BR (ET) 403

So, a strange day at the Ausbesserungswerk. We're just sipping our tea when a regular customer storms in.

Being Bandion, that's nothing out of the ordinary. As usual, he's working on 16 projects on the same time - so it's gonna be something special - no doubt. In the meantime, we can't understand one word from him, because he keeps on flailing with his arms, trying to describe his latest creation. He's like Leonardo da Vinci, but with ADHD (ADHS). And too much sugar. He keeps shouting "Ente!" and points out the door.

As we try to offer him some of our overcooked tea, he screams he can't stay - saying he has some masoning to do. Building his own station he says. And before we knew it, he's gone - muttering he's left the "Ente" out on the yard...

Ladies & Gents, the 403 has entered my yard. My private little Ausbesserungswerk.

Some people have wondered what it is I do, so I'll kinda show it a bit, like posting pics of the progress. First up: normal mapping, but before that strip it and prime it!

First part of the normal mapping: making the flaps on the bottom half of the "Triebkopf" and the parts that belong with it.
If you want to learn how to do this, don't ask me. I'm as good as a teacher as I am a juggler. But feel free to take a look here
and here.

First off:
Poor Bandy, I think he's completely bonkers now...

But seriously: Thank you for deciding to do this. I've already learned quite a bit from your textures, I'll be even more interested in seeing which steps you take/use.

And for good measure: I find the Ente to be one of the most fascinating german EMUs (a duck is a emu? No wonder Bandion is nuts) out there. So, quite happy you've been coersed to do the texturing.

Zitat von Cadoras

Being Bandion, that's nothing out of the ordinary. As usual, he's working on 16 projects on the same time - so it's gonna be something special - no doubt. In the meantime, we can't understand one word from him, because he keeps on flailing with his arms, trying to describe his latest creation. He's like Leonardo da Vinci, but with ADHD (ADHS). And too much sugar. He keeps shouting "Ente!" and points out the door.

As we try to offer him some of our overcooked tea, he screams he can't stay - saying he has some masoning to do. Building his own station he says. And before we knew it, he's gone - muttering he's left the "Ente" out on the yard...

I can see it....

Zitat von YstlDystl

a duck is a emu?

Zitat von https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_test

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck - then it is probably a duck.

scnr...

Zitat von YstlDystl

a duck is a emu?

Nah, there's actually some sense there. Due to the design of the frontsection, people quickly nicknamed it "Donald Duck".

Next step, after some pause: Rosters and windowsills.

Probably the last for tonight: the headlights (with normal mapped ring), painted windows with Alpha Channel, and the wheels and bogies colored and weathered.

Alpha Channel:

If you want something on a texture to bear reflection, you'll have to mess around with the Alpha Channel. To keep it simple, the Alpha Channel is an extra channel
to your standard (RGB-)texture. This channel only deals in grayscale, wherein white stands for no reflection and black for full reflection. With darkening from white
you can shift the amount of reflection. At a later stage (probably after main paint, striping & weathering) I'll adjust the AC on the main body, which has to slightly
reflect, which means (in this case) a darker shade of pale...

Weathering:

The weathering on the wheels and bogies is limited to my general palette. No detailed weathering, just the main layer. Most of the time I use three texture layers
in which each layer represents a certain part of general weathering: scratches, grime & rust. These layers are almost fully transparent: 22% opacity on the scratches
(which is almost in black & white) and resp. 5% and 8% on the grime & rust. This my standard setting I mostly use on steamers.

These "standard" values are modified when it needs to be. In this case it shall have to be altered for the main body, because vivid color don't wear these values
well. I predict there will be a lengthy trial for these. That's why I've separated the wheel & bogies from the main body for general weathering.

What is this cadoras?
A little side projekt?

Zitat von DofD

What is this cadoras?
A little side projekt?

Don't know what you're talking about. Doesn't that belong there?

Anywho, progress sofar: added a couple of details and colored (and generally weathered) everything that isn't part of the main colorthemes.
This way I've created a template in which I can later on easily switch liveries (Lufthansa anyone?).

