Skinning - Quick and Dirty for absolute beginners

[Lupus]

Thanks.  Don't know whats up with Nvidia's site, but I just got it from them before I checked back here.

 

*Edit*

 

             Seems I am destined to have to use two pieces of software to achieve results.  Now it says "Could not save a copy as "E:\Games\...\2.dds" because of a problem with the file-format module interface."  I'm not sure what gives now.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Lupus

[Lupus]

Thanks.  Don't know whats up with Nvidia's site, but I just got it from them before I checked back here.

 

*Edit*

 

             Seems I am destined to have to use two pieces of software to achieve results.  Now it says "Could not save a copy as "E:\Games\...\2.dds" because of a problem with the file-format module interface."  I'm not sure what gives now.

 

Hey! Hey!  Got it to work!

 

I had to flatten the image and discard all the hidden layers, then it saved just fine.  WOOT! WOOT!

[J4SCrisZeri]

Whatever I do, I tend to loose reflectiviti and metallicity of my skins

 

I have a couple nice fictional skins, everything is ok, I flatten my PSD, then open it with gimp and export as dds, the viewer loves my job, but shows no reflections at all, just a plain matte texture of the skin. same goes for the game of course

 

:wacko: :wacko:

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

I would strongly advise to not export BoS skin as psd with gimp. I did this initially (since it's a very common format and good for sharing - just in case) and notuced strong variations in trerms of quality (pixel density, colours) ingame and in skin viewer. When comparing the result of my psd export with .xcf (gimp format) file I noticed those variations even more clearly and sorted it out.

 

Whenever using psd in gimp for BoS skins mind to keep an eye on any changes. Better stick to .xcf to go safe.

 

.xcf also feautures multi layering and takes way less memory than psd files

[J4SCrisZeri]

I would strongly advise to not export BoS skin as psd with gimp. I did this initially (since it's a very common format and good for sharing - just in case) and notuced strong variations in trerms of quality (pixel density, colours) ingame and in skin viewer. When comparing the result of my psd export with .xcf (gimp format) file I noticed those variations even more clearly and sorted it out.

 

Whenever using psd in gimp for BoS skins mind to keep an eye on any changes. Better stick to .xcf to go safe.

 

.xcf also feautures multi layering and takes way less memory than psd files

I would love to use the dds plugin in photoshop, but I have a portable version of photoshop cs5 and can't find any plugins folder

 

that's why i work in photoshop, then flatten, then open with gimp and export as DDS ( i have the plugin for gimp)

 

But still, my skins are hopelessly matte

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

If you work with gimp you should take a look at this: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/13726-quick-start-guide-skinning-gimp/

 

Point 6 shows how to export your skin with alpha layer to dds with gimp. If you don't apply your alpha channel before saving the skin will turn out matt ingame.

[J4SCrisZeri]

Than you very much!  I knew I've read some tips here and there but I were lost,  completely clueless. 

Alpha can be used to increase/manage weathering and reflection,  if I recall correclty what I've read days ago.  Right? 

If so,  that's very interesting.  Gotta try and practice. 

 

Edit -  well,  at a first quick glance,  I totally missed the "alpha channel"  thing.  Not sure what it is for,  but for shure I didn't know it.  Hopefully that will result the key to raflectivity and weathering amount! 

Edited January 16, 2015 by J4Scriszeri

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

Yes it is used for modeling reflections on your texture. It's basicly a greyscale image of your texture being used to turn different areas transparent. Ingame those different levels of transparency are indicated by reflections.

 

In general you go for:

black = totally transparent, part will be invisible ingame

white = totally matt

tones of grey = different levels of shine / reflections

 

Don't know for sure what you mean by weathering, but you surely can modify the alpha to your likings (I've used custom alphas to make dirt and grain more matt and solid which looks more realistic than the glaring ones on default skins).

[TG-55Panthercules]

I would love to use the dds plugin in photoshop, but I have a portable version of photoshop cs5 and can't find any plugins folder

 

that's why i work in photoshop, then flatten, then open with gimp and export as DDS ( i have the plugin for gimp)

 

But still, my skins are hopelessly matte

 

 

I think I may be using an even older version of PhotoShop (CS4 I think) and it works fine with the nVidia .dds plug-in.  I'm away from my BoS PC ATM but I'll try to remember to take a look tonight when I get back from work and post about how/where my plug-in is installed for that version - seems wonky to be using PhotoShop and still have to be messing with GIMP for anything about these skins.

