Repaint Kit Alpha Channel Issues

[golyaht 21]

Hey guys,

 

First and foremost: The PMDG paint kit definitely sets the gold standard of exactly what a paint kit should be. Well done, gentlemen. It is an absolute joy when I get a request to paint a PMDG plane, because I know I won't be fighting with a garbage kit, where I'm pixel-counting to try to line up straight lines (or god forbid curved ones). 

 

On to my problem:

 

In the process of making a Deltaflot livery, I was trying to put a whack of shine on the bottom part that's supposed to be metal. The way I thought to do this (and if there's a better way, by all means chime in... I am not a master of photoshop in any way, shape or form) was to add a bunch of dark/black to the alpha channel on the fuse where the metal is supposed to be. My thinking here is that the darker the alpha channel, the shinier it will be in FSX... thus my metal effect would work and I would be a hero. 

 

To test this stroke of genius, I applied this to only one mid-section so I could compare the shine between my modified alpha, and the unmodified. Unfortunately, upon loading my masterpiece into the sim, I was greeted with this:

 

 

In a prior repaint where I was looking for a shiny look, I had repainted the entire alpha channel pure black and had a similar experience. After I figured out that using pure black on the windows is how we switch them to transparent, I figured using a dark grey would make it shine, but not be transparent. I used 80% grey and 90% grey in two tests, and both gave this result. Also, I only applied the alpha where the grey is supposed to be, and instead the entire section went transparent. 

 

I un-did the alpha and moved past this, but I'm left with a sad looking grey on the bottom of an otherwise fairly nice paint job. So where did I go wrong? is there a certain percentage of grey I can safely use, and will still give me a respectable amount of shine? Or is there a better/faster/smarter way of doing a metal effect? 

 

Also, while we are on the topic of alpha channels and transparent windows; I've noticed that when using the transparent windows, no matter what I do with the alphas I can't get the windows in the main entry/exit doors to be transparent. Not sure if this is by design or if I didn't do something right.

 

Anyway, thanks for all your help in advance! Keep making awesome products... I own everything you've put out and am ready to buy more! (Can't wait for the 744v2 )

 

Regards,

 

Blair Hoddinott

 

 

[Goldstar Textures 85]

NEVER paint the alpha layer. Always use the default one as this is only used to cut the windows in the model. If you want shine you have to edit another file (not sure which). The only time the alpha should be touched is when repaints have missing windows that you want to cut out the match the real aircraft. If you need any other help, ask me.

[mcnobody 172]

Blair,

 

first of all, of course you still can paint the alpha channel but the effect - getting a silver, chrome like texture - you are excpecting isn't enabled on PMDG's 737NGX and 777X anymore. The alpha channel is mainly used - as Alex has already described - to setup the configuration for the windows on the fuselage (except for the doors).

 

The alpha channel simply tells where transparent windows are shown or where not. We are discussing a similiar problem with the Scandinavian airlines titles over at the 737NGX forum.

 

So far your only way is to opt for a static or grey-only approach. Good luck! :smile:

[JasonB 117]

We never turned off the chrome effects in any of our models.

 

What you need to do is create an artificial chrome/metallic texture and then use the fuselage spec maps to define the level of shininess/reflection. The diffuse layer in the spec map defines the degree of how hard or soft the sunlight hits the surface as defined by black being no sun reflection or white being the most.

 

On the alpha layer that defines the reflection of the environment. Black equals no reflection, white equals the most reflection.

 

Regards,

[golyaht 21]

Thanks for that info JasonB! I will take a look at it. 

 

As far as the spec maps go... do I just do up a layer with the correct color and export to DDS with a _spec suffix? Are there any other "gotchas" with the spec maps?

 

Blair Hoddinott

[JasonB 117]

Thanks for that info JasonB! I will take a look at it. 

 

As far as the spec maps go... do I just do up a layer with the correct color and export to DDS with a _spec suffix? Are there any other "gotchas" with the spec maps?

 

Blair Hoddinott

 

 

Take a look at the texture.common200LR folder in the PMDG 777-200LR directory (or texture.common800 in the PMDG 737-800NGX folder), the spec maps are in there as defined by the ending "_spec.dds" grab the fuselage ones and drop those in the folder where your livery is. That way you can customize the spec maps for your own specific livery. The liveries will always default to the texture.common folder unless you include spec maps in your livery folder. 

 

Work off of those spec maps in your livery's texture folder and you should be able to have a reflective surface. Please keep in mind, FSX's attempt at making chrome/metallic looking texture is poor at best (my personal opinion/feelings). My personal preference is I like to create a metallic looking texture as the base texture then use the spec maps to control how the sunlight/environment reflection reflects off the surface. You can get a pretty convincing looking metal surface if you use those in combination, as long as the base texture has a metallic look to it. 

 

Regards,

[golyaht 21]

Perfect.

 

Thanks for the info, brother! I'll give it a shot. Time to google "how to make a metal texture in photoshop cc" ahahaha.

 

Have a great one.

 

_B

[Goldstar Textures 85]

If you want to adjust the shines etc. alter the fresnal maps.

[mcnobody 172]

 

 

We never turned off the chrome effects in any of our models.

 

Thanks for the information and update Jason.

 

I tried different settings for the spec map texture and its alpha channel and never really saw any visible changes. Except that the 25% decreased size of it, offers another challenge, at least when used on tites.

 

Maybe I have to do a few experiments or simply opt for a static version.

[CaptKornDog 284]

We never turned off the chrome effects in any of our models.

 

What you need to do is create an artificial chrome/metallic texture and then use the fuselage spec maps to define the level of shininess/reflection. The diffuse layer in the spec map defines the degree of how hard or soft the sunlight hits the surface as defined by black being no sun reflection or white being the most.

 

On the alpha layer that defines the reflection of the environment. Black equals no reflection, white equals the most reflection.

 

Regards,

 

Any chance anyone has a tutorial on how to do this in Paint Shop Pro X6?