Repaint request?

[severniae]

Hi all,Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, mods please feel free to move this if necessary.I'm looking for someone to do a repaint for me if possible?I've always wanted a personalised 737-700(with winglets) livery for personal flying a personal VA (myself and my brother often fly together)It would have a long black stripe along the windows (kind of similar to the Janet airlines stripe but black) and towards the front have a logo consisting of a silhouette of a bird of prey in flight (Namely a Falcon, my favourite animal!) and the airline name "WalkAir" - a play on my surname! And also a black circle around the front of each engine, and the same Falcon silhouette on the tail just to stop it looking plain. So the paint scheme would be white and black. Also with a tail registration of G-WALK.If anyone is willing to do this for me I'd be eternally grateful, I'd be happy to pay, but am unsure if this is against the paint kit rules, so if it's not allowed I'd be more than happy to make an on-line donation to a charity of your choice?Please get in contact with me if you'd like to help. I had a go at making it myself but lack the proper software, and unfortunately lack that artistic flair!Many thanks,James W

[Fabo]

Hello,What kind of bird of prey silhouette do you have in mind?e.g stylized, or realistic, side view, or top down?edit: something to this effect?http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-17345951/stock-vector-falcon-silhouette-retro-clip-art

[severniae]

Hi Fabo,Funnily enough jut after posting the topic I had a quick search and saw that exact picture and thought 'perfect'! Small world really!Many thanks,James

[severniae]

As an aside, what software is it that people use to make repaints? Always have been interested!James

[Fabo]

Hello James,most people use Adobe Photoshop, but there are alternatives. Some even free, like Paint.NET or the Gimp.

[ferangel2000]

Personalized plane...........regards.

[severniae]

Beautiful plane! Little dark but very cool!

[severniae]

Eek! Out of curiosity and a "How hard can it be?" thought I downloaded the 737-700 paint kit and paint.net......An hour later, a sore head, and I still haven't even begun to figure out how it is possibly done! I now have an even greater respect for all the paint kit makers out there - I take my hat off to you! As I said it is a skill I suspect I shall never posess. I'm still trying to figure out how to get all the .psd files into paint.net!!James

[Fabo]

I thought it opened them out-of-the-box... might be wrong though. Doesnt it?

[severniae]

I've discovered that it can work using the plugin. But a moot point as when you try to load the master file, it runs out of memory. So I'm trying Gimp now!Decided to give it a shot after watching about 5 video tutorials. I am however a little confused as to what to do with the 'night' files..... Or how to make them into actual files that FSX can use!

[severniae]

Well spent most of this evening doing something that I initially thought 'Well how hard can it be. Must only take 20 minutes'However getting there - I really see how difficult this stuff is, my little personal livery is incredibly basic. No idea how some of the experianced painters manage it!Quick question; What do I do with the Wingdecals file?Thanks

[Fabo]

Hello,good for you! Once you have been bitten by the bug of first successful export of your own repaint, you will always want to try more and more :)As for wingdecals - this file is used to put a registration on the wing. What you need to do - position registration appropriately, I believe in UK they use lower side of the left wing, then put the same text in white to the alphachannel (so that it shows in FS). This has to be used over simply painting over the wing texture since wing texture is shared between L and R wing. Cockpit decal file works similarly, put your reg in the file - write it over the original registration, the effects are there to make it look plastic, engraved onto the decal, and then move it over to alphachannel.I do not know how far he is, but Dan (Turbine777) over at dantrix.net was putting out a videotutorial series specifically for the NGX. You might see there how files are processed into usable textures, if he is far enough.

[severniae]

Hi Peter - Brilliant thanks very much!I did spent most of yesterday evening (and planning on continuing as soon as I get home tonight!) making my personal livery. Felt a rush of pride when I actually managed to save some DDS files and import them into FS. As I say it looks incredibly basic when compared to most FSX repaints, but for me its a rather large achievement! About the alpha channels; On all the other files (fuselage 1/2/3/night/tail) that have alpha channels... Do I need to do anything with them? I've Imported the texture into FS and it displays correctly..... Well, apart from the airline name being backwards on the left side :( !!!!Many thanks for your continued help!James

[Fabo]

Hello,alphachannels can have different meaning, depending on texture definition in 3D modelling software, in fuselage files they define where the model is "cut through" - that is used to make windows you can see the inside through. Blanking windows, in contrast, is available by removing them in alphachannel - useful for BBJ or cargo repaints.In some textures, alphachannels are used for ex. to define night textures - I think tail+engines are one of them.

[severniae]

Well! After much cursing, plenty of coffee and a lot of headscratching..... Here she is! First ever repaint and I'm fairly please with the outcome. I'm not 100% satisfied so will probably keep developing it as I gain skills with photo editing, But for a first go I'm rather pleased!Well! After much cursing, plenty of coffee and a lot of headscratching..... Here she is! First ever repaint and I'm fairly please with the outcome. I'm not 100% satisfied so will probably keep developing it as I gain skills with photo editing, But for a first go I'm rather pleased!