Author Topic: B-24j (Read 2973 times)

Stoney · « **Reply #45 on:** February 21, 2008, 02:12:17 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Serenity
well, when I left aces high, I stopped working on this skin. But now that I'm back, and with two brand new computers, I'm going to go into full swing to finish this aircraft. I just have two points I need some help on. Again, nose art. I'll scan the original picture I have of the plane so you can see, its a rather complicated design. Are there any short cuts I can take on mounting that nose art since I know any attempt I make will not do it justice. Secondly, any nlbasic weathering tips? Though my goal is for a fresh-from-the-factory look, I do want to muck her up just a little.

Best thing on the nose art is to create a layer for it specifically. Import the scanned nose art into your program and basically create a replicated version, by simply drawing over it, matching colors and the image. Do this at a large scale. Then, once you have a good quality image at full scale, scale the nose art down to fit the size it should be on the aircraft. Remember to save it at the original full size, and use a copy of it to scale. If you scale it too big or too small, redo it--don't keep rescaling the same image as it will lose quality as you re-scale it multiple times. Scale once--if that doesn't work, delete and scale it again until it matches.

Krusty · « **Reply #46 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:30:40 AM »

^-- that's worked for me several times.

Generally use paths (if you have photoshop) and brushes/pencils/fills with those paths to get the shape you need. Once you've rebuilt the nose art through various layers, hide/delete the original scanned/copied layer underneath.

Xasthur · « **Reply #47 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:10:41 AM »

The key with anything to do with skins is layers, layers, layers.

I probably have way too many, which tends to mess things up a lot, but I have seperate layers for almost everything... camo, rivets, panel lines, markings, dirt, exhaust stains, paint chips.... everything.

This way you can adjust the opacity or whatever else you need to do for each detail independantly.

One example is having a seperate layer for panel lines... You can load the panel lines (so that just the lines are selected) and (on a new layer) create a layer of dirt in the exact shape of the panel lines... Gaussian blur it out a little and drop the opacity and you have nice, crisp panel lines with a layer of smudged out dirt over the top of them to help give them a little depth.

This saves tracing a layer of dirt over the top and gives you a crisp following of the lines.

Xasthur · « **Reply #48 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:14:49 AM »

Also, this has been said before here but I didn't see an appropriate response.

Your base image (the defualt skin you're drawing over) must be 1024 x 1024 pixels. If you're working on anything less than this you're wasting your time.

A good idea is to set your canvas to 1500 x 1500 to give you a little room around the edges and go from there.

To get this 1024 x 1024 image you will need to install the hi-res pack.

As I suggested a couple of pages back, if your machine is incapable of running the game at this detail level, install a second version of the game and call it Aces High Skin.

That way you can set the video settings to max (on the start-up clipboard, not in game) and keep them there without having the re-cache the skins... which takes at least a few minutes on a low-power machine.

1024 x 1024 is crucial, you must work at that size.

Serenity · « **Reply #49 on:** February 21, 2008, 08:43:30 PM »

Well, I THINK I found the old file. I dont have photoshop, I cannot afford it. Im using Photoplus instead. So, today, I will look at the skin for the first time in hi-res. Also, as far as layers, I think I have around 15 total layers so far, even before weathering. To minimize confusion Xasthur I name each layer exactly what it is. So, its back to work! I wont be sleeping this weekend...

Xasthur · « **Reply #50 on:** February 21, 2008, 08:56:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Serenity
Well, I THINK I found the old file. I dont have photoshop, I cannot afford it. Im using Photoplus instead. So, today, I will look at the skin for the first time in hi-res. Also, as far as layers, I think I have around 15 total layers so far, even before weathering. To minimize confusion Xasthur I name each layer exactly what it is. So, its back to work! I wont be sleeping this weekend...

I use photoshop 7 and have done for about 5 years... I got it from a friend.

It's easy to find a download for it and if you're not using the program for financial gain I don't consider it doing anything wrong, particularly when my version is so out of date

Another good trick with the layers, as naming them is a must, is colour-coding them. I'm not sure if your program allows you to do that but you can change the colour of the layer tag in the layers menu in PS7. Camo is green, dirt is red, panel lines are blue, rivets are purple etc etc.

Makes it easier to find what you're looking for towards then end when you're in the 'tweaking' stage.

Serenity · « **Reply #51 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:02:53 PM »

Id love to find a nice little download, but never can, lol. And no, photoplus doest give me that option. Even worse, I didnt find the old file, so im starting all over

Stoney · « **Reply #52 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:14:00 PM »

Try GIMP Rey. Its pretty much full-featured and free as well.

Serenity · « **Reply #53 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:43:56 PM »

Alright, well, I dug through the trash, (literally), pulled out my old comp., booted it, and got the file back. But, now on this computer, I cannot get the skin to show on the offline. So, can someone either help me out or send me the skin viewer?

Serenity · « **Reply #54 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:23:41 PM »

There is a very interesting mottling of the colors on this aircraft as seen here up close:

Ignore the colored wheels, I still have to fix that.

Serenity · « **Reply #55 on:** February 22, 2008, 10:25:56 AM »

Any ideas how to handle that mottled skin?

B@tfinkV · « **Reply #56 on:** February 23, 2008, 11:46:04 AM »

looks good i would fly it. i actualy prefered the first one with the white scratches on the leading and trailing edges.

Fencer51 · « **Reply #57 on:** February 23, 2008, 04:56:32 PM »

That sure does not look like the HiRes pack..

Serenity · « **Reply #58 on:** February 23, 2008, 07:11:39 PM »

Bat, thats because I hadnt covered over the original skin, lol. Another problem im having is the flaps. Ive been having trouble identifying where the flaps end and where the other parts of the wing begin... Really, the toughest part of this skin is just identifying which pixel goes where. Ill try to sort out the flaps issue. Other than that, do you all think its ready to submit?