcherché but I did not find a repaint of C60 of the French Air Force (bare metal or olive). Anybody wishes to create it for FSX?Best Regards,

 

[tgibson]

Hi,

The template can certainly be created (which is just a grayscale image of the texture) but I like working with the full color image since it often makes selecting the areas much easier (selecting two shades of gray can be difficult using the magic wand).