newbie painting-questions (sorry if o/t)

[Guest]

Hi!I've registered the 737 some time ago and I'm missing something totally unimportant - my preferred livery: Hapag Lloyd Express (the ones looking like an old NYC YellowCab).Since nobody has done it yet, I've decided to do it myself. I've found some information about painting in this forum, tried it, even had some success. The livery of HLX is quite complex (compared to my abilities :-)) so I did an easy one first, Germania. They are mostly white (like the PaintKit) and easy to draw.Please help me with two questions:* guess this is a really stupid one :+, didn't find the answer in a forum or groups.google, so the solution must be kind of obvious: One side of the fuselage is done (written) in mirror-writing. Why? And what is the best way to do this (mirror-writing)?* for painting the fuselage the file pmdg_700_fuse_t.psd is used. This is also the one copied over to the FS after converting to .bmp. In this file, the fuselage is split in two halves. This is a bit inconvenient, I'd rather use the file 700_full_xxx.psd with the whole fuselage in one piece, but this one can not be used directly in FS. I'm a smart guy :-lol, so I've tried to copy the two halves of pmdg_700_fuse_t.psd to a new file, working with this file and copy them back afterwards to pmdg_700_fuse_t.psd, but it seems that the two halves of pmdg_700_fuse_t.psd are wider than 700_full_xxx.psd and overlap each other. What is the best way to work around here? How do you paint the whole fuselage with a design going from front to rear? My first trial ended in a "step" in my design because I've missed the right line between fore and rear part of the aircraft.That's it, any kind of helpful hint is greatly welcome, I'm a total :-:-newbie in doing this stuff. Of course I could figure it out by myself, but I'd rather fly than paint, there's not much time besides my job - guess you know this problem ;(Thanks!Ueli

[vscimone 16]

Ueli, there is some overlap with the two halves, so the best thing to do is to combine the two halves in your paint program, and overlap them by counting the windows on the side. (yes, this is a pain and perhaps we will add a reference line).VinPMDGwww.precisionmanuals.comhttp://www.vinscimone.com/dancnkid.gif

[Guest rellehenk]

What's wrong with this one?http://www.precisionmanuals.com/downloads/...d%20Express.EXE

[virtualstuff 758]

No problems with the kit easy stuff ;-)Andr

[John_Tavendale 453]

>What's wrong with this one?>>http://www.precisionmanuals.com/downloads/...d%20Express.EXEThats the yellow Hapag-Lloyd 'Taxi cab' Express livery. The one he refers to is the original Germania livery that looks like this:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/33531.jpg:)

[John_Tavendale 453]

Ueli, its easier to paint the livery onto the long fuselage sections, obviously its easier to make sure the lines aling properly etc. Once you've applied the livery, save the .psd file, then flatten all the layers, save it as a .bmp. The next thing to do is cut the fuselage section and paste it onto the aircrafts texture.Easiest thing to do is count the windows, then cut a little behind them to make sure you cover the entire length, then paste this onto the texture as a new layer. Set the layers opacity to multiply, this will give your image some transperancy, you'll be able to drag it around and line up all the fuselage lines, windows and doors. Once you've done that, set the layers opacity to normal and flatten. Simply repeat that with the remaining fuselage textures.

[Mac_Paint 35]

Ueli,here you go...You need to use the layers option in your paint program. First, paint the left fuse half, using different layers for each graphic you add to the basic fuse. Use one layer for the cheatline, another for the logo, another for registration numbers, etc. As a guide for creating the right side of the fuse, I past a small square into opposite corners of the left fuse half in each layer I create. This is used to clone the added graphic elements into the right side of the fuse. For example, on the logo for say, Lauda Air, after sizing and positioning the graphic I added small squares into the upper left corner and lower right corner of this left fuse logo texture. This corner location is not mapped onto the 3D model but just keep the square to a pixel or two. I then select the logo layer, copy then paste that logo layer into the right fuse half. At this point the logo needs to be flipped horizontally to appear correctly on the 3D model. I delete the small squares from the texture layer I've just pasted into the right fuse half then horizontally flip that layer. It will maintain it's horizontal location and will be aligned with the left fuse logo. Doing this for all of the left fuse layers you add will result in perfectly aligned fuse graphics. You need to flip text on the right fuse texture or elements that are flipped on the prototype livery. After this is done to your liking save these file in TGA format. These are the files that gets pasted into the pmdg_700_fuse_t map. Now, open pmdg_700_fuse_t and select the background layer. You'll note the four sections of the fuse with the left side being the two upper sections. Open the fuse right side TGA file, select all, copy then paste into the pmdg_700_fuse_t map. This is the cool part. Select the layer you've just pasted into the map and position it so that the aft APU texture is visible on the map. Align this with the bottom texture on the map, using the APU texture as the guide. Zooming in will help you align this section. You can check your alignment by selecting and deselecting your pasted layer to make it visible. If the doors and fuse lines do not change position as you select and deselect your layer, you're good to go. Now, again paste and you'll get another right fuse half on the map. DO NOT move this layer horizontally. It's perfectly aligned in this axis and the only thing you have to do is move it vertically. I use the arrow and shift key in Photoshop to move this layer 10 pixels at a time. PSP should have similar command key movement. I use the red stripe on the front section of the background image to align my newly pasted front fuse section. Just nudge this section until you either no longer see this background stripe, if your moving your pasted texture downwards or until you see the stripe if your moving upwards. When this is fuse section is vertically aligned, you will not see the red stripe on the background image. This completes the alignment of the right fuse. Repeat for the left fuse section starting with the aft section, align, paste the front section, align then save this when everything is aligned. You'll also want to save this as a TGA file for later processing.Whew, lot of words but really, the process is pretty easy thanks to Bob Jones great paint kit!P.S. As I typed this, John also gave some additional tips on painting. As you can no doublt tell by now, there is more than one way to skin a horse. As you get deeper into painting, you'll develope your own style. Go with what feels right to you and enjoy the process. You'll be hooked in no time!