Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: Fencer51 on July 09, 2006, 09:42:04 AM
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Basic colors are done as well as the nose art. Need to do 3D stuff, dirt, exhaust, oil leaks, weathering etc.
Having some trouble with the cowling mapping and stretching.
Can someone tell me where the upper turret is mapped at? I cannot find it.
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Pic 2:
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It's down by the chin turret.
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D'oh thought that was part of the chin turret.. thanks.
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The chin turret uses the same texture on the front and the back. The dorsal does the same.
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Salute Fencer,
Nice looking bird there sir. If I could make a suggestion on the panel lines. It could be the jpeg compression, but your panel lines look more "embossed" to me rather than "cut" into the skin. Not sure of the opacity settings you have used on the dark or light, but I feel the light has opacity set too high.
I used 20% opacity on the dark panel lines and 7% opacity on the light panel lines for the B17's. Not sure of the program you are using (I use Photoshop) so yours may be different than mine.
Course, I may be the odd man out on this one. May look good to everyone and they talk bad about ReDhAwK saying he has "wobbly eyes" :rolleyes:
ReDhAwK
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Thanks ReDhAwK, yeah I am also not happy with those panel lines. Gonna play around with them alot as well as try something to give the impression of more detail and "variation" on the skin.
Krusty, thanks, but I tried what you suggested and that wasn;t it. So I just painted each area of the skin in different colors and finally located it.
Its adjacent to the tail gun area near the center.
Still don't have a handle on the wing deicing boots. Didnt work on it today, but will try to this week and do more research with my books.
Cheers,
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Here ya go Fencer. Note the de-icer boots are removed so it's natural metal under there. Also note the chin turret is a replacement unpainted version and that the cowl flaps are natural metal replacements as well.
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Another view of the nose art. Interesting to see it's not on the left side too.
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Originally posted by Fencer51
Krusty, thanks, but I tried what you suggested and that wasn;t it. So I just painted each area of the skin in different colors and finally located it.
Its adjacent to the tail gun area near the center.
Can't be! That's the ball gunner!
As for panel lines, try this:
Leave black lines as-is (or, 80% of what they are now)
Turn down the "highlight" layer (yellow) 40% of what it is now. The problem is the highlight is too obvious -- it needs to be subtle.
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Kursty the part you circled is no longer valid, patch 2 or 3. You can make it completely black and it won't matter now, however, the single row of pixels at the bottom edge under the turret is a part of the ball turret.:eek:
You won't believe where the upper turret is. It's to the left of the top of the crew quarters and right of the ball turret above the starboard fuselage. Adding rivits is almost impossible.
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Originally posted by Krusty
Can't be! That's the ball gunner!
As for panel lines, try this:
Leave black lines as-is (or, 80% of what they are now)
Turn down the "highlight" layer (yellow) 40% of what it is now. The problem is the highlight is too obvious -- it needs to be subtle.
The upper turret is here. (see purple bubble on pic)
Yeah I went with 15% on the black and 7% on the white last night as a test. I will complete the weathering and then run through the panel line issue again. I had somehow set them at 25% and 15% :eek:
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Originally posted by Guppy35
Here ya go Fencer. Note the de-icer boots are removed so it's natural metal under there. Also note the chin turret is a replacement unpainted version and that the cowl flaps are natural metal replacements as well.
Ah Guppy, you sir, are the man.
Love the picture. I just need to decide what time frame I am going for the bird. I was shooting at March 1944 as that was when the first Berlin raids were going on. That picture is obviously a later photo as the mission symbols stretch way down the fusalage.
This is the era I think I am shooting for,
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/bassetleader/3_01_1.jpg)
So to be clear, the "white" shown on the paintings is the deicing boot? Not a group marking..
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/bassetleader/013FortressesEngaged.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/bassetleader/Clash_Over_Haseleunne.jpg)
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Correct. That white is the BMF underneath the rubber boots. In Guppy's photo it looks like they overpainted the BMF with OD (which has worn off slightly), and in the second painting this is also the case. The tail deicing boot was probably not painted (how would you get up there without some elaborate scaffolding?) because in guppy's image and in the second painting the BMF still shows there.
EDIT: The part you outlined? I thought it was part of the tail gun ( :lol )
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That's looking good Fencer. The basic problem with the panel lines is that you've put the white lines above the black ones. Move the white lines below and they will look cut rather than raised.
