Resources for RoF Skinners

[TG-55Panthercules]

I thought it might be helpful to create a place to put some of the threads I'm finding over on the old RoF Forums that relate specifically to information and resources helpful to people making skins for RoF (and by extension, FC).

 

 

Dicta GIMP - your newbie guide to skinning or...

THIS INFO HAS BEEN COPIED/PASTED FROM THE OLD ROF FORUMS.  It's from several years ago (and many of the embedded links in the old post were broken, so I've only brought over as much as I could make sense of - I also omitted the last part that was all about submitting the skins for approval, since there's zero chance that's happening any more), and I'm not sure if it's still completely current/accurate - if anybody knows otherwise, please PM me and I'll be happy to fix/update this information.

 

Originally posted by J2_Wallenberg:

 

…OMG LOLZ!!!!111111 HOW DO I DO TEH SKINZ??

I dedicate this tutorial to Luftwaffles, Rennsemmel and J2_vonRauter, who asked me for help on this topic and are all using GIMP 2.6, as I am, and to all the others, who in future may want to make their own skins with freeware tools only. And to Josh Echo, who gave me lessons on dogfighting and allowed me to use the skin I promised to do for him here in this guide.I also dedicate this to Panthercules, who does an awesome job on nursing our broken skins and helping us out to get them committed.
-= Dicta GIMP =-

Open fire only at close range, and then only when the opponent is squarely in your sights.
What does that mean? We should not shoot early, nor should we start skinning without the necessary tools. We should have an idea of what we want to do.

We need:

GIMP 2.6 (I guess older versions may do too)
Winzip or WinRAR, any program to open and create .ZIP archives
DXTBmp, a tool to convert our GIMP-made skin to a .dds - a Rise of Flight skin - file.
A skin template for the aircraft we're skinning for. This template is a .psd (an Adobe Photoshop) file. GIMP can manipulate these as well. For this tutorial I've chosen the Albatros D.Va.

 

When over the enemy's lines, always remember your own line of retreat.
Boelcke wants to remind us that we need to set these tools up properly before we go right into it.

First thing is, start DXTBmp and select "Prefs->Select Editor" to show the program the path to GIMP.

 

Know your tools! There's a viewer for aircraft skins in the RoF directory:

 

 

This is what the user viewer looks like:

 

I don't use this viewer much if I don't do something completely new; I use a quick mission set up without enemies or ground objects, for as soon as I like my new skin as it looks in the hangar, I can quickly jump to flight for the screenshots and to check if my skin isn't too bright. I let it stay in the hangar and switch over to my GIMP desktop.

 

 

Here is a view of the hangar; always when I change something on the skin, I select another skin in the list and re-select mine so that it reloads.

 

 

You should always try to keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
Boelcke's hidden meaning here is quite clear. We do not want to see dull (say: matte) skins with broken alpha layers in the polls. No, we're smart here: we copy the alpha layer of a working in-game skin for later use. We open a skin in DXTBmp, select "Alpha->Send Alpha to editor", and save this layer via GIMP as .bmp file. In this example it's AD5_alpha.bmp.

 

 

Always continue with an attack you have begun.
Now that we've set everything up for our strike, why retreat? The fun is only ahead of us. We open the downloaded Photoshop template for our aircraft.

 

ATTENTION:
The screenshot above shows a "DRAW HERE" layer. While it is not mandatory to only use this one, you might want to consider that all the layers who are in front of this one are quite important for your skin to still look realistic with all the details like rivet lines, shadows, panels and small other details.
As well, we consider here already using not too bright colours. Instead of white, we use light grey for example. A good hint here is to use the white of the roundels (Entente) or of the framing of the iron crosses (Central) or any other "white" already contained in the template. All colours that we use we will try to match to this brightness. Even then, when you read on, we will still have to adjust the overall brightness, but that will be covered in the later tutorial.

 

In principle, it is better to attack in groups of four or six. Avoid two aircraft attacking the same opponent.
After we've wreaked havoc on our paint scheme (say: we're finished with our paintwork and editing), Boelcke wants us to merge all the layers of the template into one, to make it ready for saving as a .bmp. We select "Image->Merge Visible" and tick "delete invisible layers".
Then we switch from "layers" to "channels" and delete the alpha channel of the template.
There's a .dds plugin for GIMP that would allow you to directly save your texture including the alpha channel as skin file (say: .dds file), but it gives only bad results often with strange colours and dull look, the gloss of the skin gets lost. I don't use this plugin for the obvious reasons.

 

 

Try to secure the upper hand before attacking. If possible, keep the sun behind you.
Boelcke wants to remind us here that we do not want to get blinded by a skin quickly submitted to the polls without thinking of its brightness and how it will look in-game, standing out as a lighthouse for miles, and leave us wondering how the enemies see us from so far. What he and not he alone suggests, is that we tone down the skin. Don't be shy, tone it down hard. The .bmp file should look unrealistically dark in the editor, to look good in-game.

 

 

Now I save my file as AD5_JoshEcho.bmp.

 

 

We open AD5_JoshEcho.bmp in DXTBmp. Then we import our alpha layer we saved a few steps ago, our AD5_alpha.bmp by selecting "Alpha->Import alpha" in the menu.

 

 

We select "Save As->DDS Texture". In the dialog, we choose AD5_JoshEcho.dds as file name and "DDS DXT5" as option. We save the .dds either directly in the respective directory (<your RoF folder>\data\graphics\skins\AlbatrosD5\AD5_JoshEcho.dds) or in a working folder (and then copy it to the aforementioned folder).

 

 

We go back to RoF, select any other skin and reselect ours. If you've loaded the quick mission before copying your first AD5_JoshEcho.dds into the RoF skins folder, you may have to go to the game map and back to the hangar for the game to reload the list of skin files.
If you're satisfied with how your skin looks, you can give it a first try in-game. Hit start. This is the moment of truth. If the skin is too bright now, go back to adjusting the brightness in gimp and repeat all the steps from there on. You of course have to restart the mission and deselect/reselect your skin in the hangar to force the game to reload it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[TG-55Panthercules]

Methuen codes into Pan tone colours

 

THIS INFO HAS BEEN COPIED/PASTED FROM THE OLD ROF FORUMS.  It's from several years ago, and I'm not sure if it's still completely current/accurate - if anybody knows otherwise, please PM me and I'll be happy to fix/update this information.

 

Originally posted by Fubar:

 

Hi I've been working on changing Methuen codes into Pan tone colours for the use in photoshop, I'm in the printing industrie and have access to pan tone books and it just happens that my local library had a copy of the Methuen Handbook of colour by A Kornerup and J H Wanscher however they would not let me take the book out of the library, so I make the odd trip to the library with my Pan tone book and try to match colours.

So a number of people here thought it would be a good idea if we could convert the Methuen codes into pan tone colours for possible use for skiners ect. Now these Methuen/pan tone colours should not be used as gosble but they would make a good starting point for the aircraft colours, and with the help of people like
J2_Adam,ImPeRaToR,Womenfly2 ect we may come up with some colour chips that could be quite useful.

