About bare metal in Battle of Kuban

[Zargos]

Hello,

 

My question goes to the developpers, beta testers, and "offcial" skinners as well.

 

I've been really impressed when I saw the new bare metal render improvement that was shown in previous Developpers Diaries.

And as a skinner I'm looking forward to making skins for the Bodenplate P51, P47 and P38 ...

This is very exciting, but a question (2 actually) still bother me :

 

1. How the graphic engine will make the difference between bare metal and gloss grey paint ? Shall bare metal parts be painted with a specific color ?

 

2. Will it be possible to tune the reflexion factor of bare metal surfaces ? The point is, that real "bare metal" warbirds like P51 for example, were not as glossy as racers. The metal (aluminium) used for building planes is not very glossy unless polished. I'm sure that in war times, workers on plane factories had no time to polish planes ! Beside operationnal and badweather conditions (winter or tropical) certainly alter the metal gloss. So I think it is important to have the ability to tune the metal reflection to get realistc skins in game.

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Cheers.

Edited December 14, 2017 by UF_Zargos

[ICDP]

I would imagine that the devs would have to release the specular maps for the aircraft for us to fine tune the reflections to make them look varied.

[Zargos]

 

 

I would imagine that the devs would have to release the specular maps for the aircraft for us to fine tune the reflections to make them look varied.

 

I hope so !

[Danziger]

Yes I would also like some clarification. If I remember correctly, Jason stated in that thread that the new bare metal shiny effect will be adjustable using the alpha channel. However, this is currently the way to adjust the gloss level of the paint so it left me a bit confused.

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

My guess is that the system will remain the same as before with the difference that the current effect of 'wet paint' gloss will change to a 'bare metal' gloss type.

 

The thing with specular maps is each aircraft has only 1 of them applying for all skins. If you change it chances you'll make 1 look pretty but screw all others up are relatively high.

 

Btw., there used to be a way to access and modify the specular maps which also didn't help to make the aircraft look more bare metal like. The upcoming changes ill be a good compromise between realism and non-PBR technology.

[Zargos]

 

 

The thing with specular maps is each aircraft has only 1 of them applying for all skins. If you change it chances you'll make 1 look pretty but screw all others up are relatively high.

 

It was already something like that with IL2-1946 (although much, very  much more simple)

[A-E-Hartmann]

I think the map will be modified too and I hope.
For the apha channel I think the lumenosity or gloss adjustment has a very big of importance for bare metal.

[Danziger]

[SR603-Flowbee]

Don't leave us hanging ?. This has been driving me nuts for days. All I get is varnish....   I'm trying to show bare metal damage on a tank but nothing I do works. 

[Zargos]

When I open this topic, I was thinking about how to make "operational" bare metal skins like these ones :

 

 

 

I must confess that I haven't tried anything yet.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Zargos

[Talon_]

You can make planes shiny as it is, can you guys describe the issue a little more? 

 

[[PFR]Sarpalaxan]

From what I understand it depends on the roughnes of the bumpmap. I can make the bottom of the Spitfire look like bare metal with a grey collor and a almost white alpha layer but if i do the same on an I-16 it still comes out mate.

[Danziger]

43 minutes ago, Flowbee_603 said:

Don't leave us hanging ?. This has been driving me nuts for days. All I get is varnish....   I'm trying to show bare metal damage on a tank but nothing I do works. 

It was an accident. I don't know exactly what I stumbled upon but somehow when I freak out the skin viewer it does a really awesome bare metal texture. Somehow with it not working as intended it looks more like metal than what we have in the game. With the game "metal" skins look like wet painted gray surface not like bare metal. 

 

41 minutes ago, Zargos said:

When I open this topic, I was thinking about how to make "operational" bare metal skins like these ones :

 

 

 

I must confess that I haven't tried anything yet.

 

 

This is what those exact same skins look like in the game. Not very metal.

