Reskinning

M

MeowRailroad

CKRail
I downloaded the Cass senic railroad shay #5 from yukonzoom's site, and it comes with two tenders: a Cass one and a GC&E one. I wanted to resin them, but, I tried to open them in GIMP, there was nothing there. All of the skin file had the prefix baked_ for example Baked_tender.tga.
Could someone please explain how to get the skin to show up in GIMP, it works fine in Preview.
 
It probably has an alpha channel, which makes it totally transparent in GIMP. You could try removing the alpha channel in GIMP or PEV's Image2TGA.

Peter
 
Also, i would try switching to Paint.NET. It really works for me, and is very easy to use, even for beginners. It's also free!

Just my two cents.

Keep on truckin',
 
how do I remove the alpha channel? The is a remove alpha channel button, but it just turns the file white. also, Gimp is free.
 
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Free Irfanview is great also, and when you edit a image it automatically removes the alpha channel.

After you edit an image, some images, (but not all images) do need an alpha image put back in, so you use Pev tools: Images2tga

You should always look at what the alpha image looked like, so you can make a new one, exactly like the original alpha image.

Always work on a clone of the asset, and rename the config file username line tag, in case you mess up.
 
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does IRfanview have photoshop-like tools? What do you mean by, put the alpha image back, add the alpha channel again? Could someone please tell me how to get the textures to show up in GIMP, I tried "Remove Alpha Channel", but that just makes a white background
 
For reskinning the tender you only need to modify baked_tender.tga. It doesn't have an alpha channel and opens normally in GIMP.
The other files are used for bumpmapping (baked_tender_nrm.tga), reflections (???_hdr.tga), or not used at all (baked_engine_body...).

Peter
 
I know I need to edit it, but I can't because it doesn't show up in GIMP. I can open it, but there is nothing in the file. There is just a checkered background. When I click "Remove Alpha Channel, it just becomes a white background.
 
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The file baked_tender.tga doesn't have any alpha channel, and shows normally in GIMP. Some of the other files have black alpha channels, and are transparent in GIMP. These files are used for bumpmapping and reflections, where the alpha channels have special functions. Usually there is no need to change these files for reskins. To see (and possibly edit) the diffuse and alpha channels of these files, use PEV's Images2TGA.

Peter
 
cascaderailroad said:
Free Irfanview is great also, and when you edit a image it automatically removes the alpha channel.
Click to expand...

Careful with Irfanview and alphas, forget which version, but one does not remove the alpha channel and corrupts it and effectively screws up the image, latest version is OK, so only get it from the Irfanview site.

Irfanview has some colour correction, sharpening and resizing functions, not suitable for use for reskinning but a useful free tool to have, I use it for batch resizing of screenshots.
 
Images2TGA does not work on Mac systems so I wouldn't bother with that. As for Irfanview, I cannot find a Mac version of that either.

Shane
 
To edit the files, having a black alpha channle in GIMP, you could do the following steps:
- open the file in GIMP
- go to the color channel dialog
- deselect all channels except alpha (red, green and blue)
- set the foreground color to white (r,g,b all at 255)
- fill the complete picture with the foreground color (the picture should now be visible)
- activate all color channels
Now it's possible to remove the alpha channel (if required) and/or modify the picture.

Peter
 
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