Painting SOS!

[Duckie]

Hi Huub and Stefan. Thanks very much for your reply and suggestions.

Since my last post, Milton has found the time in his busy schedule to make some adjustments with the mappings of the textures in question which has corrected most of the problems. I will use a combination of techniques, similar to what Huub (and others) have suggested to address the remaining issues (only three lines to work on now).

To Milton and to each and every one of you who took the time to respond and offer your suggestions I thank you and salute you.

Best regards,
Steve

[gaucho_59]

1. Although my paint app is PSP 9 I work all my textures in PSD format with no problems.
2. I use DXTbmp as my compression and alpha editor. I use no mips.
3. I do my work mostly in 2048x2048 at 500pix/inch because it gives me, IMO, better ability to produce finer detail and better lettering. Layers are then merged, reduced to 1024x1024, saved as bmps, and converted to 32 bit 888 in DXTbmp. In that order. Never had a problem with this method.

Nigel: Tried your suggestion. Unfortunately, no joy.

Jamie: PSP 9 uses anti aliasing and I've tried it both ways, on and off, with no change.

gaucho_59 and SOLOBO: See the attached pics

Thank you all so much for your responses and suggestions. One of the things I love about this place.

Steve

Attachment 66728 Attachment 66729

If you use vector lines (I use PSP X3!) it is no problem...
You use a new layer... draw the vector lines you need..
then drop it to the raster layer you created.. and you can
do all kind of manipulations... on the raster layer,
(the lines are always straight and you can manipulate the
transparency to make them more or less faint...
A remainder... panel lines should be extremely faint and thin... for
lines like ones drawn here... would mean gaps in real scale of like 5 or 6
inches... most repainters (I think) use lines that are way out of proportion to
what the human eye would see in real life at, say, 100 yds.

[Duckie]

Duckie, when this problem occurs I normally make the connection point of the lines a bit less visible (smudge) and make a second blurred hardly visible layer. This effect suggests the line continues.

Cheers,
Huub

Huub, I never considered using the smudge tool in this situation. However, I gave it a try using it on the few remaing issues after Milton's fix. It worked out really well. Thanks for the suggestion.

Steve

[JDTinballs]

Duckie, you could also try some strategically placed weathering to disguise the join, a paint chip or two, or a nice streak of oil?

[Duckie]

Duckie, you could also try some strategically placed weathering to disguise the join, a paint chip or two, or a nice streak of oil?

Most definately have that one packed in the kit!

[nigel richards]

Me too Duckie.

You started an interesting and useful thread here my friend.

I found, among others; Huub's smudging solution and JDTinballs' weathering suggestions particularly noteworthy.

Nice going guys!

[SOLOBO]

DXTBMP works just like it always has for me with Windows XP 64 bit. I can't say as I did anything different when I installed it on this comp. Even used the old install program that I used on my old 32 bit machine.

Thank's for info Willy.

[Duckie]

Me too Duckie.

You started an interesting and useful thread here my friend.

I found, among others; Huub's smudging solution and JDTinballs' weathering suggestions particularly noteworthy.

Nice going guys!

Nigel, I am constantly reminded that I am not self sufficient in many things, this hobby being but one. Isn't it great to be able to call on the experience and skill that resides here and to get the kind of help that was offered?

Thanks again everyone for your valuable and valued input.

[mjahn]

I'm sure you don't need any more solutions. So here's one anyway. There is a program called Xara Xtreme. In it, you can move vector lines in steps of 0.1 pixels. Neat, I use it often.

[huub vink]

Huub, I never considered using the smudge tool in this situation. However, I gave it a try using it on the few remaing issues after Milton's fix. It worked out really well. Thanks for the suggestion.

Steve

I'm glad it worked for you as well. Although I know its feels a bit like cheating .

Cheers,
Huub

[huub vink]

Huub, I never considered using the smudge tool in this situation. However, I gave it a try using it on the few remaing issues after Milton's fix. It worked out really well. Thanks for the suggestion.

Steve

Steve, I'm glad it worked for you as well. Although I know its feels a bit like cheating .

Manfred, thanks for the tip about Xara Xtreme I didn't know the application.

Cheers,
Huub

[Duckie]

I'm sure you don't need any more solutions. So here's one anyway. There is a program called Xara Xtreme. In it, you can move vector lines in steps of 0.1 pixels. Neat, I use it often.

Manfred, too many solutions is a bit like too much fun! Is there such a thing?

Thanks very much for the tip. I will check it out.

Regards
Steve