Need Good Texturing

[boleyd]

The following represents what I believe to be a properly textured engine/locomotive. I can't show an improperly textured example because that would bring attack messages for saying bad things about a Creator. But they are unfortunately the normal thing that I see. The mechanical structure is usually quite good but the paint is almost always a bright color that is probably brighter than the new model had. In fact all colors on the engine are very bright. A couple of months in the sun should dull the colors. There is usually no attempt to represent long term exposure to the elements as we see below. To properly show this effect takes some artistic talent that is not evident with most engines. I understand that the engines most exposed to the public are in much better condition. However, while the passenger units are pristine freight units do show some wear.

Yes, there are people who do not need a realistic appearance. But there may be a few who would enjoy the simming experience a little more if the engines reflected real life.

One final note - the majority of freight cars do show proper wear and tear. Why engines have to look like mono colored cartoons seems inconsistent.

 

[sniper297]

Lettering is too white, needs to be duller and faded, trucks need grease and rust. :hehe:

I can tell you exactly why most people don't weather locos - you. I've offered to teach you how to weather, I've offered to even do the weathering for you if you tell me which of your favorite locos you want to be weathered, but you always ignore my offers and go on to complain about the lack of weathering. So the simple reason why people don't weather locos is because you're not happy unless you have something to complain about, and if every loco was weathered you would need to find something else to complain about. So they're really doing it for you. :hehe:

 

[whitepass]

Most of us do it as you can add weathering but removing it is a lot harder.

 

[WAB1189]

Some of us find it alot harder to weather a engine than say a box car. Also weathering is a art in itself. Just because you can do one doesn't mean you can do the other to.

Jason

 

[boleyd]

I think Jason has it right. I do not have the artistic talent to manipulate the tools in a fashion that is needed for an engine. So others may also not feel comfortable doing it as well.

 

[boleyd]

I am the same as the food critic that can't cook. It is not easy being a critic. I could actually be wrong and then I am exposed. I can't cook and I can't paint. My self-worth is shattered. I become hospitalized and a burden on the welfare system. If someone would just have weathered more locomotives the Government could have saved thousands. :'(

My therapist says that if I had, at least tried painting, the therapeutic value may have saved me from emotional bankruptcy. I would no longer have to haunt the forums day and night in search for the perfect loco.

Lettering is too white, needs to be duller and faded, trucks need grease and rust. :hehe:

I can tell you exactly why most people don't weather locos - you. I've offered to teach you how to weather, I've offered to even do the weathering for you if you tell me which of your favorite locos you want to be weathered, but you always ignore my offers and go on to complain about the lack of weathering. So the simple reason why people don't weather locos is because you're not happy unless you have something to complain about, and if every loco was weathered you would need to find something else to complain about. So they're really doing it for you. :hehe:

 

[sniper297]

I don't have any artistic talent either, I just keep cloning new ones and slop paint around until one attempt looks better than the unweathered model, then delete all the failures. To my eye even a poor sloppy attempt at weathering looks better than unweathered, and since I'm cloning and leaving the original alone, I really have nothing to lose by trying.

 

[slabay]

Hey! I know that loco!!

I've got to say thanks for posting the screenshot. I do everything on a laptop, and I really don't have the greatest graphics (GeForce 9400M, Plain Jane mobile chipset). This is the first time I have seen a screenshot of one of my locos "in game" with that kind of detail. I know how I detail them because I can see it on the skin when I make it in Photoshop, but I've tried turning my detail settings all the way up and still fall short.

Lettering is too white, needs to be duller and faded, trucks need grease and rust. :hehe:

I know you were just making a point (I saw the little :hehe: guy there!), but I'll agree with you! The SW's have always been my favorite locos, and it has been because they are such hard working and frequently abused locos. Sure, there's a certain glamor in something like a set of SD70ACe's that run the long hauls across the country, but it is the little switchers that go out and round everything up so they can do what they do. And honestly, they just don't look very good while they do it! They've just GOT TO be grungy. PC9537 was one of my first reskins, so I was still learning when I made it. (Hell, I'm still learning. I'm a firm believer in the old adage that you never stop learning) For a better example, I'd go with PC9565.

My CP1299 is pretty rough too.

I think I've gotten a bit better on the faded lettering with these two. Take them for a spin!

 

[sniper297]

Maybe someday I'll be able to do rust half as good as you, that's probably the most realistic rust I've seen yet.

The way I do it is create 3 or 4 or a six pack, I have been uploading the clean shiny fresh out of the paint shop unweathered original along with the others, just in case someone else wants to do his own weathering. Nobody ever does, this community is either too lazy or too timid to even try, apparently.

Trying an experimental paint scheme for Phil's IndustRail, make one, clone three times, start vandalizing the clones. First step is renumbering and I usually do the hue - saturation - lightness to get various degrees of fading.

PEV's Mesh Viewer makes Trainz dead simple compared to the other two trainsims, since you can reload the mesh viewer after each save to see the effect instead of having to exit and start the game over and over.

Way too much contrast to look realistic, rather than trying to fix it I just copy the TGA files from the original and try again. As bad as that looks, I'd still rather play with the one on the left than the unweathered one.

 

[slabay]

Confession: I learned a lot from your tutorial with the three blind mice in the paint shop when I started. It is a great place to start! (can't find it right now to add the link)

Right now, I'm working on heritage units, which will be clean by their nature (I haven't seen anyone let their heritage units go to hell yet), so no weathered skins there. My FEC #714 is a unique paint job and is used for the OCS, so no weathering there, either, but aside from that, I've been trying to give a weathered skin and a clean skin.

