MSFS texture conventions

[EagleSkinner 36]

Let me see now... Livery stripes... Usually these are "flood filled" from the texture sheet that looks like a 2 x 2 checkerboard. There can be (apparently) any number of squares here - 2x2, 4x4. Something like that - 2x2 is relatively normal. On the C172 you'll see two vertical bands of colour, on the Extra the split is diagonal. But the common factor is the name - it'll be something like C172SP_AIRFRAME_LIVERYCOLOR_ALBD.PNG.DDS

So how to kill? Relatively easy: make the colour all white and give it a 100% black alpha channel. save as a DDS with alpha.

For the Extra I still have to find a way of hiding the Extra company logos yet. For some reason Asobo made these from TIF images. It'll come in the end. There's also a great video on YouTube that shows how to paint directly onto the 3D model. Still learning that one though, but it does look really useful.

Link

There is a growing number of video tutes appearing on YT now - many hours worth.

[Stoopy 1,571]

On 10/23/2020 at 1:46 PM, EagleSkinner said:

For the Extra I still have to find a way of hiding the Extra company logos yet. For some reason Asobo made these from TIF images. It'll come in the end. There's also a great video on YouTube that shows how to paint directly onto the 3D model. Still learning that one though, but it does look really useful.

Link

There is a growing number of video tutes appearing on YT now - many hours worth.

I just went through this with the Banana... err... Bonanza.  Is the EXTRA_330_EXTERIOR_DECALS_ALBD.TIF.DDS what you would edit and delete the logos?

Also thank you for posting the link to the YT vid for blender.  Looks like time to roll up the sleeves and learn some new skills.  I was able to make a halfway decent livery that looks OK from a distance with a fair amount of effort working with the 2D DDS files, but for really nice results that approach doesn't cut it any longer. 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Stoopy

[jankees 2,056]

Stoopy, that's the one I used to get rid of them.

I've dabbling a bit with the textures in MSFS, and while a lot that has been said is true (why did they ever think mirrored textures was a good idea?), there are still ways to create decent repaints, well for some models anyway.

So far I've tackled the TBM (no mirrored textures, yes!), the Savage Cub (mirrored wing and rudder, boouh!), the CJ4 (mirrored wings and engines, double bouoh!) , the Bonanza & the Caravan (mirrored wings), and I've been able to do it because some nice gents managed to extract some wireframes in Blender and make them available. They don't show all the parts in some cases, but enough to get you started. After that is is relatively simple.

Most texture files have names like Bonanza_Airframe_Fuselage_ALBD.PNG.DDS, and you'll find that most default textures have basic white texture files on which you can paint with the help of those wireframes. Just save as dxt1 dds with alpha and you're done, no need to worry about alpha and spec channels.

Here's a few things I did:

jk7027

jk7005

jk7622

jk7222

Not that bad, are they? I started with things that were relatively simple to get a feel of how things work. Of course, you still need to get rid of the decals and stripes and stupid asobo registrations, but that's all doable as well. Once you have managed to do that, I just make a copy of these textures for each new paint and I don't need to worry about it with my next. My main problem is that I find their selection of aircraft not that interesting, luckily more interesting things are arriving, this was my latest paint:

jk8136

with no mirrored textures and a logical layout, wonderful!

[Steve Dra 7,588]

On 9/19/2020 at 6:37 PM, Crankpin said:

Over the years I've learned the greatest respect for both your work. Steve especially for help and pointing out stupid things I've done at times. Maybe I can repay that a little bit with how I've managed to get re-started painting in MFS.

Thanks John and sorry not to re-visit this post after your kind words....these days I'm in so many forums and (gasp) FLYING more than I'm painting these days, that 24 hours is just not enough time in a day to do all the things I want to do with the new sim. 🙂  In the future just do an @Steve Dra and I'll get flagged and know to drop in on a thread.

Anyway, I've been limping along with MSFS painting for 2 major reasons, (well 3 really).  One, like you're helping me with, the new formats and jsons, manifests, deep sub folder requirements to drop it in community folder, etc.  Not that I can't pick it up if I sat down and devoted time to it...which brings us to reason 2, the sim itself!  Its managed to pull me away from what I considered my main hobby of painting for the community.  Reason 3 is where I'll segway to @robert young's tag line which I think I'm going to steal, as its also pretty much true of me...with the slight change of "retired full time painter"🤣 (I really consider myself retired at least in the manner at which I used to produce liveries, now only painting for myself and a close knit of friends)

And @robert young, I would like to include you in that reserved group I have, as contributors to our hobby such as yourself have all my respect and admiration, knowing the time and effort you've freely given to our community over the years/decades. 😉

I'll do some of the leg work on the DA62 paint mystery and let you know if I find the solutions you're looking for.  I've paint-chipped her with a yellow (and burgandy) paint so far as you've seen in your mega-Bonanza thread, but really nothing more.  Now that I see you're interested in this, I'll peel myself out of the cockpit, put flights like this aside for a moment, and see what I can do.  If you've not experienced the freeware Monument Valley at Dawn or Dusk, you're missing almost a religious event for aviation lovers. 😉

That 172 in the foreground is also a quick 5 min paint chip job...the tropical blue/green is my wife's fav colors....I think it looks nice as well.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Steve Dra

[robert young 2,897]

1 hour ago, Steve Dra said:

Thanks John and sorry not to re-visit this post after your kind words....these days I'm in so many forums and (gasp) FLYING more than I'm painting these days, that 24 hours is just not enough time in a day to do all the things I want to do with the new sim. 🙂  In the future just do an @Steve Dra and I'll get flagged and know to drop in on a thread.