 

=====================

Originally posted by Panthercules:

 

 Dan-San Abbott uses the following Methuen codes in his article about DFW C.V camouflage schemes:

MC 4A2/3 - yellowish white - to - pale yellow (clear linen doped undersurfaces)

MC 25F8 - myrtle green (dark green camo)

MC 26F8 - bottle green (dark green camo)

MC 6E8 - rust brown (dark brown camo)

MC 6D6 - cinnamon brown (lighter brown camo)

MC 27E4 - dull green (dark green camo)

MC 3E6 - light olive (lighter green camo)

MC 5C6 - ochre (lozenge color)

MC 22D5 - oriental blue (lozenge color)

MC 15D4 - greyish magenta (lozenge color)

MC 25D3 - dull green (lozenge color)

MC 12D5 - greyish ruby (lozenge color)

 

================================

Originally posted by ImPeRaToR:

 

Here is some more:


DFW C.V(Av) 7877/17 (Aviatik-made)
dark purple 18F8
deep green 25D8
golden wheat 4B5


Halberstadt Cl.II fuselage colours (relevant for Halberstadt-made DFW C.V)

Grey Purple 12E-F4
Brownish Khaki 4F8
Dark Green 26F4
Dark Prussian Blue 20F6
Bluish Light Grey 24F3
Brick Red 8D7

And, if you have some spare time, these would also be interesting, maybe to compliment your Albatros-colour collection:

Albatros D.II Johannisthal (should be similar to the early D.III colours you already have)

2F6 Dark Green
27C3 Pale Green
6E8 Rust Brown
24B3 Sky Blue

Albatros D.II OAW

27E8 Deep Green
27C5 Light Green
7D8 Burnt Sienna
23A3 Pale Blue

Albatros D.II LVG

26D-E4 (?) Dull Green
26B3 Pastel Green
6F7 Chestnut Brown
25A3 Pale Green

 

=======================

 

Originally posted by Fubar:

 

Here we are the first lot of Methuen codes translated into pan tone,
however could not get a perfect match on some colours so I've made a
small tweak if needed I like to think that I can make the odd colour
correction bearing in mind my printing background. It is important to
remember these colours are a starting point.

 

Some of the colours will apear to saturated in the ROF engine so the saturation may need to be toned down ect
(I've already tried pc12 it looked wayover saturated but looked better when I desaturated it alittle).

I've added the Lab numbers to the colour chips as this is the best method to match them,
type in the Lab numbers instead of using the colour picker (in photo shop chose colour picker tool
double click on colour swatch on the tool bar and type the Lab numbers there).
Or you could use the colour picker as normal but the above method is better check this text
taken from a thread I will post here.

In talking with the engineer who wrote the Munsell Conversion program at GretagMacbeth,
I realized that we're going to have problems down the road if all we provide are RGB values.
The reason is that RGB is device dependent, and the identical RGB values may (probably will)
look different on two different monitors. There are several reasons for this. One of them is
the internal color space model used by different graphics programs. A low-end graphics program
will likely not allow the user to make changes to the internal RGB color space profile –you'll be
stuck with a hardcoded sRGB space. sRGB roughly corresponds to the color space of a monitor purchased
off the discount shelf at Wal Mart. I use a custom color space called BruceRGB that is suitable for
a wide variety of graphics and prints well on a CMYK printer. There are many choices of color space
profiles in PhotoShop and a set of RGB values will look different in each one.

Lab color is a device independent color space. It corresponds to a purely mathematical model of human
color perception. If we provide L*a*b* values, anyone with a program that supports Lab color
(PhotoShop being one of them) can enter them into the color picker and get the set of RGB values
that are correct for their internal color space profile and attached devices. How well the color
duplicates on a printer or a monitor then depends only on how accurately their devices are profiled
and color-corrected to the internal space profile. I'll still provide the RGB values from my system,
but with a warning that using them will only give you a good approximation of the actual color.
Lab is the Rosetta Stone for communicating the color values.

Here's the colour chips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pasted in below are some of the other posts from this old thread on the RoF Forums, which may be useful as background:

 

Originally posted by FUBAR:

 

Hi I've been working on changing Methuen codes into Pan tone colours for the use in photoshop, I'm in the printing industrie and have access to pan tone books and it just happens that my local library had a copy of the Methuen Handbook of colour by A Kornerup and J H Wanscher however they would not let me take the book out of the library, so I make the odd trip to the library with my Pan tone book and try to match colours.

So a number of people here thought it would be a good idea if we could convert the Methuen codes into pan tone colours for possible use for skiners ect. Now these Methuen/pan tone colours should not be used as gosble but they would make a good starting point for the aircraft colours, and with the help of people like
J2_Adam,ImPeRaToR,Womenfly2 ect we may come up with some colour chips that could be quite useful.

So what I propose if anyone wishes to post there Methuen codes here I will convert
them to the nearest pan tone colour, but please remember I need to go down to my
local library to do this.

Now when posting the Methuen codes its a good idea to say which aircraft the code
is for and the source (Albatros/windsock datafile…) just so if people have the
book ect they can take a look.

It would be nice if people can club together and get some good info on colours
so we could come upwith some good colour chips. /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_wink.gif

Fubar

 

 

NoahWhtly, on 13 Feb 2011 - 15:37, said:

 

What are Methuen codes, if I may ask? A google search doesn't really reveal much. I take it that it is a color system of some type. Was it the color system they used in WWI? I'm a graphic designer and I'm pretty familure with the Pantone system, but have never heard of Methuen.

 

 

Panthercules, on 13 Feb 2011 - 17:17, said:

 

I'm not sure what the origins of the Methuen codes are, but I've seen them used very often to describe WWI aircraft colors.

For example, Dan-San Abbott uses the following Methuen codes in his article about DFW C.V camouflage schemes (which I would love to have the Pantone codes for, BTW, Fubar):

MC 4A2/3 - yellowish white - to - pale yellow (clear linen doped undersurfaces)

MC 25F8 - myrtle green (dark green camo)

MC 26F8 - bottle green (dark green camo)

MC 6E8 - rust brown (dark brown camo)

MC 6D6 - cinnamon brown (lighter brown camo)

MC 27E4 - dull green (dark green camo)

MC 3E6 - light olive (lighter green camo)

MC 5C6 - ochre (lozenge color)

MC 22D5 - oriental blue (lozenge color)

MC 15D4 - greyish magenta (lozenge color)

MC 25D3 - dull green (lozenge color)

MC 12D5 - greyish ruby (lozenge color)

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 13 Feb 2011 - 18:53, said:

 

Ah I see you posted them already!

