paneling the wrap

[Stan B]

Hello Guys!

I'm preparing to wrap my newly bought Ford cargo van (yeeha!),
and about to start designing,

the question is do you design it as a one big piece of graphics and let your RIP software to do the paneling to the material width or you prepare panels manually?

Also that is recommended overlap for the panels? I know in the RIP it's easy to get needed overlap but doing it by hand my lead me to miscalculations! :rolleyes:

Thank you all and have a great day!!!

[DRPSignsNGrafix]

Design one big graphic. Let the RIP panel is. If you need to make adjustments in your RIP program you can. Also i set my overlap for 1/4 to 3/8 overlap depending on the job. They go up great.

[Stan B]

Thank You for the help, Mike!

[Mason]

Yup, one big graphic, I usually use .50 for overlap just in case you need that little extra to make an adjustment. Ive also run into situation where I have had to make a panel manually which isnt all that hard to do but letting the rip panel the image is really the way to go.

I want to see some pics when youre done!!

[k6media]

One thing to take into consideration as well is your door seems. You can make your vehicle look seamless if 1 panel ends at the door seam with some overlap.. and the other panel goes onto the door you just finished.. this way you won't have vertical seams running across your vehicle...

[Stan B]

thank you guys! great tips!

[myronb]

I'm working on the same thing (f250 pickup, though) and wondered about panel size: should I set it up to do the entire bed in one panel, each door as a panel & the front fender as a panel?

Thanks,
Myron:thread

[cdiesel]

You should be able to do your whole truck seamlessly. One horiz piece for the bedsides & tailgate.. one vert panel for each door, and one piece for the front fender & one for the hood. Much easier to align a panel in a door seam than on the door itself, cause if you're off by a little, it won't show. :thumb:

[asignstop]

Chris, I was told never to use two different directions (like painting?) - does it show much? Eg. banding -I've notice my prints look the same regardless of orientation. I was also told never to go horizontally, I have a smaller printer so being able to do this would be great..

[cdiesel]

If you see banding, you're either printing too fast, or your printer is not calibrated correctly. We've been printing on Oracal 3951 & 3551, using Oracal's profiles and see absolutely no banding. Just setup your printer right, and use the right profiles.. Horizontal panels have their place. As a novice, I wouldn't do horizontal panels across a whole vehicle. Much easier install using vertical panels. Tailgates & bedsides are no biggie though.

[WOODBS]

what speed do you print at, because i have seen banding on 3951 also?

[cdiesel]

We use the oracal 3951 profiles, and have ZERO banding. It only has one speed, and it's not very fast, but looks great.

[WOODBS]

i've even got a little banding on 3m 180c, using the correct profile????

[javila]

If it's a van or something that needs tiling, let the rip handle it.

If it's a pickup or car that can be done seamless, sort out the sections in photoshop.

[Bentley Sign]

We do vehicles regularly and have found it is much easier to do the panels horizontaly. With the Cab as a print and the Bed as a print. You will end up with one seam(depending on the size of your printer) runing hori. Usually between the window witch hides itself very well. It is also easier to keep you text from bowing or not following the lines of the veh. You can usually keep you seem between the images and text with makes for a lot easier allignment of the two panels. Our customers have been alot more happier without all the vertical overlap seams.

Joel