I'll segway to @robert young's tag line which I think I'm going to steal, as its also pretty much true of me...with the slight change of "retired full time painter"🤣 (I really consider myself retired at least in the manner at which I used to produce liveries, now only painting for myself and a close knit of friends)

And @robert young, I would like to include you in that reserved group I have, as contributors to our hobby such as yourself have all my respect and admiration, knowing the time and effort you've freely given to our community over the years/decades. 😉

 

That's kind of you Steve. If someone of your ability is finding MSFS repaints difficult, you can imagine how I feel, as I'm not even a painter. But I must say now I have one of the two available auto layout.json generators I've saved hours and hours of hand written layout entries. The thing I haven't tried yet is the Blender method which conveniently (with the right tools) gives you a nice clear UV mapping so all the parts are crystal clear.

I suspect a decent paint kit with psd layers is something very low on Asobo's priority list but that would help. If you have any tips about how to expose the 2d image aircraft parts more easily, I can get beyond replacing colours and get into more detail.

Edited October 27, 2020 by robert young

[Stoopy 1,571]

15 hours ago, robert young said:

I suspect a decent paint kit with psd layers is something very low on Asobo's priority list but that would help. If you have any tips about how to expose the 2d image aircraft parts more easily, I can get beyond replacing colours and get into more detail.

2D Wireframe DDS files are available that make a decent start at a layered template.  @jankees mentions them above and I found them for download on a Discord channel linked in a YouTube vid.  That's part of the challenge these days, not only have the tools and methods changed slightly but so have the communication channels.  The young whippersnappers digging into this are putting the info feed out there on mediums other than good old-fashioned forums such as here, so we need to bridge that gap, so to speak.  Is there any particular aircraft you are looking at painting right now?

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by Stoopy

[robert young 2,897]

38 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

2D Wireframe DDS files are available that make a decent start at a layered template.  @jankees mentions them above and I found them for download on a Discord channel linked in a YouTube vid.  That's part of the challenge these days, not only have the tools and methods changed slightly but so have the communication channels.  The young whippersnappers digging into this are putting the info feed out there on mediums other than good old-fashioned forums such as here, so we need to bridge that gap, so to speak.  Is there any particular aircraft you are looking at painting right now?

Thanks for that info Stoopy. At the moment I'm making over the DA62 and that is straightforward, but it would be nice to see a wireframe without having to go through all the Blender palava. Yes, you're right - communication channels are much wider than a couple of long established websites nowadays. It takes a good deal of time now to trawl through all the different hubs!

[Stoopy 1,571]

Gap bridged, check PM. 🙂

 

[jankees 2,056]

4 hours ago, robert young said:

Thanks for that info Stoopy. At the moment I'm making over the DA62 and that is straightforward, but it would be nice to see a wireframe without having to go through all the Blender palava. Yes, you're right - communication channels are much wider than a couple of long established websites nowadays. It takes a good deal of time now to trawl through all the different hubs!

Robert,

send me a message with your email and I can send you the wireframes for the DA62 (and most other aircraft too)

 

Cheers

 

Jan Kees

[Stoopy 1,571]

4 hours ago, jankees said:

Robert,

send me a message with your email and I can send you the wireframes for the DA62 (and most other aircraft too)

 

Cheers

 

Jan Kees

That would be best - I have them on my Google Drive for download also, but Rob can't receive PM's, it appears...

 

[EagleSkinner 36]

Coming along nicely folks!

I have now added the use of Blender to my repertoire - very useful! Painting directly onto the 3D model is easy - even if it requires some practice to get positioning of elements just right.

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Right! Kicking this thread back into life.

After spending yonks in a darkened room and spurred on by bloody JanKees churning out paints like there's no tomorrow, I finally got going again...Sort of. I've done several Piaggio P149s mainly because ATS provided a paint kit which includes a PSD for the multicoloured mess they have the nerve to call 'norm'.

Anyway, having grappled with json files (1 comma out of place and you're buggered)  and got those more or less squared away, I went and got the JS PA28.

All was going swimmingly when I was confronted by the 'NORMAL.PNG.dds not opening in PS. PS apparently didn't like some format or other so I can't explore how to tackle this problem:

See the ghostly ARROW III? In a previous life I would have gone to the Alpha and got rid of it. Any crumb would help.

Anyway, it's good to be able to paint something again. Keeps me from beating the wife.

P.S. I didn't mean 'Bloody' JanKees. He doing a fantastic job. Hurts me to say it, but I've downloaded a stack of his paints foe MFS.

 

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

I've raised a ticket at JF asking for PSD paint kit for the 'ARROW_EX01/02_SURFACE' textures. Well, ya never know.

[CaptainK 3]

Hi guys, having attempted 2 repaints myself, the first one a C172 and the second King Air 350i, although I found it a difficult learning curve, eventually I managed to get something that I was able to share with others on Flight Simulator.to Now the Citation Longitude is proving difficult. I have spend hours and hours coming up against the same problems mentioned in this thread, namely hiding or getting rid of the default livery stripes. In case I missed the answer, can this be done? I'd be grateful for the help. BTW here is a picture of the Cessna that I did. Thanks, Karl

 

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

North Weald Flying Group. I remember it well.