Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: jocko- on February 20, 2008, 10:42:58 PM
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Thanks to all who gave me advice on templates, have started this one and here's what it looks like after a couple of days. Not even close to being even half way done yet, lots of details to be added (fasteners, etc) and of course WEATHERING. Codes and serials are placeholders, at the moment it's just a stock paint scheme of late Battle of Britain vintage. Different colours and marking styles to be added later after all the grunt work is done.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/SPIT1Aprog.jpg)
Sorry for crappy jpg quality, original is much sharper.
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Lookin great, keep at it! :aok
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Update:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/SPIT1Aprog1.jpg)
Gotta stop being lazy now and finally do the fuselage rivets...
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One tip: Many folks really aren't familiar with the "raw" format (the bitmap). If you want to gather more feedback it might be helpful to show in-game screenshots. That way somebody might say "That gun smoke is off the mark, you need to adjust it" or "can you enhance so that in normal light it looks better?"
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How do I go about making my skin the default for the game? Can't seem to figure it out. Is there a way to take pics in the skin viewer?
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Here's how to do in-game screenies.
In the skins folder copy the defualt skin folder and paste it in the same folder. For example, for a '109K4' and the duplicate '109K4_2'
In the duplicate folder simply replace the defualt BMP (which is named '109K41') for a 109K4 (and will probably be 'spitI1' or something for you) with your edited version. Make sure you rename it exactly as the defualt was.
This will 'override' one the in-game skins offline (it won't make a difference online). Simply scroll through the skins list off line and check which one brings yours up.
Then, Alt + S will take screenshots which are saved to your game folder, where your skins folder is located.
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Much obliged! Too bad I can't get certain angles with the camera, doesn't seem to like multiple key presses plus ALT-S at the same time :-/ Beware - crappy .jpg quality!!!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss0.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss3.jpg)
Not a finished product, still quite a bit of work to do. I still haven't started those freakin' fuselage rivets ;)
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Try pressing F8 so that you can pan around, and it will keep it at the camera angle you left it, then alt+s. I'd suggest filming and then opening the film, getting the angle you want, putting it to full screen, and then screen shotting it, but whenever I do that I get the default skin and not my own.
The skin itself looks great so far, my .psd definitely doesn't look that clean.
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Ah! You rule, mensa. So does your avatar... ;)
A few more:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss7.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss11.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss13.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/ahss14.jpg)
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I think the tires look too funky...
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That makes two of us ;) They're the stock ones from the default skin, I plan on tweaking the mechanical bits once I'm done with everything else.
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Hey Jocko, nice work so far.
+taur+ here from the old 416 RCAF in WB. Good to cya ya.
417 Windsors. :aok
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taur! Wow, what's with the +'s? I take a hiatus and everyone gets delusions of grandeur ;)
Progress... nearly done:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/1-2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/5.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/4-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/3-1.jpg)
Standard Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green and Dark Earth, with Sky undersides and port wing in Night with thin yellow ring around port A roundel for better visibility.
Sky Blue spinner and fuselage band. Squadron codes in Medium Sea Grey.
Typical scheme for a Spit Mk I, late fall 1940.
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Different example:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/new3.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/new2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/new1.jpg)
From 222 Squadron, Hornchurch, June 1940. Early war Home Defense scheme of Temperate Land uppers with lower surfaces in Aluminum and wings in Night/White ID markings. Fuselage 35" type A roundel sports an added yellow ring as in interim marking before being replaced by standard 35" type A1 fuselage roundel. Spinner and serial in Night, Codes in Medium Sea Grey.
This aircraft was captured by the advancing German army at Le Touquet airfield in France following a forced landing.
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Just about finished, adding the little details now (like anyone's going to see them at 200 yards...).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/s3.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/s2-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/s1-1.jpg)
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The guy in the pit will :D
Very nice work Jocko.
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Jocko, Just to let you know this is coming from a Spit 1 pilot in game.
Congratulations, I just found my new skin.
Seriously Way to go, looks fantastic, and each of those tiny little details will help people to confirm that its my plane thats just crashed lol. A big
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RAF fighters that had half-black undersides also had black along the fuselage. The split was straight down the middle. I've seen photos of this several times (B&W of course). It's not just the wing
The good news is that you don't have to find the edge of the black, just change the color of the underside on one side of the fuselage, and the skin will automatically cut off halfway underneath the plane.
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The perfect work Jocko!
You must had good reference. :aok :aok :aok
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Originally posted by Krusty
RAF fighters that had half-black undersides also had black along the fuselage. The split was straight down the middle. I've seen photos of this several times (B&W of course). It's not just the wing
Yes, that was the official underside scheme for Fighter Command aircraft as of September 1938, but there were many variations of the scheme at frontline squadrons. The 222 Sqn Spit (ZD-A) above was in service before the switch and had only the mainplane undersurfaces repainted in Night/White. Everything else remained in the pre-war Aluminum finish. There are other variations including Night/White but ailerons remaining Aluminum - painting only the underside of the ailerons could lead to unbalanced control in roll, predominately on aircraft with fabric covered ailerons, ie. very early Hurris/Spits. Spits didn't start leaving the production line in the full Night/White markings until April 1939.
The Night port wing made a comeback after November 1940 for a short time, and this time a thin yellow ring was added to the port underwing type A roundel to break up the Night from the Blue. The 92 Sqn Spit (QJ-F) above is finished in this scheme. The Night wing was finally retired for good with the advent of the new Day Fighter Scheme in 1941.
Originally posted by Krusty
The good news is that you don't have to find the edge of the black, just change the color of the underside on one side of the fuselage, and the skin will automatically cut off halfway underneath the plane.
Good tip, thanks! I'm doing a full Night/White version with the early war B roundels, should be done soon.
