Post by Bunta on Jun 29, 2005 0:24:47 GMT -5
Master Skinnerz Skin Kits
Please go HERE to download LFS skin kits (templates included). Files are PSD format and are archived in rar format.
Regularly check this topic for latest developments and bug reports.
As time permits I have been releasing skin kits for the skinning community. Some people call these things "templates", but I prefer to call them "kits" because I would like to see more complete resources available. I am suggesting that a "kit" may contain several items and spare parts, not just a basic template guide showing you to where to stick your artwork.
Many community members have provided templates over the last two years and we must all be grateful for that.
Wireframes
Rather than just do the same thing as each other I decided to attempt to make very high quality wireframes that would be an improvement on something that Photoshop would produce. This meant making vectored wireframes and that brought it's own problems to me. With excellent help from Andylec and many hours spent per car I finally produced a very good result. Then all of the skin mapping and car modelling was improved by Scawen and Eric and I had to scrap the lot and start again.
I have recreated all of the wireframes in vector format and improved them so they are very good tools for skinners. I output them in PSD format with transparent backgrounds so they can be used by the wide majority of skinners, but I make some changes to help improve the quality of the result. Below are some things that help to describe why this process is even worth doing:
- Line thickness is reduced to the thinnest possible line. Jagged edges are reduced considerably and even more by the fact that the wireframes begin their life as vector objects. Even though the conversion to PSD means a small loss of quality from the vectored version, the result is still an improvement on the non-vector method that many of us have used in the past to create wireframes.
Mask Overlay
The "mask" is a black layer that you can place over your final skin. It has areas cut out of it so it only masks the areas of your jpg that don't appear on the skin in game. Why do this?
The black mask is useful because black uses the least KB and so the file size may be reduced by masking the unskinnable areas with black. A file with many colours and texture changes also uses more KB, basically the more detail an image has, the larger the files size. Using the mask reduces filesize, even if just a little, it all helps to make a better skin for download time, storage, and of course uses less of your precious resources.
I want to see a lot of people using this mask to reduce the amount of data we all transfer and store, and to reduce poor-performance on slower machines. Another bonus of the mask is that it makes your skin look much neater, which is kinda nice
The mask overlay is not my invention, but I like to think that my method of creating them gives a superior result than those created in Photoshop for example. Vectoring means less jagged lines and more accuracy. But let's return to that colour-bleeding that jpgs produce. I have made these masks by hand, in other words I didn't just let a program generate them. Because they were done painstakingly by hand I was able to allow for the colour-bleed that may occur if the mask was "too-accurate". I have made the mask in such a way that you should get no black running onto your skinnable areas, so the mask should not mar your skin in any way, but still do it's job!
High-res kits
Most of you realise that BIG resolutions allow for more detai. We all want excellent detail on our skins so they look fantastic in-game, but it is a fact that bigger skins use more resources than smaller ones. You may say "I don't care, my awesome PC can handle the larger textures", but remember that other people's PCs may not be so fast. We all want our skin to be seen by our fellow racers online so if you make them too big you greatly reduce the number of people who will bother to keep your skin, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of sharing your skin in the first place. Nobody wants your skin lagging up their PC, especially in a race sim.
The default size for skins in LFS is still 512 x 512 pixels. LFS World will allow you to upload no larger than 1024 x 1024 pixels in size.
1024 x 1024 is also what we recommend, it is ample for great-looking skins, but we know that higher resolutions look even better and can provide more detail, they may also be easier to work on.
To increase accuracy though, I am making all my kits at 2048 x 2048 pixels. So to use my kits you will need to make your skins at this size and then resize them down to 1024 x 1024 for use in-game. There will be some loss of quality when you size down, but you will still be happy with the result and the skins will look just fine in-game. You can retain your 2048 x 2048 version for sexy screenshots, or use it yourself and provide the community with the smaller sized skin (make sure both versions have the same file name or else nobody will see your skin in-game).
I want to stress that a size of 1024 x 1024 is highly recommended for use in LFS and anything larger is not recommended.
Blank Skin
I provide a 2048 x 2048 blank skin with each kit for accuracy and ease of use. Many people still haven't worked out how to resize images in their graphics software, otherwise I wouldn't need to provide this blank.
Extra bits
As stated earlier, I would like to see more items included in kits in the future. I have already created a collection of ready-made hoods, wings and mirrors using carbon fiber textures. These function like all my overlays, you just drop it on to the centre of the skin and it is already lined up perfectly for you.
In future I would like to release such items as these plus some other stuff like lights and interior bits, vents and scoops etc. Certain community members have already shown great skill in making these types of things, so perhaps we will see their stuff in my future kit releases.
For now, however, I will provide my completed kits as I complete them. They take a long time to make usually and I will make them the order that I choose. I will be releasing them in PSD format for wider appeal.
*Warning! These kits have been compressed into rar files and will be larger files when unpacked.
