SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

harkonnen · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: First look at latest W.I.P....

Not sure what I'm going to call it yet, but most of the hard stuff is done.
All FX are placed and lookin' good.
All textures except a few are applied and I'm pretty happy with the way they look. Have to work up a decent 'main body' paint scheme, or a few, depending on how well the layering of panel lines, etc, goes in Photoshop.
I'm peeved off at the gear textures right now, but may get stuck with what I have so far...somebody's going to have to talk to the modeler about 'proper' techniques, these gear forks are a mess to texture now. Still have a few tiling tricks to try with these materials.

Contact points are not placed, defined or set yet...got some close points for gear-base 'in-sim' testing purposes, but need to do the whole shebang right...soon!

Flight dynamics are pretty well there, may tweak a few things.

I was sort of gung-ho on having the afterburners come on with throttle input automatically, and still may look at all that, but there's something to be said for keeping it simple too. I'm going to see if I can have them come on with the 'strobes' key ('O'). I have 3 strobes on this craft, so maybe calling the strobes a '3' instead of a '2' in the .cfg file will allow me to keep the strobes on with the 'L' key...and the afterburners to kick in when you hit the key for strobes.
In fact, I'm going to go see if that works for me right now.

Tried to get afterburners to come on with the 'I', smokesystem key, but ended up scorching Stef right to the bone when the reheat fired up right in the cabin. (RD, insert 'I told you so' comment here. :twisted: :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: ) ) She was NOT impressed. Something to do with the type of effect it is, and some bias info that doesn't jibe, I think.
For those who didn't follow my other thread on this, 'Stef' is a smartypants hottie from Hark Aerospace that agreed to ride along on test flights and assist with all the fine tuning of this prototype.

Hopefully it won't be long before you guys can give her a run. (The ship, not Stef.)

Just a faraway teaser for now.:wink:

EDIT: Darn, just remembered...if you tie effects into the lights system, the A/B's are going to be on when you load up the aircraft. I don't want to have to turn off the burners right after loading the aircaft....I want them to be off but all the other light to be on upon loading. The 'easy way' isn't going to work here, crap. Well, still looking for alternatives, and will struggle along with .XML afterburner gauge work if I have to. :roll:

harkonnen · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:21 am Post subject:

Yeaaahh! I've been playing around in photoshop, trying to get a base 'logo' layer' and a layer to go over that with just panel lines and some detail shading. Easy to do if you have created your panel lines with...lines. My panel lines come from a full-blown detailed bitmap that has been embossed, then photocopied with filters...or something like that. Figured out the secret to selecting just the panel lines and shading to transfer from one map to another with the magic wand and move tool is to have the 'panel lines' bitmap feature two colours only; pure white for the background and pure black for the foreground stuff; the lines and shading detail.
I know, sounds like a big mess to folks who don't repaint and do this stuff.
Maybe I'll pop back in with a few shots later to illustrate what I'm yapping about. Bit more interesting if it all make sense, eh?

EDIT: Also looked again at the .XML gauge afterburner thang...maybe it's not all that complicated. Seems to make a bit more sense every time I read the readme for the gauge installation, and then study the two .XML files provided with the gauge. Might even get all ambitious, go into the .AIR file and play with the two entries required to provide ACTUAL increased thrust when the reheat lights up. I'm realizing for the umpteenth time that if you study something long enough, even if it's an intimidating jumble to start with...it all gets digested, formatted in the brain and becomes ultimately do-able.
Lunchbag Letdown NOT ALLOWED on this baby...she's going to have the neat interior, along with a nice paint job and proper stinkin' afterburners. :twisted: :!:

groundsquirrel · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:34 am Post subject: how about...

Kinda looks like a Manta Ray or Devil Ray to me.

harkonnen · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:06 am Post subject:

From the tiny picture and the angle I can kind of see that.
You might have given me a name for this thing, I wonder how 'Manta' would sound for the name of the aircraft.

Manta 1; 'runabout' class personal transport vessel.

Don't mind the sound of that at all.

Thanks. :wink:

At Christmas it could be the Santa Manta. :roll:

(Yup, we make it up as we go along here.) Definitely. :lol: 8)

rd · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:51 am Post subject:

Man, I am trying as fast as I can to get FS9 here, installed, and updated.

As soon as I do, I'll be able to send you the .XML that you need.

Believe me, this sucks worse for me, than it does for you.

RD

PS: And yes, I told you so. Poor Stef.

harkonnen · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:

Hiya RD....LOL, not trying to make you feel bad for being a little out of the loop until you get your FS9 going again. I had also posted over at FFDS for the .XML codes, and some specific advice. Sort of got ignored...well, it was only a day and a half with no response, but I got annoyed and deleted the post anyway. On this one, as on the few others that have not involved any hand-holding, I seem to enjoy puzzling out the details after all. Can't file a flight plan to save my life, or set an autopilot, but I can figure out how to get translucent ice in the cabin's booze bucket in gmax, lol. :roll: I'm just a little impatient when I want do do something with my creations...sort of an 'instant gratification' guy, so it's all good for me to have to learn something on my own...and satisfying if I get it right. :wink:

Also still experimenting large with the layering thing in Photoshop. I know how to layer, but I'm still figuring out how to get rid of the white background of the panel lines map with the magic wand without losing any of the shading details in grey, or any of the finer lines. Seems like I can select the white, select inverse, then drag and drop my detail lines with the move tool, but not all the detail comes over to the new map. Getting closer though. :wink: Hey, you do something 150 times, you're bound to get it right...right?

harkonnen · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:03 pm Post subject:

