PMDG Livery Paint Tutorial for FSX & FS9

[Guest Qantas_guy]

Dan,It was the Mip Maps in the save window. Thanks so much - I'm really happy with this one.All the best.Christopher Hatch

[Turbine777 13]

Great work Dan. As Robert said, make it into a PDF etc and lock it away for future would be painters. Maybe Robert might set up a livery area provided by forum members, though I suppose we can place them in the avsim library. I am sure it will be a fantastic reference to us all. Thank you for your efforts.Regards

Hi Geoff, your most welcome, just sorry it took so long to post. I had to rewrite a lot of it because of 2 pictures I was hoping to get the ok to use, and of course, never did. As for a PDF, I do actually have one (Created by Brian of this forum) but rather make any needed corrections or adjustments from feedback to this post first. It may take a while for people to get to a step that they may need more explained so rather wait until any of those possible additions have been made.Also may need to make changes to how I state some things. Some people or cultures may not understand some of my slang and as much as I tried not to use it, I can already see areas I did :(

Dan,It was the Mip Maps in the save window. Thanks so much - I'm really happy with this one.All the best.Christopher Hatch

Glad it worked out for you Christopher. Even if you don't follow this tutorial, you can always come by when you have a specific question and possibly find your answer by using the Find shortcut (my favorite). Just press "CTRL+F" then type in your keyword and hit enter to cycle through the various finds of the word. If that doesn't help. I did the tutorial in order pretty much, to allow people to to just hit their topic and go, so you should be able to find the particular section your having trouble by looking at the section titles for where you may have problems or questions. You of course, finished your paint so doesn't look like you need all of this explained, but to better post how to use this tutorial in other ways for other people I thought I would add them in this responce.

[thefsxflyer 1]

I was about to write that PMDG would most likely to host/pin this and then I read Robert's response and it sounds like you got a deal... Although I know the basics of painting I think I am going to read this tutorial when I got more time since there has to be on thing in this that would help me tremendously. You probably saved a couple of posts that get posted in this forum.Taylor OldhamPS. The disclaimer just made my day.

[Turbine777 13]

I was about to write that PMDG would most likely to host/pin this and then I read Robert's response and it sounds like you got a deal... Although I know the basics of painting I think I am going to read this tutorial when I got more time since there has to be on thing in this that would help me tremendously. You probably saved a couple of posts that get posted in this forum.Taylor Oldham

Hi Taylor, I was creating this during the time you and I were emailing each other about paint issues so I can assure you, I used those questions to help make this the way it is. So I promise you will find some usefulness here :( Sometimes I can't think of questions or what to explain, until someone asks, so you helped me greatly BTW. I hope others after reading this, will post their remaining questions so I can make it a better PDF.

[realpilotsimpilot 11]

Hi Taylor,I was creating this during the time you and I were emailing each other about paint issues so I can assure you, I used those questions to help make this the way it is. So I promise you will find some usefulness here :( Sometimes I can't think of questions or what to explain, until someone asks, so you helped me greatly BTW. I hope others after reading this, will post their remaining questions so I can make it a better PDF.

Dan, Here's a question: Do you have to use the full version of photoshop, or can you use the "photoshop elements" version out there?

[Pete_Smith 1]

Thanks Dan, thats rather impressive! PMDG must be impressed also and probably rather proud to have you as a customer. Maybe a free gift should come your way.....cough cough? Takes dedication and hard work to create something like that. The sky will now be full of weird and wonderful liveries thanks to you. I'm going to have a look at The Gimp that you mentioned. I haven't seen that app before, looks interesting. Thanks.Regards,Pete Smith, UK

[Turbine777 13]

Thanks Dan, thats rather impressive! PMDG must be impressed also and probably rather proud to have you as a customer. Maybe a free gift should come your way.....cough cough? Takes dedication and hard work to create something like that. The sky will now be full of weird and wonderful liveries thanks to you. I'm going to have a look at The Gimp that you mentioned. I haven't seen that app before, looks interesting. Thanks.Regards,Pete Smith, UK

Thank you Pete for the very kind words, much appreciated.It took a long time, about 300+ hours, then about another 150+ to make changes that I really wish I didn't have to do. I'm glad people like it, and that's enough for me. I don't want a free gift, especially since this is still new and not fully tested so could turn out to be a huge flop hehe (just kidding). Gimp is pretty cool, I like the way the tool bars are all undocked, but PS users have the same if not better flexibility since PS7 I believe. I did want to include mention of at least one freeware out there. Paint.net was another, but I didn't have time enough to test it to make mention of it.I still recommend doing the PS trial with the tutorial, and then transitioning to anything else will be smoother rather than trying to learn it from the start.EDIT: Doh, I just noticed, I forgot to mention the huge benefits for multi-monitor users... <sigh>

Dan, Here's a question: Do you have to use the full version of photoshop, or can you use the "photoshop elements" version out there?

