Il-2 skinning with Gimp: how to save to 8bit .bmp file?

[Charlie_01]

On youtube I watched a lot of video tutorials about il-2fb/pf/1946 skinning with gimp.
Following the suggested procedure I managed to make a skin from a void .bmp file.
Unfortunately I can't use it since il-2 needs 8bit .bmp file as skins but using gimp you can save a merged multilayer file as .bmp only to 16bit or more.
However the first step of the standard procedure that all tutorials suggest is to edit to RGB mode. Saving just after doing so you already have a 24bit .bmp file!!
So how could I skinning il-2 with gimp as tutorials suggested??

[adlabs6]

Hi, and welcome to SPS!

The simplest way using GIMP is to export your skin as a 24 bit BMP file, then open that BMP file. Go to the menu "Image>Mode>Indexed..." and select "Generate Custom Palette" and make sure the number of colors is set to 256.

That will complete the 8 bit conversion.

Now resave the file and you should be done. Easy way to verify is looking at the file size. A 3MB size should mean a 24 bit file, and 1MB should be an 8 bit file ready for IL2 (at 1024x1024 pixels).

From there, you can step things up by using the BRIGHT tool, known for it's high quality palette generation. You'll find downloads for it in our download section here:
http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...at-general-12/

And some tutorials too:
http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...e-artists-453/

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...ng-bright-832/

[Charlie_01]

Thx very much for support.
But I couldn't find Bright where you suggested to check, only two things that seems to be some kind of plugins for it.
Or maybe do I go wrong and the file is that called Brighter instead Bright??
Would you please give me some more help and tell me an altenate path? Thx in advance.

[adlabs6]

Brighter might actually contain the plugin and the GUI together, I cannot recall.

Otherwise, the command line plugin is available on the web. I don't think we directly hosted it due to licensing reasons. Just search for BRIGHT by Erik de Neve.

[Charlie_01]

I followed all the right process but I can't see my own skin on the plane in the mission, only in preview into the object's window in FMB. What am I going wrong??

[Charlie_01]

I've just looked around reading a lot of tutorials here.
First of all I would suggest to admin to move this thread into IL-2 section since I've now find out it's probably a sim's issue not a gimp's one.
In fact I read many cases in which skins made by others editors had the same issue. Unfortunately I didn't yet find one thread where is help to solve mine.
Just one question: I read into "using bright" discussion linked above that psp needs some plugins to work properly in that process, so could be the same for Gimp too?
Any help welcome. Thx in advance.

[adlabs6]

Hi,

First thing I'd check, is the filesize of the skin. In it's 8 bit format, I seem to recall that it should be 1MB. Also, you should be able to double click the BMP file and view the image. Does it show correctly?

If not, then I would double check to ensure that the 24 bit file exported from your working XCF does not contain any alpha channels. I do remember that BRIGHT would produce corrupted results if it was fed alpha channel data.

As for GIMP needing a plugin for BRIGHT to work, I will have to research that one. The version of BRIGHT I used ran from a Windows command shell, not within GIMP.

[Charlie_01]

If not, then I would double check to ensure that the 24 bit file exported from your working XCF does not contain any alpha channels. I do remember that BRIGHT would produce corrupted results if it was fed alpha channel data.

Mmh,
maybe this could be the issue. I didn't check it because I'm not sure about how to do.
Would you please explain it step by step?
Up to now I worked on layered .xcf template in RGB format with alphas.
In the aftermath I saved it as a 24bit .bmp file and tryed either "merge all layers" or "make flat image" as gimp asked to "export before saving".
I believed that was enough to remove alpha channels from every layer. Wasn't it?
However both ways eventually failed when running IL-2 mission, so I assume it wasn't really... Or not? Helppppppppppppp!!

Instead about the file size I'm sure the outcoming .bmp file processed by Bright was 1024x1024x8bit (1MB) as well as the incoming one was 1024x1024x24bit (3MB).

Thx for all your help.

[adlabs6]

On your 24 bit BMP files, removing any alpha channels is easy. Just click on the menu "Layer > Transparency" and "Add Alpha Channel" and "Remove Alpha Channel" are there. Just click remove.

Double checking the alpha channel (and to see a preview of what it contains) can be see on the "Channels" dockable window. You can open this via menu "Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Channels". If there is no "Alpha" there with red, green, and blue, you have no alpha channel.

Beyond that there isn't much more I can think of. The easiest thing to check is opening the 8 bit BMP file. If it looks OK, then I'd have to guess it's some problem farther down the way, maybe in IL2.

I've been out of IL2 for 5 to 7 years now, so I have no idea on what's current for that simulator today.

[Charlie_01]

Thx veeeery much: it works!!!
However the oddity is that now works the first test-file too, i.e. the one processed still having alpha channel!! That sim is crazy!!!!!!!!