A Thank you to all that support this site....

[Jib01]

I just created an account here and am new to skinning. It's great to have a place to go and learn the ins and outs of how to do this stuff. I have Paint Shop Pro XI and Photoshop CS and some others. I have lots of questions so maybe someone can point me to the right place to get the answers ?

Question 1 - On a layer that has been created for Text and Markings only, how do you mirror only one marking or text without the others mirroring also ?

Question 2 - On transitions from one color to another like in camos, how do you get them so clean ?

Question 3 - How do you get the skin to be reflective ?

Regards and again thanks to all you that support Simmer Paint shop.....

Jib01/02

[adlabs6]

Hi and welcome!

I'll give a shot at a these questions...

1) To mirror a single marking there are a couple of options. A) selecting and copying just that one marking, and copying it to it's own layer, then doing the mirror on that layer B) selecting the marking, and then doing the mirror tool on only the selected area, which should leave the other unselected markings untouched.

2) A very common method is using a brush tool with a decently wide feather, so that a clean gradient forms.

3) If this is for FS2004, then you can control reflectivity with the alpha channel of the repaint. We don't have a specific tutorial on this at present, but I've done it several times so I can discuss it more if you'd like.

[Jib01]

Ok, on 1B I don't know what you mean.

B) selecting the marking, and then doing the mirror tool on only the selected area, which should leave the other unselected markings untouched.

when I make a selection the selection dashes seem to be the art. It does not select the text. Still trying to understand the Vector to Raster conversion and how that is done.

Regards
Jib01/02

[Serval]

In Photoshop Text is never on the same layer as other things.
If it is then it is rasterised (Layer - Rasterize).
You seldom need to rasterize text. And I wouldn't do it as long as you really do not need it.

Mirroring a selected area can be done with Edit-Transform - Flip Horizontal or Vertical.

[adlabs6]

Hi again, yes Serval is right about the text being a separate layer, which is probably what you've got in this case.

To get past this you need to get the text rasterized and then on the same layer as the marking you are wanting to mirror. I'll list some steps in this process below, and these steps will have in mind efforts to preserve the original text.

Firstly you'll need to figure out which layer the text that goes with the marking is on. I'll assume that that layer only contains text for this one marking for this example. Duplicate that text layer, and then turn off visibility on the original. This leaves you working on a copy of the text, with the original safe.

Next, as Serval mentions, you'll want to rasterize your text layer. In PS this is found under: Layer - Rasterize

Now to prepare for combining with the other part of the marking (assuming there is some raster art to go with this text?). In the simplest way that also preserves your existing markings, make a selection around the one marking which you wish to edit. My version of Photoshop Elements has a one-click method that I use, found under the menus: Layer - New -> Via Cut. This step will remove the marking from it's existign layer, and move it to a new layer of it's own where we can now also add our rasterized text.

Adding the text can be done by placing the two layers with our separate components directly next to each other in the layer stack. One directly above the other. Select and make active the top layer of the two. Now use the menu command Layer -Merge Down to combine this top layer with the one directly below (which is why the must be correctly positioned).

Now you should have a new layer, containing a fully rasterized version of the marking you wish to mirror. Like Serval mentions above, Edit - Transform - Flip Horizonal/Vertical should do it.

Hope this helps.

[Jib01]

Ok, I got it knocked now. Very easy once you learn the tricks.

So now I can do repaints but the last thing I need to know is how to get reflectivity on the repaints, alpha channels and such.

Keep it simple.....

regards
Jib01/02

P.S. The key to good repaints is a good psd file by the originator...

[adlabs6]

Glad that was a help.

I'd say that a good foundation in alpha is outlined in this article I wrote, check it out and you'll have a decent grasp of the concepts, tools, and techniques. From there I can try to answer some specifics if you've got any.

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...ng-fs2004.html

EDIT: Indeed a good layered PSD from the developer is really a BIG help!