FS 2004
Yes Sir; one of my motivators for this project from the civilian side was this aircraft. Ya done good Willy!
Yes Sir; one of my motivators for this project from the civilian side was this aircraft. Ya done good Willy!
Thanks Milton. I still think it's a shame that there's so little out there to find on that particular Lodestar other than those two pictures.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Hi Willy,Originally Posted by Willy
Just uploaded NC34217. In an earlier thread for the Lodestar, there was pic of it and expressed interest in that particular paintscheme. I never did find any history on it, but the pics I've found were all dated 1948.
Now to sort out the General Motors Air Transport Section one.
My apologies for being late, but here is the history of this beautiful bird. Source: "The Lockheed Twins" by Peter Marson (publ. Air-Britain, 2001).
Cheers,
Maarten
Nice investigative work Maarten :-)
So there ya go Wily; we need a fictional Tennessee Pipeline Construction Co livery :-)
Hi,
That aircraft had a 32 year flying life, which seems pretty good as I don't suppose the TPCCo bothered too much about maintaining the old bird. These 'skins' being created are fantasticand now that I've learnt (!) how to lower the shine they are all flying about as if they've not been washed for years.
Thank you Milton and Team, Mick, Willy, andre19, and mvg3d (Manuele) for the aircraft and liveries.
Andy.
Thanks Maarten! Sounds like it had a varied career.
Milton, N5114 of General Motors Air Transport Section (a former GM division) is in the paint shop getting it's lines laid out this morning. (trying to work in a few P-80s in between the Lodestars) We've had a bit of difficulty with the color of the cheatline, but think we've got that finally worked out.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Just finishing up with the fictional executive Lodestar. Not a classic paint at all, but I needed a change and thought a modern paint scheme would be something different.
www.arpaints.weebly.com
Wow !! That is great !!
Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.
How best to adjust the shine? I want a well groomed looking paint but on my machine these are coming out just a bit too hot.now that I've learnt (!) how to lower the shine they are all flying about as if they've not been washed for years.
Pretty close to the 727 M-STAR scheme ! Good choice ! I love this scheme !
The C-57 and C60A have NR (non-reflective) models in the folder to give you that flat, camo-like appearance. The MF model is Marty Feron's reduced glare model.
Could you post a screenshot of one that looks HOT and tell me what model it is?
Hi Milton,
at first I want to thank you for creating this series of mighty flying machines. It's great fun to take them for a spin.
Just finished a 'winter wonderland' Lodestar-flight from Kake to Skagway (good old Misties) and one question came to mind. How to operate the ADF? There are hardly any VOR stations up there. I just couldn't find out, how to set one particular frequency. I could only adjust the frequency band.
What did I oversee ???
This model = L18W. but comes up with certain paints on the PW models. Think it is down to the modded envmap I use to get great reflection on the B-58!Could you post a screenshot of one that looks HOT and tell me what model it is?
Only want to dial out a very small amount of polished alloy shine ..
The "fine" adjustments are just to the right and left of the Volume knob below the freq band selector.
Oh, I thought you were referring to specular 'Hot' spots (sun glare).This model = L18W. but comes up with certain paints on the PW models. Think it is down to the modded envmap I use to get great reflection on the B-58!
Only want to dial out a very small amount of polished alloy shine ..
You can decrease the glossiness by lightening the alpha channel.
Or, if you are in FSX, you can have a different envmap for each paint scheme.
Hi,
These 2 pics show before and after effect on Mick's beautiful NEWAT repaint.
The alpha channel is taken away,in my case to Paint.net and the slider on the hue/saturation box slid right to about 65 to lighten the channel and lessen the shine. This counts more as vandalism than anything else, but I do love the duller effect!
I think I've posted these already.
You can just make out the chrome spinner left unchanged in the 2nd picture; I never sent 'parts' bmp to be edited
Andy
That's correct - also; when making shinier textures like these (and they do look sleek, I must say!),
try generally darkening the areas of your base texture as the alpha reflections tend to lighten everything out.
If you're using layers (and I would emphasise the ease in which they are used), I usually create alphas by temporarily switching OFF colour schemes etc, then go to the 'channels' drop down list and make a duplicate of one of the 3 RGB channels - I usually prefer green.
Name the NEW duplicate 'Alpha 1', then INVERT it.
That way, the Alpha will leave your rivets, shadows, panels etc darker while retaining reflectivity where you want it most.
Now play around, have some fun and experiment with the lightness/darkness value of the Alpha until you're happy with your work.
Hope this helps :-)
Most men often say what they think!
An honest man usually means what he says!
A gentleman always says what he means!
"Αίεν Υψικρατείν "
A fool is not he who asks a simple question, but he who would simply have its asking denied. (Richards 2012)
All - many thanks for these useful tips. Off to experiment with the alpha channels.
Hi,
@expat really,
I cannot paint and know nothing of layers; the whole concept leaves me dribbling in the corner. However it was explained to me how to change the alpha channel and this is roughly how it works for me.....
1.I create a folder called 'alpha' on the desktop
2.Open DXTBmp and find the texture you want to alter..there are 8 I think in the Lodestar texture that need to be altered. Willy's texture sets only have those 8 in the folder.
3. Open it.
4.In the corner is the alpha channel box
5.Click send to editor and direct it to the folder you have made
6.Open that folder, right click the alpha bmp and send to your paint program..I use Paint.net
7.Click 'adjustments' and then the Hue/Saturation. Each one you do should be the same, although Paint.net seems to do that itself.
8. I just slide the 'lightness' slider to the right to about 65 or more. That lightens the alpha.
9. Then File, Save As and you go back to the folder where you can overwrite the original alpha, or not, by renaming etc.
10 Go back to DXTBmp and click 'import alpha'
11. Overwrite, yes
12. File, Save As Extended Bitmap.
I think that's it for that one !
