Panel Work

[falcon409]

I decided to try to tweak the Saab 340B VC panel a bit. Coming along pretty well, but the trick will be to realign the actual gauges once I'm finished.

[Matt Wynn]

great start buddy :ernae:

[Bjoern]

Wait...is that for Brett's or PAD's Saab?

[falcon409]

Wait...is that for Brett's or PAD's Saab?
PAD's.

[MCDesigns]

Nice work Ed! Is there anything you can't do! :ernae:

[Matt Wynn]

Nice work Ed! Is there anything you can't do! :ernae:

Juggle chainsaws blindfolded while balancing on a large ball and being shot at? :icon_lol: Ed's a real jack of all trades :jump: keep it up buddy:ernae:

[falcon409]

Juggle chainsaws blindfolded while balancing on a large ball and being shot at? :icon_lol: Ed's a real jack of all trades :jump: keep it up buddy
lol, lol, and those are definitely not on my "to do" list either, lol.

[falcon409]

An in-sim shot. Still some things to move around a bit, but not too difficult with FSPanel Studio.

[Matt Wynn]

looking great Ed beers on me buddy :ernae:

[falcon409]

This is probably it. Not going to mess with the 2D I don't really use it much anyway.

[Matt Wynn]

nice job... makes me want to modify mine now.... maybe wood effect..... :icon_lol:

[Bjoern]

This is probably it. Not going to mess with the 2D I don't really use it much anyway.

Hey, looks good!


Do you also plan to repaint the 340?

[falcon409]

Hey, looks good!
Do you also plan to repaint the 340?
Probably, just waiting for PAD to release a paint kit.

[Bjoern]

Probably, just waiting for PAD to release a paint kit.

Ah.

Well, I've become a bit hesitant trying to repaint PAD's offerings. I've done two repaints so far (still WIP) for the CRJ and went borderline insane with both the paintkit *and* the texture mapping of the model.
I just wished, developers would pay at least a *bit* more attention to people repainting their offerings...*sigh*

[falcon409]

Ah.
Well, I've become a bit hesitant trying to repaint PAD's offerings. I've done two repaints so far (still WIP) for the CRJ and went borderline insane with both the paintkit *and* the texture mapping of the model.
I just wished, developers would pay at least a *bit* more attention to people repainting their offerings...*sigh*
Hmm, ok. . .I did 4 different repaints for the CRJ using their kit. . .what problems have you run into?

[Bjoern]

Hmm, ok. . .I did 4 different repaints for the CRJ using their kit. . .what problems have you run into?

The mapping on the vertical stabilizer in the frontmost area (near the APU intake) is quite dodgy. No biggie if the whole aircraft is colored in one tone only, but as soon as stabilizer and fuselage feature two different colors (see my Lufthansa paints in my thread), the area ends up in a mess. Subsequently, I had to take artistic license there.

Also I'd really like the paint kit to tell me where certain parts are on the model, since it's quite hard to figute out where cockpit windows or the vertical stabilizer are just by looking at a rough outline of the part on the texture sheet.
A UVW render from GMax, say wireframe rendition of the part featured as a seperate layer would really, really help!

And lastly, the windows of the model are off. The starboard side has too many windows and both window rows are too far forward.


I think I should forward this to PAD, despite talking about freeware here...

[falcon409]

The mapping on the vertical stabilizer in the frontmost area (near the APU intake) is quite dodgy. No biggie if the whole aircraft is colored in one tone only, but as soon as stabilizer and fuselage feature two different colors (see my Lufthansa paints in my thread), the area ends up in a mess. Subsequently, I had to take artistic license there.

Also I'd really like the paint kit to tell me where certain parts are on the model, since it's quite hard to figure out where cockpit windows or the vertical stabilizer are just by looking at a rough outline of the part on the texture sheet.
A UVW render from GMax, say wireframe rendition of the part featured as a separate layer would really, really help!

And lastly, the windows of the model are off. The starboard side has too many windows and both window rows are too far forward.


I think I should forward this to PAD, despite talking about freeware here...
The area around and including the APU intake was sort of tough to work around for one of the liveries I did and I finally just let it go as is because there was no way to correct it. I would also agree that a wireframe would be outstanding to work from, mainly because the windows on these tubeliners are critical when adding the airline name above them and knowing if you're too high or too low (I compensate for the lack of a wireframe by using FSRepaint to check positioning quickly).

I am afraid that the windows on the Saab are too high. I looked to a Northwest Airlink livery and just judging from an actual image and looking at the liveries of the model, if I put the airlines name above the windows in the correct lettering size, the letters will wrap over the top of the fuselage. Of course I don't know that for sure, but just eyeballing it, that's what it looked like might happen.

I'm just glad they even offer Layered paint kits to be honest. Too many times I've downloaded "so-called" paint kits that ended up just being one flat texture with the panel lines and rivets as part of the texture so there was no way to add shadowing, hilites, etc. . .to me that's not a paint kit.

[Bjoern]

I compensate for the lack of a wireframe by using FSRepaint to check positioning quickly.

I'm using the same method as well. Makes repaining really less of a PITA. :)



I'm just glad they even offer Layered paint kits to be honest. Too many times I've downloaded "so-called" paint kits that ended up just being one flat texture with the panel lines and rivets as part of the texture so there was no way to add shadowing, hilites, etc. . .to me that's not a paint kit.

Yep, exactly.

I think repainting and paint kits are crucial factors for the popularity of a model, as is moddability.

[n4gix]

A UVW render from GMax, say wireframe rendition of the part featured as a seperate layer would really, really help!

A highly accurate "raw mesh layer" generated via Lithunwrap is always used by Eaglesoft as the background layer in the paintkit's .psd files.

I like to copy that layer, paste as a "top layer," then remove the transparent (0,0,0) pixels, leaving only the actual wire-frame. After setting the opacity of that layer to about 50% or so gives me a very accurate way of aligning things... :ernae:

[Matt Wynn]

n4Gix you use photoshop for repainting or PSP if you do and wireframes black on white, set it as top layer and for layer type choose multiply, only shows the black wireframe then, tip to all repainters out there :icon_lol:

[Bjoern]

A highly accurate "raw mesh layer" generated via Lithunwrap is always used by Eaglesoft as the background layer in the paintkit's .psd files.

I know. I have your Navion in my hangar along with a WIP repaint. The only thing stopping me from pumping out a few repaints is my blatant uncreativity as I don't like to paint real-world liveries on GA aircraft.

Your wireframe technique even carries over to my WIP Do-328. In fact, I couldn't live without it.

So, as usual, three cheers to you Bill! :ernae: