SAS silvery white colours

[Guest hellifieldlad]

Hi there,I am looking to do an SAS repaint but I need to know how to get the silvery white fuse colours for the aircaft. I am looking to do the paint for Captain Sim 767, If anyone can help me out it would be great,thanks in advance hellifieldlad

[EagleSkinner 36]

Ummm... I don't do tubes, but that white... would it be a bit like the US Airways white - sort of "mother-of-pearl" shimmery? Hnag on, let me see airliners net... AHHH yes... USAirways grey and white is similar. I see what you mean. Well when I do whites, here's my experience:On the diffuse use a light grey tone - around 5% black for starters - RGB somewhere around 246, 246, 249 (note the slight splash of blue there?) The diffuse alpha channel could be around 15% black for the white paint - that will increase reflection. Surprisingly I find my favourite white is actually RGB 230, 230, 245 (but as with all paints, it does depend on the modellers reflection settings) BUT it does leave you breathing space" for this SAS and USAirways whiter than white effects on top.On the specular, paint the white areas a sort of "oil spill on water rainbow effect" - bend the hues towards blue and make the white area of the alpha fairly dark - charcoal or even anthracite. That spreads the light drop-off and diffuses the shimmer. You might need to experiment with the "rainbow" saturation too - not to strong in colours.But of course - as in all cases... it depends on the reflectivity values fixed by the 3D model maker when the mdl was exported to FSX format. The best tip is "experimentation".Here are some images to demonstrate - of course I paint the Eagle (is there anything else as good? :D ).1. The diffuse texture and 2. the alpha channel. Notice how dark my white really is... if you paint white too white, you lose all definition when the model flies in sim. 3. the specular texture and 4. the spec alpha channel. 5. How this looks in flight. (This paint will be released soon - it's the Viper Airshows livery. I am just sorting out a copyright acknowledgement statement) Note - in this paint I am tending towards pinkish irridescence in the white mother of pearl effect. As you can see, the low sunlight reflecting off the wing causes the shimmer. If you hue it towards blue - you'll get a silvery shimmer.

[EagleSkinner 36]

Part two... been looking at airliners netYour normal diffuse map will have the major areas of the white paint slightly grey (as in my example above) and the highlight areas (SAS Text etc) much whiter (but not 100% white). On the alphas, you reverse things - the major areas of white paint will be light grey (15% to 20% black) and the highlight areas darker (20% to 25% black)Now - on the specular sheetsIf you use the darker white for the major areas of the "white paint" and make the "highlight white" with that "mother-of-pearl" on the spec diffuse... then make the major areas of the "white paint" a mid-grey and make the "highlight white" parts a grey-scale cutout of the m-o-p on the spec alpha...That should do the trick

[EagleSkinner 36]

OK, here are a few image examples of how the alpha channel can be used to affect different shades of white.First of all the normal diffuse texture:Now two variations on the alpha channel: and now how these look in flight. Sadly, these two stills don't do the effect justice. The darker the parts on the alpha, the more polished the same bits look in sim. You have to watch an instant replay of a flight and swing your viewpoint around in external view. These two screens are in the same order as the alphas above. Now when you add specular and fresnel effects, you can go a heck of a long way further...I love painting FSX!

[EagleSkinner 36]

Someone was asking about silvery white on normal white and I posted the over taster...Well, here's the EC135 all white now and even if I say so myself, I like this!