GIMP iritation

[Dragon Tamer]

I have been trying to make my skin for the B-29 but GIMP is giving me a headach trying to get the paint scheme right.  I am trying to make the colors fade and blend when I am merging the layers but it will not do it properly.  I have tried on 3 different computers and they all give me the same issue.  What am I doing wrong?

[The Fugitive]

post a picture, or section of picture of the problem your having. List the step you take to get to that point. The more info the easier it will be to find where you might have gone wrong with out standing and looking over your shoulder.

[Motherland]

I think this may be your problem, I know I had it too when I first started skinning...

When you initially open an Aces High bitmap, as the bitmap is in 256 colors, GIMP likes to be in 'indexed' mode for some reason. Go to image -> RGB.
In indexed mode it will only use the colors already in the palette so you can't blend or adjust layer opacities or anything.

Also, make sure you have the hi-res pack installed in loaded so you're working with the... well, I guess with the B29, it's a 2048x2048 bitmap instead of a 1024x1024 bitmap like normal.

[Dragon Tamer]

I was a little bewildered when I downloaded the HiRes texture pack and it said 2048x2048 so I downloaded it anyway.  That was the one that I was working on first since it was the highest resolution setting. 

What I have done so far is made the rudder for the left hand side of the plane, there are 4 layers.  the base layer with just the colors white and light gray.  The next layer highlights the rudder support structure inside the control surface, the 3rd layer is the yellow stripes that are iconic to the BG.  The last layer is of the small hatch at the top of the rudder used for maintenance.  I got all the layers by selecting the portion of the rudder I was working on, copying the selection and pasting it.  I would make the changes to the pasted image, then erase anything I didn't change.  Then I named the image to make it a valid layer.  The problem I am having is that when I go to merge the layers, I set the merge style for each layer but they don't even try to merge.  Layer 1 needs to dissolve into layer 2, layer 2 needs to have it's colors added to layer 3.

I want to try to merge the layers so that they look more realistic and not like something I made in MS paint.

(the lines that can be seen in the yellow bars in layer 3 are only there because I was frustrated and put them there)

[Motherland]

Couple of things-
Again, make sure you're in RGB mode


You don't need to use the magnifying glass tool, ctrl+scroll wheel is 100x more convenient. Similarly you can use the scroll wheel to move around the image vertically and shift+scroll wheel to move around horizontally.

You can draw straight lines (single pixel straight lines with the pencil tool or 'smooth' straight lines with the paintbrush tool) by clicking a starting point with your desired tool then holding shift and clicking to the desired endpoint.

You're never going to merge you layers, for a lot of reasons. You're always going to want to be able to modify things on each individual layer, and then when all's said and done you're going to be playing around with layer opacities for a while until you get the effect you want. You're going to have a lot of layers, that's just how it works.

It seems like you're trying to paint on the individual details on each layer, that's not what you want to do. You're going to have... well, on a B29 you're going to have your bare metal layer (however you do that, I don't have much experience working with that), your paint layers, your markings... that's the simple part... then on top of those layers you'll have your dirt layers, your grime layers, your panel lines, your rivets, et cetera. GIMP will merge all of the layers as it looks when you export it to a bitmap.

Here's one of my two skins that I was able to find (...) with all of the paint layers turned off.

[Dragon Tamer]

Okay so what you are saying is that I need to start over with just a bare metal surface at the bottom, then add the yellow stripes then the structure highlights (in a much lighter tone), the access panel then the dirt and grim layers correct?

I will also check and make sure the color mode is set to RGB.

[Dragon Tamer]

Thank you for the help, switching to RGB mode made all the difference in the world.

[Stoney]

I prefer the "stroke path" technique for angled straight, and curved lines of whatever thickness (single pixel, 3 pixel, etc.)