Inspection panels and covers

[Dickert]

Texturing?
How do I get my inspection panels and covers to look more realistic?  I am doing the texture mapping on my aircraft using layers to make the various paint jobs.  My top layer is the panels and screws.  I can

[garryrussell]

It looks like you need to reduce the opacity

I make all mine solid black and have a opacity of about 6-8 percent for the lines and 12-20 for the screws/rivets the exact amount depends on the background colour.

You can always make a copy, invert it so it's sold white displace that by one pixel to the left and one up, merge that solid white to the solid black then reduce the opacity as that can give a slight 3D effect at time and help show something where the base colour is darker.


Garry

[J2Summit]

Try creating actual panels on a new layer instead of drawing them out with lines. In PSP I create panels with anti-laised edges, put a slight bevel on them for 3D effect, and then do a drop shadow under them with a blur of 5. Then I set that shadow to about 50% opacity. Details of this process all depend on what type of panel it is, but that's about my usual routine. Hope that helps.
John

[J2Summit]

Best shot I have on hand to show you. The panel with all the holes in it and the 2 on the belly were made using my method described above. Same with the wingroot fairing if you can see it.