Is there any qualitative difference between putting the painted areas over the rivets/panel lines and having them in multiply mode or putting the details on top and having that layer in multiply? I like to layer colors and cannot do that with color layers in multiply.Moggie? Leen? Anybody?Bill

It shouldn't really make much of a difference, although anything that should be white on the template will go invisible. You could always merge the paint schemes before setting to multiply, thats what I tend to do. Just keep a copy of the separate layers in a folder. :)

I agree there is not much difference at first glance.Nevertheless the is a significant difference.When working with layers having rivetlines,platelines , shadows, dirt etc, I prefer not to use the multiply mode for any of these layers or layers wich are on top of them.Setting these layers I mentioned above to the multyply mode will make them darker.( multiply mode always will make things darker)Multiply a colorlayer with a layer with grey lines, shades etc these lines and shadows wil become darker.E.g. a grey line multiplied with a green layer will result in a dark green (yes green,not grey anymore) line, no matter wich of the two is in multiply mode.In other words when using the multiplier mode in a paintkit having dirt-layers , due to this multyplying the plane will be much more dirty than the original maker intended to make it.And, wich is very importatant, the color of the dirt effect will change.Sometimes it may be usefull to us the MP mode for platelines and rivets to give them a color according to the color of the plane , in that case sometimes the opacity of that river-layer has to be reduced , to avoid rivets becoming to dark.Thats why I prefer to place my color-layers as close to the base-layer as possible , not using the MP mode for this colorlayers.All layers on top of these color-layers will keep their original colors and intensety.Multiply mode is very handy when working with unlayered paintkits (blanks) , for layered paintkits there are better ways to achieve better results.Leen de Jager

>Multiply mode is very handy when working with unlayered>paintkits (blanks) , for layered paintkits there are better>ways to achieve better results.In the past I adjusted the transparency/opacity of the detail layers and put them higher. I prefer to keep the color layers towards the bottom. Now, I ask this question as I am always interested in improving my work. When working with layered paintkits, Leen, what are some of those other ways you mentioned? Also, I prefer to isolate the panel/rivet detail without any color on the layer except the lines/rivets. I tried Moggie's tip of using the multiply mode in my latest work for a small VA and liked the results - but I put the lines/rivets layer above the colors. As for keeping the layers separate, I pretty much undo any flattening after copying the result onto norm.bmp anyhow so reseparating the color layers is not a problem.Bill

>>Multiply mode is very handy when working with unlayered>>paintkits (blanks) , for layered paintkits there are better>>ways to achieve better results.>In the past I adjusted the transparency/opacity of the detail>layers and put them higher. I prefer to keep the color layers>towards the bottom. Now, I ask this question as I am always>interested in improving my work. When working with layered>paintkits, Leen, what are some of those other ways you>mentioned? Also, I prefer to isolate the panel/rivet detail>without any color on the layer except the lines/rivets. >>I tried Moggie's tip of using the multiply mode in my latest>work for a small VA and liked the results - but I put the>lines/rivets layer above the colors. As for keeping the>layers separate, I pretty much undo any flattening after>copying the result onto norm.bmp anyhow so reseparating the>color layers is not a problem.>>Bill> As what Leen stated I never use multiply to paint colors on top of all the detail work that's why I make my own paintkits Colors always near the bottom and all the effects and other detail layers on top and playing with different layer settings + opacityEnd up normally around 200 till 300 layers for one side of a fuse with a lot of layer effects used but then you have a lot of detail.Great way also to use the layerd psd in 3ds max but thats a different story lol I don't like the paints with multiply on top because the rgb values aren't correct anymore and you loose a lot of detail regarding rgbSo the key is for every new effect or lines of segment of lines / rivets / shades / effects use new layers... hence there are even adjustment layers in photoshop :-)Have fun,http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

I would like to give an direct answer to Bill`s question, nevertheless that`s not possible.There are hundreds of ways in adjusting and manipulation colors and layers.Here I give an example op a paint based on a "blank" , so all colors are placed over the details.Even then it is possible to achieve perfect colors even when spraying different colors over eachother in multiply mode.The only thing which makes this very difficult is the fact that different colorlayers having all the multyply funtion give other colors.As you can see I adjusted the dark green layer to the right color.On another layer I sprayed the brown camouflage.Here is the trick, I sprayed some kinda darkish pink wich gives multiplied with the green a perfect brown.As you see it is possible to achieve fine results on a "blank".Apart from the details on the "blank" I also used layers with smudge etc over the colorlayers as well.http://home.planet.nl/~dejag021/colorlayers.jpghttp://home.planet.nl/~dejag021/mothscreens/h.jpg

That was an interesting read.For my sins, I come from the real world aircraft "industry". I tend to paint the same way as on a real plane. i.e. the base colour is exactly that - the base, down the bottom. Next I put the panel lines in place, merged with the background (base paint). Then the weathering (wear and tear); above that, the dirt and on top of everything else come the shadows. That's how it happens on a real plane, so why not on a model. Shadows, by their very nature, are ideally "multipliers" - you will never really see a grey shadow (unless on white paint); it will always be a "multiplied" grey of the colour below.Panel lines are never grey either. In fact they are usually two part. Light from above will illuminate the edge of the panel on the one side of the gap and place the other in shade - if the gaps are large enough of course. So you can often "win" on a paint by having two sets of panel lines. One exact set with a darkish grey colouration (not too dark on lighter surfaces or they look artificial) - this set of lines can be a multiply merge. Then offset the second set of lines by one pixel down and left (or right) to allow for sunlight coming at an angle. Make this second set of panel lines a "Divide" merge. Of course, don't overdo it either - reduce the opacity until you feel that the results aren't too stark. I have often toned some panel lines to less than 10% and still the "highlight" has been too bright. In such cases I try one of the other merge options - "Screen overlay" is sometimes good. Experimentation is always good - you may discover a better way to merge and then tell us about it.But sometimes one method of merging just doesn't want to look right. I recently used "Logical Or" to get a heat-blued metal effect on an exhaust panel. So remember, the traditional methods work, but don't be afraid to experiment - and share what works.