Repainting an Aircraft
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If you are an advanced repainter, feel free to add on to this tutorial.
For this tutorial, you will need DXTBmp, available here: DXTBmp
This tutorial is for beginners, and teaches you how to repaint an aircraft for FS2002 and FS2004. It will work for some aircraft for FSX. (The default aircraft and some add-on aircraft in FSX use .dds textures, and saving these is a bit different.
Step 1:
Open DXTBmp. (It is assumed that you have already installed it.
Step 2:
Open the textures of a aircraft with easy to edit textures, such as the default Bell 206, or Cessna 182s. I'm using an add-on Hughes 500D, available here:
Hughes 500D
, with a repaint kit available here: repaint kit
If you use the Hughes 500D, open the texture named '500D_T.bmp' located in the repaint kit you downloaded.
Step 3:
Go to Image -> Send to editor. By default, MS Paint is the editor for DXTBmp, but it can be changed if you like another paint program. I recommend using MS Paint right now, because it is simple, and good for beginners.
Step 4:
Paint the fuse, tail, wings, etc what ever color you want. Make sure to think about what part goes where, so that the final repaint looks right in FS.
Step 5:
When you are finished, click Save as, NOT Save. You must save the file as a .bmp somewhere you can easily find it, like your desktop.
Step 6:
Go back to DXTBmp. Go to File -> Open. Browse for the .bmp you just edited and open.
Step 7:
The BlankHughes floder includes an alpha channel for the fuse, so we will now browse for that. Go to Alpha -> Import Alpha channel, and browse for the file in the BlankHughes folder called 500D_A.bmp. Select the file and click open.
Step 8:
- Go to File -> Save as. Click the line 'Extended Bitmap.'
- Browse to the location of the installed Hughes 500D and go in to texture folder.
- Rename the original 500D_T.bmp to 1500D_T.bmp.
- Now under file name, put 500D_T.bmp.
- And under Save as type, select DXT1.
- Click save.
Now when you go to the flight sim, find Hughes under manufacturer, and 500D. You should see your new texture on the helicopter.
Over time, you will get better at repainting, and it will be very easy. Keep trying, and don't give up!
