need paint.net

[kevintampa5]

I see a lot of tips and tuts for Photoshop, painshop pro, gimp, and even mspaint. I see basically nothing for Paint.net
Get it here
http://www.getpaint.net/

Some tutorials here (thanks for pointing it out TodaysPilot, I forgot about their forum.)
http://forums.getpaint.net

great Plugin Source
http://paint.net.amihotornot.com.au/Paint.NET/

Google BoltBaits paint.net pluging as well. I dont recall if its on the above


I will find and post links to some here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_raster_graphics_editors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_vector_graphics_editors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_3D_computer_graphics_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3D_modeling_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_computer_graphics_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3D_animation_software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3D_computer_graphics_software

added software wiki links to get this started

 

[Heretic]

I've tried to get acquainted with Paint.net a while ago, but never got really far. It just didn't have as much out-of-the-box functionality as GIMP.

Paint.net's low disk usage was nice though.

 

[kevintampa5]

I've tried to get acquainted with Paint.net a while ago, but never got really far. It just didn't have as much out-of-the-box functionality as GIMP.

Paint.net's low disk usage was nice though.

I got a lot of plugins to make it almost as good as PSP or photoshop.

 

[TodaysPilot]

I love working with Paint.net due to its simplicity, and if you add good plugins, as Kevin said, you could have quite a neat software. Unfortunately though i find when editing, highly detailed or big files (like Photo-real) Paint.net starts to stick/lag under the strain more than its counterparts, which can be quite annoying some times. And i can't exactly say i have a slow computer......

 

[kevintampa5]

I love working with Paint.net due to its simplicity, and if you add good plugins, as Kevin said, you could have quite a neat software. Unfortunately though i find when editing, highly detailed or big files (like Photo-real) Paint.net starts to stick/lag under the strain more than its counterparts, which can be quite annoying some times. And i can't exactly say i have a slow computer......

I havent had that lag issue before.

http://paint.net.amihotornot.com.au/Paint.NET/

A good resource for plugins.
Just about 80% of all plugins are on that site.

 

[kevintampa5]

Successful custom night texture. Texture made in about 10min with paint.net. no plugins for this process.

I will demonstrate some better textures and methods for getting there a little later on (windows and lighting, using paint.net).
This thread, as stated above, will be for Paint.net usage and its interaction with FS, much the way other major programs have a lot of support for use such as spectral, uv, paintkits, reflective, transparent, chrome, etc.


If you are looking for GIMP, PSP, Photoshop, or something tutorials and help other than PAINT.NET , try the search function.
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/search.php

 

[TodaysPilot]

You could also find tutorials for Paint.net and its plugins on there forum http://forums.getpaint.net

 

[jakubz]

I'll be honest, all my texture work (ok, about 99% of it) was done in Paint.net. The only parts I didn't do were things that I did in imgTool.exe. Even those I suspect could be done with Paint.net, but I never took the time to look into them.

That includes all my repaints and scenery texture work.

 

[hairyspin]

64-bit OS users FYI

There is now a 64-bit version of Paint.NET, so Win7 64-bit users needn't feel undersold.

 

[kevintampa5]

There is now a 64-bit version of Paint.NET, so Win7 64-bit users needn't feel undersold.

Probably why I havent had the lag issue, more memory use available.

 

[kevintampa5]

The only parts I didn't do were things that I did in imgTool.exe..

Like what?

 

[jakubz]

Like what?

It's been a couple of month's since I last fooled arround with Paint.net/ImageTool, but I think it was the format (DXT1/3/5) and having it create MipMaps.

Ok, I just looked, and those options are available when you save a texture as a .dds, but I know that for any scenery work, I would always end up going through ImageTool as per this tutorial http://windowlight.co.nz/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=5&chapter=1

For repainting aircraft, I never had to go through ImageTool, but I did have to flip the image vertically.

 

[kevintampa5]

First paint.net tutorial for FS9/X texture. This tutorial is meant to help beginners learn to use the difference functions to achieve an end result that is expected. This tutorial does not teach the basics or layout of PDN. That is available in the paint.net forums.

Category - Ground
Material - Concrete
Operation Area - Ramp/Tarmac/Staging/Parkinglot
Time use - Night
Specify Type Details - Amber lighting fill(not splash, same method for splash but using circle select with glow instead of full glow, opacity must be adjusted if splash spotting light texture)
Experience rating - minor/beginner
Tested - Yes
Notes - Light source has no visible beam

To make a concrete amber/orange night texture
Select the gradient tool
Set primary color to medium blue and secondary to orange(these colors can be subbed for a dark/light color of your choice)light/dark gradient drag from the edge to the center.
Create a new layer (Ly2)
layer 2 setgreen boxes at brush size 10-18 then use fast or Gaussian blur to midway then set layer opacity to 95

Create layer 3 lasso select atleast 2 corners, set size 10 brush strokes or lines, about 4 in each lasso area. Then use gaussian blur until they are cloudy (Layer 3 can be skipped but I noticed when I removed it and the frosted texture later in this tut was affected)
Layer 4 set colors black primary and red secondary, use gradient tool from middle to the edge then set layer opacity 125

Layer 5 primary color white secondary color brown, select EFFECTS, Render, Clouds and set cloud effect at full rough with scale at midway, set layer opacity at 180-190.

Layer 6 is a duplicate of 5, just add the glow effect with radius 15 brightness at 10 contrast at 10, opacity at 135-155 for night glow.

use magic wand to select the the whitest spot in layer 6 glow, then create a new layer 7, select EDIT and invert selection. set layer opacity to 125 and use bucket fill in some of the selected areas with white primary color(color transparency set to 130 for more realistic look). leave a few unpainted spots for a stained oil surface look. then select frosted glass from Effects, DISTORT. settings to max radius 71, scatter min radius 0.
compress layer and your done
For the day texture, you use darker colors like gray or silver background with black lines blurred for a good ash concrete look. Dont use glow on the light sections if its a day texture, use glow on the black or dark gray spots to even the tone.

This tutorial teaches user to use different tools to achieve a texture. There are about 8 ways to get this texture as an end result, one way is done in fewer than 10 steps if I recall.

It also looks good if you set the color to yellow. Gives a good taxi yellow color, just dont use blue or black, but gray instead in the gradient if you will be using it for taxi lines unless using Asphalt as the surface. For taxi line texture, do not use glow.

Play with this method and use different colors and opacities to achieve many different looks. Work with layers to get a feel for it.

 

[kevintampa5]

My head. well after 4 hours sculpting and 20 min in pdn, here is what i got.

 

[kevintampa5]

For you photoshop guys, There is a GIMP-shop which is free but set up like photoshop.