Dents!

[Harlequin]

Hey all!

I'm just messing around with weathering techniques for a while, trying to find some methods I like while I wait for some books to arrive from the States... i hadn't painted in a long time, so i wanted to see if I could still do it!

Currently working toward doing a series of desert schemes for the Targetware P40 series - RAAF, RAF and French especially.

Hard as I try I can't seem to replicate the dents I see in my photos - both small indents and larger ones where a gun barrel or engine hoist has smacked against the aircraft during maintenance. I've tried using dodge and burn, drawing the outline and then blurring it, and then underlaying it with a highlight etc.

I've seen some really good attempts at replicating dents around, especially in some of the profiles that were kicking here before the crash/new forums...

What are some tips, ideas or hints to getting dents to look right??

Here's what i've been working on so far, about 1.5 hrs work. Panel lines are of course not accurate to any a/c I just wanted to see what the weathering i was working on would look like against the colours.



As you can see the above looks pretty flat at the moment... in desperate need of livening up!

Don't worry about the handprint, I over did it a bit to see what it would look like. Was based on a photo of an RAAF Kittyhawk II (P40F) in which some member of the groundcrew has left a huge oily handprint on the fuselage.


or ? hehe

Regards,

H


OH BTW: I use PSP, not photoshop

[Erretje_1.JaVA]

Brilliant!!

[adlabs6]

Hi there!

Most of my panel wear effects are a sort of rough noise, lighter in tone for highlights, darker for shadows. As I improved I tried more to make the shading NOT look like a quitling however. Primarily this created some visual interest.

Dents, I can't recall doing any dents before on my skins. The first thing that pops to mind is using a filter that creates some blocky patterns, like 'crystalize' or somthing similar. I tested this on a gradient tone, maybe something like this could provide the starting point,

[Jesters-Ink]

I've messed with dents on profiles and on skins, but don't add them on all aircraft. This link shows how they look on my profiles ---> ScreenShot Prints Just click the thumbs to get to the half sized images. I tend to use a small brush (1 black, the other white) on 2 layers, one for each colour. Blob away til they look about right, alter your opacity then merge ...

[Serval]

A simple trick the works for some dents is making a thin line in a blending color. Then apply the Bevel layer style and play with it.

[Harlequin]

Thanks guys. Jester: your 109 profile was what I was originally thinking of. I love it.

I tried Jester's technique of using the colours - below is 2 mins of plugging pixels to see the effect.




Adlabs: Thanks for the tip mate, it'll be a time consuming process if I go through and try to place each individual one. I need to add some more surface texture to my works generally so I'll experiment with some of the ideas you suggest.

Serval: I dont' think PSP8 has a bevel blending option on layers... i'll keep looking!


Thanks guys and keep the ideas and feedback coming!

H

[e-b-o-]

aehmmm, Harleq, are you working on the p40's that are allready released (ingame)???? if so, pls contact Mossie, there's a new P40 3D model on the way... (which need some mapping adjustments... (imho))

[Jesters-Ink]

I find the "by hand" bit the only way for a lot of things m8 (I'm talking photoshop).
The mechanical method more often than not results in poor lighting levels between areas where edges join. It then becomes very hard to hide these areas in tghe finshed skin.

[Harlequin]

Jester: From the few things I done so far, I'm starting to agree. I think it's worth going through by hand - gives the skin a more individual over-all effect and enables you to match photographs.


Ebola: I knew the revamped p40 series was in development, and has been for quite some time - the old one is starting to look very out of place. I didn't know it was anywhere near completion though. I'd rather not work on something that will be made obsolete... I'll talk to mossie. I just don't think my work is up to the current standard for default skins!

Harleq

[e-b-o-]

when I take a look at your posted image above I don't see a reason why you shouldn't make a default skin for TW. and you're allready registered at the most important site when it comes to aircraft textures.
(just if you want, of course. it has to be done completely from the scratch. otherwise I'll take it )

(but before you start on this ask for a some changes on the mapping, or you'll run into some problems with the pixel density)

oh, and pls check your pm