Snaptrap's Sub Skins

[Snaptrap]

I removed the skin that was here. I will be uploading new one withing the next few weeks.

[keltos01]

what did you use ?
also : the picture is too clean for me : rust, seaweed, barnacles etc... flecks of paint gone and it would look even better (cause it looks good :up: ), might be better on the conning tower though...

for the images : upload to www.imageshack.us (http://www.imageshack.us) take the link for forums that appear below your pic once it's uploaded, paste it here in your text and voilà ! no need to go elsewhere to see your pics



as for my tower I used wings3d, I only reverted to 3ds when wings could do a proper job on the hull of the ship. wings is dead easy 2 !!

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6863/texturingcopiemc0.jpgsee your pics !

[Snaptrap]

I used Photoshop CS3 with a DDS plugin. I need to learn how to apply the artwork over torpedo door and such. I was hoping to apply the skull without having to reduce the size.

One crest I have is of a wolf that I want to apply to the u-boats but I lack the skills to put it on.

[keltos01]

export the coning model using S3D, open it with wings3d (tutorial on http://www.davidbrinnen.com/tut_wings_3.html) unfold, export the map, import it in photoshop, magic wand between the shapes, copy paste on new layer, pour black paint between the shapes in effect creating a mask, add layers of textures between the 2 to fill the different parts, including one with your logo (see the jap flag on the pic above), save as tga, re import the new 3d map and the image in the .dat file, and that's it !

[Snaptrap]

export the coning model using S3D, open it with wings3d (tutorial on http://www.davidbrinnen.com/tut_wings_3.html) unfold, export the map, import it in photoshop, magic wand between the shapes, copy paste on new layer, pour black paint between the shapes in effect creating a mask, add layers of textures between the 2 to fill the different parts, including one with your logo (see the jap flag on the pic above), save as tga, re import the new 3d map and the image in the .dat file, and that's it !

Thanks allot!!! I'll get on it after I get some sleep. Can't wait to try it out. I have some nice illustrations that are perfect for nose art.

[Wilcke]

Requesting Sponge Bob, and Pineapple skins for my boats, please!

[Syxx_Killer]

That's an interesting skin. Reminds me of Ghost Rider. :arrgh!::lol:

[FloydRoses]

:lol: :p This is Silent Hunter 4 or Need for Speed Underground......less only NOS on this sub.

[Snaptrap]

Requesting Sponge Bob, and Pineapple skins for my boats, please!

Seriously? I just thought it would be nice to be a little different. Making a different mod was a start, and now it's onto skins. I'll be doing a revamp of this skin once I master applying them. Thanks to keltos, that will be much easier. As with cars, some guys just love to baby their subs with Armor All and rebel paint jobs. No paint chips or rust on my babies.

[Wilcke]

Requesting Sponge Bob, and Pineapple skins for my boats, please!
Seriously? I just thought it would be nice to be a little different. Making a different mod was a start, and now it's onto skins. I'll be doing a revamp of this skin once I master applying them. Thanks to keltos, that will be much easier. As with cars, some guys just love to baby their subs with Armor All and rebel paint jobs. No paint chips or rust on my babies.

I have a beautiful Blues Clues skin for an Me-262 that I fly in IL-2 Forgotten Skies and a 4 and 6 year old at home!:up:

[Snaptrap]

That's an interesting skin. Reminds me of Ghost Rider. :arrgh!::lol:

Once I work my way into modeling, I'm going to add blowers and exhaust pipes in the front. Eventually I'll have them looking like dragsters.

[Digital_Trucker]

Don't forget the wheelie skis in the back:rotfl:

[treblesum81]

export the coning model using S3D, open it with wings3d (tutorial on http://www.davidbrinnen.com/tut_wings_3.html) unfold, export the map, import it in photoshop, magic wand between the shapes, copy paste on new layer, pour black paint between the shapes in effect creating a mask, add layers of textures between the 2 to fill the different parts, including one with your logo (see the jap flag on the pic above), save as tga, re import the new 3d map and the image in the .dat file, and that's it !

A quick question here...

I know I said originally that I wouldn't get involved in painting, but since there aren't all that many available skins and you provided a way to make the job a little easier, i thought I'd give it a try...

