UPDATED THREAD FOR V1.5 version of the Mod, including CHEVY CAPRICE First of all, Presets that were done previously are broken, parts are sorted differently in the last update of the mod. Skins themselves should still work except the little modification you'll find about the Regency Sedan below. Regency Sedan, Limo and Coupe : Regency Sedan and Limo share the exact same Skin UVmap, i only added central side panels in the UVmap for the limo. Limo is only available with vinyl roof so roof is not used for it, but you can make a skin working for both of them. Coupe : Regency Coupe is very different as expected, but some skins can be compatible with Sedan and even Limo depending on the side panels To make that possible i had to modify the Sedan UVmap a bit. Here is a before/after that shows a little difference between the previous Regency Sedan and the new one, the rear window position : By doing that and make some minor changes to the skin themselves, i could use the same skin for some cars. Some exemples : So depending on your needs, you can now decide to do a common or separated skin for Regency Sedan and Coupe. Delta 88 skin uvmap is unchanged : Caprice Sedan : The skin Uv map is declined from Carface80 body uvmap, with some minor change maybe. Also, this is a a rule for this skin and all the wagon : To fit the Caprice Body to the Olds Frame, i had to do some body scales but i didn't changed the uvmap. So as a consequence, all the side drawings or texts you may want to add must be reduced by 0.92 % on Y axis to get the right proportions. On this exemple, that is present on the UVskin template as well, you see the result with a circle to have it perfectly displayed : Station Wagons : Caprice and Olds SW are pretty similar except hood, fenders and other details like nosecone so i don't display both here, only the Custom Cruiser one : (the Super Stock wheels displayed on it are useless now. No way to include those wheels in the Custom Cruiser skin for now). General Motors Steel Wheels : The General Motors are skinnable if you use the body colored version. Then a ll you have to do is to use a little colored square as the skin color, or a bigger one corresponding to the UVmpa of them if you want to add painted details on it. As you can see in the materials.cs, wheels are separated front and rear so you can have them different colorsor graphics front and rear. THAT's All Folks ! please look at how skins are made and learn, i didn't placed jbeam files this time, so trial and errors will be part of the journey but feel free to ask in this thread if your are stuck. Some Rules : - You can do all the skins you like, using copyrighted material will be on the mod support end to validate it or not, so better do creation and not use brands especially if you want the skins to be in the repo. - You can use my skins as a base but i'd rather you show me before releasing the skin in the repo. It can be by PM if you want to keep it secret before releasing. The above first link of a released skin is a good exemple of a nice skin using some of my stuff. Have fun with your skins !
Okay, for now on, I'll post any progress made on any of my skins I do for the Olds here. Right now, I just started working on the red stripes on the roof, running down to the rear bumper.
A few minutes of modifying one of Fido's taxi skin, i was able to make a scrapyard taxi. Things to add: More graffiti More dust and rust A new interior texture
Cool. I like the idea. Inspired by the retired police car, I had the idea of doing a retired fire chief car at some point after I finish the American Glory Delta 88. I also plan to work on a Regency version of the American Glory skin after I finish the Delta. And I've been thinking about some military themed stuff, like perhaps a military police skin.
Just a little addition about the few minutes time effort on doing things. Remember that by using my own skins, you have to show it to me if you'd like to release it, that means basically that i won't accept the skin to be in the repo if something based on a skin of mine didn't had enought effort in it to look good. You can do what you want for your personnal use and show it here of course, but it won't necessary be approved for release. I don't look at quality if you do your own skins completly, but for something that would be credited "original skins by Sergent Fido" i will. You modify my work so it's quite natural. So just to say that just dark or rust color airbrush isn't a rusty panel work. The few minutes spent are quite visible to be honest. The same for the yellow airbrush on the taxi squares. Just airbrushing doesn't simulate the sticker is gone on some parts, it's just look like someone done a yellow grafitti uppon the taxi graphics. Have fun with the skins, i'm also here to give my opinion on something based on my work. The retired blues car skin is very well done, you can feel the sticker shadow with better paint under it. So i autorised it. Again, if you do your own skins without using mine, then all is okay no matter which quality it is. I hope this isn't too much restrictive, also the topic can be here to learn more about doing nicer textures. Everyone can improve and a honest and argumented critic is always good to read.
Could you tell me how to make a rusty "look"?, i mainly just attempted a derby skin, but my laziness told me to just modify a premade skin. To be honest, whatever i made is not really good, i just slapped some stickers on the window and added graffiti on some areas such as bumpers and doors.
Well, this is what surface rust looks like: Surface rust is light brown, and will get increasingly darker towards the center of the rust spot. Remember that rust will form quickly in low spots (i.e. rocker panels, fender skirts), while they are typically slower towards the top of the car, unless if the top of the car always had water pooling on it.
A rusty texture has grain and shades, it's not that easy to do and i had to try several ways before getting some better result. Also it depends what kind of tool you're using. You can try apply a complete surface of a rust texture on your layer, then use masks to only apply the rust on some spots, make it slowly appear at some places. I saved some steps of doing rurst on the delta 88 beater, i'll try to share that asap. But i use Photoshop and i don't know Gimp at all. If you don't have time or ease or a good tool to do that now, you can indeed better add stickers or design some stripes work. i don't know.
Not a bunch, the necessary ones only. I won't have time today but i'll try to post a kind of commented tutorial asap. But i'm pretty sure there exists a bunch of those on the internet.
It's a good start for a beater skin. Adding rust is very difficult. Maybe try attempting it to look worn until you figure out how to do rust? The trick to the Bluesmobile skin was multiple layers. The original highway patrol skin was the base layer, then I added the beater skin as another layer on top of it, then adjusted the opacity and changed the layer mode (can't remember what this option is called, but it's a drop down with different options like "multiply", "burn", "dodge", "overlay", "lighten", "darken" etc.). 80% of it is playing with those two setting layers until it looks right. Make sure you have a bunch of reference photos to look at. A simple Google search will bring up a lot of examples. For distressed/removed decals, you'd make a new layer with the base color on top of the beater skin layer (so this color will appear brighter since the sun would fade the paint, except where the decals covered it). For distressed decals, use the eraser brush at partial opacity (because the decal should appear faded, not invisible) and slight feathering and start going at it at places that look like it'd be worn due to being a high-hit area (bumpers/fenders) or people touching that particular place (like near the door handle or the trunk lock). For a removed look, just use the brighter color cropped to the same shape of the decal. For off-colored panels and doors, you'd want to pick a common factory color since the owner of such a car would just grab the finest looking and functioning panel/door from a junkyard car. Rear quarter panels are usually never replaced since that's part of the car's body and it's labor intensive (expensive) for a car owner to justify changing. Bolt-ons like bumpers, doors, and front quarter panels are optimal choices for mismatched colors. There aren't detailed instructions for this. Like I said, it's 80% playing with layers and 20% figuring out how to mimic real life (looking at photos, figuring hit/worn points, etc). You just have to play it by ear a lot and don't give up. It takes a lot of time to make it look right. It took me 4 to 5 hours to make the actual skin and I know the tool and methods to do it. You're doing a great job posting a screenshot and asking for feedback for improvement. The constant feedback loop is going to accelerate you skills. Most people will just not ask for feedback and look at it as harsh criticism. Don't be discouraged because it's a rocky road to make something that is appreciated. And sleep is also important! Let your brain rest and attack it again the next day. You'll start seeing ways to improve and you'll crank out beautiful skins in no time!