Skinning - Quick and Dirty for absolute beginners

[9./JG27golani79]

Looking good to me - are you using the 64bit version of Photoshop?

[geraki9]

As I said you, with ALL other templates I have

no problems. However I don't think my old ,like

me, Photoshop 6.0 ,in italian language,is in 64 bit.

It's a mystery ...

[9./JG27golani79]

Yeah, thats really strange - can´t find anything useful regarding your problem so I was asking a few things which came to my mind not depending on wether the other templates are working or not.

 

Just one thing which could be worth trying - I saved the template anew out of my Photoshop with maximized compatibility and uploaded it.

Even though I doubt that it will work you might wanna try to download and open it.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1sylbnnxar39re/P40E1_Public.rar?dl=0

 

Sorry that I can´t be of greater help but at the moment I can´t think of anything else.

[geraki9]

Nothing, nothing pops up even if your file is 1058KB smaller.

I can't explain it!

Look at these screenshots ...

Anyway thanks again!

 

 

Read: 001-2-3-4-5 have not ordered...sorry

Edited October 1, 2015 by geraki9

[9./JG27golani79]

One last idea for a workaround - saved it as a .tiff now with all the layers.

Maybe you can open this file and then save it back as .psd if needed.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vpuvq2zfcq8jhps/P40E1_Public_TIFF.rar?dl=0

[geraki9]

Also with the TIFF tells me that the RAM is insufficient and

do not open, nor can I save it in PSD...

But because only with the P40?!?! I don't understand.

Really thanks for your help!

[79_vRAF_Friendly_flyer]

Also with the TIFF tells me that the RAM is insufficient and

do not open, nor can I save it in PSD...

But because only with the P40?!?! I don't understand.

Really thanks for your help!

 

Jason wrote in the post when he posted it that he had left all the layers in an un-collapsed state. The others have their layers largely merged. Perhaps the P40 template is a tad lager than the others?

[5.AA_WiSiPunK]

Hey Guys

 

I need help PLEASE, because i skinned my Peshka and in the viewer.exe (cant take a screenshot there) it looks great, but ingame the right spinner is grey, not red like the left one!

Any ideas???

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by 5.AA_WiSiPunK

[Sketch]

Here are the spinner locations on template. Be sure to paint them the color you want. Most likely, you didn't paint the animated spinner, and that's why one is grey (because it's spinning instead of stationary).

 

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/y3T5F

Edited October 17, 2016 by Sketch

[Scojo]

How do I paint on the provided paint layer? When I select my paint tool and then click to apply paint, nothing happens. I have the layer selected(I'm pretty sure) and I've moved the layer to the top

[esk_pedja]

I like to open downloaded custom skins and edit them to my personal taste... but when I apply them in game:

- they are totally matt ?

- skins are only 2,721 kb large ?

I use Photoshop CS3 and NVidia 64 bit plug in... export as DXT2 .dds

 

Where I lose metallic shine of surface ? Any clue ???

[szelljr]

Hi! i save in DXT5, 2,721 kb is not ok ,5,462 kb is the god. If you use 4K template then 21,846 kb.

Edited September 23, 2017 by szelljr

[Thad]

So following the advice from this topic i've made my first steps in skinning, some White Eagle nose art.

 

Il-2 2014-12-25 19-46-52-99.jpg

 

Thanks and what do you think?

Pretty neat.

[esk_pedja]

Hi! i save in DXT5, 2,721 kb is not ok ,5,462 kb is the god. If you use 4K template then 21,846 kb.

But It does not give me an option for DXT5, only DXT2... ?

 

What gives that metallic shining anyway to model ?

 

Why does it disappear ?

Edited September 24, 2017 by eskadrilasturmovik_pedja

[56RAF_Roblex]

But It does not give me an option for DXT5, only DXT2... ?

 

What gives that metallic shining anyway to model ?

 

Why does it disappear ?

 

The measure of how shiny a surface is depends on the Alpha layer.  Did you include that?     I(f you don't know how to use the Alpha layer then look for ICDPs post on advanced skinning.

 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/15420-custom-alpha-channel-tutorial-gimp-advanced-skinners/

Edited September 24, 2017 by 56RAF_Roblex

[esk_pedja]

The measure of how shiny a surface is depends on the Alpha layer.  Did you include that?     I(f you don't know how to use the Alpha layer then look for ICDPs post on advanced skinning.

 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/15420-custom-alpha-channel-tutorial-gimp-advanced-skinners/

Many thanks buddy !

It is a bit different in PS but I sorted it out... although I never go above 32%-34% of Alpha channel layer.

(WW2 aircraft had dead-matt painting)

Thanks again !

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

Been skinning in GIMP for a while.  Trying PS 2018 now.  Trying to get the nVidia dds utilities plugin installed properly.  I installed it to the default (nvidia folder) and also the Adobe-PS-plugin folder.  Neither works.  I have watched somewhat dated videos of an install that shows a screen comes up during the process asking the version of PS.  I get no such screen.

 

Any thoughts how to sort this out?

 

UPDATE:  I now have the 64 bit DDS Utilities Plug-in installed in the plugin folder and PS does not hiccup on startup and system info looks good.  I still do not see the dds file format available in the Export function.

