Creating a Skin step by step with Gimp

[Peugeot205]

Hello guys

 

I'm not a professional skinner however I decided to create this tutorial to help specially people who wants to get started with this. 

 

What do we need?

 

1) A program , Gimp is the one I use:

 

http://www.gimp.org/

 

2) Patience

 

 

So we start opening Gimp.... And then,  we must go to file , create new image , and then we choose the size of the image and the "background" that it is called as "Fill with" , in that option we choose "Transparency" and press ok.

 

 

Then we go to the right part of the window , click with the right button and choose New Layer, 

 

 

Then we call the layer in this case we call it: Layer_1_Background

 

 

And then we have the new layer if we select it we will be able to manipulate it and if we select the "eye" we can hide the template, then you will see that this is very important.

 

 

Then , in this case is an example and in a real project this is never done , i'm going to paste from another pic, in this case from CadeteBra's Rafale the "bakground layer" that it is obtained unwrapping the 3D model , so I've copied it from the original source anf them paste it into the layer "background" with the right button and the option paste:

 

 

And then.....

 

 

Important remark: You can create the template from an already existing skin, which is more flexible

 

Then we create a new layer called "color" and then we are going to paint it with the main color of the plane , in this case "white"

 

 

To fill the layer with the color you just have to choose the rectangle select tooll and select the whole image.

 

 

Then once we have done this we select the option fill bucket with the white color.

 

 

And then with the left button we press int the image and........

 

 

 

But if we press the "eye" button on the "color" layer...

 

 

The color disapears , so that we can choose the layers we want to see or not. Then we create a new layer called "panels"

 

Edited July 30, 2014 by FRPignon

[Peugeot205]

Ok now we are going to work with the panels...

 

First of all we must find a pic that has the panels of the aircraft for example this one:

 

 

And then we start to draw them , to do this we do the following , we choose the layer "panels" and , as it is transparent we can work with it having  another pic below the panels to help us drawing them.

 

 

So once we do this, we us the option free select.

 

 

Then we draw the panels following the reference

 

 

And we have this.

 

 

Then we are going to paint the panels , in this case I'm going to use a grey color , to do this we use the "airbrush"  set with an opacity of 100%

 

 

 

Once we are done we activate again the "color" layer and...

 

 

There are different ways of doing this , this is the easiest so that's why I've chosen it. Then we are going to make  more real  panels by applying over them a small layer of airbrush with a low oppacity , so wtih the same color we choose and oppacity of 33.1% (Or other) and then we paint manually over the already created panels. And this is the result.

 

 

And we keep going and......

 

 

 

Much better.... Then we can create a new layer called dirty , to make "dirty" the skin with the same technique described in the previous step

 

 

You can try with different colors , oppacities etc... It is up to you, and the more amount of time you use , the better.

 

Then we create a new layer called "bleu" in order to create the camo of the wing , to draw it we use again the free select option

 

 

And then we paint it with the airbrush

 

 

Now something very important. The herarchy of the layers.

 

Let's assume we have these layers 1,2,3,4,5,6

 

Layer 4 affects to layers 5 and 6 if all of them are activated , and layer 1 affects to layers 2,3,4,5,6, if they are activated, so if the colors of the plane are for example at layer 1 and panels and dirty at layers 3 and 4 the panels and dirty won't be visible so the colors must be one of the "last" layers and the panels on the "first" layers.

 

As you can see here:

 

 

Then finally we do the cocarde for example, and we can export the template.

 

 

Then, we save the image as XXXXX.psd

 

 

 

And we press ok. And it is done. And now if you want to export the skin , you just choose the layers you want to see and then export it but at .jpg or .bmp and it is done.

 

Any question , suggestion, please post it here.

Edited July 30, 2014 by FRPignon

[+Wrench]

you not only need the lined map, but the "solid" uv map. That one really lets you know where the mesh breaks are, in particular for moveable surfaces, and where to draw the lines

 

panels and rivets are made easier to draw when, in Photoshop's case, have the "grid" up. That's where the lined map is most helpfull

[Peugeot205]

you not only need the lined map, but the "solid" uv map. That one really lets you know where the mesh breaks are, in particular for moveable surfaces, and where to draw the lines

 

panels and rivets are made easier to draw when, in Photoshop's case, have the "grid" up. That's where the lined map is most helpfull

 

Yep.... I should have use this as the base:

 

 

However most of the times you want to skin an "already skinned" aircraft and therefore you don't have the "solid" uv map...

 

 

I just wanted to show to everyone the basis 

Edited July 30, 2014 by FRPignon

[+Wrench]

well, in that case, if building from an existing skin (and I've done this COUNTLESS times!!), duplicate the original skin/background layer, and INVERT it.

