Existing texture editing

[RacingLad]

Hello mates,

I have some textures for some aircraft. These are already made but the tail exhaust doesn

[Travis]

My feeling is that the exhaust is not something you can edit using Photoshop.  Those types of things are usually either effect files that work with gauge files, or a part of the model itself.  Neither one is very easy to modify.

If you could post a screenshot of the aircraft in flight, we can probably tell you what it is.

[RacingLad]

It

[RacingLad]

Ok, this is what I want to do:

I want to change this...




for this:



I

[ShaneG_old]

Are these the same plane? Which plane is it? Which sim is it for?

if they are the same plane, it should be fairly easy.


IF THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME PLANE:

Open the texture you want to modify with DXTBMP and note at the top as to what kind of texture format it is in.


Save a copy of it as a 24bit bmp in a new folder, or it will just overwrite the original, and export the alpha channel to the same new folder.

Next do the same for the texture you want to use.

You should now have a folder with two 24bit bmps and two alpha channel bmps.

now open the two textures in your graphics program. Use the pen tool or magic wand tool, (not sure what your program has) and select the part you want to use.

Copy it and then paste it as a new layer on the texture you want to replace.

When it is in the right position, save the bmp.

Now open it back up in DXTBMP , import the alpha channel you exported earlier, and save it in it's original format.

You are done. enjoy the new texture!


IF THEY ARE NOT THE EXACT SAME PLANE:

Same as above, but you may need to alter the shape of the texture to fit correctly.


Hope this helps.

[RacingLad]

Yeah, it

[ShaneG_old]

I just tack the name 'alpha' to the file name, that way it's easy to remember what it's for. ex: fuse_T_alpha.bmp

 A few times I got into to trouble by trying to use a fancy naming system, but I could never remember it.

Being the same plane will make it much easier, and if the textures are in dds format, you may need to 'flip' the texture when working and re-saving it. Not always, but sometimes.

You will know as soon as you open it in DXTBMP if it needs flipped.

[RacingLad]

Are these the same plane? Which plane is it? Which sim is it for?

if they are the same plane, it should be fairly easy.


IF THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME PLANE:

Open the texture you want to modify with DXTBMP and note at the top as to what kind of texture format it is in.


Save a copy of it as a 24bit bmp in a new folder, or it will just overwrite the original, and export the alpha channel to the same new folder.

Next do the same for the texture you want to use.

You should now have a folder with two 24bit bmps and two alpha channel bmps.

now open the two textures in your graphics program. Use the pen tool or magic wand tool, (not sure what your program has) and select the part you want to use.

Copy it and then paste it as a new layer on the texture you want to replace.

When it is in the right position, save the bmp.

Now open it back up in DXTBMP , import the alpha channel you exported earlier, and save it in it's original format.

You are done. enjoy the new texture!


IF THEY ARE NOT THE EXACT SAME PLANE:

Same as above, but you may need to alter the shape of the texture to fit correctly.


Hope this helps.

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

One last question though...

WHen importing the file, I imported it into the texture itself. Did I do right ot wrong?

Where should I import the alpha channel into...

A million thanks by the way...

RacingLad

[ShaneG_old]

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

One last question though...

WHen importing the file, I imported it into the texture itself. Did I do right ot wrong?

Where should I import the alpha channel into...

A million thanks by the way...

RacingLad

Yep, when importing it back, just send it to the texture file you need it in.

When importing the alpha channel, in DXTBMP in the upper right hand corner is a white square area with some icons below it.
Load the corrected/updated texture first, then click the first icon below the white square, that's the import alpha icon. Direct it to your alpha that you exported, then you can save the texture and it will have the alpha.

[RacingLad]

Ok, I

[Travis]

When you click "Save Extended Bitmap" in the file menu in DXTBmp, go to "Save As File Type".  DXT3 with Alpha and Extended 32-bit 888-8 are both 32-bit file types.  I have never run into an aircraft that used the Extended 32-bit format.  Most use DXT3 with Alpha.  Try saving in that format to get the desired result.