Skinner’s Den

[Norby]

There are nice cobra3 textures in Z-GrOovY Ship Repaints and alternatively you can use the Respray for Griffs OXP.

[Amah]

"cobra3_redux.png" file that I modified and I saved this new version into the AddOns folder

This is the texture of the old model used until 1.77. Now you should modify the oolite_cobra3_diffuse.png and place into an AddOns/my.oxp/Textures folder if you do not want to replace it in the original place.

as a follow up: the new default textures come as RGBA. I don't know much about PS but if you want to edit them you have to decompose them to seperate R, G, B, Alpha channels with it as well. Save the Alpha for later. Recompose as RGB texture. Now, edit your texture (e.g. work with layers, paste your decals etc). If you are finished, flatten the texture in case you used layers. Add a black layer mask, copy your former Alpha channel into it, export the finished texture as PNG. Done.

I put the already decomposed cobra3 base diffuse texture and the saved alpha lightmap online here.

/e: I thought there might be more people interested in customizing just their player ship (instead of all cobra3s), so I uploaded an experimental oxp here, that replaces the player cobra3. You just have to edit textures to your liking and follow the Howto in the readme folder to export the finished texture.

/e2: updated the oxp with a layered example xfc:
The example texture features a "! I break for Anacondas !" bumper sticker layer, the pseudo decal layer, two layers for the two colours and a greyscale base diffuse texture.

hope it helps,

[Ranthe]

OT: With adobe's recent decision to move its products over to subscription based licensing i've been seeing a lot of people on graphics forums posting up links to alternatives to most of the adobe products, here's one i hadn't heard of that seems to be highly regarded - it looks like it's mainly suited for linux users although there appears to be 'an experimental' windows build, i haven't tried it myself so i don't know if it's any use for Oolite oxp making
"Kitra" - http://krita.org/

My vote goes to GIMP. The recent version does everything PS can do - including opening psd files, minus adobe's blatant highway robbery. Plus it runs on just about every platform.

Having used both Krita and GIMP, my recommendation is that GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) would be the better application for OXPers doing ship textures. It's not that Krita is inferior to GIMP as such, it's that Krita is more aimed at the digital artist rather than image manipulation.

[Amah]

For anyone interested in giving their ship an individual touch, yet another follow up on how to edit your player cobra3 (s.a.):

I uploaded another version of the experimental oxp -> here <- to replace the player cobra3.
The example_diffuse.xcf was updated with a normalmap layer to keep the bumps and ridges and the paintscheme was corrected from the wrong scuffed cobra3 version to the right default one. Added an example_diffuse_altpaintscheme.xcf for reversed colours. The colour layers now come with a mask for easier texture handling.

Some possible paintschemes (Griff clean, deep purple and  colonial red (e.g. #c32c1d)):


hope it helps and have fun customzing

/e: added some screenshots with different example colour schemes for inspiration.
/e2: see OCPC project for updates

[Imaginos]

Thanks Amah, that's awesome.

[Marte]

I don't know if this is the correct place to post, but as 2D artist (and Blender renderer, in a time/galaxy far far away... ), I really can't resist to tune up/pimp my favourite ship: the "Eagle Long Range Fighter" (thanks to ADCK, for the addon).

Now, after a pair of weeks of work, I'm happy with the result and I need to show you my retexture work.



Well, I'm not Griff (/ME KNEEL), but I like the result, in game.

This is certainly a personal use work (with textures and images "stolen" all over the world using "Google Images", with "the starry sky above me, the moral law within me...and the fair use in my heart! [sort-of-quote] ), but may be I'll continue also with MkII, III and so on...

[another_commander]

The Dark Side will assimilate you all...

[spud42]

Resistance is futile..... the cookies are in the corner..... lol

[Marte]

...Plus: today I've learned how the "specular map" works.

I'm refurbishing "MK1", working on "MK2" and I have no more a social life... Yippie-Ki-Yay!

[Diziet Sma]

I'm refurbishing "MK1", working on "MK2" and I have no more a social life...

Heheheh.. once you've seen your very own ship in-game, it's all downhill from there.. the Dark Side is calling you...

[spud42]

...Plus: today I've learned how the "specular map" works.

I'm refurbishing "MK1", working on "MK2" and I have no more a social life... Yippie-Ki-Yay!

cool, then maybe you can explain it to me... lol

[Smivs]

Specularity is the reflectiveness of a surface. A specular map dictates the shininess (is it shiny or dull) and reflectiveness (is it uniformly shiny or shinier in some parts) of the suface.

Edited to add some guidance...

What I am currently doing (for the Classic Ships makeover) is this.
I'm firstly taking a blank of the background hull texture. This example is my Constrictor.



In the final specular_map this gives each panel a unique specularity. The ships are also a bit grubby, so I then super-impose the 'dirt' layer.



I've found that a dark brown dirt works best - black doesn't really show up - but the dirt is only used at about 10% opacity on the diffuse texture to keep it subtle. Here, for the specular_map it is used at 100%. So the 'dirt' is super-imposed onto the background. Like this things will be too bright though, so I bucket-fill the whole image with black at 50% opacity. I then convert the resultant image to greyscale to look like this.



This is the specular_map. As it is a greyscale image it can be burned into another images' alpha channel, which is what I'm doing for the Classic Ships - it is being combined with the normal map.

The end result is a ship with individually shiny panels which reflect more where the ship is clean, and is duller where it is dirty.



Hope this helps.

[Marte]

...And if you edit the specular map with a colored scheme, you can also filter the color of the light reflected by the material.

For the "Eagle Mk1", I'm working on a nice green/gold zinc texture. "Mk2" (that follow a yellow scheme) is damascus steel forged...

Today I have write a post (in italian...) on the topic, on my blog (with images of textures and the final model rendered in game).

[Smivs]

...And if you edit the specular map with a colored scheme, you can also filter the color of the light reflected by the material.

Yes, that can work well. The reason I haven't done that for my project is because the specular_map has to be greyscale - it is burned into the alpha channel of the normal_map for various reasons.
If the colouration is fairly uniform you can also use 'specular_modulate_color' in shipdata.

I like what you are doing with the Eagle.

[Fritz]

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for my question and I'm quite sure I'm not the first one to ask...

I created a special version of the Python, more specific, the Python trader which is also used for the player Python (I wonder why are there two Python models). I'd like to change the looks of my ship - only some details, perhaps change the "rusty" colour to something else or add some "decals". My problem is that I can't find the texture files for the Python (and for most of the other ships). The folder "oolite.app\Resources\Textures" only seems to contain those for the classic ships and only a few subentities for the current ships.

I must admit that I don't fully understand the materials part of the shipdata.plist, but it seems impossible that the rusty and battered look of the Python or the two-colour design of the Cobra Mk III is defined by a few colour specifiers and the mostly transparent ..._diffuse.png. Or do these files hide something I can't see?

To put my question less specific: Is it possible to make differently painted versions of the standard ships? I had no problem doing this with an OXP ship, but in this case I could simply modify the texture file which was specified in the model file.