Specular textures for FSX

[JoeW]

I'm trying to do some textures for FSX and am having a problem with the Specular texture. I'm using Photoshop 6.0 with the nVidia addons to do DDS textures. Can someone point me in the right direction to build this from the exixting texture?
Also ..... I'm having a bit of trouble with the textures making a chrome surface. I have tryed making it the same as the default and it doesn't work. I suspect that since I don't have the specular right that this is affecting the chrome.
Thanks
Joe W.

[adlabs6]

Hi there Joe,
Yes it sounds like maybe the specular is not right. A first question to ask: Does your texture show 'any' reflectivity at all in FSX? If there is some showing, then at least you know you are on the right track.

I'll review some of my notes on this and post back with what I find. In the mean time, I've done some writing on this subject in a tutorial I wrote for FS2004. The basic concepts should still apply with FSX, at least they're worth a try.
http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...ng-fs2004.html

[JoeW]

For FS9 I had the polished metal down pat. I also had a gold color that looked like it was with reflections.
Yes, the textures do have reflections .... even the gray looking thing thats supposed to be polished is shiny. But it's gray and not polished looking.
I noticed that if you place a color in the specular that color is reflected back lightly looking like a pearl finish or some of the newer multi- color finishes. I can't get that to happen.
Thanks for answering
Joe W.

[JoeW]

OK .... heres what I have done in the mean time. I opened the default Beaver and found what I think was the spinner texture. copied the colors and this is what it was:
Main color level: 8, 8, 5
Alpha:252, 252, 252
Spec main:5, 4, 5
spec alpha:21,22,22
This gave a black spinner on the aerosoft beaver.
I tryed reversing the main with:
color:252,252,252
alpha: 8, 8,5
This gives a gray spinner thats glossy but not a polished metal finish.
Joe W

[adlabs6]

Ok, well that gives some great clues.

Getting a very shiny polished look, like a mirror, might be possible with a mid-gray color. Try 128,128,128 to start. Then you can make the alpha layer as dark as you dare. This should get a polished look going.

As I recall, when I did polished metal effects for the DC3 in FS2004, I got a better result with a darker gray color value, rather than lighter. It seemed to have better contrast.

Let me know how this turns out, and you can post screenshots too if you like.