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First time designing a car wrap

Owen Bridges

Owen Bridges

New Member
I own a 2007 Ford Mustang and I recently started working with vinyl and making graphics. After a few months of small decals and working my way up to larger graphics, Im to the point where I want to attempt a full car design and Id rather try on my own stuff first before anyone else's vehicle. That being said, I am looking for a template of my car. Where should I go to find an accurate template? I appreciate any leads or help.
 
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AKwrapguy

New Member
Owen Bridges said:
I own a 2007 Ford Mustang and I recently started working with vinyl and making graphics. After a few months of small decals and working my way up to larger graphics, Im to the point where I want to attempt a full car design and Id rather try on my own stuff first before anyone else's vehicle. That being said, I am looking for a template of my car. Where should I go to find an accurate template? I appreciate any leads or help.
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What are you printing with? Solvent or latex? What about material and lam?

I wold use a vector template, so one from Pro Vehicle, Art Station, The Blue Print...
 
ams

ams

New Member
Vehicle wrapping is a very hard thing to learn. Prepare to make mistakes and do it over. When it comes to customers, they will pick apart little mess ups, like when it comes to a solid color wrap and it's easily seen. Maybe offer your first half dozen at half price so you can learn. Also buy professional wrap tools. There isn't a lot of money in wraps, when you take 15 - 25 hours doing one. The pros can do it in like 6 - 8 hours, but the average sign shop with little experience takes much longer. We stopped offering wraps, not worth the headache, we can do an electrical sign make more money and only 3 hours of install time.
 
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burgmurk

New Member
take some good straight-on photos, measure it and scale it in your software. You're not always going to be able to find a template, so it's a good method to learn. Also clients love seeing proofs superimposed on the actual car :)
 
signmanbob

signmanbob

New Member
burgmurk said:
take some good straight-on photos, measure it and scale it in your software. You're not always going to be able to find a template, so it's a good method to learn. Also clients love seeing proofs superimposed on the actual car :)
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I agree. I almost never use vehicle outlines and instead take my own pictures and build the template in Photoshop. Be sure that you use a pretty good camera so there will not be a lot of distortion. Just take measurements on the car and scale your picture to size.
 
Pippin Decals

Pippin Decals

New Member
I agree as well. I place a sticky note on the area and take a photo. That way i have something accurate in size to use for image scaling .
 
Owen Bridges

Owen Bridges

New Member
AKwrapguy said:
What are you printing with? Solvent or latex? What about material and lam?

I wold use a vector template, so one from Pro Vehicle, Art Station, The Blue Print...
Click to expand...
Im not printing, I just needed a template to get an idea what I was working with size wise. Im doing a solid color wrap so I am just cutting it with my plotter. Im starting simple for now and will work my way up.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
Solid color, you don't cut with your plotter. I mean, I guess you could... but theres no point. Plotters are good for window tinting... but full wraps, not really.

If it's a solid color thats not directional (Like holo, which I wouldnt attempt until after a ton of wraps) Get some magnets, attach it to the car and start cutting the vinyl with a simple knife.

Mustangs arent the worst, but they're also not the easiest. Are you buying vinyl from a local vendor? If you have to order by the FT, and wait a week or two to get it... I'd buy an extra 20ish FT for your first wrap. Unless you don't mind driving around with a panel missing while you wait for more material to get in.

3M, Avery? Vivvid? Vivvid is probably the easiest for a beginner, it's thick and doesn't get glue lines. Then I'd say Avery... and then 3M. But each person has their own preference of course.

Watch a lot of Youtube videos... Or get a subscription to Wrap institute, Their videos are pretty good.
 
Owen Bridges

Owen Bridges

New Member
ikarasu said:
Solid color, you don't cut with your plotter. I mean, I guess you could... but theres no point. Plotters are good for window tinting... but full wraps, not really.

If it's a solid color thats not directional (Like holo, which I wouldnt attempt until after a ton of wraps) Get some magnets, attach it to the car and start cutting the vinyl with a simple knife.

