New to repainting, any tips or tricks I should know before I start?

[Brickrail782]

If this is important, I'm using Paint.net with the Megalo addon.

[ET44C4]

There are quite a few ways people repaint locomotives and freight cars. There are multiple tools on Paint.Net that can be very useful when repainting. For example, you can change the blending mode, adjust the hue and saturation, brightness and contrast, add multiple layers (which will be helpful when weathering), and many more things you can look at and test out.

I will also let you know about alpha layers within the textures as they do tend to change the overall look of the textures. When saving your .dds files, I would recommend editing the alpha layer by editing it in Paint.Net (Be sure to 'create alpha layer template' before sending). By using the "Levels" adjustment, you can darken the template which will prevent the bright reflective textures on your repaints. If you need more information or details on what I talked about, please let me know I can see if I can help you further.

Good luck repainting!

[Brickrail782]

Thanks for the info, I will look into those more when I get a chance, also, I feel like I should know this already, but, how do you draw straight, angled lines? (e.g. the nose of a Phase III P42)

[ET44C4]

You can do it many ways except with the paint brush! There are many helpful tools within Paint.Net that can draw out shapes and angles. Here is picture of the basic way to draw a shape.

bandicam 2017-07-08 07-37-46-532.jpg

You can also use the "Magic Wand" which can be very helpful as well. It can select certain areas that you would like to paint. Here is a picture showing the tool.

bandicam 2017-07-08 07-46-56-092.jpg

Once you have a selected area, you can use the paint bucket to fill in the whole area with your color. There are some neat things to dig into on Paint.Net. If you need any more help please let me know.

[buzz456]

Also when you draw a straight line you will notice that there are two markers along the line. By moving them you can make all kinds of different curves.

[Brickrail782]

Cool. Thanks! Sorry to keep pestering you guys, but do you know of any places to find Amtrak decals or how to make one?

[buzz456]

Let Google be you friend on a lot of this stuff. Just Google amtrak logo and you will get a ton of stuff.

[ET44C4]

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/d ... eous-files

There is a pack of heralds in the file library.

[Brickrail782]

Thanks! These should help!

[ET44C4]

Thanks! These should help!

[GenericZack]

Really all you need to know is.

Just mess around. Learn your photo editing program. I have self taught my self over the two years i've been repainting. alot of the stuff i have learned has been from youtube tutorials for photoshop. but once you learn how to use your program, you'll be learning more stuff left and right.

But all you need to do is just use it. and just gain experience. no, your first repaint wont be the best. But. It's a start. but, another tip from me is start small, i always recomend the rsc gp-9, the maps are easy to learn, you also find out about reversed textures, which is something you have to deal with alot when painting for TS, and it doesnt even have to be a full paint, make a leaser unit and just spray paint over the lettering and make it your own. just have fun with it. thats what iv'e been able to do, is just have fun!

And one more thing.
Dont let others boss you around with what you should make. make what you want to make. i've learned that mistake in the past, and its an embarrassing one to make

Have fun repainting! Can't wait to see your work!

[ET44C4]

+1

You really nailed that on the head!

[Brickrail782]

I just made my first repaint! I painted over the BNSF logo on an ATSF C44-9W here on the file library. I'm questioning whether to release it or not because I modified someone else's repaint.

[BoostedFridge]

I just made my first repaint! I painted over the BNSF logo on an ATSF C44-9W here on the file library. I'm questioning whether to release it or not because I modified someone else's repaint.

If you obtain their permission, you should be able to. Send them a PM or email.

[ET44C4]

I would also like to share another tip for when you want to paint over things that are already repainted. What you want to do is select an area next to say a patch and then copy and paste the area over the patch. You can try to blend in the area as good as you can to make it look normal. Here is an example of a "re-repaint" that I have done.

Screenshot_Marias Pass_48.20911--114.29577_09-35-42.jpg

Screenshot_Pacific Surfliner_33.19014--117.37782_10-00-58.jpg