Simviation Forums

I know this has been asked dozens of times.But.How do i repaint an aircraft. I dont have Paintshop Pro or any other paint program so is there a good one i can download?

Hi Goose. You will have M$ Paint. While this is not really suitable for the serious repainter I have seen some remarkable results from people using it. This would be fine to practice the basic principles. Not everyone (including me) has the talent to be a repainter.  Download the latest DXTBmp here. http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm
You will need it to convert the textures before & after editing. It should already be set up by default to work with MS Paint. DXTBmp Help includes basic instructions & notes on the various FS texture formats.

From the available freeware graphics editors, I can recommend PhotoPlus 5.5. http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/serif/ph/ph5/index.asp
This has all the advanced features you need & the interface is very similar to PSP. Like all free graphics editors I've tried it does have a few little peculiarities of its own. These can be easily overcome, especially if you have no previous experience with the more familiar commercial applications.

The alternative is Pixia, posted in the SimV Designs sections. This also has advanced features like Layers. From what I've seen of it, Pixia is more like PhotoShop.

And for a short repainting tutorial, try the link in my signature.

Pixia is a really good freeware program. I'm still trying to learn the in's and out's of it though  :)

Get it here: http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/

3.0B is the latest version... I think  ;D



Regards,
Stratobat

As with any program it's a matter of preference. It's best to try all the different options to see which one suits you.

I find PhotoPlus much easier to work with as I'm used to PSP7. The user interface & tool layouts are very similar.

hey strato ,we've been cut of at sim-outhouse for some maintenance reason.i just read and downloaded this prixia tool,i'll try it tomorrow.now i tried the seri 5.5 and it has a lot more colours than basic paint but when i convert on the tool you gave me and do the paint job and go back to convert again the texture in the image file does not appear when i use the tool!!what's the reason?aminx
n.b. thank's for the decal corrector.

hey strato,thanks for the decal corrector,could'nt contact you at sim-outhouse,i think some maintenance going on.
1)when i use (seri 5.5), the tool you gave me will not recognise the image , when it opens the image file for me to convert back to 16,after i'm finished.
2)when i pick certain textures e.g.corsair and do the usual little touch upswith( paint) and back in the texture file and i go to the plane gallery i find the plane with the texture file enveloped all around the plane!!!why??cheers aminx :-/

Hey Aminx,

The Outhouse is up  :)

There is another program called DXTBmp that you could try, it's similar to the program that I sent you  :)

DXTBmp: http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Thanks for the decal corrector

No problem  ;D

Regards,
Stratobat

where do i download unpainted skins e.g. cfs2 fighters ?wich  are compatible for use in the game.cheers aminx.
what's going on at sim-outhouse?one minute it's on and one minute......... :-/

[quote]where do i download unpainted skins e.g. cfs2 fighters ?wich

the programme pixia i tried this morning works perfectly well with the photo converter you gave me i believe from fs2000.thanks a lot.please tell me where to get empty skins to start practising a complete work as per my previous message.cheers aminx

Hey Aminx,

Most designers don't release texture templates for their aircraft. So whenever somebody wants to do a repaint, they have to paint over the existing textures  :(

Regards,
Stratobat