Bumpy surface

[Aircraftprofiles]

I have a pretty simple question which i don´t think there´s a simple answer to, however i hope some of you can help me out:

How do you make the surface the fuselage look "bumpy" ? only the very latest jets have a completly smooth surface, but older birds have a somewhat uneven surface...but how do you do it ? I have seen some nice examples fx. Barons ME 410 but how do you do it ?

I have a method which works ok, but I see that many of you have far better results.

Thanks

[Serval]

This tutorial shows how to do dents around rivets

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...ed-effect-708/

[Aircraftprofiles]

Thanks ! I´m aware that the rivets cause the panels to wave a bit, but also in the middle of a panel you´ll see that the surface is somewhat uneven. I just speculated if there´s a method to give the impression of a wavy surface.

Thanks again !

[BLOWHARD]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I paint the highlights and shadows on, no filters or automatic effects. As long as you keep the internal structure in mind and put your dents away from panel overlaps, stringers, formers and bulk heads, you'll be ok.
But whatever you do, keep them subtle

Here are a few pictures to illustrate how a simple fuzzy shadow and fuzzy highlight in combination will do wonders;

Smooth, no dents-

Dents but with the detail removed-

all together-

The final product-

(That reminds me, I've really got to do a new profile some day )

[gamary]

That reminds me, I've really got to do a new profile some day

Yes, you should. Please. Good thing we haven't been holding our breath.

[Aircraftprofiles]

thanks ! it was really helpful ! could you perhaps tell abit more about how you make the dents ? it really looks convincing.

thanks for taken you time to explain !

[Clint Mitchell]

Hey Blowhard

I just felt the need to comment on how totally convincing your warped metal panel & rivet technique is. It looks superb. Very realistic! Well done!

Clint

[BLOWHARD]

Good thing we haven't been holding our breath

DAMN! I was hoping you guys would be out of air by now and I could take over this place

Thanks Clint

AP, basically you just paint in a bit of shadow and follow it up with a highlight. Kind of round-ish, depending on the light source. You could also try making a duplicate layer of your plane and erase holes in it and set that layer to bevel/emboss-but that's a little hard to control each dent. They end up looking mechanical.
Maybe this sample picture will help-

It's just a matter of imagining a dent and where the light will hit it. A "wiggly" highlight along the fuselage helps too. Generally dark on top edge and light on the bottom edge.

[Aircraftprofiles]

Thanks again ! My plans was to make some Neptunes, and I wanted to try out the bumpy surface on that one. Dents would look good too i think.

Thanks