Mustangs arent the worst, but they're also not the easiest. Are you buying vinyl from a local vendor? If you have to order by the FT, and wait a week or two to get it... I'd buy an extra 20ish FT for your first wrap. Unless you don't mind driving around with a panel missing while you wait for more material to get in.

3M, Avery? Vivvid? Vivvid is probably the easiest for a beginner, it's thick and doesn't get glue lines. Then I'd say Avery... and then 3M. But each person has their own preference of course.

Watch a lot of Youtube videos... Or get a subscription to Wrap institute, Their videos are pretty good.
Click to expand...

My bad, it isn't just a plotter, bad wording choice on my part. Im not doing a solid color change. I want a silhouette look on my car that is patriotic theme. My car is gunmetal grey so I'm going to use a black (not sure if I'm doing gloss or matte yet). Im buying vinyl through fellers. Ive had the best luck customer service wise with them and the quickest shipping due to there being a facility in my state. Ive been using a lot or Oracle and I just recently used an Avery.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
Ah, decaling is much easier then. Did you find a template? I get 5 free per month, and I have 2 left, resets in less than a week so I doubt I'd use them. If you want I can d/l it and send it to you.

Templates aren't perfectly accurate though - Theres so many different models and trims. For the most part it's pretty accurate.. But it can be off by an inch or so in some spots. It's good if you don't have access to the car.

Since you do, you may as well learn the proper way others are mentioning! Cut a 12" x 12" square out of vinyl or whatever. Tape it to your car, step back so you can take a straight on, full picture of your vehicle... Transfer it to illustrator /corel, whatever you use... Make a 12x12" square, then resize the photo until your cut vinyl square is the same size.

From there, you have a pretty good, almost perfect template. Even if you go the template route, I'd suggest following the above steps... it's great to learn, and you can compare it to your template to make sure it's accurate.
 
Pippin Decals

Pippin Decals

New Member
ikarasu said:
Ah, decaling is much easier then. Did you find a template? I get 5 free per month, and I have 2 left, resets in less than a week so I doubt I'd use them. If you want I can d/l it and send it to you.

Templates aren't perfectly accurate though - Theres so many different models and trims. For the most part it's pretty accurate.. But it can be off by an inch or so in some spots. It's good if you don't have access to the car.

Since you do, you may as well learn the proper way others are mentioning! Cut a 12" x 12" square out of vinyl or whatever. Tape it to your car, step back so you can take a straight on, full picture of your vehicle... Transfer it to illustrator /corel, whatever you use... Make a 12x12" square, then resize the photo until your cut vinyl square is the same size.

From there, you have a pretty good, almost perfect template. Even if you go the template route, I'd suggest following the above steps... it's great to learn, and you can compare it to your template to make sure it's accurate.
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I have a collection that goes up to 2016 ( not 2106) lol . If you ever need something send me a pm and ill see if i have it.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
I'll keep that in mind,.thanks! If you need any newer ones, or ones you don't have let me know. I don't use my 5 free ones much, usually use 1-2 a month. Most the vehicles we do are police cars / other vehicles we do multiples of, so one template lasts us awhile.
 
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AKwrapguy

New Member
Owen Bridges said:
Im not printing, I just needed a template to get an idea what I was working with size wise. Im doing a solid color wrap so I am just cutting it with my plotter. Im starting simple for now and will work my way up.
Click to expand...

If your doing a color change, you don't need a template. Watch a few videos. You usually want to use full sheets so there are no seams.
 
GAC05

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
papabud said:
flying cars start production in 2025
2106 we are using teleports making cars a thing of the past.
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You forget that in 2029 Skynet sends back a naked killer robot with a heavy Austrian accent to kill off the mom of the future resistance leader, thus insuring Donald Trump is re-elected for a 4th term. This kills off all US auto production as outsourcing transfers to Russia.
 
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