First ever decal with open rocket

this is my first attempt at doing a body tube wrap and fin wrap using the open rocket software
there is still some tweaking to be done and some work on the payload section and nosecone
My build of this rocket will be posted soon

I wish to thank K'Tesh and Neil_W for posting the steps on how to do this

Enjoy !

Bobby

Okay, so count me clueless, but are you telling me that OR can not only display, but also generate and PRINT decals?? I never would have even thought that this would be a feature, but shame on me for not clicking through all the menus...

I have a pack of waterslide paper I bought when I went on a clone kick, and have used a few sheets to make larger color-match decals for my L1 and L2 birds, but it's SUCH a PITA with the software I have! An easier way is so welcome!

Thanks Bobby! I think you're getting the hang of it. That Black Brant looks like it'll be fun!

soopirV said:

Okay, so count me clueless, but are you telling me that OR can not only display, but also generate and PRINT decals?? I never would have even thought that this would be a feature, but shame on me for not clicking through all the menus...

I have a pack of waterslide paper I bought when I went on a clone kick, and have used a few sheets to make larger color-match decals for my L1 and L2 birds, but it's SUCH a PITA with the software I have! An easier way is so welcome!

Click to expand...

Sorry... OR can display, but not generate (or print) decals.

When it comes to graphics like what I use, I have to create a wrap for the entire body tube. Even if the decal was a single pixel, to get it to display on the sim rocket correctly, I have to create an image that is the length and width (or circumference) of the part it is going on. My ratio of choice is 100 pixels per inch.

That said, if I could ever get the hang of layered graphics, I could save the individual layers and print them separately (from my graphics editor).

K'Tesh said:

Sorry... OR can display, but not generate (or print) decals.

Click to expand...

Gotcha...thanks for the clarification!

OR does have an option to export decal, but I've never messed with it. Not sure what it does. K'Tesh, what graphics editor do you use?

If you're on a Windows machine I *highly* recommend Paint.net.

MikeyDSlagle said:

OR does have an option to export decal, but I've never messed with it. Not sure what it does. K'Tesh, what graphics editor do you use?

Click to expand...

I didn't see that... I'll have to look at it again when I get home tonight.

Mostly MS Paint, but I've now been playing with paint.net, and Gimp.

Ahh. Not familiar with paint.net so can't help with layers there. I'll have to see what there is to it. Never heard of Gimp. I may could offer advice on Photoshop layers.

MikeyDSlagle

I think he is referring to Microsoft Paint . It come free with most Microsoft operating systems . On desktop click on the start icon in the bottom left corner and link to paint should be visible

the start button in green and the paint in red

I'm using Gimp, MS Paint, and Paint.net. I've got to say it's going to be a long time before I'm comfortable with Gimp or Paint.net. I can't make sense of either of them.

K'Tesh

Gimp can be confusing . I never tried Paint.net ( but will check it out )
Solidworks takes the cake
It can be so confusing that you know what you want to do but you half to learn to tell the program how to do it so the program understands,
so for now I use my friends computer that has Solidworks on it

MS Paint is the easy one to use

I wish I could get PSP (PaintShopPro) again... Man I liked that program.

Paint.net, Paint.net, Paint.net. Use it, learn it, love it. Yes it is an order more complex than MS Paint but it is two orders simpler than GIMP or Photoshop. Layers are very straightforward.

K'Tesh, if you can give me an example of a task you want to perform, I can give you a step-by-step in Paint.net to help you along the learning curve (maybe).

K'Tesh said:

I wish I could get PSP (PaintShopPro) again... Man I liked that program.

Click to expand...

K'Tesh

I don't know if this website is legit

https://www.oldversion.com/windows/paint-shop-pro-12-50

bobby_hamill said:

MikeyDSlagle

I think he is referring to Microsoft Paint . It come free with most Microsoft operating systems . On desktop click on the start icon in the bottom left corner and link to paint should be visible

the start button in green and the paint in red

Click to expand...

I know where MS Paint is, but thanks anyway. I do use it but can't do much with that program. K'Tesh mentioned using both. I use Photoshop CS5 and was offering to help with layers in that program, they are pretty simple. I'm not an expert by no means but I can do pretty good. I didn't even know MS Paint had layers.

And call me Mike.

MikeyDSlagle said:

I know where MS Paint is, but thanks anyway. I do use it but can't do much with that program. K'Tesh mentioned using both. I use Photoshop CS5 and was offering to help with layers in that program, they are pretty simple. I'm not an expert by no means but I can do pretty good. I didn't even know MS Paint had layers.

And call me Mike.

Click to expand...

Surely you jest Mike...

MS Paint doesn't support layers.

(And I won't call you Shirley)

neil_w said:

Paint.net, Paint.net, Paint.net. Use it, learn it, love it. Yes it is an order more complex than MS Paint but it is two orders simpler than GIMP or Photoshop. Layers are very straightforward.

K'Tesh, if you can give me an example of a task you want to perform, I can give you a step-by-step in Paint.net to help you along the learning curve (maybe).

Click to expand...

Thanks... Let's start a new thread on this, kinda like your decal tutorial...

I have been working on the payload section wrap for the BT55 Black Brant
After printing a rectangle the same length and circumference as the payload section I started to sketch out the panel layout.
My references are 4 photos of the top section and 4 photos of the bottom sections of the payload as you do a walk-a-round at 0 - 90 - 180 and 270 degrees
The sketch will be scanned to an image file and cleaned up before using it as a decal for the Black Brant

Bobby

K'Tesh said:

I didn't see that... I'll have to look at it again when I get home tonight.

Mostly MS Paint, but I've now been playing with paint.net, and Gimp.

Click to expand...

I messed with the OR option to export decal (its under "File" drop down menu BTW). Looks like it just saves the same file you used for the body wrap. Same dimensions even. I thought maybe if you scaled the decal in OR, it would reflect that in the exported version. Not in tests Ive ran. And in my two stage test, it just saves the wrap on the payload section.

Only use I can think of: OR embeds the decal into the ORK file so it can be opened on any computer with OpenRocket, and still show the decals, wraps and what not. So I can send you a file and you could export the decal for your own personal use, to edit or print.

Mike

I like using GIMP, but never made decals with it

4 part video from YouTube using gimp for decals

[video=youtube;hJ53ZQKlU_I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ53ZQKlU_I[/video]

bobby_hamill said:

4 part video from YouTube using gimp for decals

[video=youtube;hJ53ZQKlU_I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ53ZQKlU_I[/video]

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing!