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polished metal and alloy

michaelvader

michaelvader

Members +
Hallo Friends,

for repainting aircrafts I still use the old paintshoppro6,
a. might it be possible to make with this tool textures which will look like polished metal or alloy?
b. if it is possible how to do so to get this effect?

Happy landings
Yours
Michael "Papi" Vader
 
michaelvader said:
Hallo Friends,

for repainting aircrafts I still use the old paintshoppro6,
a. might it be possible to make with this tool textures which will look like polished metal or alloy?
b. if it is possible how to do so to get this effect?

Happy landings
Yours
Michael "Papi" Vader
Click to expand...

I'm sure you will get lots of advice on this one, and that's good as it is a hard thing to do well.

One way to get insight is to look at the textures for aircraft that you like. For instance, look at the Harpoon bare metal liveries and take a good look and study the alpha channels.

Others can likely give you some hints as to how to create those alpha channels with the effects you seek.
 
Michael,

Milton is right. You can learn a lot from just looking at textures done by people. It can definitely be done with PSP6, but you will also need Martin Wright's dtxbmp.

It might sound a bit strange now but once you've looked at some textures you will understand. The shade of grey from the texture will determine the brightness of the reflective material, And the shade of grey from the alpha channel will define how reflective the material will become.
I advise you to look at the brilliant bare metal textures John "Bomber_12th" Terrell did for the WOPII A2A P51 Mustang. Without doubt John is the master in recreating bare metal.

Most model handle reflective textures in a different way. what work on one model doesn't need to work on another model. And not all models support reflective textures.

A very fine noise in both the alpha and in the original texture will make the reflective material look more natural.

For rest it is just a matter of trying what you like best.

Success,
Huub
 
Hallo friends,
thank you for your answers,
yeah, I had a doubt that the alpha channel would play a role.
HMMMM, I will try if I can get an outcome for "La Patrona"
But I' m not sure to be able of making a publishable repaint so fast.
As I have seen some one did it almost for FSX, perhaps with a bit luck he will do it also for the FS2004 final release of the Tigercat.
In reality my job are the 2d panels LOL.
Happy landings
Yours
Michael "Papi" Vader
 
As has been pointed out, the darkness of the alpha channel determines the degree of reflectiveity, but If you're planning to make your skin bare metal, the color on the main texture file will be gray. It matters how dark or light the gray is, so you'll want to experiment with that as well as with the alpha channel. I've found that the darker shades of gray on the main textures work best with darker alpha channels (highly polished finish.)

Also, keep in mind that the more reflective you make a color (other than silver) the lighter that color will look on the model. But you shouldn't have much need to make any other color reflective. Keep in mind that reflectivity, as seen on polished natural metal, is not the same thing at all as specular gloss, as seen on glossy paint. If you try to make a color look glossy by making it reflective, it will be shiny but it won't look right at all. It will look like an anodized metal finish, not like paint.

Don't be afraid to experiment. It's easier than these posts have made it sound. Except for one finish - silver paint. That's not easy! I've been trying to do silver paint for years and I still haven't got it right; it's extremely difficult to make it look like silver paint and not like bare metal. But any other color or bare metal is easy once you get a feel for it.
 
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