Hi everyone.
I’m a huge forza fan and one of the best things about this game is the scope for customization. There is nothing I like better than buying a car and making it my own in the paint shop. Now I am more than happy to admit my skills in this area are limited at best and I have spent a vast ammount of time watching tutorial vids etc. to try and improve. One of the things I find hardest is creating manufacturer decals for my race liveries. Altgough I have managed to create some of my own by ‘tracing’ ones I have downloaded, i find some are just imlossible and I end up having to download one of the many more talented painters creations. Whilst this isn’t really a problem, nd I am IMMENSELY grateful for the hard work these brilliant people put in, I find it frustrating that I cannot share my completed design. I understand this is a protection to the artists out there and have no desire to take credit for work which is not mine.
That said I wondered if any of these talented elite would be willing to help me out and maybe teach/show me how I can create some of the decals I have struggled with so that I can have the satisfaction of completing a design which is 100% my own work and I can share with my friends?
The issue has arisen as my buddies and I formed a team and decided it would be cool to have matching liveries etc. So i created a team logo and designed the cars etc but have been unable to finish them as I can only upload patt of the design for their use due to having to use decals which I hve been unable to recreate myself. If i was shown/taught how to do these, it would open a whole new world to me!!
Thanks for taking the time out to look at this. Respect.
Take a look at my creations on Flikr
And here are some of my car designs/photos
HERE ARE SOME OF THE LOGOS I HAVE CREATED/DESIGNED AND SOME THAT I HAVE MANAGED TO REPLICATE
NURBURGRING DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NISMO DECAL 1 by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NISMO DECAL 2 by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NISMO KANJI by x Mista J x, on Flickr
GODZILLA KANJI by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JDM ROCK by x Mista J x, on Flickr
GODZILLA DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
FIFTEEN52 DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
OZ DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
INJEN DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JDM NINJA DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
DRIFTWORKS KANJI DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NIPON KANJI by x Mista J x, on Flickr
TRD DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NOS DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
ENKEI DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JDM LANDSCPE DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
WRC DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
STI DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
MPOWER DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
STREET DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
HOONIGAN DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
GTR DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JDM PIG DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
KENWOOD DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
VTEC DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
FIST DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JBL DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
GODZILLA KANJI by x Mista J x, on Flickr
TOP SECRET DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
MOMO DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
TENZO R DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
BOSE DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
NGK DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
FORZA DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
DIRTMODE DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
ROCKETBUNNY DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
SPARCO DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
K&N DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
GREDDY DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JUN DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
TOYO TYRES by x Mista J x, on Flickr
JPH GAMERTAG DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
TRIPLE J MOTORSPORTS EARLY DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
HKS DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
MOTEGI DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
Thumbnail_Small-9.PNG by x Mista J x, on Flickr
DIRTMODE DECAL by x Mista J x, on Flickr
here’s a tip that I use for myself- (first off, I have my X1 connected to my monitor so that makes graphic work a lot easier to begin with).
For logos that I want to recreate as accurately as possible, I print out a copy in black and white. Then I cut it out (loosely) and tape it to my monitor. I can then see through it enough to work on it. I then have an accurate representation of what I’m after, and it makes it easier to visualize how to create the shapes in the editor.
Which is sort of like you mentioning having to ‘trace’ other logos that you downloaded- that’s another option (and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that- I think most of us have done that.
If you want to put up a picture of something that causes you problems, we can get a better idea of what you’re after and help with them (not saying I’m an expert by any means, but there are lots of them here).
That’s some great advice and exactly the sort of help/tips I am looking for! Thanks!!
So I tend to stick to my core group of ‘fave’ decals/manufacturers on each car. Some as I say I have managed to ‘trace’ others I find harder. I think what I struggle with is knowing what shapes to use and how to manipulate them. I guess a lot of this is down to practice but I dont really know where to start unless it’s pretty much square! Lol
If I can work out how, i might upload the ones I have managed to do along with how many layers i used for each for your critique and advice. I’ll also upload my list of commonly used decals (ones i’d like to create) and swe if anyone has any tips to get me started on them.
Thanks again for the help guys!!
Can anyone tell me how to post images on here?
Sorted!! Set up a flikr account (link in signature) and will get some images on asap!
How to upload photos - https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst41770_How-to-upload-photos-using-Flickr.aspx
What specifically are you struggling with when painting logos ?
Cheers WindsweptDragon. I dont have the gallery option - possibly as Im fairly new to the forums.
As far as difficulties go, as I said in the previous posts I tend to struggle with replicating the manufacturer logos. Knowing what shapes to use and how to manipulate them doesnt come easy to me. Sometimes I dont know where to start!!
Another thing Id love to learn is how to use the gradient shapes to create effective shading and how to create good looking writing without using the default fonts. I have ideas for team logos etc. but i’m not sure how to go about creating my own font.
as far as fonts go, I’d say start with using you computer or a web page that does fonts, where you can choose through the fonts and see how they look. Then you have an idea what you want the finished product to look like. And a good part if it is coming up with a few things that work for you in regards to certain shapes and transitions.
