AMS2 - User Livery Overrides

My way to refresh is select another car and go to showroom, then back out and go back to the car and skin you are changing and it updates

 

Looks like a lot of us had the same idea.... Fingers crossed!

 

Ok so now that I feel I have my head around most of these Baseliveries and what do to with them I thought I should put them on here so that others who are struggling can get a better grasp of what you can do and others who know better than I can give me pointers on what I'm doing wrong... It also gives me an easy post to return to in order to point to help with these settings in the future...

I will try and keep my explanations simple and not directed to any editing software... Depending on what I'm working on I use Photoshop, GIMP or Paint.net... GIMP and Paint.net are great freeware software to get started with if you do not have access to Photoshop or other software...

I save everything in BC3 DXT5 format now due to the paint effects needing it and it just saves time for me when I'm doing in multiple skin files at the same time... The only file that requires a different format is the fresnel files which is BC1 DXT1 format with the alpha channel removed... And always generate mipmaps...

I also create different layers for the different effects (ie Matte or chrome), a layer for logos and a layer for numbers so I can change and remove things at will... Creating different layers for the different effects will help later when creating spec and fresnel files... Then flattening into one layer before saving...

The last thing to remember when painting is that full white is 230,230,230 and full black is 20,20,20 on the BODY file... This is something that has carried over from the madness engine past titles, white at 255,255,255 is overexposed and looks unnatural on track...

Matte

The matte effect is controlled by the alpha channel, a fully transparent alpha gives you a matte finish to any colour... There's no need for SPEC or FRESNEL files... To make the decals pop it's best keep those areas without any transparency in the alpha channel so they keep the gloss effect... You will know you will have pulled this off when you can see only the decals in windows explorer...

Spoiler: What you see in windows explorer

The blank/white areas are actually black... The "grey" is the 230,230,230 white...

It may also look like this if you have deleted the RGB data as well as the transparency of the alpha, so make sure you are only working on the alpha channel...

Spoiler: LiveryOveride

<LIVERY_OVERRIDE LIVERY="59" NAME="West Surrey Racing #24" BASELIVERY="Matte">
<PREVIEWIMAGE PATH="BTCC\ROKiT_p.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="BTCC\ROKiT.dds" />
</LIVERY_OVERRIDE>

With these settings you can only get a matte and gloss finish...

Metallic

Metallic is set up exactly the same as Matte, it's all in the alpha channel... The only issue is you have to choose which BASELIVERY colour option for the metallic look you are going for... There are 4 options currently RedMetallic, GreenMetallic, BlueMetallic and SilverMetallicn (not activated on all cars yet)...

Spoiler: LiveryOveride

<LIVERY_OVERRIDE LIVERY="66" NAME="Ciceley Motorsport #15" BASELIVERY="GreenMetallic">
<PREVIEWIMAGE PATH="BTCC\Ciceley15_p.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="PAINT" PATH="BTCC\Ciceley15.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="BTCC\Ciceley15.dds" />
</LIVERY_OVERRIDE>

Much like Matte, you can only achieve Metallic and Gloss with these settings...

I have so far found that the PAINT texture path is only relevant to Metallic textures so far... It is just a copy of the BODY file... More information on this path and it's effects would be helpful...

Chrome

Now comes the tricky one... Chrome effects... This is where the spec and fresnel files come in...

This is where the engine really differs from most other titles... Instead of controlling the chrome, matte and gloss through the RGB colours on the SPEC file, the SPEC file only effects the colour of the shine, with a 255,255,255 white being full gloss and a 0,0,0 black being no shine and no reflections...

Chrome is controlled by the FRESNEL file... 0,0,0 black is what you use for chrome areas...

You also want to make your chrome areas on your BODY file darker than the tone you want to see and lighter on the SPEC file, the 2 mix to create the chrome shine... For a basic chrome the BODY go anywhere from 100,100,100 to 150,150,150 and on the SPEC go anywhere between 180,180,180 to 220,220,220...

Creating those layers whilst painting the livery earlier on come in handy here, as you can just remove the colour and make the logos/decals white, darken or lighten a layer to create the chrome effects or easily select the areas you need to remove the alpha from... All without the need to separate them as the work flow was already created earlier... As long as your logo layer is above the chrome layer you will get perfectly matching SPEC and FRESNEL files...

Spoiler: View of each file

Spoiler: LiveryOveride

<LIVERY_OVERRIDE LIVERY="58" NAME="Laser Tools Racing #16" BASELIVERY="Chrome">
<PREVIEWIMAGE PATH="BTCC\Laser16_p.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="BTCC\Laser16.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="SPEC" PATH="BTCC\Laser_spec.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="FRESNEL" PATH="BTCC\Laser_fresnel.dds" />
</LIVERY_OVERRIDE>

With the above settings you can achieve a Chrome finish with gloss and matte... As the settings for metallic are colour defined I do not think it's possible to get a metallic effect using the Chrome base livery...

Mixing effects

You can play with the gloss intensity on both the SPEC and FRESNEL files and fake a matte or metallic look but the effect will never look as good using the Chrome BASELIVERY as either of the others... It is better in my opinion to get a matte through the alpha channel and accept the trade off of the lowered effects of using either the chrome or matte BASELIVERY option...

