Repainting Tutorial Index

Getting Started

Painting the Plane

Lettering and Logos

Reflections

Night Lighting

Creating a Layered PSD
(optional)

How to Repaint Aircraft - Part 4 - Reflections

We will create the alpha channel that is required for FS to display "reflections" - an effect that makes it appear that bare metal is reflecting its surroundings.

Step 1: Creating the Alpha Channel and Selecting the Bare Metal

Start PSP if not already running and open the _alpha BMP file we created in Part 1, assuming you created one.. If there is no useful alpha channel or you didn't create the _alpha file, close this useless image. Load your working BMP image and choose Mask/New/Show All. Click OK. Continue with Step 1.

If there is an alpha image there and it appears to be useful to us (as in the image at left), then go to Step 1A, Editing the Mask (below).

In PSP the alpha channel is handled as a "Mask". This is PSP's term for the effect that an alpha channel has in typical graphics applications, which is to control transparency. In fact, if the FS texture name does not end in _t (GMAX only) and/or the aircraft builder did not turn on Reflections when building the plane then the alpha channel will control transparency, not reflections. So keep in mind that while we will be looking at levels of transparency in PSP, that will translate into levels of reflectivity in FS.

Now we need to select all of the bare metal in this texture. Choose the Magic Wand Tool, and in Tool Options set the Tolerance 30, Match RGB Value, and Feather 0. The Sample Merged box should be unchecked. The Magic Wand tool selects all contiguous pixels of a color range, based on the pixel that was clicked. Click on the bare metal part of the fuselage. A portion of the bare metal will be selected. Now hold down the Shift key and click just outside the current selection. More of the bare metal will be selected - pressing the Shift key while selecting will ADD to the selection. Watch the image closely when you do this - if the entire image (or incorrect areas) is suddenly selected, use the Undo button to go back. Then reduce the Tolerance number and repeat adding to the selection.

Continue doing this with the Shift key pressed until all of the bare metal is selected. It's not important to get every single pixel, and it should avoid any painted areas or lettering.

Don't forget the insides of the numbers and letters! Also, select the passenger windows and the lens of the landing light. (Yes, I'm obsessed... :)

When doing the wings (for example) notice that there are painted areas of the wing behind the nacelles, I assume to provide corrosion resistance for the metal from exhaust, fuel, and oil. These are too close in color value to the bare metal to be able to disinguished by the Magic Wand. So, choose the Selection tool, and while pressing the Ctrl key drag a rectangle around those painted areas. They will become unselected. Pressing the Ctrl key while selecting will REMOVE it from the selection.

Once you are happy with the bare metal selection, we can start coloring the Mask. You can skip Step 1A and go to Step 2, Coloring the Mask.

Step 1A: Editing the Mask

Load your _working BMP image in PSP if not already open. Choose Mask/Load From Disk, choose All Files from the drop down box at the bottom, and browse to your _alpha image you saved in Part 1 . Select and click Open. Choose Mask/View Mask. Now if there is any gray or black in the Mask it will now become visible (red). There are also differing levels of checkerboarding, depending on the color of the Mask at that point.

The Mask (and resulting alpha channel) is a grayscale image, going from 0,0,0 (black, liquid chrome) to 255,255,255 (white, no reflections). We will use shades of light gray for our reflections, to keep it subtle. If you want a highly polished surface, just make the gray darker.

Choose the Dropper tool, which allows you to set foreground and background colors taken from the image itself (in this case from the Mask). To pick the gray color value currently being used for bare metal reflections move the dropper over a red bare metal area and click the left mouse button. This will set the foreground color as that gray. If you click the right mouse button instead, you will set the background color. Note: the Dropper is not a good tool to use when we are editing our layered PSD images, since it picks up the merged color of many layers.

You will see areas where the old lettering used to be that didn't turn red. We need to make these gray (red) again. Choose the Flood Fill tool and click in these areas; they should turn red. If the area is not completely surrounded by red, you'll need to surround the area with gray (red) first using the Paint Brush Tool before using the Flood Fill tool. Remember the Undo button for mistakes!

Now we need to exclude our new lettering from reflections. Choose Mask/Edit Mask to stop editing the Mask and go back to the main image again. Ignore the checkerboarding and red color for now. Now choose the Magic Wand tool with a Tolerance of 30 and click on the lettering, selecting it. After the first click remember to hold the Shift key down to extend the selection. Vary the Tolerance as needed. You will also need to select any painted areas (like white fuselage tops or stripes) if they are red. You can use the Magic Wand, Selection, and Freehand tools for all of this selecting, pressing Shift to add to the selection and pressing Ctrl to remove from it.

Choose Mask/Edit Mask. Click the foreground color in the Color Palette and change the color to pure white from the Basic Colors area. Now choose the Flood Fill tool and click inside each of the selected letters and painted areas. They will have the red removed from that area, signifying that they will have no reflections in FS.

When you are sure that you have finished this process, Select None. Choose foreground white and make the background gray by right clicking a red area using the Dropper Tool. Then use the Paint Brush tool to remove any stray gray (red) pixels still present in the painted areas (left click/drag) and add gray (red) pixels to any bare metal areas that aren't red (right click/drag).