Here is some more:


DFW C.V(Av) 7877/17 (Aviatik-made)
dark purple 18F8
deep green 25D8
golden wheat 4B5


Halberstadt Cl.II fuselage colours (relevant for Halberstadt-made DFW C.V)

Grey Purple 12E-F4
Brownish Khaki 4F8
Dark Green 26F4
Dark Prussian Blue 20F6
Bluish Light Grey 24F3
Brick Red 8D7

___________________________

And, if you have some spare time, these would also be interesting, maybe to compliment your Albatros-colour collection:


Albatros D.II Johannisthal (should be similar to the early D.III colours you already have)

2F6 Dark Green
27C3 Pale Green
6E8 Rust Brown
24B3 Sky Blue


Albatros D.II OAW

27E8 Deep Green
27C5 Light Green
7D8 Burnt Sienna
23A3 Pale Blue


Albatros D.II LVG

26D-E4 (?) Dull Green
26B3 Pastel Green
6F7 Chestnut Brown
25A3 Pale Green

 

 

J5_Adam, on 13 Feb 2011 - 19:01, said:

 

I'd like to add in this post that when using Methuen codes for the lozenge fabric and stain for plywood (RE:EV/DVIII) the codes should only be used as a STARTING POINT due to the way the dye absorbs into the fabric, fabric texture and shadow/lighting and the way the colour of the stains fades away greatly on a couple of the colours.

I think that when used as a PAINT then the code can be trusted a little more although you still must allow for fading etc.

I'll put up my codes soon after I complete the changes for the NEW REQUIREMENTS /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_rolleyes.gif/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_evil.gif

Cheers

 

 

WF2, on 13 Feb 2011 - 22:35, said:

 

Any local library can get you a copy of the Methuen Hand Book of Color on loan from another library that has a copy . You just need to fill out a form with the ISBN 10 0413334007 number. Then you can compare the color chips to whatever other standard you want. Anyone can do this.

This is a good idea! We also need a RoF Community Library to deposit all this great info we have gathered here on the forum for everyone to use.

 

 

WW1EAF_Splash, on 16 Feb 2011 - 12:01, said:

 

PC 10

Scan from Windsock Datafile No26 Sopwith Camel F1

Be interesting to see the outcome. I have some RGB figures for Methuen already, darker shades more towards Brown as depicted in the scan.

Sopwith Pup - Windsock Data file No2 says 3E8, 3F8, 4F2 - 4F8

PC12 - 9E6/8

Splash

 

 

J5_Adam, on 16 Feb 2011 - 18:53, said:

 

Splash, I hear what you are saying. Just wondering if you saw this post on theaerodrome.com. There are maybe others like it. A discussion on making PC10 an RGB.
 

 

 

Fubar, on 19 Feb 2011 - 09:47, said:

 

Here we are the first lot of Methuen codes translated into pan tone,
however could not get a perfect match on some colours so I've made a
small tweak if needed I like to think that I can make the odd colour
correction bearing in mind my printing background. It is important to
remember these colours are a starting piont.

Some of the colours will apear to saturated in the ROF engine so the saturation may need to be toned down ect
(I've already tried pc12 it looked wayover saturated but looked better when I desaturated it alittle).

I've added the Lab numbers to the colour chips as this is the best method to match them,
type in the Lab numbers instead of using the colour picker (in photo shop chose colour picker tool
double click on colour swatch on the tool bar and type the Lab numbers there).
Or you could use the colour picker as normal but the above method is better check this text
taken from a thread I will post here.

In talking with the engineer who wrote the Munsell Conversion program at GretagMacbeth,
I realized that we're going to have problems down the road if all we provide are RGB values.
The reason is that RGB is device dependent, and the identical RGB values may (probably will)
look different on two different monitors. There are several reasons for this. One of them is
the internal color space model used by different graphics programs. A low-end graphics program
will likely not allow the user to make changes to the internal RGB color space profile –you'll be
stuck with a hardcoded sRGB space. sRGB roughly corresponds to the color space of a monitor purchased
off the discount shelf at Wal Mart. I use a custom color space called BruceRGB that is suitable for
a wide variety of graphics and prints well on a CMYK printer. There are many choices of color space
profiles in PhotoShop and a set of RGB values will look different in each one.

Lab color is a device independent color space. It corresponds to a purely mathematical model of human
color perception. If we provide L*a*b* values, anyone with a program that supports Lab color
(PhotoShop being one of them) can enter them into the color picker and get the set of RGB values
that are correct for their internal color space profile and attached devices. How well the color
duplicates on a printer or a monitor then depends only on how accurately their devices are profiled
and color-corrected to the internal space profile. I'll still provide the RGB values from my system,
but with a warning that using them will only give you a good approximation of the actual color.
Lab is the Rosetta Stone for communicating the color values.

 

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 20 Feb 2011 - 14:18, said:

 

Epic stuff man /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_smile.gif

One small mistype I noticed scanning over it, the light green for the LVG D.IIs should be 26B3, not 27C5. You probably just forgot to change it in PS /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_smile.gif

 

 

Fubar, on 21 Feb 2011 - 20:12, said:

 

Thanks ImPeRaToR I've corrected the mistake on above pic and photoshop files.

Guys if you down loaded the first set of photoshop files dont forget to make the text change
as noted by ImPeRaToR or down load the corrected photoshop file from the above link /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_wink.gif.

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 25 Feb 2011 - 09:14, said:

 

I forgot to point this out sooner (sorry), it might be good to note which colours are for top and bottom, perhaps seperate them by a thin line. The fourth colour for the D.II is the bottom colour in all cases, same goes for the DFW(Av.), (third colour,CDL). However in the latter case a third top colour (unspecified brown) was used but is unknown but should be included anyway. Perhaps you could display a black and white checker pattern and call it "unspecified brown" for completeness sake?

Also I am very interested in the colours you found in the book on the Pfalz D.XII for the "dark" 5 colour lozenge, would be great if you could post them here as well.

 

 

Fubar, on 02 Mar 2011 - 18:45, said:

 

Ha Guys quick note

There was a problem with the DFW c.v chip set, 27e4 was not the correct colour but is now
corrected in the above jpg. Sorry gents hope this has not caused problems.
I'l also be updating the layout and adding more converted Methuen-Pantone chips soon.
As I've already stated above these colours are a starting piont /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_wink.gif.

 

 

Panthercules, on 02 Mar 2011 - 22:36, said:

 

Hey Fubar - if you don't already have these on your list, could you add them to this great effort?

Fokker D.VII colors (early):

26E8 = medium green
26D3 = light green

BTW - while this scheme of having the colors grouped by aircraft is very useful, is there any way to create/post a list of these colors in Methuen-code order? I had a few others I needed for the above Fokker scheme, but after plowing through all the ones you've posted so far I finally realized that you'd already posted them. I'm thinking as things go on, when we run into some reference to a Methuen code it would be a lot easier/quicker to be able to look it up in a numerically-ordered list
than to check every plane type one at a time trying to find it.

Either way, this is a great help, and I really appreciate all your efforts here.

