Starting to skin

[Falcon161]

Okay im not new to this site. But I'm going to try to make some ficticious skins for various aircraft that seem cool to me. First I want to know any tips for a Noob skinner. Then I want to know what to use for the skin itself (any programs that I need?). an when the first one is finished I will post it up A.S.A.P!

[Jarink]

Program(s) needed: Something that can use photoshop .psd files (if you want to use any of the available templates. Otherwise, any program that uses layers and can create .bmp files is fine. Technically, you could use MS Paint, but I'd recommend against it!). Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and GIMP are the usual suspects.

 

Tip #1 - Start by downloading some of the templates, even if there aren't any for aircraft that you want to skin. The idea here is to get used to using your skinning program and the skinning progress.

 

Tip#2 - Look for and read all you can about skinning on the forums here, at ThirdWire and elsewhere. Learn from others' questions and/or mistakes.

 

Tip #3 - Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Edited August 23, 2006 by Jarink

[Falcon161]

Allright. But one of my skins, which I already planned out for the F-14, Is going to be red and have black tiger stripes. Is there anything I need to do in order to make the tiger stripes? Or would I just use one of the recomended programs?

[Jarink]

I wrote some tutorials for skinning in the IL-2 series a while back. They are available on FlightSimGuides.com. It appears they just reorganized the site, but if you look under "GIMP Tutorials" and "Skins and Repaints", you'll (hopefully) find some info that will help get you going.

 

Even though I did all of them with GIMP, most of the skinning principles (such as how to work with layers) will hold true for Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, though the details will be different.

[Falcon161]

Thanks guys! I should be starting to skin next week. The aircraft I plan on skinning and the types of skins they will have are listed below.

 

F-18: Camo(including digital), Dragon, tiger meet, and various others

 

F-14: Red Tiger, Blue Tiger, Marine Digital woodland, Scorpion, and the 482nd Leviathans (Fictional Squadron from a short story series I'm Writing)

 

Mig-29: Fictional T.M U.S(Teen Military, It's based on a book that i'm writing) for the G version, JASDF for the G, and the 668th Behemoths (Fictional Squadron from a short story series I'm Writing)

 

F-15C: Eagle meet, Patriotic, The 987th ThunderBirds (Fictional Squadron from a short story series I'm Writing), and various others

 

SU-27 (when it's released): 669th Dämonvögels (Fictional Squadron from a short story series I'm Writing), T.M. Russia, and various others

 

That's all for now.

 

P.S.

I hope nobody minds me doing fictional skins. I just think there is a lack of original skins for the aircraft in this series and it was bothering me, so I decided I would step in and make some.

[SayethWhaaaa]

I hope nobody minds me doing fictional skins. I just think there is a lack of original skins for the aircraft in this series and it was bothering me, so I decided I would step in and make some.

 

Hey, don't worry if people take issue with you making fictional skins, just do what you want. I like the sounds of what you're planning. I've been using photoshop for my skinning monstrosities and the only thing I can tell you to look out for is that sometimes PS has issues with rxmp textures, rarely, but enough to be a pain in the ass when it does occur.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce. I'm very much into making fictional skins myself because I find Sqn skins, like you see for the USN, USMC etc partularly boring because I like variety, but I'm not a serious simmer so I don't want that level of realism and fictional skins are much more creative I believe.

 

Can't wait to see your JASDF Mig 29 skin!

[Jarink]

Thanks guys! I should be starting to skin next week. The aircraft I plan on skinning and the types of skins they will have are listed below.

 

F-18: Camo(including digital)

 

The Marine Corps grey digital camo from VMFA-314? That'll be cool!

 

I'll warn you in advance, there is a lot of texture warping around the nose and the mid- and rear-fuselage. The fuselage warping isn't too bad; it's mostly just stretching along one axis. The nose warping is pretty much all over the place (look at the panel lines on the in front of the intakes on one of my F-18 skins. They're striaght on the .bmp, but go up and down in-game). That's the main reason I haven't tried doing this bird yet. Good luck!

 

 

 

BTW, if you pick up my F-18 template from here, it doesn't include the redone intakes. Feel free to copy them from any of my latter skins.