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What appears white in the painting is where the de-icer boots were removed. You tend to see three variations with the de-icer boots and OD/Gray birds.
1-de-icer boots on, meaning the black rubber is there
2--de-icer boots off leaving the bare metal showing (most common)
3-de-icer boots off and OD camo painted over it. I have seen one 91st BG example, "Miami Clipper" that had the BMF area painted yellow, but that's the only example I've seen of another color painted on it.
Clearly the 100th bird you are working on, had the de-icer boots removed at some point.
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Originally posted by Greebo
That's looking good Fencer. The basic problem with the panel lines is that you've put the white lines above the black ones. Move the white lines below and they will look cut rather than raised.
:eek: :confused: :rolleyes: :lol :rofl :rofl :aok
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Finally finished this one too. Submitting later this week.
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Pic #2
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YAY! More B-17 Variety!
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Could be wrong, but I think only the unpainted birds had the walkway lines on the wings.
They may be 'added' in restored aircraft, but I think only bare metal birds had them in WW2.
Well at least have yet to find a WW2 pic of an olive drab bird having them.
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Found a few pictures while looking at it myself, here is one sample which I have a digital image of.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/bassetleader/lines1.jpg)
Also here is a picture of the actual aircraft, I believe it shows the walkways on the aircraft itself.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/bassetleader/lines2.jpg)
However, I am open minded, if the walkways are not correct, I will obviously remove them.
Cheers.
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Looks great. I'd leave the walkways on just cause it adds more detail :)
I don't think there was any rhyme or reason to which birds had em or not. probably based on production runs or even different contractors making the 17s.
It would be great fun someday to be able to run the first Berlin raids with 17s painted correctly along with the 38s, Jugs and 51s in the correct schemes as well as the LW birds.
Think of how immersed a person could get in that.
Having visions of my OD/Gray red nosed 51B covering em already :)
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Originally posted by Guppy35
Looks great. I'd leave the walkways on just cause it adds more detail :)
I don't think there was any rhyme or reason to which birds had em or not. probably based on production runs or even different contractors making the 17s.
It would be great fun someday to be able to run the first Berlin raids with 17s painted correctly along with the 38s, Jugs and 51s in the correct schemes as well as the LW birds.
Think of how immersed a person could get in that.
Having visions of my OD/Gray red nosed 51B covering em already :)
Sir, you ever put that together, you give me a call ASAP. I want to be there for that! First we would need 17Fs, since some squads were still flying a few of them, I beleive.
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Boy you guys are slacking, I just noticed I had the roundel on the left wing at 100% opacity (bright).
Krusty I expect you to notice these things for me!
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Originally posted by Fencer51
Boy you guys are slacking, I just noticed I had the roundel on the left wing at 100% opacity (bright).
Krusty I expect you to notice these things for me!
Krusty - Your fired ;) .
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Fired as in FLAMING :eek:
Krusty can fly my wing anytime..... however keep him away from the paint :aok
I'm not a bomber pilot but that sure enough looks nice...... I can just see looking down at a flight of those from my 38.
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Whu.... :huh
Buuuhh.... :eek:
I.... uh..... :(
I'm sorry! I was too busy looking at those damn sexy wartime pics you posted Fencer! Sorry!
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Slacker. :rofl
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This might make up for it:
You still have the boomerang-shaped antenna on the nose the default bright tan color. I never liked that shade on the default, but you need to do that up in OD (same as the rest of the plane) I'm guessing. I think it should be the same color as the area around it.
EDIT: I'm not sure if you can (I've not tried this myself) but it would be cool if you could try to replicate the white outline to the cockpit windows, as seen in the screenshot way up the page.
EDIT2: I thought we'd discovered the de-icer boots were removed, and the outer wing portions painted OD, and that it was chipping away over these areas showing BMF underneath?
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Ok fixed the Boomerrang thingee, thanks Krusty!
Also changed the de-cing boots to bare metal and added metal around the windows as in the photo above, thanks again Krusty! :aok
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Oh yeah and I played with the material file a bit as well.
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Just me or do you not have rivets? Then again pics are small.
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Nope I did the rivets, it just didnt look right without them. Those picks are as big as I could get HTC to accept.
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On the main wings I hope you try the OD-with-chipped-paint look, that's in a couple of those pictures. It would look cool! If not, still an eye-catching bird!!
EDIT: I'm digging the outlines on the cockpit! :aok