January 8, 20197 yr Sorry to bug you guys again but I am still having trouble with a repaint I am working on. With your help, I was able to create a re-paint for the 737. The only issue is, is that when I load my livery in P3D the plane looks too shiny. From what I understand I need to make an alpha channel but I have no Idea how to do this. I know where to find your channels in Photoshop but don't know how you use the alpha channel to do this. I can find some guides online but none of them relate to re-painting aircraft and was still confused. Also, I did find some info in the FAQ about what values to use for the alpha channel but again didn't how to change it. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks Jason Thiers
January 8, 20197 yr If you already been working with photoshop you are familiar to paint I would imagine. So to create an alpha channel is like painting, or make gradient but in gray style, where withe show the material and black hide. Let's says you select a portion of image that shows the shiny and the rest will be matt, from the selection menu you save as mask. On channel tab you will see RGB channel if you saved a mask you will see anothe channel call Alpha1. here a tube that explain what is an alpha channel
January 8, 20197 yr If it is too shiny, that probably means the alpha channel is too dark. I suggest you open the texture file with dxtbmp, use that to export the alpha to your editor, make it lighter, import it again and try the new textures to see if yourpaint is less shiny. Could be done in a few minutes. All my FSX/P3D repaints are here on Avsim, for my MSFS repaints, go to FS.2
January 9, 20197 yr Author 16 hours ago, jankees said: If it is too shiny, that probably means the alpha channel is too dark. I suggest you open the texture file with dxtbmp, use that to export the alpha to your editor, make it lighter, import it again and try the new textures to see if yourpaint is less shiny. Could be done in a few minutes. Thanks for the help. Do I need to do this for each file like the wings and tail? Also for the fuselage do I edit the alpha for the master file or do I have I have to do it for each fuselage file? Jason Thiers
January 9, 20197 yr Author 18 hours ago, simbio said: If you already been working with photoshop you are familiar to paint I would imagine. So to create an alpha channel is like painting, or make gradient but in gray style, where withe show the material and black hide. Let's says you select a portion of image that shows the shiny and the rest will be matt, from the selection menu you save as mask. On channel tab you will see RGB channel if you saved a mask you will see anothe channel call Alpha1. here a tube that explain what is an alpha channel 7 I am still a beginner with photoshop but have been learning a little bit while learning how to make a re-paint. I know how to paint a little but don't know how to paint the whole plane. I did come across this video before and was still confused but maybe if I watch it a few time it will begin to make sense. Thanks Jason Thiers
January 9, 20197 yr Load your file in DXTBmp as suggested before and export your alpha ( just a greys-scaled texture in this case) to your paintingprogram. When you make the texture lighter (brighter) and re-import it in DXTBmp yopu can save it to DDS or DXT and the gloss will be less. workflow Load your file in DXTBmp. Export the alpha to your painting program. Do NOT close DXTBmp Edit the alpha in your paintprogram. Save the file in your paintprogram ( not save as, just save ) Do not close your paintprogram. Re-load the alpha in DXTBmp. Save your file to DDS or DXT. IF its not possible to save the alpha in your paintingprogram and you must save it as, or export it as , save it on your desktop and choose for the import-alpha option in DXTBmp. If you are painting for X-Plane save your file in DXTBmp to targa with alpha and convert this targa to PNG32bit with alpha with convimx. BTW Light alpha in FSX/P3D means less gloss Dark alpha in X-Plane means less gloss Where to download DXTBmp See FAQ nr 2
January 10, 20197 yr Author 19 hours ago, Leen3131cs said: Load your file in DXTBmp as suggested before and export your alpha ( just a greys-scaled texture in this case) to your paintingprogram. When you make the texture lighter (brighter) and re-import it in DXTBmp yopu can save it to DDS or DXT and the gloss will be less. workflow Load your file in DXTBmp. Export the alpha to your painting program. Do NOT close DXTBmp Edit the alpha in your paintprogram. Save the file in your paintprogram ( not save as, just save ) Do not close your paintprogram. Re-load the alpha in DXTBmp. Save your file to DDS or DXT. IF its not possible to save the alpha in your paintingprogram and you must save it as, or export it as , save it on your desktop and choose for the import-alpha option in DXTBmp. If you are painting for X-Plane save your file in DXTBmp to targa with alpha and convert this targa to PNG32bit with alpha with convimx. BTW Light alpha in FSX/P3D means less gloss Dark alpha in X-Plane means less gloss Where to download DXTBmp See FAQ nr 2 I take it, it should be possible to export the alpha to Photoshop. When I try to export the alpha from DCTBmp it only give me MS paint 13 Jason Thiers
January 10, 20197 yr DXTBmp gives you the possibility of selecting the program of your choice. Prefs> Select editor Give yourself more time to explore things, you are to much in a hurry and overlooking things.
January 10, 20197 yr On 1/9/2019 at 3:24 AM, jt233 said: Thanks for the help. Do I need to do this for each file like the wings and tail? Also for the fuselage do I edit the alpha for the master file or do I have I have to do it for each fuselage file? For all the texture files that are too shiny I think. All my FSX/P3D repaints are here on Avsim, for my MSFS repaints, go to FS.2
January 11, 20197 yr Author 7 hours ago, jankees said: For all the texture files that are too shiny I think. Great, thanks. Jason Thiers
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