Cheers,

Panther

 

 

Fubar, on 12 Mar 2011 - 09:30, said:

 

Updated the above Methuen-codes see above pic's or get the chips from above download link.
I will also put them in Methuen-code order soon /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_wink.gif

 

 

LordFlasheart, on 01 Apr 2011 - 10:01, said:

 

These codes have been very useful, I'm not aware of anywhere else that's got a conversion from Methuen available. Not only useful for RoF skinners, but great for other projects too, which is how this thread caught my eye.

I'm currently looking at colours for the AEG C.IV and saw another of Dan San Abbott's articles on the Aerodrome.

He mentions a greyish-green (27C4), raw sienna (6D6) and greyish blue (23B4) for the second production order in October 1916, the same colours as used in the first production batch.

6D6 is already available on your DFW C.V chart, but I don't think the other two have appeared yet.

Part way through the second production order a third colour was added to the camo mix, and Dan thinks it could be another greyish-green (27D7).

Colours change for the third production batch, and we get pastel green (27A3), greyish-green (27D5) and greyish-ruby (12D7).

If you're interested in producing these colours then I'd be glad to extract more from the article. These would be ones from later production batches.

Lastly, great idea on making a list in Methuen code order. That makes picking the right colour from a passing reference a lot easier, and combines well with the aeroplane specific charts.

 

 

J2_Wallenberg, on 25 Apr 2011 - 15:42, said:

 

Fubar, what source are your Albatros D.II (OAW) colours from? I'm currently working on historic D.IIs, and the OAW scheme looks completely off, and I'm not very experienced in colour research, that's why I am asking for your help here.

I'm surprised, because your D.II (LVG) and D.II (Johannisthal) schemes look perfectly reasonable, as do the lozenge colours for the D.Vs.

 

 

Fubar, on 25 Apr 2011 - 16:54, said:

 

Hi J2_Wallenberg

The colours for the Albatros D.II (OAW) were supplied by ImPeRaToR
see post three, However there are many colours used on D.II (OAW),
the colours in these chips are just a few.
I will be updating these chip sets when I get the time.
There's a good guide by Dan San Abbott on the Aerodrome forums
Some of the colours in this Article are already in these chip sets hope this helps /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_wink.gif

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 25 Apr 2011 - 19:05, said:

 

The colours are taken from the guide Dan-San Abbott wrote. Those are the only colours specified by him for the D.II (OAW).

You have to understand that there probably was no strict guide lines how the aircraft were to be camouflaged prior to April 1917 when the mauve-green scheme was introduced, and even after that you still have some oddities like Fokker and others.

So OAW probably just approximated their colours as did LVG, and there is a fair few references from British and French pilots that refer to "red" on the wings.

The D.III Johannisthal should have sported the same colours as the D.II but the D.III OAW was built in a time after mauve-green had been introduced, however a handful or so of early D.III OAW are rumored to have been finished in three-colour terrain camouflage (three colour), those would probably have been similar to the D.II (OAW).

 

 

J2_Wallenberg, on 26 Apr 2011 - 06:34, said:

 

Great thanks to you, Fubar and Imp, for the quick reply. In the next three days I am going to revise the paint jobs with the further reading you provided me.

Now that would make the odd OAW chips sound reasonable to me!

DSA also uses a very reddish rust brown on some D.Is and D.IIs in his Jasta 2 profile book, but those colours are not to be trusted fully, looks like painted with crayons there.

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 26 Apr 2011 - 06:53, said:

 

Yea, never use profiles for colour references, only to see which areas to paint in what colour. However he tries to get it reasonably close but it will never match it.


You also need to desaturate and lighten the colours considerably I think, and each template has different layers that further alters the appearance. It would seem to me that DSA has a methuen book with lighter chips than the one Fubar has access to.

 

 

J2_Wallenberg, on 26 Apr 2011 - 07:59, said:

 

By tomorrow I should be up and ready with a few WIP pics. I'll experiment with the saturation and in doubt will try to fit them into the Johannisthal and LVG colour range, let's see if there is still the "red" of the accounts without it looking too odd. And before doing so, I'll read DSA's text Fubar linked me to.

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 26 Apr 2011 - 08:15, said:

 

Yea it's great, I read it a while ago before I made our D.II skins. Back then though I did not have any methuen references so I guess all the colours /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_biggrin.gif

 

 

LordFlasheart, on 29 Apr 2011 - 06:17, said:

 

Just picking up on some other Methuen codes that DSA mentions and listing them for ease of reference.

Halb.DI and DII in "Sky Camo" some use clear dope 3A4, presumably slightly different to the 4A3 already done. Others are in pale blue, 23A3, already done as the bottom colour for the OAW Alb.DII.

Fokker DI, clear dope, 3A4. Struts and wheel covers light grey, 1C1, see Albatros Top Colours.

Albatros DIII prototypes (2 of them), clear dope linen, 3A4, varnished plywood fuselage, 4B4.

Production Alb.DII machines all in "Terrain Camo". Olive green 3E6 (see DFW CV Top Colours) and rust brown 6E8 (see Albatros Top Colours) top surfaces, pale blue 24B4 (see Albatros Bottom Colours) bottom surface, wings and tailplane. Cowling, spinner, struts etc greenish-grey 1C2. Some machines with varnished fuselages 4B4, some sprayed in patches of 3E6 and 6E8.

I was only going to mention early machines, but I thought a note on Jasta 11 red worth mentioning, given as 10A8.

 

 

WF2, on 02 May 2011 - 07:58, said:

 

Here are some wood grain plywood panel samples that can be used for skinning, very nicely done … hope its useful.

Check in out on this MODEL!

http://www.fajga.pl/modele/lvg-c6-182.jpg

http://www.fajga.pl/modele/wood_ok_3c.jpg

http://www.fajga.pl/modele/wood_ok_3a.jpg

http://www.fajga.pl/modele/berkenfineer.jpg

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 16 May 2011 - 07:59, said:

 

If you have time it would be great if you could look these up Foobar:

DFW C.V (LVG) first colour pattern (top)
dull magenta 14E3
dull green 26D4
lilac 15b4

bottom is probably CDL

 

 

WF2, on 17 May 2011 - 09:27, said:

 

Maybe of interest or help on colors … www.theaerodrome.com/forum/camouflage-markings/52567-hey-grahamb-resene-colour-matching.html

Hope it helps.

 

 

WWDubya, on 30 May 2011 - 10:03, said:

 

These are very nice wood textures!

But did you know that you can make your own fairly quickly? Here's what you do: (I use PhotoShop 7, but most of what I'll bring up here will translate pretty well in other gfx apps.)

