First Skin, Comments needed

[Puck]

This is my first attempt at a skin, so comments from the masters would be greatly appreciated.  Some small things that still need to be resolved (if possible):

1.  The FN badge on the cowl is too dark and too low.  I can do this, but it's also too big and that I can't fix without removing it.

2.  Star on the side is blotched.  Not sure I can fix that.

3. Access panels on the port side need some teaking.  I should be able to do some of that, but pixel size limits will prevent me from making the lines crisp.

4. Mongolskii Arat emblem is missing under the cockpit.  Mirroring makes that impossible without having a backwards emblem on the other side.

5. Spinner is white rather than red.  Can't find the spinner color to change it.

The belly color is closer than the lighting in the screen shot seems to imply.  Otherwise I'm open for suggestions, nit-picking, and observations.

Thanks!

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Puck
This is my first attempt at a skin, so comments from the masters would be greatly appreciated.  Some small things that still need to be resolved (if possible):

1.  The FN badge on the cowl is too dark and too low.  I can do this, but it's also too big and that I can't fix without removing it.

2.  Star on the side is blotched.  Not sure I can fix that.

3. Access panels on the port side need some teaking.  I should be able to do some of that, but pixel size limits will prevent me from making the lines crisp.

4. Mongolskii Arat emblem is missing under the cockpit.  Mirroring makes that impossible without having a backwards emblem on the other side.

5. Spinner is white rather than red.  Can't find the spinner color to change it.

The belly color is closer than the lighting in the screen shot seems to imply.  Otherwise I'm open for suggestions, nit-picking, and observations.

Thanks!

1) Just redo it. You created it in the first place, right? Hopefully it is on its own layer, that way you can just move that one layer exactly where you want it.

2) Try using the point-to-point lasso selection tool and creating your own star. Put it on its own layer so you can move it as needed. You can use multiple layers to get the red/white/red effect.

3) You can use various layer blending options to make the panel lines crisp or soft. You can do a lot with 1 pixel, sometimes.

4) Well you might get away with this. Most folks can't read cyrillic anyway. I think it would look better with it.

5) You can't change the spinner on older skins. This is an older skin. Nothing you can do.

Other: The yellow is too pale, too "lemon" like. Try looking for a richer yellow (that isn't to say a neon one, just a different shade)

[bagrat]

ne1 notice most skinned LA dont have gun holes, they may have smudges but thats it.

[Puck]

Originally posted by bagrat
ne1 notice most skinned LA dont have gun holes, they may have smudges but thats it.

...as a matter of fact, yes, I noticed.  Those smudges require about 5 layers, and the soot marks trailing back are at a really strange semi-log curve.  It's all highly entertaining.

I'm not sure it will get much better.  At 256x256 there just isn't enough resolution to put holes in there.

Krusty:

Thanks!  
1. That's the plan    I do need to change the shade on it to something lighter, though
2. See below.
3. I'll see what I can do...I did change the diagonal under the cockpit to sharpen it a bit
4. I've tried it...looks bad.  Then again, I can read Russian.  I'll turn that layer back on and see what you think.
5. Bummer.  I was afraid that was the case

Lemon on the nose...I can work on that.

As for the star, this is what it looks like on the map:



I have no idea why it gets so blotched when it's loaded.  Might be a limit on the 256b map.

[Krusty]

Uh-oh... 256x256? I think you need to start over. The way way WAY early skins (109E before update had the same thing) are small resolution by default, but ALL skins being created new must be 1024x1024!

That will make it look a LOT better. This also means you should set your texture size to 1024 when checking your skin out offline (you can switch it back before going online again).

[Puck]

Ah HAH!  That helps.  It also gives me an excuse to clean up my layers.

My res IS 1024, by the way.  It still saved the skin at 256.  I'll scale the beast and start over, unless there's some other trick I'm missing.

I owe you a beverage of your choice.

[Krusty]

The file itself must be saved as 1024x1024. Then when you start AH go to video settings and set texture to 1024. If this is the first time it will have to build a cache (then after this you can go back and forth without rebuilding it).

THEN try it in game.

The final bmp product should be 1024. How it displays in-game is determined by the texture resolution setting.

[Puck]

It didn't...took the 256, did a bicubic scale, and set it as a locked background.  I'm building the new skin over the top of it bit by bit with Photoshop and Illustrator.  I have layers with 10 pixels on them this time, just to make sure I don't get things messed up.

Looks much, much better in the viewer.

[Krusty]

I'm not sure what you mean by "layers with 10 pixels on them".

What you've done is what a lot of us have had to do before. You have to redo all your work, unfortunately. Fortunately, you know what you want to do now!

Use the extra resolution to make the skin look better. This is probably common sense, but when you blow it up it makes the panel lines thicker, so you might be tempted to copy them as 2 or 3 pixel lines, but stay with 1 pixel lines. It will make it look so much better when you're done.

Also this higher resolution will help get rid of the fuzziness and the blurring on your Soviet stars.