Recreating art from a photo ???

[CoryP]

So my friend has a trailer that has vinyl graphics on it already. but he had a minor accident with it, and messed up a couple panels on the back of it. He had 2 new panels put on the back side of the trailer and now it just has two white panels on the back. I have attached a picture of what the panels are on the other side of the trailer that I have to mirror and put on the side that got messed up in the accident. Hopefully I explained this ok. So now I measured the panels took a picture of the opposite side, the picture below has a yellow box in it, that is measurement for size panels I have to replace on the other side of the trailer.
I have been working with illustrator for about a year or so, just kind of learning as I go. Anybody have any tips on what I should do, to recreate this art of the car. I tried using the pen tool but I can;t get it to look very good.
I appreciate any help given . Thanks

 

[TheSnowman]

Send it to The Vector Doctor, and you will have what you want for a quick time turn around and a great price...and it will be exactly what you need. That is, pending you have a high enough resolution pic.

 

[Ken]

Yep...

The first thing I would do is to ask your client (buddy) to provide you with the original file. Failing that, I would suggest that your client Obtain the file from the "other sign guy"..which is really a touchy subject.
If it was me..with no favourable input..I would attempt to re-create the image using a trace program, such as tha Corel trace in Corel Draw. You also may be able to find this profile within many of the car profile libraries that are available ( for purchase...not free)
Really..your Bud should go back to the original "sign guy"..and get him to re-do it. And..PAY UP.
That would be "Fair Enough".. IMHO.
Cheers!
Ken

 

[Tony McD]

The original file would be your best bet, so all the
lines meet.

Easy enough to do in Corel, so I'm sure you could trace it in
illustrator with a bezier tool.
I would zoom in and use the pen tool, strart tracing trying to stay
exactly in the center of each line.
When you have all the lines redrawn, give the line the thickness
of the line you need.... half inch, etc...
Then convert the lines to an object, and delete the original trace line.
Weld them all together, and your done.

Probably need to adjust lines a little, so you would need
good measurements, or the trailer handy.

 

[ddubia]

You could do it with either the pen tool or perhaps the AutoTrace feature. Sounds like you haven't had the best of luck with the pen tool and the AutoTrace will take some experimenting as well, especially if you're not used to it either.

If you just want to get it done and can't get the original file send it to the Vector Doctor.

It may pay off if you have him do the entire car graphic and replace the whole thing eliminating the need to line up a section of it or the headaches you'll have if it doesn't quite line up. I'm sure that's what I would do if it were my job.

Having it line up is going to be dependent on how well you take your pic without distortion and how exact you take the measurements. Having the whole car graphic done is as simple as supplying a good resolution pic along with an overall height and width of the graphic and exact measurements of all the line widths.

It doesn't need to be a perfect copy of the other side down to the molecule. So long as it's the same size and the line widths are the same it should look great considering one can't see both sides at the same time. If you had to walk back and forth with a machinists rule to see if they are the same then it's likely more than good enough.

Just my two cents. You'd have to contact the Vector Doctor to see exactly what he'd need from you to complete the job.

If you can't quite use the pen tool proficiently yet, he would not only be your best bet to get a quality job but I'm sure the price he charges will be much less cost to you than all the time you'd spend messing around with it until you figure it out.

Figure out the pen tool on an easier job.

 

[jfiscus]

It's a simple enough job, but as stated above it would be best to re-do the entire car graphic if you cannot be supplied with the original art. Then get a total width height measurement & stroke width measurement & redraw it with the pen tool, should be simple to trace to within tolerance. The wheels use the circle tools. Set all stroke to the same width once scaled and output it.

 

[CoryP]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, my pen tool skills are definitely minuscule, I am going to visit with the Vector Doctor, hopefully he can fix me up

 

[ncpdfsb]

agree with above comments, replace complete side. why not take a picture and use the mask tool in ps? two color should re-create quite well..export .eps

 

[The Vector Doctor]

agree with above comments, replace complete side. why not take a picture and use the mask tool in ps? two color should re-create quite well..export .eps

No amount of tweaking in photoshop will give you a clean vector output of this. Neither will autotracing. The only option is to trace by hand

 

[Shovelhead]

It could have be recreated already. It's a skill that anyone in the industry should posess.

 

[jbona75]

That should a cake-walk to recreate...simple lines and a very simple logo...

 

[CL Graphics]

redo the whole car. It will be impossible to ever get the two panels to line up with whats already there.