Create a new layer (we'll name it "base.")
Fill it with a sandy/light-brown color.
Duplicate that layer and call it "grain." Make sure that it is positioned above the "base" layer and is selected as the active layer.
Select a dark brown color.
Go to Filter/Noise/Add noise and set your preferences for the amount of grainy noise that suits you and click OK (it should look like a course-grain sandpaper).
Go to Filter/Blur/Motion blur and set the amount of blur so that the streaks are very long and the angle is set to 90 or 180 (horizontal or vertical); click OK (It'll look like a plank of teak wood).
Go to Filter/Distort/Wave and play with the settings to achieve the amount of wriggle that suits your taste. The "grain" layer may now resemble maple without knots
Select your Elliptic Marquee tool and set feather for about 10 pixels
Using your Elliptic Marquee tool select a large-ish ovoid area anywhere on the "grain" layer.
Go to Filter/Distort/Twirl and set the amount to your taste to create a whorl that resembles a knot.
Lather, rinse, repeat as needed.
When satisfied, merge "grain" down to "base" so that you don't have translucent areas in the grain. (The blurring in the earlier steps will stretch the "grain" layer at the edges of the canvas making the edges gradiently transparent. By merging the layers you remove the transparency.)


Ta-da! Hope this helps!

 

 

Otto_v._Kessler, on 26 Aug 2012 - 07:28, said:

 

its better to proof the dan san abbott theories and colour examples before uyou use the. indeed he has done great work for the ww1 community, but some of his colourtheories was been more than crude ideas[/quote



good colourexamples for skinning planes, allies and central, you find on this website:

http://www.misterkitusa.com//forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_surprised.gif/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_eek.gif


I do my skins with this colours, they are compatible to photoshop, equal whic ps version you use, and the result is more than satisfying.. /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gif

 

 

Korontari, on 12 Feb 2013 - 16:02, said:

 

Hello Fubar,

I know this is rather old thread but I have a faint hope you can still help with color codes. I would appreciate if you find Pantone equivalents for these Mithuen codes:

5C3, 5C4, 6C4, C65.

Thank you for starting the thread and suggesting your help!

Kind regards,
Korontari.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[TG-55Panthercules]

German Aircraft Cammo & Insignia Question... (Originally posted by CraigNT54)

THIS INFO HAS BEEN COPIED/PASTED FROM THE OLD ROF FORUMS.  It's from several years ago, and I'm not sure if it's still completely current/accurate - if anybody knows otherwise, please PM me and I'll be happy to fix/update this information.

 

 

Originally posted by CraigNT54:

 

Hello Everyone,
I'm new to doing skins on World War I aircraft and have a few questions about the camouflage patterns and colors, particularly on German planes. I'm an IL-2 flightsim fan from its start and I'm completely won over by ROF! First, I was wondering when aircraft from Germany changed from the ИDark Green – Light Green – Brown’ pattern to the ИGreen – Mauve (or Purple)’ patterns.

I suppose the purple was for identification purposes? Secondly, I wanted to know when the national insignia of German planes went from the Maltese (Pattee) cross to the straight lined Greek Cross later in the war?

Thanks so much for your help in this, I wanted to have accurate skins in line with their correct occurrence in the war’s timeline. I know there is a wealth of knowledge in this user community.
Cheers! /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_biggrin.gif
- Craig

 

 

elephant, on 17 Oct 2011 - 03:36, said:

 

The order from Idflieg was issued in the 12th of April 1917 to eliminate the use of reddish brown and to subsitute lilac and dark green.
Albatros first application of the Idflieg Directive was the Idflieg order of 200 Albatros D.V machines s/n D.1000/17 to D.1199/17.
Deliveries commenced in late May 1917 and the wings were camouflaged in lilac/mauve and dark green.(D.V type is not represented in game).
No Johannisthal built D.III machines left the factory in the new camo,
but in field some units tried to meet the Idflieg order by eliminating the reddish brown overpainting with either dark or light green.
Jasta 11 Lt. Simon's machine captured in June '17 still retained the 3 color camo.
Johannisthal built D.III-s had the Mauve-dark green camo by default and some later batches had lozenge fabric applied.
There is a whole list of differences beetween the machines built in Johannisthal and OAW Werke.
here is a pic I made with the major ones + that the Johannisthal factory used salmon rib reinforcement tapes while OAW used light blue, in lozenge camo planes:



The order to change the national markins was from April 1918*.

*"On 17 March 1918, the Flugzeugmeisterei of Idflieg issued a directive to change the cross style from the Iron Cross form to the balken cross, (balken = beam). An undimensioned illustration accompanied the directive. This caused confusion with the manufacturers and they requested more information. The Field units went ahead and started changing the crosses on the airplanes. This resulted in a wide variety of cross forms and styles as each unit painter interpreted the directive.
On 24 March 1918, Idflieg was a lttle more specific and stated the cross form should be a ratio of 4:1 length to width and the white border would be 150 mm wide.
On 10 April 1918, Idflieg issued a third order that specified the cross sizes to be used for the rudder, fuselage and wings. The size for the rudder 400 mm, for the fuselage, 600 and the wings 1000mm. The white border was 150mm wide. All these changes created havoc in the field, which resulted in a wide variety of balken crosses.
To complete the cross story, on 4 June 1918 the hrizontal arm the the vertical latin cross with an a ratio of 4:5 was introduced. The vertical arm was to be full chord of the wing and full depth of the side of the fuselage.
The arm width was a ratio 8:1 of the vertical. The white border width was reduced to a ratio of 4:1 the width of the arm. The horizontal arm was to be the same wide as the vertical arm. The wing crosses are to be placed at the wing tips. On the Fok.D.VII, OAW did this, but, Fokker and Albatros did not.
Finally on 25 June 1918 the final form of the Latin cross was specified, the horizontal arm was to be that 1:1 ( both the same.) of the vertical arm. The width of the arm was to be a ratio of 8:1 of the vertical/ horizontal arms. The white border width to be a ratio of 4:1 of the vertical/horizontal arms. The cross was to be full chord of the wing and side of the fuselage.
This gives you the whole story in a nutshell.
Blue skies,
Dan-San Abbott"

Suggestion, don't rely on profiles as reference…(I can see many mistakes on the pics you posted)
Most of the times are erroneous or contain information that are interpreted as such by the profilers. /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_confused.gif


/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gif

 

 

CraigNT54, on 18 Oct 2011 - 13:13, said:

 

Thanks Elephant! That is exactly the information that I was searching for!!
I will take your advice about the profiles, also. /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_smile.gif

There seems to be a wide range of interpretation on the Mauve/Lilac color, too!!
 

Cheers! /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_biggrin.gif
- CraigNT54

 

 

HotTom, on 18 Oct 2011 - 14:14, said:

 

You will find much useful info in many of the the Articles listed in this site:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft/index.php

Includes several studies by Dan-San Abbott.

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 18 Oct 2011 - 14:15, said:

 

Ronny Bar makes excellent and very accurate profiles /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_smile.gifBasically profiles are just an indicator for where to put which colour, they usually do not (attempt to) represent the actual colours. Ronny Bars however looks very good to me.

 

 

elephant, on 18 Oct 2011 - 16:06, said:

 

I agree that Ronny Bar is one of the few doing as accurate as possible profile work, under the guidance of Greg VanWyngarden most of the times…
However from my personal study of vintage pics I tend to agree with JFM's opinion about what color should be what, (mauve or green)
and I believe that Ronny is wrong in this case.
To be more specific the colors should be inverted in the above Ronny Bar's work.