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Amazing stuff, Jocko.
I could be wrong but I believe those double parallel wing skin ribs just outboard of the landing gear bulges on each wing were not there on production Spitfire I's. They appeared in 1943/44 when the Spit was routinely flying dive-bombing Jabo missions and having the skin crinkle from the high-speed pull out dives.
They're there now on warbirds for purposes of maintaining the aircraft.
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You could be right! ;)
Just jumped into my bin of Spit references and photo evidence would have it that they (stiffeners) shouldn't be there, although some line drawings do show them. I'm more inclined to believe period photos obviously ;) Good catch, I'd copied them from the default skin without much thought.
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Pre-war Spit Mk I (Spit Ia hack)
Spitfire Mk I serial K9945, coded SD-H of No. 72 Sqn. RAF, Church Fenton, circa June 1939. Semi-historical skin finished in Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green and Dark Earth upper surfaces in the B scheme (mirror opposite to A scheme examples above), with under surfaces in Night (port) and White (starboard) divided down the fuselage centerline. 40" type B roundels on wing upper surfaces and 25" type B roundels on fuselage sides.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/p2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/P1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jocko417/p3.jpg)
Template is about finished, might splash a bit of mud on it and clean up a few things. Main wheels are too wide a diameter, still using the default ones although I dirtied up the tires. BTW, anyone have definitive examples of Mk I stenciling on the upper wings? Every example I find is different.
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Heh, that's what I get for growin up as a Canadian in the aviation community.
Spit obsession.
But really, it's lookin good!
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Awesome work!
Probably my favorite thing about this skin is how you kept all the weathering, exhaust, and gun soot very subtle and subdued. I'm personally not a fan of gun soot, but if people are going to include it, they should use yours of an example of how to do it properly. Very nice detail work as well. Overall, the entire scheme matches itself. No one feature really jumps out at you, but the harmony of the colors, shading, etc. overall is very conspicuous.
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Longtime 41 Squadron fan here, although partial to the Spit XII era :)
From the photo collection showing the 1st Canadian markings on the 41 Spit.
Nice work on all of em Jacko
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/stCanSpit.jpg)
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Jocko your Spit skins are superb,look forward to a mkIX,a 611 sqadron would be great.well done.:aok
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Jocko, the skin looks excellent.
May I ask what method you use for your 'slightly worn paint' effect? It looks brilliant.
Regards,
Arch
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Thanks all for the nice comments :-)
Geez, Guppy what a great shot! I was using a painted profile as a reference for that presentation Spit, and that photo is a gem.
Stoney, you've nailed exactly what I was going for, namely uniformity. Weathering is very subjective and I'm not very good at certain things like oil streaks, which Merlins produce like toddler's chin dribble. I try to do enough to make it believable yet it's easy to go overboard and ruin the effect. Same goes for cordite staining, depending on the aircraft in question and the theatre/time period it was active you can have no stains at all or in the case of the BoB, a very weathered appearance as everybody was more concerned with operational maintenance vs. parade square spit 'n polish.
For the overall paint wear effect I use two 'noise' layers, one black and one white. Combining them and adjusting the opacity gives a a nice uneven faded look. You can erase or tone down certain parts of the layer if you want the appearance of smoother areas like where armourers have been sitting/kneeling on the wing for example. There's a lot of weathering layers though, this template has a total of about 120 layers at the moment!
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Please go ahead and do one for all the spits Jocko!
We have to look good whilst we are shooting all of these german planes down ;)
Bruv
~S~
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Originally posted by jocko-
Thanks all for the nice comments :-)
Geez, Guppy what a great shot! I was using a painted profile as a reference for that presentation Spit, and that photo is a gem.
[snip]
For the overall paint wear effect I use two 'noise' layers, one black and one white. Combining them and adjusting the opacity gives a a nice uneven faded look. You can erase or tone down certain parts of the layer if you want the appearance of smoother areas like where armourers have been sitting/kneeling on the wing for example. There's a lot of weathering layers though, this template has a total of about 120 layers at the moment!
Guppy is knows his Spits, especially his 41 Squadron Spits.
That last bit about the noise layers is very interesting. Mind if I experiment with it on a Spit skin I am doing? Note this just has basic colors, rivets and panel lines so far.
(http://www.4thfg.org/Fencer/14_Port.jpg)
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Wow, nice! I was going to try the XIV next, I did some skinning with IL2 and what I want to do first with AH2 is fill the gaps IL2 had - Spit I, XIV, XVI, etc. Get it out of my system so to speak ;) I'll probably be asking you some questions about the XIV vis a vis mapping issues and such.
Send me a PM with an email addy and I'll send you the noise layers.
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How bout a nice 43 Squadron Spitfire VIII in green/gray RAF camo so it can blend in better with the IX and XVI
Something like this :)
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/43SpitVIII.jpg)
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I don't know much about 43 Sqn but I'm guessing it served in the MTO, based on the red spinner and outlined codes? I plan on skinning all the Spit models but things will be slower now as just I'm coming off a stretch of holidays. I used to fly in WB as part of 417 RCAF so of course I want to do some Desert/Day Fighter Mk V/VIII/IXs eventually.
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Yep 43 was MTO. We don't have a Spit VIII in standard day camo to go with the V, IX and VIII.
It would be nice when folks mix up the flights a bit.
417 is a good one too. I had 417 in an old Airwarrior Scenario. I flew AN-T. Great fun :)
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There's 3 AN-Ts I know of:
Mk Vb/c ER364
Mk VIII JF964
Mk IXe MJ730
;)
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You might want to call or email skuzzy about that prewar spit. They only allow historical skins that were use during the war. Other then that they look good.
And here I thought the 109/190 lay outs were messy.