rFactor Alpha Channel Tutorial

[MacMillanSniper]

It tells me too many channels to export

[Keeper1st]

@MacMillanSniper Flatten your image before saving. I think that's what causes that error.

[aud6875]

i need one for photoshop 8

[Keeper1st]

@aud6875 I imagine it works pretty much the same way, only with some buttons in different places.

[MwrRacingSeries]

GUYS! I found out you can STILL import cars as a .tga instead of a .dds

I found this out with a help of a friend. Save it as a .psd or something first so if this doesnt work with .tga's you can still save it as a .dds

[Keeper1st]

@MwrRacingSeries No you can't. Not really. The TGA would have no alpha, so your resultant car (provided the mod was made correctly) would look like glass.

[Keeper1st]

Not only that, but TGAs require the graphics system to generate mipmaps on the fly, which eats up CPU cycles. A DDS has embedded mipmaps. This is why it is always recommended to use DDS files when building tracks as well.

[MwrRacingSeries]

@Keeper1st Yea I found that with some Mods it screws up the Paint Job, and doesnt use Alpha like you said. I mainly do NSCR

[bigfish10111]

@Keeper1st TGA has alpha...

[Keeper1st]

@bigfish10111 If you're making an object with transparency. For a car paint job, I'm not so sure it would work. The lack of pre-saved mipmaps makes using TGA impractical either way as it just eats CPU cycles unnecessarily.

[XRRoy68210]

Thanks mate, after screwing around with my Photoshop CS2 few hours, I've done my first rFactor skin with exact alpha channel applied!! =D

[balleand]

Kinda funky xD i lol'ed hard

[Keeper1st]

@balleand Heh, what can I say? I'm a child of the '70s.

[THUNDERBREAKS]

Brilliant tutorial, thanks!

[jspoons6619]

Thanks 

[SuperCreativechris]

hey, im looking for a dds plug in for photoshop CS5, iv looked for 2hours for it and many are complaining that it dosn't work, and iv tryed many other things but with no acomplishment (sry about spelling lol), its a shame, im making a skin for a epsilon car for endurance series by enduracers, and i realy want to get this gold effect but realy realy shiny, like the rebellios car. any ideas?

[Keeper1st]

@SuperCreativechris I have no experience with Photoshop CS. I'm using a rather old Photoshop.

[SuperCreativechris]

@Keeper1st iv found the plug in, the .dds works, and i did the same as you clearly showed in the video, but its nowhere near as shiny, its a pain and i realy think if this worked i could have a realy nice skin. what am i doing wrong, iv saved it correct, iv followed the video one step at a time. :(

[Keeper1st]

@SuperCreativechris Of course, the mod has to be made with the shaders set up correctly. And even if they are set up correctly, the effect can be different from mod to mod depending on what texture they use for the cube map.

[rifrare]

Isn't this Edward Norton voice?

[Keeper1st]

@rifrare blinkblink... At first I thought you meant Art Carney's character of Ed Norton from The Honeymooners. I had to look up who you mean. Some modern-day actor I've never seen, apparently.

[whitesoxsfan00]

i have a acount but how do i drive

[PlayTilTheyBleed]

LOL, I remember those days!

[morinho1994]

How can I do a metallic effect?

[Keeper1st]

Follow the instructions in this video, and, most importantly, for the color, use the darkest shade that you want to see on the car ever. Many people make the mistake of painting something that looks bright without the alpha. They forget that the reflection will be added to the base color. So, for silver, use a dull light blue. For gold, as you see here, it's a medium tannish brown. For metallic flake effect, use a high-res texture and add noise to the alpha of the necessary part.

[R0LLM0P]

Very good.But...

How do I select channels with Adobe Photoshop Elements?

[Keeper1st]

Never used Elements. Hopefully someone can answer this for you...

[Jeeve79]

very cool indeed

didn't even notice the stutter

think the explanation is very good

straight to the point, doesn't seem like 10 minutes at all

thanks keeper1st

[Jamirofan89]

is there a vid of how to paint and make basic skin for cars in rFactor?

thanks!

[Apeman1991]

could you please re dub the audio the stuttering drives me mad

[Keeper1st]

Sorry, but I am a stutterer. You're lucky I had it under control as much as I did considering how quickly I had to talk to get to everything in under 10 minutes.

[Apeman1991]

ah its ok buddy dw about it, its a good video though!

[Apeman1991]

this was exactly what i was looking for

[A881TT]

When i try and save the files the icon, alpha channels, is unavailable, i cannot click on it. Any ideas?

[Keeper1st]

only when you save, or just when you're working on the files?

It is assumed you have the DDS plugin for Photoshop that will allow you to save as a DDS... It's available from nVidia somewhere; if you search "nvidia dds plugin" I'm sure you'll find it.

[A881TT]

Thank you, it is working now

By the way, great tutorial!!

[AndyMoore76]

Nice tut, v helpful thnx

[morinho1994]

THX!! very helpful, 5*

[FlightSim9Vids]

could i use this tutorial for Flight Simulator 2004?