Here is a comprehensive analysis by JFM on the green-mauve debate, from our personal communication.

Quote

Green and mauve. Mauve has some red but remember it also has some blue as well, which photographs lightly on orthochromatic. I cannot say how they were each affect the other when photographed, though. Still, one must understand that we don’t know what kind of film was used for the pictures we see—it wasn’t always orthochromatic! A lesson I learned not too long ago.



Dark green. We know green photographs darkly because we’ve seen it on Albatros D.III wings that haven’t any mauve. Look at the drawings in the D.III datafile and compare them to Simon’s captured machine—the olive green is dark. The lightest color is pale green, which logically would photograph much lighter than olive green or venetian red. Look at the attached photos in this mail. The light fabric areas cannot possibly be green because we know dark green photographs very darkly. Also, the light fabric is much, much lighter than the dark green grass and trees. If this light fabric was dark green, why would such dark green fabric be so very light compared to dark green grass and trees photographed at the same time and under the same lighting conditions? Reason: it’s not dark green, it’s mauve. The attached shots show the wings against the green grass and trees (in the Jasta 5 shot look at the inboard lower wings on the machine third from left; note the Jasta 5 green is lighter than the grass, too)—no way the lighter fabric is dark green. Any thoughts on all that?



From my understanding from those who have worked with fabric samples (and I hope to see/document/photograph fabric samples when I go to Germany next week), mauve could also be sunbleached into a pinkish pigment. However, for the most part, it wasn’t nearly as dark as you see in many profiles (and flight sim skins), such as those in the Jagdstaffel 5 Vols 1 and 2 datafiles.

JFM

Here is Ronny Bar's interpretation of this very plane…
Notice the inverted colors!



/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gif

PS: I have found Marek Mincbergr's work very reliable too…
 

 

 

J5_Adam, on 18 Oct 2011 - 16:16, said:

 

Dan San mentioned at some point (no time right now to find the thread) that on April 12th 1917 Idfleig ordered the elimination of reddish brown. At the time the planes were light green/reddish brown/dark green. Before the mauve was introduced, some batches of planes were done in only light green and dark green. I think he mentioned 600/17 - 650/17(?) and also one other batch which I can't remember at the moment.

He believed that Altemeier's DIII MAY HAVE been part of this batch.

 

 

J5_Adam, on 19 Oct 2011 - 01:55, said:

 

Here are some quotes from DSA:

Hello Jay:
After your post, I took a hard look at both photos. I think that this is only in two colors dark green and pale green, After the Idfleg directive of 12 April 1917, the rust brown was eliminated, and the Alb.D.III order, was camouflaged in only the the dark green and pale green. I looked at the upper wing, I cannot see a color break, ( PG \ ^ DG )
this might be D.624/17, the left lower wing in the take off photo appears to be: ( PG / DG |
Right lower wing: |DG / PG )
Tailplane: ( PG\DG \PG)
Rudder CDL:
Blue skies Jay,
Dan-San

Hi Adam:
1. ^ has two meanings upper wing center-section cutout and forward.
2. | indicates the wing root against the fuselage.
3. / indicates the direction of slope from the trailing edge to the leading edge.
4. \ opposite slope of 3.
5. ( left wing tip, or ) right wing tip.
6. Generally the slope direction are the same on the top wing and bottom wing panels. There are a number of Albatros built D.III that have both slopes on one panel, i.e. Alb.D.III 2049/16 Ltn. Goering, Führer Jasta 27.
upper wing: (lg \ dg ^\ rb ) bottom wings: lg( / rb \ dg| |dg \ rb / ) lg.
7. On 12 April 1917 Idflieg ordered the manufacturers to stop using red brown, rust etc.. in their camouflage schemes. This occured just before Albatros started constructionon the order for 50 Alb.D.III, 600/17 to 649/17, Alb.C.XII an Alb.J.I orders, instead of continuing their 3 color scheme on these three orders, they eliminated the rust brown and use a two color scheme of light and dark green. Oblt. Robert Ritter von Greim's Alb.D.III 634/17 Jastaführer of Jasta 34b, was one of these machines, maybe Greg can post the photo on this machine. It appears that he ran into a privy with his left lower in the photo.
Blue skies Adam,
Dan-San

 

 

elephant, on 19 Oct 2011 - 03:59, said:

 

The last batch of Alb. D.III of the Johannisthal Werke was 750-799 ordered from March '17, though…

Albatros D.III Production chart



So I have to object to DSA…because the first D.V-s were ordered in April and started issued to Jasta's from mid May '17, (the dates he mentions are not matching with documents and facts).
Here is Greg VanWyngarden's opinion from Windsock Datafiles Albatros D.III Special:



Controversial matter nonetheless… /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_confused.gif
 

 

 

ImPeRaToR, on 19 Oct 2011 - 05:59, said:

 

Orders and production was not "on demand" though. Well they were, but not like today, a few weeks will probably have passed between them, so it is quite possible that the last batch ordered in March was build in April, though this would only give Albatros about a month or less time to tool up for the D.V. A lot of work can be done in such a time frame.



Oh btw, when I commented on Ronny Bars profile, I was referring to the way he recreated the colours but of course getting the scheme right itself is also important.

 

 

elephant, on 19 Oct 2011 - 06:54, said:

 

That was exactly my point…
The last Johannisthal D.III-s should have been ready by the time the order was confirmed.
And by April the production of D.V-s was already in the works…
since the first deliveries were documented in mid May.
That's why I think that Greg's opinion about the double green camo modification,
applied on field, (not in every unit though), is more plausible.

 

 

[TG-55Panthercules]

 

Reflective Skins ....

 

 

Originally posted by ChiefRedCloud:

 

http://youtu.be/FsGrei3p3Gs[\youtube]

Does anyone have information as to where to get this mod or might have done it?

Chief

 

 

Panthercules, on 17 May 2016 - 21:11, said:

 

I found this old thread from 2010 where it seems this first appeared, but unfortunately there wasn't much said about it at the time:

 

http://riseofflight.com/forum/topic/14858-cubemap-reflections-example-based-rof-excellent/?hl=%2Bcubemap#entry182206

 

If you can find the OP maybe they could tell you something about it.

 

 

=HillBilly=, on 17 May 2016 - 22:43, said:

 

That link does not work.

 

 

J2_SteveF, on 18 May 2016 - 07:19, said:

 

IIRC from my time as a BETA tester,  this was something that was introduced in BETA, don't think it made it into the game. They also played with Depth of Field, another setting that never made into the game.

 

 

J2_Trupobaw, on 18 May 2016 - 07:59, said:

 

It's on Beta testers forum...

 

 

=HillBilly=, on 18 May 2016 - 08:08, said:

 

Oh, Thanks for the heads up.

 

 

J2_SteveF, on 18 May 2016 - 10:11, said:

 

You know what, from what I remember this was a cool effect, that had little effect on FPS.

