MSFS Airbus Paintkit Manual

Paintkit Manual Aerosoft A330
V0.9 January 24th 2023
CONTENTS
WHAT'S NEW IN PAINTING MSFS AIRCRAFT COMPARED TO LEGACY PROCEDURES ....................................................3

HOW IT WORKS ON THE AEROSOFT MSFS A330... ........................................................................................................8
MSFS AND PBR-MATERIALS .........................................................................................................................................16
THE COMPOSITE FUSELAGE PAINTKIT .........................................................................................................................17
CONFIGURATION FILES FOR MSFS ...............................................................................................................................21
BLENDER 3D MODEL FOR PAINTING THE TAILFIN .......................................................................................................25
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WHAT'S NEW IN PAINTING MSFS AIRCRAFT COMPARED TO LEGACY PROCEDURES
Until now, as a repainter, we just had a 3d model we placed our pixels onto, be it a large-scale decor that reached
meters across the aircraft structure or just a tiny label with only a few centimetres in length.
The good thing about that we had all possible items in our paint software at once. Still, getting smaller in detail,
the quality of the assets degenerated geometrically because of the few pixels we had in support of displaying those
tiny assets. Overcoming this issue by simply scaling up the livery sheet is also not an option. Even doubling or
tripling the side-pixel amount does not bring a satisfying quality to those small items but substantially drains me-
mory and computational resources.
The graph above shows an example 8K livery created out of the Asobo MSFS A320 fuselage map; (source: JetBlue
"Mosaic" [8K] - A320Neo, https://flightsim.to/file/9764/jetblue-mosaic-8k-a320neo). The upper label was overta-
ken in 1:1 quality from the paintkit. As you can see, even a geometrically enlarging system demands you not get
the small details in satisfying quality. This label you would see in that fashion standing 2 meters beside the aircraft.
More down the curve, you see the same label in smaller resolutions. So what you get is, at best, a linear increase in
visual quality, while you need quadratically more system resources for each step.
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And it is not done simply with graphics memory alone here; those huge pixel amounts ( 4 million for a 2k map, 67
million for a SINGLE 8k map) must also be processed and projected onto the geometry of the aircraft before beco-
ming visible at the display which is also a duty of the graphics card.
The solution provided by the makers of the new MSFS is to split the model into two classes of geometry: The first
class is the classic aircraft model, containing large-scale details and supporting paint like dirt, scratches etc., in the
PBR shaders model. The second class, however, is used for small, high-quality details. This not only means text la-
bels but any small detail which could not be displayed satisfactorily by the classic painting variant.
Asobo, the actual creators of MSFS, went through a very rigorous course by only delivering a base texture coverage
with a maximum of 2k textures and doing any and all detail by the so-called DECAL technique, a term we also use
in the coming description of the process. One of the reasons is that MSFS and its content should be compatible
also with extra-PC environments.
Of course, for 3rd party repainters, not having access to the original model and 3d editing software to manipulate
the decal geometry and its UV layout creates some complexity against the former painting technique. But in light
of the technical requirements for multi-platform compatibility, there will be no other way. But as a compromise,
Aerosoft will offer help through its repaint forum on this topic.
To make the consequences of the new process better understandable, we will first review some example images.
The image below shows the Asobo sample model of a DA-62:
Figure 1.0: The complete 3d model (Source: Asobo Studio SARL (C) 202
A complete model is now a combination of two different layers:
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• a model base layer with a PBR material and a texture map resolution of 2048px max per sheet optimally
(recommended by Asobo Studio SARL)
• a decal layer that contains the needed high-resolution data
Both need, of course, a geometric basis to function. So the term "decal" can be taken literally here and functions
similarly to childhood plastic kits where you did put water decals onto the finally base painted aircraft plastic models.
Figure 1.1: The model base layer contains only large-scale pixel information. (
Note the aliasing steps at the blue-grey border region)
(Source: Asobo Studio SARL (C) 2020)
To overcome the little detail that the classical paint method can give us, Asobo introduced a rendered technique
that allows us to put geometrical assets on top of the base model without having to bother over flickering problems
during real-time rendering. The Decal sheets are rendered in a special pass, and displayed cleanly on top of the base
surface. This was a problem in older simulators that were not able to cleanly differentiate clearly between the depth
positions on the assets, which did often lead to odd display behaviour, as the rendering engine could not decide if a
base model pixel or a decal pixel would be now nearer to the observer (due finite precision in depth rendering the
effect worsens if you get distanced more from the object).
So the solution was to split a more "roughly" painted base model into two main parts, and in the next image, we can
see the decal part.
Page | 5
Figure 1.2: The decal layer, containing information for large-scale decors
Decals can function in two ways. You can use them for large-scale decors and keep the line edges razor sharp even
at very short observation distances, but you can also use them for small-scale labels with locally high pixel resoluti-
ons:
Figure 1.3: The decal layer, containing hires pixel information for small-scale decors
In Figure 1.2 and even more in Figure 1.3, you can witness the underlying geometric structure in thin blue lines.
The decal texture is mapped on those edges of the actually used polygons. To avoid displaying the whole polygon,
a special transparency/opacity channel is used to make only the wished pixel visible during rendering.
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Figure 1.4: The left side of a typical decal texture sheet shows its albedo component.
And the right side shows the opacity information with white regions to be displayed during rendering.
So all those sources combine finally to a very detailed, but also pretty efficient 3d model as we did not waste tex-
ture memory for regions of the fuselage which not bear small details but would have to be in high resolution all
over in the classical painting way. Second, we can define more freely how much detail we want to add to the small
and important things:
Figure 1.5: The final model