First is, will wings3d work on the whole skin of the boat? and second, how long should it take to unfold something like that? I extracted the 3d model from the tambor model and followed the procedures for unfolding it, but about 30 min later wings3d was not responding and didn't appear to make any progress in pulling the model apart. Is this to be expected, and if so, about how long whould it take for a full model to be unfolded.

Also, would it help the process to select and color (in wings3d) sperate sections of the hull so it would break the boat down into fewer parts (i.e. upper surface, pressure hull, etc..)? If this is the case, what is a good way to go about the selection process as there are something like 2300 surfaces on these models and selecting them individually would take forever.

Thanks,
Greg

[Snaptrap]

Don't forget the wheelie skis in the back:rotfl:

Ah, the wheelie bar and the spoiler. Yep, I'll get those. They won't be too high in order to keep it below periscope depth. It's unlikely I'll do it, but you never know. Perhaps a futuristic sub with laser cannons?? Hmmmmm.

[Snaptrap]

A quick question here...

I know I said originally that I wouldn't get involved in painting, but since there aren't all that many available skins and you provided a way to make the job a little easier, i thought I'd give it a try...

First is, will wings3d work on the whole skin of the boat? and second, how long should it take to unfold something like that? I extracted the 3d model from the tambor model and followed the procedures for unfolding it, but about 30 min later wings3d was not responding and didn't appear to make any progress in pulling the model apart. Is this to be expected, and if so, about how long whould it take for a full model to be unfolded.

Also, would it help the process to select and color (in wings3d) sperate sections of the hull so it would break the boat down into fewer parts (i.e. upper surface, pressure hull, etc..)? If this is the case, what is a good way to go about the selection process as there are something like 2300 surfaces on these models and selecting them individually would take forever.

Thanks,
Greg

Wings 3D didn't work out for me so I borrowed 3D Studio Max from work. The program kept on going into a Not Responding state.

[Rockin Robbins]

Well....that one just doesn't blow my skirt up. I have a feeling you have some good designs in that head of yours waiting to get out. It certainly works as a proof of concept!

A dazzle camouflage might be really cool and even plausible! Those can get really wild and colorful. Keep up the good work.:up:

[CaptainNemo]

Is there no one who want to overwork the original skins? I would be glad if someone would improve the original skins. I know there are the ones of Foo Fighter, but I find them a little bit to clean, as well the wheatherd ones. That shall not mean that the skins of foo fighter are bad, far from it.

[Snaptrap]

Well....that one just doesn't blow my skirt up. I have a feeling you have some good designs in that head of yours waiting to get out. It certainly works as a proof of concept!

A dazzle camouflage might be really cool and even plausible! Those can get really wild and colorful. Keep up the good work.:up:

I got some really great stuff going here at the moment. Once I get my nose art versions released, I'll make skins such as camolauge, bullet hole, patched, scarred, etc. I made a pure white one and made it look like a sperm whale with teeth and harpoon cuts. I named it Moby Dick. That needs work, but will be a future release.

[Snaptrap]

Is there no one who want to overwork the original skins? I would be glad if someone would improve the original skins. I know there are the ones of Foo Fighter, but I find them a little bit to clean, as well the wheatherd ones. That shall not mean that the skins of foo fighter are bad, far from it.

What exactly are you looking for?

[CaptainNemo]

I am looking for someone who overwork the old original skins. More intensive metal grey blue colors, more rust maybe etc...

Do not understand me wrong. There is no really need of that kind of work. The original skins look fantastic allready. I am searching for al little "tune up" ;)

This is one of the original skins:

http://www.aotd-flottille.de/Bilder/balaoclassskin.jpg

[Snaptrap]

I mean that the old skins could get overworked. More intensive metal blue colors, more rust maybe etc...

Ah. So you're looking for a more metallic sheen look and more pronounced wear? We'll see. I wanted to make a chrome skin for the u-boat.

[CaptainNemo]

This would be a great start! :D

[Snaptrap]

Sadly I'll have to give up this new found hobby due to the garbage programs I'm forced to use under a crappy OS. I wasn't accomplishing anything special anyway with the complicated method of importing and exporting, so I might just simply edit the DDS files like I was with my current skin.

[treblesum81]

What happened?

[Snaptrap]

What happened?