I use a bundled Adobe product currently. Adobe Production Studio CS3 (or something like that). Photoshop Elements should be fine to do everything I mentioned, I can't imagine why not. But that said, I never owned it so strongly recommend trying a trial if that exists for it.

[MauB 74]

Great!! Many many thanks for this superb tuto Dan!

[coryryder 0]

My A.D.D. kicked in after a few scrolls....Is there a Video tutorial somewhere?

[dazz 69]

oh my, this is awesome Dan. Thanks so much

[Turbine777 13]

My A.D.D. kicked in after a few scrolls....Is there a Video tutorial somewhere?

Hi Cory, There will not be a video on this since when I was weighing the idea to do it at all, the choices for a written tutorial better fit overall. Believe me when I say that choice didn't come lightly and I too have the attention span of a grape, but to better serve it's intended purpose is much better off the way it is in my opinion. It would be one thing if it were a DVD, where you had menu's bringing you to your specific choice, but even then would have many problems making it much longer. I would have had to consider those that would only reference certain sections and then have to recover some needed steps in other sections. Since it is based on a beginner to Photoshop as well as livery paints I wrote it by introducing different techniques along the way, and if one step were skipped or missed by not going to the correct next step would have only caused more confusion. Youtube being the main area to share videos, I would then have had to have MANY 10-minute segments and more advanced users or someone only using it for referrence would have spent more time looking for specific sections and answers to what they themself needed. I have followed many video tutorials on youtube and something that goes into the detail and steps I mention for beginners would make it much more complicated I think for the actual beginner.Keep in mind also, that many available tutorials tend to leave out some things making it very frustrating. This tutorial uses some very advanced ways also that other tutorials never mention and is more as a combined effort as a guide to painters and Photoshop beginners (or even advanced users).

[phil747fan 14]

Dan,one of the best contri ever seen.i just got one little problem with that. that means that i ve no excuse to no paint myself and not whinning to get any new repaint done ... :( Phil

[Dougal 165]

I've read through this wonderful tutorial, and am now attempting to start it.I seem to have hit a hurdle with Photoshop almost at the very start and any help is gratefully received ....... I create the first PSD okay and change the background colour to white and rename it 'background'.Then, as stated, I create another new image with Ctrl+N for the first stripe, and then change the colour to black.As instructed, I then hit 'V' to have the 'Move Tool'. However, my two images are on two separate 'TABS', so I'm not able to drag and drop.I'm stuck :( (Dan, I emailed you via a link here)

[Dougal 165]

I've read through this wonderful tutorial, and am now attempting to start it.I seem to have hit a hurdle with Photoshop almost at the very start and any help is gratefully received ....... I create the first PSD okay and change the background colour to white and rename it 'background'.Then, as stated, I create another new image with Ctrl+N for the first stripe, and then change the colour to black.As instructed, I then hit 'V' to have the 'Move Tool'. However, my two images are on two separate 'TABS', so I'm not able to drag and drop.I'm stuck :( (Dan, I emailed you via a link here)

I think I know what it is. I'm not able to 'shrink' the opening screen/work area, so I can only view one image at a time. When I try to drag the corners in, nothing happens.

[Turbine777 13]

Strange, the only thing I can think of is if the two images are in full screen mode or maximized. If they're maximized you will see this in the top right corner The photoshop layout with two images open should look something like this:I apologize in advance that I will be in and out all day, mostly out. I am in the final and worst stages of a big move so will check back as often as I can and will check my email and see if there is anything more I can answer.If the above doesn't help, maybe you can either send me a screenshot or post one so I can better see what maybe going on.Thanks,

I think I know what it is. I'm not able to 'shrink' the opening screen/work area, so I can only view one image at a time. When I try to drag the corners in, nothing happens.

Ok, that's what I was thinking, you just need to "Restore Down" as shown here: Glad you mentioned this, it could be something others run into as well.