WIP CN SD40-2W DLC Reskin Projects

[roinuj]

@kali,

I tried the vector masks as you suggested and it did work well. I have to play with it more but it did help to define the panels. Still get the odd bit of dark black lines from the model but not bad. I'll post a screenie update after I play with the texture a little bit more.

Thanks again.

Don

[Csxgp38-2]

Hey do you think you can send me that blank gray model? I have some uses for it

It looks like a primer locomotive.

[roinuj]

Sorry, what you see is only a solid grey filled texture file(s) so as to see the model underneath.

[roinuj]

Thanks. I've done as much as I can on the door panels. I made a few changes that seem to help but its kind of "about as good as it will get stage". Time to move on to some additional zebras to make up a package. I'll post some update screen shots as I work on them.

Don

[roinuj]

An update with my next reskin in this CN SD40-2W Zebra Scheme project. This one of of CN5295 which has seen better days.

The photo reference for this resking at Locophotos.com

I know the prototypical version doesn't have the roof shade on then long hood but the model has them included.







Any suggestions or comments are always welcomed.

[Kali]

Looks good as usual :)

Comments... mostly that it needs more higlighting, it's pretty dark & even with the new lighting you can't rely on it to brighten up blacks. Trucks & horizontal surfaces I think need it most, the body black is a bit dark too. And perhaps a bit more dust. Otherwise, awesome :)

[Chessie8638]

Gonna make me buy the widenose pack for these re-paints. lol.

Awesome work.

[dejoh]

Hey, ya also get some great rolling stock. TOFC,4 bay hopper cars,and great side load lumber cars.
That alone is worth it.

[roinuj]

@Kali,

The blacks in my initial sceenshots were pretty well stock except for a light grim layer added. I toned the grim down a little and applied a curve to lighten the blacks as much as I could with out bringing out artifacting from the texture file. I think the lighter colour adds a more grungy and dirty look to the loco. I also reapplied my initial dusting to the trucks and adjusted the floor texture to give it a little more worn effect. Hopefully it shows in the screen shot.



I see I have a little editing of the saftey stripe as I see some grey peaking through. As well, I still need to adjust the numbers as I find the white way to stark.

@Chessie8636

Its defiantly a good DLC to get. Like "dejoh" says, with the added rolling stock, it makes it a good addition to your collection. I would love to see RSC update it to the new standards like the TS12 SD40 but then again, I guess we're lucky to even have this DLC considering its quite specialized. Its mainly because of its availability that made my move from Trainz over to Railworks (not to mention some other features).

Once question I have for the painters out there. I find the Alpha channel once created and converted gets real "crunched" and pixellated which I think adds to some softness in the texture. Is there any way to have a less compressed alpha channel?

[Chacal]

*clutches chest*
*keels over*
*dies happy*

[Kali]

Doesn't it come with a route too?

Only way to get a cleaner alpha channel is to use an uncompressed texture - which you can do, just save it as ARGB instead of DXT3 and then find some other uncompressed texture the same size to copy and insert yours into. Overwrite the compressed one and you're done. DXT3 really hates dark alpha channels.

The stock blacks are way too dark imo, I was looking at tweaking the default one a bit before you started showing what you were up to. I think your dirty trucks might need a bit of tweaking of contrast as they've something of an air of "brown blob", but otherwise that looks fantastic :)

[roinuj]

@ Kali,

Thanks for the info about the alpha channels. Mine are very dark in order to keep a matt finish to the rendering. I'm not 100% sure I understand the process. Wouldn't saving the dds file with a different file setting over write it? I'm a noob when it comes to this dds format.

As for the boggies, yeah I was a little lazy and just did a layer fill and turned down the opacity. The orginal texture isn't the most detailed and not much there to work with compared to the new SD40 one.

[Kali]

Not having looked at the mapping at all, is there any possibility of reusing parts of the new model? given it's already been shadowbaked it'd save some effort.

I've tried tweaking settings, adding noise, taking noise away and the only thing I've found remotely useful is to ... fill the alpha channel in single colour blocks. If you really need a detailed alpha channel then I think it has to be uncompressed. I'd welcome someone else's input who's played with the dds exporter too though.

[Chessie8638]

I already have those cars from when RSC offered them separately in a RailSim pack. But I could use another locomotive, hehe. Add another item for the holiday sale.

On a slight off topic note. How about this for a future re-paint:



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictur ... 205306.JPG

[roinuj]

@Chessie8638

Actually, I had already began researching that as a possible project. I've been looking around for a logo for the company, Diesel Electric Services in Sudbury Ont, for the long hood but haven't found anything useful yet. Would make a crazy addition to the collection, got to love that blue!

@Kali

I'm not sure if I can use anything from the new SD40 or not for the boggies. I did try to tidy up the texture but it didn't look right. Is there any way to change the blueprint to use another boggie model? Again, still a noob on some of these things.

As for the alpha, I'll try the blocks of solid colour to see if that may work. After all all I need is to preserve the solid blacks and eveything else can be dark grey, that may work.