new skin

[ink]

I don't know why but I love the look of bare metal planes, I have been reading that towards the end of the war once we had air superiority, a lot of our planes were just bare metal........this P40 I am working on is white #7, no not bare metal, but the next one is gonna be and a bare metal 51 also is lined up......

anyways what do you guys think?  what can I do to improve on the metal look?

[oboe]

Start looking for lots of examples.  Look at Greebo's bare metal '47s, look at real bare metal planes.

One thing you can do is change the metal shade/weather pattern between panel sections of the plane.  The plane is made up of sheet aluminum riveted to the rib structure underneath, and these sheets of aluminum may be from different batches or soources and therefore appear a slightly different shade.

Read Festers tutorial on panel texturing too.

I've switched to using a majority of light rivets on bare metal instead of dark.  Just a preference.

[ink]

Start looking for lots of examples.  Look at Greebo's bare metal '47s, look at real bare metal planes.

One thing you can do is change the metal shade/weather pattern between panel sections of the plane.  The plane is made up of sheet aluminum riveted to the rib structure underneath, and these sheets of aluminum may be from different batches or soources and therefore appear a slightly different shade.

Read Festers tutorial on panel texturing too.

I've switched to using a majority of light rivets on bare metal instead of dark.  Just a preference.

thanx for reply

I never thought about the slightly different panels, real good idea.

 

62 views and 1 comment.......I guess that means I cant improve it very much....or your all just lazy.......or have me blocked


or just oboe looked at it 62 times....

[oboe]

Ha!   Same thing happens to me ink-- lots more views than replies.   Main thing is that you produce something that makes you happy.

Have you noticed that the rivets on the wing look raised, while the ones on the fuselage look like holes?

[Plazus]

Ink,

It is good to see that you are sticking in there with skinning! Seeing as this is just a bare metal finish project, here are a few tips if you would like to hear them out:

1. Add more gray colors to your skin. There is too much white in there.

2. Panel lines look good, as well as the drop shadow effect. Rivets, though, are too dark and "obnoxious" so to speak. Lighten up the rivets and maybe use a different color.

Not much else for me to add. Your panel/rivet template looks pretty accurate and realistic. Just gotta tone down the rivets and give the plane more "silver" where there is too much white.

Best of luck.

[ink]

Ink,

It is good to see that you are sticking in there with skinning! Seeing as this is just a bare metal finish project, here are a few tips if you would like to hear them out:

1. Add more gray colors to your skin. There is too much white in there.

2. Panel lines look good, as well as the drop shadow effect. Rivets, though, are too dark and "obnoxious" so to speak. Lighten up the rivets and maybe use a different color.

Not much else for me to add. Your panel/rivet template looks pretty accurate and realistic. Just gotta tone down the rivets and give the plane more "silver" where there is too much white.

Best of luck.

 

I am always willing to hear criticism thanx

all points taken

Ha!   Same thing happens to me ink-- lots more views than replies.   Main thing is that you produce something that makes you happy.

Have you noticed that the rivets on the wing look raised, while the ones on the fuselage look like holes?

ya im still messing around with different way of creating rivets,was checking out bump mapping them and embossing to see the different effects.

[Shane]

Hard for me to judge something like that, as i can see what you're doing, but since no experience with graphic programs, no idea what the end product would look like to be able to judge it at that state. But based on my own modeling experience I think the shadowing might be too dark, but then again... gfx and layers and stuffs like that. 

the finished, or nearly finished product, I can, more so.

Keep working on them.   

[Nr_RaVeN]

your off to a good start.....some  things that may help.. Mellow out the rivets, turn the opacity down on them, highlight very slightly the wings fuselage etc with some white and crank the opps way down so it looks like light glinting off the metal, add layer with just a hint of really light blue...play with the opacity off that too. You have the eye just Dial in the tweaks..

[Delirium]

One thing you can do is change the metal shade/weather pattern between panel sections of the plane.  The plane is made up of sheet aluminum riveted to the rib structure underneath, and these sheets of aluminum may be from different batches or soources and therefore appear a slightly different shade.

A +1 on that, that is probably one of the best ways to make a skin look truly authentic/historic.

[ink]

your off to a good start.....some  things that may help.. Mellow out the rivets, turn the opacity down on them, highlight very slightly the wings fuselage etc with some white and crank the opps way down so it looks like light glinting off the metal, add layer with just a hint of really light blue...play with the opacity off that too. You have the eye just Dial in the tweaks..

thank ya   

I don't use many layers, each panel is painted individually on one layer

these are the layers that I use, and in order I make them

panel lines + highlights
(first I build the panel lines then high light them,then save as One layer)

rivet layer + highlights
(same as the panel lines)
  I do each part of the plane individually so as to make the highlights in the right direction

metal layer just a sheet of "metal" one layer

color layer/black and grey shaded layer two layers combined as one

nose art/emblem layer

exhaust dirt layer

I combine the panel lines with the metal sheet and then burn, dodge, paint, highlight each panel individually

apply the rivets to that save as one layer
 
then I take the color, emblem layer, and apply over the metal panel with rivets and panel lines. save as layer.

then I take the layer of color emblem and panel,rivet layer, and erase where I want to expose the metal layer underneath for paint chipping.

add the exhaust and dirt layer.

some times I may make a couple layers on each one for tweaking until im happy with that particular layer.


thanx for the feed back

A +1 on that, that is probably one of the best ways to make a skin look truly authentic/historic.

ya i never thought about that, very good tip that I grabbed right up

[ink]

worked it a bit more, definitely like the toned down rivets....

thanx to those that replied and gave there opinion much appreciated 

I'm thinking the shadow on panel lines is a bit dark

dont know if I will ever be happy fully with it but that goes with all art that I do

[Plazus]

worked it a bit more, definitely like the toned down rivets....

thanx to those that replied and gave there opinion much appreciated 

I'm thinking the shadow on panel lines is a bit dark

Actually yes and no. I think it is because all of your panels have a dark shadow. What I would do, instead, is vary your shadow effects on certain panels. For example, the panel lines on the wings should have a very faint shadow, whereas the panel lines around the engine and wing roots have a darker shadow. What I am getting at is that you will want to vary the shadow effects based on the type of panels on the aircraft. I think this would add to realism.

If you play your cards right, you probably won't need to change your bare metal colors. Just the panel lines need a rework on the shadow effects.

[Stoney]

Dial down the opacity of the panel lines as well.  They aren't typically that conspicuous, and it will soften their effect.

[ink]

good tips both thanx guys will do both

[Devil 505]

I like that blueish pannel behind the acess hatch. That would look great on a Pony for the stainless steel pannel arround the exhaust.