TRAINZ
BASIC RE-SKINNERS GUIDE
FOR DUMMIES
by Rick Hargraves
(aka, thegrindre)
Originally posted at
http://www.geocities.com/thegrindre/
Under the Windows XP platform
there seems to be an interest in this area and
I thought I'd share some really basic things I do when I re-skin. It's
mostly copy and paste with a little touch up to make things look a little
better. This usually involves a little pixel by pixel editing. I understand
that some of the problems folks are having are in accessing certain files
like .tga.
And, that's where
Irfanview
comes into play.
I'm going to try to keep this tutorial as simple as possible. When I say
basic and simple, I mean the bare bones of the task of re-skinning. I also
want to keep it short and try to avoid long winded explanations so, if I
sound curt or demanding I don't mean to be. I'm only trying to use the
K.I.S.S. principle throughout this whole tutorial. (Keep
It
Simple
Stupid)
Please note:
Rule 1.
I am NOT going to teach you how to operate
Windows XP
and all of it's functions. That you must learn elsewhere.
Rule 2.
I am NOT going to teach you how to operate
MSPaint
and all of it's functions. That you must learn elsewhere.
Rule 3.
I am NOT going to teach you how to operate
Irfanview
and all of it's functions. That you must learn elsewhere.
Rule 4.
I am NOT going to teach you how to operate
Trainz
and all of it's functions. That you must learn elsewhere.
(I meant to be curt and demanding here, sorry.)
That said, I will share with you the steps I use in each of the above
mentioned programs for re-skinning your favorite model. I will also try to
share pictures when ever I can for simplicity's sake.
Someone once said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words.
First things first, though. You must have
MSPaint
and
Irfanview installed on
your computer before any of this will make any sense. Don't forget the
plugins when downloading Irfanview . You'll need them.
A mouse is a must, and I will use the following descriptions when referring
to
its’ movement:
LMC
= Left Mouse Click
RMC
= Right Mouse Click
HLMC
= Hold Left Mouse Click
HRMC
= Hold Right Mouse Click OK, here we go. Let's re-skin, a section of
Elvenor's little 3 foot narrow gauge caboose. It must be installed before we
can manipulate the files, though.
Come back here when you've done that...
Are you back? Good...
Navigate to the caboose file folder and open it. It should look something
like the picture below depending on how you have your Windows set up. You're
now going to open that folder I have circled in red.
Double LMC
to open. (Rule 1 & 4 apply here.)
Once that folder is opened, it should look
something like this;
(If necessary go to the top toolbar, find
‘VIEW’
then LMC
to open, then
LMC
‘ICON’.
This changes the way we view these folders to the same format I'm using.)
Good, now,
The next step involves the use of
Irfanview.
We'll have to view a file and then re-save it into another format so we can
edit it.
If you don't have
Irfanview,
you won't be able to complete this tutorial.
In case you don't have it, here is the website for the downloads:
http://irfanview.softwarecenterz.com/
Once you have it installed, come back to this point and we can proceed.
Are you back? Great...
OK, let's continue...
We're now going to open the file I have circled in red with
Irfanview,
however, before we do, I want you to rename it and make a copy of it, in
that order. It's a safety measure in case we really screw things up while
skinning.
To rename it,
RMC on the file in red,
scroll to RENAME
and write
origd&rgcaboose 3.tga,
or some such thing, then hit your
ENTER key to save the new name.
To make a copy,
HRMC
and drag the file to a clean space in that window and then release. A little
menu will pop-up. Select Copy.
Bingo, you now have two copies of the original file but, we need to make a
working copy so we can see this caboose in the game so, re-name this copy to
it's original file name,
d&rgcaboose3.tga
and, your folder should look similar to this,
(The re-skinning process is getting
closer...)
Anyway, open our newly created
.tga
file with
Irfanview, (Rule 3
applies, here.), and have a look around.
Use the 'Shift - + '
keys to enlarge it. If all went well so far, it should look like this;
This is a texture mapping file. This is the
file where the author has placed all of the textures for the various parts
of the model. Some of it is obvious but some of it is confusing and unknown.
This is where trial and error come into play upon finding parts of the model
to re-skin.
Meanwhile, let's re-save it into another format so we can RE-SKIN it. Yeah!
