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Car Design Software
- Thread starter drummer
- Start date
Bill Preston
New Member
There are at least two such deals that I know of. One is fairly inexpensive, and I don't know beans about it, other than I found their catalogue listing the vehicles a bit hard to get around in. It comes out of Europe, and lists a lot of vehicles not sold on this side of the pond.
Digital Auto Library, aka Pro Vehicle Outlines is IMHO a better set up, but more expensive. For the most part the vehicles are shown at 1/20th scale, unless otherwise noted. Covers early 90s to current models.
You will also hear from those who only use a digital camera, and scale up from the photo.
bill preston
Digital Auto Library, aka Pro Vehicle Outlines is IMHO a better set up, but more expensive. For the most part the vehicles are shown at 1/20th scale, unless otherwise noted. Covers early 90s to current models.
You will also hear from those who only use a digital camera, and scale up from the photo.
bill preston
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
Templates are available in EPS format from
Mr-Clipart
Digital Auto Library
Many sign makers have come to prefer taking digital photos and using them as templates. That way everything is shown precisely where it is on the vehicle without concern for possible inaccuracies, dealer labels and other unexpected differences that may happen with committed templates. You might want to read over a short step-by-step on doing this
Making a Vehicle Template from a Digital Photo
Mr-Clipart
Digital Auto Library
Many sign makers have come to prefer taking digital photos and using them as templates. That way everything is shown precisely where it is on the vehicle without concern for possible inaccuracies, dealer labels and other unexpected differences that may happen with committed templates. You might want to read over a short step-by-step on doing this
Making a Vehicle Template from a Digital Photo
I just got a copy of Pro Digital Outlines at the Columbus sign show. I've very happy with it.
The vehicles are scaled at 1/20 but they can be enlarged. Their template and my vehicle are dead on with the measurements.
The one from Mr-Clipart does contain many vehicles not available here in the USA. So you are paying for something you will never use.
If you can afford it go with Pro Vehicle Outlines!
The vehicles are scaled at 1/20 but they can be enlarged. Their template and my vehicle are dead on with the measurements.
The one from Mr-Clipart does contain many vehicles not available here in the USA. So you are paying for something you will never use.
If you can afford it go with Pro Vehicle Outlines!
Bill Preston said:
Digital camera photos can be handy, but most would have to agree it is a "quick and dirty" method. Such images can be sufficient when photographed properly and used in conjunction with good reference measurements.
I can accept being accused as a control freak, but I just don't really trust others taking digital camera reference photos for me if the images are intended as a method to get "scale" out of something.
There's lots of mistakes that can happen when taking a reference photo. The camera lens may be zoomed out too wide, thus barrel distorting all of the subject matter. The image may not be taken straight on at the subject. Lots of people will just stand off at an angle from the subject, keystoning the image and making it pretty much useless.
Adobe PhotoshopCS2 has some nifty new tools for correcting keystoned images and correcting barrel distortion from digital camera wide angle lenses. Still, the tools aren't perfect.
Finally, digital cameras cannot escape the way perspective alters dimension and scale. Imagery in the center of the frame may be near correct ratio and proportion but anything out to the edges will be distorted. This is the problem that makes digital camera photos a poor guide for doing exacting vehicle graphics work. If you're needing something to fit vehicle contours to a precise level you'll have to work with accurately drawn templates. For an expensive job, you may need to develop your own just to be safe. We have the Pro Vehicle Outlines collection and some of the templates are not perfect.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
Mikew said:
Drummer is from Malta Mikew. That's an island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
Bobby H said:
What you say is certainly true, yet in doing well over 100 vehicles using a mid-range Olympus and taking my own pictures and measurements, I can say that the typical tolerance I have experienced is + or - 1/2" over the length of a vehicle.
I know Christian at Digital Auto Library is quite thorough in taking his measurements. Yet, when I used his templates I encountered numerous issues with measurements being off or the right model not being included in the collection. Emblems are often different and dealer decals are totally not allowed for.
I think the manufacturers come out with variations and make changes which the template collections have no way to allow for and are a recipe for a layout that won't fit on the vehicle as planned or fit at all. The last time I used a template, the side doors on the van were off position by more than a foot and six inches wider than the template said they would be. I was fortunate that the install was being done at my shop so that I was able to change the layout to work in the true space that was available and recut the vinyls without losing my day and having to reschedule the install. By working from properly taken and scaled up digital pictures, I can see clearly anything which will need to be allowed for and everything fits as planned. With templates, it's a crapshoot.
Cya!