7 to go.
Andy.
Hi Andy,Hi,
@expat really,
I cannot paint and know nothing of layers; the whole concept leaves me dribbling in the corner. However it was explained to me how to change the alpha channel and this is roughly how it works for me.....
1.I create a folder called 'alpha' on the desktop
2.Open DXTBmp and find the texture you want to alter..there are 8 I think in the Lodestar texture that need to be altered. Willy's texture sets only have those 8 in the folder.
3. Open it.
4.In the corner is the alpha channel box
5.Click send to editor and direct it to the folder you have made
6.Open that folder, right click the alpha bmp and send to your paint program..I use Paint.net
7.Click 'adjustments' and then the Hue/Saturation. Each one you do should be the same, although Paint.net seems to do that itself.
8. I just slide the 'lightness' slider to the right to about 65 or more. That lightens the alpha.
9. Then File, Save As and you go back to the folder where you can overwrite the original alpha, or not, by renaming etc.
10 Go back to DXTBmp and click 'import alpha'
11. Overwrite, yes
12. File, Save As Extended Bitmap.
I think that's it for that one !
7 to go.
Andy.
Lost you somewhere in the middle, my friend...
Awefull lot of toing and froing, naming and renaming just to arrive at a simple Alpha, my friend.
Wish folk wouldn't be afraid of layer programs - so much easier and time saving.
There's a good freeware program if you don't have Photoshop.
If we could rally enough interest, we could set up a simple step-by-step tutorial.
And you don't have to be Picasso to paint aircraft - it's all quite simple, really...
Poor old 'Erks' used to have to do it all under a tilly lamp in the freezing cold with a paintbrush and can of dark green.
You can sit in the warm with a choice of hot beverage, pack of 'bacca' and a fancy wancy paint program.
If you can see simple shapes, click a mouse and distinguish red from blue and yellow; YOU SHOULD BE PAINTING AIRCRAFT!
It's that simple :-)
edit: and I'm sure Picasso would have done the most horrendous things to our precious aircraft!
Last edited by nigel richards; December 3rd, 2015 at 04:08.
Most men often say what they think!
An honest man usually means what he says!
A gentleman always says what he means!
"Αίεν Υψικρατείν "
A fool is not he who asks a simple question, but he who would simply have its asking denied. (Richards 2012)
Hi,
I would love a simple, if possible, explanation of painting.
I'm really sorry to have lost you, Nigel; I did try to use only short words but , if I'm honest, I lost myself about the same point as yourself!
Are we writing of the same thing though, as I can only alter an existing alpha channel to give less shine. I have not tried making more shine by moving the slider to the left . I do not know how to create an alpha channel either !
Andy.
Hi Andy,Hi,
I would love a simple, if possible, explanation of painting.
I'm really sorry to have lost you, Nigel; I did try to use only short words but , if I'm honest, I lost myself about the same point as yourself
Are we writing of the same thing though, as I can only alter an existing alpha channel to give less shine. I have not tried making more shine by moving the slider to the left . I do not know how to create an alpha channel either !
Andy.
Your vocabulary's spottless, LOL. I meant all those laborious steps involved in making an Alpha.
Yes; we're talking of the same thing re; Alphas.
Okay; better not clog this thread with painting do's and don'ts - so let's clear the air and I'll see what we can do in starting up a specific thread.
If our fine moderators will permit this; I'll initially start a thread here in Fs9 discussions for easy access/interaction then maybe it could be allocated to the tutorial forums on completion.
Most men often say what they think!
An honest man usually means what he says!
A gentleman always says what he means!
"Αίεν Υψικρατείν "
A fool is not he who asks a simple question, but he who would simply have its asking denied. (Richards 2012)
I use Paint Shop Pro to make alpha layers. I open the bitmap texture file in PSP, go to Image, and then greyscale it. Going back to the Image menu, I then negative it to make the lighter areas shine more and save it under a different name. (an example would be I'd save the fuse_t greyscale/negative file as fuse_a for easy tracking of what's what)
I then go into Photosuite which is my usual program that i use for laying down paint and areas that I don't want any shine at all, I'll paint out in white. This is usually black markings, anti glare on the nose, deicing boots and ADF footballs (nose covers on P-80s). For areas of normal paint, I'll go to a light grey to give the paint some gloss. Bare metal I pretty much leave as is for max shine. If I'm going for a worn look to the metal, I'll lighten it up by various methods depending on what it is. Photosuite has this neat "fog" effect that will lighten up a texture in stages. I use that if I'm going to light up the whole bitmap. Otherwise, I'll use a thin opague covering on the bit that I want unshined and trial and error it until I get what I want.
The alphas that I've been doing for the Lodestars have had no fog effect applied and the bare metal bits are left as is from the negative process. The P-80s have been getting one pass through it as Morton's base metal is a little lighter than Rachel's and using my process comes out too shiny otherwise.
Clear as mud?
Willy
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
You're creating extra steps and complicating the process.
I don't understand why you remove the alpha image to a folder on your desktop to work on it. There's no reason to do that. It's much simpler to just work on the alpha channel the same way you work on the main texture image, using your painting program within DXTbmp, just as you would if you were working on the main texture.
This is so whether or not you work in layers.
Why make it more difficult for yourself?
Last edited by Mick; December 3rd, 2015 at 10:46.
Well, if your only graphics editor is MSPaint, then you you must export the alpha channel, lighten it using some exterior tool, then import it back.
Otherwise, yes, you are correct.
However, if the alpha channel is just flat colors, then MSPaint will do the job inside DXTBmp.
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