Bridon Bear wrote:Back to the original question about FSX repaints. For FS9 I used Photoshop and Martin Wrights DXT.BMP program....I see it supports DDS files so will it be OK to use that or are there other tools to recommend using?
I see we have Image Tool in the SDK and NVidea do a plug in so what is the best course of action here?
I use Photoshop with the nVidia plug in as I can just use one program then to create the DDS files directly from the layered PSD in one shot and also open them if need be (but I use 'DDS Viewer' if I just want to quickly browse through a folder of DDS files).
My methodology is as follows:
1. Create the layered PSD file and make whatever changes I want.
2. Save the PSD file.
3. Flatten the image.
4. Flip the image vertically.
5. Save the DDS file as DXT5 - ARGB - 8 bpp with NO mip maps (if it is for an aircraft).
6. Test in game.
7. Open the PSD file and make any changes required.
8. Repeat steps 2-7 as required.
Thanks for that info Larry.....I will get the Nvidia plug in then sounds easier as well keeping the file 'in house' whilst working on it. At least I have the missing text in my SDK to look at now....it may not be the correct SDK but it has the info I need to read up on the subject.
I will see if I can find a layered PK for a simple FSX aircraft and have a go.....the only way to learn.
Maybe come back to you in the future to pick your brains on doing a decent Silver Dope for fabric wings in FSX....ready for DaveG's fabulous little Auster. ;-)
Bridon Bear wrote:Maybe come back to you in the future to pick your brains on doing a decent Silver Dope for fabric wings in FSX....ready for DaveG's fabulous little Auster. ;-)
Let me know if you find a good recipe, I'm still struggling with that
My painting path is roughly the same as Larrys. Do everything in photoshop, flatten, flip & save as DDS. I've got a saved macro to flatten and flip, so I can do it with one click.
I have noticed that M$ imagetool doesn't like opening photoshop created DDS files, though FS doesn't complain. PS opens dds OK though.
Just got the Nvidia Plug in plus the DDS Thumbnail viewer......will read up all I can tomorrow from the SDK then start something VERY simple Looks quite similar to FS9 was just a bit worried about the Speculars and the Bump Maps...knew basically what they were but didn't know if they were ignored by the painter (i.e. fixed by the designer and not able to be manipulated by repainters) or were another thing to master....soon get to grips with it all. :roll:
Must go to take the dog out then off to the cot....I need ALL the beauty sleep I can get....
p.s. I think I will leave the SDK fiasco at the stage I have got to...don't wish to upset the FSX/Acceleration balance now all is running smoothly... :roll:
Goodnight to all and thanks for the assistance ;-)
Brain, to be honest for repaint work there's not that much in the SDK anyway so I wouldn't worry. If spec and bump maps are there then re-painters can alter them, if they aren't then they can't be added as the model won't know to look for them.
I have never tried to do a silver dope effect ....yet. The technique that I eventually mastered was for the metal flake finish used on cars where the paint glistens as the sun catches the metallic particles under the clear coat layer. In FSX as you pan around an aircraft in external view you can get some very nice effects by using the spec map and spec map alpha channel and they only show when the sun hits the aircraft at just the right angle.
I would imagine a silver dope effect could be achieved in a similar fashion as it would basically be a matter of tweaking the spec map and alpha settings. The secret to the metal flake effect lies in using a noise filter on the required parts in the alpha channel while the same parts in the spec map are tinted so the reflected light is a slightly different colour to the main paint colour. Then when the sun shines on the paint at the right angle it makes the paint sparkle as if there are lots of tiny metallic fragments in the paint. The noise filter effectively makes the paint reflective from thousands of tiny points instead of from one large area.
SkippyBing wrote:If spec and bump maps are there then re-painters can alter them, if they aren't then they can't be added as the model won't know to look for them.
Well yes and no.....lol.
To be able to repaint successfully (if you want to use the spec maps that is) then each texture should have it's own spec map and not just a single 'global' spec map for the entire aircraft. I came across this problem a while back when trying to repaint an aircraft. I wanted to do a metal flake paint on it but the designer had only made one global spec map (and no bump map) and therefore I could not apply my technique as the model only knew about the global file and not about a spec map for every texture.
