How to make clear color scheme parts

S

SpunkChicken

New member
I'd like to make a Savage Bobber, likely as a color scheme repaint on a Piper Cub. But, I do not know how to make parts clear on a repaint. Any guidance/tutorials I've missed would be greatly appreciated. Using GIMP to do my repaints in case that makes a difference.
 
Do you mean transparency? like glass parts, if so you have to save the TGA as a 32bit, that will give you the Alpha channel, in the RGB section paint the glass the color you want, in the Alpha channel paint the glass a dark grey, they darker you paint it the glass will be more transparent it will be, to the point of not being able to see the glass or the RGB color on it, in photoshop I use between 202020 to 606060 hexadecimal for the Alpha color.
Alpha channel is full white to full black, (greyscale), white gives the part full opacity, full black makes the part transparent.

Glass.jpg
 
there are settings specific to every plane set by the original creator before the plane makes it to rf, that may not allow a plane to be made transparent.
 
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thank you both! I will play around and see what I can do. Is there a way to check the settings to see if the plane can be made transparent?
 
When the plane is modeled you create a "material" to apply to the plane, and depending on what the "material" name is determines if the "alpha" channel in the TGA can affect the transparency. There are a couple of names reserved for that. If the "material" is named ~ALPHA or ~CANOPY the "alpha" channel in the TGA controls the transparency. I suppose an easy test would be to set the "entire alpha channel" in the TGA to hex 202020, that will make all the parts that are capable of having the transparency controlled very see through.

As an example, I generally apply a normal material to all the plane parts but the "canopy" and I apply a material to it called "~CANOPY". But all the rest of the plane will ignore the "alpha channel" transparency setting.
 
Is there a way to unlock the alpha channel so I can make more parts transparent? I'm able to adjust the transparency of anything on the alpha channel, but I'd like to make the middle of the fuselage transparent, minus the frame of course. thanks to those that are chiming in! this has been on my wish list for a while, finally trying to make it happen.
 
You can try using the eraser in GIMP on the .TGA file, just erase whatever you don`t want to show on the plane while it`s in RF, (you`ll see gray squares appear). Don`t forget to save your changes. Go back into RF and apply your change, and see what happens, it`s worked for me in the past.
 
SpunkChicken said:
Is there a way to unlock the alpha channel so I can make more parts transparent? I'm able to adjust the transparency of anything on the alpha channel, but I'd like to make the middle of the fuselage transparent, minus the frame of course. thanks to those that are chiming in! this has been on my wish list for a while, finally trying to make it happen.
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What program do you use to paint the TGA file? I only know how to use Photoshop, I've never used one of the free programs.
 
I am learning how to use GIMP at the moment. there are lots of tutorials in the forums, and it seems very much like photoshop. at least the older versions.
 
SpunkChicken said:
I am learning how to use GIMP at the moment. there are lots of tutorials in the forums, and it seems very much like photoshop. at least the older versions.
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I don't know how to access the alpha channel in GIMP but I imagine you can find a YouTube video that shows you how. The important thing to note, when the plane is "modeled" the creator assigns a name to the material applied to the plane so you can't change what parts of the plane are able to be controlled by the "alpha channel". That's why I mentioned filling the "entire" alpha channel with hex 202020 and then update the TGA and copy the new TGA to the planes directory under the "CustomModels" directory OR the ColorSchemes directory if you made a new color scheme you're working on. That way you can load the plane in the RealFlight Editor and look at it to see what parts are very transparent.
 
Another thing to note. The "alpha" channel affects what you see in the RealFlight Editor Physics Tab. Normally you see all the plane parts in the Editor Physics Tab, but if the "alpha" channel is set to "all" black you won't see any parts in the Physics Tab (they're all transparent). That's the way it used to work I found that out the hard way. I didn't know the "alpha" channel affected what you see there, and I set the entire "alpha" channel to back and there wasn't any parts showing in the Physics Tab. They may have changed that I haven't tried it for a long time.
 
So, you are trying to make a Piper Cub look like the Savage Bobber using only transparency? You need Blender 3D modelling program to make the tube framework, and the rest of the plane plus Gimp to color it..

savage Bobber.jpg
 
Legoman made the RLU-1- Breezy model that is absolutely amazing, the pilot figure is animated, hands and legs move to operate the flight controls and it has the tube framework look that you like.

RLU-1 Breezy_EA

The RLU-1 Breezy is a homebuilt aircraft known for its "no cockpit" high wing pusher configuration. It is designed to seat the pilot and passenger with a maximum unobstructed view. Designed and built by Charles Roloff, Robert Liposky and Carl...
forums.realflight.com
RLU.jpg
 
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asj5547 said:
Legoman made the RLU-1- Breezy model that is absolutely amazing, the pilot figure is animated, hands and legs move to operate the flight controls and it has the tube framework look that you like.

RLU-1 Breezy_EA

The RLU-1 Breezy is a homebuilt aircraft known for its "no cockpit" high wing pusher configuration. It is designed to seat the pilot and passenger with a maximum unobstructed view. Designed and built by Charles Roloff, Robert Liposky and Carl...
forums.realflight.com
View attachment 138499
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this looks fantastic! I will find it in the swap pages. thank you!
 
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