[Keeper1st]

No idea. I don't know if anything was using a texture-controlled cube mapping in 2004; graphics cards were only just starting to be capable of it then.

[grimes1992]

Thanks its a lot better now!

[FlyingPie946LJ]

thanks, helped a lot when repainting windows on my vette.

[Set271]

How can I do the same for .tga files used by NR2003?

[Keeper1st]

You can't. NR2003 is an outdated game; it uses DX7 only. It applies its cube map fully to all cars, on all surfaces (even stuff like vents that should not be reflective). That's just how DX7 works.

[Set271]

But I've seen the effect during online races on other cars!!!

[Keeper1st]

You've seen a cube map, yes. But it isn't controlled by the texture alpha; it appears over the whole car, vents and all, the same on every car. You can't, for example, make a single gold stripe.

[FreedmanVonVivi]

sorry but i'm italian and i can't understand very much...can you write all this, please??

[Keeper1st]

I made this video because I had written it many times on various forums. Basically, switch to Channels in Photoshop, and ensure there is an "Alpha" or "Alpha 1" channel. This should be a grey image. The brighter the shade of grey, the more reflective that part of the car will be. Black = no reflection. White = Mirror-like. Save as DXT5.

[BlueOvalHero]

how do you change the colors of the alpha channels? Sorry for being a pain, and thank you for the video.. I have watched it several time to see if I get what you mean.

[Keeper1st]

You don't. The alpha just determines the opacity of the cube map. As such it is 256 shades of gray, representing 256 levels of reflectivity.

[GrobariJF]

un check alpha channells

[Keeper1st]

That would defeat the purpose of creating one!

[jeroenbernrode]

hi, i want to save my template as a dds file, but it says every time that i have too may channels (7).. how do i solve this problem??

[Keeper1st]

Flatten the image before saving. Or, if you don't want to risk messing up the template, use an existing DDS file, rename it to what you want, then use Copy Merged from the template and paste it into the other DDS, then Merge Down the layer, then save.

[albersverstappen]

noo... i mean in the paintshop.. if you want to chance your number on the car.. that you can typ your number on the car..

[Keeper1st]

Yeah, just draw it, use the Text tool... However you create text. Use Stroke for borders and shadow or whatever you want.

[albersverstappen]

no, the number on the car.. what you have to do in paintshop

[Keeper1st]

Uh... paint it. Whatever layer it's on.

[albersverstappen]

hi, while i was painting my car, i didn't know how to chance the car number, how do I do that??

[Keeper1st]

You mean the number that appears on stats and scoreboards? That's in the VEH file for your car.

[albersverstappen]

well, i have finished a skin of a 2007 DTM car, and I want to overwrite a excisting dds file in my rFactor directory after copying it, but when i do that, it says that the file is locked.. or it easialy doesn't overwrite the file...... I do really the same as on rFactor tutorial but it doesn't work..

[Keeper1st]

Try making a copy of the file, or use another DDS to start with. Or just flatten the image and save it as a DDS without using an existing one.

[albersverstappen]

Hi, I have a problem, I have made a skin of a DTM 2007 car, but when i want to save it (rFactor Tutorial on rFactorcentral) says I have to copy a dds file and overwrite it with my skin.. but it doesn't work.. can you help me?

[Keeper1st]

In what way "doesn't work"?

[knap83]

Can be possible in GTR 2, yes but i think it will take another tutorial to explain where to found the skin for alpha, in my case it call "NAMEoftheCAR"_Mask.dds somewhere in a gtr files nad .... to lon to explain here.

So Nice tuto my car will rock whit this

[Lumacor]

Thanks very much for the video, it's helped me a lot. Couldn't believe this sort of thing still isn't available in written or video form in most other places!

[paolovernage]

know this is a bit cheeky but does this apply with GTR2

[Keeper1st]

I would imagine so. I don't have GTR2 so can't tell you how the graphics engine works. You can look at skins for it and see if they're using the alpha channel to control reflectivity or not.

[michelboons1974]

Thank you so much Keeper, this really helped me understand the right settings (I struggled quite a while with it...). I really appreciate it!

[micro600]

what program are you using to do this becuase i need to start doing my own sknis here soon

[Keeper1st]

Photoshop.

[Hadesqq]

THANKS MAN YOU AR BEST

[GTElwood]

Nice one mate, i know those stuff but many guys get screwed with alphas.

I'm collecting a bit of tricks for tracks done with camtasia using 3dsmax, lofting, pathdeforming, vertex alpha/paint,skin wrap, the FFD deformers, maybe too many aspect but who knows.

Aren't easy to explain, but viewing them is a boost for learning... for sure.

Good Job. ;)

[pgale]

I'd love to see if you had time a series of tutorials just like this but from the start of how to paint the cars * painting for idiots* IE: me :( The only one's i've seen nothing on youtube are not so easy to follow. Basic things like colour change a few stripes and some decals.

