[Michael Martin]

Part 1 installing gimp and plugin
Part 2 Templates
Part 3 Paint
Part 4 exporting
Part 5 File locations
Part 6 Assetto Corsa showroom
Part 7 Preview and Livery
Troubleshooting




Installing the SRS Skin app
http://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=736


Videos playlist for this guide
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHrB4x7wv9WMegH3WStX5zmYYmEYOoTcy


Guide by Ruessll Sobie.
It is worth a read even if your not going to work in 3d.
http://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=2249




For this example we will be making a skin for the BMW 1M S3





Disclaimer
Barebones to get you started making skins. This guide assumes that you have basic image editing knowledge.
I’m not a professional I do this as a hobby. This is only designed as a guide and not the bible for how to make skins.


PART 1


You can get Gimp 2.0 from here
https://www.gimp.org/


Updated. Gimp now includes .dds support so no need to install the plugin.


You will also need the .dds plugin found here
https://code.google.com/archive/p/gimp-dds/

• Click downloads tab and you want the most recent .zip file depending on your windows (highlighted)
  

• Extract the .zip file and copy and paste the dds.exe file into your Gimp install folder.
  

GIMP 2/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins

No need to run it.



PART 2


To find the templates you need find the templates folder. This will be in your main Steam directory.
This is mine yours may be different
D:/steam/steamapps/common/assettocorsa/sdk/dev/skin_templates



We are doing the BMW 1M

• Copy and paste the folder to your workspace.
  
• In this folder make a new folder with your name.
  
• This needs to be lower case and the space replaced with and underscore
  

PART 3


Painting

• Open the template file in gimp.
  
• To make life easier work in layers.
  
• Base is as it says your base colour.
  
• Everything else needs to be a new layer on top of this.
  
• To make moving the layers about easier make the Occlusion layer invisible by clicking the eye.
  
• Then make the wire frame visable so you can see the car.
  

Now place your logos design on the map.
Each time you add a new logo paste it to a new layer.
Usefull to know

• CTRL + A to select all. Use when copying a logo from a new window.
  
• CTRL + C to copy
  
• When pasting go to edit, paste as new layer. Will make it easier to move objects around
  
• SHIFT + S to scale objects
  
• SHIFT + R to rotate objects
  
• CRTL + Z undo last action
  

Once you have finished your design make the wire frame invisible and the Occlusion layer visable again.


Save your design as a .psd



PART 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTByzEx78Yg


****UPDTATE**** 09/22
A little update.

When exporting the .dds file you no longer need to flatten the image.

In the pop out window where you select compression type. Change the save drop down menu to visible layers.

To export your design first flatten your image.



File export as

• Select the folder with your name and save as .dds file type.
  
• Keep the file name the same so in this case SkinBase.dds.
  
• This is important as it’s how Assetto Corsa reads the file. Some different cars have different names for the skins so always check another skin folder of the same car. (location in a few steps)
  

When you export you need to choose these options.

• Compression: BC2/DXT3
  
• Mipmaps: Generate mipmaps
  

Once saved close Gimp and when prompted disregard changes. If you keep the changes It will save the flattened image which will make it harder to edit later.


PART 5
Where to put the skin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbgR86Oxh8



Now we need to copy your named folder into the Assetto Corsa folder.

• First copy your named folder.
  
• Then find the skins folder for the car.
  

This is mine yours may be different
D:/steam/steamapps/common/assettocorsa/content/cars/bmw_1m_s3_skins

To make this easier to find you can create a shortcut to this folder in your workspace



PART 6


Preview the skin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNBNp0qeAc

• Load Assetto Corsa and view the car in the showroom.
  
• Click Drive, find your car ‘BMW 1m’
  
• Choose the stage 3 version by clicking on the spanner.
  
• Click the colour wheel and find your livery. (For now it will have the n/a logo but will be called your name.)
  
• Open the showroom to view your car and admire your work.
  
• Once you have finished picking holes in your design close assetto corsa.
  

• To make previewing quicker you can launch the showroom without loading Assetto Corsa
  

• Go to your main Assetto Corsa folder and make a shortcut to your desktop for acShowromm.exe you can do this by right clicking and dragging to your desktop.
  

D:/steam/steamapps/common/assettocorsa



The showroom will load the previous car you view in game so speeds up the preview process.


Now go back to step 4 and repeat until you are happy with the design.


PART 7
Making a livery and preview image
https://youtu.be/_0nrCuj_KcA



Open gimp and create a new image.
The livery needs to be 64x64 pixels

Create your design.