Check the link at the top of this post for our quick download page.
Please go HERE to download LFS skin kits (templates included). Files are PSD format and are archived in rar format.
Regularly check this topic for latest developments and bug reports.
As time permits I have been releasing skin kits for the skinning community. Some people call these things "templates", but I prefer to call them "kits" because I would like to see more complete resources available. I am suggesting that a "kit" may contain several items and spare parts, not just a basic template guide showing you to where to stick your artwork.
Many community members have provided templates over the last two years and we must all be grateful for that.
Wireframes
Rather than just do the same thing as each other I decided to attempt to make very high quality wireframes that would be an improvement on something that Photoshop would produce. This meant making vectored wireframes and that brought it's own problems to me. With excellent help from Andylec and many hours spent per car I finally produced a very good result. Then all of the skin mapping and car modelling was improved by Scawen and Eric and I had to scrap the lot and start again.
I have recreated all of the wireframes in vector format and improved them so they are very good tools for skinners. I output them in PSD format with transparent backgrounds so they can be used by the wide majority of skinners, but I make some changes to help improve the quality of the result. Below are some things that help to describe why this process is even worth doing:
- Line thickness is reduced to the thinnest possible line. Jagged edges are reduced considerably and even more by the fact that the wireframes begin their life as vector objects. Even though the conversion to PSD means a small loss of quality from the vectored version, the result is still an improvement on the non-vector method that many of us have used in the past to create wireframes.
Mask Overlay
The "mask" is a black layer that you can place over your final skin. It has areas cut out of it so it only masks the areas of your jpg that don't appear on the skin in game. Why do this?
The black mask is useful because black uses the least KB and so the file size may be reduced by masking the unskinnable areas with black. A file with many colours and texture changes also uses more KB, basically the more detail an image has, the larger the files size. Using the mask reduces filesize, even if just a little, it all helps to make a better skin for download time, storage, and of course uses less of your precious resources.
I want to see a lot of people using this mask to reduce the amount of data we all transfer and store, and to reduce poor-performance on slower machines. Another bonus of the mask is that it makes your skin look much neater, which is kinda nice
The mask overlay is not my invention, but I like to think that my method of creating them gives a superior result than those created in Photoshop for example. Vectoring means less jagged lines and more accuracy. But let's return to that colour-bleeding that jpgs produce. I have made these masks by hand, in other words I didn't just let a program generate them. Because they were done painstakingly by hand I was able to allow for the colour-bleed that may occur if the mask was "too-accurate". I have made the mask in such a way that you should get no black running onto your skinnable areas, so the mask should not mar your skin in any way, but still do it's job!
High-res kits
Most of you realise that BIG resolutions allow for more detai. We all want excellent detail on our skins so they look fantastic in-game, but it is a fact that bigger skins use more resources than smaller ones. You may say "I don't care, my awesome PC can handle the larger textures", but remember that other people's PCs may not be so fast. We all want our skin to be seen by our fellow racers online so if you make them too big you greatly reduce the number of people who will bother to keep your skin, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of sharing your skin in the first place. Nobody wants your skin lagging up their PC, especially in a race sim.
The default size for skins in LFS is still 512 x 512 pixels. LFS World will allow you to upload no larger than 1024 x 1024 pixels in size.
1024 x 1024 is also what we recommend, it is ample for great-looking skins, but we know that higher resolutions look even better and can provide more detail, they may also be easier to work on.
To increase accuracy though, I am making all my kits at 2048 x 2048 pixels. So to use my kits you will need to make your skins at this size and then resize them down to 1024 x 1024 for use in-game. There will be some loss of quality when you size down, but you will still be happy with the result and the skins will look just fine in-game. You can retain your 2048 x 2048 version for sexy screenshots, or use it yourself and provide the community with the smaller sized skin (make sure both versions have the same file name or else nobody will see your skin in-game).
I want to stress that a size of 1024 x 1024 is highly recommended for use in LFS and anything larger is not recommended.
Blank Skin
I provide a 2048 x 2048 blank skin with each kit for accuracy and ease of use. Many people still haven't worked out how to resize images in their graphics software, otherwise I wouldn't need to provide this blank.
Extra bits
As stated earlier, I would like to see more items included in kits in the future. I have already created a collection of ready-made hoods, wings and mirrors using carbon fiber textures. These function like all my overlays, you just drop it on to the centre of the skin and it is already lined up perfectly for you.
In future I would like to release such items as these plus some other stuff like lights and interior bits, vents and scoops etc. Certain community members have already shown great skill in making these types of things, so perhaps we will see their stuff in my future kit releases.
For now, however, I will provide my completed kits as I complete them. They take a long time to make usually and I will make them the order that I choose. I will be releasing them in PSD format for wider appeal.
*Warning! These kits have been compressed into rar files and will be larger files when unpacked.
Check the link at the top of this post for our quick download page.