NEW MU-2 paint kit......Go paint!

[tkyler]

Here's the download link to the paint kit for the MU2 Version 2.x and a video showing some advanced techniques for livery painting the Moo.

DOWNLOAD:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/adpm5dqlje0b91e/TOGA_MU2_Paint_Kit_v2.zip?dl=0

NOTE:  The 3D *.fbx model included in the download link has been modified slightly from that shown in the demonstration video. .  See  this link for more info (it will make more sense after you watch the video)

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by tkyler

[Dozer]

Excellent! I read a fascinating website today about Australia's radio navigation. I might try to make a fictitious Australian Department of Aviation livery, as worn by their Gulfstream G1000s (not to be confused with the Garmin G1000!) - http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Gulfstream%20G1000%20VH-LTJ.htm

[hobofat]

Thanks for the new paintkit!  Opened it up and played around with it a bit, will try to work on something when I get the time.  Not sure when that'll be.  But have a particular livery in mind if I can manage it!

[Simmo W]

Thanks for the kit Tom, I'll have a good explore as I'm still learning Photoshop techniques and like that layer mask idea. But if I ever did a livery! It wouldn't be conventional....anyone have some good bullet hole brushes?...

[Xflyboy2]

Thanks for the kit, when time permits, I'll give it go.

[sapam]

Thanks a lot for the Kit.

Regards,

Sapam

[tkyler]

The paint kit WITH instructions has been uploaded at x-plane.org for those that want the instructions.  Nothing else is new over the link I provided earlier except the instructions.

[Dozer]

I really like this Painting With Blender thing, it's very satisfying to get such quick feedback on your textures!

My Department of Aviation scheme is about half done. This is what I'm going for:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Department-of-Aviation/Gulfstream-Aerospace-695A/0940149/L/

Edit: I'm spending an awful lot of time waiting for Gimp to export copies as PNG....

[tkyler]

ah...it does my heart good to see someone else do a paint...that's really good looking!  So is it easy enough to figure out and use?  Looks like you're using 2.5.  I haven't converted over myself...can you update the texture without having the UV editor window open?

[Dozer]

I think it needs to be open - I have to mouse over the UV window, then press Alt-R for 'reload texture'. Yep it's pretty straightforward. Took me an embarrassing amount of time to realise the right fuselage side is mirrored though :-)

I have Blender 2.5, but so far haven't used it for anything but this. I watched all Dan Klaue's tutorials but couldn't get into meshmaking - I think they're slightly misleading - you can't build an aircraft from a 300px 3-view taken from the manufacturer's brochure! Plugin creation, and doing basic GIMPery, is a lot more fun.

[Dozer]

Right, that's enough for one nigh... one morning. It's not like I've got work tomorrow or anything  :-\

The following screenshot was brought to you by the GIMP keyboard shortcuts F, Shift-B, and Delete:

Lots of iterative fun trying to make those stripes go across the belly in nicely straight parallel ways...

edit: before anyone asks, yes the Civil Air Ensign is meant to face that way on the starboard side of the aircraft!

[WombatBoy]

Wow! Great job with the metal there at the bottom, that's something I have yet to do well. Nice work

[Dozer]

Spent most of my 3-hour lunch break trying to make level stripes around the nosecone, without realising it's possible to precisely rotate Blender's viewpoint with the numpad (I was just using arbitrary angles using the mouse middle-click to pan). Then GIMP crashed and I hadn't saved any of it. What I have now is the elements of the last .png I'd saved, as an opaque layer on top of the paintkit. If I summon the energy to tweak it further I'll more or less have to start from scratch in that area!

Pleased with the logos though. Typeface isn't really heavy enough, but it's the heaviest one I've got!

Things to note: the Bandit paintscheme reflected in the nacelle chrome...

[tkyler]

Bandit paintscheme reflected in the nacelle chrome

DOH!  Ok, will get a new reflection layer out as soon as I can for the empennage !  Excellent work BTW!  The paint is looking good!

[MaidenFan]

Wow, nice livery!! It looks way better than I thought.

[Dozer]

TO SAVE SANITY, TURN OFF .GIMP PNG-FILE COMPRESSION!!

Seriously, once I'd learned that useful fact, everything happened much faster. Before, I'd be watching a little blue bar inch edge across the screen for twenty seconds after every change. (Yep, my PC is old.)