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HOW IT WORKS ON THE AEROSOFT MSFS A330...
As an attentive reader/repainter, you may have asked yourself several times: If the decals are sitting on actual ge-
ometry, which I don't have direct access to, how do I define custom decal layouts, as they can be very different
even on the same aeroplane?
Well, that may depend upon whether you have access to 3D software and the actual 3D model, the knowledge to
use the former with the latter and even some important points. So here we reached the complicated part of the
story, and let's face it: The regular repainter won't have the chance to manipulate the model at all, and it is still
unclear what features import/export plugins will bring us who may be available for free to use 3D software like
Blender. The current videos on YouTube at the time of writing only tell about painting the base fuselage with the
classic texture map, which is much lower resolution. Others try to upscale the base texture to tremendous sizes,
like 8K from the delivered 2K maps. But this won't help you, too, as you waste huge amounts of texture memory
space and computational resources as maps need to be projected too in real time. On the other side, you will still
fail to display small labels in a readable and visually satisfying fashion, especially on larger aircraft.
Secondarily the task was also about including all the legacy repaints made for the former Prepar3D A330 versions.
So the mapping layout had to stay the same for crucial exterior parts to make it possible to drag&drop the old
large-scale decors into the new texture maps.
Figure 2.0: Comparision between Prepar3D and MSFS textures in Photoshop

(notice the removed smaller pixel assets, which now are displayed by a decal map)
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So to transfer old paints, you only have to drag and drop the large-scale decors, which also stayed active in the
MSFS conversions of my old legacy default paints.
Figure 2.1: A special layer group holds your painted assets

(Photoshop layer tab shown here)
To start painting from scratch, there are, of course, clean paint sheets available.
The next images will show you more of the new asset layout the Mircosoft FlightSimulator demands. As already
told, unlike before, the smaller details reside on a different map sheet / extra geometry.
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Figure 2.2: Floating above the basic fuselage geometry, there are now residing DECALs which contain the local high-detail assets
Figure 2.3: A close look at the appearance of decal components inside the 3DSMAX software.
The information projected onto the decal geometry comes from a special texture sheet in any paintkit to
stay manipulable. It is important to save it with opacity information to only show the desired pixel sec-
tions and not the full rectangular decal geometry area:
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Figure 2.4: A close look at the texture sheet "AS_A333_EXT_DECALWING_SOLID_A.psd ,

