Weathering

[sniper297]

This is a topic that should have its own forum somewhere, but let's share our weathering techniques, feel free to post what works for you. My latest experiment is copying the base to a layer, bringing it to the top of the layer stack, then adjusting opacity to show the layers underneath.

http://www.cgtextures.com/

Lot of free "grunge maps" and pictures of actual rusty metal in there, I download a bunch and save them in a repaint source folder.



Selecting one of the rust images, I copy and paste over the skin as a layer, then resize the layer to fit the area I want to cover.



After covering different places I temporarily set the opacity to semi transparent so I can see the main image underneath;



Then use the selection tool to drag rectangles or the magic wand to select different areas and hit the delete key;



For those areas I want to preserve details.

[sniper297]

Next after making the cutouts, I reset the opacity to 100%, then switch to the bottom base layer.



I copy the base and paste as a new layer, bring to top, then adjust the opacity for however grubby I want the loco to be.



Changing that setting and saving, I look in PEV mesh viewer to see the results, then go back and change opacity and/or layer properties until I like the look.



Final check, what it looks like in game, with previous skins from the same road to see how well it fits into the general theme of the railroad.



If the model has decent texture mapping you can also do things like copying the weathered texture to another image, do more layers, then paste the weathered main image on top and cut holes in that here and there to simulate rust eating away paint from underneath.

[Otterbear]

Great ideas. Will have to give that a try.

[sniper297]

Cloned the one above, copied the main image and pasted as a second layer. Then pasted a bunch of rust textures into it, moved the copy of the main image to the top. Left it completely opaque, used the magic wand to select little areas here and there, and hit the delete key to make holes in the main image area to reveal the rust underneath.