How can I create matching alpha textures?

[AirbusRulez]

Hi everyone. I went to Paint.net and loaded an AA A300 texture. I selected some of the metal with the magic wand. How can I create matching alpha textures for this livery? because the current alpha I am using for it does not match it too much.

[aeroplaneman]

Hi,

 

What you going to want to do is:

1. Select the area you want (as you've done)

2. While keeping the selection, add a new layer

3. Inside the new layer, use the fill tool to fill the selection with a shade of grey (white is not reflective or shiny at all, whereas black is 'mirror' like, so some form of grey should do.

4. Open a new paint.net file, with a canvas size the same as the texture you have been using (usually 1024x1024).

5. Go back to the aircraft texture, and select the alpha layer you just created.

6. Hit CTRL+A then CTRL+X.

7. Go back to the blank file you made, and add a new layer.

8. Paste the alpha you cut from the texture, into the new layer.

9. Save the alpha as .bmp

10. Open the aircraft texture file in DXTBMP

11. In the alpha pane, click on import alpha channel and find the alpha channel you made.

12. Re-save the texture as the same format it was originally in.

 

Hope this helps and let me know if you need further clarification :)

[dredick]

A much easier way to accomplish the same thing in the previous post.

 

Open DXTBMP, and under the Alpha section, select "Create Alpha Template".