My first Kodiak paint (WIP)

[DB93]

Hi all.

As some of you may know, MCDesigns has been working on an updated version of my local airport (KGIF) after I requested it earlier in the week. Well in my excitement and anticipation of the updated version, I decided I'd try my hand at painting a plane to base out of KGIF. Since Lionheart's Kodiak is my favorite plane, that's what I chose for my first paint. It's a livery for a fictional airline, so it's not a real-world replica of anything. It's my first paint for fsx, so go easy on me, but comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Anyhow, here she is.

[harleyman]

True to Fl colors for sure...Looking good...:applause:



Winter Haven ...I lived in Winter garden going to school a while back...Maitland too...

[Chacha]

Love that Green and Orange Color...

Very timely for the Florida Classics this month... :applause:


True to Fl colors for sure...Looking good...:applause:



Winter Haven ...I lived in Winter garden going to school a while back...Maitland too...


... I am two miles away from Maitland, Harley... ;)

[DB93]

True to Fl colors for sure...Looking good...:applause:



Winter Haven ...I lived in Winter garden going to school a while back...Maitland too...

Lol, my wife said the same thing about the colors when she saw it. :d

We've actually only been living here the last 6 years, but we love it. We're both originally from Massachusetts, and we don't miss the cold or the snow at all. :)

Also, thanks to you and to Chacha for your comments. :)

[2Low]

Hi all.

... It's my first paint for fsx, so go easy on me, but comments and suggestions are most welcome.




Comment - First paint?! You're a natural.

Suggestion - Paint more (please).

[Lionheart]

Looking good George.

Nice repaint. Love the colors as well. Cool rudder decal.

:ernae:


Bill

[MCDesigns]

Nice work George, especially for a first paint!

Funny, after looking around Winter Haven in street view, I am kinda surprised that a bush type aircraft would be your fav, seems more like biz jet country, LOL.

[Chacha]

Lol, my wife said the same thing about the colors when she saw it. :d

We've actually only been living here the last 6 years, but we love it. We're both originally from Massachusetts, and we don't miss the cold or the snow at all. :)

Also, thanks to you and to Chacha for your comments. :)

Most welcome George, Glad you are enjoying the Florida heat!!...

Winter Haven is about 30 minutes or less from where I live! :ernae:

Keep the repaints coming.... I love the Kodiak as well... :applause:

[DB93]

Thanks for all the great comments! :)


Nice work George, especially for a first paint!

Funny, after looking around Winter Haven in street view, I am kinda surprised that a bush type aircraft would be your fav, seems more like biz jet country, LOL.

Actually, the majority of planes going in and out of Gilbert are small single-engine prop craft with a mix of floats and amphibians that make use of Jack Browns. So bush planes are as much at home here as a King Air, though personal and business jets aren't something I see (or hear) often.

There's also a flight school based out of there that has numerous single-engie props for different certifications (including tail-draggers, according to their website.) If I ever could afford it, I'd be there signing up for real lessons in a heartbeat. Alas, Flight Simulator is probably as close as I'll ever afford, so I just enjoy what it lets me do, which is good enough for me, at least until I hit the lottery lol. :)

[DB93]

Most welcome George, Glad you are enjoying the Florida heat!!...

Winter Haven is about 30 minutes or less from where I live! :ernae:

Keep the repaints coming.... I love the Kodiak as well... :applause:

I enjoyed the heat all summer. I'm ready to turn off the a/c and open some windows lol.

Wow, only 30 minutes away? Back when I lived up in Boston, a 30 minute ride was like a 5 hour ride, it just seemed to long to take. Down here a 30 minute ride is just like a ride down the street. lol. :d

Yeah, the Kodiak has been my favorite plane since the day I bought it. My previous favorite was the Aerosoft Twotter, even though they didn't have an amphibian model. But once I got the Kodiak, it's been hard for me to fly anything else. I had never flown any of the glass-cockpit aircraft (I like the older stuff) and was having some trouble understanding the all-digital cockpit, but Lionheart went out of his way to explain some of the basics to me in plain english. On top of that, he's updated the Kodiak numerous times since I bought it. I'd say with the amount of time I've spent flying it, and all the continued support (and let's face it, love, that Lionheart puts into his work), I feel it's the best money I've spent on any addon for FSX. :)

[JoeW]

George ........ keep em comming. Glad you chose Florida.
:applause:

[Peritas]

"I'd say with the amount of time I've spent flying it, and all the continued support (and let's face it, love, that Lionheart puts into his work), I feel it's the best money I've spent on any addon for FSX."

I think it too! :jump::jump::jump:

Regards,
Luca

[cheezyflier]

that's a really nice paint! i hope you do paint more.

you need a banana bob prop on there, though. no plane is complete without one.

[DB93]

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone. :) I just wanted to clarify that this isn't the first thing I've painted for a game (I used to paint cars for an online Nascar league that I used to race in a number of years back), and also did some in Forza 2, however it's the first plane (or anything for FSX) that I've ever done. :)

@cheezyflier - I know what you mean about BananaBob's prop (and his paints too, for that matter. I mean, he's a true artist.) However I will not include his prop texture with this repaint unless I get his permission first, which I honestly haven't asked for yet, since I've just been focused on getting the body done. :P I figure, worst-case scenario, people could drop BananaBob's prop texture into the folder themselves if they're so inclined.

[DB93]

A quick question for Lionheart if you've got the time.

I've tried changing the color of the compass in the cockpit from green to amber. I got it changed in Kodiak_RHWing_t, but it doesn't appear to change it in the sim. Is there another file that the compass numbers are being pulled from, or am I just doing something wrong (I don't expect you to troubleshoot what, if anything, that I've done wrong, I just want to be sure I'm trying to make the changes in the right place.)

