Skins How do you make vinyls that cross panels?

So I've been seeing some really cool skins coming out like this...

CWXjpzi.jpg


And these kind of skins have decals that cross the panels of the car without making any seams, like this...

dv5hZBE.png


How do people do this???
 
For me, it's a heap of trail and error. You can use the wireframe overlay to get an approximation of where the seams will be, and then it's a case of loading it into game and checking, moving a pixel, checking again etc etc. Good luck!
 
Using CM with the magik.net plug in and then enabling skin editing mode will make things much easier, because its showroom will update the skin in real time each time each time you save your .psd (no need to export).

As I don't do proper 3D painting, one trick is to first place a part that you want as a reference for alignment, like the door face, then make a backup of the layer with the motif. Then you have one choice to make, a) if you want something to look like a real sticker that was trimmed on both halves after being glued over the car b) or something that will align perfectly and also visually continues inside the gap.

For a) You can cut the door sticker via moving a selection you made that cuts it perfectly at the wireframe limit on the exterior of the panel without going trough the gap (or overlapping just a bit as I prefer), so you'll move it to the place it'll continue visually. To make it more seamless, you should trim that second part a bit to make it flush with the gap (or again, overlapping it just a bit) between the halves (you can invert the selection and then offset, delete). -> This is looks good for stuff like pub stickers or roundels. (On my skins for the Veloce GTS you can check the Bacardi bat roundels cut this way, where a part of them is missing that corresponds to the gap space)

For b) You when cut around the door, you can let it extend through the gap. Then in the second part, instead of using the remaining part, you re-cut the original motif with another border going through the gap (that will overlap a little with the previous cut) so that it seems like the design will continue and exist inside the gap instead of letting the car base paint show. Most times, there's no reason to do this, but a complex vinyl wrap might look more seamless on wide gaps or a contrasting base paint.
 
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  • Deleted member 223075

You can use the Content Manager Showroom so you don't have to load a game at every change you made because it updates the skins in realtime

Sorry but why promote all time CM ? You can do the same without. Once the game is launched just select the car with the skin you work on it and then once you have made some modifications, just use the showroom.

I do it when i made skins and i don't need CM.
 
It's so you can preview the .psd file you're working on immediately, instead of having to export it after each change you make. Also, you can show the CM showroom on a small window (that is "always on top") zoomed on the detail you're working under PS by pressing F2. This is particularly handy for this kind of pixel alignments, just ctrl+s a lot to update it.
 
Sorry but why promote all time CM ? You can do the same without. Once the game is launched just select the car with the skin you work on it and then once you have made some modifications, just use the showroom.

I do it when i made skins and i don't need CM.
Because its real time updating, if you have two screens you can basically see your progress right away granted you have an ssd else it takes a few seconds. with the showroom you have to close and then re open which takes a few seconds and will not wrap a psd around the car like cm does. I guess its personal preference but its certainly a powerful tool.
 

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