Repaint help

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endl3ss
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:36 pm
Location: Norway
Repaint help

Post by endl3ss » Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:08 am

Hi all!

I'm not a repainter, but I'm trying fiddle around with it a bit. I do have a question to all the more professional/seasoned repainter out there though.

I'm currently trying out some stuff for the T-38A Redux, and I am having kind of a hard time lining up the paint-job in the different texture-files.
Some camouflage paints tend to be a bit easier, but I've got two splinter-type liveries with lots of straight lines.
Getting those to line up properly has so far proven to be a royal PITA.
For now, I've basically made a paint, called it version 1, loaded it up in the sim, taken some screenshots to see how it looks and how much adjustments needs to be made, then adjusted the files in Photoshop. Rinse and repeat. For a couple of liveries, I'm getting close to version 30-something... :oops:

I use Photoshop for the paint, and I haven't really tried any other tools. I did get FSRepainter yesterday, but so far it won't open the model-files for the T-38A (or-C, or some other payware aircraft for that matter), so it really didn't help me much.
So what do you guys use? How do you get paints to line up properly when they're spread across 2-3 different .psd-files? Any tips at all, or any special software apart from Photoshop that you use?
Or is it simply back to just fiddling and adjusting again and again until it lines up properly?

HenryStreet
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2017 3:28 am
Re: Repaint help

Post by HenryStreet » Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:11 pm

full disclosure: I'm not a repainter but have lurked in many a forum.

ive read that some experienced repainters "assemble" the various texture parts from the paint kit into a form that more closely resembles the relative locations on the model. for example, in a separate file, they will put all the fuselage partial textures in a row and orientation that more closely matches their position on the model.

they do the actual painting in this file, then copy the individual parts back into a copy of the paint kit for the final product.

some repainters have gone so far to create a layer of alignment marks in the paint kit to assist in this process.

sorry i couldnt be an expert for you (or even a neophyte for that matter). hope this helps.

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endl3ss
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:36 pm
Location: Norway
Re: Repaint help

Post by endl3ss » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:16 pm

Thanks for the tip, HenryStreet!
I looked it up and did find a very short guide on how to do what you suggested.

In the end though, I simply couldn't figure out how to cut and paste the textures without messing it all up, so I'm back at the good old trial and error approach. Taking time, but I am making a bit of headway now :)
Coke and coffee and a hard wall to bang my head against helps, it would seem. And snuff.....liberal amounts of snuff (as in the tobacco, not videos).
I'll get there in the end ;)

RD1
Posts: 119
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 3:01 am
Re: Repaint help

Post by RD1 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:58 pm

I don't have that plane nor the paint kit, so I don't know how the maps are set up.

Depending on what I'm painting, I create a colored line grid square of the whole map. Sometimes just vertical lines or horizontal lines only. Depends on the paint. I always find a centerline of the map its self that is in the same location as the whole aircraft for all maps. In the grid square, horizontal or vertical map, I have a base "line" that always goes to the same line on that aircrafts maps. If it has a UV map, that can be used to help locate your grid lines. It's a pain to create the grid square or vertical/horizontal lines. I made mine in a transparent that is 8096x8096 pixels. My centerline guide line is white. Then blue, red, yellow, green, purple. I keep track of the lines by 5. Above the white is 5-10-15 etc. Below, they are -5, -10, -15, and so on.

If you're using the most current Photoshop CC2019, don't be scared to zoom in to where you can see the pixel squares. You can use it as an advantage. If you are using a layer for stripes using the line tool, it helps. When you flatten the map and transfer it to the editor and fly it, if it is off by very little, send it back to Photoshop. Unflatten your psd and zoom in on your last layer. Move it up or down while you have it zoomed in with the pixel boxes showing. It's very easy to move that layer now only 1 or 2 pixels.

Don't get overwhelmed with it. Patience is key, and knowing how to use the tools available. Also, why is mine at 8096?? It gives me options on how close or far apart the lines are when I move it into a 2048 or 1024 size map. I resize the 8096 as needed.

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endl3ss
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:36 pm
Location: Norway
Re: Repaint help

Post by endl3ss » Thu Oct 10, 2019 12:39 pm

Thanks for good tips, RD1! :)
I was actually thinking about doing it in the way you have suggested, and it IS what I did on a C-130 repaint some time back.

But, I did finally get my FSRepaint to work, and with that I can look at the models with the various liveries outside of the sim, load one of the .dds textures for a given area on the model that doesn't look right, mark it up with FSRepaint's built in editor and see the changes in real-time on the model. Of course, this just modifies the .dds files in the relevant texture folder (of P3D simobjects structure, so I have to be careful what I do).
But the big thing is I can use the .dds-files layered as a background with the paint kits .psd-files, and see what modifications I need to make to my liveries master files.
That might sound complicated, but it really isn't. Save the .dds in FSRepaint, load it up in Photoshop and insert it as a background layer with the relevant .psd-file, make the corrections to line up the textures, disable the background layer, and save the .psd-file. DXTBmp after that, and all good. It massively cut down on the time spent fiddling around.

I finished yesterday (more or less anyways, need to check colors and my shaders) the livery I've been messing around with for the last month or two, and with the FSRepaint-solution it took literally one short evening :D


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