Template Help

[Stackup]

Hi everyone, I downloaded the official template from the ED website and it only had a preview image and the DIF and SPEC psd's for the fuselage included.  I attempted to try a simple bare metal design by erasing the yellow stripes, it looked fine in the dds file, but looked like this in game.

I don't know what exactly the SPEC file is supposed to be since it doesn't look like the Roughmet files these usually come with so needless to say I'm confused.  I also noticed that the US AIR FORCE on the tail is higher on the right than the left and on the right there is the same text but in the matte gray and in line with the black on the other side.

I can fix the lettering and stuff easily, but how do I get the matte gray to go away and be polished silver like the rest of the jet?  I've also noticed in other liveries I've downloaded there are way more than just the DIF, SPEC, and lua files.  They have seperate files for drop tanks, helmets, pylons, gear, etc.  Are these supposed to be included in the official template or are these all custom psd's someone made?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Art-J]

Not a skin maker myself, but I've noticed the website says official template dates back to Dec 2016 and that would mean it's just not compatible with current DCS anymore.

Somewhere in 2019 Sabre and MiG-15 switched from spec maps to roughmets, so there's you answer, partially at least!

When that happened, guys doing custom Sabre skins had to redo all their older ones, and make new ones using their own unofficial templates. I don't know if SkateZilla's template (the one in a sticky thread) is up to date, but maybe there's one from Jocko, Rick, Reflected or SubZero available somewhere. I don't remember to be honest - look around the User Files section. Or maybe some good soul will post a relevant link here. Good luck!

 

[Stackup]

8 hours ago, Urbi said:

In the SPEC.psd you have a group B in which there is a flat USAF. make a duplicate of this and cut out the areas of the faces shown in yellow on the main model.

Okay, I did that and I seem to have made the entire skin matte instead of glossy...

8 hours ago, Urbi said:

you added the lettering U.S.AIR FORCE. If you want to assign this and also a number other than the 24 and the letters FU-, make a duplicate of that diff above the PLANE USAF. change the transparency until it matches the USAF level.

I didn't add the letters, they are a part of the "color" layer in the Diffuse group, all I did was remove the yellow from that layer.  Where is "PLANE USAF"?  Is there a reason to change transparency if you just turn the lower layer off?  Here's what my DIF.psd looks like.

8 hours ago, Urbi said:

the provided SPEC.psd should be full-fledged for a roughmet due to the coloring.

I guess I'm not seeing the coloring, it all looks pretty gray to me.  Other roughmets I've seen have a lot of bright colors but this one doesn't.  I copied the USAF layer and removed the areas like you said, but it turned the whole airplane matte and I don't understand why or really how roughmets work aside from the color of the roughmet determines the finish.  I am using GIMP if that makes a difference although it hasn't before.  Here's what my Spec.psd looks like.

Thanks for the reply, any further help you can give would be much appreciated!

[Stackup]

Thanks Urbi!  I haven't done hardly anything with roughmets before but I knew it wasn't supposed to be gray.  Should've known it was an issue with Gimp and formatting, thanks so much for the .xcf!

null

[cookiemonste]

Hi Stackup, one more tip:
Don't forget to generate mipmaps, it looks like you forgot to generate them.
Makes it look much nicer at different distances. Removes the jittering from textures at a distance.

And generally, I wouldn't recommend using Urbis method. It's inprecise.

You should work in channels.
Ignore the red channel for now. Green is the glossiness, it determines how shiny or matte your surface is.
Stencils, Roundels, oil streaks for example.

White means matte, black means gloss.

 

The blue channel is the roughness. It determines how metallic (rough) something looks.
White means less metall, black means more metall.

Your best bet is to add a white and a black layer to the layer you want to edit, that's how you can tweak it the easiest to your liking.

The lighter an area is, the more matte it will be.

 

It's best to disect an existing roughmet in Gimp to see how its structured.

Try this template, it's basic but it gets the job done. 
Because the thing Urbi gave you is no good.

https://mega.nz/file/t64GnIJK#ol0y5jYlWUynAQM4A9KVi9AD770rgL2Qw0eJzYQhlUo

[cookiemonste]

Urbi, I have no idea what you are trying to say. Only that you don't use Gimp.

[Wyvern]

2 hours ago, Urbi said:

Hello mister coociemonste!
If you are so smart and call my help not good, I would ask you to convert according to the template of ED F-86F_SPEC.psd for Gimp in such a way that the RGB channels are also implemented as colors, which in PS is created by a layer style done. When opening the psd, gimp indicates that the gimp cannot enable this yet. It was a solution for Stackup and I didn't intend to delve further into Gimp since I work with PS. nice that the experts from the Liveries Art Group can only give smart advice. I could have saved myself the work if these experts had already responded to Stackup's problem.

 

Urbi, there is a very simple solution to doing this. it only takes maybe 10-15 clicks.
I dont know what youre trying to convert, repack or whatsoever.
The reason why nobody has replied yet, is simple: We have other stuff to do than looking at the forums 24/7.
Things like actually trying to impove upon our own skills, or learning how to do things properly. 

As multiple people (including me) keep pointing out, you dont know what youre talking about. You may somewhat know how it works, but the way you work with it, its inprecise and simply incorrect.

You dont work with Purple, Orange or other mixed colors. You also dont just make it a specific color. 
You blend with Red, Green, and blue, by using Layer Groups, the Lighting only setting, and the Darken only setting for the content in a lower layer grou, followed by one of the 3 colors.
Typically your Blue channel is either 0% or 100%. you cant have something that is half metal. It either is Metal or not.
The rest is controlled by Working the Green channel. 
your Red Channel is ALWAYS the AO layer (that you will find in all templates) and nothing other, or else your livery is going to look like <profanity> in certain lighting conditions. A good example for what it can cause is my "RoughMets for Su-33" post on the userfiles, where all the dirt turns fully black in a shadow, due to using an Incorrect method of making roughmets (which is the one youre using)

Please educate yourself on how to actually do this properly, or just dont spread your misinformation.

Although, now I have to motivation to make a tutorial on how to make RoughMets, to stop ignorant idiots like you from spreading misinformation.

Kindest regards, Wyvern.

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Wyvern

[cookiemonste]

27 minutes ago, Urbi said:

Gimp it only showed gray areas. for this smart talk from the artists of the Livirie Art Group. try your alphabet on textures like Mig-25, Mig-23; Mig-27 or Ch-53 or also C-17. creates a roughmet there according to your method. have fun.

I have created my own roughmets, for AI aircraft as well.
And I dont understand why the colour is that important to you, 
Do you paint your roughmets directly or what?

Try german with us, since your english is no good, we can barely understand you.

[Wyvern]

1 hour ago, Urbi said:

there they all come crawling out of their holes. they made an appointment again. there is an original spec of ED that wanted to use stackup and when used under Gimp it only showed gray areas. for this smart talk from the artists of the Livirie Art Group. try your alphabet on textures like Mig-25, Mig-23; Mig-27 or Ch-53 or also C-17. creates a roughmet there according to your method. have fun.

Those "gray areas" are the <profanity> for the channels sherlock. this just shows that you actually have no idea on how to do this.

here, I even made a tutorial for you. Ive put in about as much effort, as I enjoy talking to you

 

[Slippa]

Well, as a complete novice fumbling around trying to make sense of skinning, not to mention decipher DCS templates, I watched the video so cheers.

I have PS so will need to spend more time messing around with it. Good to see people trying to help the OP understand, all coming from the right place.

I watched a few videos of people hunting pieces of puzzled templates and got quite lost pretty early on.

Good luck getting sorted Stackup.