...Wrong #-o
My base layer is fine...just a cutout of the top & bottom main body shape.
My next overlay layer is fine...even at 100% opacity, the panels detail looks decent without any of the white background present.
My third overlay layer, which is just a different take on the panel lines with some shading present..is not so fine. Somehow that layer goes on with the white background present, and this white background isn't transparent. like on layer two. This means that if I have a solid blue paint colour on the base layer, as soon as layer 3 is made visible, the white background opaques out some of the base colour. ](*,) :-k Boy, I fumble around in Photoshop like a newb. Oh, I am a newb at Photoshop...'kay. :cry: :lol:
I'll get it right, or at least come up with something that works without washing out the base layer colour, but still gives me that overlay detail I'm hoping will look good over logos, etc. Once I nail it I'll post up a few demo screenies so it seems worthwhile to read this stuff, LOL. :wink:

EDIT: D'oh! Now that I've looked closer, neither overlay layers are what I want. Both have retained some white, which is killing my base layer. Kind of a pain, I've used several methods to come up with these 'over' layers. Looks like not the right one yet though!
Sheesh..I'll get it. :twisted:

hime927 · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 44 Location: Milwaukee, WI (MKE)

I'm not a Photoshop pro by any means but... You could try this:
create a new layer, trace over the lines you want on the layer with the white background, and then use the layer styles (little fx button underneath the layers panel) to get it looking like the layer with the white background?

Hope that is helpful and isn't too confusing

harkonnen · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:34 am Post subject:

Appreciate the tip hime927, but tracing lines would be for a fairly normal, straightforward panel line job. When have I ever done anything straightforward and normal? I found a way to add a bunch of juicy detail to my aircraft's body with just a bitmap...but I have to get this layering right. You'll see what I mean with one glance at the images below. I'm working on getting all the detail of the panels, or whatever the heck you call the detail I have, onto the base cutout map...without ANY, not one scrap of the white from the panel image being part of the overlay. Any white that transfers over will start 'whiting out', or lightening up whatever logos, etc., I decide to put under the layer.
Thanks again bud, but I ain't tracing that. :wink: :D

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o462/hark2131/mainbodyartexample.jpg

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o462/hark2131/panelsoverlay5example.jpg

harkonnen · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:32 am Post subject:

Oh cool, I managed to do it, not a spec of white came over this time when I dragged and dropped in the new layer. I didn't manage to get all the finer and shading detail of the panel map, but this isn't bad, and I can try to select that stuff and drop it in as a new layer, as long as no white comes with it. :wink: The real maps are 1024's, so they look a bit better than you see now.
Now I can make my panel lines as light or dark as I want over the logos with the layer opacity settings.

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o462/hark2131/ex3.jpg

EDIT: Darn, I thought I had it there. Nope.
Some white came through, I saw it as soon as I put a solid colour underneath, in the cutout template. Not lookin' so hot now.
Back to the drawing board.
:lol:
Well, you gotta laugh. Laugh and go figure it out. *sigh*
Havin' fun, this is how I learn, through trial and error.

rd · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:12 am Post subject:

Don't forget that you can move the layers around to where you want or need them.

There's also a nifty eraser tool, if you need it. Best way to use it, is to make a new file, make it a transparency, add said pic, and erase where the problem is.

Not sure if this is any help or not, but a tool tip nonetheless.

RD

harkonnen · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:27 am Post subject:

Thanks RD, any advice is needed, I don't even know half the basics of Photoshop. I'll have to look at the erase tool, I've been 'cutting pixels' while experimenting here, trying to get rid of the white. Filtering the original panel map differently may help me in selecting all the white in order to dump it. (Or all the black and grey tones in order to 'select inverse' and kill the white.)

harkonnen · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:08 pm Post subject:

Gettin' there. Lots of trial and error suggests that multiple layers of the panel lines and shading, with most of the leftover white meticulously removed, and the several layers being or varying lower opacity percentages...gets the job done. Am I King Of The Run On Sentence or what?
I can have all the layers I want, so a little of what I need in each layer gives me versatility across the board with these overlays....whether the base paint is darker or lighter I am getting a good effect with these snippets of detail.
I need something that can go over any base paint scheme, without obscuring logos and lettering too much, but still suggesting light and particularly shadow.
I'll probably add another layer of fine detail with a bit of shading, and on that layer I'll add some soot from the wing vents and maybe some slight paint chipping and weathering. This might work out after all...all the layers I had previously looked like crap as soon as they were placed over various base colours.

Gettin' there. Got some good tunes on, a full belly and the evening to myself after a great afternoon with the kids. Might work on the actual base artwork if these layers add up to the right look.

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o462/hark2131/Gettinthere.jpg

rd · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:52 am Post subject:

I wish I knew what you have going on upstairs, for what you envision. My photoshop is up and going. But not knowing what you have in mind, limits me in maybe helping you out.

If you had a general idea that you can show me, I might still be able to help you out some.

RD

harkonnen · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject:

'A few fries short of a happy Meal', and 'A few sandwiches short of a picnic.' has often been used to describe 'What I have going on upstairs'. :lol: :lol:

I'm just muddling along as usual bud, 'trial and error'ing myself closer and closer to getting some surface detail to detail-less surfaces, with images only. Biggest problem was getting rid of unwanted white pixels before porting over dark details as an overlay. Managed to suggest some surface detail with multiple layers, each having some different aspect of the detail lines or shading. It's not what I envisioned (it never is), but I'm pretty happy with the overall result.
The goal was to be able to paint logos or artwork on or just above layer1, and have the detail stuff go over that without looking goofy.

Alright, here goes...I hate putting up pics of the whole thing too early, but this isn't that far away from hitting the 'net, and this shot illustrates well what I've been yammering about. Please remember, it's a Work In Progress, not complete yet by way of paint, performance, or effects.

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o462/hark2131/Comingalong.jpg