Repaints!

[Tchkinjiu]

   Hey all, I'm new (To repainting) and wondering if their is a good paint kit out there for me. I'm trying to repaint a fs2002 plane and bring it into 2004. The plane works fine, just need to paint it. Would PSP do good? I've tried it, but when I look at the plane, that whole section is a dull gray. Thx

[Hawk]

thats Because You need to save the texture to 8 bit ( 256 ) format, By default Paint programs save to 24 bit colors, and the
colors aren't read by the game. You can " Save as " 256 with Your PSP but You usually lose definition in your colors, I use
Image tool that came with my FS2002 Pro, or You can use
adobe photo shop  to save it by these steps...
Mode, index color, save as  8 bit

[TJ_Gumby]

By default Paint programs save to 24 bit colors

This isn't true for PSP7. It opens files in the format it's in and saves in the same format, unless you change it in the colour menue. FS2002 and 2004 use many differant formats, but the files must be saved in the same format as the origionals.

[Felix/FFDS]

Note that PSP can open a 32-bit image, but will save it as a 24-bit image.

In the case of DXT1/DXT3 and other flightsim textures, a converter such as Martin Wright's DXTBMP converts the image to a PSP readable bitmap (24-bit), and the resulting image gets sent back to DXTBMP where the program saves it in the appropriate format.

Similarly, FS Painter from Abacus, does the same thing... it transfers basically a "screen capture" of the texture into PSP, and gets it back into the correct format when PSP releases it.

This isn't true for PSP7. It opens files in the format it's in and saves in the same format, unless you change it in the colour menue. FS2002 and 2004 use many differant formats, but the files must be saved in the same format as the origionals.

[TJ_Gumby]

In the case of DXT1/DXT3 and other flightsim textures, a converter such as Martin Wright's DXTBMP converts the image to a PSP readable bitmap (24-bit), and the resulting image gets sent back to DXTBMP where the program saves it in the appropriate format.

But Jesster didn't mention anything about painting extended bitmaps or using DXTBmp. If they're not extended, then he doesn't need it. I've painted several planes with normal bmp's for FS2002 long before learning to use DXTBmp. I assumed he just opened the 8 bit textures, painted them and saved them all in PSP. In this case, PSP would save them as what ever it's set as in menu, which would still be 8 bit.

[Felix/FFDS]

I totally agree with you - I just wanted to add the "other" dimension.

On second reading, it looks like he's managed to open a texture, repainted, but saved as a 24-bit image, which would account for the "dull grey" look.

As a rule of thumb, many repainters will work first with normal 8-bit textures, getting colors and placements correct before "adding" the complexities of alpha channels, etc.

But Jesster didn't mention anything about painting extended bitmaps or using DXTBmp. If they're not extended, then he doesn't need it.