Author Topic: P-38 Skin Build Log  (Read 6941 times)

Offline oboe

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #30 on: November 09, 2019, 07:13:05 PM »
Beautiful job, Greebo!

Offline lyric1

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #31 on: November 09, 2019, 07:16:04 PM »
 :aok

Offline FTJR

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #32 on: November 09, 2019, 11:51:17 PM »
Thanks Greebo
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Offline Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #33 on: November 10, 2019, 07:35:47 PM »
Nice job, G.  You've inspired me to take on a P-38 myself.   :cheers:
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Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #34 on: November 11, 2019, 03:12:39 AM »
That's good to hear Vraciu, getting more skin projects going is why I started this build log in the first place. I'm currently modding this template into a J called "Mama's Boy" and after that I'll complete the set with an L.

Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #35 on: July 17, 2020, 10:59:43 AM »
This is great, thank you!

Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #36 on: July 17, 2020, 12:49:00 PM »
You're welcome Whiteman.

Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #37 on: July 22, 2020, 10:05:18 PM »
I’m using Photoshop and illustrator CS5, what pixel width should panel lines be? I’m just getting started and using 1 pixel right now and trying trace the lines I see on the default F4U-1A. Seem to match. I have about 7 books coming in that hopefully make that easier. Looked at Fencers and Saxmans, yours is very detailed lol. I’ll try and not turn this into 20 questions.

Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #38 on: July 23, 2020, 02:33:00 AM »
Don't worry about asking questions. I'd rather do it in this thread where other skinners will be able to get the benefit of it later on than by using personal messages or email.

I always make my panel lines 1 pixel wide and anti-aliased. This is still too wide to be scale if you consider the surface resolution of the skin, which is usually around 1/2 an inch per pixel on a 1024 res fighter. So I make them effectively narrower by reducing the opacity of the panel line layers to make them less visible.

Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #39 on: August 09, 2020, 03:39:19 AM »
New problem i'm having is with smaller fasteners that are circular outlines, on your 38 it's clear they have center. Mine don't even look like they have a shape, just pixelated splotches. On the front of the F4U they appear to be about 2 pixels across with a defined center. Have made circles in photoshop, vector circles and tried pasting them in. My only other guess is that its a 1 px dot with an effect around it but doubt it since the color in the center matches the paint.

Edit: looking at it now i have a feeling it's pixels in a cross with no center.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2020, 03:56:39 AM by whiteman »

Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #40 on: August 09, 2020, 05:46:26 AM »
Just had a look at one of my F4U templates to see how I did the flush fasteners. Each fastener is made up of four black pixels in a cross pattern with a fifth metal coloured pixel in the middle. More often though for flush fasteners I would use a three pixel diameter circle with a one pixel line width to get a similar effect.

I copied and pasted these fasteners across the skin as needed. If you are trying to use a dotted line tool to create a line of fasteners that may be why they look blurry. I gave up on that technique for rivets and fasteners long ago, at the low pixel densities used on AH skins it always looks a blurry mess.

The black pixels are on a "fasteners" layer and the metal coloured centres are on a "chipped fastener" layer. I used a low density eraser tool to make the chipped rivet effect vary a bit. Having the two layers allows me to vary their levels with the layer opacity sliders, not just in the diffuse map but the other four maps too. In the normal map I turn the chipped rivets off entirely. The chipped fastener effect isn't something I always do on skins.

Depending on the relative size and design of the fasteners on the plane I am skinning and also on the pixel surface density of the skin I have various ways of doing them. If the flush fasteners above look too big I might make them from a square four black pixel block or a black one pixel block. On some of the 2048 or above skins I have used a four pixel diameter circle for some of the larger fasteners.

On some aircraft not all the fasteners are flush either. For raised fasteners I will create a seperate layer with the fasteners made up of either one pixel white dots or solid white circles of 3 or more pixel diameter. Once I have pasted all these fasteners across the skin I duplicate the layer, call the new layer "raised fastener shadows" and then reduce the layer's brightness to -255% to turn the shadows black. Next I apply a Gaussian blur to the fastener shadows, go back to the raised fastener layer, select all the fasteners, go back to the raised fastener shadow layer and hit delete. This sounds complicated but it takes less time to do than to type.

Once the layer opacities are adjusted I end up with a light coloured centre dot or circle which is not a lot different from the flush fastener but the effect is blurrier. Also in the normal map for raised fasteners the light centres are kept to create bumps and the outer shadows are deleted, with flush fasteners the dark parts are kept to create dips.

« Last Edit: August 09, 2020, 05:49:19 AM by Greebo »

Offline Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #41 on: August 09, 2020, 11:31:26 AM »
This technique is a good one and if done right makes the fastener look like a round circle not a blocky cross.
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Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #42 on: August 29, 2020, 01:17:06 AM »
New question, Your skin has that nice rough look, sort of scratched feel to it as opposed to a flat image that i have right now. I've added noise at 3% and created dirt masks as well. I see their effect, but I haven't been able to figure how you got that. Not sure if this is filter/layer setting I'm missing or done by hand. Thanks!

texturecomp by whitemanLS1, on Flickr

Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #43 on: August 29, 2020, 09:41:29 AM »
On this skin I am using three layers to get the battered metal look. There is a metal paint chip layer, the same as you have on your skin. Below this layer there is a primer paint chip layer, same sort of thing but in primer yellow green. Finally there is a scratches layer. At the time I just drew freehand a block of random squiggly light grey lines 1 pixel wide and up to 10 pixels long. Then I partially erased sections of these lines with an eraser tool set to a few pixels wide and low opacity to make them look more like scratches. Once I had this little block of scratch lines done I simply copied and pasted parts of it where I felt it was needed on the skin, rotating some parts of it 90 degrees to prevent it looking too obvious. Generally I put the scratches around where the aircraft would be worked on; engine and gun access etc.

My F4U templates were done over 10 years ago, before I was using masks. Nowadays I'd put those three layers in a folder and add a mask of all the panel lines and fasteners above the layers to prevent and paint chips or scratches appearing where there is a panel line. Also it is likely someone makes a ready made scratch effect that you could paste this into your skin and then you could use a mask to have the scratches appear only where you want them.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2020, 09:44:45 AM by Greebo »

Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #44 on: August 30, 2020, 04:52:14 AM »
Thank you! managed to create a brush that i can use to make scratches.

Next question. I have this terrible spot on the fuselage where the black explodes into this purple mess, only in shadows. I'm guessing i used a bad black for it, redid all the maps to double check and it only went away after getting rid of any weathering that was done with black. What is a safe color to use for oil staining? The other is this massive glow in one wing, is there any way to eliminate that?

I thought i was ready to post up for group review but these have had me stuck today, and went backwards a bit.

ahss0 by whitemanLS1, on Flickr

ahss2 by whitemanLS1, on Flickr
« Last Edit: August 30, 2020, 05:10:02 AM by whiteman »