FSX
Greetings Rick. I will PM you in the morning with info on the glass fix. Glad to be of any help. Btw your metal textures are absolutely amazing! Awesome work!Originally Posted by 000rick000
Greetings Rick. I will PM you in the morning with info on the glass fix. Glad to be of any help. Btw your metal textures are absolutely amazing! Awesome work!
Here's how a alpha modified ORIGINAL texture looks now with the new materials in the model and the specular and fresnel added. I think it looks fantastic for such an old model!
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Bob, no problem...I think the glass is fixed now. I got a new model from Henk today. Thanks for the willingness to help out. It's definitely appreciated!
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BTW, please ensure you are using BananaBob's ENVmap as your FSX default Environment map and Global_AC_Chrome and Global AC Chrome Test files. or the results will not look as they should. I've optimized the textures to use these high contrast files....or at least use one that has a lot of blue/green in the file to provide a contrasting color. white clouds are not going to give you the results you'll be expecting.
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Rick that is looking great! Went ahead and sent you my fix anyway....who knows, might help in some way. I'll definitely check into the envmaps you're suggesting - very interesting. Really like the F-80. Thank you again Rick, Willy, and Henk for putting your excellent skills to work on this project.
As a comparison to Rick's screenshot of the original AlphaSim textures and to get feel for how it's all working together now, I did a quick and dirty redo (from scratch) of the same 94FS "Hat in the Ring" aircraft using the new model with speculars and the bumpmaps. The textures were a bit light in color which is just a matter of playing around with it all, but to say I'm impressed is an understatement.
Hope I've got plenty of paint in store room. I think I'm gonna be busy for a while.
Edited to add: This was using my old paintkit just to see how it would work out. I'm thinking Rick & Henk's is gonna work much better.
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Stunning transformation, Rick!
Henk, yes, that wire looks great now! Thanks much!
On FDE, am I recalling correctly that this model developed a flutter at high speed? I think I remember solving that on my copy long ago, using MOI mods.
The FDE also got an overhaul to adapt it for FSX. Do not expect Bernt Stolle level quality but at least it handles well in the sim and thrust, take off / landing speeds are roughly right
I was working on a couple of FDEs for it at one time and still have them squirreled away some wheres. One for a early P-80A (or YP-80A) and the other for a late P-80B. I'll have to see if I can find them and dust them off.
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Got the shiny bit figured out (I think), although I think I went a little overboard with it on this one. Just doing kind of a generic F-80 till I get the paint kit sorted out like I want it.
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Back in the CFS 1 days, we would call that "reasonably right".The FDE also got an overhaul to adapt it for FSX. Do not expect Bernt Stolle level quality but at least it handles well in the sim and thrust, take off / landing speeds are roughly right
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The trick with the panel lines is to make them light...lighter than you would think. Then when you create the Alpha Channel create a new image and place the alpha you want then copy the panel lines from the main Paint kit on top and make sure they are all white....this will give the illusion of dirt without having to actually make the "dirt" as painted on. (Which is kind of what it looks like you may have done?) Additional dirt can be made in the diffuse of the paint kit if it's a really dirty bird. Then flatten that alpha image and import it into your paint kit that way (if you're using Photoshop). The same trick can be used when creating the custom specular...however the speculars I shipped to you and Henk should suffice, unless you want to do something completely different! Looking Great!!!! hopefully the PK is working for you! I tried to Copy the layout of the M2M M2KC as I think it's a super easy to use PK and very well done organizationally.
Willy, do a search for Alternate ENVmap and BananaBob if you haven't already.
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Thanks for the tips. I used the supplied alphas as a base layer for the new ones with the painted bits on them.
I experimented a bit on the fuselage there with adding just enough noise to the metal base textures to be noticeable if you looked closely at them. On the panel lines, I'd made those just a bit darker than the surrounding metal on the main texture. I'm still playing around with it getting it sorted out. Once I have the metal where I want it, the paint itself will go much faster.
I do have Photoshop, but use Paint.net as I find it more intuitive for me. I can covert back and forth between the two with no problems.
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Looks very good! Your paints will be superb I'm sure.
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Still plugging away at it in my spare time. Took one that I recently did an update to and had the layered texture files in a folder still and worked it into the mix. Just the fuselage section here and there's a few more things in the back of my mind that I want to try, but here's what I've got going this morning.
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Very nice! Hard to believe that this is merely a mod of the original model, and not a completely new one.
Ditto Mr. Stickshaker's comments. Everything you have published looks absolutely great.
As was said, it's hard to believe it's NOT a new model.
UPDATE:
Weight dependent drop tanks and bombs are complete. Thanks to Henk! Alpha, specular and fresnel are added as materials. The paint kit 99% complete and Henk and Willy both have it. Just need to add Tacpack. Shouldn't be long now! Fantastic paint Willy!
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Hey, Willy: my dad flew in the Big 22 at Bitburg - I need that stunning paint, please! He'll love having his very own F-80, now that you model/texture wizards have reworked this baby.
Is there anything I can do to help on the TP part?
At that time buzz numbers were the norm for USAF aircraft, but somehow the 36th FG got away with using nose numbers instead. (I've got a bunch of reference pics). Any particular nose number or tail number?
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Thanks Rick! That paint kit is making a world of difference in how I've been painting them. Still working on getting the shine where I want it. Gonna try a new angle this morning.
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My dad flew F-105's at Bitburg, mid-1960's, and the closest thing to an F-80 was the squadron's "instrument currency" T-33. I appreciate your thought, though, Willy!
No Problem! As usual, I got confused and was thinking you were saying that your Dad flew the F-80 in a 36th FG Sqdn.
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My fault, got so "hyper" seeing that bee on your jet that I forgot to specify. Showed my dad your work, he loves it and wants me to install the old Alpha F-80 once you guys are done with the enhancements. As an F-100 driver, he helped with the Milviz project, and got spoiled by Rick's beautiful reflectivity work on that new, unpainted aluminum. Seeing that also happen with these "ancient" models is really sweet.
Most of us military drivers flew machines that had been pretty well used by the time we got our hands on them. Our fantasy, especially on the fighter side, was to fly brand-new jets, clean and slick (no external stores). Thanks for letting us live the fantasy in the sim world.
Usually, I use the guys I fly online with as a "sounding board" when I've got some doubts about a paint. The thing about the not so shiny is pretty much what I got from them on that last screenshot. "Overbaked" was one comment. Which I've got agree with. I've been fiddling around with the alpha layers this morning to tone it down a bit, but still keep the shine if that makes any sense. I think I've got it pretty close though.
(I'm retired Navy and we didn't fly very much bare metal aircraft that I was around).
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