Help me understand alpha channels.

[migmadmarine]

So, I'm trying to get my head around skinning, and have had some success with the Abatros, and Bf-109G2/4. I'm now having a look at making a squadron skinf or a couple of friends of mine and I to use with the P-51. I should mention early that I am a gimp user. I'm trying to get my head around how Alpha channels work in the context of skinning. So, I get they declare surface sheen/texture, but how exactly do I go about, say, removing the metallic sheen from the lower portions of the orange I've put on the nose? 

[JG1_Schulte]

~S~

 A quick awnser

Alpha Layer is a "Grey scale"

The darker the gray, the less "shine" you get. (flat) Go too dark, you get a hole.

The lighter the gray, the more "shine" you get. (gloss)Go too light you get chrome.

 

So on your Alpha layer Darken the cowl area where the orange is

 

Mox

 

 

[migmadmarine]

And each layer has an associated alpha channel? And why does the P-51 template have a separate alpha channel.psd (not quite the right file name, but something like that. )

[Danziger]

1 hour ago, migmadmarine said:

And each layer has an associated alpha channel? And why does the P-51 template have a separate alpha channel.psd (not quite the right file name, but something like that. )

You use the alpha template the same as you would normally use for painting the skin but this one is just all greyscale. It's like painting a skin but it's painting the reflectiveness and not what colors are actually seen. Once you get everything the way you like in the alpha template, flatten it (but do not save it flattened) and copy the image to the alpha channel in your regular painting template. 

 

I often duplicate the alpha channel in the main template and rename each one so that I can have the different specific alphas for specific skins available when I'm ready to export skins from the main template. Or sometimes I like to make glossy and matt versions of the same skin.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Danziger

[szelljr]

18 minutes ago, Danziger said:

You use the alpha template the same as you would normally use for painting the skin but this one is just all greyscale. It's like painting a skin but it's painting the reflectiveness and not what colors are actually seen. Once you get everything the way you like in the alpha template, flatten it (but do not save it flattened) and copy the image to the alpha channel in your regular painting template. 

 

I often duplicate the alpha channel in the main template and rename each one so that I can have the different specific alphas for specific skins available when I'm ready to export skins from the main template. Or sometimes I like to make glossy and matt versions of the same skin.

Lol, i never learned to use the alpha template, i just cant use , so i use the main template. Hi hi hi...

[Danziger]

56 minutes ago, szelljr said:

Lol, i never learned to use the alpha template, i just cant use , so i use the main template. Hi hi hi...

There is no difference really. The alpha template is just the regular template that has been desaturated and trimmed of unnecessary layers and some pre-made grey values to get everything looking good. When I was making a 4k MiG template, I used the main template to create the alpha and normal map templates. 

[migmadmarine]

So what exactly are my steps to add that edited alpha channel to the skin? 

1. make changes to alpha channel template.

2. Flatten alpha channel template.

3. copy all.

4. flatten main skin file

5. in the layers window, right click to add layer mask, and add layer alpha-1

6. Paste copied alpha channel template over this

7. anchor layer

8. export.

 

is that correct?

 

Also, is the version of the template in Jason's post of template links somehow different from the official skins, what I export seem so much shinier and darker than the defaults when I do the above...

 

Think I understand the goal slightly better now, I've got to replace the baked in "alpha 1" channel that is visible under the channels dialog with the one I made using the alpha template, but how do I actually do that? It's unfounded, but I think the above procedure is just slapping my modified one over the original? @Danziger

Edited June 2, 2020 by migmadmarine

[Danziger]

1. make changes to alpha channel template.

2. Flatten alpha channel template.

3. copy all.

4. in the channels menu of your main skin template, paste your modified alpha over the alpha 1 OR duplicate alpha 1, rename it, and paste your new one there.

5. in the layers window, right click to add layer mask, and add layer alpha-1

6. then flatten your main template

7. add your layer mask from your desired alpha channel (if you have more than one, you will be able to select which one)

8. export.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Danziger