Guys, be honest, is painting really difficult?

[Private Custard]

I really don't want to request any paints until I've at least tried (and possibly failed) to do it myself!

I think I have the patience as I've spent a lot of time in the past painting cars in Forza 2 on the XBox, some of which took in excess of 30 hours.

[youtube]lcw-O1PHoJE[/youtube] [youtube]sUtJPuPOpq8[/youtube]

My one stumbling block is Photoshop, but I reckon I can conquer that!

Is it worth me trying, or is it really a proper pain? I just really really want to paint my own PA A321 eventually.

[AirNewZealand_A320]

I really didnt think my All Blacks Boeing 777-300 would turn out as well as it did. But now that ive seen it and recieved positive comments and feedback im extremely proud of it, if someone suggests a little fix, i say take it and try it. The satisfaction of having people download your paint is great.

Try it

[Private Custard]

I think I will!

One more question though. The paint kit for the A320 says it's for FS9 only. Is there an FSX kit/template anywhere?

[AirNewZealand_A320]

It works for FSX to, just change the BMP format when you're done.
Any ideas of what paint you want to do?

[Morhaf]

while we're talking about photoshop too, my demo has expired, and I dont wanna reinstall my computer again, so I downloaded Paint.net

is it any good?

[Private Custard]

I'm starting with something simple. Air Jamaica. I need it for my island hopping!

If it turns out OK, I'll hopefully be doing some paints for the shiny new A321 when its released.

[Steve]

Is it worth me trying, or is it really a proper pain? I just really really want to paint my own PA A321 eventually.

Never know til ya try!

[Private Custard]

Is it worth me trying, or is it really a proper pain? I just really really want to paint my own PA A321 eventually.

Never know til ya try!

Well I'm trying.........and this is confusing!!

[Steve]

Have a look here http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/ ... photoshop/

[Private Custard]

Just a couple of questions.

1) I'm painting the tail at the moment. I take it once the bitmaps are wrapped onto the model, any colouring in that's gone over the lines won't matter? I've looked at other peoples textures in my downloaded aircraft and it looks like you don't have to be exact, is that correct?



2) Is there any other method than trial and error when painting the sides of the fueselage? It's split into three psd's, but there seems to be some overlap between them!

[esg]

1)

No, it won't matter—take a look at the "Wireframe" layer.

You don't have to use the Brush tool to colour a large area. Just pick the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), make a selection, and hit ctrl-backspace or alt-backspace to fill it with the background or the foreground colour, respectively.

2)

There's a psd where they're combined. If that's the A320, it'll be "A320_fuse_full". This isn't mapped; it's only there to help you with painting. To carry the texture over to fuse_1/2/3, ctrl-click on the "Background Colour" layer's thumbnail from the layers palette, hit ctrl-shift-C and paste (ctrl-V) into each one of fuse_1/2/3. In fuse_1/2/3, set the layer's you pasted Blending to Multiply from the layers palette, pick the Move tool (V) (or hold ctrl down if you've any other tool selected) and align it with the "Fuselage" layer below, and set the Blending back to Normal.

[Private Custard]

Hah! Laying down rectangles. Some of those paintjobs in the videos I posted took around 4000 layers. Just like old times eh!!

Cheers for the advice, hopefully this works out, so at least I can give something back to the community........even though this is probably the simplest livery I can think of!

[esg]

while we're talking about photoshop too, my demo has expired, and I dont wanna reinstall my computer again, so I downloaded Paint.net

is it any good?

It's good if you have low aspirations. lol

[Private Custard]

Well I've copied the contents of the fuselage onto the three seperate fuselage psd's and lined them up perfectly, but I have some non-visible overhang. When I convert to bmp, will it disregard these bits?

[esg]

Yes. You can do ctrl-A, Image -> Crop if you want to cut down the psd's filesize, though

[Private Custard]

Yes

Nice

Sorry for all these questions, I just want to get it right, get some practice in and then go for something a bit more complex than this http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/5/4/ ... 759945.jpg

EDIT: The pic above isn't my reference photo, I do have the correct A320 to work from!

[esg]

Not got a whole lot more to do than answer questions over Christmas, anyway.

[Private Custard]

Not got a whole lot more to do than answer questions over Christmas, anyway.

Drinking!!

Well, I've managed to get it running semi-successfully (apart from one random BSOD moment!)

Me in the cockpit



Graphics down the side (a bit tall though, I need to re-try that one!)



And something I just can't work out..........black tail sections instead of my graphics??

