Repainting

[GunnerMan]

Well Congo here kind of awakend me to repainting so I thought I would sit down and give it a try. I have Adobe PS CS. Anyways I think I can get the tetures down and make it look real with time but what abut the rivets and rivet lines? Do I need to go over them all on a different layer just for them to stay? It seems there would be an easyer way I was trying to do a simple 3 color repaint with the cessna tonight but rivit painting got bad... I think they should have a separate bmp just for rivets that you can apply to it Also this is out of my leage fr now but ow would you add reflection? thanks

[Merlin66]

To get a real level of detail, rivets, oil stains you really need to work in layers which means using PSP or Photoshop. You can still use the "original" textures as a template.

Read back on some of the threads here, and you'll get the understanding.

[Hagar]

There are some tutes with sample textures for download. I can't be sure but believe some of these are done in layers to use as an example. You could copy the rivet layer & paste it onto your own repaint as a new layer to experiment with. Try the tute at Gryphon Aviation from the link on the SimV Links page. Eric Joiner's tute at his Aluminum Cloud site is also very useful. http://www.aluminumcloud.com/

you really need to work in layers which means using PSP or Photoshop

There are alternatives. Pixia is one example of an excellent freeware graphics editor with layers & other advanced features necessary for repainting textures. It's posted right here in the SimV utilities section or get the latest version here. http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/ Just a case of learning how to use it.

[Reap]

Some paintkits (the better ones) have all the detail like lines and rivets on a seperate layer. Unfortunately most don't, and its quite hard work to redo them all.
The chances are they will be the wrong colour anyway. If you are painting a white fuselage that has light grey detail with a dark blue then the light grey will be too much on the dark blue.
What I do (not necessarily the best way) is to use the magic wand tool and and select all of the lines and copy and paste them as a new layer. Then re colour them in a slightly different shade to the paint colour. You will have to experiment to get the best result. Keep exporting to FS and checking the reults. Sometimes after ajusting the alpha layer the lines are too much again and you will have to readjust. But good detail is what seperates the good repaints from the mediocre ones.

Regarding reflection, that is another issue, check out this tutorial, http://www.calclassic.com/repaint.htmits using PSP but its basically the same.

[GunnerMan]

Well like I said I have Adobe Photoshop CS so layers are not a problem, I guess I will try the magic wand way and put it on a new layer nad use Hue and Saturation for the desired result! Thanks I will tackle this Cessna now because I am not about to repaint a nice aircraft with not rivets and lines because that dosent look the best(unless its a fiberglass or sort aircraft)