AeroPaint Repaint Assistant

This program makes it easy for you to create additional versions of the supported aircraft
in Flight Simulator 2004. You can easily apply your own paint scheme to these additional
versions varying from simply changing Serial numbers right through to a completely new
paint scheme.

Note that in most cases you will not be allowed to edit or delete the original aircraft
livery. You will first need to create a new livery that will be a copy of the original one.
This is just a single button click. Once a new copy of the aircraft has been created you
can edit all aspects of the livery and details.
Contents
AeroPaint Repaint Assistant ............................................................................................... 1
Contents .............................................................................................................................. 2
Create a new Paint scheme ................................................................................................. 3
Step 1 – Pick your aircraft .............................................................................................. 3
Step 2 – Pick your base aircraft model ........................................................................... 3
Step 3 – Create a new copy of the chosen base model ................................................... 4
Step 4 – Editing the textures ........................................................................................... 6
More advanced options ....................................................................................................... 7
Deleting a Livery ............................................................................................................ 7
Changing the details of a model...................................................................................... 8
Sharing your repaints with other people ......................................................................... 9
Using imported repaints................................................................................................ 10
Changing the program used for editing textures........................................................... 11
Very Advanced options..................................................................................................... 12
Editing the Alpha channel............................................................................................. 12
Create a new Paint scheme

Step 1 – Pick your aircraft

The first thing you need to decide is which aircraft you wish to repaint.

On your Desktop (and also on the Start menu under Programs and then Just Flight and
finally AeroTools) you will see the AeroSelect program. Run this and it will display a list
of all the Aircraft you have in Flight Simulator that are enabled for AeroTools. Select the
aircraft you wish to repaint and then click the “AeroPaint” button. This will start up
AeroPaint with that aircraft loaded.

Step 2 – Pick your base aircraft model

Next you need to pick the base model you want to use to create your new repaint. Initially
you will only see the single option of the aircraft model as supplied. However when you
have done several repaints you will also be able to select one of them to use as the
starting point for your new repaint

As you click on each entry in the “Liveries” list you will see the texture thumbnail at the
left side of the window changing. Using the drop-down list below the thumbnail you can
switch between the multiple textures used by that model. Most models will only have 2
main aircraft textures but some may have more if the design requires it. The list may also
include other textures that can be modified. Such things as the textures used for the Pilot
or Passengers.
Step 3 – Create a new copy of the chosen base model

When you have decided which base model you want to use click on it in the Liveries list
(so it is highlighted) and then click the “Add new livery” button.

A window will now appear where you can set the various features of your new model.
This window contains a number of text boxes pre-filled with various settings derived
from the base model you have chosen with the addition of random numbers to
differentiate from the settings of the original model. For most pleasing results you will
want to edit these to more closely match your intended new model.

You can change the entries in the text boxes at this stage if you wish. In particular you
may wish to change the Variation entry to something else. This is the name that will
appear in the Flight Simulator selection list for the aircraft.

Note - If you decide to leave the preset values for the moment you can edit them later at
any time by using the “Edit selected Livery details” option.

If the program detects that that either the Aircraft Title or the Variation is the same as one
already present in the aircraft then you will be prompted to change it so that it is unique.
Flight Simulator requires all aircraft to have unique names for these options so that it can
correctly keep track of all aircraft models and variations.
Click the “Add Livery” button and the window will close. Back in the main program
window you should see a new entry at the end of the Livery list which is your new copy
of the aircraft ready for editing.

Click on this new entry to highlight it and you will see the textures appear in the
thumbnails. At this point you could actually go and fly Flight Simulator and you would
find your new aircraft model in the list of aircraft you can select. Of course it will display
in Flight Simulator with the same textures as the original base model for the moment but
you can now edit these textures without affecting the original base model in any way.
Step 4 – Editing the textures

When you click on any entry in the Livery list you will see the thumbnail change to
represent the textures for that selection. There will usually be more than one texture used
and the number of textures will show above the thumbnail.

