im guessing not enough people have noticed and/or complained about this to get fixxed, but in the graphics decal section, the line of center on everything is off center a little bit with offsets the images when reversing for mirrored effects. to me this is a significant dilemna that cant be that hard of a fix.
The vectors seem to convert to pixel resolution, with pixel resolution you can’t get an exact centre with even numbered pixels. Vectors can use half pixel resolution which doesn’t translate at all to what you see on the screen, and that’s why you can use step movements that don’t move anything at all, but actually do if you change the scale of the vinyl.
Anyway fixing the vinyl yourself is possible if you use step movements, and scaling.
Yeah, I have found that the center-line on the top/hood does not often match with the front or rear bumper and is sometimes off of center by the car’s dimensions as well. I do a few things to counteract this:
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I have a thin line running down to a fixed point in the car model (usually the emblem or badge which is going to be a true center) and note the offset. Then just use that offset in my layout often leaving the line in place until I’m done, then just deleting it afterward. In FM6, it was off by as much as 3.50 but I haven’t seen anything yet over 2.00. It also helps to then match up any design that carries over into the front or rear bumper.
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I will use various lines to make a mock gridwork (just a few reference lines, not a full grid) so that pieces can line up according to curves or features of the car itself.
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I’ll make the image based on the center-line as provided, then afterward, ease the entire thing back into place using those same guidelines.
When duplicating from one side to the other, it sometimes needs a little tweaking as well. Since the shapes, curves, etc are already a match for the shape of the car, you just adjust everything as a group until you find the right location. It’s not usually far off. Or you just ungroup and slide each piece into a better position.
The biggest change was importing designs from FM6 into Horizon 4. Most things came in just fine, but others were way off. My Ford F-100 for example was disastrous, but my Queen of Hearts Hummer was spot-on. Again, all the shapes fit, they just needed to be put back in place.
Compared to the time it takes to make a decent shape/design, the adjusting doesn’t really take that much. It’s a minor thing to me.
I’m usually one of the firsts to complain about things like this, but the problem is not as easy to fix as one would think. That is due to the various angles and curves of these vehicles. You’ll notice that triangles and stars are the worst. That’s why, for paint jobs that really matter to me, I do all the shapes from scratch. A country’s flag, a business’s logo, and a racing team’s paint job need to be as physically correct as possible.
As a rule of thumb, and a somewhat easy aid to centering for your designs on or off the cars, just start with a rectangle/square. Slim it down to either 1 or 2 points thick, and make it long enough to stretch off your car or across the workspace. Make multiple lines: horizontal, vertical and diagonal (if necessary). This will help you center your labels.
You will notice that point (0,0) is off on most cars at the back - - usually by 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 points. Sometimes, it goes up to 6, 8 or 10 depending on how the corners of the car are shaped/created. For the front/top/hood, it’s regularly off by 2, 4, 13 or 26. However, if you do the line thing that I suggested above, you can do the math to even the left top and right top labels. As for the left and right sides of the cars/trucks, if you do a mirror to the other side or a copy/paste, you’ll notice that it’s off by 2 to 12 points horizontal and 2 to 13 points vertically.
Keep this in-mind when you create your liveries and take into consideration the fact that bumpers, splitters, spoilers and gas caps also affect the point of (0,0) on your vehicle and you will be just fine.
Happy Painting!!!