MSF Repaint Help and Tips

[fryerlawrence 7]

06.15.2013

 

Luis… I please need your help again bro…or anyone for that matter…lol

 

I have posted some pictures: (As you can see I am having problems)

 

NOTE: All of the questions pertain to using Gimp 2.8

 

First…please forgive me.  I have not graduated to layers yet believe it or not … but I am gonna take a stab at it this time around.  I am tired I think of playing finger paints and it’s gonna hurt on this “learning curve”…lol

 

Second, I believe I am still missing something for the Mustang repaint.  I cannot find what you are talking about and even re-read your previous posts (I incorporated them into a Word document :0)

 

First we'll tackle the "do I have everything I need to repaint the Mustang" issue.

 

I have been selecting the following when adding a brand new livery: (sorry I didn't take the screenshots right with the checkmarks...however I put in GREEN what I am selecting)

 

 

 

 

 

 

P-51_Mustang.spb (Livery)

hangar_icon.png (Texture)

P-51_Mustang.spb (MaterialVariation)

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_1.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_AR.dds (Texture)

Fresnel_P-51_Mustang.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_N.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_S.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_FB.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_Transparency.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_Alpha_A.dds (Texture)

Fresnel_P-51_glass.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Alpha_S.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_2.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_2_AR.dds (Texture)

Fresnel_P-51_Mustang.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_2_N.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_2_S.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_2_FB.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_3.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_3_AR.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_4.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_4_AR.dds (Texture) [i don’t think I should be touching this one??..lol]

P-51_Mustang_Exterior_5.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_5_AR.dds (Texture) [i don’t think I should be touching this one??..lol]

P-51_Mustang_Prop_Disc.spb (Material)

Prop_P-51_Mustang_A_dds (Texture)

Fresnel_VehicleGlass.dds (Texture)

P-51_Mustang_Prop_Density.spb (Material)

P-51_Mustang_Prop_Sides_A.dds (Texture)

Fresnel_Prop_A.dds (Texture)

 

Am I selecting the right ones... do I need to add "all' of them?...lol  I am not seeing the total of 5 examples [5 on top and 5 on bottom separated with a red line] each of the fuselage and wings that you are talking about.

 

Next...for this example I have been “finger painting” again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

In picture #1 you can see that if I was trying to paint a Bumble Bee for example I am missing where to get the labels out of the way.

 

Picture #2 arrows are just showing much of the same... the most left arrow showing the vent (I want to save that detail)

• As you can see there are varying shiny textures in the background as you go from left to right.  The very two right arrows are pointing to the differences.
• The paint by the "SX" logo looks like it needs another coat of paint...lol and does not look as good as what to the RED arrow points to.

Picture #4 you can see the difference of the paint on the nose cone and the fins on the back.  The fins on the back are shinier and do not have the deep rich color of the nose cone, which it is the same exact color... the shiny undercoat is what is killing the effect I want

• I want it to shine like my C-46 whale but not so shiny that I cant paint over it and cannot find where my error is in not finding all of the behind-the-scenes textures that affect the whole thing

In Picture #3 I took this screenshot after I went in and found what you were talking about the "Extra" named layer when you open the "Channels" dialogue.  However, As you can see that did not take care of anything where the cross is in the middle where the wing attaches.

• I have been getting to the following to try and correct the problem, however the "Upuppa", "SX" etc. are still there: 

1. P-51_Mustang_2_FB.dds (Texture).
3. P-51_Mustang_FB.dds (Texture)
4. 
   
5. P-51_Mustang_S.dds (Texture)
6. 
   
7. P-51_Mustang_2_S.dds (Texture)

 

In picture #5 as a BONUS... I finnnaly found out how to use the "Clone" tool...lol... I wasn't using the "CTRL" key :blink2:  :Doh:  As you can see... I cannot get the background to go away even still.

 

Another question (Luis explained this before only sort of):  Can you explain the "Threshold" in detail when using the "Magic Wand" or "Fuzzy Tool"?  You mentioned that has a big difference in how much is selected when using this tool.

