Pro Vehicle Outlines by Digital Auto Library

[Sign Works]

I have the 1993-2006 Explorer Edition and am having trouble with one of the templates. The vehicle is a 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 P/U, club cab, long bed, dually so I opened up file Dodge_ 129 on page 186 and the body style appears to be correct or similiar at least but after enlarging to actual size I did a quick pen plot template on paper to confirm that it matched the desired area, (customer wants lettering & background decal to go on the bed above rear wheel flares). It does not match at all, bed length dosent match, dually wheel flare length dosent match, contour on top of wheel flares do not match and the contour is what I'm really after. I've racked my brain looking for any error on my part but still come up blank, are these templates inaccurate? For the money I kinda assumed they would be more accurate than this. I believe they merged or were bought out by Mr. Clipart so I'm curious as to what tech support is available on this version, guess I can give em a call tomorrow and find out. Anyone else find any of these templates to be off like this?

 

[Fred Weiss]

I think the problem rests with manufacturers building more configurations than make it into the collections. Then the user picks a template that is close but not correct. Not the fault of the template maker at all. Just the way it is.

I did a trade with DAL about eight or nine years ago for some of my clipart and the first template I used was more than a foot off on placement of the side doors on a Ford Econoline van. I bought a digital camera and never looked back. It's situations like yours that have always caused me, as a reseller and publisher of clipart, to choose not to carry templates and sell them to others.

 

[synergy_jim]

I bought the outlines and have used them 3 or 4 times...

Making your own template with a digital camera is 10 times more accurate...

Just like Fred says.....

my .02

 

[TresL]

I use them only for design reference.

 

[TheProfessor]

Design reference for me too. I will layout on the vehicle template, but I wont print the vinyl until I get final measurements. Sometimes this annoys the sales reps, but I'd rather wait and not have to print the whole thing twice because the wrap was 5 inches short even though we added bleed... If I can, I always try to get photos of the car and design directly on that. You need to make sure you get straight-on shots, though, or your sizing will be off...

 

[synergy_jim]

Design reference for me too. I will layout on the vehicle template, but I wont print the vinyl until I get final measurements. Sometimes this annoys the sales reps, but I'd rather wait and not have to print the whole thing twice because the wrap was 5 inches short even though we added bleed... If I can, I always try to get photos of the car and design directly on that. You need to make sure you get straight-on shots, though, or your sizing will be off...

One more thing....

you need to make sure that you are not snapping wide angle shots of the vehicle as this distorts proportions.

a good rule of thumb is to make sure your zoom lens is set at 35mm or greater when you snap the shots.

 

[signskwik]

Hi there anyone know where i can get fastcar vehicle outlines new 2008 for free or ford falcon panel van template for free

 

[Border]

Hi there anyone know where i can get fastcar vehicle outlines new 2008 for free or ford falcon panel van template for free

 

[Techman]

Hi there anyone know where i can get fastcar vehicle outlines new 2008 for free or ford falcon panel van template for free

I think you crossed the line here. Those are copyrighted templates..

 

[Signgrl]

My thoughts exactly BorderPatrol. Same post is in another thread too.

 

[Malkin]

You could get them for free by drawing them out yourself... But I'm guessing by that post that you must value your time more than that.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Hi there anyone know where i can get fastcar vehicle outlines new 2008 for free or ford falcon panel van template for free

Why do you feel a resource tool such as a template should be free? Will you use it to make profit? Will you benefit from the sweat of the artist that created it? How do you feel when you see the design you did but didn't get the job pulled up next to you at a traffic light?

Wise up man! Protecting the rights of all producers of intellectual property is in your best interests. And showing your lack of respect for them in an open forum will result in many here losing respect for you.

 

[Graphics2u]

Taking pictures for Vehicle Templates

You need to make sure you get straight-on shots, though, or your sizing will be off...

How far away from the vehicle do you need to be to take pictures to use as templates without getting distortion from the camera lens? If I take the picture from the center of the car, the front and rear of the vehicle many times at not accurate dimensions. Anyway to compensate for this?

 

[Fred Weiss]

What I always do is to frame my shot so that there is a margin to the area of interest of about 25%. In addition, I always use the flat setting that the camera defaults to so as not to add any additional distortion by zooming or wide angle. Finally, don't use a small reference object for scaling. Take measurements that are larger, such as taillight to front door, so as to reduce scaling errors. The errors I end up with are typically less than .5" to the full body length.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Does anyone use the Sticky Yard to get their measurements? If you don't know what it is, it's basically a magnetic yard stick with a simple software program that scales it. We bought one last year and it's awesome! At first I really didn't understand the point; I could measure with a ruler just as fast. But then I realized that, instead of taking specific measurements of each area, I would open the photo in StickyYard program, get the Sticky Yard size, then measure the whole width of the picture. Then I import the picture into my software, make the picture the correct size and voila! an actual-size picture of the vehicle (or window, or lighted sign on a building). Of course I always check to make sure it's correct but it's usually dead on. Or maybe everyone already knew that and I just figured it out!

http://www.stickyyard.com/