[Falcon161]

I dont know if I'll use photoshop or not. But I do know I ahve a hell of a lot of work ahead, especially the ones from the books! But unfortunately I can only work on them on the weekends due to school and work. I'm not doing a grey Digital camo but instead I'm doing woodland, Dessert, Urban, and Fire (Red, Black, and dark Yellow). And the first one I'm going to work on is going to be the JASDF MIG-29G. For the JASDF MIG-29G I will have two color schemes for it which include Dark Blue, Light Grey, and Black. The second color scheme is Green, Grey, and brown(dont know if thats correct JASDF color, but we'll see how it comes out.)

[SayethWhaaaa]

If you download the F-4EJ model it has 10 different skins for the current in service and aggressor aircraft in JASDF service. Might give you some ideas...

[Falcon161]

I might take a look at that. But right now I'm trying to figure out how to get a dragon across the wings of a MIG.

[Jarink]

Look into using decals. They can solve a lot of problems with warping and such. The hardest part of using (for me, at least) is getting them to blend with the rest of the skin, especially if it's weathered.

[Falcon161]

Where would I find such decals, The internet?

[Jarink]

Download the SFP1_design package. Included in it is a very good tutorial of the decals system used in SF/WoV/WoE.

 

Basically, decals are .tga files that can be placed over the skins of the aircraft (just like on plastic models). The advantages are that it's easier to show small details like names and warning placards since they can be scaled (for example, a 256x256 pixel tga that has legible text can be scaled to half or even 1/3 that size and still be read, which would be impossible on a 512x512 or 1024x1024 pixel skin) Another neat thing is that they can be used to change tail munbers (or nose, or serial numbers, pilot names, etc., etc.) so you can have one skin used by an entire squadron and each plane will be individualized.

[Falcon161]

Thanks! I also decided to do a Digital Jungle Tigerstripe Pattern for the F-4E Phantom 2.

[Guest Sony Tuckson]

>Jarink

 

to increase decals blending, you can set some transparency effect on them

 

using photoshop, decrease opacity to a value between 90 and 75 % (not for the alpha channel, well the main layer showing the marking you want to show)

 

depending on the camouflage under the decal of course, as if you have a two colour separation under the decal, this might show up (unwanted side effect) through a too tranparent decal...

Edited September 28, 2006 by Sony Tuckson

[bingo]

Download the SFP1_design package. Included in it is a very good tutorial of the decals system used in SF/WoV/WoE.

 

I dwd SFP1_design[/url] package, but when unzip I dont know the procedure, the text say:

 

1. Unzip MaxExporter.zip into a temporary directory.

2. It should create two subdirectories, R3.1 and R4.0

3. Go into appropriate subdirectories depending on your Max version.

4. Copy the 3WExporter.dlu into your max/plugins directory.

 

Where I can find MaxExporter.zip?

excuse but I am novice.

[Guest capun]

Bingo

 

Are you planning to use 3DS Max? that is what the exporters are. BTW, the package is old, there are new exporters up at ThirdWire's place for 3DS Max versions up to Max8

 

If you are doing textures, you need the decal tutorial and the exporter notes since it mentions the texture requirements

[bingo]

Bingo

 

Are you planning to use 3DS Max? that is what the exporters are. BTW, the package is old, there are new exporters up at ThirdWire's place for 3DS Max versions up to Max8

 

If you are doing textures, you need the decal tutorial and the exporter notes since it mentions the texture requirements

Thank

[Falcon161]

Allright I know it has been a long time since I promised to make the skins but my personal life got in my way of skinning (mainly school), so today is the first time I was able to work on my skins. I'm going to start off with a repaint of the F-4e SEA to real sea colours (Navy blue,sea green and light blue) purely for fun. But i was wondering how do you edit hole colours without using the pencil or brush options? By the way I'm using MS paint.

[Falcon161]

Okay people like I stated I have begun on the skins and am finding out that MS paint completly sucks! So can anybody tell me a simpler program I can use. And how do you make nation emblems (need to know for fictional orginazations and countries)?

[+suhsjake]

GIMP (FREE), Photoshop, or Paintshop.

[Falcon161]

Is gimp easy to use and or have a short learning curve?