Locomotive Painting

D

DieselElevators

ALCO Whisperer
I seem to ask a lot of questions, however I guess it's for the bright side of things. I was wondering what the best way was to paint a locomotive or piece of rolling stock. I have Trainz 2010 EE which I currently use, however I also have Trainz 2006 that comes with Paint Shed. (2006 and paint shed not installed right now) I've heard of redskin as well, which seems like it's a different thing completely. How could I paint a few locomotives for myself? And which way would be able to work in TS2010EE without any sort of problems. (like faulty assets, etc.) Anyone who knows, please reply. Thanks. :)
 
Firstly, completely disregard Paint Shed. It last worked for TRS2006, and doesn't work in anything after.

For reskinning, the method is to clone an asset and open the clone for edit in Explorer, through Content Manager. (Ctrl + Shift + E) Then open the associated texture file/s in an image editing programme. Photoshop is good ifr you have it. If you don't, like me, there are many people who use GIMP or Paint.NET, which are both free.

Once you've done the reskinning, save the texture under the same name and make sure to Commit the asset in Content Manager (Ctrl + M).

The actual methods of reskinning I do not know as I'm not a heavy reskinner myself.

Regarding faulty stuff: As long as you don't reskin an item showing as faulty, it won't show as faulty after reskinning.

Kieran.
 
Edit in Explorer, through Content Manager (Ctrl + Shift + E), then open the config file and change the name.
Be sure to leave quotes in place to avoid getting errors.

After that, re-commit the asset (CTRL-M).
 
BuilderBob said:
For reskinning, see here:
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Tutorial_for_Reskinnng_a_Locomotive_using_Paint.Net

You change the display name for an asset by typing the new name into the asset name box in the description pane in Content Manager.
Click to expand...
The more permanent solution is to open the config.txt file up and change its name in the 'username' entry.

This is key if you're going to release the skin, otherwise the original name will still be visible to the downloader.

Kieran.
 
When you saved the texture file, did you tick the compression box? This needs to be unticked
 
It's not faulty anymore, however it just doesn't want to pop up. I had this problem once with another locomotive, and it just took a few minutes for it to start working.
 
captainkman said:
The more permanent solution is to open the config.txt file up and change its name in the 'username' entry.
This is key if you're going to release the skin, otherwise the original name will still be visible to the downloader.
Click to expand...

If OP is contemplating releasing the reskin there are plenty of other items that need changing, including the icon, thumbnail and description. There is almost certainly additional update work required for the asset, and the question of permission.

Until that happens, updating the display name is adequate.
 
DieselElevators said:
It's not faulty anymore, however it just doesn't want to pop up. I had this problem once with another locomotive, and it just took a few minutes for it to start working.
Click to expand...

If you have trainz running in the background while you reskin that could be why. Make sure you commit it after every window/file related to the asset is closed, including the windows explorer file (my computer etc.)
 
Also, getting PEV's Mesh Viewer 2 utility will allow you to view the mesh without having to go into Trainz to see! :D

Kieran.
 
I got Gimp a few months ago but couldn't figure it out. I read here that Paint.net was good and had a guide to it's use in Trainz. GREAT!! So I tried to download it. BAD idea! Totally failed to do so. I wound up with something called "WeCare Reminder" or some such that was malware. Five hours later I think I got my PC fully functional again. Thank Microsoft for System Restore. So, anyone got a tutorial for doing Trainz skins in Gimp?
 
Hmm, that's very odd. This is the official link and I've not had any problems with it: http://www.getpaint.net/

Also, at the license agreement section/s, make sure the agreement is actually for Paint and not another programme like the one you mentioned.

Kieran.
 
Some of these download sites are a little deceptive and you need to be careful which link you click. However, I just followed Kieran's link and, while it took me around a couple more links, I did download the zip file. My antivirus said it was clean. BTW the actual download link was http://www.dotpdn.com/downloads/pdn.html

Actually I think Paint.net is just as confusing as GIMP. All those windows all over the screen annoy me. If I had to choose one over the other I would choose GIMP.

For the original poster I suggest you also get a copy of PEV's Images2TGA which is Trainz friendly and can do some clever stuff. It is not an image editor like Paint or GIMP but can be set up to launch those programs if required. I use it a lot.

You can get Images2TGA via Shane's site at http://trainz.shaneturner.co.uk/tutorials/index.php/home/utilities/pevsoft-trainz-tools

Also, I had to ask - is there any reason why the OP could not use PaintShed with TS06 and then import the CDP from his/her modified loco/traincar into TS10? That might be an easier option although I see she/he has already had some success.

I still have some Paintshed pdf file giving instructions. They are a bit ancient - just like me. :hehe:
 
SuperFudd said:
I got Gimp a few months ago but couldn't figure it out. I read here that Paint.net was good and had a guide to it's use in Trainz. GREAT!! So I tried to download it. BAD idea! Totally failed to do so. I wound up with something called "WeCare Reminder" or some such that was malware. Five hours later I think I got my PC fully functional again. Thank Microsoft for System Restore. So, anyone got a tutorial for doing Trainz skins in Gimp?
Click to expand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUbx5vWa3WU
 
I've just been reading through this as I want to reskin myself. However, There seems to be a problem with the reskinning tutorial- it doesn't say how to open a .im file in Paint.net once you've opened it in Meshviewer. Can anyone help, please?

Thanks!
 
The .im file is the mesh file - think of it as the wire frame shape that the "skin" fits over - you do not open the .im file to reskin. The file you need to open will be a .tga or .jpg file which is the "skin" that fits over the mesh - some assets will have lots of these files so you will need to know which one(s) contain the skin that you want to edit.
 
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