How to repaint aircraft for FS2004 and FSX - Part 9

The engines

The engines are next. In photoshop, open the file "Os777_pw4090_t.psd" which is located here: OS772V2_public_paintkit\Engines\PW\



Use photos of the left and right side of a Korean Air 777-200 with the engines visible. Import the "O" of the Korean Air logo like you did in the chapter Placing the tail logo and paste it in the engines paintkit, like this:



Use the Free Transform funtion to resize and position the logo. After that, add a 2 pixel stroke, like you did before with the main logo and tail logo.



Name the layer "logo 1left" and put it in the layer group "2LEFT". Duplicate the layer and name it "logo 2right". Put that layer in the layer group "2RIGHT". On the menu on top, click on "Edit", then "Transform" and then on "Flip Vertical". Position this duplicate on the lower engine part.



Now select the background layer and click on the create new layer button. Then, make a selection like this:



Fill the selection with black. With that, you are done with the engines. Creating the alpha channel is the only thing left to do. Select layer "Layer 1". use the Magic Wand Tool to make a selection. Inverse the selection. Also select the rectangle in the middle. Hold the shift key, while you select the rectangular area, so the rest will remain selected. The selection should look like this:



Then, create a new layer and place it above the other layers. Fill the selected area with light grey (#f7f7f7). Inverse the selection and fill that area with white. Save the file (as photoshop file, .psd). Select all and copy merged. Now open the file "Os777_pw4090_t.bmp". Paste in that image, so the white/grey layer is added as new layer. Flatten image and save as "Os777_pw4090_t_alpha.bmp" to OS772V2_public_paintkit\Engines\PW\ . Close the file. Go back to the engines paintkit (Os777_pw4090_t.psd) and make the white/grey layer invisible. Select any other layer. Select all and copy merged. Open the file "Os777_pw4090_t.bmp" and paste again. Then, flatten the image and save it (as Os777_pw4090_t.bmp).

Use Dxtbmp to export the texture to the texture folder of the Korean Air 777-200. Do not forget to import the alpha channel texture (Os777_pw4090_t_alpha.bmp).



The wings

The only textures left to paint are the wings. Add some dirt effects and the tail- or registration-number. Open the file "os772v2_WINGL_T.psd" which is located here: OS772V2_public_paintkit\Wings\Standard\ . First, make the layer "Shape 19" invisible, because you do not need it. Then select the layer "Layer 40". Click on the create new layer button. Make a selection like this:



Then, feather the selection by 12 pixels. Render clouds. Render fibers with a variance of 3,0 and a strength of 10,0.



Deselect and set the blending mode to "Multiply". Use the Free Transform function to resize and place the layer like this:



Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the parts you do not want (outside the flap area in this case) and hit the delete key:



Set the opacity as desired. You can also sharpen the dirt to make it look less blurry.



Another way to make dirt effects is to use the Brush Tool and the Smudge Tool. To do that, create a new layer. Select the Brush Tool and select a brush size of 13 pixels (on top of the screen). Set the foreground color to black and draw something like this:



Select the Smudge Tool and set the brush size to 19 pixels. With the Smudge Tool activated, click in the black you just painted and hold the left mouse button while you move up and down. It should start to look like this:



Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the part you do not need, the lower part in this case. Hit the delete key to get rid of it. Use the Free Transform function to resize and position it, like this for example:



Again, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the part you do not need and delete it. Set the opacity as desired.



You can use this method to add some more dirt to the flaps and other parts of the wing. I added a bit more dirt:



Now you need to place the registration number on both sides of the wing. First, place the reg. number on the bottom of the left wing. Set dark blue as foreground color (I used #171d25). Use the Horizontal Type Tool to create the reg. number (Arial, bold). Then, mirror the layer (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal). Use the Free Transform function to resize and position the reg. number so it looks like this:



The reg. number on top of the right wing is next. Duplicate the reg. number layer you just created and change the text color to a lighter blue (I used #1c416f). Use the Free Transform function to resize and position it like this:



That was it for the wings. Now save the texture for the left wing. Make the layer with the reg. number on top of the right wing (the lighter blue one) invisible. Select all and copy merged. Open the file "os772v2_WINGL_T.bmp" and paste in that file. Flatten the image and save. Close the window. Go back to the wings paintkit and make the layer with the reg. number on top of the right wing (the lighter blue one) visible and the other one invisible. Select all and copy merged. Open the file "os772v2_WINGR_T.bmp" and paste in that file. Flatten the image and save. Close the window.

You are almost done, but you still need to create the alpha channels for both wing textures. Go back to the wings paintkit and create a new layer. place that layer on top in the layers window. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool and Polygonal Lasso Tool to make a selection like this:



Select the new layer on top and use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the selected areas with light grey (#f7f7f7). Inverse the selection and fill that area with white. Name the layer "alpha channel". Select all and copy merged. Create a new image (File > New... > click on "OK") and paste. Flatten the image and save it as bitmap with filename "os772v2_WINGL_T_alpha" into folder OS772V2_public_paintkit\Wings\Standard\ .

Use Dxtbmp to create the extended bitmaps for both wings, including the alpha channel.



You are finally done painting. All relevant textures are painted, there is no need to paint the other textures. If you have followed this tutorial from the begin to the end, you have learned a lot (assuming that you are painting aircraft liveries for the first time) about textures and Photoshop.

If you decide to upload your repaints to download websites like the AVSIM Library, there is one more thing to learn. You have to create a zip file with all the textures and the right flightsim entry. In this case, you have downloaded an existing livery from the Project Opensky website. It is their general policy that you may not include the model or panel files in livery packages, so you only need to include the textures.

In order to create a .zip archive, you need a program. The founder, Winzip, is not free, but there are many freeware zip programs. One of them is JustZIPit. You can download it for free here: https://free-backup-software.net/free-zip-program.htm

I will explain how to create a zip file that contains your livery paint and needed text files. There are many ways to do it, but this method is what we use here at FSG. Create a folder (at any place you like) that contains the airline code and registration number. For the Korean Air livery it is: "kal_hl7531". Now go to the paintkit folder and copy the file "Readme_template.txt" to the new folder "kal_hl7531" and then rename it to "Readme.txt". Open the file with notepad. At "****Put your paint title here****" you can put the title of your paint, which is "Boeing 777-200ER Korean Air HL7531" in this case. Put your name at " Livery: Put your name here". After that, save the file.

Go to the aircraft folder of the Korean Air Boeing 777-200 (e.g. for FS2004: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\OS772V2_PW4000_KAL\ or for FSX: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\OS772V2_PW4000_KAL\ ) and open the file "Aircraft.cfg" with notepad. Select and copy this part of text:

[fltsim.0]
title=Project Opensky -- Boeing 777-200 - KE
sim=Boeing 777-200ER-PW4090
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=KAL
checklists=