Repainting the Tailwind

[DB93]

Hi all,

I recently finished my first repaint for the Tailwind W10 Tri-Gear (by Lionheart), and have begun working on my second. I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting with some experimentation I've been doing with the base texture, but I'm having some problems with alpha channels and specular maps. Basically I'm trying to get a 'glossy' look (or reflection) on certain parts of the paint. However none of the changes I've made to the alpha channel, the specular map, or the alpha channel on the specular map, have made any difference at all. The paint retains the same 'satin' finish to it regardless of any combination of changes that I make.

So has anyone painted the Tailwind and managed to get a glossy, reflective style paint to work on it, and if so, would you mind sharing what you did?

Thanks for any pointers, as I feel this could really make or break the paint.

-George

[Matt Wynn]

ok alpha on the main affects reflectivity aka shine, alpha on the spec reflects the specular shine, so where black is on the spec map (Alpha channel) then the model will display full specular reflectivity (i think thats right or vice versa) also bear in mind the alpha channel on the main bmp as that controls the overall model shine...

[DB93]

Yeah, that's how I'm understanding it's supposed to work. But I can use a solid black alpha on the main texture or a solid white one, and the reflectivity or shinyness of the skin doesn't change. Same with the spec map, solid white spec with solid white alpha, solid white spec with solid black alpha, solid black... you get the idea. I just can't seem to do anything that has any effect on the shinyness and/or reflectivity of the aircraft. That's why I'm kind of dumbfounded as to what I'm doing wrong here. :\

Thanks for the response, it's very appreciated. :)

-George

[DB93]

I *think* I've got this figured out, though I still have quite a bit of adjustments to do. It seems (to me at least,) that the tailwind may be using the bump map texture for the specular map and vice-versa. No changes to the spec map and base texture alpha made any difference, but once I started messing around with the file labeled as the bump map file, I started getting the glossiness I've been trying to get, as well as a 'neon' quality that tells me I've overdone it on the spec map lol.

Anyhow, just wanted to post back in case anyone else was painting the Tailwind, and have any problems with reflections/glossiness, that they should try using the bump map texture file for their spec map (at least as far as the W10 TriGear is concerned.)

Thanks again for the assistance. :)

-George

[DB93]

Well more playing around, and I think the bump map texture actually is the bump map texture, so I still haven't been able to get the gloss I've been looking for. It seems that no changes to the alpha of the main texture or to the spec map or its alpha make any changes to the reflections/glossiness, so I'm at a loss. Anyhow, just wanted to post back because I was wrong in my last post in saying that the texture names are reversed, it seems they are indeed named correctly.

-George

[Matt Wynn]

hmm i'll take a look later, just painting a few edge 540's :icon_lol:

[DB93]

hmm i'll take a look later, just painting a few edge 540's :icon_lol:

Thanks, Smoothie, I appreciate it. :) I'm looking forward to your results, as I'm probably doing something wrong and just need to make sure that someone else is able to get the glossy look to work just to confirm that it is something that I'm doing wrong on my end.

Thanks again,

-George

[n4gix]

The Alpha channel of FSX specular textures normally* controls not only the strength of the specular colors used in the RGB chanels, but also the "shinyness" or "reflectivity" of the base (Diffuse) colors.

The Alpha channel of FSX "bump" textures controls only the depth (strength) of the RGB channels.

*NOTE: I say "normally" because the modeler has many, many choices when developing the model, and may well have chosen to use the Diffuse (main) texture's Alpha channel to control "shinyness" or "reflectivity."

[DB93]

Thanks for the response n4gix. I've had this paint done now for a few days, but I just need to get that glossy look over the part of the fuselage that I'm trying to give a metallic flake type paint to actually call it finished. I still don't seem to be able to get any kind of change in the reflectivity/glossiness to work through the alpha channels on the main base texture or on the specular texture.

I'm curious about what you said about the alpha of the bump texture controls the depth (strength) of the RGB channels. I'm a little lost with that. Do you mean that the alpha on the bump is being used to darken the RGB channels on the main texture? And if that is what you're saying, then should I work on trying to get a shinyness through that channel, and then try to modify that through the main texture's alpha? I wonder if changes to the bump alpha could be enough to let me see changes to actually start showing up from the main texture's alpha.

Sorry for all the questions, but the types of things I've painted in the past have typically only had one alpha channel to deal with, along with the main texture itself (at most), so I guess I'm having a problem wrapping my head around how all the alphas from the different textures are actually interacting with each other. I've read everything I could find on the subject, and I just can't seem to get the glossy paints to work on either of the planes I've painted so far (a few kodiaks and a tailwind), but the 'shinyness' of them at their default levels seemed perfect for them. Oh well, I'll just have to keep playing around and see if I can do anything that will get that deep gloss I'm looking for/hoping to get. :)

Thanks again for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it. :)

-George