• Also could you try to explain the phenomenon that is occurring with me when I use the "Fuzzy Tool".  Sometimes I can use it no problem when selecting one part (e.g. the circular label on the outside of the prop on the Mustang)  It took time, but eventually I was able to get the whole label.  99.9% of the time I am manually selecting the "Select" and "Unselect" on the toolbar on the left. (I will try to get better using the shortcut keys...lol)
• However, when trying to select larger parts (e.g. an entire wing) the tool goes ballistic and selects sometimes all of the parts on the page.  Of course I hit CRTL + Z if its not working out .

Forgive me in advance for the long post.

 

-fryer

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

:lol:  Don't panic, just laugh at it. That's what I do, otherwise I would go crazy!

 

Here are the textures that I modified in my repaints:

 

 - P-51_Mustang_AR (this is the principal paint texture with the fuselage. Attention! It also has an alpha channel that you must repaint.)

 - P-51_Mustang_FB (this is the fresnel texture, it does not have an alpha channel.)

 - P-51_Mustang_S (the specular texture and it does have an alpha channel that you must repaint.)

 

Then, the textures with the wings:

 

 - P-51_Mustang_2_AR there is also an alpha channel that you must repaint.)

 - P-51_Mustang_2_FB (no alpha channel.)

 - P-51_Mustang_2_S (it does have an alpha channel that you must repaint.)

 

So, you have 10 textures altogether to repaint, or you will get different repaints on the same airplane like in your images.

 

 

 

 

 

The Threshold on the Selection tools is simply the amount of selection that will occur. Increase the Threshold if you are not selecting enough, decrease it if you are selecting too much.

 

Fuzzy Select is very powerful and will often either select far too much or not nearly enough. Probably you should start selecting with it, then when you start getting too much in the selection, switch to another selection tool to finish your selection, such as the Lasso.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[fryerlawrence 7]

I seriously laughed when you said laugh at the problem.  Thanks for the comic relief. :LMAO:

 

Threshold is my NEW friend. :Big Grin:

 

What I cannot believe is my stubbornness to try new things.  No wonder I still have so many problems and doing this to my cpu...  But also I need to work seriously on my comprehension reading skillz...lol  I am starting to understand more of what you are talking about when I go back to read other posts and found that I am asking the same old questions that were posted by our other Addon Builder friends.

 

I finally played around with it and found if I take it to "0" that you can select individual pixels (knock on wood), which is definitely what I was looking for!  Luis....bro.... you are AWESOME!

 

I also stumbled upon and found a new friend...Content Help in Gimp 2.8 :Big Grin:   All you have to do is click "Help" > "Content Help" then take your mouse and click on the item buttons etc. that you are looking to know what it does...Left click once on it and it will pull up the dialogue box of exactly that thing you are wanting to know about.  (Still cannot believe I didn't find that sooner...lol.)

 

Y'know... it's kinda funny... after you work with this thing for a minute (or in my case many man hours..lol) It alllll becomes easier.

 

Follow up questions:

 

1. Your circular Roundel that you added for example... Do you have to add black circles to the other textures (or even other channels)?  Or when you add your Roundel, is it automatically added to the other textures (or even other channels)? 

 

2. Quoting your previous answer "when you start getting too much in the selection, switch to another selection tool to finish your selection, such as the Lasso."  I didn't get what you meant by that.  Are you meaning:

 a.) Switch right in the middle of using the Fuzzy tool and go to the Lasso tool and finish selecting or

 b.) Use one tool choice over another?  So far from my understanding you can only use one tool at a time (i.e. Fuzzy Tool vs. The Lasso)

 

Gee tanks again Luis!  You are appreciated more than you know...lol

 

-fryer

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Let's try the Selection process first.

 

You can switch between tools anytime you want, even if you are in the middle of a selection. So, start with the Fuzzy Selection tool, then when you only have a few stray pixels to add to the selection, switch to the Lasso and draw around the pixels you want to add. (Remember, to add to a selection, press Shift while selecting with any tool.)