[TG-55Panthercules]

It's been a long time since I set up my PhotoShop CS4 and .dds plug-in installation, so I don't remember all the steps to do it, but it resulted in the plug-in folder (and associated files therein) that I've uploaded here:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/5hnx2m05jq9wa54/Panther's_PhotoShop_CS4_Plug-Ins_Folder.zip

 

It was just sitting in my main PhotoShop folder.

 

Hope that helps.  I'm sure I either followed whatever directions might have been included in the nVidia plug-in D/L package or else just Googled to find the instructions on how to install it into my PhotoShop installation (there's probably somewhere in a menu in PhotoShop that you have to tell it where to find the plug-in, but I don't recall the details).

Edited January 17, 2015 by TG-55Panthercules

[J4SCrisZeri]

ok. hell. again.

 

this **** won't work for me so obviously there's something Im missing along the way

 

do you guys kow if there is a step by step tutorial about editing an PUBLISHING skins?

my error probably comes when I save, the alpha channel thing is still obscure (where?when?what?)

 

thank you very much for any help/infos!

Edited January 19, 2015 by J4Scriszeri

[J4SCrisZeri]

 

 

Flatten image, instead of exportiing from the unflattened template layer; Mask, Add new mask... chose channel, alpha1...

 

THIS is were I'm lost

mask? what do I load IN the mask? Alpha1 just gives me a selection, then what???

 

Sad thing, I work on Pshop daily since 1990, but I get in crysis when one single step is not clear, sorry

 

the best result I get so far is a nice totally MATTE skin

(which makes the game crash after a couple flights, by the way.....)

[Dakpilot]

 

the best result I get so far is a nice totally MATTE skin

(which makes the game crash after a couple flights, by the way.....)

 

If that is true and repeatable I should think it is quite important info for Devs

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[TG-55Panthercules]

THIS is were I'm lost

mask? what do I load IN the mask? Alpha1 just gives me a selection, then what???

 

Sad thing, I work on Pshop daily since 1990, but I get in crysis when one single step is not clear, sorry

 

the best result I get so far is a nice totally MATTE skin

(which makes the game crash after a couple flights, by the way.....)

 

 

Try this, using just PhotoShop and not worrying about exporting to GIMP or masks or anything like that:

 

After you have your skin painted up the way you want and are ready to save it down, do the following:

 

1.  Flatten image, as shown below:

 

 

 

 

2.  Save as a .dds file, as shown in the screenshots below:

 

 

 

That should be all there is to it.

 

Good luck!

[SOLIDKREATE]

Mod's can we make Post #54 a sticky at the top of this thread?

[Yakdriver]

why would you generate Mips...??!
i took the habit of not generating them.

[TG-55Panthercules]

why would you generate Mips...??!

i took the habit of not generating them.

 

Because that's how they told us years ago that we have to do it for our RoF skins, and they've said the skins for BoS work basically the same way, and because it works.

 

That's all I can tell you, because I don't understand the theory behind it - just know we've been doing it that way for several years with RoF, and if it ain't broke, I don't fix it

[Yakdriver]

well, far as i can understand the technology, MIPs are the Texture pendant to LODs...
and while i appreciate the option, sure do, it works without that technology... full detail all the way baby.
It's not like we have Boxes of B-17's on the screen anyway. *smug*

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

Usually mip maps load up ingame once the model reaches another lod or is angled.in a way that the game cant display full pixels at some area.

 

In theory it should improve performance and slightly fhe quality. Ingame however lods use the default skin instead of custom ones, means mip maps shouldnt pay off.

 

I use them for the fact ingame skins also have mipmaps but couldnt notice any differences to ones without.

[TG-55Panthercules]

Hmm - well, I can't say I've ever tested the LOD theory in RoF before, and I'm totally speculating here, but perhaps given the closer ranges/slower speeds in RoF they might use the custom skins LOD instead of the default skins LOD whereas maybe in BoS (with its higher speeds that get people out to greater ranges so much more quickly) it would be less noticeable if they used the default skins LOD?  

 

Only thing I can say is that the skins seem to have been working properly in RoF with the mipmaps box ticked, and I have no idea whether leaving it unticked might break something at some point even if it's not obvious now what that might be, so unless/until we get clearer guidance from the devs on this issue I'll keep leaving it checked.

[6./ZG26_Loke]

I seem to have a problem with exporting to a dds file.

And the dds I do get is size 25mb, which is rather large I think.

Any idea what I might be doing wrong?
 

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

I seem to have a problem with exporting to a dds file.

And the dds I do get is size 25mb, which is rather large I think.

Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

 

You merged your layers wrong, thus changed the final resolution of your skin. Make sure your texture has a resoltuion of 2048x2048 (indicated at the upper left in gimp). If it's not gimp will mess up with it.

