Paint Chiping

[TrueKill]

I make skins for Aces High and want to know how you guys make the paint chips look so real in IL2. I use Photoshop 7 and cant get them to look good they always come out looking like crap.

[adlabs6]

For my paint chips, I always used the selector tool to select a single panel area. Then I use a single pixel brush tool, with maybe 15% opacity to "scrub" around the edges of the panel in a random way. Then I might use the eraser to clear off certain areas to make the effect more subtle.

Then just keep selecting another panel, and repeating the process.

Now for paint wear not related to panel edges, I would paint on big ugly sprays of light gray all along the main panel lines. Then I use the "add noise" filter to grain up the paint sprays. Now just blend that layer into the main paint using layer trasparency, and maybe some layer blending effects. The key for my technique is being very subtle with my effects. Attached is a sample of what this looks like.

[Serval]

Well, there are very different ways of doing it.

The most common I think: Add a new layer.
Select a middle grey maybe with an very little bit of blue in it.

Hardedged Chips: (often around panellines): Use a one pixel Pencil tool (so not the Brush) and start drawing.

For paint fading: Use a brush and set the opacy of the layer as low as you think it is looking OK.

When I have a template with a metal look I make a camouflage layer over it and then Use the Erase tool and erase the parts where I want metal looking through.

And I think the engine of the game also helps us. So, you should experiment to get the best results for AH.

We hope to put up some tutorials that will be helpfull. And then to discuss here which trick do or do not work for which game. That is exactly what this forum is about.

Take a look at this topic and look at the screenshots.
http://france-simulation.ipbhost.com...showtopic=1315

It is French, but you can translate it with http://babel.altavista.com The English will be bad, but it sure will give you some ideas how one of the top skinners for IL-2 makes his skins.

[UF_Zargos]

Hello.
I've been looking for a good paint chipping method for years ans years. Eventually I've discovered that I have to use different techniques according to what I intended to do.
Roughly speaking you have heavily weathered planes (late war japaneese planes for example) on one side and the other ones.

Heavily weathered planes
Start by painting a bare metal layer that you place under your paint scheme layers.
Once your paint scheme is finished place all the layers on a layer group and create a fusion mask associated to this group. Then place your bare metal layer under the group. You can now scratch the paint using the group fusion mask to let appear the metal layer under the chips. Large chips may be roughly drawn with the polygonal lasso and their edges finely detailed with the rubber tool (1 to 2 px size). Small chips are directly drawn with te rubber tools.

Other planes
You don't need to create a bare metal layer neither a group for your paint scheme layers. Nevertheless it is usefull to create a group including paint chips layers (a layer can be related to a specific part of the plane). Then you can draw the paint chips with the Photoshop selection tools and fill the selection with a metallic gradient. Eventually detail the edges as I told you above.

Wether your plane is heavily weathered or not keep that in mind :
- Paint chips appears first on wing edges, mobile parts (flaps, rudder, etc.), maintance pannels and on places where crewmen can step.
- Try to match to shape of the chip with the proccess that create them, as for example footstep don't make the same chips as wind effects.
- Paint chip have always sharp edges. So don't use blur filter or equivalent tool, use sharpening effects to get more realistic redenring.
- Paint chipping is certainly the longest and most difficult task to perform when making a skin.

Things don't come falling from the sky, so be patient, try as many ideas as you can. It took me at least three years of skinning to improve my chipping technique. But I must say I'm quite proud of the skin I'm making know.

These two ones are a significant sample of what I'm curently making :





I hope these few hints would have helped you.
I you need more advice send me a PM.
Cheers

[SkyChimp]

Hello.
I've been looking for a good paint chipping method for years ans years. Eventually I've discovered that I have to use different techniques according to what I intended to do.
Roughly speaking you have heavily weathered planes (late war japaneese planes for example) on one side and the other ones.

Heavily weathered planes
Start by painting a bare metal layer that you place under your paint scheme layers.
Once your paint scheme is finished place all the layers on a layer group and create a fusion mask associated to this group. Then place your bare metal layer under the group. You can now scratch the paint using the group fusion mask to let appear the metal layer under the chips. Large chips may be roughly drawn with the polygonal lasso and their edges finely detailed with the rubber tool (1 to 2 px size). Small chips are directly drawn with te rubber tools.

Other planes
You don't need to create a bare metal layer neither a group for your paint scheme layers. Nevertheless it is usefull to create a group including paint chips layers (a layer can be related to a specific part of the plane). Then you can draw the paint chips with the Photoshop selection tools and fill the selection with a metallic gradient. Eventually detail the edges as I told you above.

Wether your plane is heavily weathered or not keep that in mind :
- Paint chips appears first on wing edges, mobile parts (flaps, rudder, etc.), maintance pannels and on places where crewmen can step.
- Try to match to shape of the chip with the proccess that create them, as for example footstep don't make the same chips as wind effects.
- Paint chip have always sharp edges. So don't use blur filter or equivalent tool, use sharpening effects to get more realistic redenring.
- Paint chipping is certainly the longest and most difficult task to perform when making a skin.

Things don't come falling from the sky, so be patient, try as many ideas as you can. It took me at least three years of skinning to improve my chipping technique. But I must say I'm quite proud of the skin I'm making know.

These two ones are a significant sample of what I'm curently making :





I hope these few hints would have helped you.
I you need more advice send me a PM.
Cheers

Hehe looks good! but when you go to the tail get a little sloppy(Cluttered)

[SeaNorris]

Looks great.

[UF_Zargos]

Hehe looks good! but when you go to the tail get a little sloppy(Cluttered)

Can you explain. Actually my english is not very good and I don't understand "sloppy" nor "cluttured".
May be you mean that when approaching the tail I should reduce the paint chipping ?

[SkyChimp]

Can you explain. Actually my english is not very good and I don't understand "sloppy" nor "cluttured".
May be you mean that when approaching the tail I should reduce the paint chipping ?

Right above (5) reduce it there

[Lord ReDhAwK]

Hehe, Ignore the Chimp Lord Zargos. That skin is outstanding

ReDhAwK