Thanks for the help so far. There's a couple of questions I still have (and I'm sorry if they've already been covered and I missed it).
1. What's up with the void downloads linked on the ROF main site? I try to download by following the directions, but it keeps wanted me to install some kind of software, but since I can't read or speak Russian, I can't figure out what's going on. Didn't Jason say he'd get that fixed? Or was he going to host them elsewhere (if so where)?
2. I am using Photoshop CS4 with the DDS plugin. I have problem that the skins display so extremely dark that I can barely see what I'm editing.
Masaq's excellent tutorial video shows what I'm talking about. The details of the skin in the dark areas are very, very hard to see.
I could lighten them by adjusting the bright/contrast of the image file of course, but then I figure they'd display super bright in game. Is there a way I could brighten the view without changing the brightness of the actual image file? Without resorting to maxing out the hardware brightness settings on my monitor (and yes, my monitor displays other games and graphics at an acceptable brightness)?
Thanks for the suggestion Oesau. Unfortunately I'm working off non layered DDS files (making them into my own PSDs as necessary), since I don't know where to get the templates (due to the the shady Russian web installer weirdness when trying to download from the ROF site).
Fantastic! Thanks Jason, that's exactly what I was looking for, I just didn't know if you'd posted them because I couldn't find them. But now the links are in this sticky thread!
Ok, I'm playing with the Dr.I PSD and found that turning off the "LEVELS" layer in the Advanced Users folder is solving my brightness issues (turning off "SHADOWS" and "WEATHERING" layers also help when I need max visibility).
I just gotta remember to turn the layers back on before I flatten and go DDS.
Thanks again Jason and Oesau, I am now a happy skinner!
Skinning tutorial now watchable. It's been processing for three hours now and it's still working on it - full HD-level quality will be the end result, however.
A few suggestions: When you open the file, select to open it with NO mipmaps.. you don't need them. When you are finished editing, save to dds and in the dds dialogue window, choose the "generate mipmaps" and save with the same number and type as the original dds file you edited. (no need to go though all the canvas sizing, copying and scaling, etc).
If you're handy with a mouse as a brush, just create a layer and paint right over the parts you want to change choosing multiply, hardlight, or over layer properties to get the effect you want, along with the layer transparency and color adjustments to the layer you can get some really good results. You also don't have to stay right inside of the edges unless they overlap onto another plane part, so exact selections are really unnecessary in most cases.
Somehow i can not convert skins back to same size, i use DXTBmb for convert them.(editor is CorelPhoto Paint X4) Can someone point me what is correct type of DDS-file?(i look from ROF-skins file, but those are "only" dds not like DDS-DXT1 etc. which they are DXTBmb....)
Edit:
The correct answer is DDS-DXT5 with alpha. All clear!
Last edited by LLv26_Pihi; 05/25/1007:19 PM.
Want to take part of LLv26 flight training? contact: pihi@lentolaivue26.org(please no spam)
Flying Red armys target, propably full of holes....
Oh if you need something to do I have a number of Jasta 30 Albatross DIII/DVa and Fokker D7 skins I'd love to get done but I don't think I have the artistic talent to competently do them.
The road less traveled is filled with fewer needy people.
I finally sat down and figured out the process of getting a skin edited and showing up in the game, but, I'm lacking some finer points. Can someone tell me where in the process my edited skin loses it's specular lighting effects?
I can take a default skin, add a small detail on the fuselage, convert the file back, load it up in the game and the cowling doesn't sparkle like before even though I didn't touch that part of the skin.
I'm using Paint Shop Pro X3 and converting with the DTXBmp deal. What am I missing?
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Never mind! A little digging and I found some Alpha channel info. Good stuff; all sorted.
