Simple, easy way to make alphas needed!

[todayshorse]

Indeed. Although i am getting to grips with aircraft repainting, the one thing i havent figured is the alpha - i have been using those supplied mainly up till now.

Ive read many tutorials and they dont seem to make a lot of sense, and seem to talk about tools and options i just dont have (or cant find) in PSP......

Id like this repaint im working on to have the 'reflective' appearance on the speedbird, and on the reg number, and possibly the engine markings, as ive seen in photos of the real thing!

When i make an alpha layer in dxt.bmp, it shows a lot of black which i beleive makes things liquid chrome, and im unsure how to edit it to get an overall grey colour for everything thats painted, and somewhat 'shiny' for the bare metal belly and logos.....

Any tips or pointers would be extremly usefull!

This is what im working on - although a few things are not correct just yet...

[garryrussell]

That should have a natural metal polished underside except for the wing routes.

OK

Alphas

This is how I make them and it is a quick, simple and foolproof method and anot at all as complex as writing it out makes it look :-?


Copy the layers you want to shine....turn that to the grey you want over a white base then save that as alpha and call it in via DXTBMP

I create a new group called APLHA in the top of my PSD.

[todayshorse]

Aha! Thats a method ive not come across before! Most talk about masks and colouring things red and stuff-makes no sense as i have nothing in PSP to edit 'masks'....

But i note some PSD's im painting already have this alpha in the layers - great stuff! Ill give this method a try!

And you say the speedbird, reg number and the 'BOAC' on the engines is actualy gold? I noted on a VC10 of a similar livery they looked 'goldish' but the 747 pictures im working from are a little unclear - although i did note they are of a 'mirror' type finish....

Thanks Gary for your informative answer, again [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[garryrussell]

Yep

BOAC lettering and the speedbird were gold

That is why the colour can looks so different as to how the light hits it..can look brown, can look yellow.

The copied layers are your masks and being copies they are correct and all you need worry about is balancing the grey values against your base paint

Remember that Alpha always lightens so go darker with you're bases.

If you are trying a 30 percent alpha then darken the base by thirty to start with then adjust it from there.  You will almost certainly need less alpha than you think sometime only 5 percent or so just to lift colour like the blue.

Once you are set up you can adjust to you hearts content although when you initially get them set up it's a good time to make a copy

What I like about this method is it can be used in any layered programme even those that lack sophisticated masking feature like Photoshop...if they can't be grouped then that's not really an issue.........and above all it only does what you tell it to

ATB

Garry

[todayshorse]

Well, to say im impressed is an understatement!! Using this method ive achieved in about 10 minutes what ive been faffing with for some hours with no real luck!

Although its not come out 'gold' its got that shine that id seen on a VC10 (i also used the VC-10 pic for the 'gold' colour) - maybe knock it down a bit? this is pretty much black on the alpha.....but still in the right light it will look amazing!

I should go to bed but now i want to do the rest  ;D

[garryrussell]

No stopping you now

Try a mustardy-yellow base for the gold

[todayshorse]

Well that seems to have done the trick!

Im still faffing with various shades on the belly - some seem way to much, others seem maybe not enough

Ive also discoverd that when in dxt.bmp, and importing alphas i have been editing, if i 'apply' the alpha i get a chrome look no matter what, but if i simply import then save as a extended .bmp then i get the colours showing through! interesting, although it took a few goes to figure out just why!

think the balance is just about right here but any tips on a good shade of grey to use to nail this effect?

[garryrussell]

It's a job to tell from a single screenshot but I would say to darken the bottom and the gold and reduce the shine on both.

problem with FS is it is shiniest away from the light.........the complete opposit to real world

With aluminium it is dark when polished and takes on a milkyness as it ages and loses shine.

The lightness you have it is OK without a real shine but needs to be darked for a new, polished look.

At the end of the day it's what you are happy with and I can't give you figures as the dynamic shine applied to the model affects the textures.

[todayshorse]

Just like to thank you Garry and everyone else that offerd advice on this topic in other threads - im not sure ive 'nailed it' but i sure as hell have got it somewhat close to what i wanted!

The aircraft in question is about done and im really chuffed with it

Thanks again