Fester's Skinning Tutorial (Basic Techniques in PHOTOSHOP)

[Citabria]

skuzzy might wanna sticky this for new skinners. I will add to it with more tutorials as well.

You have decided to start skinning your first plane or maybe your a vet: heres some tips and techniques that may help you along the way!
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RESEARCH!!!!!

do not trust artists drawings and do not rely on default skin drawings for your panel and rivet lines. It is best to research this for yourself with pictures from http://www.webshots.com, http://www.airliners.net or http://www.google.com etc. (search for your plane ie: P-51, B-24 etc) get as many pics from every angle as you can find and get as many artists drawings from different artists as well. get books and magaziens anything you can find. Research makes the difference between a great skin and a mediocre one.
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ANTIALIASED BLACK PANEL LINES LAYER!!!!!

Once you have the research start drawing panel lines in a new layer named "panel lines black" using obviously black as your color to draw them.

most people use the pencil and a single pixel size brush.
for angled lines I use a straight 1 pixel wide line and rotate it to the angle I need to get an antialiased smoother line than just clicking from 1 point to the next with the pencil can create. better methods may be available but thats my method

curved lines:
I use the polygonal lasso tool and draw one side of the curved line with it fill it with black with the paint bucket and using the dashed box selection (not the arrow) I move the dashed selection box up and over or down and over and delete the excess giving a very good antialiased precisely curved 1 pixel thick line.

the circle marquee tool is also good for making rounded corners using the add and subtract marquees and paint bucket.

all lines are drawn and made at 100% opacity and fill and colored with black.
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ANTIALIASED BLACK RIVETS LAYER!!!!!

making rivets anitaliased is the same procedure as making panel lines.

just delete a 2 pixel wide section every other pixel of a strait or angled or curved line

I like to draw my rivet lines in two separate layers: vertical rivets layer & horizontal rivets layer. I draw all the rivet lines as solid lined for each layer and since they are separate layers I can go back after I am done using the marque tool and delete two pixel sections rapidly using 2 pixel wide marque tool added together multiple times.

also keeping the rivet layers separated this way allows easy modification if placement adjustment is needed.

after you are finished your skin will look somthign like this (pic 350% origional size, each straight rivet dot is one pixel)...



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PANEL LINES WHITE LAYER!!!!!

once you are completely finished laying down panel lines and rivets now is the time to make your white panel line layer. its easy. duplicate your black panel line layer and invert it.

now for each portion of your skin use the marquee tool and select each area of the white layer and offset it down and back 1 pixel. the white line should be below and behind the black line. and on areas (like on top wings) move the white line outboard of the black line to give the correct effect from the cockpit view. this give the illusion that the panel lines are recessed.

if you want to go the extra mile delete the portions of the white layer that intersect with the black layer.
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RIVETS WHITE LAYER(s)!!!!!

since you are finished with your rivets and you are certain everything is accurate and no more changes are needed you can add aduplicate layer of white rivets. use the same methodology as the recessed panel lines if you are making flush rivets. if you are making raised rivets put the white rivet pixel in front of and above the black rivet pixel.

keep in mind to do everything from pilots point of view on surfaces visible from the cockpit.

now with the white layers added your skin should look somthing like this(pic 350% origional size, each straight rivet dot is one pixel)...

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SETTING LAYER OPACITY!!!!!

this part is subjective and will depend on your own individual skin. In this example skin (P38G 14FG/37FS) I will tell you the settings I used in this particular skin. I used no effects on this skin all layers are set to normal. If you make layer groups (as I did for each layer set on this skin) you can only modify opacity and fill stays 100%. so this example shows the basics very well without any excess steps...

BLACK PANEL LINES LAYER: 17% opacity, 100% fill
WHITE PANEL LINES LAYER: 8% opacity, 100% fill

BLACK RIVETS LAYER(s) 7% opacity, 100% fill
WHITE RIVETS LAYER(s) 4% opacity, 100% fill

now with the panel line and rivet layers opacity set your skin should look somthing like this(pic 350% origional size, each straight rivet dot is one pixel)...

