Repainting the default B744

[Poseidon]

Hi,

I am trying to repaint the default Boeing 747-400 and I am facing the followin gproblems:

1. I have added a stripe accross the lower deck windows and I applied a degree of opacity in order to make the windows visible. However the lights appear blue (like the stripe). When I tried to make "holes" on th estripe just over the window I realised that the lights are misplaced and are actually located with an offset (some between the windows). Zooming on the airplane with lights on (even in the textures provided with FS) I saw the same would occur there as well.

2. How can I create my decal_b747_400.bmp file? I want to write the VAs name and I noticed that it should do if I set the decals background black and then wright the VAs name on it. At least this is what the original textures have. Well, I tried and the respected area appears black in my airplane.

Any ideas?

[wji]

Thanks for your post and Happy New Year to the citizens of Greece.

I've never repainted this model but looking at it in DXTbmp(x) I'm wondering if you created the obligatory Alpha Channel to match the new copy (text) you changed?



Using the second-from-the-left Alpha Icon the alpha channel can be sent to your-editor-of-choice for editing

P.S. NOTE this is DXT1 format. Martin Wright states:

"DXT1 - this is a 16 bit compressed format with a 1 bit alpha (ie just on/off). These are used for textures that need no alpha channel or only a very basic on/off transparency such as ground and building textures

DXT3 - this is a 16 bit compressed format with a 4 bit alpha (16 levels). These are used for textures that need a varying level of alpha. Most of the Aircraft textures are in this format."

[Poseidon]

Happy new year too.

You are right, I have not included an Alpha channel. However, as I am very new to this staff, could you give some more instructions?
What I have done with the decals so far was to create a black background (using an existing one) and adding the name of the airline. I did this in Photoshop. Then I saved it as bitmap. As a next step I opened the bitmap with DXTBmp (as normal) and saved it as extended. I guess this is the phase I did wrong.
Any suggestions?

[wji]

"I opened the bitmap with DXTBmp (as normal) and saved it as extended. I guess this is the phase I did wrong."

This is correct (you got it wrong)

Backup or duplicate image files!

Remember: you're dealing with the Alpha Channel
Use the Alpha Channel Icons below the Alpha Channel window (top righthand side of DXTbmp screen)

Be sure you have Photoshop (PSD) set in DXTbmp as Default Editor and simply click the first and second icons to move it in and out of DXTbmp

Once the BMP(24bit) has been sent to PSD and edited (S)ave it from PSD as 24bit (16bit and 24bit are the only options offered)

Using said Alpha Channel Icons in DXTbmp, import it back to DXTbmp and send it back to PSD (using Alpha Channel Icons, again) where it can be saved as an 8-bit.BMP as the trans.bmp Alpha Channel image.




I have not tried it on the actual FS9 B744 as I do not repaint defaut FS9 planes. Thanks for reminding me why I don't waste my time repainting them.

Reference cited: Martin Wright's DXTbmp(x) Page(s)