Help Please, what causes this?

[col1948]

Can any of you repaint guys help with this problem, I notice that when adding final touches I (sometimes) get this kind of thing, I re-touch it back to normal but it still comes back.
Is it something to do with the tolerance or am I not saving it right, ant help appreciated.

Col.

[clickclickdoh]

I'm guessing you mean the oddly colored pixels.

That's a compression artifact. It's a result of how image files get saved... particularly common when converting full sized image files to more compressed formats. This is why it's always best to work from a fresh paint kit instead of reworking an existing paint. The paint kit version has only been compressed once to put it in the sim. A reworked paint was compressed once going in the first time , reworked, then compressed a second time to go back in.. way more quality loss.

[col1948]

@clickclickdoh, Yes you are right it is a re-worked existing paint, I do this a lot mainly because I'm struggling to use PSP.
I am using a combination of FSrepaint, DTXTbmp and Paint.net, I often see an aircraft with a paint kit supplied but I am at a loss where to start so I cheat and use an existing one one and clean it off to do my paint, yes sometimes a long job doing it that way.

So from what you said above, it was compressed once then when I save it after alteration it gets compressed even more, so is there a way of saving it without the compression?

I keep saying it but I must try to get my head round PSP, I am getting used to Paint.net so is there a way of using the paint kit in that perhaps?

Col.

[clickclickdoh]

So from what you said above, it was compressed once then when I save it after alteration it gets compressed even more, so is there a way of saving it without the compression?

The problem is that during the conversion from a .bmp to dxt3 file there is data loss due to compression. So, if you open a file that has already been made into a dxt3 file, such as an existing in game paint, you can never have as much detail/quality as the original .bmp it was made from. Then when you put that edited paint back into the game, you are having to make it a dxt3 again, losing even more quality. Every generation just makes it worse.

Due to necessity caused by the loss of original paint kits, I have made several paints from existing in game paints, but every time I go back and completely remake new layers with fine details elements like panel lines, doors and windows. It's the only way to avoid the "bleeding" effect that is seen around these items. I have over time rebuilt several lost paint kits to avoid this issue.

Even then, you will still get some, even on fresh .bmp conversions. When I was making the Bahrain VIP UH-60s, one of them had a stripe that was 2 pixels red, 2 pixels white, 2 pixels red. If you look closely at them in game, there are some sections of the stripe that have a pink tint. That's life with compression.

[Firebird]

The effect is the same as compressed music and pictures. Unless the compression algorithm is a lossless one you lose data each time you use it. An audio file that is compressed to an mp3 file loses data, a 24bit bmp that is compressed into a jpg will lose data.

An example of a lossless compression would be 'zip'. You compress the file but when you decompress it the files are all the same as the originals. DXT1,DXT3 and DXT5 are NOT lossless.

I hope this helps.