Well, Wing 3D refuses to work because it can't import DDS files associated with the OBJ file. Then I switched to 3D Studio Max 9 and it just doesn't do anything. It doesn't want to export because it won't let me select the object I wish to export. Also it boots up with a dll error that I'm too sick of dealing with.

I'm trying something else called Milk Shape which actually imports but I'm trying to figure out how to unwrap with it and make it usable in Photoshop. Everything actually works.

[Snaptrap]

A friend directed me to the BEST texture editing program I've seen. It edits objects in 3D but it uses Photoshop features such as simple painting and pasting textures. Problem is that I don't have the program and hopefully I can find it for purchase in my area.

ZBrush folks.

[treblesum81]

Best I can tell, even with ZBrush, you still have to extract the texture map and import it into photoshop for editing because, and I may just not know how yet, ZBrush can't export the texture layer as a .dds file, so you need a program that can do that. So far, my trial of 3D Studio Max is proving to be the easiest to use in this manner.

The general idea as I've found it is to use the UV Map to create a painting cutout for the original .dds file so you can work on individual areas and know exactly where they will appear on the boat.

[Snaptrap]

Everything works fine. I got some help from ZBrush Central on how to do this using just ZBrush and Photoshop. Once I understand ZBrush's odd interface, I will finally be able to get somewhere. All I do is use ZBrush as a reference for painting, then with Photoshop I'm able to then import the obj and the DDS file, paste, align, and save as a DDS file. In terms of simple texturing, 3DSM is obsolete.

[treblesum81]

I wonder if you can paint directly in ZBrush (from the materials, it seems that you should be able to), as then we'd be able to paint directly onto the hull of the ship... Though then there is still the problem of outputting a .dds file for the textures...

Can Photoshop really open up .obj files? It would be much simpler if we could simply paint onto the hull of the boat rather than having to break it down in textures and masks and then indirectly paint and test (though with that system, simple paint jobs can take as few as 10 mouse clicks once you have a mask set up properly... not that I'd ever post a simple paint job like that though...)

The one thing I really like about ZBrush is the ease with which it lets you change the model around, something that may come in handy if any of us decide to try to get that cold war mod moving seriously...

[Snaptrap]

I wonder if you can paint directly in ZBrush (from the materials, it seems that you should be able to), as then we'd be able to paint directly onto the hull of the ship... Though then there is still the problem of outputting a .dds file for the textures...

Can Photoshop really open up .obj files? It would be much simpler if we could simply paint onto the hull of the boat rather than having to break it down in textures and masks and then indirectly paint and test (though with that system, simple paint jobs can take as few as 10 mouse clicks once you have a mask set up properly... not that I'd ever post a simple paint job like that though...)

The one thing I really like about ZBrush is the ease with which it lets you change the model around, something that may come in handy if any of us decide to try to get that cold war mod moving seriously...

Photoshop CS3 Extended can indeed open a obj file. An artist at the ZBrush forums uses just Photoshop CS3 Ext and ZBrush for simple texture application. You will need a Photoshop DDS plugin and ZApplink to import and export between the programs.

I'm still learning how to work with the ZBrush interface. Eventually I'll get there, but the process eliminates the need for an actual 3D based program. I've also been informed that 3DSM has problems with certain video card brand when running under Vista x64. I've used it before though never was there this many problems working with it.

[treblesum81]

I've also been informed that 3DSM has problems with certain video card brand when running under Vista x64. I've used it before though never was there this many problems working with it. 05-08-2008 09:51 PM

**Shudder**

Sorry... I have an aversion to Vista...

But back on topic, from what I can tell, and you can either confirm or correct this observation, ZBrush is more for organic shapes (the whole interface is designed to be like working with modelling clay) and so it doesn't have a lot of the tools you'd need to make hard forms...

I'm thinking about trying my hand at 3D modelling of subs because I've found a way to work with a 3-View so that you can take the 3 faces of the image and extrude them into a 3 dimensional object... I figure if I can get the idea down, I may be able to work on some more of the more modern subs (I play sub sims because I want to have access to those, but i play SH because I like the first person feel... so if I can bring them into here, I'll get everything I want :p), and possibly be of some use for the cold war mod.....

....Now, if I could only find a resource with a collection of 3-views of subs....