 

Shame it didn't get implemented   

 

 

Panthercules, on 18 May 2016 - 10:15, said:

 

The OP for that beta test thread was ROSS_DiFiS - perhaps he/she knows something about it, if you can find them.

 

 

J2_SteveF, on 18 May 2016 - 11:49, said:

 

Perhaps one of the Devs or Han is the best person to speak to, as it was implemented in a Beta build of the game rather than a Mod.

 

 

Bronnx, on 18 May 2016 - 21:51, said:

 

I wish i could use this mode.

It looks awesome. 

 

 

Joker_BR, on 18 May 2016 - 22:55, said:

 

+1 for sure!

 

 

O_Rod, on 19 May 2016 - 16:44, said:

 

certainly looks great, wonder if Neoqeb himself might know, especially since it was around just after the dawn of RoF.

 

 

JG1_Vonrd_J10, on 21 May 2016 - 00:23, said:

 

In BOS / BOM they have the "wet look" (which I hate). A tweak of the Alpha channel seems to get rid of it.

 

Could the opposite work in ROF? I haven't had time to mess with it, but I suspect that the glossy look is in the game code and the Alpha might not do it.

 

 

Panthercules, on 21 May 2016 - 01:47, said:

 

It's certainly possible to tweak the alpha channel to play around with reflectivity, though I've never tried to get quite that much reflection and I'm not sure if it's possible to do that via the alpha channel tweaking.

 

 

Bronnx, on 21 May 2016 - 05:17, said:

 

Did you try it, in BoS / BoM ?

Thank you

 

 

Dutch2, on 21 May 2016 - 06:21, said:

 

I know some meber did made metal Fokker D8, that was shinny like real chroom.

 

 

Bronnx, on 21 May 2016 - 08:09, said:

 

i wish I could use this kind of metal skin for some aircrafts

 

 

ChiefRedCloud, on 21 May 2016 - 08:17, said:

 

I want to thank ALL who responded here.

This came in from a running conversation on the YouTube link itself ...

+justinspirational it is not mod. It is skin with hromatic level up. lost for a long time. Use photoshop and template skin from developers site http://riseofflight.ru/forum/topic/45319-poleznye-materialy/

Chief

 

 

Bronnx, on 21 May 2016 - 11:49, said:

 

it's only in russian

 

 

ChiefRedCloud, on 21 May 2016 - 16:07, said:

 

So I see. The templates are most likely the same ones we have in English else where. I have no idea what "hromantic" is.

Chief

 

 

J2_SteveF, on 21 May 2016 - 17:24, said:

 

They are the same

 

I think he means Chromatic.

Every skin has an Alpha layer.

Using a certain shade in the alpha produces a reflective effect.

 

Check out the Jasta 9 D3 from the community skin pack. That has a chrome effect cowl using the alpha to define the effect.

 

I have been playing with the alpha in some skins to get the same effect.

 

 

theSelf, on 21 May 2016 - 18:29, said:

 

I was the one asking the questions on the youtube page- the poster (who is russian) gave this feedback- 

 

it is not mod. It is skin with hromatic level up. lost for a long time. Use photoshop and template skin from developers site- https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/82595-useful-materials-for-rise-of-flight/

 

 

use "Skin Templates"

 

How to - Alpha chanel - 0..256 grayscale set diffren reflection types. Experimental.

 

 

If anyone understands this and gets it to work- please post back!

 

 

 

 

B24_LIBERATOR, on 21 May 2016 - 18:47, said:

 

I was informed people wanted to learn how to play with the Alpha channel? You're welcome to join me on TS and I can walk you through it.

 

 

Bronnx, on 22 May 2016 - 11:29, said:

 

So, any chances to get this skins ( mods ) ?

 

 

JG1_Vonrd_J10, on 23 May 2016 - 00:01, said:

 

Messed with the alpha a bit but it's not doing the gloss paint look (this is an extreme change obviously... but the wings were lightened considerably... more than other areas, which now are invisible, but the wings seem to have very little change. Any ideas?

 

 

 

ROSS_DiFiS, on 23 May 2016 - 05:57, said:

 

 

 

alpha  ~160 (-10...+10)

 

full black + reflect

 

 

 

 

+ original alpha chanel for editing. 

 

 

Bronnx, on 23 May 2016 - 06:33, said:

 

OMG, it looks fantastic.

Thank you so much, ROS_DiFiS. 

Excellent job. I will try to have it as the default skin for SopPup

Could you please do the same for Nieuport 28C1 ?? It's my favorite aircraft.

Silver / metal would be awesome, as well.

Thank you, again.

 

 

Panthercules, on 23 May 2016 - 21:57, said:

 

This is really easy for you to do by following the info above - here's a quick and dirty mock-up I did with my personal N17 skin.  I didn't spend any real time on it, but all you need to do is "paint" any portion of the alpha channel that you want to be this reflective with gray (160,160,160) as noted above, and leave alone any parts (like markings, tires, etc.) that you don't want to be that reflective:

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[TG-55Panthercules]

I thought it might be helpful to create a place to put some of the threads I'm finding over on the old RoF Forums that relate specifically to information and resources helpful to people making skins for RoF (and by extension, FC).

[TG-55Panthercules]

[RESOURCE] P109, P122 Doped linen seamless texture and other goodies.

Originally posted by SPEKTRE76:

 

ENJOY MY FELLOW SKINNERS

 

 

SEAMLESS DOPED LINEN P109 & P122 TEXTURES 2048 x 2048

 

 

 

BASSWOOD AND LEATHER TEXTURES

 

 

SOPWITH WING STRUT MANUFACTURER DECAL AND HELICE ECLAIR PROPELLER DECAL

   

 

 

BRISTOL F2.B PROPELLER DECAL

 

[TG-55Panthercules]

Lib's retextured D.Va Template (originally posted by B24_LIBERATOR)

 

I was talking with Trup to-day about some skins he was making, I offered him my Albatros templates, I made them a while back so I wouldn't have to redo the wood every time I skinned an Alby. Anyhow... instead of giving it straight to him though I did a bit of "clean up" on it and decided to post it here so anybody reskinning the D.Va doesn't have to settle for that ugly default wood texture.  There's 4 different versions, dark, shellac, gold, and unfinished (if you want to make your own hue of wood).
 

Shellac

 

 

Gold 

 

Unfinished

 

 

Ebony

 
Added a weathered channel and a couple small details, here's the new download:
DOWNLOAD: https://www.mediafire.com/?jobw524cr77o0y9

I threw a sharp filter and 12% desaturated the flattened image before saving as a .dds.

If you would just like the re-textured skins and not the template you can get them here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/i9c41b0z9j7b06t/Lib%27sWoodReskins.zip
 
Remember that these aren't finished skins, just springboards to help other people with their skins.

