Can a CoD aircraft 3D model be painted in Pshop and the result appear on the 2Dskin ?

Hi,
I am forever fly tweak fly tweak until the demarcations all align, where they cross skin mapping borders between the panels.
Actually I am using the 3D window, the big one, one stage before flying, to suss joints.
e.g. Me109E stbd wing, brush tool soft edge a diagonal line for the rlm71 splinter and fly, and it steps at slat and again at leading edge mask panels.

Can I open the Me109E-1 3D model into a prog, and I recall Pshop allows painting onto 3D, and see the skin as if by magic have the line appear. I am sure gamers skinners do it this way nowadays. Saves all that sussing of panel edges using panelFinder and many hours working to pixel accuracy to avoid the Z joints in demarcation lines.

Next stage is mottling, so fiddling those to abutt at skin panel joints will be even worse, the 3D method hoped for will be great.

BOBC

If I understand your question correctly, you want to paint on a 3d model instead of the 2d view? Something like Substance Painter?

The general public does not have access to the 3d models, so photoshop is your only way for now.

I am certain you already know this, but for the benefit of other forum users:

You can use this panel finder as a skin, and you will see where the various parts of the skin are in-game.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

The same file should be used in your photo editor to locate any position on the skin you are creating. Paste it as a layer in your skin file to aid finding parts.

Example: if you want to know the location of the elevator on your skin, use the panel finder as a skin (fly it in-game) and note the panel numbers/colour showing on the elevator.
The position of the elevator on your editing file is where those same numbers are on when you view the panel finder layer.

You need a little bit of trial and error (testing) to find the exact shape of various aircraft parts.


Soft camouflage edges and mottles that cross separated skin parts can take a little time to get right, but it is easy enough to do. Just move by a pixel at a time.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

I am certain you already know this, but for the benefit of other forum users:

You can use this panel finder as a skin, and you will see where the various parts of the skin are in-game.

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Hi,
My current method, :-
I have been using panel finder and variants of it such as a b/w version, layer mode 'difference', even multicolour dot patterns, to suss just what gets mapped to where, I have also revised the overlay layer marking the edges in magenta to show EXACTLY where a panel edge is. (mapping though uses a sub pixel line)

The inability to have the model and paint it and see the 2D skin take on the artwork is a real pain. I was hoping to hear yes , makes life VERY long winded for skinners otherwise.

Getting a decent follow on of the demarc edge from wingtip light area to slat edge took 2 days, the mapping of that area is hell, draw one colour pixel in red and see it appear as blurred lines, not dots, it even re-appears elsewhere on the slat.

Example...Port wing is panel1 (leading edge), panel 2 rest of slat, panel 3 rest of solid wing, panel 4 aileron. so I dupe pnl3 and place correctly into panel2, dupe that and place correctly into panel 1, then dupe 3 again and place into panel 4, using premade regis marks (grid again) for north/south positioning. Trim overlaps onto other panels. make a jpg and copy to skins folder.

Fly and things should align, but coD being CoD, even then things are not perfect., sometimes 1 pixel nudge looks worse, or the soft edge looks steppy due to how it relates to the skin and mapping thereof.

All this, hours and hours of extra work could be saved by painting directly onto the model.

I wish copying a jpg to the skins folder saw CoD update, but one has to hit 'back' then go fwd again (player plane) to see the addition.

After the 109 I have Me110, stuka, Ju88, Do17Z and He111 to do, then spit and hurri. A years work just getting the demarcs all to marry up.


hey Ho...

BOBC

Yes, it takes time. A lot of time. It is not difficult to do though.

Personally I think the colours are the most difficult thing to get right, and the most important thing to get right for the skins to look realistic. These take a huge amount of time to do.

Some things go very quickly though. Checking new skins after making minor adjustments goes very fast. In FMB you can view your skin. Add a new one to the skin folder and all you need to do is unselect the plane, and then reselect it and chose your latest edit. It takes less than 5 seconds. You view it in FMB, which is enough to allow you to see how the camouflage etc. aligns.
The same camouflage pattern can be used for many skin variations, and colour variations.

The only really difficult thing is making a skin without any previous plan of the skin layout. But we will probably release simple templates of all the the new aircraft after the release of TF5 to ease this process. These will have the camo pattern as separate layers.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

Yes, it takes time. A lot of time. It is not difficult to do though.

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Thats the thing, trying to find what amounts to a few solid weeks of time for one aircraft.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

Personally I think the colours are the most difficult thing to get right, and the most important thing to get right for the skins to look realistic. These take a huge amount of time to do.

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Agree, and I spent 3 months this time last year solidly working on the Luft colours 70 71 65, making 1 digit adjustments, then one more to 70 and the 71 green goes brown, nightmare, shouldnt happen like that, why it took 3 months, I won eventually and they are as accurate now as CoD ever will allow with the current Blitz colour engine, they match Merrick /Kiroff Camo and Mkgs vol1 (The bible !) 1938 and 1941 charts now, and other research I have done over decades, being a historian of such., on my calibrated screen. ...and what a difference seeing 1940 colours flying for the first time since then, a real buzz, like going back in time. Few days ago I flew a few skins and took one as a basis, it was correct for 04 rudder but too pale and burnt out for the rest, CoD a bit odd ! it had over brightened for the direction the surfaces were facing, so darkened it and then it matched ! and it didnt alter 70 71 65 else it would have been white flag time !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

Some things go very quickly though. Checking new skins after making minor adjustments goes very fast. In FMB you can view your skin. Add a new one to the skin folder and all you need to do is unselect the plane, and then reselect it and chose your latest edit. It takes less than 5 seconds. You view it in FMB, which is enough to allow you to see how the camouflage etc. aligns.

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quite right, been doing so :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

The same camouflage pattern can be used for many skin variations, and colour variations.

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One could do that, but I am making specific skins for specific aircraft, and studying b/w pics if I can get them, also all profiles, using a database I have created where I store all the images of

Quote:

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Originally Posted by major_setback

The only really difficult thing is making a skin without any previous plan of the skin layout. But we will probably release simple templates of all the the new aircraft after the release of TF5 to ease this process. These will have the camo pattern as separate layers.

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I have started with the splinter pattern plans of the Luft types from Merrick and other books, and Luft manuals, then will be creating them after studying b/w photos, looking for soft or hard edge, wavy or straight, and then spending weeks getting the demarcation Z joints to not exist ! I might draw thin 1pixel demarc lines, sort them out, then follow them with the path tool, then blur and dump colour in.

BOBC