How to repaint aircraft for FS2004 and FSX - Part 8

The right side

It is time to create the layers for the right side. Start with the layer "Main logo left". Duplicate the layer and rename it to "Main logo right". Drag the layer to the layer group "RIGHT PAINT HERE" and make that group visible. Make the layer group "LEFT PAINT HERE" invisible. Select the duplicate "Main logo right" and click on "Edit", then "Transform" and then on "Flip Horizontal". Reposition the logo by using a photo of the right side of a Korean Air 777-200.



Go back to the layer group "LEFT PAINT HERE". Drag the layers "Blue" and "Grey" out of that layer group and drop them between "LEFT PAINT HERE" and "Layer 5". Change the color of those layers to orange.



Duplicate and edit the other layers in the group "LEFT PAINT HERE", just like you did with the main logo.



Since you are working on the right side of the fuselage, it is time to add the cargo doors. There are 4 different layer groups for 4 different cargo doors. The cargo doors are only on the right side of the aircraft, that is why the layer group colors are green. You need to make the groups "BULK CG DR", "SML AFT CG DR" and "FWD CG DR" visible. The layer group "LG AFT CG DR" should stay invisible, because this aircraft does not have a large aft cargo door, it does have a small one instead (which is the layer group "SML AFT CG DR").

Before you can export the right fuselage and tail to the right side textures, you have to make all right layers and layer groups visible and then left ones invisible. Make sure that these layer groups are visible: "RIGHT PAINT HERE", "right detail" and "right fairing". Make sure that these layer groups are invisible: "LEFT PAINT HERE", "left detail" and "left fairing". Open the layer group "Windows" and make the layer "RIGHT" visible and the layer "LEFT" invisible. Also, make the layers "Jetway dirt 1" and "Jetway dirt 2" invisible.

Now you are ready to export the right fuselage to the right side textures. Use the same method as you did for the left side textures in the chapter Export the textures for the first time .

Export the left side textures as well, so you can check how the aircraft looks in FS. It should look like this:





Perhaps you are not happy with the color tone of the blue and grey main colors. It is quite easy to adjust them. Lets adjust the blue main color. Select the layer "Blue" and click on "Image" at the menu on top. Then click on "Adjustments" and then on "Hue/Saturation...". I did set the saturation to +20 and the lightness to -5.



For the grey color, I changed the saturation to -50 to make it more grey. With this method, you can change the color tint of every layer.

Alpha channels

You are done with the fuselage, at least with the visible part. Now you are going to create alpha channels. Open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.psd". In the layers window, select the white background layer. Click in the red area with the Magic Wand Tool. Hold the shift key and click on the pink cross inside the cockpit windows which will deselect that part.



While holding the shift key, make a selection around the copyright text by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. Do the same with other parts, until you only have both fuselage parts selected. Create a new layer and place it on top in the layers window. Fill the selected area with white by using the Paint Bucket Tool. Now set the front color to a very light grey (I used #f7f7f7). Inverse the selection. Fill the selections with the light grey. Deselect and name the layer "Alpha channel". Now save the file as photoshop (.psd) file. Go to the menu on top and click on "Layer" and then on "Flatten Image". Now save the file as bitmap (.bmp) with the filename "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T_alpha.bmp" in the folder "White layout".

IMPORTANT! When you have saved the file as bitmap, you can close it. Click "NO" when asked to save the file.



Create alpha channels for the other 2 textures (OS772_LFuse_MID_T.BMP and OS772_LFuse_REAR_T.BMP) by using the same method. There is no need to create separate alpha channel textures for the right side textures, because those are identical to the left side textures.

When you are done, start Dxtbmp. Open the file OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.BMP which is in the folder fuselage/White layout inside the paintkit folder. When the texture has been loaded, click on the alpha channel import button and select the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T_alpha.bmp", which is also in the fuselage/White layout folder.



Now you can save the texture to the texture folder of the Korean Air Boeing 777-200 like before. Do this for the remaining 5 textures as well. You have to import the alpha channel each time when you export textures.

Light textures

No, you are not done yet with the fuselage! You have to create the light- (or night-) textures that are used from dusk 'till dawn for the lights behind the windows, landing light shine on the fuselage and the tail light.

The night textures are included in the paintkit, ready to use. However, you changed the window layout a bit and on top of that, you changed the look of every window, except the door windows. So that's why you have to edit those night textures, every one of them.

First, you have to export the alpha channels of all the night textures. Start Dxtbmp. Open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L.bmp", which is in the folder fuselage/Night Textures. Click on the "Export Alpha Channel as Bmp" button. Then, browse to the paintkit folder and then to fuselage/Night Textures. Save this file as "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L_alpha.bmp".



Do the same with OS772_LFuse_MID_L.bmp and OS772_LFuse_REAR_L.bmp. There is no need to export the alpha channels for the right side, because those are basically the same as the left side.

After all alpha channels are exported, go to Photoshop and open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.psd". Then, open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L.bmp", which is in the folder fuselage/Night Textures. Once open, select all and copy. Close the window. Go to the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.psd" and paste. Place the night texture layer on top in the layer window. Name the layer "Night texture".

Go to the paintkit in Photoshop and select the layer "LEFT", inside the layer group "Windows". Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select all the windows like this:



Copy the selection and paste it as new layer into window with the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_T.psd". The layer should be on top of all other layers. Make the layer "Night texture" invisible, so you can align the windows you just pasted with the windows on the background. After that, make the layer "Night texture" visible again. Make sure you select the layer with the windows and go to the menu on top, click on "Image", then on "Adjustments" and then on "Hue/Saturation...". Move the "Hue" slider all the way to the left, so it says "-180" and click on "OK".



Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to cut off the part of the right window that sticks out. Paste the windows as new layer again and do the same with the lower-left part of the fuselage. After you placed and adjusted the windows for the lower-left fuselage part, there is one more thing to do. The window right to the door should not be there. To remove it, select the layer "Night texture", set the foreground color to black and use the Brush Tool to remove it. The end result should look like this:



With the layer "Night texture" still selected, select all and copy merged. Open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L.bmp", which is in the folder fuselage/Night Textures. Paste the modified night texture, flatten the image and save it. Use the same method to create night textures for the other 5 texture files for the fuselage.

When you are done, start Dxtbmp. Open the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L.bmp". Then, click on the import alpha channel button and select the file "OS772_LFuse_FRONT_L_alpha". After that, click on "File", then "Save as" and finally on "Extended Bitmap". The save file window will show. Select "DXT3" at "Save as type:". At "Save in:", browse to the texture folder of the Korean Air B777-200 folder in FS2004 or FSX (e.g. for FS2004: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\OS772V2_PW4000_KAL\texture.KAL\ or for FSX: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\OS772V2_PW4000_KAL\texture.KAL\ ). Now you can hit the save button.



Do to same with the other 5 texture files for the fuselage. When you are done, export the normal textures as well. You need to do that, because you changed the color tone. After that, you are finally done with the fuselage! If you do not want your livery paint to be that dirty, you can adjust the opacity of the dirt layers until you are happy with the way it looks. You can also export textures with and without dirt to make a dirty and a clean version.