FSX Noob repaint help

[Mr.Mike]

Oh..  I'm a noob!  This is for FSx  I tried my hand at a repaint today.  I made an easter egg blue DC-3 ha ha!  It only took about 15 mins or so and I used the nvidia plug in for photoshop CS3 to convert the file.  It went really well for a first try. (see pic)

Later on I decided to start my first project.  Converting the bare goose into a 1950's USCG paint job....  I added the yellow wing tips and then converted it back to test it out before I got too involved....  The conversion didnt work so well I dont think.  The colors were all messed up, well in the wrong spots scattered about the aircraft... (see pic) as you can see it took some of the sides and put them on top and some of the top and put it on bottom and basically sliced it all up

I just downloaded the DDS converter 2 in hopes it makes the conversion process more simple.  Though it could have been some thing I did in photoshop....  The file was all screwy looking after the conversion....  the lines were all wavy and the bottom of the page trailed off like streamers....  

I also noticed that it cut the KB of the file almost exactly in half  from 1,300ish to 680ish

any suggestions???Mike


Blue DC-3


Not soo happy

[Mr.Mike]

I fixed it by using DDS instead of the nvidia program to convert the file  

[Ghostrider114]

yeah I have had similar troubles with DXTbmp, I think it is the format that is corrupt, I have lost so much hard work that way.

[Hagar]

yeah I have had similar troubles with DXTbmp, I think it is the format that is corrupt, I have lost so much hard work that way.

Take my tip & save your master texture in the native format of your Graphics Editor. This will retain any layers & other special features so you can continue where you left off. Always work from this master copy. You can then save it in the various different FS texture formats without losing all that hard work.

It's best to save repainted textures in their original format. If you're having problems with the DDS format try an FS Extended BMP format.

[Mr.Mike]

well I found my mistake.  When I painted things I had fliped the image 180 for better viewing of some things.  Its how my brain works..  so what ever.  but either way I forgot to flip it back when I put things back in the game ha ha!!  That messed up pic was the result.

but..  maybe you guys can help me further.  How can I start with a clean slate?  I have several things I want to do to a few aircraft.  is there a way to remove all the color so I can just start from scratch?  I have got pretty good at adding color but how to remove it with out loosing the rivits and little details so I can then add my paint job of choice?

example:  I want to make this....



Into this....


So as you can see I need to loose the blue near the back so I can then add my colors of choice  :)

these images have been altered for the ease of posting and do not contain the alpha values.

[Mr.Mike]

bump for some help?