Thanks!

-George

[Lionheart]

Hey George,

On the compass, note that it has a lightmap in the Kodiak_RHWing_L texture (that may be misspelled, but close enough). In the lightmap, only the compass area is illuminated, and I used a green illlumination zone. So just change that area to gray (take out the color saturation) or change to amber, and you should be good to go.


If it keeps doing it, then for some reason, FSX is using the root base airplane texture from the 'texture' folder. There should 'not' be any wings or fuselage texture in there, so this shouldnt be happening unless the lightmap is kicking in.



Bill

[cheezyflier]

@cheezyflier - However I will not include his prop texture with this repaint unless I get his permission first, which I honestly haven't asked for yet, since I've just been focused on getting the body done. :P I figure, worst-case scenario, people could drop BananaBob's prop texture into the folder themselves if they're so inclined.

i wasn't suggesting otherwise, i just meant that you don't have it in the screenie, so you must not be using it for yourself.

[DB93]

@Lionheart - Ahh, that explains it. I have the texture.cfg falling back to the .texture folder, so it must be using the lightmap from there. I'll add a lightmap to the folder and see if that clears it up (I expect it will).

@cheezyflier - I actually had been using BananaBob's prop texture, I just forgot to reinstall it after the Kodiak uninstall and reinstall during the v2.5 upgrade. Thanks for reminding me, though. I'll be reinstalling that (if I remember) when I get back on my main pc. :)

[DB93]

Hey George,

On the compass, note that it has a lightmap in the Kodiak_RHWing_L texture (that may be misspelled, but close enough). In the lightmap, only the compass area is illuminated, and I used a green illlumination zone. So just change that area to gray (take out the color saturation) or change to amber, and you should be good to go.


If it keeps doing it, then for some reason, FSX is using the root base airplane texture from the 'texture' folder. There should 'not' be any wings or fuselage texture in there, so this shouldnt be happening unless the lightmap is kicking in.



Bill

Thanks again for all the info. I tried your suggestion for changing it in the lightmap (first to gray, then to amber) but it didn't change the compass. I even went so far as to replace the Kodiak_RHWing_L file in the main texture folder (obviously backing up the original first), but even that didn't change it. In any case, not a big deal, I can just leave it green. I was just trying to add a little touch of individuality to the cockpit view. :)

One other question, if you've got the time. I'm working on a 'special forces' one that was requested, and the paint just looks too shiny. Adjusting the alpha layer didn't seem to do much, so is there another file that I need to change to give the paint more of a 'flat' look?

Thanks again. :)

[sidler]

Excellent work George :icon_lol:


Dick

[Matt Wynn]

the flat look would be to do with alpha schannels and specular mapping...

[Lionheart]

George,

I believe Smoothie is right.

In actuality, there are so many darn settings in the model's Gmax 'Material Editor' that I can only say that I 'HOPE' that it is tuneable in the Specular Map 'Alpha' channel.

If not, its hard coded in due to adjustments to sliders in Gmax.

I hope that is not the case.

I am still a bit green and still learn new things on FSX model creation. The textures are quite sophisticated as to how they work and they still get the best of me.



Bill

[DB93]

Thanks Smoothie and Lionheart. I have played around with the alpha and specular maps, but the reflectivity remains, so it must have something to do with the Gmax Material Editor's settings. It's no big deal, really, as it's not like the aircraft comes out extremely shiny. I just hoped to tune it down a bit for the 'flat' paint job.

Thanks for the information and assistance, I really appreciate it. :)

[DB93]

Hi all,

Well I finally got around to finishing the Central Florida Air Services paints, after taking a short break to work on another paint that was requested.

The paint comes in three versions, passenger, passenger with pod, and amphibian. All three share the same base paint, though they each have a unique registration number and nose art. I just finished submitting them here and at FlightSim, so they should be available for download within the next few days or so.

Here's a few screenshots to whet your appetites. ;)

[Lionheart]

Thanks Smoothie and Lionheart. I have played around with the alpha and specular maps, but the reflectivity remains, so it must have something to do with the Gmax Material Editor's settings. It's no big deal, really, as it's not like the aircraft comes out extremely shiny. I just hoped to tune it down a bit for the 'flat' paint job.

Thanks for the information and assistance, I really appreciate it. :)

George,

That should be the stock Spec map. Give me a while and I'll look through them and get back with you on which one it is.

I didnt know you were just trying to adjust the shiny-ness of it.

The paint scheme came out really nice. Well done. Love the orange on the floats.

Bill

[DB93]

Thanks, Lionheart. The floats were the hardest part for me, as I had to dig around to find which file they were in, and then I had to try and figure out how to remove the details so I could overlay them the way the details and lines are layered in the files in the paint kit. Fortunately, that led me to the seats, which I also modified to match this paint.

For the shiny-ness, I just wanted to back it down just a touch on this paint, but was also going for an almost 'flat' paint (very little to no reflectivity at all) for the Special Forces paint I finished earlier this week.

I'm happy I got the CFAS set of paints done. Now I'm just looking forward to hearing what folks think of the nose-art and slogans. I tried to come up with something catchy for each one, so I'll have to wait for the comments to see if they're as witty as I hope they are. :icon_lol:

[DB93]

The repaint pack is up at FlightSim now. File name is kodiak_3_cfas.zip.

Hope anyone who downloads them enjoys them. :)

[DB93]

Just a heads-up that it's up for download here at SimOuthouse now as well. :)

Enjoy!