Please consider for the masses that have no clue.

regards

Galey

[rhp96]

Nice one Ron! I sorted this on my own, but so many people don't know. :)

[Keeper1st]

Yeah, you were the only person in SimCar whose paints I didn't have to fix!

[lloydgarnett]

is there a ps2 version because the game wount work on my pc

[Keeper1st]

A PS2 version would be impossible, since the basic structure of the simulator is to be a platform for user-created content.

[Armstrong83]

Does this work for PaintShopPro9?

[Keeper1st]

There is some way to create alpha channels in PSP, but I don't know how. There is someone I know of who figured it out and I suggested that he post a tutorial about it.

[Armstrong83]

Ive figured out how to do it myself and it works. Just that I cant seem to get it as reflective as your cars when I put it in-game, even when I make it full white. Got any tips or see what Im doing wrong? Thanks

[Keeper1st]

Make sure the reflective area isn't too bright in RGB to begin with, or there's no room for the reflection to do much. Use dull bluish gray for silver, or dark tannish beige for gold. Otherwise, remember that it is dependent on the cube map texture used by the mod. Most mods use the same texture, though.

[AdamB5000]

Any idea if he's posted anything with a PSP tutorial? I'm not familiar with using alpha channels in PSP. I'm working with PSPX right now.

[TylerArmstrong83]

AdamB5000, I have PSP9 so I don't know if it's the same but I'm sure it is.

Somewhat the same as Photoshop except that you have to load the alpha channel onto the layer menu as a mask layer(Create new raster layer then go to: LAYERS - LOAD/SAVE MASK - LOAD MASK FROM ALPHA CHANNEL). From there you can use the magic wand to adjust decals and such on the mask like on the video. Once you are done just save the mask over the old alpha channel(LAYERS - LOAD/SAVE MASK - SAVE MASK TO ALPHA CHANNEL).

[AdamB5000]

Thanks for the response. I was pulling my hair out at one time but I think I got a good hold of it about a month ago. PSP isn't as powerful as Photoshop (looked like you're able to edit the alpha on each layer in PS, but I have just one alpha to edit in PSP.

Regardless, it's functional, so that's cool. :)

[Keeper1st]

It's the same in PS; it's just the one. What I did here was to copy the alpha and paste it as a bottom layer, so that I could put the body line/shading layers on top of it. When finished, I then can just Copy Merged, then paste it back into the alpha channel. It's a good technique for making alpha channels on templates that have none, or for pasting a decal shape that's going to cross body lines which obviously should stay dark.

[JMR3productions]

you are nerdy

[Keeper1st]

No; I'm geeky. Give my regards to Mr Kettle.

[rocketpunch12210]

great vid!! Now I need to rework my skins. ;)

[Broomo21]

how do i know if i am or not and how do i change it if i can?

[Keeper1st]

Run the rfconfig.exe

[skenehc]

how do i increase the glossiness? like a full chrome body?

[Keeper1st]

As you can see in the examples, the brighter the Alpha, the glossier the paint. To make chrome, paint a dull bluish gray color in RGB with full white in the Alpha. Just be careful not cover up panel gaps -- keep those black in the Alpha or else the black panel lines will look like they're painted on rather than looking like actual gaps between body panels.

[Broomo21]

awesome, that saves without a problem, another problem is that nothing happens for me, it seems all my helmets are matte and the skins seem to have limited shine. Should there be any graphic settings im not using or is my vid card just crap? lol

[Keeper1st]

Sounds like you're in DX7. DX7 doesn't support alpha-based cube mapping.

[Broomo21]

yo keeper, thanks for the tutorial, one problem, i did everything, got the alpha channel that i want but when i go to save it, apparently im exporting too many channels? any ideas on why i cant save this?

[Keeper1st]

I have the same problem. Just copy an existing DDS to start from. Right-click in your template, Select All, Copy Merged, then paste. Then switch to the alpha and Copy & Paste that as well.

[mexichoto]

you must flatten layers before saving.. that´s the solution. if texture layer is named "layer x" will not work...you need the layer as "background"

[mcleanr2]

could you use this to create a pearlesant effect on the whole car?

[Keeper1st]

Not sure what you mean. Paint swirl? That's more of a specular lighting issue. You can't have custom specular maps; they're globally applied to every car for that model.

[Babutski01]

Good clip very useful tnx :D

[RonThomas81]

I need more details to do this more on what to do in photoshop.

[Keeper1st]

Sorry; this isn't meant to be a Photoshop tutorial, but a tutorial for those who already know how to use Photoshop to paint the RGB part of the car. There are tutorials out there that cover what you need to know first, such as the one at rFactorCentral.

[RonThomas81]

yea I figued it out what I was having a issue with is the colors to make shiny and flat but I got it now. I hate photoshop wish this would work in PSP

[KaragouniS13]

thank god you made this tutorial. Thnx dude :D

[ti2blegrr]

Thank you very much for this tutorial. As an avid painter I'll be watching this a lot until I figure it all out.

I also shared the url to this with the rest of my league.

[SprHghOtpt1]

Thank you very much for this!