Templating a vehicle

[Mata]

Hi

I need to template a vehicle, I need everything spot on so I can't use a standard vehicle template.

In the past, I was told to: Apply application tape, draw lines around the edges, handles etc, take it all off and lay it down flat, take a photo and then draw around it in Illustrator. Is there a better way?

I've basically got a few days to template the vehicle, design it and start printing it before the rest come in for fitting and I'm starting to get a little worried. Although I was told how to do it or at least one way of doing it, I've never actually done it. My pen tool is not the best when trying to get smooth rounded curves and trying to take pictures of a i.e quarter panel laid down on the floor isn't the easiest. I'm hoping for a magical wand that can do it for me.

 

[Stacey K]

That sounds horrible! Can you just take a template and make adjustments to it by measuring?

 

[Boudica]

Do you need it for production, or layout?
For layout, I have a 12x12" vehicle magnet, slap that on the vehicle nice and straight - take a photo of each side with the magnet as straight on as possible, then use the magnet in the photo to make it to scale.
For Production, if it's that hypercritical, make sure you have the vehicle on site while your prepping the files, measure measure measure....

 

[Mata]

It’s for production unfortunately.

I’m with you with the magnet idea, that pretty much sets me up for the design but doesn’t help when templating.

Regarding taking an existing template and adjusting it, not really possible and it’ll be easier to start from scratch.

 

[Stacey K]

Not sure what kind of vehicle it is but there's a guy on this site that has posted a ton of odd ball templates. He has a running post. Might be worth a try searching to see if he has it.

 

[jfiscus]

I'm the template guy, I use scrap Phototex to make custom expanded templates.

Phototex for Templates

I was thinking the other day about how to build complex templates for vehicles like ATVs, golf carts, etc where a lot of very odd-shaped panels are in play and figuring our 2-d models are tricky, when an installer walked by and commented on how nice phototex was to install that day as it does...

www.signs101.com

Share a photo of what the concept is (why it needs to be so custom) and what vehicle you're doing and we might have some pointers for you.
Might knifeless tape be your friend on this project?

 

[Splash0321]

I’ve tried everything mentioned here and also in the thread mentioned. If you are trying to make templates that are vehicle specific and tightly follow body lines there isn’t anything more accurate than the transfer tape/paper method and then having them scanned in. Taking a picture of your template isn’t as accurate because there’s always going to be some fisheye distortion/error. Taking a picture straight on is only straight on a single part of your template…you aren’t straight on everything else on your template. If you made your templates on some kind of graph paper you can take a photo of it and try to align the horizontal and vertical lines digitally. Still more work and less accurate than scanning so why not just have it scanned in? Before you scan it draw a horizontal and vertical line on the template as long as you can and mark specified distances on each line so you can scale it perfectly after it’s scanned in.

Depending on what you need to do, eagle enterprises has plenty of vehicle specific designs you can cut with their proprietary program. They are pay per cut and are pretty inexpensive. Anywhere from $6-$26 with what I’ve used. I use it when it’s a one-off cut. You can also have them make any of their kits and they’ll dropship it to your customers.

Procutfiles.com has files you can purchase outright no strings attached but would be more expensive so it would only be worth it if it’s a design you’d use to make the same item over and over like hood decals. If you on into selling graphics online or want to get into it then this place could get you started easily with their files.

Both Eagle and Procutfiles are accurate for everything I’ve used them for and are trustworthy to purchase from. Eagle offers what they offer but Procutfiles does contract work so they’ll source the vehicle and do templating for you. If you give them enough lead time this could be helpful as they specialize in what you are trying to do so it could save you a lot of time.

 

[netsol]

take your transfer tape to the local kinkos and have them scan and create pdf's
we never do templates, but, do scan large original work from clients

we have an Oce' colorwave that pass through scans original artwork (~40")

we converted an old polaroid copy stand (tilted the upright post 30 degrees, added digital camera, monitor
& network interface ) & upgrade to led lights

we mounted a digital camera to ceiling mount and scribed a grid on the floor to adjust for parallel distortion
for really big stuff

i thing just doing a handheld or tripod mount camera would drive me crazy

HINT always print a grid first & photograph to check camera for astigmatism, even fairly expensive lenses/cameras often exhibit astigmatism (optical field not flat or completely linear) better to find out on the first print

if using kinkos or pass through scanner, i would put finished tape through a laminator and apply to a backing paper (this works for my purposes, might not for yours)

 

[Mata]

I'm the template guy, I use scrap Phototex to make custom expanded templates.

Phototex for Templates

I was thinking the other day about how to build complex templates for vehicles like ATVs, golf carts, etc where a lot of very odd-shaped panels are in play and figuring our 2-d models are tricky, when an installer walked by and commented on how nice phototex was to install that day as it does...

www.signs101.com

Share a photo of what the concept is (why it needs to be so custom) and what vehicle you're doing and we might have some pointers for you.
Might knifeless tape be your friend on this project?

Here's an image of what I am trying to do but on another vehicle. The blue door has a perfect one around the edge and around the recess panel. I need to create this template so it can be reused multiple times

 

[Mata]

Here's a template the middle panel with clear app tape and a 455 x 330mm board in the middle.

 

[White Haus]

I've never done anything exactly like that, but what I've done in the past is lay down application tape, trace, scan (in sections if you have to) then draw vector paths with the pen tool.

Then cut a test piece on cheap vinyl (through cut if you can) and paste up, make notes and adjust from there. Might take a couple of tries but will get easier as you go.

 

[weyandsign]

That door doesn't look perfect. It looks hand cut to me. You could use a photo and trace a path for that.

 

[Mata]

I've never done anything exactly like that, but what I've done in the past is lay down application tape, trace, scan (in sections if you have to) then draw vector paths with the pen tool.

Then cut a test piece on cheap vinyl (through cut if you can) and paste up, make notes and adjust from there. Might take a couple of tries but will get easier as you go.

Thank you, I will try doing that.

 

[Mata]

That door doesn't look perfect. It looks hand cut to me. You could use a photo and trace a path for that.

I will give it ago, I thought it was pretty neat but now I look closer, maybe it was done by hand.

 

[jfiscus]

Going to take a couple tries and a few hours just to set up a template for those rear doors like that.

 

[Stacey K]

This looks like a lot of work. Make sure you charge accordingly. On occasion I have done smaller graphics for vehicles and as mentioned above I use cheap vinyl to get the sizing right before I print/cut the final.

 

[Krissy Louderback]

Have you tried using ProVehicle Outlines and printing it on paper to see how well it fits?

 

[Shred_signs]

Here's an image of what I am trying to do but on another vehicle. The blue door has a perfect one around the edge and around the recess panel. I need to create this template so it can be reused multiple times

This is most likely knifeless tape or..... a ruined paintjob that the customer won't know about until they remove the wrap.