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

[MaidenFan]

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

Thanks. I needed that tip also.

[royaloak]

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

Thanks for the tip!

[Kaphias]

It's a sad deal for us repainters that Photoshop Elements doesn't have a pen tool, that's the sole reason I still do photoreal paints. Maybe one day I'll find the money to get a full version...

[tkyler]

If you can get used to GIMP, it has a pen tool and is more than sufficient for texturing.  It's all I use for my texturing and about 600.00 cheaper than photoshop.  Everybody has their own environment they feel comfortable in I know so it's not for everybody...but my point is that money doesn't have to keep you from getting results.  GIMP is available for mac/windows/linux.

[hobofat]

If you can get used to GIMP, it has a pen tool and is more than sufficient for texturing.  It's all I use for my texturing and about 600.00 cheaper than photoshop.  Everybody has their own environment they feel comfortable in I know so it's not for everybody...but my point is that money doesn't have to keep you from getting results.  GIMP is available for mac/windows/linux.

GIMP is a wonderful resource, much more powerful than most payware paint programs short of professional packages.  Plus you can find plenty of how-to resources around the web for it.

[Kaphias]

If you can get used to GIMP, it has a pen tool and is more than sufficient for texturing.  It's all I use for my texturing and about 600.00 cheaper than photoshop.  Everybody has their own environment they feel comfortable in I know so it's not for everybody...but my point is that money doesn't have to keep you from getting results.  GIMP is available for mac/windows/linux.

Tried GIMP a couple years ago after my ancient PSE2 stopped working but went to PSE6 after it arrived in the mail. I'd certainly be up for giving it another try. However, I do like photo-real repaints much better than vector-based ones, so until I really need to switch to vector (paint detail eclipses photo detail, already happening) I'd like to stick to PSE. I'll get GIMP on my Windows computer as I don't have PSE there, maybe that will help with the eventual transition.

[Tasmanian]

Hi there,

 

I'm trying to use the paintkit but it's not loading the fuselage .png. The other two load, but the fuselage is pink, and when I try and open the fuselage .png in UV Editor Blender crashes.

 

Running from console, this is the message:

 

Error: Image path '\\Users\\tkyler\\Desktop\\Toms BS\\dropbox_stuff\\Dropbox\\Pr
ojects-Aircraft\\xscenery MU-2 Marquise 1.5\\xsMU2_Paint_Kit\\FINAL_fuselage.png
' not found, image may be packed or unsaved

ED_undo_push: FINAL_fuselage.png
C:\Users\tkyler\Desktop\Toms BS\dropbox_stuff\Dropbox\Projects-Aircraft\xscenery
 MU-2 Marquise 1.5\xsMU2_Paint_Kit\ empty directory
Error, region type 5 missing in - name:"Image", id:6
Error, region type 6 missing in - name:"Image", id:6
regiondata free error
Writing: C:\Users\Main\AppData\Local\Temp\MU2_PAINT.crash.txt

 

Win7 64bit, Blender 2.69, Mu-2 1.51.

 

Any advice? I see the wrong path to Tom's dropbox prep folders but it crashes when I open the file!

[tkyler]

use the "open" function in blender and point it to the fuselage.png found in the paint kit folder.

 

TK

[Tasmanian]

I select the fuselage mesh, open the UV editor, click on Image then Open Image, select the fuselage png, and Blender silently crashes.

 

 

I'll try an older version of Blender.

[Ither]

Good work @tkyler!

Walker Air is proudly flying it.

[tkyler]

glad to see the white livery came in use quick.  I figured it might be easier for some just to have that quick blank canvas.  Thanks again Ither.  Have to retire for the evening, but of course will be up soon enough looking to get right back to work.

-TomK

[lrargerich]

I hope somebody produces this beauty!

[mirlo1]

Hi guys! could you please re-upload the paint kit ,the links are down, thank you very much!

[tkyler]

The paint kit is not officially posted...because I want to add more instructions; however, paint kits are "extra" and come with no guarantee of quality :P.....so  I can post it the way it is if you like.....because most livery painters are used to the "mess" of layers, and assets and can usually make sense out of it anyhow.  Anybody interested?   Once I get all the initial bugs and hardware settled, I'll also get that paint kit cleaned up a bit for future folks.  If anybody is willing to take it as it is now, let me know and I'll get it uploaded as a "beta" version of the paint kit

The paint kit is 4 photoshop files, plus 5 additional "mask image" pngs and a *.fbx file of all the paintable surfaces that can be imported into blender of Substance.

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by tkyler

[tkyler]

FYI, This is a tougher geometry to paint than most are used to, especially the tip tanks. The 3D was optimized for UV space, not ease of painting.  If you look at the C-FRWK exterior_5_ALB tip tank stripes...you'll see what I mean.  Its for this reason I provide the *.FBX file for import in to Blender/Substance.

My preferred technique is to use Blender (import the FBX) and use "projected closed bezier curves"  via the "knife project" tool to cut the stripes and patterns into the 3D mesh itself mesh.  These resultant 'graphics meshes' are then rapidly baked into "graphics masks" that you can overlay on the UV for tracing with a pen tool.. or bring into Substance as a mask.

Edited July 19, 2022 by tkyler

[mirlo1]

ok, thank you very much for the answer, if you can upload it again I will try to make a repaint with it.

 

[Jagrodz]

Has anyone (other than WAT) braved this paint-kit? I'm approaching 100 hours on the default livery and I think it needs replacing soon

[tkyler]

@JohnyMcFace

Liveries will be getting some love soon.  I hope this helps others.  

 

[tkyler]

To those who have watched the livery demonstration video above.  I've made some small changes to the paint kit FBX 3D model.  You can download the changed kit via the link from the first post of this thread.

I'm splitting the "Ext 3" object (with the tail) into 3 objects.  Two "tail halves" and the rest of OBJ 3.  So you'll see 3 "Ext 3" objects total in the outliner after importing the *.fbx model.

 

 

Towards the end of the demo video, I show how the 'number 5' of the tail number did not come out as desired... and the reason the 'number 5' did not come out right was because of the way "cut through" works.  When we unchecked the 'cut thru' option, those polygons on the leading edge of the rudder are occluded slightly and so were not cut.  

Now...by separating the tail into two halves, you can select each half independently and use the "cut thru" option, which will result in a much cleaner look of tail graphics.

So...heads up / FYI

-tkyler

Edited May 20, 2023 by tkyler

[tkyler]

In reference to the demonstration video above, and for anybody curious..... here are the "cut shapes" for the tip tank for the example livery...and you can see how it gives you the pattern to trace perfectly.  

-tk

Edited May 21, 2023 by tkyler

[Jagrodz]

Hello,

Ran across an issue while having a livery made. The gold lines cut off around the back of the aircraft, but they run to the end of the UV map. Any idea how to get these to wrap around? 

[tkyler]

I'm not following.  The gold lines on the 2D uv map don't go to the end of the UV map.  

Are you wanting the gold lines "on the top" to go all the way back to the taillight?

-tk