 

[LizLemon]

make the blue channel of the normal 0

[Danziger]

26 minutes ago, LizLemon said:

make the blue channel of the normal 0

That's awesome! But what happened to your shadow? As soon as I saw this kind of thing pop up in the skin viewer I thought about the P51 and got an erection. Also, if this is done with the normal map, I am guessing it would mess up your other non-metal skins?

[336th_Ripper*]

@LizLemon Hello, I know this thread is dated but will your technique work with any skin in IL2 BOX? I am trying to make a Bare Metal for the PE-2 Iike you did for the A-20. Thanks

[LizLemon]

It should but its not the best way to do it. Editing the shader settings for the 3d models works much better.

[336th_Ripper*]

3 hours ago, LizLemon said:

It should but its not the best way to do it. Editing the shader settings for the 3d models works much better.

Thanks for the reply can you point me to a thread or hat shows me how to do that and exactly how to tweak the settings. 

 

Thanks

[Skywarp]

On 10/18/2018 at 9:01 AM, Talon_ said:

You can make planes shiny as it is, can you guys describe the issue a little more? 

 

 

How did you get this shining effect in the Spit?

 

I need to do it in a skin I'm developing

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by 9./JG54_Skywarp

[Talon_]

4 minutes ago, 9./JG54_Skywarp said:

 

How did you get this shining effect in the Spit?

 

I need to do it in a skin I'm developing

 

 

Alpha channel

[ICDP]

Only some aircraft have the bare metal effect added to the 3D model. IIRC

 

Spitfire Mk IX

A20

P47

P39

P40

Mc.202

 

Simply brighten the alpha to get a more reflective bare metal effect.  Do the same on other aircraft and you get the glossy grey look rather than bare metal.

[Skywarp]

I tryed the alpha channel yesterday, but I only got the glossy gray instead the shinning metal.

 

I'm using the MkXIe template.

[ICDP]

Spitfire IX works for me OK.

 

Make sure your alpha looks like this for the bare metal areas.

[Skywarp]

I'm not getting something.

 

After pasting the Alpha Channel Layer at the top of the Layers Dialog Page and achieving the desired tone, I have to merge all layers and add the Alpha 1 mask.

 

Before merge, should I let the Alpha Channel Layer be on the top of my layers or on the bottom? And should I let it be selected or deselected in the eyeball?

 

 

On 10/18/2018 at 10:15 AM, LizLemon said:

make the blue channel of the normal 0

 

This is the effect I need for my skin

Edited August 10, 2019 by 9./JG54_Skywarp

[BOO]

30 minutes ago, 9./JG54_Skywarp said:

I'm not getting something.

 

After pasting the Alpha Channel Layer at the top of the Layers Dialog Page and achieving the desired tone, I have to merge all layers and add the Alpha 1 mask.

 

Before merge, should I let the Alpha Channel Layer be on the top of my layers or on the bottom? And should I let it be selected or deselected in the eyeball?

 

 

 

This is the effect I need for my skin

Really?...thats the effect you actually want?  Jeesh!

 

The alpha you altered in your layers box needs to be dragged back into the Channels dialogue box where the original alphas are. Eyeballs deselected on all. The alphas should not be swtched on in your layers menu. Then you select the alpha you want in the "add layer mask" section by selecting the "channels" option and selecting the corrected alpha in the drop down box.  

[Skywarp]

"Really?...thats the effect you actually want?  Jeesh"

lol I need it to make a full fidelity skin...

[BOO]

6 minutes ago, 9./JG54_Skywarp said:

"Really?...thats the effect you actually want?  Jeesh"

lol I need it to make a full fidelity skin...

But thats far from full fidelity.  ICDPs alpha will produce far more realistic effects. 

[Skywarp]

Thanks, my friends!!

[Jason_Williams]

Not all planes support bare metal finishes. Only some of our later models.

 

Jason

[Raptorattacker]

11 hours ago, Jason_Williams said:

Not all planes support bare metal finishes

And to be fair, after actually doing a bare metal Spit MkIX, you'd be hard pushed to get it quite so 'mirrored'!!