444th BG 468th BS take 2

[Dragon Tamer]

I have no clue what happened with that last thread, I couldn't read anything that was posted unless I was posting a comment.  In any case I redid the weathering on my skin and mad what was already there a bit more exaggerated.  I also played around with the material text and came up with a good compromise between the "shiny" top and the "flat" bottom (for lack of better words).  I also added a bit more dirt and debree to the underside especially behind the wheels. 

Tell me what you think now...

[JOACH1M]

I love it

[lyric1]

I don't think there is any yellow bands on inner engines based off of the profile I have?

They are wrong at times though.



Only complete photo I can find of this plane.

[ink]

looks good, my only "not" good thing, would be the weathering lines on the bottom seem too uniform, ya looking at it again, they need to be more broken,less uniform, not mostly the same length and not so smooth, they need to be wearing off onto the rivet lines.

[Dragon Tamer]

I tried several times to get them to wear off on the rivet lines but I could never get it to look quite right so I gave up.  I will try to break up the weathering on the panel lines though.

[Dragon Tamer]

To Lyric,

The first photo you posted looks a lot like the artists rendition that I worked off of, but a slightly better quality (I wish I had had that when I started)

Your second photo is a nice shot of the plane landing although it is a little small, research on the skin was extremely hard.  I had found a slightly better photo showing just the nose art of the plane which is what I went off of for my skin.

[lyric1]

To Lyric,

The first photo you posted looks a lot like the artists rendition that I worked off of, but a slightly better quality (I wish I had had that when I started)

Your second photo is a nice shot of the plane landing although it is a little small, research on the skin was extremely hard.  I had found a slightly better photo showing just the nose art of the plane which is what I went off of for my skin.

This one.



Agreed finding complete photos of this squadron are hard to find.

Backing up to your issues with your last thread I too had that problem & thought it was just me.

[Dragon Tamer]

Yea! that's the one.

maybe HTC is just having trouble with it's web servers?... no big deal to me though.

[Krusty]

I reported it to Skuzzy. He said it was some problem with the post/board/database, whatever. Even he couldn't get into it.

[Dragon Tamer]

I figured it was some kind of technical mumbo-jumbo.

Anyway, I redid the weathering on the belly of the plane by breaking up the weathering that was already there and adding quite a bit more weathering on the bomb doors.  Now what do you think?



Yes I will be working on the weathering a little bit more before I'm done, specifically on the tail end and the wings.

[ink]

definitely better

I am wondering how you are achieving the weathering...are you using a metal layer underneath and erasing the paint to expose the metal layer?

[Dragon Tamer]

No, I have a separate layer for weathering and I start with the RGB 175, 175, 185 that matches the bottom working layer.  I make a dot or a line with the pencil tool and work it back and forth until it looks right.  It's a bit time consuming but it was easier than using the eraser (since the rivets were several layers above the working layer).  This method affects rivets and panel lines as much as it does for the working layer, looks more realistic that way.

[Dragon Tamer]

Almost forgot, I took a break from my skin earlier to see what it would be like if the B-29 was made out of gold (or gold plated), the result:



And what about the interior?  I took care of that too... sort of...



Looks pretty good IMO, lets get it in the game 

[ink]

No, I have a separate layer for weathering and I start with the RGB 175, 175, 185 that matches the bottom working layer.  I make a dot or a line with the pencil tool and work it back and forth until it looks right.  It's a bit time consuming but it was easier than using the eraser (since the rivets were several layers above the working layer).  This method affects rivets and panel lines as much as it does for the working layer, looks more realistic that way.

ahh cc that.

[Plazus]

I figured it was some kind of technical mumbo-jumbo.

Anyway, I redid the weathering on the belly of the plane by breaking up the weathering that was already there and adding quite a bit more weathering on the bomb doors.  Now what do you think?

(Image removed from quote.)

Yes I will be working on the weathering a little bit more before I'm done, specifically on the tail end and the wings.

Dragon Tamer,

You have a talent for digital media/art, that's for sure. Your skin is pretty well made and has a lot of artistic styles to it, and for that I give kudos to you. However, I have a few suggestions if you would like to hear them out. Here is what I suggest:

1. Your bare metal finish needs a rework. Right now, as it is, your aircraft looks too much like a plastic toy. My advice for you is to look at skins by Greebo, cactus, and Fester to get a good general idea of how they make their bare metal finish look believable. Try adding different shades to your panels, to give it some dimension and variety. Bake in metal stress and fatigue with varying shades of gray.

2. Panel lines and rivet details are absolutely fantastic. Might want to review the thicknesses of some of them on your bare metal finish, however. Perhaps add very subtle details like little bits of dust or dirt in the panel lines.

3. Tone down the yellow on the prob hubs a little bit. Right now the yellow is too "obnoxious" and the reason for this is due to the ambient lighting in game.

4. Leave the specularity settings as they are. Your aircraft has just enough "shine" to make it look believable/realistic.

5. Cut back on some of the weathering that you already have on your skin. While I admire the attention to weathering and wear/tear, it just doesn't look very realistic, especially when viewed at a distance. In my personal opinion, weathering should be used subtly in most cases. Especially with B29s since they are generally newer aircraft anyways. Simply put, weathering should only be very noticeable when viewed up close, like in the cockpit or gunner turret positions. Subtle details like these add to the immersion of flying the aircraft.

Overall, your skin looks great. You have a lot of talent and I think you will do great skinning more, if that is what you want to do. But I would cut back on the weathering and wear/tear, and start paying closer attention to things like panel lines, rivets, and bare metal and paint finishes.

Best of luck!