NMF Panels - Visible Pixels?

[Vraciu]

Varying NMF panels gives them depth and realism.    However, is there a proper balance between pixelated and blurry?

Seems that I can't quite figure out how much blur is too much.

Any thoughts?

Perhaps screenshots will help.

[Devil 505]

what exactly are you doing?

[Vraciu]

Trying to create/preserve depth/variation without pixelation.

You can see where I've modified certain panels in various ways to gauge the effect.    The problem is....the pixels give depth but they also are a distraction.  Blurring them makes the airplane lose that.




____

This gives more depth but also shows pixels.




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This reduces the pixelation but loses depth.

[Devil 505]

Let's try this again - What exactly are you doing?

I need to know the map you are working on and what your method is before I can offer any suggestions.

[Vraciu]

Let's try this again - What exactly are you doing?

I need to know the map you are working on and what your method is before I can offer any suggestions.

The diffuse map.    The lower wing of an adopted P-51.    I've noticed that the way Mus did it you have depth of field at the expense of pixelation.  I want to know if there is a way to reduce pixelation in panel variation without losing depth.    Every method I have tried from simple gaussian blur on up has not really helped.

I'm basically just trying to learn how to do metal better through trial and error.

[Vraciu]

Awhile back I made some panels that look like aluminum cans.   Really nice effect but can't do much to make them behave.  Not sure why.

[Devil 505]

First off, remember that pre-AH3 skins could only be 256 color bitmaps. no doubt that much of the pixelization you see in Mus's skin is a result of that.

Second, if you are baking in highlights to panels, you have to follow the shape of surface you are trying to mimic - IE: highlights are parallel to the leading edge. Not sure if your "aluminium cans" are just experiments with the gradient tool, but they are squared to the bitmap edges and not relative to any aircraft component's shape.

Highlights should be spread across any panel along the shape you are mimicing, not stopping at panel lines. If you are going for individual panel variations, then you need to concentrate on mimicing oxidation and weathering patterns. 

[Vraciu]

First off, remember that pre-AH3 skins could only be 256 color bitmaps. no doubt that much of the pixelization you see in Mus's skin is a result of that.

Second, if you are baking in highlights to panels, you have to follow the shape of surface you are trying to mimic - IE: highlights are parallel to the leading edge. Not sure if your "aluminium cans" are just experiments with the gradient tool, but they are squared to the bitmap edges and not relative to any aircraft component's shape.

Highlights should be spread across any panel along the shape you are mimicing, not stopping at panel lines. If you are going for individual panel variations, then you need to concentrate on mimicing oxidation and weathering patterns.

Yeah I just stuck them up there to show what they look like.  They were originally aligned with the fuselage panels which are mostly right angles to the bit map.   That didn't work.   Not sure if it was the gradient being too steep, too stark, or some other issue.

I've noticed that Mus51's variations tend to flow aft.   This makes sense considering airflow's effect on fluds, grime, etc.   But he also shaded the panels.   This has been debated a lot but as far as I see it, the panels look better with this than without, and nothing I can do with the effects map seems to mimic it.

Maybe I just need to pick a color as a base and start spraying paint on it working aft.   I'm at a loss.

I have a handle on that panel line technique.  Wish there was something that easy for NMF.

[Devil 505]

Weathering tends to flow aft, but I've also had good results with base fuselage weathering flowing top-down.

As for highlights, you need to experiment with using the gradient tool. It will be lots of trial and error getting the correct angle. Also always use only only the foreground color-to-transparent for these gradients.

[Vraciu]

I can barely get GIMP to do anything.   Will try.

I wonder if Paint Shop Pro 7 has a gradient tool...   PSP5 doesn't that I can find.

[Devil 505]

I just think you need to experiment with GIMP's features. It really can do many things very easily, it just takes time to figure out.

[Vraciu]

I just think you need to experiment with GIMP's features. It really can do many things very easily, it just takes time to figure out.

True but not knowing what to draw in the first place is a bit of a problem.

At least with the panel line technique I know what I'm doing.

[Devil 505]

What effect are you trying to accomplish?

[Vraciu]

I think for now panel variation (oxidation?) for depth of field.

[Devil 505]

What I did on the metal lower wing surface on mt K-4 skins was to use the same plasma cloud generator in GIMP with turbulence set to between 5.0 and 5,.5. Desaturate the clouds so you only have a B/W layer and invert the colors if necessary so it is mostly white. Then select black and replace it with white using the Color Exchange tool. Adjust the RGB thresholds in the tool window so that most of the blacks and dark grays are now white. Finally, blur the layer to your liking.

The result should look like this:


set the layer to between 12 and 15 percent opacity.


And finally, what it looks like under a highlight layer.