Preparing the 737-400 Texture

last update 4th September 2001

This section shows you how to create and use a blank texture, and provides you with an opportunity to download the components of a blank 737-400.

As mentioned in the previous section, I use Macromedia Fireworks for my repaints (not as strange a choice as you might think...), so all screenshots are specific to that application. However, I've found that most packages have similar features to those that I'll use here, so you should be able to modify this guide for any program.

What files do I use?

For this tutorial, we'll be working on the default 737-400 texture. You'll find this in your B737-400 folder within the "aircraft" directory of your FS2000 installation. The file you need to edit is the 737-400_T1.BMP file in this aircraft's "Texture" directory. Back this file up now!

If you're working with a program using layers, you'll probably be saving this file using a different file format while working on it - save it to a working directory with a new filename now... better safe than sorry! You'll save it as a bitmap (.bmp) file later.

In the case of the other default FS2000 aircraft, you'll always need the "*_T1" texture, although for many aircraft the textures are divided into T1, T2, T3 and T4. You'll need to work on all of these for a complete repaint.

See the File Formats and Testing section for information on saving and installing these files for use in FS2000. Check this section also if you're having problems viewing this bitmap in your graphics program (it's not a standard bitmap!).

Setting up your layers

I'm assuming here that you've got a graphics program that can handle layers... if you haven't, there are some workarounds (described at the end of this section) but you'd be better off finding an application that uses them. (See the tools section).

The screenshot on the left here shows the layers that I have set up as the starting point for my repaints. Ignore "Web Layer" - a program specific feature...

You'll notice that I have the "Blank Body" as the lowest layer, with the "Paintjob" (the actual repaint specific to each airline) on top of this. The "Fuselage Lines" represent the aircraft body panels, and sit on top of the paintwork to give the impression of an aircraft built out of sections (as they are!). The "Doors + Windows" go over this (you don't want fuselage lines through your windows!), and "Dirt" covers everything... I tend to have the "Dirt" layer set to about 40% opacity to just give a hint of grime rather than covering the aircraft in muck!

You'll notice I also have a "calibbars" layer - this is the layer that I draw lines all over as reference points when aligning textures that cross between sections... the contents of this layer never get exported to the final texture (at least, not deliberately!).

Building your blank

Although you can paint straight on top of the default texture, you'll find it a lot easier (and much more sensible in the long run) to first create a good blank template. Here's how we do it:

This screenshot shows the nose of the original 737-400_T1.bmp file - you're going to want to set this as your image background. Ideally, you should try to keep this image intact, as you'll need the extra components (such as the undercarriage housing textures seen on this screenshot) and you can use the original textures to give you a better idea of how textures line up between sections.

Looking at the default texture here, you'll see (if you've ever been near a real 737-400) that the fuselage lines, hatches and panels are purely a work of fantasy! We'll want to ignore these and work exclusively from the real thing... You can also ignore the default doors and windows - again, Microsoft seems to be living in fantasy land when it comes to what these look like and where they go...

This next shot shows the "Blank Body" layer over the top. It's fairly simple - I've just painted white over the existing texture... or have I? In this example, you may (just!) be able to tell that there's a very slight gradient of white and grey running down the aircraft, to give a more three dimensional look.

In my graphics application, this is made easier as I've actually created a vector shape for the aircraft body and can edit the fill colour and gradient of this shape at any time. If you don't have this ability, you can simply use a plain white static shape, or paint the thing by hand. I would advise using a slight colour gradient, though (if possible) - it makes the difference between a good repaint (with flat colours) and a great repaint (with more photo-realistic appearance).

Okay... now we've added our fuselage lines (on another layer). This layer also includes other small components on the aircraft and the whole thing is based on actual photographs (rather than an idea that a 737 is a complicated bundle of random panels!).

In my version of this, each of these lines is a vector and totally editable, but it doesn't matter if it's static in your version - I never edit these lines once produced anyway.

An important thing to note about this layer is that all these lines are actually solid black. I've simply lowered the opacity (opposite of transparency) down to around 10%. This means that if I put textures underneath, they won't be entirely obscured, just "scored" with a slightly darker line. Of course, on top of white, these lines appear grey.

Now we're getting somewhere! I've added the doors and windows to the next layer up. These graphics were created from scratch (simply drawn, but you can take components scanned from a photo of a 737 if it makes life easier), and the windows were copied and pasted multiple times to make sure they are all the same. You might want to make some variations (such as windows with the shutter pulled) to add interest.

You might also consider putting the doors on a separate layer - in this case, the doors use black outlines and are set to around 15% opacity. The windows are solid (100% opacity)- if you can't use multiple different opacities in each layer with your program, just put the doors on one layer and the windows on another.

Finally we've put our "Dirt" layer onto the model. I've simply used an airbrush tool to spray on some brown and black grime at various points. I've used a low opacity for this layer so that the grime doesn't obscure the entire texture...

Things to remember when adding dirt (if you want to use it at all!) are simple points such as:

- The bottom of the aircraft will get much dirtier (in general) than the top... Dusty runways and general dirt flung up during landing are the chief culprits.

- Dirt will tend to accumulate behind aircraft panel joins - turbulence at these joins tends to deposit dirt right behind them, tapering to be fairly clean further away. The front of most joins tend to be blasted clean by the motion of the aircraft through the air.

- Oil and grease used in lubricating many parts of the aircraft occasionally leak, leaving trails running towards the back of the aircraft. Only add oily streaks where lubrication would be needed, or near engines. (The aircraft control surface and whole tail area can tend to get very dirty because of this).

Workarounds

If you don't have a graphics application that will handle layers, you'll still be able to produce repaints, but changing and editing them will become that much harder.

The best workaround is to never paint directly onto the aircraft body... how? Well, you can select the area of the texture that needs to be a new colour (the underside may need to be blue, for example) and then change the brightness/contrast and hue (colour) of that section using your program's image tools. You'll find that working this way for the basics of your aircraft body keeps all the existing features and just shifts their colour and properties slightly to fit in with that part of the aircraft.

Another option is simply to cut out items like windows and doors, and paste them to a new image or to a blank part of the texture map. When you've completed your painting, you can cut and paste them back into place over the new paintwork. You'll probably need to redraw all your fuselage lines, though... (a lot of work!).

However you're working, if you don't have layers I'd recommend saving your texture very often, and to a different file each time, so that you have previous versions to return to if something goes wrong.

Finally...

Make sure you save your blank aircraft as a separate image, so that you've got it as a template to work from.

If you don't the time (or inclination!) to do all this work, you can download my blank aircraft bodies from www.flightsim.com (b734blnk.zip and b777blnk.zip) as a single image, or get the 737 components right here. To use these graphic components, your graphics application will need to handle .png files with alpha transparency. This file format is fairly universal (and is becoming more popular) as it can use graded transparency and file sizes are not too large.

Click on each of these files to download them (individual zip files). When you've got them all unzipped, you'll want to create a new image and import first the default 737 bitmap, and then these files into layers as mentioned above...

- Blank body texture (plain white graded body and default wings) *** FILES ADDED ***
- Fuselage lines (solid black lines - need to be set to lower opacity) *** FILES ADDED ***
- Windows and doors (doors need to be set with lower opacity) *** FILES ADDED ***
- Dirt (needs to be very faint!) *** FILES ADDED ***