[TUTORIAL] Making a basic cop skin - By Drew

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Cop Skin Tutorial By Drew
VERY, VERY basic cop skin tutorial.

This tutorial uses Photoshop CS2 (expensive unless you find an alternative), LFS CMX Viewer (avaliable here >>> http://www.lfs.net/?page=addons ) and Master Skinnerz pro kits (avaliable here >>> http://www.barkingpig.org/msz/pages/kits.php )

Although I use CS2, most of the tips here are equally applicable for most graphics editing software, such as The Gimp.

For new people in Photoshop , here's the tools we'll be using...

Rectangular select:

Move selection:

Layer toolbar (blue indicates 'active' layer):

Hide Layer:

Polygonol lasoo:

Here we go.....

First things first, download the Pro Kit for the car you want to do (here I'm going for the FXO, as it's my favourite car)....

When you've downloaded the Pro-Kit, unzip it into a specific folder (I have a special folder just for kits) and open the FXO_Pro-Kit.psd file with Photoshop...

It is 2048 x 2048 resolution, and made up of 13 seperate, named layers.

I make a new layer, with no colour, and place it underneath the 'Black Mask' layer and the 'Wireframe' layer, but above the rest.

Now you add your base colour (for the purposes of this tutorial, we'll do a standard white one). Do this by selecting the new layer, and Bucket filling it with white.

You should end up with this...

Next is the battenburg squares on the side.

Here is my method.

This is how I do it, you will probably find your own, or a better way to do it.

Make another new layer, and be sure that it is selected.

Use the 'square selection' tool to select a square region on the side of the car (remember that the sides of the car are stretched out when the skin is applied to the car).

Here's the selection....

Now change the foreground colour to yellow and use the 'bucket fill' tool on the selection, to make it a yellow square.

Like this:

Now on the layer toolbar, right click the new layer with the yellow square, and select 'Duplicate layer'.

Now you have 'Layer 2' and Layer 2 copy'.

Make sure 'Layer 2 copy' is selected, and use the 'Bucket fill' tool to make it blue.

Now use the 'Move selection' tool to move the blue layer to the side, so it sits right next to the revealed yellow square.

You should have this...

Now right click on the blue layer in the layers toolbar and select 'Merge down' to make the 2 squares one layer.

Duplicate this layer, and move it to the side, you should have this:

Merge the 2 layers together again.

Right click the newest merged layer, and duplicate it.

Move this new layer and you will be nearing the effect we are looking for:

Keep duplicating, merging and moving the layers till you get here....

You will notice that some has overspilled onto the rear of the car. Use the 'Rectangle selection' tool to select these areas, and use the 'Edit > Cut' tool to be rid of them bits (make sure you have the correct layer active).

When you have got the squares on the one side, duplicate the layer and move the new layer down to the other side of the car (I use the 'Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal' tool to make sure the 2 sides are the same).

Merge the 2 layers with the squares on, so that all the squares are on one layer.

Now you should have this:

The squares bleed onto the bumpers, looking crap.

Use the 'Rectangular select' tool to select the bumper parts, and use the 'Edit > Cut' command to be rid of them bits.

The selections to cut: (note: here I have adjusted the Hue of the wireframe layer to make it easier to see).




Hopefully now you have something that looks like this:

Thats the squares done, now onto the rear stripes.

The stripes are a pain in the arse to do and get right, involving loads of rectangles, loads of layer duplicating and merging, rotation and all sorts of other jazz, so instead I'll just post the stripes I made ages ago and use on all my cop skins...

Download and open that ^ file in Photoshop, use 'Select > Select all' to select it all, and then 'Edit > Copy'.

Go back to your skin, and select 'Edit > Paste' to paste it on as a new layer.

Use the 'Move selection' tool to rotate it 90 degrees, and move it to where you want it (you may also have to resize it a bit, using the 'Move selection' tool)

Should look a little like this:

Now we have the basics, we can add some text.

I use a font called 'Ariel Black' for standard police skins.

Add your text where you want it, using the wireframe as a guide to get it all straight, central and even.

Here's how I do a basic skin:


That's the skin done, now you need to know how to look at it?

Here is where CMX viewer comes in.

Download and install the Viewer.

Now save the skin you made as a .jpg, in the VIEWER/DATA/SKINS folder.

Open viewer, click 'Load CMX' and select 'FXO - FXO TURBO'.

Now click on 'Default' and select the skin you just saved.

If you did this right, you should now have this:

Complete with wireframe.

Go back to Photoshop and make any changes you wish - each time you save it as a .jpg with the same name (overwriting what was already there), you can go back to viewer and click 'Reload' to see your changes.

When you are happy, hide the 'Wireframe' layer (click on the eye in the layers toolbar) , select 'Layer > Flatten Image', resize to 1024 x 1024, save in your LFS/DATA/SKINS folder, upload to LFS World, and away you go.

You just made this:



Have a beer.

I am no pro, but I hope this tutorial will help at least a couple of people get on the road to skinning.

Now you have a basic skin, play with it - keeping an eye on your changes with viewer.

Add a badge on the side, or a slogan, or a crimestoppers logo, whatever, it's your skin.....
Credits to Drew