Hi I also posted this in the pain forum, but seeing as how there is more traffic here I thought I'd fish here also. I have a couple helicopters that I fly that have reflective windows and because of that I can't see the AI helicopters from the Heli Traffic 2009 program. Long story short, I've been told that if I change the Alpha texture for the windows to zero or if I paint them white and get full transperancy it should solve the problem. So I did a little research and found out I needed DXTbmp to open the textures and then an editor like photoshop to tweak the texture. I have photoshop 7.0 and I went and got DXTbmp. So last night I fired both programs up and I got the textures into photoshop and that was as far as I got. I did see the alpha channel, but I had no idea what to do next. I found the windshield textures for the helicopter I was working on but I have no idea how manipulate them. Can some one give me some instructions on what to do once i'm in photoshop to make the cockpit windows fully transparent with no reflective qualities? Or can someone point me to a really good beginner tutorial, I've looked at a few tutorials but they mostly deal with repainting planes using paint kits and do not really address anything to do with the window textures. Thanks for the help!!!!By the way the two helicopters I am trying to fix are the Hovercontrol 412ER (not the original by Jordan Moore but and update that another person did to Jordan's), the other chopper is the AS350 B3 from Heli Development which I bought at Simmarket. Again thanks!!!

I have a convoluted way of modifying the texture files using just DXTBMP and the PAINT program that came with Windows. (I'm sure the experts out there have something simpler, but here goes.) Make a copy of ANY .bmp file you have and put it somewhere temporary where you can find it. Then open the window/glass texture you want to make transparent, and clicking on "export alpha file" send the alpha to overwrite that temporary file you just created. Now go to PAINT, open that temp file and paint it entirely pure black. The go back to DXTBMP, open your window texture file, click on "import alpha file", browse to the temp file you just painted black and import it back into your window/glass file. Save it. Hope this helps.John

I have a convoluted way of modifying the texture files using just DXTBMP and the PAINT program that came with Windows. (I'm sure the experts out there have something simpler, but here goes.) Make a copy of ANY .bmp file you have and put it somewhere temporary where you can find it. Then open the window/glass texture you want to make transparent, and clicking on "export alpha file" send the alpha to overwrite that temporary file you just created. Now go to PAINT, open that temp file and paint it entirely pure black. The go back to DXTBMP, open your window texture file, click on "import alpha file", browse to the temp file you just painted black and import it back into your window/glass file. Save it. Hope this helps.John

This might cut down a few steps to your procedure.Right click on the texture file and "open with" DXTBmp. If DXTBmp is not provided as an option you can "Browse" to it.In DXTBmp the Alpha is displayed in a small window, upper right. Under the window is a set of small buttons.Click on the 2nd from the left, with the arrow pointing straight down. This will send the Alpha to your editor, which is MS Paint by default. Do not close DXTBmp.FS Paint should start automatically when you do the above. Make your edit in MS Paint and save the file. Note: make sure the file name does not change.Bring up DXTBmp and click on the 3rd button under the Alpha thumbnail (arrow pointing straight up). This will load your edited Alpha. Click on the 4th button, arrow pointing down-right. This will save the edited .bmp , asking you if you want to overwrite. Which you can safely do because you backed up the original before you started,...didn't you? :( That's how I do it anyway. After using this procedure a few times it moves pretty quick. Not that it's a race, mind you.Hope this helps,Joe

Thanks for the replies N60JBravo and JohnF,When i get the alpha channel into MSPaint should I be selecting only the window textures to paint black or should i also paint the background black? Right now the window textures are grey on the alpha channel and the background is white. Thanks a lot for your help on this.

Thanks for the replies N60JBravo and JohnF,When i get the alpha channel into MSPaint should I be selecting only the window textures to paint black or should i also paint the background black? Right now the window textures are grey on the alpha channel and the background is white. Thanks a lot for your help on this.

Just the window area.I don't have the textures, but would assume there are other parts of the ship on it. Painting the complete alpha black would give undesirable results, I think.regards,Joe

Just the window area.I don't have the textures, but would assume there are other parts of the ship on it. Painting the complete alpha black would give undesirable results, I think.regards,Joe

Thanks, I'll give this a try tonite.

I tried the suggestions above, unfortunately, the result is that the textures are opaque and eventhough only the windows show up on the alpha channel, the rest of the doors have lost thier texture. I have grey doors and opaque black windows. Any idea what I am doing wrong? Thnx!! I'll keep researching and trying.

Can you post the filename of the 412 and where you DLed it from?I will take a look at it tonight, if nobody else helps you before.regards,Joe

Can you post the filename of the 412 and where you DLed it from?I will take a look at it tonight, if nobody else helps you before.regards,Joe

Hi Joe,Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you, I came down with a little case of the flu. I was finally able to get the 412 squared away. Your suggestion took me in the right direction and I had to experiment to go a few steps further. The windows in question actually had a reflection texture painted on them so in addition to painting the alpha channel black I had to go into photoshop and delete the reflection texture. Then I was saving the the file from photoshop as a 32bit file. So after removing the reflection texture and saving the file as a 32bit texture, I had to open the file in DXTBmp and then save it as a DXT3 file. Once I did that I was all set. I gave up trying to fix the Heli Development AS350, removing the tint on this model leaves some ugly effects on the window frame. Again thanks for your help on this one, I wouldn't have been able to get anything done without your help!!