These textures can be edited individually by selecting each one from the drop-down list
below the thumbnail and then clicking the “Edit” button (or by double-clicking on the
thumbnail itself).

When you click the Edit button the following will happen :-

• The program will shrink down onto the Windows Taskbar

• MSPaint will open up with the selected texture ready for editing

You can now do all the editing you require. Repaint the image as much as you want.
Once you have finished repainting close down MSPaint using the X close button at the
very top right corner of the MSPaint window. You will now be prompted to save the
changes you have made. Click Yes at this prompt.

The Repaint Assistant will now be restored to full size. If you have made any changes
while in the paint program then you will now be prompted to ask if you want to update
the texture with the changes you have made. If you are happy with your changes then
click OK. If you click Cancel then no changes will be made.

If you now go to Flight Simulator you will be able to select your new model and see it
displayed with your new customised paint scheme.
More advanced options

Deleting a Livery

There may be times when you wish to delete some of the new repainted liveries you
currently have installed.

• Start the Repaint Assistant for the particular aircraft

• Select the Livery you wish to remove by clicking on it in the Livery list
• Click the “Delete Selected Livery” button
• You will now be prompted to confirm that you really wish to delete it. If you
click Cancel then nothing will be deleted
• If you have confirmed the deletion then the livery entry will be removed from
the aircraft. You will now be asked if you also wish to delete the actual
textures as well. If you agree then the texture files will be permanently deleted.
If you don`t agree then the texture files will remain in the particular texture
folder for that livery but will not actually be used by the aircraft. They will
still be available if you wish to import them into a new livery at some future
time.

Note that in most cases you will not be allowed to delete the original livery.
Changing the details of a model

There may be times when you wish to change some of the description details for a
particular model variation. It is usually not allowed that you can change the details of the
original model. Mainly this option is here so you can change what is displayed in Flight
Simulator for one of your repaints.

• Start the Repaint Assistant for the particular aircraft

• Click on the entry in the Liveries list that you wish to edit
• Click the “Edit Selected Livery details” button

You will now see a window displaying the current details for that model. This window is
identical to the window you see when creating a new livery but here it will let you change
the details of an already-installed model.

The “Model Type” entry decides which Model this variation will display under in Flight
Simulator.

The “Variation …” entry decides what is displayed in Flight Simulator as the individual
model name.

Once happy with your changes click OK. If it is detected that you have set a Title or
Variation that already exists then you will be prompted to go back and change it.
Sharing your repaints with other people

The Repaint assistant has functions to export any of the textures so that you can send
them to other users of the same aircraft for adding to their install.

To export the textures for a model :-

• Start the Repaint assistant

• Select chosen model in the Liveries list
• Under the thumbnail click the “Export displayed texture” button
• In the file browser that appears choose a suitable location to export to (the
Desktop is a good place). Don`t change the offered filename as this is the
required filename for that particular texture
• Select the next texture in the drop-down list and repeat the process
• Repeat for as many textures as the aircraft uses
• If you wish you can then create a zip to put the textures in for uploading or
emailing.
• You may also wish to include a text file describing the model and settings you
used when you created the new livery so that new users can install it in their
copy of the aircraft using the same model, title and variation.
Using imported repaints

If you have obtained a texture package created by the methods outlined above you can
easily import them into your installation of the aircraft

• Start the Repaint Assistant for the particular aircraft

• If the supplier of the textures has specified a particular base model to use then
select that one in the Liveries list. If no base model has been specified then
use any one.
• Click the “Add new Livery” button
• If the supplier of the package has provided information for the various settings
for the new livery (title, variation name etc) then make the necessary changes
in the relevant text boxes
• Click “Add Livery” and your new model with be added to the aircraft.
• Select the new livery in the Livery list
• Under the thumbnail click the “Import new texture” button. This will bring up
a file browser for the particular texture. Browse to where you have
downloaded or unzipped the new textures
• Use the drop-down list to switch to the next texture and repeat the import
process
• Repeat for as many textures as the aircraft requires (or that the supplier of
your new textures has supplied)
Changing the program used for editing textures

By default the Repaint Assistant comes set with MSPaint as the program to use for
editing the individual textures. All standard Windows PCs will have this program
available unless the option was taken not to install it when initially installing Windows.

