Designing your first Vehicle Wrap—From Start to Finish
Getting Started
Before you dive into your first vehicle wrap design, you need to be equipped with the right software and vehicle templates in order to achieve a design that will be ready to print true to scale.
Software
The industry standard in vehicle wrap design software is Adobe Illustrator & Corel Draw. The main reason these illustration programs are recommended is because you will be creating vector-based graphics that allow for scaling without pixelating which is important when creating a print file that can be well over 12 feet long. The other reason is because most vehicle templates are created using vector-based artwork files therefore applying your design to your vehicle template is easy to scale and adapt to your specific vehicle. Some designers’ advocate using programs such as Adobe Photoshop for designing vehicle wraps however we recommend starting your design in a vector-based illustration program and only using programs like Photoshop to edit your photos and then importing them into Adobe Illustrator/Corel Draw.
Vehicle Templates
There are many companies that offer vehicle templates that are usually available as an EPS or AI file. We recommend a company called ‘Pro Vehicle Outlines’ that offer the widest selection of vehicle templates. The first step is to find the exact template for your specific vehicle. Narrow your search down by year, make, and model but also keep in mind that there are many variations for trim & body packages especially for trucks and vans. All vehicles template should be scaled to the size of your vehicle which typically is 1/20th of your vehicles size.
Setting Up your File
Once you have your template on screen, it’s time to implement your design on to your vehicle. In this tutorial, I’ll be using Adobe Illustrator as my design software—the concept we outline will be applicable in other software so do not stress if you do not have a copy of Illustrator. Also, you need to have basic knowledge of your design software so if you do not understand using layers, scaling, & clipping masks, then you need to learn the basics before you proceed.
Step 1: Breaking your template up into 3 layers.
Once you have opened your template, you will see that the artwork is all within one layer. It is crucial to separate the vehicle template into two layers that separate the vehicle’s lines & features from the color of the vehicle therefore you will be able to see the vehicle’s features that will prevent your design being obstructed by parts of the vehicle such as door handles, panel lines, etc.
Left click on an empty part of the vehicle and select the vehicle’s silhouette. Repeat this step for all four sides of the vehicle until all sides are selected.
Once all sides are selected, cut (CTRL + X or EDIT > CUT) the selected objects. Once these objects vanish from the screen, you need to create a new layer in your layer panel by clicking the ‘create new layer’ icon. A new layer will appear in the layer panel that you will name: ‘COLOR’. Go ahead and paste (CTRL + V or EDIT > PASTE) into the layer named ‘COLOR’ and place these objects exactly where they were. If you are doing a partial wrap for your design and working with the color of your vehicle, it’s a good idea to select your vehicle’s color and apply it to the vehicle’s silhouette in order to have a visual on your design. Once you’ve assigned your color, go ahead and lock the layer.
Click on layer 1 in your layer panel and rename the layer ‘LINES’ and then lock the layer. The next step is to create a new layer, and name it ‘ARTWORK’—this is the layer that you will use to design your wrap in. The final step is to order your layers in the following order: LINES – ARTWORK – COLOR so your layer panel looks like the following image:
Step 2: Implementing your design
Once you have broken your artwork into 3 layers, it’s time to implement your design into the layer named ‘ARTWORK’. For tutorial purposes, I created a simple design that we will implement into the artwork to illustrate all the steps involved. When designing your wrap, be mindful of where your objects will lay on the vehicle. Try to avoid features of the vehicle such as windows, door handles, license plates, etc to ensure that crucial information will be visible and obstructed. Once you have all your objects and texts placed properly, the next step is to use a clipping mask to define the visible boundaries of your design. You will be applying a clipping mask on each side of your vehicle template so you will have to repeat these steps for each side of the vehicle. To do this you will first group all of your objects that correlate to the vehicle’s respected side.
Once your graphics are grouped, you will then unlock your ‘COLOR’ layer and then copy (CTRL + C or EDIT > COPY) the vehicle’s silhouette into the layer named ‘ARTWORK’ and then place the vehicle’s silhouette into its correction position.
Once the vehicle’s silhouette is placed correctly, you will then select your grouped objects with the vehicle’s silhouette and then right click on your selected object and choose ‘MAKE CLIPPING MASK’.
After your design has been clipped, you will repeat these steps for the remaining 3 sides until you have a complete visual of all sides of your design.
There are a few things to keep in mind before you are ready to print. Make sure you do not scale your drawing or skew the artwork because the templates are created at a 5% scale true to the dimensions of your vehicle. Any scaling prior to printing may throw off your design and then your final product will not look as it is on screen. Another tip is to make sure you have enough bleed on all sides of your vehicle to make sure your design is not short.
The templates are 2D renderings of your vehicle that do not account for curves on the vehicle so it’s better to leave a few inches of bleed on all sides of your design and let your installer trim off the excess.
Good Luck!