Zitat von Bandion

Dumme Frage....überlappt der Türgriff das Fenster ein wenig? Wirst aber schon selbst gesehen haben

I don't know what you're talking about.
*quickly burns the evidence

Next step: primary color!

This the part that always dissapoints - it just looks wrong: to plastic, to fake it is as clean as a turd in a punchbowl.
I've learned over time, that at this point you just have to push on. It's the weathering and lettering that make
the difference.

Strangely enough, it's the more modern locomotives that are more difficult to make it look real. With the old steamers
there's far more parts, so the level detail will quickly reside in quantity, not quality. Modern trains have far less visible
parts, which means you'll have to chase realism with far less to work with.

Another thing on colors: NEVER TRUST THE OFFICIAL COLORCODES

No, I'm not like on of these people:

Hear me out:

Some people stick exactly to the "official" colorcodes, like (for example) RAL 6007
for Flaschengrün. The problems:

1.

I dare you to put in "RAL 6007" into Google Images and say you can see one uniform
color. There just ain't one. Although RAL 6007 should provide the same color every-
where, that just ain't true as proven by this point.

If you give a shop a request for two tins of RAL 6007 paint, but from separate manu-
facturers, I can guarantee you that they won't be the same. Some of that is due to the
fact that both manufacturers have different methods of producing the paint, but also
to the fact that each one of them approaches the RAL-coding differently.

There's a more safe way to get a decent RAL-color, and that is to translate the RAL-code
in a universal RGB-code. This conversion is not dependent on the perspective of manu-
facturers, but on the agreed color coding. You can use this site for those purposes.

At this time I've created a little library of "Eisenbahnfarben" for myself, straight derived
from the RGB codes.

2.

If you do get the right color, you can't just slap 'm on it. There is color, and the way color
is perceived:

Take a sample of the RAL 6007 (Flaschengrün) and hold it against a picture of an actual
locomotive/wagon that has that color. Does it look the same?

Yeah. Kinda. Sorta.

How come it ain't exactly the same? The reasons:

- only freshly painted locomotives will have that color, as it is not sunbleached yet.

- the lighting dramatically effects the way a color is being perceived, and in a game like
train-fever you are dependent on the ingame lighting.

- grime & dirt: only a locomotive that just rolled of the line looks fresh. Within a few weeks
it will at least some form of dirt on it.

So, what to do?

Get the actual RAL (or otherwise) coded color. This will be your starting point. From thereon
you just constantly adjust - bleach it, make it dirty, scratch it up a bit and play around with
saturation - until it looks like it actually belongs on the tracks.

Thx, thats what i always say: Dont cry for "real" colors. Use them as a basis, something to orient on. But to say "naaaah wrong!" is just... bad word Im not really a "Train-Freak" but even I can see that even on one loco that "persistant" RAL (or whatever) colors are usefull like headaches. Here its sunbleached, there was a plate renewed and isnt that bleached as the surrounding ones... There just is not "the" color for a train. Ofc a green train shouldnt be red But that crying for exactness is just not good.

That's correct - but there's one more factor I've not mentioned:

Taste.

I always try to make them as realistic as possible, but that's always misunderstood. I'm not trying to make them realistic in the sense that I'm gonna count the rivets on the boiler, but I'm trying
to make it believable. I want people to think that it looks very realistic. That's not an excuse for lacking proper detail, but it's merely a statement to tell people that realism doesn't hide behind coded colors and counting rivets.

Paint your stuff and take a step back. Look at your work and be honest: does it look realistic? Yes? Good. If not: why? First try to ascertain if your scope itself is realistic - you'll have to work
within the limits of the game and your own skills.

AdminEdit: Vollzitat vom vorherigen Beitrag entfernt, siehe Forenregeln.
Mfg Sebastian

@Cadoras you don't count the rivets on the boilder? shame on you
seriously, your painbtjobs alre always looking great, very great. I hope to see the ET403 soon.

A question (and i think I know the answer): do you make also a Lufthansa-Livery?

There will be a Lufthansa-livery: once the full IC-livery is done, it is a (relatively) small step to do the Lufthansa-one.
Both liveries will be delivered to Bandion.