Author Topic: P-38 Skin Build Log  (Read 6947 times)

Online Devil 505

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #45 on: August 30, 2020, 08:21:34 AM »
I found that in AH 3 pure blacks will glow a little when in the shadows. No idea what causes it but if you lighten black by 15% it will fix the problem.

I have noticed lighting oddities like your wing problem on other skins I've made. It has something to do with how the game renders the object's shape in the game. You can only reduce the effect by giving your paints flatter finishes with the spec maps.
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Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #46 on: August 30, 2020, 12:32:13 PM »
There is nothing to be done about the glowing lines unfortunately. Its a bug in the 3D model and is unlikely to be fixed now. The lines coincide with the edges of polys on the 3D mesh but beyond that I don't know what causes it.

Online Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #47 on: August 30, 2020, 02:12:29 PM »

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



If you aren't ready for a review and just want feedback I suggest starting your own thread with the tag WIP at the beginning of the subject line.   You'll see that Oboe and I do this all the time.  We get plenty of good feedback.

 :salute
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Offline whiteman

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #48 on: August 30, 2020, 02:17:53 PM »
If you aren't ready for a review and just want feedback I suggest starting your own thread with the tag WIP at the beginning of the subject line.   You'll see that Oboe and I do this all the time.  We get plenty of good feedback.

 :salute

Going to try and do that later today, just wanted see if i could knock out these obvious problems before. Thanks everyone!

Online Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #49 on: August 30, 2020, 02:22:08 PM »
Going to try and do that later today, just wanted see if i could knock out these obvious problems before. Thanks everyone!

Don't worry, obvious problems are not just a problem for you.   :D

Your airplane is coming along very nicely, btw.    :salute
”KILLER V”
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Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #50 on: February 24, 2021, 12:08:10 PM »
I suppose I should add a post to this thread for anyone coming along in the future to say the P-38 3D models have been updated to much better versions since I started the thread. So the various model bugs mentioned no longer apply to this shape. However these bugs do appear in other old shapes and the skinning techniques I talk about here are fairly universal.

Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #51 on: February 24, 2021, 12:27:48 PM »
I have been asked via email to say how I do my chipped rivets layer. I'm going to answer here though, as the information may be useful to other skinners at some point.

For my chipped rivets layer what I do first is make a copy of my original rivet layer and set it's layer opacity to 100%. Sometimes I have two rivet layers, one for flush and one for raised rivets and in this case I make a copy of both layers, make sure their layer opacities are set to 100%, then merge them together. I name this layer "Chipped rivets" and change the rivets' colour on it to my NMF light grey.

Next I select the eraser tool and set it up the following way:- Tool shape set to square and size to maximum. Hardness is set to 100%, opacity is set to 100% and density to 50%. Then I position this tool so it covers the whole skin and click the left mouse button once. What this does is randomly erase one half of the chipped rivets across the whole skin. If the maximum brush size is less than the size of the skin bmp the solution is to to carefully position and click the eraser tool several times while trying to avoid any overlaps or gaps.

Next I reset the opacity to 50% and click to erase again, which half removes half of the remaining rivets. Then I repeat the process once more but with the opacity set at 25%. The layer opacity can then be reduced to get the level of chipped rivets required.

On a NMF skin there is one more thing I do to this layer. I create copies of all the painted areas layers (anti-glare panels, nose art, air force and unit markings etc.) and merge these into one layer. I then turn everything on this layer pure white with the brightness setting. Next I create a new layer and flood fill it with pure black. Making sure the black layer is below the white one, I merge the two layers. I copy the data from this layer and paste it into a mask layer I attach to the chipped rivets layer. What this mask does is remove all the chipped rivets from the NMF areas of the skin, just leaving them on the painted areas. I find this creating this mask is a big time saver in the long run. It can be used to remove paint chips from the NMF as well and the layers are quick and easy to edit for future NMF skins with different markings.

« Last Edit: February 24, 2021, 12:37:16 PM by Greebo »

Online Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #52 on: March 15, 2021, 09:13:05 PM »
Thank you for the info, G.

Do I do the same thing for a painted aircraft?   In particular the color tone set to the NMF in the first step.
”KILLER V”
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Offline Greebo

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #53 on: March 16, 2021, 05:59:12 AM »
That's what I do, the idea is that paint gets dislodged from some rivets showing the metal underneath.

Online Vraciu

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Re: P-38 Skin Build Log
« Reply #54 on: March 16, 2021, 11:31:48 AM »
Makes sense.   I tried it.  Worked like a charm.   Great technique.    Thanks. 

”KILLER V”
Charter Member of the P-51 Mustang Skin Mafia
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