 

This will cause the panels and rivets to show up as white, and much easier to see

[+russouk2004]

Now when I do panel lines,I dont bother with shading\highlights,bumpmaps take care of that...if model has them..(all my models since I found how to bumpmap,now have it).then if not use panel lines colour inverted to make the white lighter areas.

another thing I do for metal skins,is use actual metal textures and use areas to paste into panels...like here below.1st pic...of the p47n

2nd pic is with a gradient overlay...

3rd pic is with the metal pic and some dodge tool work creating the glossy look..

pic of mig 29 is plain black panel lines,opaque with the bumpmapping,for those that dont know,it gives the look of sunken panels and raised edges,bolts rivets etc...very good at saving you hours of work creating that realistic rivet look..

Edited July 30, 2014 by russouk2004

[+russouk2004]

This better shows the benefits of bumpmaps...

[Peugeot205]

Bump mapping is something interesting , however I think that it is more "advance skinning" than "basic Skinning" . So russouk2004 how can you create bumpmaps?

[+Wrench]

it actually metal skinning I need to learn!! LOL!! (and yes, that would be an 'Advanced' skill)

[+ace888]

I try to see if I can do the bumpmap?  I gave up, not getting the result I wanted.  I still need to learn the correct technique.  I had to zoom-in on the photos to see bumps... 

Edited July 31, 2014 by ace888

[+russouk2004]

ace,your bumpmaps are reversed,highlights rather than "depth"

using nvidia plug in if you use ps...bumpmapping is easy,just setting the depth and amounts is trial and error...

this is mig25k bumpmap.

and default settings in nvidia plugin...

there are stand alone progs to make maps from jpegs...

I only have the base layer panel lines set to normal opacity 100% no shading dirt weather layers showing,or areas that wont need that 3d look,like decals ,they obviously dont need bumpmap,

basic jpeg after hiding layers I dont want to show on bumpmap ( at bottom....)

 

[+ace888]

Russouk,

 

I am using GIMP.  Not using Nvidia Plugin... 

 

How do you get the bluish color?  

 

I am having problem of getting depth?

[+Dave]

Oh I am pinning this for sure. Thank you for the hard work. 

[+ace888]

https://code.google.com/p/gimp-normalmap/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jdo3ZmtPWk

 

After re-read Russouk's description... "PLUGIN"  I was missing the plugin!!!  I have uploaded the place to get the plugin and the youtube video showing how and the various basics.  This is for GIMP 2.8...

 

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE "README" FILE ON THE SETUP!!!

 

Try to upload the normal bump map, the file is too big.  But as you can see on the screenshots, SUCCESS!   I just have to work on the depth and other things.

 

Cheers!

[Peugeot205]

Amazing guys, I'm learning a lot of things with all of you!!

[+russouk2004]

Normal maps (bumpmaps) along with specular maps,makes hell of a difference to even simple skins..

This ok for those without photoshop...standalone Bumpmap tool.

http://www.crazybump.com/

[Kyot54]

Ok, as usual, I have been mucking around where I have no knowledge and I've screwed something up. So, here's what's up. I'm trying to create a skin for a VF-191 F-14D. I chose to go what seemed to be the easiest route available, since I can't seem to access the default tail decals from the game: take a relatively blank .bmp skin and put the markings on it I want. I've seem this plenty of times from Skins I've downloaded on here. Enter  using my sister's photoshop, tail markings etc. done. Drop them in, and now nothing from those bmp's are showing up on the plane, not the tail markings, heck, not even the tail, or wings, fo that matter. Nice two-tone grey and black. Checking things, I've noticed the smallest Photoshop will let me save it as a bitmap is 16bit. I noticed most of the others are 8bit. Is this the cause of the problem and if so, how do I fix it, and if not, what is, and how do I fix it. Thanks all

[+Wrench]

because the decals must be 32-bit tgas (24 bit RGB + 8 bit alpha)

 

there's a decal tutorial around here someplace, I'd suggest giving it a read

[Kyot54]

Ok, here's me trying to decipher some of the lingo: I've noticed decals are usually .TGA, are the .BMPs that you place in the aircraft folder also considered decals? That was what I was messing with, the BMPs. So, on that note, I finally got it to work going off some of what I read in the tutorial. I had to save it as a 24bit (R8 G8 B8), and make sure not to use the lower case extension. Whatever that did, it worked. Check it out:

 

 

Left Side

 

 

Right side

 

Admittedly, it's not completely accurate, but then VF-191 never got to fly the D anyway, so not gonna strain myself too much worrying about historical accuracy on a should have but didn't happen reality :/ Thanks for the help, let's hope I don't start going crazy here, lol.

 

 

[+russouk2004]

The bmp`s are the actual model skin,(or now if you prefer jpegs)all decals are TGA`S Kyot54

I usual paint roundels etc that are "Common" to the a\c and saves room for more tga decals,as theres a linit per mesh( and a limit on whole model.)

Edited September 22, 2014 by russouk2004