My first completed repaint

[Dev One]

There are two fonts available for free (non profit) download over at the simmers paint shop (sorry cannot remember the www address, but sure google will find it)
One is called RAF WW 2, the other is RAF PW ATH. I use the former for UK civillian registrations as its the 'square' typeface.

Not sure how PSE shows up when choosing & writing text, but PSP7 has two parameters that can be adjusted, 'Kerning' is one & 'leading' is the other. The first one gives spacing between letters, the other is the vertical distance between rows. If the font size you want is not listed one can create a font size by just typing in the number.
HTH, & good luck
Keith

P.S. The dash is drawn as a straight line using the width of brush or line to match & when writing the text one just uses a lot of spacebar! Every thing also on separate layers so one can move things about before saving as a .bmp.
K

[Paul K]

Thanks for that Keith - I know Simmers Paintshop, so I'll go and have a look. I also did my registration with each letter on a separate layer, so it's reassuring to know the experts do it that way too. I have a feeling kerning and leading aren't available in PSE 9. Thanks again for the info.

[Dev One]

You flatter me Paul, I certainly am no expert!
I do not however create a layer for each letter, for EDU fuselage I've typed G AEDU as one layer in black, overlayed with another layer of G AEDU in white. I then have another layer that actually corrects some of the black outline as it was not quite correct! Anyway dpoing all the letters in one bash keeps them all spaced evenly & on one level. The wings are different on this aircraft because of the sweepback, so one layer for G A on the left wing & EDU for the right wing. This time the white layer did not need the touchup layer! PSP7 by the way does allow one to create outlined letter or have the inner stroke a different colour, but like you it does not give a sharp enough outline.
The other trick I have done with the fuselage registration is not to align the lettering in the texture ( i.e. rotate it by the necessary amount if its off the level) but to have just the registration on its local background which also allows one to make it larger, but its only possible if there are panels cut that way. With a repaint of someone elses it may not allow that.
My master .psp textures are created as 2048 x2048 then reduce to 1024 x1024 .bmp for FS9, but leave as 2048 x2048 for FSX if necessary. DXT conversion I use the 888 minimum compression which also helps sharpness.
Keith

[Paul K]

Hi Keith, thanks for the enlightening info, which I am absorbing, and expert you undoubtedly are. You say you use 888 compression, and I've also read elsewhere that you get sharper detail with 888. However, when I tried it, I ended up with a psychedelic kaleidoscope texture on the model ( some might say an improvement ) so I went back to DXT5. Is 888 compression something I should try to sort out and pursue, do you think ?

[Dev One]

Paul, Sorry thats a new one on me. I must admit though that most of my previous models have been DXT 3 or 5.
Are we talking FS9 or FSX? I only do FS9 as have yet to get my head round the reverse technology of FSX!
Good luck with your experiments though, its sometimes the only way to learn the funnies!
Keith

[DaveG]

I always use DDS DXT5 format for paints these days. Without mipmaps for FSX, but with for P3d.
Used to use 32bit uncompressed, but the file size is much bigger & I think the quality difference is negligible.

[DaveB]

I'd tend to agree Dave. Saving as DDS Extended888 32bit leaves you with a map 4 times the size of DXT5 so a 1mb map immediately becomes 4mb and that's for a measly 1024x1024 map!! With 2048 or 4096.. the whole plot becomes even more draining on resources Fine for rivet counters but for most of us, completely unnecessary.

ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

Paul, Sorry thats a new one on me. I must admit though that most of my previous models have been DXT 3 or 5.
Are we talking FS9 or FSX? I only do FS9 as have yet to get my head round the reverse technology of FSX!
Good luck with your experiments though, its sometimes the only way to learn the funnies!
Keith

I'm using P3DV2.5, Keith, so maybe my problem lies there. I'll stick with DXT5.

Dave G: mipmaps on for P3D ? I had them off on this Cherokee paint, because all sorts of weirdness was happening with them on. I'll have to try it out again.

Dave B: Yes, I also read that 888 means a much bigger file size. I saw an example of the difference between DXT5 and 888 , and you're right - maybe its not really worth bothering about.

By the way, chaps, I had a pleasant surprise this afternoon. I reinstalled the Alabeo Waco YMF5, and the VC shimmering has gone. I used to correct it with Nvidia Inspector's Sparse Grid super sampling, and I assumed that N.I was still doing the job until I realized I deleted N.I. months ago. I still had the shortcut on my desktop and thought it was still installed. The same improvement can be seen with the A2A Cherokee around the radio stack. So something has been done by LM to improve all that, and I no longer have to suffer the FPS penalty of N.I.'s SGSS.

[DaveG]

Yes, I think P3d works better with mipmaps than FSX does. Your mileage may vary of course!
BTW, unless you've updated your video card drivers since removing NI, any tweaks you made previously will still be in effect. NI simply configures the driver. Once that's done it's set until you either change it again or update the drivers.

[Paul K]

Yes, I think P3d works better with mipmaps than FSX does. Your mileage may vary of course!
BTW, unless you've updated your video card drivers since removing NI, any tweaks you made previously will still be in effect. NI simply configures the driver. Once that's done it's set until you either change it again or update the drivers.

Ah, I see ! In that case I'd better reinstall N.I. again and see exactly what's what. In any case its about time I updated my driver, so I can check after I do that. Thanks Dave.