The screen shots just don't do the bump maps justice, so I thought a video would show the plane better.
These are the new flush rivet normal maps on the metal skin model. The skin is still a basic color study and adjustments will most likely be needed in spec alpha and other areas, but it is effective for showing the contours.
The entire texture set, including the bumps is done at 4K DXT5 resolution. I initially resized the entire paint kit to 4K before beginning any work. The small detail holds really well using this approach.
I used a trick or two on the alpha channels for the metal skin. I used a slightly different alpha value for the rivets themselves to produce the lighting differences as the point of view moves.
For the painters, the bumps should do most of the heavy lifting in Prepar3D. The light engine will catch the edges of the flush rivets due to the nature of the map itself. I put a perfectly flat spot at the center of each dimple, which will generate a subtle highlight or shadow, depending on movement. On a matte skin the effect will still work in relation to the dull finish, eliminating the need for a bunch of detailing in the baked rivets in the paint work.
The effect won't be as pronounced in FSX. If you have Steve's DX10 fixer the effect should be a bit more lively.
Let me know what you think of the bump profiles.
If we sign off on this set I'll go ahead and publish the new bump sets.
FSX
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