Edited October 24, 2017 by VBF-12_Stick-95

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

Think I have it.  Used the Save vs Export function.  Was able to produce a skin with Alpha.  Now I can get into the meat of PS.

[WWGreyWolfe]

How does one edit alpha's in CS3, I need to get matting on all painted artwork and a shine on metal.

 

Salute Wolfe

[BOO]

6 minutes ago, WWGreyWolfe said:

How does one edit alpha's in CS3, I need to get matting on all painted artwork and a shine on metal.

 

Salute Wolfe

 

 The issue you have there is that the holes have become too dark after you've lowered the brightness. I don't use Adobe but in Gimp there is a "V" value that you need to keep above 5 or 6 to avoid this. I you are using ICDPs template then there should also be one for the alpha. You will always be better off building your alpha from that rather than trying to alter a premade, compressed layer. 

[Plushie]

Anyone know how this would be done in PS? This is in CS6, and I'd rather not jump around to multiple programs for this (although I will if it's inevitable) but it looks like Photoshop has completely different channels.

 

How would one then prevent the 100% matte effect if there is no Alpha_1 channel to move into the layers?

 

I don't mind GIMP for some applications, but I find PS much, much less frustrating for liveries personally so if I'm forced to use GIMP it'll literally just be to drop in the Alpha layer, quickly do a once over edit, and then re-export. 

[Plushie]

Okay actually upon further digging, the La-5FN just straight up doesn't have an Alpha 1 layer

 

I've redownloaded multiple times and tried in GIMP and Photoshop

 

What's my next step, given that there's no Alpha 1 channel at all?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, in simple terms, as I am new to all this.

[616Sqn_Johnny-Red]

On 12/11/2018 at 12:39 AM, Plushie said:

Okay actually upon further digging, the La-5FN just straight up doesn't have an Alpha 1 layer

 

I've redownloaded multiple times and tried in GIMP and Photoshop

 

What's my next step, given that there's no Alpha 1 channel at all?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, in simple terms, as I am new to all this.

 

I noticed your post a few days ago when I downloaded the 2k La-5FN template. like you I re-downloaded it (thinking I might have deleted the Alpha channel by accident) but it appears not to be there, so I have made one from the 2k template. It's a lossless jpg for space efficiency. Download it and open it in PS, copy it to your clipboard and select the Alpha Channel slot from the Channel Tab on your layer window to paste it in.

 

 

Good luck with the La-5FN skinning.

 

JR

[ROCKET_KNUT]

Hello guys, I need your help please:

 

Creating a skin for the A-20 I´ve noticed this irregularity around the red area of the nose-“art”. It is this nasty staircase pattern, visible when looking at the skin using the outside view.

When the view is completely zoomed in the staircase pattern then disappears almost completely.

The big male chicken was created using the path-tool in GIMP 2.8.22. The skin/image then was flattened, the Alpha1-layer-mask was added and the image then was exported as a .dds-file using compression BC3/DXT5 and the Box-Filter for the mipmaps. I have no idea what these settings do, just that I always used them and never had this problem, or I didn´t notice before now…

The values for the colors are:

Red:       R= 255, G=0, B=0, H=0, S=100, V=100, HTML notation: ff0000

Blue:      R= 0, G=0, B=255, H=240, S=100, V=100, HTML notation: 0000ff

 

 

The second problem is, the rivets and panel lines covered in red or blue are not visible anymore as long as the area is exposed to direct sunlight. If the area remains in the shadows, rivets and panel lines are perfectly visible. The national-insignia-layer is situated well beneath the rivets-layer, so, this cannot be the problem.

 

 

 

Do you experts have any idea how to get rid of these two phenomenons?

Thank you in advance! 

Edited April 10, 2019 by =RR=ROCKET_KNUT

[CCG_Pips]

One question? : the big male chicken (rooster) is hand painted or it is a decal (may be a drawing took from internet) ?

 

 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

43 minutes ago, CCG_Pips said:

One question? : the big male chicken (rooster) is hand painted or it is a decal (may be a drawing took from internet) ?

 

 

 

Hi Pips, the co** has been handpainted using the path tool. A seperate layer for every single color was used. The shape was made bit by bit using the path tool, then I chose "selection by path" and then filled the selection with the foregroundcolor. Once that had been done all three layers were merged down to one single layer.

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by =RR=ROCKET_KNUT

[CCG_Pips]

It is a good way, I do not use GIMP but PHOTOSHOP. Seems it's very close process.

 

The only thing That comes to my mind is that basic drawing is too "small" (pixel)  . Result is that this nasty pattern surrounding the nose art.

 

I does not have this type of troubles with Photoshop but I usualy make drawings in very large scale (pixels)

 

 

[ROCKET_KNUT]

19 minutes ago, CCG_Pips said:

It is a good way, I do not use GIMP but PHOTOSHOP. Seems it's very close process.

 

The only thing That comes to my mind is that basic drawing is too "small" (pixel)  . Result is that this nasty pattern surrounding the nose art.

