Advice wanted

[Herky5]

Hi

Was wondering whether anyone can point me in the right direction of an easy to use graphics software package that will allow me to design custom decals?

Thanks

Herky ;)

[StrikeEagle]

I found these fonts a while back for use in making letters and/or stencils for my projects. While not cheap, they very much do the trick. It's very cool to be able to create my own stencils for missiles, bombs and the like. Plus, these fonts make it easier to create custom aircraft serial numbers and the like.

I personally use Photo Shop CS3 for my graphics work. I've yet to find a project that I couldn't do easily. (yes, I admit that I'm a long time computer geek, so learning software comes second nature to me.) Though it may be overkill, and very expensive for those who don't already own the program, I know how to use Photo Shop for stuff like this, and have access to it, so for me there's no reason to try to short cut with anything else.

I suspect that there are many other programs that will suffice for what you're looking to do.

One suggestion I have is to be SURE that you scan all of your factory decal sheets before you cut them up. It's REALLY nice to be able to replace stencil decals that I may 'futz up' during the application process, and having a scanned image of the original allows me to easily do that as need be.

NOTE: NEVER, EVER scan a sheet with the intent of copying the entire sheet for use on a different project. To do so is ILLEGAL, UNETHICAL and HURTS THE HOBBY! :) Aside from the fact that most printers will never be able to give you as good a print out as an original decal sheet, we ALL count on the specialty market manufactures to help expand out hobby and the available selection of decals. By stealing their work, we risk driving them from the market. (Stepping off my Soapbox.)

Edited February 19, 2008 by StrikeEagle

[terryt]

If you need a vector program this is free:

http://www.inkscape.org/download/

For bitmap try this:

http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

There is a huge learning curve associated with making decals, so prepare yourself.

[LIengineerBob]

I use Corel Draw 9 to make the artwork for my decals. Again, it's not a cheap program, and like the other "high end" programs, there is quite a learning curve associated with it. I have had it for several years and still cannot figure out everything the program is capable of doing. It does do the job quite nicely though.

For simple stuff, any inexpensive artwork program will work. For just lettering, any word processing program will work fine.

Keep in mind, when doing decals, you want to avoid using bitmap images. Bitmaps do not print "smoothly", and the edges will appear "jagged" or "stepped". Use vector graphics, although I don't know the ins and outs of how they work (something to do with mathematical plotting I think), they print perfectly.

[FlyingSnowmew]

I'll second GIMP. It's a free GNU program that works quite well. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Adobe and Corel have, but it has everything you need to make decals.