Need Advice For Repaint

[jimst57]

I'm trying my hand at a repaint for the Cherokee. It's my first try at it and I'm having some trouble getting the stripes to wrap around the bottom.

Here's the plane I'm trying to paint:



Here's where I am so far:



And here is the trouble I'm having:



I know WHERE on the paint kit that I need to paint them, but I'm having trouble getting them to line up. You can see this problem too on the cowling where I tried to continue the stripe.

So, are there any good tutorials out there that would show me how to line up the stripes? Thanks.

[spacejunkee]

The paintkit has a layer in the top of the stack called ..... that contains the unwrap for the geometry. I'm away from my PC and can't remember the name.. It's not visible by default. Good luck and have fun with it.

[bastins]

The paintkit has a layer in the top of the stack called ..... that contains the unwrap for the geometry. I'm away from my PC and can't remember the name.. It's not visible by default. Good luck and have fun with it.

It sounds like you're referring to the "mesh" layer.

This mesh layer should help you visualize the model a bit better, but unfortunately, there will still be a lot of trial-and-error. Lining up seams is by far my most dreaded aspect of painting

On that note, I would recommend using ModelConverter X if you aren't already. You can use it to view your repaint, which is much, much quicker than constantly loading FSX itself, especially when lining up these seams.

[jimst57]

The paintkit has a layer in the top of the stack called ..... that contains the unwrap for the geometry. I'm away from my PC and can't remember the name.. It's not visible by default. Good luck and have fun with it.

It sounds like you're referring to the "mesh" layer.

This mesh layer should help you visualize the model a bit better, but unfortunately, there will still be a lot of trial-and-error. Lining up seams is by far my most dreaded aspect of painting

On that note, I would recommend using ModelConverter X if you aren't already. You can use it to view your repaint, which is much, much quicker than constantly loading FSX itself, especially when lining up these seams.

Thanks. ModelConverter X sounds like it would same some time. I'll check it out.

[spacejunkee]

The paintkit has a layer in the top of the stack called ..... that contains the unwrap for the geometry. I'm away from my PC and can't remember the name.. It's not visible by default. Good luck and have fun with it.

It sounds like you're referring to the "mesh" layer.

This mesh layer should help you visualize the model a bit better, but unfortunately, there will still be a lot of trial-and-error. Lining up seams is by far my most dreaded aspect of painting

On that note, I would recommend using ModelConverter X if you aren't already. You can use it to view your repaint, which is much, much quicker than constantly loading FSX itself, especially when lining up these seams.

Exactly .mesh. Got to love brain farts.. I have many years in 3D stuff and was scratching my head today.

Thanks for clarifying.

[CBris]

Yes, wrapping straight lines around lower fuselages is one of the trickiest excercises for repainters.

One of my most frequent requests at model developers has always been for them to draw a series of lines directly on their mdl (i.e. around the curves). This can be done on 3D models with most 3D programs. Then all they need to undo is to unwrap this "lines" layer to provide a flat 2D layer with these lines on. Of course, we can continue to extrapolate from the meshes, but this is not the easiest method because the polys don't always follow logical needs.

This is not an impossibility - at least one developer has obliged in the past.

But for now it simmply means practice, practice practice

[EightyFiftyFive]

...and sometimes you have to get right down to painting one single line of pixels and then painting each pixel at a time to make it fit right.

[Ron Attwood]

...and sometimes you have to get right down to painting one single line of pixels and then painting each pixel at a time to make it fit right.

Ending up with 'Gotcha you bastard!'

[EightyFiftyFive]

...and sometimes you have to get right down to painting one single line of pixels and then painting each pixel at a time to make it fit right.

Ending up with 'Gotcha you bastard!'

but then those paints are the ones I make $$ with. I mean I have to draw the line somewhere!