Select, File/Save as...,
and save it into a BMP - Windows
Bitmap file to your desktop. We can
now start the re-skinning process safely without doing damage to any of the
files in that folder we started with. As a mater of fact, let's minimize
that folder to get it out of the way for now. (Rule 3 applies here.)
(Oh, by the way, I usually save these files to my desktop for ease in
finding them. They can be dragged and dropped from the desktop easier,
usually.)
Before we start re-skinning, I would like to make something perfectly clear
about this part of the hobby. This is precise work and will need to be done
pixel by pixel. There is very little room for mistakes so, please pay
attention to what I'm going to share with you.
Now, with
MSPaint, let's open that
.bmp
file you just created and have a look around. It should look like this,
(Next step is the skinning process...)
Because this is only a bare bones tutorial
on re-skinning, I'm now going to show you how to remove/re-skin the CABOOSE
3 lettering.
We will now have to 'blow it up' so we can be accurate in doing so.
LMC
that little magnifying glass thingy then
LMC
6+ when the window opens. Now,
center your view using the scroll bars.
(NOTE: Always increase your magnified power to the largest possible for
accuracy.
Remember my above statement, “there is very little room for mistakes,
here”.)
Blown up and centered, it should look like this,
Upon close examination of the
'siding'/skin, you'll notice a very uniform pattern. It has no wood grain to
speak of, or any shading or weathering to hinder us in any way and, that is
one of the reasons I choose this caboose. It will make this little job the
easiest you'll ever encounter
Let's do it...
LMC
on that little square box thingy then, in an area just above the words
Caboose 3,
HLMC and drag a box towards
the bottom right, but not going into the letters of the Caboose, then let
go.
All we’re doing here is making a box the same size as the area of the
writing.
Notice how I used the dark lines in the boards for the width of my box. They
will be used as a guide for the paste process in another second or two. Now,
move your pointer to within the box you just made and
RMC
and choose COPY.
We now have a copy of a clean piece of 'siding'/skin on the clip board, (in
memory), with dark guide lines for pasting.
(Please note that the above paragraph is the absolute basic functions of
MSPaint. It's probably the easiest graphics application you will ever use
and is very limited in it's functionality and not liked by many but, it's a
great little app for doing quick jobs such as this one so, Rule 2 applies
here.)
Here's a couple of pics showing the above process in action,
Those two vertical arrows in the lower
right hand corner are pointing to your pointer coordinates and will be used
for more precise work.
Just a note for later tutorials. They will help a bit later when you need
them.
OK, let's re-skin it...
RMC
anywhere and choose PASTE.
Bingo! That squared object that just appeared is your new piece of
'siding'/skin you're going to slide into place. Move your mouse pointer to
within the square box and
HLMC
to drag it around, carefully aligning the dark width lines we used as
guides.
When you have it aligned where you want it,
LMC
anywhere outside the square/box and, (!VOILA!) you're done.
It should now look like this,
Oops, did you mess it up? Don't panic,
MSPaint has three undos you can use.
LMC
Edit,
click Undo
, then click Paste
again.
Let's wrap this thing up so we can admire our handy work.
LMC
File
then Save.
Re-open this file you just saved with
Irfanview
because we have to save it again BACK to it's original
.tga
format to be able to use and test it.
So, LMC
File
then Save as...
this time and save it as a
.tga
file to your desktop.
Now, drag and drop the 'new'
.tga
file you just made into the folder we started with at the beginning of this
tutorial. Note: This task may ask you if you want to replace an existing
file. Say yes.
(This folder should be minimized to your taskbar, remember?)
That's it! You may now close all your folders/windows and launch the game to
admire your newly skinned model. Now,
let's really sum this thing up into steps.
1. Find and open the folder of the item you want to re-skin. (Nothing but
file manipulation)
2. Find and open, with Irfanview, the texture file you want to edit/re-skin.
(Nothing but file manipulation)
3. Re-save it into another format for editing/re-skinning. (Nothing but file
manipulation)
4. Editing/re-skinning with your favorite graphics app and save it. (The
part I taught here. Might take hours, days, or weeks to complete)
5. Open it with Irfanview to save it back again to the original format.
(Nothing but file manipulation)
6. Drag and drop this new texture file into the folder you opened to start
with. (Nothing but file manipulation)
7. Launch the game to test and admire your work. (Having fun with your work)
And, that my friends, is the absolute, bare bones of re-skinning.
If you'd like to download this tutorial in
Acrobat format, click HERE
(1MB)!
Enjoy!
