Livery design 101 - Real or fantasy it doesn't matter

[Ember]

I went through the pains of Linux years ago when I was running a BBS. A Deneb release, from memory. But I've got too much invested in software to be able to do it these days.

[Fast Co.]

That's an excellent tutorial Lynne. Thanks for posting it. I've got it bookmarked for the day when I finally get around to scratch building some of the many model kits I've got stowed away.
Steve

[JT Previa]

Ember,

Great explanation - and the finished cars look great to!

Here's a couple details from my experience:

If finding and importing graphics from online, make sure the scaled down images (logos, image text) result in 300 dpi output or your decals will be pixelated (screen resolution is often 72 dpi, about 1/4 of regular print resolution).

On my Macs I've used Pages, Pixelmator, or Gimp - all free or inexpensive.

For small decals for tiny cars like I seem to build (Sprites, Minis) group your images into an area that will print across the top of a page. Then cut off square and save the balance of the sheet. This way you can get several print runs out of one 8.5x11 sheet.

Print settings are crucial. Test some partial pages to find the right ink density - most decal papers are more like photo paper and don't absorb. Then write them down somewhere you can find them (I can't remember mine from my last set...).

Font choice is important to match a prototype or project the character you want. Dafont.com has thousands of fonts, generally for free. If you are really professioal, go to fonts.com for real quality, paid fonts.

And last is a designer's pet peeve, pay attention to font choice! First, eliminate Helvetica and variants (Arial, etc) too generic for most modern cars and too modern for anything pre-1975. Pick fonts that match your era - and remember that pre 1990 most of these were hand painted. You generally didn't get big logos on cars until the later 80s, before that it was colors, stripes and panels.

JT

[urbanwarrior]

OUTSTANDING tutorial....thank you very much.
UW

[Ember]

[TuscoTodd]

Ember -
Thank you for the tutorial and the link to the brands of the world - will have to check that out - might make my little relivery project of an AutoWorld Racing Rig to a "JC Whitney" livery a little easier! :)
Thanks!

[dreinecke]

Great post! I have a decal set I need printed on a white sheet. I'm using the Testors sheets. Each time I print on my HP printer, no matter what quality or paper I choose - it looks great for a minute and then anything black begins to craze. It is an older HP 750ix all-in-one. I also tried my daughter's HP 3520 that is almost new with the same results.

Is it possible this is the paper doing it? The Clear paper worked perfect with black.

[Ember]

If the clear paper worked fine I'd think the problem is in the white decal paper.

[TsgtRet]

What Testors logo is on the back of the paper? If it's just the oval logo in the middle it's fairly old.....the newer stuff has the repeating logo diagonally across the back. Think about kit decals, haven't you ever used some old ones that looked great on the sheet but when you tried to use them they went bad. I'm guessing Lynne is probably right about the paper.