And there’s really no right answer as far as what shapes to use, and where- I find that the shapes I used when I started using the editor, I rarely use any more. You learn to adapt.
I also imagine that when I recreate a logo someone else did, that I’m probably doing it quite a bit differently than they did.
Thanks again guys for the advice etc.
So yesterday I came up with the idea of doing a dirt mode logo for the side of my ford off road truck. I had the idea of having the writing horizontal with a dust cloud in front of it as if a car had just driven past. I was able to do this quite simply and it looks quite effective I think but one thing I’d like to change is the writing. At the moment it’s just standard font but i’d like to make it look more rugged and dirty. Any ideas how i could do this? I cant seem to put a picture on but the logo is on my storefront!
Thumbnail_Small-10.PNG by x Mista J x, on Flickr
one way to make it look more rugged is to roughen up the edges- there are a couple shapes that are rectangles with one edge all eroded (not in the game right now or I could tell you exactly where they are).
If you stretch them so that the rough side is ‘out’, then place them on the edge of the letter, it give it a nice coarse look.
If the letter is too thick to do this, you can go the opposite way by putting a contrasting background as your first layer, then putting the rough edges on top in that same color. The problem with that is that you then have to match the color with the paint color you’re using (a lot of my decals are done like that- I often find it easier to get the right shape by covering bits of other shapes rather than adding everything to a blank).
Another option to dirty it up a bit is to use some of those ‘speckle’ shapes and stretch them across the image, or leave them small and stamp several of them on (again, can’t tell you exactly where they are, hopefully you know what I mean). That’s something else that has to match the vehicle’s paint color.
by the way, those look pretty good (the only issue I see is a couple rough curves in the ampersand in the K&N logo, but some of those curves can be murder. Great work overall though.
Thanks SeveredTester16!
Great tips I will definately try that and see how it comes out.
Thanks for the feedback too. Yeah the K&N logo was a nightmare!! By far my biggest challenge yet!
Tried your suggestion SeveredTester16 and it turned out awesome!! Thanks. Pics will follow.
Today I managed to create the rocket bunny logo etc. Which im very happy with. Again pics will follow.
But I now need to do the driftworks logo for my next car. Really struggling with the d r and o in this decal. Any tips??
First, I hope this is the logo you’re talking about (it’s the most common one I could find)
I’ll give you some shapes and dimensions (position, size, spin, skew) for how I’d do it, and you can start from there.
For the ‘o’, start with a black circle (position 0x0, size 0.79 x 1.00, spin 319.0, skew .06)
then a smaller white circle (0x0, 0.37 x 0.47, 319.0, .06). This is a case where it’s a lot easier to do it this way (for me anyways) than trying to just do the letter itself with no fill/background (this method would be for black on a white background. Obviously, black is just what I was working with).
For the ‘R’: first three ‘square’ shapes-
- pos. 0x0, 0.20 x 0.88, skew 0.26
2)pos. 39.0 x -23.0, 0.25 x 0.52, skew -0.42
- pos. 39.5 x 44.5 0.49 x 0.20 skew -0.39
then quarter- circle (primitives, top row, 8th over)
4) pos. 66.5 x 6.5 , 0.31 x 0.31
5) pos. 72.5 x 33.0, 0.33 x 0.30, spin 52.5, skew -0.32
6) pos. 60.0 x 30.0, .16 x .2, spin 60.1, skew -0.62
7) pos. 56.0 x 13.0, .25 x .26 350.7 -0.11
Hopefully this makes sense- it gives you a starting point to see how I’d make it. Not saying it’s right, just how I’d do it lol. I could possibly do it a little more smoothly by using the half-circle a couple times and then filling the middle, but this was a quick one.
These sizes are just what I ended up with, I’m sure it could be fine-tuned, but I just built the letters and then wrote down the numbers. These numbers give you the same size letters for the ‘o’ and the ‘r’. Of course, can then be resized to work with what you’ve got.
Mate you are a star!!! That is a huge help! Thanks! I’ll post a pic when it’s done.
Here’s my latest work:
ALL IMAGES MOVED TO ORIGINAL POST
Pics not working. Will try again after work.
*Now sorted. The driftworks logo looks a bit different now as I felt the D and W were slighlty heavier than the rest so I have resized them to weight it a bit better. Thanks again SeveredTester for the advice. I used your method for the R’s but found that I could actually get the O and D by using the decals from the first font section and placing a few of different sizes together!! Simple when you think about it but I found that by accident!! Lol
On to the next project!!
THANKS FOR THE INPUT EVERYONE!
nice work - I really like the way the dirt mode one ended up.
Thanks man! The one im most proud of in the latest batch is the tenzo one. I had really been hesitant to try it as i thought it would be too difficult! After doing the rest though I was on a roll and feeling good about my skills!!! Lol Gonna start work on another batch and see what challenges I can find. One that Id like to do is the wings west logo. Not sure where Id start with that one though.
Can anyone explain what layer masks are and how to use them please?
??
Aaargh!! Just accidentally deleted the wings west logo I spent ages making!! Is there any way to get it back??