Which contains the manipulable decal ALBEDO and OPACITY information for all wing and engine decals.
So changing the colour of the label works via the Albedo part and making decals visible or invisible works via the
Opacity component, which is basically an Alpha-Channel source.
A special livery decal sheet for each painting contains non-static elements like airline namings and graphical de-
cors. You can easily change registration numbers and other stuff to create variants for the same airline. This sheet
also contains a section for special wingtip textures.
Figure 2.5: A close look at the texture sheet "AS_A333_EXT_LIVERY_A.psd ", which contains livery-specific details and decors
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To get an oversight of the paintkit, let us get a view of the A330 with the special texture sheet connected to each
section:
Figure 2.6: Texture distribution on the A330-300
As there will be repainters that want to go the "classic "way of painting anything directly into the base texture u-
sing upscaled textures (4K or even 8K resolution), you can "disable "any decal by overpainting its opacity informa-
tion with black colour, which will make the corresponding decal geometry fully transparent (or in other words invi-
sible).
The image below shows the typical structure of a paintkit file.
Figure 2.7: Typical texture file structure
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At the top, you will find a layer with a UV unwrap of the 3D model, which helps you to orient the model surface.
Any of the visible lines corresponds directly to a polyline on the model.
The second major layer group is the so-called "CONTENT GROUP ". It contains an interactive mask for all sublayers,
resembling the aircraft's window openings. This information must be saved with the final PNG file before compres-
sion to look through the windows inside the aircraft. All potential windows are available via the "PAX WINDOW
MASK "-Layer, where you can activate a selection which you can use in the CONTENT GROUPs main mask. Any such
open window must also have an active window seal. Those can be easily switched on and off via a mask inside the
"PAXWINDOWS RUBBER SEALS "layers. Other wings, tailfin, engine and belly maps do not contain such window
mask information.
The "STATIC STUFF "sublayer contains static items that normally do not change together with a livery, like special
materials for rubber surfaces, window wipers, metal sensors and dirt. This is so seldom to never touched.
The paintwork is to be put in the green layer at the end of the layer table called "LIVERY SPECIFIC CONTENT ". So
you ensure that your own decors are automatically masked and overlayed by plating seams, dirt and other effects.
Finally, there is to change the registration on the cockpit placard.
Figure 2.8: The cockpit registration placard
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Because of changing the cockpit placard, a special texture sheet (also a decal) is available inside the paintkit called
"MSFS_A330_VC_DECAL_SOLIDS.PSD ". The content of this file is displayed on the next side for a quick overview.
Figure 2.8: registration placard texture template
In the upper left corner of the opacity section (B/W region to the right), the registration text resides on a
separate and changeable layer.
Figure 2.9: changeable registration section in red
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The needed characters are also available inside this texture sheet in the below layer.
Figure 2.91: changeable registration section in red
MSFS creates 7 mipmap stages during its project build process as a default setting, which should also be
used to save your assets.
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MSFS AND PBR-MATERIALS
An example of a file listing is shown below:
As you can see, a second version exists for each texture file with the ending "_COMP ".
While the files ending with "_A "(like Albedo) contain only pure RGB-color information (optional additionally opa-
city information within the alpha channel), "_COMP "(like Composite) textures contain diffuse shadowing-, rough-
ness- and metalness information. While the diffuse shadowing is pre-processed by the aircraft developer by com-
putational calculations, values for roughness and metalness can be freely edited. Note that you normally do not
change those files for the average livery. You can reuse the existing files (via a fallback reference or copying them
directly into your livery folder). You can create a unique map for this case when you need special effects like the
metallic decor. An example is the default livery for Virgin Atlantic for example, which uses a cherry-red-metallic
coating at the engines and tail.
Figure 2.92: The three channels of the COMP-map (red, green and blue channel greyscale information)
COMP-files differ from ALBEDO-files, defined with a colour depth of 16 Bits. The reason is that every channel con-
tains information in greyscale only to define the strength of each effect. Using roughness with a black colour me-
ans a perfect glossy surface. Using white colour, a totally rough surface with infinite gloss area. Similar metalness
used with black means no metal (like f.ex. plastic or wood); for a perfect metal, you go with pure white. In 8-bit,
you would have only 256 different values to define your information, leading to ugly steps in the case of soft gradi-
ents. Therefore 16 bits with 65.536 values are used to generate a more smooth appearance. However, this also
brings more loading times and memory usage and should be respected. After compilation and during runtime u-
sage, those textures are converted to an 8-bit format. Still, thanks to the former higher information amount and
special algorithms, the already mentioned "stepiness "is minimized in the final output.
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THE COMPOSITE FUSELAGE PAINTKIT
As the technical base of how aircraft models are painted changed and repainters requested a more convenient
way to apply their large-scale decors to the whole fuselage, a so-called composite fuselage paint (or better "tex-
ture sheet") was applied to the paint. It allows the repainter to draw his decors on a single continuous sheet des-
pite having the final textures run in three single segments later.
Let us demonstrate what that means in some pictures:

