How to reskin?

[amtrak2041864]

I want to reskin a engine but I don't know how to do it? Can I get some help please. And with this knowledge of reskining I could one day start modeling.

 

[PBY357]

well the first thing you want to do is find editing program. This could be something like GIMP, photoshop, or paint.net. Once you have chosen a program ( I use GIMP ) open up CMP and find the asset you want to skin. Hit edit in explorer and look for something called main.tga, (asset name).tga, skin.tga... and drag it into your editing program. Then you can use various tools to paint, weather, and letter your loco's skin. When you save it in GIMP though make sure the check box RLE Compression is unchecked. After that, take the file back into the asset folder exit out of explorer and then commit your asset!(Make sure you clone the original!!)

 

[Rafter]

Isn't there also something called Paintshed?

 

[PBY357]

Obsolete my friend. Heck its almost 10 years old.

 

[mjolnir]

Reskinning is not hard; just assign the right parts of the image to the right part of the mesh, and it is a piece of cake.

However, locomotives are some of the most complicated objects to reskin, and I would suggest starting with a somewhat simpler asset. The first asset that I reskinned was one of the built-in boxcars. I changed the roadname, car number, advertising slogans, and added a bit of historic graffiti: the bozo texino, and herbie markings. Next I reskinned a covered hopper. Actually, I did several copies of both the boxcars and the covered hopper, each with different numbers.

But a critical point that pby357 did not mention: make certain that you do not change the dimensions of the file you are modifying. If it was 1024 x 1024, the replacement image file must be the same size.

ns

 

[xcrossi]

How about start with a scenery idem
I used textures from internet or trainz.
I use paint shop pro 8.1
In my opinion PSP 8.1 is the most stable version.
Many / most Photo Shop plugins work.
Photoshop Extended Cs6 For $969. WHAT!
Paint Shop Pro 8.1 about $100. If you can find it.
You can even use PSP V7

[/URL]

Gerry

 

[boc61]

Reskinning is not hard; just assign the right parts of the image to the right part of the mesh, and it is a piece of cake.

However, locomotives are some of the most complicated objects to reskin, and I would suggest starting with a somewhat simpler asset. The first asset that I reskinned was one of the built-in boxcars. I changed the roadname, car number, advertising slogans, and added a bit of historic graffiti: the bozo texino, and herbie markings. Next I reskinned a covered hopper. Actually, I did several copies of both the boxcars and the covered hopper, each with different numbers.

But a critical point that pby357 did not mention: make certain that you do not change the dimensions of the file you are modifying. If it was 1024 x 1024, the replacement image file must be the same size.

ns

This is basically what I want to try. I don't like graffiti, even if it is a fact of life in reality, so I want to see if I can remove it from some rolling stock I like. There are also pre numbered locos I'd like to have several of. I installed Gimp, I just haven't had time to look at the documentation.

 

[mjolnir]

I have to confess that I find some graffiti less objectionable than others. And the ones I specifically named are paft of US railroad historytemporary markings in chalk or crayon. These were created in a time when there was a good deal of officially sanctioned writing on the car sides in crayon, and should not be confused with the elaborate spraypainting on car sides today.

ns

 

[johnwhelan]

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Basic_Reskinning_for_beginners

Do the basic scenery object first then try your hand at locos afterwards. I prefer Paintshop Pro XI, around $10 on ebay, but others are happy with GIMP or paint.net both of which are free.

Cheerio John

 

[BuilderBob]

I want to reskin a engine but I don't know how to do it? Can I get some help please. And with this knowledge of reskining I could one day start modeling.

Thre is a tutorial here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Tutorial_for_Reskinnng_a_Locomotive_using_Paint.Net

 

[mjolnir]

... <snippage> ... I installed Gimp, I just haven't had time to look at the documentation.

Well, GIMP (and Blender, too) are POWER TOOLS, and I recommend before doing anything with power tools, that an essential resource is here (warning: no TRAINZ content! <http://youtu.be/weES52xpoDs>). The key message to take from the video, is that it is important to know how to use one's power tools. In the case of GIMP, there is a WIKIbook, <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/GIMP/> which is a low cost starting point. As an adjunct, or supplement to, this, there are tutorials on the GIMP website <http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/>. Learning how to use GIMP, (or your other preferred image processing software) however, is only part of the process. Another, equally important point is to study how the original creator skinned the model in the first place. This is done by using utilities like those by PEVsoft, available from Shane Turner's site, image2tga, or AssetX. These can help show how the image was mapped to the asset.

A couple of additional points: there have been a few assets that, at the time I contemplated reskinning them, I could not seem to decode how the original skin had been mapped. THere were others where it quickly became clear that the skin I proposed to substitute would not work, given the way the original skin was mapped. I also did not have much command of my tools at the time. With the advancements and improvements in my skillset that I now have, I suspect that if I were to go back and revisit some of these intended reskins from before, I would now be able to reskin some of those I previously considered, and abandoned.

A lesson from my short curriculum in woodworking in middle school might be of some utility here. We spent 6 to 12 weeks learning about wood and the tools we were going to be use to form it, before they turned us loose on the shop with a try square (cf. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_square>).

ns

 

[captainkman]

This probably won't be of much help but I wanted to get it out there. I do have a short tutorial on reskinning one of my assets that will apply to a lot of other assets too.

http://mbxlocoworks.jimdo.com/tutorials/written/reskinning-the-matchbox-locos/

 

[xcrossi]

This is basically what I want to try. I don't like graffiti, even if it is a fact of life in reality, so I want to see if I can remove it from some rolling stock I like. There are also pre numbered locos I'd like to have several of. I installed Gimp, I just haven't had time to look at the documentation.

Send me a kuid of a box car you would like to repaint.
I use PSP8.1 and I downloaded GIMP and it has all the features that you will need.
Ill use GIMP to paint over box car.
If you have a clean boxcar by the same author,type and RR it might save some time.

Gerry