Dirt and grime are nice weathering , but why stop there? Another technique I devised and experimented with on 9565 is to paint the loco like it would really be painted. I have a gray primer base coat, and if I was doing the IndustRail locos, the entire loco would be painted yellow, then a layer of red would be painted on top of the yellow for the cab and stripes (although for a really large area like the cab, it likely would not have been painted yellow first, so try it without the yellow on the cab). Using different "grunge" style brushes and the erase tool, I play with the transparency and fill in the erase tool and erase the layers of paint so that the top layer of paint is "worn away" and shows the under layers (patches of primer showing through the yellow, or some of the scare stripes on the nose worn to show the yellow underneath). Finish up the abused paint job with a healthy dose of filth, and Voila!

My VRSX101 switcher seems to have been overworked in the shop lately, and I think we need to buy a "new" switcher to help out. I've got another idea to try out now....... Looks like VRSX102 is in the works!

 

[tbryson2]

In my opinion, do yourself a favor and get a FREE copy of the GIMP. (just google it) Or spend about $35 (US) on Paint Shop Pro. Learn how to use them. It is NOT difficult! It is far more difficult to texture the entire engine (car) than just to add some weathering! You might find out you enjoy modifying engines. THEN get the original authors permission to put them on DLS!

I have to admit that my early engines are not weathered properly. Almost too new! (although one IS a show engine designed to only look good for exibitions). I have since been weathering them before releasing. I had forgotten about making them "duller" due to the oxidation in the paint after being in the sun for awhile. Need to work on that.

I too find that way too many engines or cars are way too bright and need to be toned down a bit. I vote for realism!

TB

 

[sniper297]

"can't find it right now to add the link", yeah, got some requests to declutter all the stickies that were piling up, so I compiled into one sticky;

http://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?310257-Tutorial-links

Relevant links in that one;

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

And the one you're talking about I made specifically for that lazy ingrate :hehe: from Pittsburgh;

http://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?301358-Painting-tutorial

Seriously, I'm not being modest or self-effacing when I say I'm not very bright or talented, it's simply a question of jumping in and trying, and keeping at it until you get the hang of it. If I can learn this stuff anyone should be able to.

 

[boleyd]

Ok, first shot... Using Gimp - the name shows my skills.

 

[kin3]

I agree. Most equipment is built to do a job and not necessarily look pretty. Weathering just looks real. This also goes for building, especially the one near the tracks.

 

[boleyd]

Can't find 9565 on DLS

Hey! I know that loco!!

I've got to say thanks for posting the screenshot. I do everything on a laptop, and I really don't have the greatest graphics (GeForce 9400M, Plain Jane mobile chipset). This is the first time I have seen a screenshot of one of my locos "in game" with that kind of detail. I know how I detail them because I can see it on the skin when I make it in Photoshop, but I've tried turning my detail settings all the way up and still fall short.



I know you were just making a point (I saw the little :hehe: guy there!), but I'll agree with you! The SW's have always been my favorite locos, and it has been because they are such hard working and frequently abused locos. Sure, there's a certain glamor in something like a set of SD70ACe's that run the long hauls across the country, but it is the little switchers that go out and round everything up so they can do what they do. And honestly, they just don't look very good while they do it! They've just GOT TO be grungy. PC9537 was one of my first reskins, so I was still learning when I made it. (Hell, I'm still learning. I'm a firm believer in the old adage that you never stop learning) For a better example, I'd go with PC9565.

My CP1299 is pretty rough too.

I think I've gotten a bit better on the faded lettering with these two. Take them for a spin!

 

[clam1952]

Some interesting stuff coming out of this thread, may have revisit my use of the airbrush!

Edit: Try kuid:528206:100223 in content manager or the new DLS its showing in both here.

 

[slabay]

Can't find 9565 on DLS

You should be able to click on the link I made of PC9565 in the original post and here and is should open your CM and download it. If you search the black pages for 9565 it is the only thing that comes up- it is for TS2009 (no service packs), so it should be pretty easy to find. It is <KUID:528206:100223>, or search for my username and category "locomotives" and it was the 8th one down for me.

 

[sniper297]

Hmmm, new DLS has no FTP link, I tried copying the \restricted\yadayada into the address bar and got redirected to a porn site. So much for all the McAfee site advisor and adblocker stuff. :hehe: OT, anyone besides me getting that constant annoying Yfrog social popup from imageshack? I downloaded adblocker plus specifically for that one, but it don't work.

Back on topic, Dick, that don't look bad at all for a first attempt. Main thing is to add new layer or copy and paste as new layer, hack away at the top layer, then reduce the opacity of the top layer to make it less obvious. A little more transparent, a little less transparent, oops to much, now too much the other way I can't see my weathering at all, essentially the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

 

[JohnnyC1]

There is a plug-in for PSP and Photo Shop that will do the weathering for you, it's called "Color Efex Pro 3.0." My copy came bundled with PSP 4 & 5 Delux editions, if you have PSP 4 the plug-in can also be used with PSP5, just point it to the PSP4 plug-in folder.

John

 

[sniper297]

I got the old Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, works okay for most things. I tried the trial version of the latest Corel Paint Shop Pro and promptly uninstalled it, cleaned out the system registry, and got rid of every trace of that Protexis crap. I won't buy anything from people who dump obnoxious DRM garbage on me without warning.