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kohlenklau's Vehicle Modding Test Idiot Log


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Here again I will go "open kimono" to show and document my stumbling attempts to mod a vehicle in CMX2.

Document for myself so I know in the future what worked and what didn't...maybe even interest others in modding.

My goal will be to take the Valentine from CMRT F&R and mod it into an 8th Army Valentine for my new CMFI CMAK2 Project.

In another thread I will be using Blender to try to change the 3D of the gun from the 6-pounder to a 2-pounder.

Then here the GiMP/Photoshop/etc. work to change the colors from I assume @MikeyD's stock art as a Red Army lend-lease tank to something in Libya earlier in the war.

There will be some of you out there with intense skills and might be inclined to step in at every twist and turn cringing at watching my AMATEUR methods.

I respectfully ask that you PM me instead of derailing the thread and taking it over my head.

I can always edit my later posts and give you credit for tips and guidance. Which I will appreciate!

For others who might unintentionally derail the thread in other ways...try not to...please.

Stay tuned if you want!

Edited by kohlenklau
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Born in 1964, I have enjoyed an on again off again love affair with plastic modelling. My kits are all in the attic. 😞

Perhaps this CM vehicle modding is some aspect of the thrill of those days. I admit that looking at the box art and instructions always got me geared up. Tank porn!

h04AxHa.jpg

This one below looks like my goal vehicle! A Tamiya kit.

uHZ3ndt.jpg

The resources out there are incredible...for the colors and the decals.

HJf7NlN.jpg

yzF9m4c.jpg

ts7Uv4U.jpg

Like most CM AFV's, the Valentine has 3 main bmp's to mod: turret, hull and wheels. I will not mess with the interior bmp nor the tracks.

I will try to use GiMP 2.10 and the "colorizer" tool...but first I will make some layer masks by using "select by color" and getting the dark shadow details around the rivets and between plates.

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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In my first attempts at vehicle modding back in 2014 I didn't do this step and I covered over much of the rich detail created by the initial artists. 

I opened the turret bmp and used the eye dropper of select by color. I picked off a dark detail and then it created the "marching ants" effect. I messed around with the settings but I think the default is ok. 

1fvjwto.png

Then with that selection still active I filled it with my black foreground FG color. and pasted it into a new transparent background layer...

Here is the detail I grabbed. All the rivets and recesses...

9xdbaNn.png

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Now I gotta tell "the Chili story"... 

Once upon a time a guy made a big pot of chili (like a stew) on a cold afternoon. He used meats and tomatoes and onions and spices. It cooked and cooked. Finally it was ready. Everybody loved it. It was the best chili they had ever had! What a success. 

The next time he made the chili, everybody asked why it didn't taste as good. He couldn't remember exactly what he had done the first time so he couldn't repeat the success. 

Me and modding. We are constantly playing out "the chili story"...

I am not saying I ever do anything perfect but the point is I have difficulty duplicating things as I lose the bubble on what I was actually doing the first time.

GiMP and many programs do have a scroll history of commands but not always the finest details of adjusting saturation, was it dropped by -15 or by -20? 

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I keep my versions and just number the bmp's incrementally so I can see where I am headed...

Here is from right to left,

A. my initial recolorization from the seat of my pants not using a color sample.

B. recolorization with the color sample but not tweaking the saturation, lightness and temperature.

C. recolorization with the color sample, Light Stone No. 61, with "the chili story" notes of setting color temp at 5000K, decreased saturation by -31 and increased lightness by 31. 

The mix and match Tommy Two Tone effect is because some turret items are on the hull bmp file.

xc8mbNb.png

...with this below being our goal...

uHZ3ndt.jpg

I will press on with "recipe C"...

Standby until later today or tomorrow...

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Valet parking outside the mosque...

hwQEuzi.png

Now I go and manually mask some more areas. Down on the wheels...

I can use the original select by color technique but fill the selection with various muddy grime colors at a reduced opacity.

Too shiny versus the stock vehicles. Maybe some more reduction in saturation? Seems like 1000 adjustment knobs. Which one to adjust?

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I used the Tamiya decals to guide me in selecting a font for the vehicle code T.47242 and found a decent enough match...

They go on the turret sides. In the turret GiMP file you make a layer for each side of the turret. Do the text with the font and the font size. Position as desired. Then duplicate the layer. The first vehicle number layer is normal and the duplicate is reversed horizontally and then positioned on the image as desired. If you get it correct the first time, you are a lucky dog. You have to view in the game to know 100% for sure. Sometimes you can study the turret structure and see clues to know you'll get it right.