The first image shows the texture while the sim processes three different materials...
Figure 3.1: The three single texture sheets that make out the central fuselage from nose to tail
The idea is to combine the three segments on a single sheet and make contact between their edges. To bring back
the unified content of the master sheet later into the original sheets, calibration markers are needed for position-
ing.
Figure 3.2: Added calibration marker to the upper left inside the single sheet
As we now can determine exactly the left upper corner of each sheet, we can combine all three sheets in a single
texture. Note that there is some space left and right of the single fuselage segments for pixel padding reasons. To
Page | 17
overlap the fuselage segments seamlessly, the textures of the mid-and tail-section need to be moved some pixels
left.
The resulting master sheet also got calibration marks coloured differently to differentiate them from each other.
Figure 3.3: The unified sheet with calibration markers
Now we can start with a test text ranging over the full length of the fuselage in a dominant colour. Note that you
have paint in the green layer called "PAINT IN HERE", which resides pretty low in the layer hierarchy, so you get all
the existing effects for your painting orientation overlaid too .
Figure 3.4: The unified sheet with a pink test text. Note the paint layer we are working in!
Now we have the decor added and want to distribute it back to the single sheets. That is done by selecting the
calibration mark and our wished decors (yes, you can add a set with as many elements as wished) and pulling it
back into the green paint layer of the single texture. The calibration mark should now be moved back to the upper
left edge without having any gap there. If done, you can remove the calibration mark and export the image.
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Below, the state has pulled the single decor back to all single sheets.
Figure 3.5: The single decor is now pulled into the target sheet. Calibrator marks can be deleted afterwards.
As there are two versions of the A330-300 featuring a smaller and larger DOOR 3 L/R, you can switch between
them also via the green layer tab under "SWITCHABLE ITEMS".
Figure 3.5: The switchable items layout
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The image below shows you the two different doors. Having them optionally displayed can help you during orien-
tation on real-world imagery.
Figure 3.6: Alternate DOOR3 L/R layout
For your convenience, in some versions, you will find even more optionally visible items like the rubber seals of the
sat dome the A330 is equipped with.
Also interesting to know is that you can right-click on a certain place in the sheet. That gives you the list of all layer
assets you located below your mouse pointer. So having a complete layer scenario speeds up finding the desired
layer to work next.
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CONFIGURATION FILES FOR MSFS
Having your aircraft paint finished, you need to "mount "the created data and make it known to MSFS. That is
done via the aircraft.cfg residing in the products SimObject-folder. This is the basic configuration file for adding
aircraft to the sim. The file can be opened in a simple text editor. Scrolling down to the end, you will discover chap-
ters with the heading similar to "[FLTSIM.N] ".
To add an aircraft entry, you must copy and paste an existing entry and use a number N+1 to the highest number
already existing.
The entries look similar to this:
[FLTSIM.0]
Title="Aerosoft A330-300 RR Professional MSFS Lufthansa New Colors"
Model="DLH_DAIKO"
Panel=""
Sound=""
Texture="DLH_DAIKO"
KB_Checklists=""
KB_Reference=""
description="Aerosoft A330-300 professional RR \/ XYZ airways A-BCDE \nwww.aerosoft.com"
wip_indicator=2
ui_manufacturer="Airbus"
ui_type="A330-343 RR"
ui_variation="Lufthansa D-AIKO"
ui_typerole="Commercial Airliner."
ui_createdby="Aerosoft"
ui_thumbnailfile=""
ui_certified_ceiling=-1
ui_max_range=-1
ui_autonomy=-1
ui_fuel_burn_rate=-1
atc_id="A-BCDE"
icao_airline=""
atc_id_enable=1
atc_airline=""
atc_flight_number=""
atc_heavy=0
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atc_id_color="0x00000000"
atc_id_font=""
isAirTraffic=0
isUserSelectable=1
isFlyable=1
canBeUsedByAITraffic=1
Effects=""
atc_parking_types="GATE, RAMP, CARGO."
atc_parking_codes=""
The lines TITLE, MODEL, TEXTURE, UI_VARIATION, and ATC-ID are important.
Model and texture are also represented finally in the product folder, as you can see in the display of the folder
structure below:
Figure 4.0: the content of the SimObject-folder
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So to add your new paint, you also need to create a model and texture folder. To make it unique, the sequence
".yourLiveryName "is added to "model "and "texture ". Those names are then referenced inside the aircraft. cfg.
The specific content of the model folder looks then like this below.
Figure 4.1: the content of the model-folder
You can copy the content of an existing model or insert your own unique one (if provided). Below you see the con-
tent of a specific texture folder.
Figure 4.2: Typical content of the texture folder (pre-build)
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The content splits into 4 major sets. The first set contains image data in PNG format, which contains all the infor-
mation needed to render the visuals inside the sim later. Then a section with a "thumbnail "exists, which contains
images of the plane for the selection menus of the simulation. Both come in two versions, large and small and are
to be saved in the same resolution and JPG format. Then a section with so-called "FLAG "files exists. Those FLAG
files are text-based configuration files that tell the sim to use the highest compression quality for the images
during the build process (the simulator uses the DDS image format during runtime). When not used, the sim uses,
by default, very low quality to save graphics memory space. This should be avoided when possible. The files all
contain the same configuration line, so you can easily copy and paste them for your use. The last set contains only
the single "texture. cfg "file. The reason for its existence is rooted in the wish for livery optimization to have reused
textures (mostly COMP and NORMAL maps) not copied again and again inside the livery folders directly. So via the
texture.cfg references can be defined for single "fallback "folders, which contain the reused textures a single time.
If you want a unique version in your livery, you can "overwrite "the fallback texture call simply by copying your uni-
que version into your unique livery folder.
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BLENDER 3D MODEL FOR PAINTING THE TAILFIN
During production, we were addressed by 3rd party repainters that they had a hard time painting the vertical tail
of the A330. The vertical tail is located some pixels away from the rudder because, on a 2-dimensional sheet, you
cannot paint overlapping sections top-on-top. You would have the same content displayed on the vertical tail and
rudder, which seems plainly wrong and is. So both rudder sides are moved a discrete amount of pixels to the right.
Many repainters of the Prepare3D version of the product adapted to the situation, and some had problems. The
rudders and inf act, are only moved 54 pixels to the right horizontally. You first position the content on the vertical
fin and move a copy of the rest of the assets, then right and remove the overstanding content of both asset ele-
ments. Alternatively, you can also work with a classical photoshop mask and move the content inside the masked
layer as an alternative.
Recently the open-source market for 3D modelling software made the program "Blender "available for repainting
purposes. So to use this advantage, we decided to deliver a 3d model of the vertical tailfin "ready to paint "inside a
provided "Blender "file with the corresponding texture already applied. Below you can see an example image.
Figure 5.0: typical content of the texture-folder
By using this file together with the pre-applied texture "AS_A333_EXT_TAILFIN_A.psd ", you can paint onto the tex-
ture directly save it via the Photoshop key-shortcut and reload it in Blender via a key-shortcut. Once you got used to
this procedure you can see the reaction of the 3d-assets almost in realmtime and so fasten your repaint production
cycle. As "Blender "features a stamp-brush-tool you could also directly apply such a brush as a black and white mask
sideward onto the tailfin and import the mask for further use into Photoshop. So the spatial placement would hap-
pen fully inside Blender, you would export then the 3d mask to Photoshop for further processing .
Page | 25

