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I was wondering if there is a way to ensure when doing a reskin using pictures that the pixels are not that visible in the end result? I am working on a box car and trailers (see below), and when I run them in TS, it is easy to see the pixels. But on some previous things I have done, pixels do not show up that much. Any suggestions?? Thanks and good day!Michael
Hi MichaelI watched over your message since few days, if any good designers would want to give you an answer at your problem. I'm disappointed to see you didn't received any suggestions at this time.I thing, I have the same problem than you. My reskin of a cnboxcar from a photography look like a very compressed image without a smooth degradation in the reflections on the side.Look at this screenshot:Well, I thought that was a problem from great size of photography 2272 X 1704 pixels, and just for the crop of the car 1893 X 453 pixels to cut and paste in the template tga size of 512 X 198 pixels.If I look about, the degradation is not so visible. And the conversion to an ace file 512 X 198 pixels doesn't change more. But when you run your car in MSTS and take a screens shot it's horrible.Look at this picture this is a group of pictures at each step of the reskinning. I cropped them to have a picture of a reasonable size.I suspect this is a problem of the video card associated at Windows.Cause: When I run Sky! Conductor 2 with MSTS my skies are very doll to compare to some screen shots saw in the forums and it's impossible to me to do a better whatever the setting I chose. I come just to finish to reskin a CNR Van and it seems to look good but I don't use complex textures. See the result below:Now my next step will be to search on the Net, the last drivers for my video card ATI Radeon 7500. If I have some success I will post my result. I Hope.Have a nice day!Nicober
Michael,Not having your ace files to look at, I can only guess at what may be your problem. The blotchiness of the skins is often a problem with the color depth in the ace file. (Color depth in it's simplest form, is the number of different colors that go into making the final color that you see) When you make an ace file from your graphic image, you can loose color depth depending on the type of ace file you select. "Ace no alpha" maintains the best color depth while "Ace aplha" the worst. "Ace - trans" is in between. If you have no alpha channel (no cut-outs, or transparent areas) always select "Ace no alpha" as it will give you the smoothest color. If you have an alpha channel for areas you want cut out of your image, use "Ace - trans", and lastly if you need tinted areas (tinted windows for example) you will have to use "Ace alpha". As I said, I am guessing this may be your problem. Hope this helpsVerne
Minute, Minute "Papillon"If I was a black man I would say you "Cool Man - Cool Man"Well, Thanks for your appreciation of my work it's very encourageous cause I have to paint some parts pixels by pixels.But I can't upload it immediatly, it's not a problem with the author, Mark Toland, I have the green light. I have a problem with a file to resolve before upload it.Be patient a little bit I thing so it's not a so bad work. I am not Speady Gonzalez in English., sorry.Thanks another time!Have a nice night!Nicober
Hey Verne? I just ran into the thread here after Foz told me that he thought you guys, at TA, had a tutorial on the subject of building a geep 9 in a 3D program a while ago. Since I had to restore my C drive 2 weaks ago, i've lost the folder I had it in. I'd like to have another copy of it in my docs folder. Is there anything you could for me to get one? Lu.
Great Thanks Verne for your helps.I never maked before an ace file using Ace-trans option with TGA Tool 2.The result is here:I used the usfreight8.tga included with MSTS and after cut and paste the side and back, I ransformed it in an ace file whithout ompression.I'm not sure if I can have a better result but I want to search a little bit before to close this project.Thanks a lot, if you are any comments or suggestions you are welcome.Nicober
Thanks Verne! I never really tried using the "Ace-trans". I will give it a try shortly. Looking over my reskins, I do notice the ones giving me problems have ace files. Thanks again for the replies and Happy Simming!!Michael
Well, I thought that was a problem from great size of photography 2272 X 1704 pixels, and just for the crop
I suspect this is a problem of the video card associated at Windows.Cause: When I run Sky! Conductor 2 with MSTS my skies are very doll to compare to some screen shots saw in 
Now my next step will be to search on the Net, the last drivers for my video card ATI Radeon 7500.
I used the usfreight8.tga included with MSTS and after cut and paste the side and back, I ransformed it in an ace file whithout ompression.I'm not sure if I can have a better result but I want to search a little bit before to close this project.Thanks a lot, if you are any comments or suggestions you are welcome.Nicober