 

I does not have this type of troubles with Photoshop but I usualy make drawings in very large scale (pixels)

 

 

 

Thank you very much Pips. Your input is highly appriciated. The skin is 4096 by 4096, the co** is 200 by 200 ish pixel. 

[Yakdriver]

i think - and i might be wrong here...

play with the camera. does the quality increase when you zoom in, but get all ugly when the camera is farther away?
then it is the game that does this (resize the texture) and you might not have a lot / any control over the matter.

the only thought to improve i have, would be to NOT include any MIP levels when saving the DDS file.
But that is something i forgot how to do. (been out of the painting game for two years now)

[Raptorattacker]

On 9/26/2019 at 10:03 PM, Yakdriver said:

But that is something i forgot how to do. (been out of the painting game for two years now)

You just uncheck the 'Include MIPMaps' on the save dropdown. I've never tried it so I don't know how it looks but I think I might now. I'm not hopeful though because of the way the rendering works in-game...

[WWGreyWolfe]

Salute!

Im having a problem with my Adobe CS3. It works only once in a while when saving as a DDS with alpha. it takes its time then give a message about not saving some file. As I like to have the alpha channel in my skin dont see a work around for this. Can I use a different program to save after doing my work editing with CS3., like gimp?

 

GreyWolfe 

[WWDriftwood]

I use the latest Adobe software and Gimp 2.10 to export to .dds. This is just a how to for the export to .dds

 

Hope it helps...

 

DW

 

 

[RNAS10_Oliver]

12 hours ago, WWGreyWolfe said:

Salute!

Im having a problem with my Adobe CS3. It works only once in a while when saving as a DDS with alpha. it takes its time then give a message about not saving some file. As I like to have the alpha channel in my skin dont see a work around for this. Can I use a different program to save after doing my work editing with CS3., like gimp?

 

GreyWolfe 

How about DTXBmp? I used to use that (back in my Rise Of Flight days) as I had problems with saving DDS from GIMP (image quality problems I seem to remember). From your chosen graphics editor you save your skin and it’s alpha as separate Bmp images. The open them up in DTXBmp and it allows you to save the two together as an DDS image.

 

https://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/dxtbmp.htm

I use the latest version of Photoshop now and use Intel Texture Works plugin to enable me to save DDS images. That plugin supports CS6 and later though so won’t help you.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Oliver88

[WWGreyWolfe]

Thanks for the response,

Here is what Im dealing with, Windows XP 32. Im using the only adobe I ever paid for CS3 and I installed a plugin, DDS . my rig should handle this but I up the ram to 4 g.

in the past I could save a dds file with out the alpha if I was not needing the shiny alum look. and if I save all my work and close shut down and later restart my computer. I

restart my CS3 and open my temp and save as a DDS with alpha channels and wait for it, boom cant save error. Its so damn fustrating I have to walk away. now I can not

save any dds file.

HELP!

SAlute GreyWolfe

[336th_Ripper*]

Just a little trick to paint prop multicolore prop spinners on the P-51 

 

https://youtu.be/ioAR_M6bcnI

[WWGreyWolfe]

I need a good site for gimp and the plugin for win XP, please.

 

Wolfe

[WWGreyWolfe]

Im looking for the DDS plugin for GIMP 2.8 32 bit and the normal map.

 

Wolfe

[JG1_Vonrd]

On 10/20/2019 at 6:51 PM, WWGreyWolfe said:

Thanks for the response,

Here is what Im dealing with, Windows XP 32. Im using the only adobe I ever paid for CS3 and I installed a plugin, DDS . my rig should handle this but I up the ram to 4 g.

in the past I could save a dds file with out the alpha if I was not needing the shiny alum look. and if I save all my work and close shut down and later restart my computer. I

restart my CS3 and open my temp and save as a DDS with alpha channels and wait for it, boom cant save error. Its so damn fustrating I have to walk away. now I can not

save any dds file.

HELP!

SAlute GreyWolfe

 

S! GreyWolfe,

 

As Oliver88 noted above DXTBmp works well to convert bmp to dds and vice versa. It will save the Alpha pretty much automatically and there is the option to save it with an Alpha of your choice. 

If you have multiple files (like if you are doung squad skins) there is another program which lets you batch convert... ConVimX...Extended version of ConvIm for the batch conversion of image files to alpha-aware formats. Primarily to Extended Bitmap and DDS but also to png/tiff/targa. Can be used to batch-convert DDS or Extended Bitmap from one format to another (eg 32 bit to DXT3)

Link to the page where there are numerous programs:

http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/beta.htm

I pretty much this program exclusively to convert skin files now. I'm using CS2 by the way. (The Nvidia DDS plug-in for CS2 only seems to work sometimes for me).

[se-link]

if I want a add a image what, is the resolution and format,sizes ? I use gimp.

[RNAS10_Oliver]

22 hours ago, se-link said:

if I want a add a image what, is the resolution and format,sizes ? I use gimp.

 

You mean the cockpit photos? They are 1024 x 1024 saved as DDS (BXT5) images. Though the entire image size is not used. So suggest copying and opening one the existing cockpit photos and working from those to figure out your workable area.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Oliver88