paint kit

[teisco]

I see there is a paint kit for customizing GSX vehicles ,,, I did not find a download for this at the site.

[Captain Kevin]

Are you running FSX or P3D V4. The paint kit was only for the older GSX vehicles, as far as I can remember, so it isn't available for the new GSX vehicles in P3D V4.

[teisco]

Ok then,,where can I find current textures for vehicles and crew? I know I can custom them via the way described in manual but as a working texture artist I want to get to the raw dds files.

[virtuali]

I don't know what do you mean with "raw .DDS files".

A .DDS file is the farthest think from a "raw" file, assuming with "raw" you mean the term generally used in digital photography, where raw is the highest quality file you can get from the camera, which you can then edit and convert to a compressed format to share it, like .JPG. In this regard, with .DDS being a lossy compression format, it's more similar to a .JPG in digital photography, that is the opposite of "raw".

In case of the GSX vehicle customization, what you can do with the included tools, is to choose between a set of different "base" colors, and add a custom logo you can create. This is very easy, as long as you create the logo following the specs, which usually means a .PNG file (eventually with an Alpha channel ) with an aspect ratio of 4:1, so for example 512x128 is a good choice for a logo.

If you wanted to do a more complex customization, it would be quite tricky, since textures for most of the latest GSX vehicles ( all the PBR versions, for example ) are not made using Photoshop with layers, which used to be a common method for repaints. We use Substance Painter, which can take the 3D model and allow to "paint" in 3D over it, using different kind of tools and filters, which all work over multiple "channels" ( Albedo, Roughness, Metallic, Height, Normal, Opacity, etc. ) at the same time, and then generate the output textures in the format required by P3D, which will finally be converted to .DDS.

So, ideally, to create a complete repaint that won't be limited to choose the base color and apply a logo over it, you would have to buy Substance Painter, and we would have to share the working project in the Substance Painter format, which is not something as common as a .PSD file that might be eventually used with other products too, but it's specific to Substance and it's even changes at each release, so it will likely require a Substance *subscription*, since each time the program is updated ( several times a year ), the format changes and you can't open files made with the latest version with anything other than the latest version.

That's why we chose to stick with the simpler Base color + Custom logo approach, which is way easier to use for everybody, and doesn't require an expensive subscription to a commercial product.

[teisco]

So even if I could get to all the texture files for all the vehicles I could not modify them? I think I could..I work for sim devs and paint product for them.

They have to be stored somewhere on my pc so where is the question?

Maybe I should tell you what I want to do and it is way beyond the method described in the manual..I want to texture the busses and other to a more vintage look and also want to texture the aircraft crew (captain, stewardess,,ect) to match the vintage livery I am doing for the A2A Connie.

Thanks to your great software I have made the original Constellation steps work but now want to texture items to match..any help you could provide would be wonderful..

[teisco]

[virtuali]

So even if I could get to all the texture files for all the vehicles I could not modify them? I think I could..I work for sim devs and paint product for them.

Nobody said you "cannot" modify them. Just that is very hard, since they haven't been made by a human to make them easy to edit, like those you will likely find on an airplane Paint-kit, with all parts ( wings, fuselage, engines ) easy to identify, because the UV shells were made this way. And possibly with a multi-layer .PSD, to make them even easier to repatint.

Some of the older GSX vehicles made pre-PBR ( which are being progressively phased out and/or relegated to the FSX version ), were made this way, but the issue is, with proper PBR models, nobody works like that anymore. Well, not exactly, some flight sim developers still use the old methods, but I guess this will go away when everybody will finally graps PBR, which doesn't simply mean "better metals", it's way more than that, it means textures are generate automatically and UV shells are tightly optimized, so if you try to open them to "paint", you'll likely have a very hard time doing that.

And, of course, you'll have a lower quality, by opening an already compressed .DDS, editing it and saving it back.

They have to be stored somewhere on my pc so where is the question?

Of course they are, they are standard objects with their own TEXTURE folders, with heavy usage of Fallback, to optimized space. If you want an example of, try this:

Addon Manager\Simobjects\PBR\FSDT_Staircase_CDS_2438\texture\FSDT_Staircase_CDS_2438_ALBEDO.dds

That's the base color for the non-powered passenger stairs, open it with something that can open .DDS, and see how "easy" is to repaint it.

[teisco]

Thanks,,I save all work as 32 bit DDS files...this is for me, not for work,,and keeps me sharp at 76 years..
I assume I can find all textures at above address?

[teisco]

Its a start,,a bit more retro..have to figure out how to find the crew textures than it should work ok..