getting underneath paints ?

[gigemaggs99]

I'm new to the repainting side of the hobby.

I currently use DXTBmp to open the .dds files and then use either GIMP2 or Paint.net to repaint my aircraft. I'm on a $0.00 budget so I can't afford Photoshop

I've been able to do some fun things with BLANK white paint kits. It seems like they (blank paint kits) are hard to find. So, is there a process I can take a currently painted aircraft and stripe the layers off so I can get back down to the original clean paint?

It would also be helpful to know, if I start with a blank white paint kit and add layers of paint, logos, text, etc... and then once I'm finished I "merge the layers" back to 1 "base layer". If in the future I want to alter/edit parts of those layers can I break/decompress (not sure the correct term) the layers I've previously created?

One of the reasons I want to get back to the original aircraft and not just paint WHITE over the current file is I'm not sure how to go about adding all the rivots, windows, door frames etc....It seems like painting them back on would be very difficult to get their exact locations.

Also, is it possible (please describe if so) to add a silvery/chrome/reflective effect to the planes? I see there is a sticky on this for Photoshop but I can't seem to find those same features (listed in the sticky instructions) in GIMP2 or Paint.net. I don't know if it's just not possible or if there is another way to go about doing it.

Also, is what I'm talking about (the base layer) to referred to as the "alpha"? I'm not sure what that term is referring to.

Thanks for any help suggestions.

[gigemaggs99]

I read the Aritcles section on "how to become a repainter" and it describes in Part 9 that he opened the texture file and removed the previous livery.

That's what I want to know how to do, how to you remove the previous livery without deleting the base images, i.e. rivots, door frames, etc.?

It seems like this would have been a very useful step to include in the "how to" instructions.

[CXA001]

Once you merge or flatten and image and save it as a DTX3 or DDS file, you can not remove layers afterwards from that file afterwards.

You will need to save the orginal file that has all your layers in it and you can simply hide the layers that you don't want to include. (i.e. logos, paint, etc.)

If you don't have the orignal files anymore, then you will have some time consuming work ahead of you trying to remove the existing livery and blending everything.

Hope this answers your question.

[Flying Officer Jevans]

The alpha channel of the image is an extra channel alongside red, green and blue. Usually it determines transparency of the image, but when applied to an aircraft, it will control one of a combination of things, depending on the way the aircraft was programmed. Sometimes changing the alpha will change the shininess, or sometimes other parameters about the aircraft. You can access the alpha channel in the top right corner of the DXTBmp screen.