How to repaint aircraft for FS2004 and FSX - Part 5
Boeing text - using fonts
Aircraft made by Boeing have a text with "BOEING" and aircraft type on the fuselage. It is usually located on the aft part of the fuselage. The best way to replicate that on a paint is to use a special font. On a page of the Project Opensky forum, you will find links to font websites. Download the font and add it to your fonts folder. If you are using Windows XP, then it should be located here: C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\ Note that you have to restart Windows to install this font. If you are a Windows Vista user, there is no need to restart, just right-click on the font and choose "Install".
In Photoshop, load the paintkit and make sure you have selected the layer group "LEFT PAINT HERE" (with the arrow left from it pointing down). Use the Horizontal Type Tool to write "BOEING 777-200". Select the text and change the font color to a dark blue color (I used #012148). With the text still selected, select the "BOEING" font from the font list on the right-top of the screen. Scale and position the font with the Free Transform function so it looks like this:
Rename the layer to "Boeing 777 left".
Placing the tail logo
Up next is the tail. You have to place a big "O" of the Korean Air logo, the Korean flag and the tail number. Lets start with the big logo. Go to the top menu of Photoshop and click on "File". Then click on "Open..." and open the Korean Air logo you got from Best Brands of the World (the one with the Skyteam logo in it "Korean_Air.eps"). Select 4000x4000 pixels in the rasterize window. After the image has been loaded, use the Elliptical Marguee Tool and select just the "O" part. Make the selection slightly smaller than the "O", as shown below:
You have to do that because you don't want to include a part of the "K". The "O" should be completely round and smooth. Copy the selection to the clipboard and paste it into the paintkit as a new layer. Name the layer "Tail logo left".
Now go to the Layer Style menu ("Layer" > "Layer Style") and add a stroke of 6 px with a simular grey color that you have used in the main logo on the fuselage.
After you have added the stroke, use the Free Transform function to resize and position the logo. Remember to hold the shift key while you resize it, so the logo maintains its proportions. The end result should look like this:
Placing the Korean flag - Using Google image search
Now you are going to add the Korean flag, which is located on the upper tail part of every Korean Air aircraft. Go to www.google.com and fill in "Korean flag" in the image search. Click on one of the results to see the full image. The resolution of the flag image must be larger than you need, so it looks good when resized. I used the first result, the one that is 452x302 pixels (at the time I wrote this).
Save the image and then open it in Photoshop. Drag the image to the paintkit, so it becomes a layer in the paintkit. To do that, click in the flag image and hold the left mouse button while you move the mouse pointer into the paintkit. Then release the mouse button.
Name the layer "Korean flag left". Use the Free Transform function to resize and position the flag.
Go to the "Layer Style" menu via the menu on top "Layer", then "Layer Style" and then "Stroke...". Add a
1 px stroke of a simular grey color that you have used in the big logo. The end result should look like this:
Placing the tail number
The tail number is next. You now have to make a choice: Which Korean Air 777-200 are you going to paint? Just pick one, I will do the "HL7531". Select a dark blue color and then use the Horizontal Type Tool to create the text "HL7531". This text should be made with the Arial font, Bold. Use the Free Transform function to resize and position the tail number. Name the layer "HL7531 left". The end result should look like this:
Now that you added the majority of the details on the fuselage and the tail, you need to check if it looks right in FS. This might all look right in the paintkit, but you never know how it turns out in FS. You have to export the textures again, like you did earlier.
Export the textures the second time
In the paintkit, select all via the menu on top "Select" and then "All". Click on "Copy Merged" via "Edit" at the menu on top. Open the file
"OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.psd" that is located in the "fuselage" folder inside the paintkit folder. Now go to the menu on top and click on "Edit" and then on "Paste". Change the blending mode of the new layer to "Multiply". Align the layer with the background so the new version of the fuselage fits on the old one. Change the blending mode back to "Normal". Go to the menu on top, click on "Select" and then on "Load Selection...". At "Channel", select "Fuselage top" and click on "OK". Now you have loaded the selection that you saved earlier. Make sure that the layer with the new version of the fuselage is selected and hit the delete key.
Deselect and paste the new version of the fuselage again. Align it with the Multiply trick. Load the selection "Fuselage footer" and hit the delete key again. Now go to the menu on top and click on "Layer" and then on "Flatten Image". After that, click on "File" and then on "Save As...". In the save window, change the format to "BMP" and select the "White layout" folder at "Save in:". Click on the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T" that is already there, so the same file name appears at "File name:".
Click on "Yes" when Photoshop asks if you want to replace the existing file. Save the file as Windows format in at least 24 bit depth.
IMPORTANT! When you saved the file as BMP, you can close it. Click "No" when Photoshop asks if you want to save the changes! Because if you click "Yes", then the changes will be saved in the .psd file and you don't want that to happen since you have flattened the image which deletes all layers including the saved selections.
Do the same for the 2 other files
OS772_LFuse_MID_T.psd and OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.psd. However, the last one requires more explanation. When you are going to paste the new version of the fuselage and tail into OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.psd, just do as described before, until the last part, the rear fuselage section. Before you paste, go to the paintkit and make the "Tail" layer invisible.
Then select all, copy merged and paste it into OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.psd. Now just align it, load the "Fuselage footer" selection and hit the delete key. By doing this, you will not have a white part of the tail visible on the rear fuselage.
After you are done, the 3 textures (OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.BMP, OS772_LFuse_MID_T.BMP and OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.BMP) are ready to export to the extended bitmap format. Just like you did before, use Dxtbmp to create the extended bitmaps. Refer to the chapter Using Dxtbmp to create fs textures, if you forgot how to do that. This is how the aircraft should look:
To compare the FS livery and the real livery with each other, I made a screenshot and loaded it in Photoshop together with a photo of the left side of a Korean Air Boeing 777-200. I detected a few minor problems:
1. The flag should be placed a little more to the left and down
2. The big logo on the tail should be smaller and the stroke should be thicker
3. The tail number should be just a little bit larger and placed higher
4. The "BOEING 777-200" text should be just a little higher
Edit those layers in the paintkit, so the result looks like this:
This is more like it. Just select all and copy merged and then open
OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.psd. Paste and align the new version of the fuselage and tail on the old one. Do that for all 3 parts by using the 3 saved selections. Flatten and save the file as BMP as described before and create an extended bitmap with Dxtbmp. Start FS again and lets see if it is better now.
Well, it looks quite good to me. Note that there are always minor differences between a real aircraft and a FS model, mostly due to the difference between the used photo lens (focal lenght for example) and the view distance in FS.