Do it yourself template

[Jus' Roach]

I was asked to expand on how I create a quasi-template for vehicles that may not be available in commercial libraries.

1. Take good hi-rez photos of all sides of the vehicle. Try to take them as square to the surface and centered as possible to prevent skewing.
   
2. Using something with a known size (ruler, yardstick, etc.) tape it as level as possible to the vehicle. (a strip of magnetic sheeting works well on metal) This will be your scale reference.
   
3. When you bring the image into your design software, you can resize it using the ruler as a guide. Cars can be done at 100% this way

[Jus' Roach]

Here is a Fire Tender (tanker to some) I will use as my example....



The water tank is aluminum, so I taped my 48" stick to it. (indicated in the green box)

When I opened the image in Photoshop, I resized it until my stick was 12" using a 12" rectangle as my on screen measuring device. When the two are the same size, I have a 25% scale image to work with!

For demonstration purposes, I typed the word FIRE DEPT on the fender. Since I know the scale of the truck, I know that lettering is 48" long.

Curved surfaces add a little more challenge, but are not impossible.

[vehiclewrapforum]

Jus,

That was awesome detail!

Thank you for your time, I look forward to learning more!

Vehicle Wrap Forum

[Jus' Roach]

AND.....
Measure
Measure
Measure

I make a rough sketch by hand (photo is just for illustration) of the vehicle and measure EVERYTHING that may affect the layout/application of the wrap.

this is wethat they tought us at Fellers. Awsome job. Also I see the large pattern helps with install. some people in the class were using line art and other applications that would take perfect alignment possible reprints.

WEAZER