These effects are subtle, so you may not choose to get every last pixel - I know I don't! I just make sure that the majority of the painted areas are white, and the majority of the bare metal areas are red. I leave lots of stray pixels around.

You don't need to Color the Mask, so you can skip to Step 3, Saving the Alpha Channel.

Step 2: Coloring the Mask

We currently have all of our bare metal selected from Step 1. Choose Mask/Edit Mask, and then Mask/View Mask. You won't see any change at this point. Where we paint any gray or black in the Mask it will now become visible (red). There are also differing levels of checkerboarding, depending on the color of the Mask at that point.

The Mask (and resulting alpha channel) is a grayscale image, going from 0,0,0 (black, liquid chrome) to 255,255,255 (white, no reflections). We will use shades of light gray for our reflections, to keep it subtle. If you want a highly polished surface, just make the gray darker.

I will use 214,214,214 as the gray color value for our bare metal. Click on the foreground color in the Color Palette and click the squares to find the square that is 214,214,214. Click OK. Choose the Flood Fill Tool and then click inside the areas we have selected. These areas will turn light red and checkerboarded, signifying that they will be reflective in FS. When happy with all of the bare metal areas, Select None.

Now use the Paint Brush Tool to paint any stray bare metal pixels gray (red). You can also choose pure white and paint any stray painted pixels that got painted gray (red).

These effects are subtle, so you may not choose to get every last pixel - I know I don't! I just make sure that the majority of the painted areas are white, and the majority of the bare metal areas are red. I leave lots of stray pixels around.

Step 3: Saving the Alpha Channel Image

Now let's convert this Mask into a new Alpha Channel. Choose Mask/Save to Disk. Choose All Files from the drop down box. Browse to your plane's texture folder and if you created the _alpha file in Part 1, click once on it. Click Save.

If you didn't create an _alpha file yet, name the new file the same as your original texture, with _alpha added at the end. My example file is named dc6_lftfwd_t.bmp, so I would name this file dc6_lftfwd_t_alpha.bmp. You must add the .bmp to the file name in this box. Click Save.

If you haven't actually changed your _working BMP image lately, close it without saving it. If you want to save it anyway, you need to first delete the Mask. Choose Mask/Delete Mask. The box at left will appear. YOU MUST CHOOSE NO OR YOUR IMAGE WILL BE RUINED!! If you mistakenly click Yes, choose Edit/Undo and try it again, saying NO this time.

Now you can produce the final aircraft texture from our images as described earlier (Part 2, Step 2).

That completes the daytime texture - congratulations!

Let's move on to Part 5 - Night Lighting

Return to the Classic Airliners.

	Start PSP if not already running and open the _alpha BMP file we created in Part 1, assuming you created one.. If there is no useful alpha channel or you didn't create the _alpha file, close this useless image. Load your working BMP image and choose Mask/New/Show All. Click OK. Continue with Step 1. If there is an alpha image there and it appears to be useful to us (as in the image at left), then go to Step 1A, Editing the Mask (below). In PSP the alpha channel is handled as a "Mask". This is PSP's term for the effect that an alpha channel has in typical graphics applications, which is to control transparency. In fact, if the FS texture name does not end in _t (GMAX only) and/or the aircraft builder did not turn on Reflections when building the plane then the alpha channel will control transparency, not reflections. So keep in mind that while we will be looking at levels of transparency in PSP, that will translate into levels of reflectivity in FS.
	Now we need to select all of the bare metal in this texture. Choose the Magic Wand Tool, and in Tool Options set the Tolerance 30, Match RGB Value, and Feather 0. The Sample Merged box should be unchecked. The Magic Wand tool selects all contiguous pixels of a color range, based on the pixel that was clicked. Click on the bare metal part of the fuselage. A portion of the bare metal will be selected. Now hold down the Shift key and click just outside the current selection. More of the bare metal will be selected - pressing the Shift key while selecting will ADD to the selection. Watch the image closely when you do this - if the entire image (or incorrect areas) is suddenly selected, use the Undo button to go back. Then reduce the Tolerance number and repeat adding to the selection. Continue doing this with the Shift key pressed until all of the bare metal is selected. It's not important to get every single pixel, and it should avoid any painted areas or lettering.
	Don't forget the insides of the numbers and letters! Also, select the passenger windows and the lens of the landing light. (Yes, I'm obsessed... :)
	When doing the wings (for example) notice that there are painted areas of the wing behind the nacelles, I assume to provide corrosion resistance for the metal from exhaust, fuel, and oil. These are too close in color value to the bare metal to be able to disinguished by the Magic Wand. So, choose the Selection tool, and while pressing the Ctrl key drag a rectangle around those painted areas. They will become unselected. Pressing the Ctrl key while selecting will REMOVE it from the selection. Once you are happy with the bare metal selection, we can start coloring the Mask. You can skip Step 1A and go to Step 2, Coloring the Mask.