As for painting, I still wonder if there is a way to paint the texture maps directly from ZBrush, I know that its possible to import between the two programs, but unless I missed something of your explanation, I still want to have the ability to paint directly onto the 3D model and have that translate into the texture map... Sure, creating a painting mask is pretty easy, but you can't really get a good feel for the result of some time with the brush without loading up the sub in SH4.

[Snaptrap]

I've also been informed that 3DSM has problems with certain video card brand when running under Vista x64. I've used it before though never was there this many problems working with it. 05-08-2008 09:51 PM

**Shudder**

Sorry... I have an aversion to Vista...

But back on topic, from what I can tell, and you can either confirm or correct this observation, ZBrush is more for organic shapes (the whole interface is designed to be like working with modelling clay) and so it doesn't have a lot of the tools you'd need to make hard forms...

I'm thinking about trying my hand at 3D modelling of subs because I've found a way to work with a 3-View so that you can take the 3 faces of the image and extrude them into a 3 dimensional object... I figure if I can get the idea down, I may be able to work on some more of the more modern subs (I play sub sims because I want to have access to those, but i play SH because I like the first person feel... so if I can bring them into here, I'll get everything I want :p), and possibly be of some use for the cold war mod.....

....Now, if I could only find a resource with a collection of 3-views of subs....

As for painting, I still wonder if there is a way to paint the texture maps directly from ZBrush, I know that its possible to import between the two programs, but unless I missed something of your explanation, I still want to have the ability to paint directly onto the 3D model and have that translate into the texture map... Sure, creating a painting mask is pretty easy, but you can't really get a good feel for the result of some time with the brush without loading up the sub in SH4.

ZBrush uses pixols which are pixels that have a Z axis to indicate depth, hence the name ZBrush. The program is exactly like modeling with clay and allows you to export an object to be used as an actual 3D model. It can spray textures onto a model from a source image. For example spraying someone face from a photo onto a head model. So long as you have the angles needed from the photo to cover the head, you're set. You can take an existing model such as a sub, spray on a texture and export. I'm still learing the process, but you can get tips from the ZBrush forums on how to do this. The program is a bit complicated and works best with a tablet.

Look at these texture demos.
One (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkh6m9LEgbI)
Two (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTh0wSjF71U)
Three (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDAZkmpSag&feature=related)

[treblesum81]

This one really does seem interesting, though I've not had much luck in getting the controls to do what I want, and i agree that its probably designed to work with a tablet or digital drawing board of some kind. So far, whenever i try to edit a surface, I end up pulling it in every direction but the one i want and that just won't do :p.

For the time being, 3D Studio Max seems to be my best bet, if only because its input format is something I'm familiar with (I've used AutoCAD for several years now) and because it comes with a massive and well orginized help file that lets me look things up easily by keyword (I've had a little trouble doing the same on the ZBrush Wiki). For the time being, I don't have all that much time to devote to this, but at least I've got an easy way to produce some sub skins, which was the original plan all along.

That being said, I'll need to look further into both of these programs to see which I'll be most capable of using, and, of course, which one best fits my needs. Though I'd like to see what sorts of things you come up with in ZBrush in the meantime... it is a very powerful program and I'm curious just how well it can be applied here.

[Snaptrap]

This one really does seem interesting, though I've not had much luck in getting the controls to do what I want, and i agree that its probably designed to work with a tablet or digital drawing board of some kind. So far, whenever i try to edit a surface, I end up pulling it in every direction but the one i want and that just won't do :p.

For the time being, 3D Studio Max seems to be my best bet, if only because its input format is something I'm familiar with (I've used AutoCAD for several years now) and because it comes with a massive and well orginized help file that lets me look things up easily by keyword (I've had a little trouble doing the same on the ZBrush Wiki). For the time being, I don't have all that much time to devote to this, but at least I've got an easy way to produce some sub skins, which was the original plan all along.

That being said, I'll need to look further into both of these programs to see which I'll be most capable of using, and, of course, which one best fits my needs. Though I'd like to see what sorts of things you come up with in ZBrush in the meantime... it is a very powerful program and I'm curious just how well it can be applied here.

You're not alone. People that are accustomed to programs like Photoshop do the same thing as you and I. It's a great program and a powerful tool with gathered experience. I'm getting the hang of it and eventually when all else is done with my new mod release, I'll devote more time towards making some new skins.