Skinning tutorial request

[JG26_EZ]

Highest Quality JPEG.. Yes!
I, for the most part, use PSP and have to run the optimizer when saving.



Re: the weathering..
Unless you can find it in the default skins, it's been made from somebody as far as I know. Unless someone has tapped into the "in-game" weathering somehow.

You won't see layered psd or psp templates in the skin folders unless you've put them there yourself.. Templates are created by us.. not them

[major_setback]

Thanks for the answers.
Regarding those layers, it seems like a lot of work goes into making a layer of panel lines!

How do the official CoD templates that are available for download at Airwarfare (3rd download down the page http://airwarfare.com/sow/index.php?...egory&catid=11) differ from normal skins? Excuse my ignorance.

[JG26_EZ]

S~

Those "Textured Templates" were given to us with one of the "Friday Updates", here at 1C.. It's basically an "official" skin pack, that shows you where the plane's parts are located on the template.. It is only one layer, so you would have to do 100% of the work. It's really no different than downloading someone's skin and attempting to do a skin using that as a referance, except alot of skinners don't include 100% of the rivets for a variety of reasons. The "Textured Templates" tend to have no weathering and have all panel lines and rivets visible.


Hope that explains it..

PS... the panel lines and rivets DO take a long time, if you have no template and are placing them for the first time.

[major_setback]

Thanks for your reply.

I'll look at Skinners Paint Shop and see if I can learn a few things.

I'll need to find some relevant fonts for markings for a start.

Anyone who would like to give advice to a begginer is welcome to contribute to the thread. I'm grateful for any tips.
BTW thanks for the template, I'll put it to good use. (And credit you)

[JG26_EZ]

Thanks.. I hope it makes your life a little easier heh

I am no expert skinner ..yet But I can offer you two little tips, for if you find a template for the kind of plane you want to skin, or if you lose patience and create one yourself..

You will find that you can use the rivet layer, and panel layer for more than just what they are..

For instance.. If you've got the rivet layer, you can copy and paste it as a new layer and then reverse the colours so that you now have a layer of black rivets, and a layer of white rivets.. Now, depending on the skin colour, you can then offset the white rivets, by one pixel's distance and then mess with the transparency of both of those layers and get the desired look for the rivet. (See the pic below - I placed the white rivets on the top to look as if light was catching them from above.) This also helps when the skin's colours change from light to dark.. You'll still have one layer (black rivets) or the other (white rivets) showing..

Another thing I am trying to master is adding a 3D feel to both, the panel lines and the ribs of the airframe.
I did the same as above with the panels, but created two white panel line layers and placed them on both sides of the black panel lines and adjusted transparency. (not easy to see in the pic, but it IS visible)

For the airframe, I created an extra "panel line" layer and blurred the hell out of it, and then adjusted transparency.

I find it hard to put into words, what I've found to work to a degree, but hope that you can at least understand half of it As long as you understand what a layer is, and what transparency is.. you should be able to get it.

I use Paintshop Pro 9, but it's pretty much the same "language" we're speaking.
I'd very much like to hear of people's tips for Photoshop aswell.

[major_setback]

Thanks for the tips!