Skin Tutorial - short guide

[Becker02]

Hello WOFF friends,

@Graf and @OvS spend a lot of time working on new skins for WOFF. At the same time, there are users who are interested in creating their own custom skins for the specific aircraft their virtual pilot is currently flying in the campaign. There are programs available for this that anyone can easily find. One of them is GIMP, a free and very comprehensive tool. However, because of this GIMP isn't simple to use; there is a lot to learn, usually through trial and error - which was certainly the case for me.

I have written a short guide below to help you keep the key steps in mind. The goal isn't to explain or list everything you "could" do with GIMP when creating skins; that would get completely out of hand, and there is plenty I don't know myself. The program's potential is too vast for a short guide, and there are already manuals available online that you can read. Everyone is free to explore the program's capabilities on their own.

The aim of this guide is to show you how to create a simple skin (just a number on the fuselage) and how to save that change correctly for WOFF. The skin is intentionally simple - focusing on the essentials before moving on to the crucial saving steps (6-9), to keep the guide clear and as simple as possible.

 

Okay, let's begin:

You have downloaded GIMP and opened it to test it out.

First, you need the skin for your specific aircraft and the squadron your pilot flies with. In our example, the pilot is flying an Albatros D.II with Jasta 10 in January 1917. To find this, go to the folder: “WOFF > OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields > Campaigns > CampaignData > Skins”. Scroll through the long list until you reach your aircraft model, in this case “off_AlbDII”. There you will first see the skins for the aces who flew that aircraft, followed by the base skins for the separate squadrons, organized by year. In this case, we are looking for the AlbDII for Jasta 10, year 1917. Once you have found the file

"off_AlbDII_t_jasta  10 1917", copy (do not cut!) the skin into a separate folder outside of WOFF to work on it. Now go to the copied file, right-click, select "Open with," and choose GIMP.

From this point on you can follow the instructions shown in the images.

 

When you have finished your skin, test it with WOFF > Quick Flight:

Copy your new skin back to WOFF (WOFF > OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields > Campaigns > CampaignData > Skins). Start WOFF, activate a german pilot and go to Quick Flight. Choose "Player craft:" Albatros DII. Now choose "skin:" and scroll the list until you see your skin name. If you are unable to test your skin in Quick Flight, because the name doesn't appear in the skin list, there could be several reasons:

+ Check that you have selected the correct aircraft in Quick Flight (in this case the Alb DII).

+ Review the saving steps in the instructions.

+ Very important: Ensure your skin is named correctly! Every space and underscore must be placed exactly right. It helps to look at an ace's skin in the WOFF skin list for comparison. In our example, the format is "off_AlbDII_ace_t_jasta 10 1917_acename1_acename2.dds", where "Acename1" is the first name and "Acename2" is the last name (surname).

This last point was the most common reason why my skins wouldn't display when I created  my first skins.

Once you have tested the skin and are happy with it, you can use it in the campaign as well. Simply click on “Cust skin” on the briefing side and select your skin from the skin list, just as you did in Quick Flight.

 

Final tip:

Copy your skin into a dedicated folder outside of WOFF. This allows you to build up a nice little skin collection for your WOFF pilots.

And if you want to delve deeper into GIMP, it is best to read the online GIMP manual. There is also a “Skinning Tutorial” for WOFF, see “SimHQ > Wings: Over Flanders Fields Wings: Over Flanders Fields - FAQs & Reference > Skinning Tutorial” (sticky). However, the explanatory images no longer appear to be visible.

 

As last:

Personally, I only scratch the surface of what GIMP can do – but that’s enough for me. Experts can offer plenty more tips and some steps would perhaps be described better than I have done here. So please don’t get annoyed, if you notice something like that; instead, share the solution with other users.

 

I hope, it was helpful.

Greetings

[Becker02]

I forgot this: Of course all at your own risk!!

Greetings

[Becker02]

One important thing regarding the handling of skins by other artists:

Please don't repost skins that were work from other artists (@OvS, @Graf, …) and claim it's your own based on adding a number or a color bar. It's a lot of work and time to put together a detailed template that the artist use as a base to create the other skins from. For example many of the skins in the game are made by @OvS. So be respectful! If you want to repost new skins you made for others to use, kindly give credit to the original artist. If you don't know who it is, ask @OvS (on SimHQ). He can tell you just by looking at it.

An offer from a user, who has taken a skin / template from an other artist, to other users with the addition "the whole skin is mine" I don't support at all!

The skin I used as an example in the guide above ("off_AlbDII_t_jasta  10 1917") was made by @OvS, only for info.

 

Greetings