Mixing metallic effects with the other effects need further testing on my end, however start with using the metallic BASELIVERY option to suit the metallic colour you want and then see what effects you can achieve with the SPEC and FRESNEL files... Like using the matte or chrome BASELIVERY option there is a trade off in effectively of the other effects...

Spoiler: LiveryOveride

<LIVERY_OVERRIDE LIVERY="58" NAME="Laser Tools Racing #16" BASELIVERY="BlueMetallic">
<PREVIEWIMAGE PATH="BTCC\Laser16_p.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="PAINT" PATH="BTCC\Laser16.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="BTCC\Laser16.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="SPEC" PATH="BTCC\Laser_spec.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="FRESNEL" PATH="BTCC\Laser_fresnel.dds" />
</LIVERY_OVERRIDE>

When using a chrome base livery you can get reasonable effects out of using transparency in the colours of the matte or metallic effects on the spec file... For matte use a 55,55,55 with transparency of 20 on the spec file as well as using transparency on the skin file... A similar technique on the higher colours of the chromed part of the spec file can lead to a metallic like look...

That's about it... I'll edit and update this as more information comes to hand... Hopefully this helps someone...

 

Can you, or someone else explain how to edit the alpha layer in GIMP?
I know how to add an alpha channel used for transparency, but I don't know how to paint on it and still use it as alpha channel It always seems to change into a layer. (I tried to folow some youtube tutorials)

 

Perform a "Layers->Mask->Add Layer Mask" and select "Transfer layer's alpha channel" as the initialize option. You can then edit the "alpha channel" by editing the layer mask. When you wish to transfer your edited layer mask back to the alpha channel, perform a "Layers->Mask->Apply Layer Mask".

Editing the alpha channel (2006) — Help & Support — gimpusers.com

 

When I open the templates I do not need to add an alpha channel... It's already there...

Here's what you should see once you have selected the Matte or Metallic area and turned the alpha transparent...


If you lock (or grey out) the RGB channels you can then edit the alpha directly...

To select certain areas from the layers you created, first leave everything unlocked and use the select by colour option to select the colour/area your want Matte or Metallic... Then lock the RBG files with the selection active and use the erase function to turn the alpha transparent...

Use the opacity slider to create different levels of the effect... To turn something back to gloss select the paint tool and use 100 opacity...

When working with a fresnel file for Chrome you want to remove the alpha channel via Layer/Transparency/Remove Alpha Channel...

 

Is there a Template for the F-USA G1 Helmets yet? Or am I asking to quickly?

 

Defintely didnt come here to ask the same thing just having a browse

 

I've just used some basic mesh testing from the user end... Basically using the windows logo as a texture file to find out where is where...

We really need templates for the helmets...

 

whats the code you have found to work in the xml file?

 

<LIVERY_OVERRIDE LIVERY="55" NAME="Pagan Racing #21" BASELIVERY="BlackWheels">
<PREVIEWIMAGE PATH="Indycar1995\preview_Indycar21.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="Indycar1995\Indycar21.dds" />
</LIVERY_OVERRIDE>
<HELMET_OVERRIDE LIVERY="55" BASEHELMET="DEFAULT">
<TEXTURE NAME="BODY" PATH="Indycar1995\helmet.dds" />
<TEXTURE NAME="VISOR" PATH="Indycar1995\helmet_v.dds" />
</HELMET_OVERRIDE>

 

Took me a while but I have a colour map...



Now for the visor, as per the livery override xml I used a 2048x1024 file... The top 3rd of the file is where I put the black, and to get a clear visor I used 80% transparency on the alpha channel for the bottom half with a dark red to give the red tint...

EDIT: Sadly the front,back and sides aren't connected, parts overlap (inside foam and bit at back of helmet) and getting things to line up will be hard as the sides are on an angle...

 

Seems very complicated to paint. I am afraid we wont see many helmets set with quality.
An easier template is absolutely needed

 

Totally agree... It's one of the hardest helmet templates I've seen...

Usually the front, back and sides are connected... Plus there's parts that overlap... The foam on the inside of the visor is the same area as the small thin strip at the back of the head...

I managed something but anything intricate will take days to get right with this template... Bold colours in any shape will take long enough...

 

for early adopters
Use something like this to generate your template

 

Amazing thank you bro haha how did you manage to figure this out.... also now I'm a little intrigued what you found out about the wheels colours... Are you able to change them AND have a chrome base livery too? Noticed you called BASELIVERY="BlackWheels"/> , did it work?

Would love to be able to change wheel colours to match some liveries I have been making

Have to say, have been following your lttle post about your process and man its helpful... The chrome and matte makes a massive difference. Was a bit clueless before, still am but now have a point of reference, some of my liveries even look passable now so big thank you

This is a shame... Could anyone from Reiza give us a hand...?

 

would be cool to add white rims on this little WIP one day....

 

such extension like "Blackweels" are working only with cars were it is definitely definded.
Its not a generic function

 

Thought so, why I said one day. Reckon it will ever be a broader thing we are able to do apply other cars?

Also dont really mind which car I can do it to, just how to do it haha