The Thing About AH3 Skinning That P(beeps) Me Off In 100 Words Or Less...

[Devil 505]

Thanks Bustr.    I would love for skills like his to rub off on me but that's a miracle too far I suspect.   

May just have to stick with non-NMF skins from now on. 

Devil, that aluminum looks fabulous.   How much of that is due to bake-in vs. spec mapping?

The good news is that the baked in detail is mostly the same as what I do on painted skins as well. I did add a layer for the aluminium tarnish(more on that later). I also added an extra layer for shading the rivets opposite the existing rivet highlight layer. I boosted the opacity on the rivet highlight, panel lines, and panel line highlight layers. On the wings, I added a layer for individual panel highlights. The normal map is the same as a painted skin. The spec map levels I laid out earlier, although I have started using pure black on the power map since I made the screen shots.

I'll put together a tutorial for the aluminum tarnish mottling later.

[oboe]

A tutorial on the aluminum would be fantastic and much appreciated, Devil.   Thanks!

[Vraciu]

I just want to duplicate the mottling for now.   Once I get that I can go back at the rivets.   

I have debated trying a gray with various blots of different shades then a blur of some kind to make it look mottled.   

I'm about out of ideas short of ZOOM, COPY, PASTE. 

[FTJR]

A tutorial on the aluminum would be fantastic and much appreciated, Devil.   Thanks!

I was thinking the same, perhaps you could do a seperate thread  on it Devil, it would be helpful to us lesser mortals.
Thanks.

[Devil 505]

I was thinking the same, perhaps you could do a seperate thread  on it Devil, it would be helpful to us lesser mortals.
Thanks.

Sure.

It's will be a while though to take all of the screenshots needed.

Also note that the screenshots are from a quickly thrown together attempt at the mottling and highlights.

[FTJR]

Sure.

It's will be a while though to take all of the screenshots needed.

Also note that the screenshots are from a quickly thrown together attempt at the mottling and highlights.

Excellent, and thank you in advance.

[Vraciu]

It would be great to have a guide. 

I keep looking at the skin I posted above.   It looks fine as a base file but the spec map throws it into chaos.    I'm so confused. 

I may have to experiment with a metal-only layer and try to add everything else to it later...   seemed to work great on that 109.

 

[hitech]

Vraciu, try a simple test make spec and power maps simply a 128 for the entire file.

And set your env  about 64 for the complete file.


HiTech

[Vraciu]

Vraciu, try a simple test make spec and power maps simply a 128 for the entire file.

And set your env  about 64 for the complete file.


HiTech

Will do, sir, and report back. 

[oboe]

What do you guys think of this one?  This is my bare metal P-51D base.  I've still got some additional tasks and layer balancing adjustments remaining to do on the diffuse map and then I'll start in earnest with the other maps.  Right now I've got it set up with fairly basic spec and power files, and minimal environment map.  I think they're both a little high though - getting some washout on the tail fillet.   Fencer should be happy with me since I got the wings painted.     I don't think I'm happy with the texture on the ailerons and flaps though.





I've stared at this skin so much I'm cross-eyed.  I actually ran it out gas on this flight; the prop is windmilling.

[Arlo]

What do you guys think of this one?  This is my bare metal P-51D base.  I've still got some additional tasks and layer balancing adjustments remaining to do on the diffuse map and then I'll start in earnest with the other maps.  Right now I've got it set up with fairly basic spec and power files, and minimal environment map.  I think they're both a little high though - getting some washout on the tail fillet.   Fencer should be happy with me since I got the wings painted.     I don't think I'm happy with the texture on the ailerons and flaps though.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

I've stared at this skin so much I'm cross-eyed.  I actually ran it out gas on this flight; the prop is windmilling.

Yowsa!

 

[Devil 505]

That base looks great, Oboe.

[Fencer51]

Very Impressive, best 51 I have seen.  Thanks for painting the wings. 

The flaps are aluminum like the fuselage, as I am sure you are aware of.

Didn't I send you some pics?

[oboe]

Very Impressive, best 51 I have seen.  Thanks for painting the wings. 

The flaps are aluminum like the fuselage, as I am sure you are aware of.

Didn't I send you some pics?

Thank you.  Yes, you sent pics and they helped alot, kept me quite busy in fact - lots of detail I hadn't seen before.  Thanks for those!

I do know the flaps and ailerons are bare aluminum - in fact I used same texture as I did the on fuselage.  It just gets illuminated differently because of the angle difference of the light source.  I can maneuver the around the plane and get it to glare very nicely when the sun angle is right, but when the sun angle is good on the fuselage, it doesn't do much for the flap and aileron surfaces.  I'll try increasing the environmental map for these to see if that helps.

[Vraciu]

Some of the lighter metal still looks too white.   Also I would tweak the national insignia a tad.  But, yeah, overall that's definitely getting toward what they should look like.