MSPaint is a reasonable Painting program and has sufficient tools to allow for basic
repainting of the textures. However it is possible that you may have a more powerful
Paint program installed on your computer. If so then it would be much better to use that
instead of MSPaint.

To utilise another paint program click on the “Select Editing Program” button in the
“Editor Options” area of the main window. This will bring up a file browser to let you
browse and select an alternative program (EXE file) to use. Note that you will need to
know the location and filename of the relevant paint program so you can select it. As an
example if you have PaintShopPro installed then you will be looking for PSP.EXE in the
folder you originally installed PaintShopPro to.

The Repaint Assistant will function with most standard Paint programs such as
PaintShopPro, PhotoShop, CorelPaint and many others. However some programs (like
Serif PhotoPlus) function in such a way that the Repaint Assistant cannot work
successfully with them.

If it fails to work with your chosen Paint program then you can restore MSPaint by
clicking on the “Reset editing program to MSPaint” button.
Very Advanced options

If you are experienced in the workings of Flight Simulator and are comfortable working
directly with individual files then there are further options available.

Editing the Alpha channel

The textures used by the aircraft are in a special 32 bit Extended Bitmap format with an
Alpha channel. These cannot be edited directly in any general paint program but need to
be edited using the Repaint Assistant.

The Repaint Assistant takes care of splitting the texture into visible data and alpha
channel so that the visible texture can be edited without losing the important alpha
channel data. After editing the two parts are combined together again in the correct
format for Flight Simulator to use.

The alpha channel controls the amount of “shine” present in the paint surface when
viewed in Flight Simulator. Normally this will not be accessible and any repainting you
do to a texture will retain the original alpha channel.

If you wish to experiment with adjusting the alpha channel in order to create different
amounts of shine on the aircraft paintwork this can be done by doing the following :-

• Browse in Windows Explorer to your Flight Simulator folder. Then the

Aircraft folder you will find there.
• Browse further to the folder for the particular aircraft.
• In this folder locate the texture folder for the model you wish to modify. If
you are unsure which texture folder is related to which model then use
notepad to open the “installed_aircraft.txt” file you will find in the folder for
each aircraft. This contains a list of the variations and which texture folder
belongs to which variation.
• Once in the relevant texture folder you will see a number of texture (bmp)
files. The files that you need to locate are named with _a on the end. These are
the alpha files for the full textures of the same name (eg warrior_t3_a.bmp is
the alpha channel for warrior_t3.bmp) .
• Open the required alpha file in your paint program. These files are standard
256 colour (Greyscale) bmp files and can be directly opened by MSPaint or
any other paint program.
The loaded image will probably look like a plain white or nearly-white image. The level
of whiteness defines the amount of reflection that will show in the model. This ranges
from minimum reflection for pure white up to maximum reflection for pure black. Shades
of grey in-between white and black will give appropriate in-between levels of reflectivity.

Edit this image as required either by filling the whole image with the desired level of grey
or, if available, use your paint program`s Brightness or Colour-processing options to
lighten or darken the whole image. Save the edited image to overwrite the original file.
Do the same for the other alpha file. It is a good idea to edit both to the same level of grey
or brightness to avoid differences where different textures meet on the aircraft.

The next stage is to get the new alpha data included into the main textures.

• Start the Repaint Assistant

• Select the required model in the Livery list
• Click the “Edit” button under the Texture thumbnail after selecting from the
drop-down list so that the correct texture is displayed.
• In your paint program just Save the image again and then close the paint
program. If your paint program will not let you Save (as no changes have been
made) then do something minimal like paint a single dot on the image and
then use the “Undo” function to remove it again. You should now be able to
Save.
• When the Repaint Assistant asks if you wish to update the texture click OK.
• Repeat the above process for any other textures you have modified the alpha
channels for.

Now you should be able to see your new adjusted reflections when using the model in
Flight Simulator.