Template/survey making questions

[rprincejr]

I may be asking for information that many guard so I don't mean to offend. What I'm trying to learn is best practices for creating templates for anything. Whether it's a vehicle, heavy equipment, etc.

Do you use paper and cut to fit? Take pictures with reference objects? What if the template you're making has 3d curves in it?

If it's pictures, then it's easy to get into illustrator. But what about paper templates? How do you get big templates scanned?

Any help or direction would be appreciated.

 

[2B]

While the paper template has its place and is still used. we rely more on the photo approach.
digital photos are cheap and will allow you to take many angles / directions

when taking photos always try to get the camera at a 90* angle to the subject, otherwise when you are scaling it in the design program it will distort.
another point that helps us is to always have a known/exact point of reference in the photo.
We took a tailors tape measure and cut it 12" strips then glued that to magnetic strips then place a strip on the X & Y axis.Especially when where there are curves so you can see just how much of the contour is

 

[Johnny Best]

I pretty much do what 2B suggests. On large paper templates, such as when doing boat sides, I attach template to wall and use a prime 35mm lens using reference measurements on the paper. I use the 35mm with full frame camera so the distortion is not that bad and can fit the large pattern in one pic.
As far as 3d subjects I draw those out on a piece of paper with measurements and reference pics.

 

[Brink]

Pictures are best if you just need a few angles. Paste on some markers of a known size like 2" squares and shoot. (post it notes work pretty good for that). If your job is complex and worth the trouble, photogrammetry works to get you a 3d. model of it. I stress the "worth the trouble" though. You can then use softwares for unwrapping the 3d model to get shapes for templates.