That red "3" will be for next time. I will first try to make hull skirts in Blender. If I can't after a few valiant tries, then I will claim "vehicle modder's poetic license" and do something else. Put the number somewhere else or use an entirely different vehicle marking scheme. 

ts7Uv4U.jpg

But I have also asked for some help on reducing what I call the "shimmer"..."brightness"..."luminence"...

Standby.

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12 minutes ago, mjkerner said:

Looking pretty damn good, Phil!

Thanks Mark. I see things I need to do. I just need a checklist and will knock them out.

1. rust up the muffler

2. look to see what are tools or tool boxes and should be a different color.

3. use the [muddy] version of the original CMRT images to select and fill with a different color/texture to bring in some "sandy encrustations"...?

As you know, it is my opinion, rightfully to have as a paying customer in an impersonal way, that BFC has flat out abandoned fans of the early war. Steve said in that F&R thread "...we'll never do Crete..." and all those type comments. I made a few beggings and pleadings for a set of "war gamers kits" type modules for CMFI or CMRT. Ready to pay $$$ for their efforts! I do not hold any hope that my fantasy will come true. Like when Farrah Fawcett did not emerge nude from my bedroom closet back when I was 13. Best wishes to them as a company. I now must try my best to see what I can do to fulfill my own desires using the CMX2 engine and its moddability with GiMP and Blender and Notepad++. Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the mods of war!

 

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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kohlenklau,

Seen this? Also, certain issues of the sadly long gone AFV-G2 magazine had comprehensive studies of particular tanks and other AFVs from that area, too, including Tunisia. Of particular note was that each such article came with a paint chip researched to a fare thee well and reconstructed using Floquil model railroad paints. Asa fun side note, in Hell Boats (on YT),  which follows an MTB squadron based in Malta (and shot there), there is a military truck done in the same stone pattern a Matilda II was photographed in.

s-l400.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

https://www.amazon.com/Armour-Camouflage-Markings-Africa-1940-43/dp/0853681015

The above book is arguably the classic reference on the topic.

Regards,

John Kettler

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Thank you @John Kettler

No, I do not have that particular book. I am inundated with numerous other books. In fact I have so many WW2 books that I told my wife that in a few years it will be my new mission to create an Ebay site and sell them all off before I kick the bucket. I have been to estate sales and seen the sad vestiges of a ww2 history buffs cherished books sold for pennies on the dollar. My 2 sons do know of my love for ww2 history but I do not expect them to bow and pray to the books after my demise. The process of selling them will involve a last read or at least a skim and appreciation of what I once held so dear. OK, still hold dear!

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YkQCo3t.png

I took a dropper of this color down below but got the above. I blame me. I just don't know what the f I am doing.

 

yzF9m4c.jpg

But here is the Tamiya art work. Whatever.

uHZ3ndt.jpg

well, you got me. I will call it adequate for the color. Moving on for some final insignia and weathering and send it to battle!

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Don’t know if you’re interested in pursuing this further but you may have a colour profile mismatch happening. I won’t go into detail but I would open your tank and the colour patch each. Check the profile for each (see below). If they are not the same, make them both sRGB (again see below). Then sample the colour again and repaint the tank with that. Without seeing the files I can’t say for sure that’s the problem, but what I’m seeing here is typical of that. Below are instructions for checking and changing the profiles in GIMP. 
 

  1. Select Image/Color Management/Convert to Color Profile to bring up theConvert to ICC Color Profile dialog:

    convert-1.png
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No, sRGB is where you want them. Might be something going on in the conversion to .bmp. Hard to say without seeing the files. The other thing you can do is simply eyeball it. If you want, send me the files (PM) me and I’ll have a look (I’m curious now), but you’ve done a really good job so I’m not sure it’s worth losing sleep over. 

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The thing is that color in RL situations, sun, weather etc. is rarely the same as on the paint tin.  Anyone painting their house will see that.  Best is to color for effect.  If it looks right in the game, then it's right.

Edited by Erwin
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12 hours ago, Canuck21 said:

so I’m not sure it’s worth losing sleep over. 

It aint! I will press forward with other stuff. :-)

10 hours ago, Erwin said:

f it looks right in the game, then it's right.

I think it looks AOK for my personal use purposes. I am heading in to a "make mods/maps and scenarios just for my own usage" mode that takes away all the hassle and stress.  :-)

EDIT: for my own documentation purposes, I made a blending layer of all white, softlight mode, 10% opacity for all 3 bmp's. 

Edited by kohlenklau
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I used colorize on Italians with Hue-Saturation (Yellow) Lightness+21, Saturation +54. Hue-Saturation (Green) Saturation -66. White layer softlight mode 57% opacity.

QvbrNMq.png

Trying to make these guys. Looking for the Pith helmet in a FREE stl file I can use Blender on. 

FRmyM9o.png

 

Edited by kohlenklau
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