When done export as livery.png
This needs to go in your name folder.





Create a new file for your preview
The preview needs to be 1022x575 pixles

• To get a picture of your car open the Assetto Corsa showroom to view your car and press PRINT SCREEN
  
• Press ESCAPE to exit the showroom. Edit, paste as a new layer into you gimp file.
  

• Resize so it fits. (SHIFT + S)
  
• When done export as preview.jpg
  
• This needs to go in your name folder.
  

You should now have 3 files in your skin folder

Put This folder into your skins folder for the car and your ready to go.
D:/steam/steamapps/common/assettocorsa/content/cars/bmw_1m_s3_skins

[Tim Weller]

Great guide!! 

I'm struggling at the moment with custom windows.. I.e dealing with alpha channel to get transparent windows with name/number, etc. I understand window skins should be exported as DXT5. Any help on this point would be great!

[Russell Sobie]

I don't know how to create an Alpha Channel in GIMP, but you need an Alpha Channel to make a .dds transparent. If that channel doesn't exist, exporting as DXT5 won't matter as the format will still need that channel.

Here's a google result that probably helps? : https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/gimp-layer-alpha-add.html

A better question might be... which car are you doing? Not all cars have a mesh for the entire window... most of them just have a tiled tiny 16x16 texture that is transparent to cover all the glass. In those cases you won't be putting your name/number on those windows. The ones that DO have numbers and such typically have a separate texture for it. If you use Content Manager, use the CW Showroom to click on another finished livery's window text and get the name of the texture used for it then edit that specifically.

Hopefully something above helps.

[Neil de Guzman]

On top of the GIMP window (TABS), click the LAYER tab, scroll down to TRANSPARENCY and click add ALPHA CHANNEL.

[Tim Weller]

I don't know how to create an Alpha Channel in GIMP, but you need an Alpha Channel to make a .dds transparent. If that channel doesn't exist, exporting as DXT5 won't matter as the format will still need that channel.

Here's a google result that probably helps? : https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/gimp-layer-alpha-add.html

A better question might be... which car are you doing? Not all cars have a mesh for the entire window... most of them just have a tiled tiny 16x16 texture that is transparent to cover all the glass. In those cases you won't be putting your name/number on those windows. The ones that DO have numbers and such typically have a separate texture for it. If you use Content Manager, use the CW Showroom to click on another finished livery's window text and get the name of the texture used for it then edit that specifically.

Hopefully something above helps.

Thanks for your reply! Much appreciated. I have kind of bodged it for now; not really had the time to investigate properly. 

It was for the windows of the Mini JCW, which typically is where the name and number are placed...

[Russell Sobie]

Shouldn't be a problem. The file you want to edit is called "glass_names.dds". I recommend just copying "\assettocorsa\content\cars\bmw_mini_f56_jcw\skins\22_powermaxed\glass_names.dds", putting that into your custom skin folder, then editing that in GIMP. It's already got an alpha channel there so you can see how they have it organized and placed. Basically black means 100% transparent, and white is 100% opaque, and you can kind of tell where a good place for your own number/name would be based on that example.

[Michael Martin]

I really need to look into doing things properly. Thanks for the input Russell.

What i have been doing when it comes to glass is make a new bottom layer. Fill that layer with black set the Opacity to 1. Merge visible layers. When exporting use dx5 preset..
Probably the very very wrong way of doing it but works for me

[Lawrence Nelson]

How do you actually upload the skins to the server?
My paint work shows up in the showroom, but not during the SRS races.
Is it done with the SRS skin app at the beginning of the race, same time as you download?
The app says I am not using a custom skin and I am, of course.

Thanks!

[Leandro Giorni]

All the .dds files are more than 10 mb total? if so i think the server doesnt like that, its limited to 10mb.

To reduce the size, you can reduce the image size in general (if you started with a 4096 x 4096 template, reduce it half. 2024 x 2024 is more than enough for the car, and if you not only painted the body and painted rims also check the image size, maybe is bigger in the template than really needed in the game. You can for sure in most cases reduce half and be ok.

About exporting most of the textures used in assetto corsa dont use the alpha channel, some do. But body and others dont. So when export try to use the "BC1 RGB  4bpp / no alpha" that way you just avoid exporting an unused channel. (that alone will reduce significantly file size).



Hope it helps!

[Lawrence Nelson]

Yes, that totally helps and I want to thank everyone for all the help. What a great community!

of course you do have to add up all of the DDS files that you're using and it has to come in under 10mb

Now I'm wondering if that free program blender will do work in 3D like mud box..