[esg]

Rename "A320_1_t" to "A320_1_IAE_t" (or switch to the CFM model)

[Private Custard]

Cool, that worked.

My fan blade textures are wierd though, wobbling about like they're off centre!!

I'm gonna go out for some drinks and pizza and then finish this when I'm sober!!

[esg]

Fan texture is different for each engine. I assume you're using the CFM texture with the IAE model

[Private Custard]

I downloaded the A320 paint kit linked here http://www.pairbus.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=51

I haven't done anything with the engines or wings yet, so would a simple texture swapout be possible? Where would I find the right ones?

EDIT: Forget this post, I have an air canada a320 that will do as a base to strip back and edit!

[Private Custard]

Right, first-timer training is almost over. I have an airworthy livery that proves I can do it. Now to try putting what I've been taught into practice on something more daring!

[AirNewZealand_A320]

I haven't done anything with the engines or wings yet, so would a simple texture swapout be possible? Where would I find the right ones?

EDIT: Forget this post, I have an air canada a320 that will do as a base to strip back and edit!

Just ensure you dont paint over someone else's work and save it as your own.

[Private Custard]

I haven't done anything with the engines or wings yet, so would a simple texture swapout be possible? Where would I find the right ones?

EDIT: Forget this post, I have an air canada a320 that will do as a base to strip back and edit!

Just ensure you dont paint over someone else's work and save it as your own.

Definately not, I'm just using the Air Canada model I have in my collection because it's the right model to take the blank textures I have. I'm stripping off anything that the original creator has done and starting from scratch

Having released a lot of my car designs in Forza 2, I appreciate the effort that goes into these things........and the anger when some b*****d steals it!

[Private Custard]

I have (hopefully) one last big question.

How do I go about creating night textures, where the windows are lit up, along with the tail? Is there a default set floating around anywhere (where credit would have to be given in a readme), or is it a create-from-scratch affair?

[esg]

You may take the night textures from one of the official paints.

[Private Custard]

You may take the night textures from one of the official paints.

That's very much appreciated

Exactly which ones are official? There's a page on AVSim dedicated to the A320, but the links are all dead. My only other option is to head into the huge file libraries there. But that's dangerous territory as I could end up using someone elses textures without permission. A big no-no in my book.

Even though this is the internet, I always feel that manners are paramount!

[esg]

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=147797

[Private Custard]

Many thanks. I'm just modifying the readme (whilst retaining all Project Airbus copyright info and credits to the modellers, testers etc...). I've changed the sound.cfg so that it uses the default A321 sounds (people can add their own sounds as they wish) and I'm busy creating a decent thumbnail.

In answer to the question posed in my own thread title, yes, painting is really quite tricky and time consuming!

Anyway, I re-did the fuselage graphics to compensate for the stretch over the curve and mirrored the aircraft ID on the underside of the port wing so it displays correctly. I've also added the Airbus A320 branding to the rear of the fueselage. I quite like the idea of flying an aircraft painted in its early livery. Anyway, behold, the majesty!!!

EDIT: After some initial confusion over dates, a few airline sites have told me that this is the latest livery for 6Y-JAI. Which is odd seeing as Air Jamaicas website shows the colourful liveries as current. Anyway, doesn't matter too much as I'm already working on the colourful version too!

[Captain760]

1)

No, it won't matter—take a look at the "Wireframe" layer.

You don't have to use the Brush tool to colour a large area. Just pick the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), make a selection, and hit ctrl-backspace or alt-backspace to fill it with the background or the foreground colour, respectively.

2)

There's a psd where they're combined. If that's the A320, it'll be "A320_fuse_full". This isn't mapped; it's only there to help you with painting. To carry the texture over to fuse_1/2/3, ctrl-click on the "Background Colour" layer's thumbnail from the layers palette, hit ctrl-shift-C and paste (ctrl-V) into each one of fuse_1/2/3. In fuse_1/2/3, set the layer's you pasted Blending to Multiply from the layers palette, pick the Move tool (V) (or hold ctrl down if you've any other tool selected) and align it with the "Fuselage" layer below, and set the Blending back to Normal.

which paint program are you using?

[esg]

Photoshop

[iPetroSS]

Well, I don't have the courage to read the whole thread from the beginning, but to answer the initial question:

Up to now, I haven't concluded that it is "difficult" to paint an airplane, but you need a lot of patience trying your paint again and again to make sure everything is aligned and placed properly and that your work looks fine.

Peter