I was attempting to make a livery for my VA using a paintkit for the Zibo 737-800 using GIMP. After finishing up the simple details (I am quite new to texturing) I used a GIMP plugin to turn the file into a DDS file.

The problem is that the textures either show up as grey or as the default livery (American) in game. When you look at the file in File Explorer, a preview isn't available in contrast to the default files. Does anyone know where the problem is?

Thanks in advance!

Wrong file-type, no doubt.

 

Solution: 

 

Download XPTools for Windows.

Unzip to a folder named XPTools.
In it there is a file named XGrinder.exe.

When you finish the painting of the texture in GIMP  ,  EXPORT the file as PNG.  ( not save as !!!) 

Then load this file in XGrinder.EXE  ( drag and drop , batch-loading is possible ) 
You can make your choice out of several types of DDS to save to.
I prefer DXT5 smooth alpha , wich is the best quality  ( disadvantage is high fileweight resulting in huge uploads for a livery) .
MIND especially when batch-loading it wil take a while for the program to get the job done , be patient. 

Succes
Leen de Jager

 

https://developer.x-plane.com/tools/xptools/
 

Thank you so much!

It finally worked. I had a little suspicion that the problem was the DDS conversion. Now I can finally paint my liveries and see how they are applied in-game. Again, thanks a lot!

Thats OK then

As anyone tried using Affinity Photo for repainting aircraft?

On 3/26/2019 at 7:57 AM, michelh said:

As anyone tried using Affinity Photo for repainting aircraft?

I don't mean to necropost, just to offer my opinion. (Mods can delete my post if needed). Personally, I use Affinity Designer for several paints posted on the XP community. I'd imagine Affinity Photo would work just as well, as long as you export the image files to the correct compatible format. The only reason I use Designer over Photo is for the more advanced path/curve tools.

Thank's Ryan. I am not a professional designer, but saw a tutorial video of someone using Photoshop and just thought it would be nice to have a tutorial using Affinity Photo.

2 hours ago, michelh said:

Thank's Ryan. I am not a professional designer, but saw a tutorial video of someone using Photoshop and just thought it would be nice to have a tutorial using Affinity Photo.

Hi Michel,

If you already have Affinity Photo installed, many of the tools you need are already there. If you wish to create custom shapes/wavy designs in Affinity photo, you can find the pen tool toward the bottom of the left sidebar between the healing brush (band-aid) and the polygon (square) tools (Note that this is the default location, you may have to dig around if you have customized your interface layout). For looser, more free-hand painting, you can use the brush tools. I can try and record a repaint tutorial with the Zibo 738 paintkit in Affinity Photo tomorrow if you would like further guidance.

Thanks that would be great Ryan. But there is no rush. When you have free time.