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Paintkit Manual Aerosoft A330

V0.9 January 24th 2023

WHAT'S NEW IN PAINTING MSFS AIRCRAFT COMPARED TO LEGACY PROCEDURES ....................................................3

WHAT'S NEW IN PAINTING MSFS AIRCRAFT COMPARED TO LEGACY PROCEDURES

A complete model is now a combination of two different layers:

• a decal layer that contains the needed high-resolution data

Figure 1.5: The final model

HOW IT WORKS ON THE AEROSOFT MSFS A330...

Figure 2.0: Comparision between Prepar3D and MSFS textures in Photoshop

Figure 2.1: A special layer group holds your painted assets

Figure 2.4: A close look at the texture sheet "AS_A333_EXT_DECALWING_SOLID_A.psd ,

Figure 2.6: Texture distribution on the A330-300

The image below shows the typical structure of a paintkit file.

Figure 2.7: Typical texture file structure

Finally, there is to change the registration on the cockpit placard.

Figure 2.8: The cockpit registration placard

Figure 2.8: registration placard texture template

Figure 2.9: changeable registration section in red

Figure 2.91: changeable registration section in red

MSFS AND PBR-MATERIALS

An example of a file listing is shown below:

THE COMPOSITE FUSELAGE PAINTKIT

Let us demonstrate what that means in some pictures:

Figure 3.3: The unified sheet with calibration markers

Figure 3.5: The switchable items layout

Figure 3.6: Alternate DOOR3 L/R layout

CONFIGURATION FILES FOR MSFS

The entries look similar to this:

Figure 4.0: the content of the SimObject-folder

Figure 4.1: the content of the model-folder

Figure 4.2: Typical content of the texture folder (pre-build)

BLENDER 3D MODEL FOR PAINTING THE TAILFIN

Figure 5.0: typical content of the texture-folder

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