[Citabria]

CAMOFLAGE LAYERS!!!!!

so far this grey background is very boring and since all basic rivet and panel lines and highlights are in place its time to add some camoflage and markings.

use separate layers for each color you use ie:
OLIVE DRAB LAYER
NEUTRAL GREY LAYER

you get the Idea. I will explain why I do this later.
you can find these colors on the web and in pictures and sometimes you have to use your own judgement as to what the correct color should really be.
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MARKINGS LAYER(s)!!!!!

Nose Art! Stars! Crosses! Stencils! Kills!
I make these in there own separate photoshop files in ultra large scale!!! basically I will take a 1024x1024 blank pallate and create a nose art or star insignia layer that fills the whole thing. then once I am finished drawing it I will copy it and paste it into my 1024x1024 PSD skin file and scale it down as needed.

NOTE! do not rescale it twice as it looses detail. using trial and error and multiple copies keep scaling it down until you get it just where you want it at the size you need.

now heres a trick about making the marking blend in wiht the plane:
don't make them transparent. instead adjust the saturation, brightness and contrast and levels as needed of each marking individually to make it part of the plane and not a bright glob sittign on top of it.

don't be afraid of contrast and color though! contrast and color is what makes a good skin but to much will make it look unrealistic and too little will make it look bland and grey.



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PAINT CHIPS AND SCRATCHES LAYER!!!!!

I make a separate scratches and chipping layer and leave it at 100% opacity. I start out with a 1-2 pixel paint brush and a grey color with a tiny bit of blue and add scratches in varying amounts along the leading edges of the wings mostly where the prop blows gravel and dirt into the wing and much less outboard of this  area. then I use the dodge and burn tools to get a metalic reflective effect and to blend the chips into the skin better.

access hatches ammo hatches get used by maintenance personel a lot so I add a little bit of scratchign around these areas too.

Walkways on the top of the inner wing!!!!
these areas get trampled! literally!

the metal starts to show along the rivet and panel linesand wears down to metal outward from these areas.
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OLIVE DRAB FADED LAYERS!!!!! (example)

the sun fades the hell out of olive drab and all other colors as well.
in this example we will duplicate our olive drab camo layer and then change it!
go to the IMAGE MENU
select any of the following:

COLOR BALANCE
HUE /SATURATION
BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST

use any of these to make the olive drab a bit lighter and even a tiny different color.
and since you still have the first layer of olive drab underneath this layer its time to use the eraser tool! use a larger fanned eraser brush on low opacity and flow and start erasing all vertical areas of this new olive drab faded layer!

aim for consistency with some variety. try to give the top surfaces a bit of a molted effect like the german planes but much more subtle to simulate the faded upper surfaces paint.

you can make as many duplicate layers of the origional olive drab layer as you want and use this process for any camo scheme. (I have 3 separate olive drab layers on this skin: OLIVE DRAB UNFADED, OLIVE DRAB MEDIUM FADING, OLIVE DRAB HEAVY FADING) I wussed out on varying the neutral grey color and have only one haha!
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DIRT LAYER!!!!!

planes get dirty.
I make a separate weathering and dirt layer and using a dark brown color and several different paint brushes on light flow and opacity I add dirt and grime along the inner wings where people walk, behind the engine cowlings and landing gear doors etc. oil leaks everywhere out of the engines on these planes as well. you can put this layer above or below the paint chips depending on what works best for you.
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DETAILS LAYER!!!!!

I add a separate layer for details like landing lights, nav lights, trim actuators, misc holes and bumps etc. etc.

now with camoflage, markings, paint chips & scratches, camoflage fading, dirt and details your skin should look somthing like this(pic 350% origional size, each straight rivet dot is one pixel)...

[United]

Thanks for posting Cit!  Some VERY good information here!

[Citabria]

PANEL SHADING DARK LAYER!!!!!

