Making Vehicle templates

[Wheeler]

How do you people make car templates?
I can take a picture and scale it to size and do a layout on it, but I cannot powerclip the image into a jpg. It looks like doodoo but it works.

I read about people making there own template but they don't say how.
I think it would be harder to draw the car in vector so I could powerclip to it.

I use coreldraw... I have never done a full wrap.
Thanks, Steven

 

[jfiscus]

Buy the "Car-n-truck Pro Vehicle Outlines for a couple hundred & be done with it. Saves hours of work weekly even on small decal jobs. Customers don't have to bring a truck by to be measured. All work can be ready when they arrive one-time for installation.

I made templates for years; it sucked.

 

[signswi]

I have no idea what powerclip means but most people draw them in Illustrator using the pen tool, probably the most important graphic skill to have (mastery of the pen tool).

But yeah, buying a collection saves a lot of time. Just make sure to check the dimensions yourself on the actual vehicle as they'll often be off by a bit.

 

[routierracing]

easiest way ive found is to just use a digital pic. And then take any measurement of the car and scale the pic so its in scale with that measurement. And start double checking all the other measurements to scale. Then that photo works as a scaled template you can overlay any of your graphics. If you want you can even photoshop it to presentation quality by masking out your graphics around wheel wells and etc using layers. The more you do it the faster you will be. And you'll never had to worry about an error in someone else's scaling.

 

[signswi]

That works decently as long as you take your photo really square. Stick a ruler in the shot and you have an instant metric to scale to.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

I've noticed that when I take a pic of a vehicle with a ruler on it, I still have to measure the actual vehicle because the picture can be off by 2" - 3". I'll still use the pic for layout and proofing but I don't actually cut or print anything until the vehicle is at the shop.

 

[Sluggo]

Chances are you're getting some lens distortion when taking your photos. Park the vehicle in an open lot, turn the front wheels forward and stand back--WAY BACK, like say 40 or 50 feet. Make sure you're shooting the vehicle perfectly perpendicular to the area you're trying to get. Use the camera's optical zoom (not digital, unless you want a blurry mess) to frame the shot. The farther back you stand, the "flatter" the shot will appear--stand as far back as your camera's optical zoom will allow you to be. This way, you'll minimize the "barrel distortion" produced when standing too close to the vehicle.

As for using commercial templates, most of the ones issued for newer vehicles, say, after 2007 or so, aren't too bad, though they're still inaccurate when it comes to overall length (they usually make the vehicle appear much longer than they really are). Most of the older ones are really inaccurate. But whether using newer or older templates, always verify them if possible before printing anything! The name of the game is to do the job right ONE TIME and not end up having to reprint/reschedule/reinstall simply because of poor dimensions.

 

[Miss Grafx]

Toyota Camry 1996 Vehicle Template

I'm looking for a 1996 Toyota Camry 4dr sedan. Does anyone know where I can buy this template? They Don't have it in the Digital Auto Library, and I already emailed them asking them for this template and they haven't gotten back to me. NEED ASAP!!! If so how much? Please let me know.

Thank you

Arianna

 

[The Vector Doctor]

In a pinch, you might find a photo of the car through google searching or at ebay motors. Maybe a nice side shot somewhere. Wheelbase sizes are available online so you don't have to actually measure the real car

 

[WrapperX]

Buy the "Car-n-truck Pro Vehicle Outlines for a couple hundred & be done with it. Saves hours of work weekly even on small decal jobs. Customers don't have to bring a truck by to be measured. All work can be ready when they arrive one-time for installation.

I made templates for years; it sucked.

Anyone who trusts these templates completely is a moron! Even the Read me file of this software advises that actual measurements should be taken before creating the full size graphics. This software is stirctly to give your customer an idea of what it will look like. I have been guilty of trusting the template with 100% certainty only to find that slight variations have caused some major issues. Plus there's never a 100% gaurentee that you are using the right template for that particular make and model. They get pretty close -close enough to give your customer a general idea - but not close enough to be TOTALLY safe and secure with the final product.

 

[jc1cell]

They get pretty close -close enough to give your customer a general idea - but not close enough to be TOTALLY safe and secure with the final product

Agreed 100%

I combine PVO templates with the photos taken along with measurements. I then bring the image to size and tweak the template a bit on the major differences.