 

To make sure your final skin remains 2048x2048 go to the bottom layer "Background", right click on it -> "Merge visible layers". In the new window select "Clipped to bottom layer" and press ok.

 

That way all joining upper layers will automaticly be cut accordingly to your proper texture resolution.

 

25 MB is way too huge, better check your export settings. Max skin file size in BoS must not exeed 8MB.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Stab/JG26_5tuka

[6./ZG26_Loke]

Thanks 5tuka, file size is now 4,2 MB :-). Will now test it.

[Comes]

Quick question:

Is there a way to edit or replace the stock skins? So that you can e.g. get the evil historical marking in the campaign?

[Dakpilot]

Fairly sure that would be a very simple workaround when 'Mods on mode' is introduced like  RoF, said to be part of the Dserver, Me/FMB update

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

You can but it's tricky. There's a tool you need to get to extract packed game files and put the modified skins inot their correct game path. It's totally unofficial though and may not work in campaign.

[Comes]

 okay, that's not worth it for me.

Thanks!

[kurgubigelzi]

Hello gentlemen!
I downloaded the 109G skins and put them in the appropriate skins folder but they are unavailable in the solo campaign.

What did I do wrong?

[TG-55Panthercules]

Hello gentlemen!

I downloaded the 109G skins and put them in the appropriate skins folder but they are unavailable in the solo campaign.

What did I do wrong?

 

You didn't do anything wrong - this is a feature, not a bug.  The devs have determined that custom skins cannot be used in the SP campaign (I assume that's what you mean by your reference to "solo campaign).  IIRC, at the moment at least the custom skins only work in QMB and on unranked servers that allow them to be used, but not in the official SP Campaign or on ranked MP servers.

[TP_Jacko]

Thanks Yakdriver just the ticket I was looking for

[Sokol1]

Anyone has the "decal" to apply  the Hakenkreuz on existent skins?

[viperrm64]

Sokol i have some Photoshop templates of all Luftwaffe existing game skins which i have added Hakenkreuz to i will happily send them to you in a zip file if you want or will upload them here for all to use later.

 

P.S. Sorry should say all the templates provided by 777 and 1C not their "official" skins of different colour schemes as they are not included in the original PS templates.

Edited March 1, 2015 by viperrm64

[WWDubya]

Although these were written for ROF, the same principals apply in BoS and BoM.

This link will get you to the RoF Photoshop 101 tutorial I wrote a few years ago. It's very basic, gives explanations for some of the various layers, details how the Alpha channel works, and how to edit it for different effects. 
http://www.wingwalkers.org/vault/Dub/RoF-Skinning101.pdf

This link will open the 101.1 RoF tutorial I put together... shows you how to span objects across wiremap borders so you get a perfect match across panels when applying decals, camoflage, and other items.  
http://www.wingwalkers.org/vault/Dub/skins/SpanImageAcrossWireMapBorders.pdf

 

Hope these two guys provide some measure of assistance to the skinners out there!

Edited July 28, 2015 by WWDubya

[79_vRAF_Friendly_flyer]

Although these were written for ROF, the same principals apply in BoS and BoM.

 

Nice basic tutorial there!

 

All you actually need is a new intro and changing out a few words, and it's a perfectly acceptable tutorial for Bos/BoM

[TheHighwayman]

I am able to select layers and I can even delete layers, but I need a step by step (for GiMP) for how to actually change the colors of a layer. 

 

I am trying to edit a 109 so that its gray paint is reduced to white. 

 

Thank you for any direction  you can provide!

Edited July 29, 2015 by =69.GIAP=TOPYI

[IRRE_Golgoth21]

Hello

 

How can i modify skins of ordinary objects, like trucks, tanks and buildings.

 

I'm willing to make some targets for a flight and bombing school map. I would like my targets to be yellow/orange painted.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Pierre64]

Short answer : you can't

And since the last update, I can't even open the .dds files uncrypted with unGTP.exe...

[IRRE_Golgoth21]

Too sad! Thanks anyway !

[geraki9]

I can't understand why my photoshop cannot to open the new P40's template, but only
P40's template, with all the others templates I have no problems. It tells me that the
RAM is not enough, although mine is 16 gb.
Someone can tell me why?
 

[9./JG27golani79]

Have you tried redownloading the template?

Maybe something went wrong with the download and it´s faulty?

 

PS is using about ~3GB of RAM when I have the file opened so the ammount of your RAM shouldn´t really be the problem.

 

One more question - where is your scratch disk located (probably on C:\ ?) - and how much space do you have left on the drive with the scratch disk?

Edited October 1, 2015 by 9./JG27golani79