Now its shaping up ok but heres the thing about airplanes.
They arent smooth

they are fastened together with a thin sheet metal skin to spars and runners and these rivets stress the sheet metal and deform it. This sheet metal deformation is what you see more than you see the individual rivets especially on painted planes.

we want to simulate this in a basic way and since we do not have bump mapping in Aces High we will do it on the skin itself. remember this is all about lighting and light from in front and above looks best in most cases for this simulated shading.

do only one side of the fuselage and one wing then copy and paste and merge flip or rotate as needed to the other side/wing. its best to shad surfaces visible from cockpit form pilots perspective. ( dark outboard and rear)

setup:

create a new layer with 100% opacity and 100% fill called PANEL SHADING DARK LAYER.

use a small 2-3 pixel paitn brush set to 13% opacity and 13% flow.

in each little box made by the rivets and panel lines using black as your color and your small brush add some shading to the rear edge and lower edge of each square. make a couple swipes at each box with this light opacity and flow brush. I use about 3 strokes on each side of the square.

you can manually blur this layer too to get a more smooth deformed effect using the blur tool. and medium sized brush set to 50% blur as desired.

don't be afraid to lightly use the eraser tool with a fanned soft brush too!
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PANEL SHADING LIGHT LAYER!!!!!

now on the top and front of each of these little squares using white instead of black repeat the above process. its best to shad surfaces visible from cockpit form pilots perspective. ( light inboard and front)
make sure to use the blur tool in varying amounts to give added variation and smooth contours. don't be afraid to lightly use the eraser tool with a fanned soft brush too!

also this effect needs to be faint!!! do not overdo it!!

doing this manually gives a varied effect to the skin that simulates the way the actual metal deforms in a varied pattern. the results are good and with practice and observation of real aircraft at airshows or at the airport or with High resolution pictures you can add more detail and variation and realism to this technique.

what I have shown so far is the very very basic deformation technique that I use its tedious as hell but it is night and day the amount of realism it adds. it makes rivets unimportant so you can make the rivets especially flush rivets much more realistic in terms of visibility. but it also makes having accurate panel and rivet lines very important.

so now with light and dark panel shading to simulate the deformation of the sheet metal caused by rivets your skin should look somthing like this(pic 350% origional size, each straight rivet dot is one pixel)...

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here is an exadgerated pic of the dark black shading layer (duplicated the layer about 6 times for clarity!)



and here is an exadgerated pic of the light white shading layer (duplicated the layer about 6 times for clarity!)


note you can see the full skin offline under: P-38G 14FG/37FS by Fester

happy skinning all!

[oboe]

Thanks for putting this together Fester!

[Greebo]

Great job Fester, should definitely be a sticky.

[United]

Added it to my site.  Let me know if theres anything I missed or did wrong!



http://www.ahskinning.netfirms.com

[SkyChimp]

Originally posted by United
Added it to my site.  Let me know if theres anything I missed or did wrong!



http://www.ahskinning.netfirms.com

 U beat me lol u don't mind if i put on mine too do u?

[Citabria]

go for it I don't mind at all

[mason22]

post a finished product for the example  

[Citabria]

you can view the results in the Main arena just pull up either one of my P-51D's or P-38G's offline.

as for releasing the full texture files or templates... I did that with my P-40E and I am not going to do that again. It seemed good in theory but in practice it didn't have the results I expected.

[Sniffle]

Eh c'mon skuzz sticky it!:aok

[SD67]

Excellent tutorial Cit.
I'm referring it it to do my first skin (see il2 skin thread) and the techniques transfer well to PSPX.
I't's quite a learning experience for me as all my previous design work has been on real aircraft done with Rhinoceros 3D (CAD) and I've never before tried anything along these lines before.
Cheers.
Pete.

[FTJR]

bump

[Nr_RaVeN]

That's a really good post. It
hits on the key aspects for giving a skin its 3rd dimension it gives  life to the A/C.

I always do my panel shading with to thin of a line..
 your method really captures the  ripples in the metal