Author Topic: hows the metal? (p-51D stripped aluminum no markings) (Read 839 times)

Citabria · « **on:** August 25, 2005, 09:47:33 PM »

redid the metal surface of my mustang trying to get some more authentic aluminum out of it. still much rivets and access hatches and detail to add to fuselage and underside wings but upper wing surface is finished.

Mitsu · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2005, 10:30:50 PM »

nice try

thebest1 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2005, 10:56:05 PM »

Im no expert,
but the metal looks um...... dented
it looks more like paint then metal

please dont take this as bashing in anyway, its just constuctive criticism.

TexMurphy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2005, 01:21:52 AM »

It actually does look a bit cartoonish.

I need to run to work so I dont have time to analyze it closer but will do it when I get back.

Tex

Citabria · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2005, 07:45:50 AM »

aye I will trash it and start over.

GuyNoir · « **Reply #5 on:** August 26, 2005, 11:40:07 AM »

Maybe if you just took out some of the blue/purple?

TexMurphy · « **Reply #6 on:** August 26, 2005, 01:11:53 PM »

When I look at it now it does look better then this morning? Me tired or changed the pics?

Still it needs work.

But its hard to tell due to a few things. JPG compression playing its tricks. Plane lines are extreamly important to metal look. Good plane lines make metal look extreamly much better. Plane lines blur due to JPG compression.

so its a hard call.

But one thing that is definatly right is the glare. That part is perfect.

Tex

Citabria · « **Reply #7 on:** August 27, 2005, 09:36:41 AM »

heres a shot with the markings turned on and two different material file setups.

top 51 is same material setup as the above pics.

bottom p51 is default material settings

personally I like the blue tinted one. I was sitting on the wing of a metroliner with bare metal no paint the other day and the reflection of the sky made the metal look very blue much more like the upper 51 than the bottom one..

TexMurphy · « **Reply #8 on:** August 27, 2005, 09:44:51 AM »

What that metal needs is some structure and "life" to it and it will look great. The material of the first one looks good.

Thing is metal isnt smooth and metal isnt "constant color".

Here is what you could be aiming for.

Tex

Citabria · « **Reply #9 on:** August 27, 2005, 10:10:54 AM »

yep tex that pics about what i am trying to capture.

my 51 is far from done..

theres no rivets no shading almost no panel color variation no nothing done to the fuselage yet im just wanting color feedback.
ie too blue to grey etc.

Citabria · « **Reply #10 on:** August 27, 2005, 10:34:38 AM »

one thing I need to find out is about the wings... was all of the wing but the aileron and flap painted silver?

were the ammo doors natural metal or painted silver too?

leading edges painted? etc etc..

the real problem with AH metal is metal is a mirror.

and without even a simple environment map you have to add hints of reflection directly onto the texturemap.

TexMurphy · « **Reply #11 on:** August 27, 2005, 10:48:54 AM »

Color wise yes very good.

Tex

SkyChimp · « **Reply #12 on:** August 27, 2005, 01:08:52 PM »

Wow fes that metal looks good don't trash it.. Find a pick of that plane in ww2 where its not blinding hehe. It looks like metal in pic.
Add a little more blue and dirt!

Delirium · « **Reply #13 on:** August 27, 2005, 03:12:38 PM »

I shouldn't criticize because I haven't done ANY skinning, but the 51 looks like it was faded too much... the contrast between the art and the exhaust on it is striking.

Greebo · « **Reply #14 on:** August 27, 2005, 05:59:16 PM »

I've never been really happy with any of the metal aircraft I've skinned. If you give it a "chrome" type finish it looks great on the bmp but a bit bogus in the game except from certain angles. Unless reflections move as your viewing angle changes, they look like they've been painted on.

So I keep the big reflections effects (wing on fuselage etc) fairly faint. Instead concentrating on smaller stuff like rivet hollow highlights and the difference in angle between two adjacent panels. The upper surfaces get to be a bit bluer and the lower ones a bit greener.

The opposite problem is stopping it looking like grey paint. One thing I do is to make two duplicate layers of panel line highlights. I put one layer below the paintjob at high opacity and one above at low opacity. This makes the metal appear shinier than the paint.

I think the standard HTC metal effect is too reflective, it makes the skin look washed out. I use a material file with the specularity reduced to 0.5 or so, about half way between full matt and full gloss. Then I weather the hell out of it, if its dirty it wouldn't be that shiny anyway.

I think you could vary the individual panel colours a bit more Citabria, look at the cowling panels on the photo.