Aircraft Repaint Help,

[Richard_Michael 11]

This is my first time ever repainting an aircraft, and in the process taught myself how to barely use photoshop. I had a feeling I was in for some nasty little surprises when I finally loaded the textures into the sim. I am getting this effect as seen in the pics below, I am at my wits end , and I just cant figure it out, I have made sure that I cropped and resized , flipped vertically... etc. can any experienced repainter please here nudge me in the right direction? Your help will be greatly appreciated.Kind regards,Richard Shawthe good side:

[IFR7700 228]

There's a great set of tutorials on Dantrix.net.

[Sam Nicholson 0]

All I can say/see is that the conflicting problem is that the window textures are somehow on the bottom of the aircraft... and unless you want airsick passengers that's not a wise plan! :wink:Sorry for the joke - in all seriousness I myself am only just learning the basics of repainting in CS5.5. I'm sure someone with more experience will get to this thread soon, it's probably just the way you've saved your texture files :(

[NGX_Fan 0]

I looks like that you don't flip the alpha, but only the image. You can use DxtBmp.

[SRAces 76]

Richard,I'm guessing that it one of several things. You somehow managed to move one of the Window layers out of it's normal position. There are 2 different sets of windws and another layer called Window Blanks. My suggestion is to doublecheck (step through the layers) and make sure every layer you want to use in in the correct position before making the DDS file.I don't think it's an alpha problem unless you manage to move those winfow blank layers.I have Photoshop CS5.5. Have you downloaded the add-on for Photoshop that lets you save directly as a DDS file or are you going the DXTBMP-Photoshop-DXTBMP route? PM me and I'll try to help you out. I'm currently at work and should be home in a couple of hours.Steve

[Fabo 213]

When you flip the image in Photoshop for saving in DDS, you select the whole image and use Edit/Transform/Flip on it, dont you?You end up with flipped visible map, but alpha map stays in the same place. It needs to be flipped too. Use Image/Rotate Canvas/Flip Canvas.Also I hear the latest DDS Plugin from nVidia can flip automatically, but I have not tried it.

[SRAces 76]

Peter,I have that nVidia Photoshop plugin and it works perfect. I just work on all my layers, highlight the front, middle or rear section off the master template and select "copy merged". That way you get every layer. I then pull up the corresponding photoshop file from the paintkit (i.e. the pmdg_737NGX_fuselage_1.psd if I'm doing the front) and then past from the master to the single file.I then set my "adjust layer" property to 55% opacity so I can zoom in and move the pasted layer with my arrow keys to make sure it lines up perfectly. Once I'm satisfied, I then go back to the "adjust layer" property and put the opacity back to 100%. Then you can either flatten the image or select "merge layers" and you will have the one final layer.I select "save as" and pick the DDS file type and go to the aircraft texture file for the plane in FSX and select the corresponding file (pmdg_737NGX_fuselage_1.dds). I get a popup window that asks me to overwrite. You will get a popup window for the nVidia Photoshop plugin show up. By default it will flip the image correctly on the save unless you uncheck the flip box.That's all there is to it. This is all assuming you have the texture file your're using loaded and the aircraft.cfg filed edited to reflect the new aircraft/texture.Steve

[Richard_Michael 11]

All I can say/see is that the conflicting problem is that the window textures are somehow on the bottom of the aircraft... and unless you want airsick passengers that's not a wise plan! :wink:Sorry for the joke - in all seriousness I myself am only just learning the basics of repainting in CS5.5. I'm sure someone with more experience will get to this thread soon, it's probably just the way you've saved your texture files :(

having a glass bottom plane might not be a bad idea for reef spotting from the skies above the Caribbean.

I looks like that you don't flip the alpha, but only the image. You can use DxtBmp.

I think you might have been right :( :( I went back and flipped all layers carefully problem seems to have been solved. I believe that I might have been flipping th epainted layer before i flattened it , and not flipped the layer below it.

Richard,I'm guessing that it one of several things. You somehow managed to move one of the Window layers out of it's normal position. There are 2 different sets of windws and another layer called Window Blanks. My suggestion is to doublecheck (step through the layers) and make sure every layer you want to use in in the correct position before making the DDS file.I don't think it's an alpha problem unless you manage to move those winfow blank layers.I have Photoshop CS5.5. Have you downloaded the add-on for Photoshop that lets you save directly as a DDS file or are you going the DXTBMP-Photoshop-DXTBMP route? PM me and I'll try to help you out. I'm currently at work and should be home in a couple of hours.Steve

Steve thanks for replying yes, I downloaded the Nvidia plugin yesterday, I use CS3. And I have since let it do the flippin´ for me, I think my problem was not being methodical, and patient, i didn't realize that i did not flip the second layer. Anyhow, thanks again, ill post a pic of the finished product this weekend. One thin I havent figured out is, how to use the window blanks, I need to block off four windows, I tried moving the respective blank window layers above the window line layer, but no windows were blocked.thank youRichard Edited March 3, 2012 by Richard_Michael

[SRAces 76]

Richard,I'm glad you figured it out. Patience is the best tool when doing a livery...lol. I haven't done much with adding or removing windows yet and need to figure that process out. Good luck with your livery. It's looking good!

[Fabo 213]

Hello,the key to blanking the windows is, that it is a two step process. First, you need to add the blanks (or rather remove the window texture, or both) in the visible channels.However, if you end here, the model will still show a window - that is, it will show an actual window, cut into the fuselage, and you can see inside. To eliminate that, you need to clear that window in Alpha channel in the respective fuselage section file. For proof of concept, look up FedEx livery for the 737-800. You can find screenshots on this forum too.