Finished! Sort of. It turns out that FINAL_Enpennage.psd (what is it about that file???) is now corrupted and I can't open it again. But I didn't try to open it until after I'd decided I'd completed this scheme anyway.

Ended up redoing the nose textures anyway. Much happer with v2:

By the way, this is why I don't fly VFR. This is X-Plane with 'clear skies' at midday in July.

Can you see how I cheated?

I'll upload it to the .org when someone can tell me: should I turn .png compression back on again for the final files? I'm assuming so, because all Tom's paints are about 500kb/file while mine are 8mb uncompressed.

Edit: 100 posts! Nice way to commemorate it.

[tkyler]

That came out real sweet Dozer!  I updated the reflections in the paint kit...you can download it...perhaps the empennage file will be OK for you.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/955680/xsMU2_Paint_Kit.zip

I basically "removed" the stripes and it has a bit more of a generic look now, not quite so obvious.

You going to post that paint at the org or make it available?

[Dozer]

Cheers Tom! The enpennage file was OK - until after I'd finished :-/ In all likelihood, it's a bad idea to hit 'file/save', and while it's still saving hit 'file/save a copy'. That's probably what did it.

I have a bad habit of making a post, then using 'Modify Post' to reformat it. Preview function doesn't seem to like attachments, at least with this browser.

My enpennage file basically consisted of rectangles of solid colour, and text, painted into the appropriate layers. And some messing with the Perspective tool to make the Ensign fit the line of the vert.stab. I'll rebuild it with the new paintkit!

Edit: I'll rebuild it with the paintkit you've just uploaded, then post it on the .org.

[Dozer]

It is uploaded! http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=12725

It's an excellent paint kit Tom, really easy to use. I opened the old one to see if it had non-Banditerated reflections I could use and it was a bit of a shock by comparision! (And it didn't, because the texture I needed is in the enpennage file that doesn't open in GIMP.)

Must confess - I have done a silly thing - uploaded those files without testing them on my own X-Plane installation. But they're the same as the ones I used in the screenshots, and they looked identical in Blender, so all's ok, right...

[tkyler]

New corporate RED livery on the org.  

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=12746

Per Dozer's recommendation, when using GIMP, turn png compression OFF during development, it'll speed things up a lot BUT do remember to apply compression for your final livery PNGs...and for those on windows and Mac, use 'xgrinder' by Ben Supnik to turn your PNG to DDS and according to Ben, that will use much less VRAM than png....haven't tried it myself, but I'm going to soon!

[Airbus]

;D Great repaints! I'm tempted to crack open the paint kit myself.

[Dozer]

;D Great repaints! I'm tempted to crack open the paint kit myself.

Go for it, it's very straightforward (unless you're trying to paint horizontal lines across the nosecone :-D ). I'd make more, but I don't really have the artistic imagination to think of any plausible schemes. How about a BOAC MU-2?

[royaloak]

After posting numerous scenery packages on the .org, I decided to give some attention to repainting.  I just finished, today, my first ever X-Plane repaint, using the MU-2 paint kit.  It is an MU-2 in the colours of Saab Nyge Aero.  I am quite pleased with it. I got the idea from an AI Plane for MSFS and have asked the original author for his permission to post it on the .org.

I have however a few questions.

(a)  What part of Photoshop Elements (or CS) should I study in order to learn how to draw curved stripes successfully?

( What part of Photoshop Elements (or CS) should I study in order to learn how to make a _LIT texture for the vertical stabiliser, ie a "FINAL_Empennage_LIT"  file?

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks, royaloak

[MaidenFan]

After posting numerous scenery packages on the .org, I decided to give some attention to repainting.  I just finished, today, my first ever X-Plane repaint, using the MU-2 paint kit.  It is an MU-2 in the colours of Saab Nyge Aero.  I am quite pleased with it. I got the idea from an AI Plane for MSFS and have asked the original author for his permission to post it on the .org.

I have however a few questions.

(a)  What part of Photoshop Elements (or CS) should I study in order to learn how to draw curved stripes successfully?

( What part of Photoshop Elements (or CS) should I study in order to learn how to make a _LIT texture for the vertical stabiliser, ie a "FINAL_Empennage_LIT"  file?

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks, royaloak

Beautiful livery. I was considering making one like that the other day.

[Kesomir]

for curved lines in photoshop you want the pen tool. There's a lot to the tool though - shapes, paths etc.