Home Forums Sign Making Discussions Vinyl can anyone advise on how to apply a line of text to car?

  • can anyone advise on how to apply a line of text to car?

    Posted by Nick Harper on 6 October 2010 at 13:40

    I would love to know how to do this (correctly).

    If i want to apply a line of text to the attached Smart car, along the curved line of the bodywork, (where i have put the thick yellow line), How do i do it.

    If i use the outline for that particular car, it is not accurate enough to match the lines of the car.

    The only other way i know of is to take a good (level) photo of the car, blow it up to life size and than create a hairline that follows the line of the body work, which i then apply my text to.

    This method is far more accurate, but still not perfect.

    If anyone has any better ways of getting accurate results, i would be very interested to hear them, as well as very grateful.

    Nick

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    Doug Pulver replied 14 years, 11 months ago 9 Members · 11 Replies
  • 11 Replies
  • RayRosher

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 13:54

    No picture
    You forgot to add it…

  • Jon Marshall

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 14:07

    I assume you mean the tridion section. Your second method is as accurate as you’re going to get.

  • Nick Harper

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 14:26

    😳 😳 😳

    Attachment added.

    Nick.


    Attachments:

  • Gavin MacMillan

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 15:25

    Is it just the yellow line as shown? If so you should just be able to manipulate a straight line, failing that shape one roughly so it requires less manipulation but I would do that mostly by hand.

    G

  • Peter Dee

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 16:20

    Yep, I think I would tape it in place all along the top edge, slitting up between letters or pairs of letters to allow a curve to develop.
    Same as doing a bonnet to avoid the droop at each end but on your knees instead.

  • Chris Wool

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 16:58

    you could plot these points and draw your own.
    i would plot the line from the drawing test and adjust paper and pen in the plotter


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  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    6 October 2010 at 19:28

    I’ve always done it from a photo and never had any problems at all. It depends how much care you take but I would say if it is done correctly then it is very accurate.

  • Gavin MacMillan

    Member
    7 October 2010 at 07:44

    Sorry I misread the post and didn’t notice it was a line of text. I would still do it as I described by getting a good match from the drawing or photo and then manipulating at the time of fitting, for me this would be a lot quicker than getting it mm perfect before cutting.

    G

  • Graze

    Member
    3 November 2010 at 13:31

    Hi
    I just spotted this thread and thought I’d stick my oar in.
    I normally take photos to do this as well, I find that if you stand a larger distance away and use a zoom on the camera it lessens the lens distortion. Before taking the pic, stick a sheet of A3 or A4 on the surface somewhere for scale reference.
    I find it’s pretty accurate. The main downside is the lens distortion on the camera though.
    Graze

  • Graze

    Member
    3 November 2010 at 15:04

    Hi
    I just spotted this thread and thought I’d stick my oar in.
    I normally take photos to do this as well, I find that if you stand a larger distance away and use a zoom on the camera it lessens the lens distortion. Before taking the pic, stick a sheet of A3 or A4 on the surface somewhere for scale reference.
    I find it’s pretty accurate. The main downside is the lens distortion on the camera though.
    Graze

  • Doug Pulver

    Member
    17 November 2010 at 00:31
    quote Nick Harper:

    I would love to know how to do this (correctly).

    If i want to apply a line of text to the attached Smart car, along the curved line of the bodywork, (where i have put the thick yellow line), How do i do it.

    If i use the outline for that particular car, it is not accurate enough to match the lines of the car.

    The only other way i know of is to take a good (level) photo of the car, blow it up to life size and than create a hairline that follows the line of the body work, which i then apply my text to.

    This method is far more accurate, but still not perfect.

    If anyone has any better ways of getting accurate results, i would be very interested to hear them, as well as very grateful.

    Nick

    Nick I quickly vectorized your outline using Flexisign then used text on a path in Flexi to ad text along the heavy yellow line..


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