To me, a big part of getting the wrap done right starts with the proper template.

jc

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Anyone who trusts these templates completely is a moron! Even the Read me file of this software advises that actual measurements should be taken before creating the full size graphics. This software is stirctly to give your customer an idea of what it will look like. I have been guilty of trusting the template with 100% certainty only to find that slight variations have caused some major issues. Plus there's never a 100% gaurentee that you are using the right template for that particular make and model. They get pretty close -close enough to give your customer a general idea - but not close enough to be TOTALLY safe and secure with the final product.

They also won't take into account body modifcations that a particular person might do with that vehicle.

 

[Jgentry]

If you photograph something that you want to use for design, you need to use the proper zoom (magnification) to minimize distortion of the image. For example you do not want to zoom to a cameras widest angle setting as this will cause problems. On a 35mm camera you want about 50mm lens.

Digital cameras are almost never 35mm anymore unless you have a high end digital such as a Canon 5D or Nikon D700, so if you have a point and shoot you want to zoom to about the middle of the zoom range or so. This is just an estimate, but you do not want the widest angle option as it will be very distorted.

 

[njshorts]

after doing measurements for so long... just bought artstation's templates yesterday. so far, so good. 249$ for the collection.

 

[Wheeler]

Thanks for the responses everyone.
Signwi- powerclip is taking a bitmap and putting it into a vector image.. Its a coreldraw thing.

 

[bob]

You people work way too hard at something that's so easy.

Set a standard 16x24 framing square flat against the subject to be scaled. On a vehicle I usually set it up against a side window.

Take a picture trying as much as possible to keep the plane of the camera lens parallel with the plane of the subject.

Import the photo into, in your case, Corel. Draw a wire frame rectangle around the framing square in the picture. Try to be as precise as possible.

Make sure that the power clip auto centering is turned off [it really doesn't matter but the process a little more comprehensible if it is turned off]. Power clip the picture into the wire frame rectangle.

Now make the power clip object 16"x24", the actual size of the framing square.

Extract the contents of the power clip and, as if by magic, the picture is actual size both in height and width.

You don't have to go actual size, you can do any scale factor that works for you.

If the framing square in the picture is not perfectly square to the wire frame rectangle, before you do the power clip you can either rotate the image as necessary so that it is or rotate/and or skew the wire frame rectangle until it is square to the framing square. The latter is usually easier.

If you rotate the wire frame then after the power clip be sure to rotate and/or de-skew it back to being a rectangle square with your display before extracting the picture.

The same technique works in Flexi which uses masking instead of power clipping. Bog knows how you do it in Illustrator but I'm sure the same technique can used there as well.

 

[andy]

You people work way too hard at something that's so easy.

Absolutely right... I mean how hard is it to Google "impact vehicle outlines"?!
If you purchase the highest quality outlines you can cut or print without ever seeing the vehicle; make, year and model number is all you need. There is a world of difference between quality, professional drawn vehicle outlines for the sign trade and a bunch of "clip art".

 

[Crossbones]

You can also get the Sticky Yard Digital Measuring System. Fellers has it.

 

[RobbyMac]

Anyone who trusts these templates completely is a moron! Even the Read me file of this software advises that actual measurements should be taken before creating the full size graphics. This software is stirctly to give your customer an idea of what it will look like. I have been guilty of trusting the template with 100% certainty only to find that slight variations have caused some major issues. Plus there's never a 100% gaurentee that you are using the right template for that particular make and model. They get pretty close -close enough to give your customer a general idea - but not close enough to be TOTALLY safe and secure with the final product.

+1
If a customer is paying for a wrap, and you don't have a template, that customer shouldnt mind bringing the vehicle in for a half hour while you get photos and accurate measurements. If you can't get the vehicle, then you can't blame anyone but yourself if something doesn't match up when it comes time to install. It's at this point that you eat the cost, or make a profit. Hopefully eating the additional cost isn't more than the half hour it wouldve taken to do it right up front.

 

[COOKY]

I take photos and measurements similar to some earlier posts. For art and proofing I make a path around the vehicle with the bezier tool. Only takes a couple of minutes. Clip out the wheels and windows and then powerclip the graphics inside that path.