[TG-55Panthercules]

Useful web site for RFC historical skins (originally posted by Pursuivant)

 

If you're a real rivet counter, this is the site for you:

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/aircraft.html

Its got historical lists of every serial number assigned to a RFC/RAF aircraft from before WW1 until after the end. Just the thing if you want to assign an authentic serial number to a particular aircraft. /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_geek.gif

Slightly more interesting, there's also a list of "presentation" aircraft, which include texts which were presumably written on the airplane. Who can resist the thrill of flying a plane stenciled with "City of Adelaide South Australia Presented by Mrs Harry Bickford" or "Presented by the Maharaja of Rewa and Indian Nobles Bandhava"?

Seriously, there were a surprising number of aircraft donated by people throughout the British Empire, so potentially fun stuff for Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, etc. looking for a bit of subtle historical pride.

Even more useful for mission designers and historians are lists of aircraft taken on charge or struck off charge. In particular, the "casualty report" file makes fascinating, if grisly reading. WW1 aviators found about as many ways to wreck their planes as flight simmers! At least we can walk away from a virtual burning wreck. . .

[TG-55Panthercules]

Felix Rudder markings (originally posted by O_Rod)

 

/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_confused.gifThis has me baffled. Try as I may I cannot get rid of the markings from the Felix's tail, I have looked in each layer even to the point of unselecting ever layer to determine where they exist but can't find them.
I want to remove the numbers.

 

Cheers
Rod

 

 

J.j., on 25 Jul 2014 - 09:28, said:

 

What software are you using? I use Photoshop 7, and when I open the template I have a layer folder called "SIGN", inside I have the layer "Example SIGN". If I unselect this layer, the serial numbers disappeared.

 

 

O_Rod, on 25 Jul 2014 - 09:31, said:

 

Photoshop CS5, I even deleted that layer with no change.

 

 

Panthercules, on 25 Jul 2014 - 11:06, said:

 

There is a slight trick to finding the right place to either put or suppress the numbering on the rudder - check the alpha channel, find where these numbers are showing up, and make those areas all black (0,0,0).

 

 

O_Rod, on 25 Jul 2014 - 15:24, said:

 

Ah, the old 'hide the numbers in the alpha channel' trick
Thanks Panther

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules

[TG-55Panthercules]

Gotha Skinning (originally posted by O_Rod)

 

It appears skinning rabbits is much easier than skinning Gotha's. Can someone give me clarification as to whether or not things like the all struts, undercarriage, wheel hubs, and engine covers can be skinned on the Gotha because I can't find a way.
Cheers
Rod

 

 

O_WolfPac, on 12 Jun 2014 - 06:53, said:

 

yes :0) i will hqave a look for O_Magpies template as it will show you where the wheel hub and marking locations would go

 

 

O_Rod, on 12 Jun 2014 - 09:14, said:

 

Ta Wolf:)

 

 

Panthercules, on 12 Jun 2014 - 12:38, said:

 

IIRC, there are a few parts (e.g., the engines) that are not located on the template and thus cannot be skinned. You can easily locate those "missing" parts by just covering the entire template with a layer of solid red, and then looking at the resulting test skin in the viewer to see what parts on the plane aren't red.

[TG-55Panthercules]

Weirdness of the DFW Spinner (originally posted by O_Rod)

 

I have been doing some skins and have encountered a problem that baffles me.
the Spinner for the DFW is in 2 parts and when I skin the plane and look in the viewer or the Sim it's fine until I start the engine, then the spinner takes on the colour pattern of the fuselage. I tested it various ways and unless I am in err (quite probably) I can't seem to get the thing to have the colour scheme I choose, with the engine running.
Engine off, fine, exactly as I want,
Engine running, spinner is colour scheme of fuselage.
Anyone have this?
Cheers
Rod

 

 

Panthercules, on 26 May 2014 - 19:25, said:

 

I've never noticed a problem with any of the DFWs I've skinned. Can you post a screenshot of the areas you are coloring for the spinner? Perhaps you've got one of them wrong.

[edit] I checked and did have a location map for this template - the spinner areas are in the bottom right corner, labeled in the screenshot below:

 

 

 

O_Rod, on 27 May 2014 - 00:40, said:

 

No need to post screenies Panther, I see what I have done wrong, the area you have designated as Rotating Spinner I thought was part of the Fuselage, it made for an interesting effect /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_biggrin.gif
Just not the one I was after.
Cheers mate, saved some hair falling out this end /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gif

 

 

Panthercules, on 27 May 2014 - 02:01, said:

 

Glad to help. I haven't always had the time to do it with every template, but a location map like that does really help sometimes when they make some things kinda hard to find on the template, so I make them when I think about it and have some time to spare. Just lucked out that this was one of them.

 

[TG-55Panthercules]

Italian Nieuport and SPAD letter fonts. (originally posted by NewGuy_)

 

I am making skins for fictional Italian Nieuports and Italian SPADs. I need to find the correct letter fonts and number fonts for Italian Neiuports and Italian SPADs. Can an ROF skin maker can help me find the Italian fonts? Thanks!

/forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gifMJ

p.s. On the Aerodrome I found out that Bookman Old font may approximate the font used on French SPAD letters, but I am not too sure if the Italians used the same or similar font for letters and numbers.

 

 

FTC_obelix, on 11 Jun 2013 - 14:34, said:

 

www.dafont.com/fr/pistilli-roman.font
 

 

 

Edward_Gale, on 12 Jun 2013 - 04:39, said:

 

The fonts I mostly use:

-Plantagenet Cherokee;
-RAF_WW2_851ATH;
-Pistilli Roman.

 

[TG-55Panthercules]

Fokker Dr1 fonts (originally posted by lindebr)

Can anyone tell me what fonts are needed for the serial # and factory weight stencilling?

 

J5_Adam, on 04 Oct 2012 - 00:51, said:

 

For the serial # and weights (numbers anyway) I use customized "F Movie Poster". By customized I mean I scaled the font wider and played with the kerning.

I'd be interested to know what everyone else does.

 

 

elephant, on 04 Oct 2012 - 02:44, said:

 

I use these custom made fonts from a guy (Mike in Bellingham) over at the aerodrome:
(Includes Fonts for Albatros, Austria-Hungary, Fokker and Pfalz)

http://www.mediafire.com/download/3daq7475xtx4dcl/C%26MFonts+Request.zip

From the Read Me file:

"If you find these fonts particularly helpful to you,
and are inclined to contribute something,
please feel free to make a donation to my
PayPal account miknikle@earthlink.net. This is entirely
voluntary, and at your discretion.

These fonts may be distributed free to anybody,
providing you include my plea for a contribution.
You may not sell them in any case, but you may sell products
in which you have used the fonts, and best of luck to you
in that pursuit."

 

 

 

[TG-55Panthercules]

French planes: serial numbers (originally posted by =Fifi=)

Hi,

Here is a gold mine for skinners searching infos about historical french planes.

http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/Pages_fabricants.htm

Serial number, plane type, unit affectation, date, pilot and plane detail if known/any.

This is a work in progress, but Albin Denis made a huge fantastic work in his web site /forum/public/style_emoticons/phpbb/icon_e_salute.gif