 

If you have too many pixels selected, you can also remove the extra from the selection. Use any selection tool (but let's say it's the Lasso) and press Control (Ctrl) while selecting.

 

Roundel - once you start using Layers, you don't have to worry about making holes in your texture so that the Roundel will fit.  Repaint your fuselage as you like. Then, create a new layer over it and place the Roundel on this new layer. The repainted fuselage and the Roundel are on 2 separate layers. Try it and you will immediately understand.

 

You can also create a new Layer and place the nose grille on it, the registration on another layer, and so on and so on.

 

Stonelance's Addon Builder doesn't care how may Layers you have, it will always display all of them correctly.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[Pandanator 2 3]

Hello everyone.

 

I've just gotten out of school, so I'm returning to the MSF painting area. I'm alright with remembering things, and so far my finger painting has gotten better. I'd like to improve that one day, but today is not that day.

 

I'm trying to paste a picture onto my painting, and for some reason, I can't get it to move!  :mad: I've tried everything I thought might work, and it won't budge. I really want a picture on the fuselage, but it is just stuck in the middle. How can I move it?

 

Second, is there a "textbox" I can use so that I don't have sloppy finger painting writing? Made that mistake on the Buffalo Airways C-46 and it came out horrid...

 

And lastly, my repaints are not showing up in game! I followed the tutorial, and every time I hit the rapid iteration button, nothing happens, I just see the extra livery.

 

Note: This is all with GIMP, which is a lot less user friendly than Photoshop I'm sure.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

 1. When you paste something into your image, it becomes what is called a "Floating Selection".

 

 

 

 

This is a layer that has not yet been "flattened" into the image, it has not yet become a part of the image that is below it and has not yet replaced those parts of the image.

 

The "Floating Selection" can be moved anywhere you want using the Move tool (a cross with arrows on all ends). It can also be moved if you are using any of the Selection Tools.

 

Once you have moved it, you can flatten it onto the image, making it a permanent part, either by right-clicking on the layer in the Layer Dialog and selecting Merge Down or Flatten.

 

But, it is probably better to keep it on its own layer by transforming the Floating Selection into a separate Layer. Right-click on the Layer in the Layer Dialog and select Create New Layer.

 

 

 

Then, you can move that element using the Move tool - just make sure that you have selected the correct layer to work on (click on it in the Layer dialog.)

 

Try it, experiment, and you will see that it is easy.

 

 

 

2. Text: The Text tool is the letter "A" in the Toolbox.

 

 

 

3. If you see the repaint in the game, as you say, then they are showing up. What exactly do you mean?

 

 

4. I have a very old copy of Photoshop that came with a printer (10 years ago) and while it is no longer compatible with Windows 7, it works exactly the same way as The GIMP, with the same tools and the same methods and processes. Perhaps recent versions of Photoshop Elements are less complex for beginners but, normally, image editing programs are very similar in use.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[Pandanator 2 3]

Thanks a lot Luis, as for my repaints not showing up, I was able to figure it out. Now I can finish up my paint and get it out there!

[T_Fleck 36]

I have been searching and cannot find an answer, so if it is somewhere and I overlooked it, I am sorry. I was going to mess around with Flights' paint and realized I cannot find any textures other than the ones that came with the game. Where are the other planes/textures located? I have looked through the entire Flight directory and pak files, but keep coming up empty.

 

Thanks in advance

[stonelance 136]

Are you using the Flight Toolkit?  It should be able to extract all the textures for you so you can edit them and make new liveries.

 

If you are just looking to manually play with files then all the DLCs are located in %localappdata%\Microsoft\Xlive\DLC\4d5308d2\00000002

[T_Fleck 36]

Ahhh.. was looking in the wrong place. I was looking in the main Flight directory.

 

Yeah, I have the toolkit, still learning how to use it. Just reinstalled Flight yesterday after a year without it. I am a bit behind and have much to learn.

 

Thanks!