Simviation Forums

hey guys....i've been trying to repaint a Extra 300s (standard model) but with no luck at all, to be simple...i suck real bad at repainting....if there is anyone out there who wouldnt mind doing a repaint of one, please contact me at   bombhead2k1@hotmail.com  (its also my msn addy)
it'll only be a simple but effective repaint....all help will be appriciated

regards,

lewis

What sim is it? If your talking CFS1 or FS2002 (Pro) then I may be of help.
Dan Garner  ;)

Lewis- what seems to be the problem?  Maybe one of us can give you that "push" to go over the hurdle.

cheers guys, well i'm running 2004....i've tried to use paint shop pro but...well, when i open the texture file I want to edit, its all in black and white and i dont know what to do with it, also...as what I want to do is very simple, i tried using microsoft paint but when i tried to open the texure it'd be a blank page.....it got rather annoying to say the least, lol

lewis

To be able to repaint the aircraft you need to dowload DXT BITMAP, not sure of a link but am sure some other simmer will post that.  You can then use DXT BITMAP to covert the textures.

Iain

Get it here:

http://fly.to/mwgfx/

Its pretty self-explanatory, but if you still need help, come ask here.

well I downloaded it n tried to do it but the texture files aint 16bit  ???
really got no clue now what to do    feel free to offer to do the repaint for me,  ;)

well for some reason i'm still unable to create it myself.....if some oen could do it for me then i'd be most grateful as i cant see myself being able to get it done

lewis

I don't have time tonight, but tomorrow I will provide a thorough explanation of the workings of DXTBmp.

Ender Baron..really???
I must listen in to that  8)

OK.

Fresh and ready. ;)

The installation of DXTBmp is fairly simple.  Extract and run the program.  Once its open, click on FILE and select "Load Extended Image".

Navigate to the FS2002 aircraft folder of the texture you want to edit.  For example, in the stock 777 texture folder, there are four *.bmp files:

B777_300_C (cockpit textures)
b777_300_L (nightmap)
b777_300_T (textures)
Boeing_777_Panel_Decals

The nightmap and cockpit textures are unimportant right now, but you may want to change the nightmap at a later time if you find it doesn't match the regular textures.  The one to edit is b777_300_T.  If your aircraft doesn't have a texture with the suffix _T, then open a few to find the right one.  If there are multiple textures that need to be edited, open one of them and continue.

The image will come up in a few seconds with the actual textures in the large window and the reflective map (alpha channel) in the upper-right corner.  The alpha channel is what makes the aircraft reflect light like a real one would.  The lighter the shade of gray, the less the reflection.  IE--white is no reflection and black is mirrorlike reflection.  This can be changed, but that will be after we finish converting.

There are two things you can do at this point.  The first is save the image in 24-bit format or convert directly to an image editor and then convert straight back again.  For this, we will convert straight to an image editor.

On the right-hand side, just below the alpha channel, there is a small button.  Click on this and then navigate to the location of your preferred image editor.  This can be any editor that will work with *.bmp files (like MS Paint), but I recommend an editor with the ability to use layers.  With your editor selected you can now edit the image.  Go to IMAGE in the top menu bar and select "Send to Editor" and your editor you selected will open the textures displayed in the main window of DXTBmp.  Leave DXTBmp open and running, as you will need it later.

Now edit the image however you wish.  I'm not going to go into a repainting tutorial, because it would take too damn long . . . ;D  After you edit the image, click "Save" and then return to DXTBmp.

Click on IMAGE and then "Reload After Edit".  This will adjust the image to what you edited it to.  If you need to change the alpha channel, you can do it at this time by clicking ALPHA and then "Send Alpha to Editor".  Edit the alpha as you wish and then save and ALPHA-->Refresh Alpha.  You are now ready to save.

Click on FILE-->Save Extended Image.  This next part is very important: SAVE THE IMAGE WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE ORIGINAL!  If you don't, it will not work!  Save the file in a new folder titled "texture.x", where X is any name you want it to be.  At this point you should go back and see if there are any textures that you should edit besides the one you have already done.  If not, you are ready to add the textures to the aircraft.cfg.  If you don't already know how, I can continue this "tutorial" later.

I hope this isn't too hard to understand, but if you need visuals I can do them tomorrow.

Later all!

great post, does this also cover just editing aircraft tails?

Say I want to change units or tail codes?

Can someone throw some of Ozzy's marmelade on this and make it sticky?  It's an excellent source of knowledge!  I ALREADY know how to paint and picked up some new tips!  lol