I have a question ... doesn't someone already have software where one can
make decals and print them on some sort of Avery paper, then apply them to
things? If not there should be. What a boon to the model railroader.
Perhaps the day of the undecorated car is at hand?
--
Dave Johnson
Disgusted with RED over FLASHING YELLOW.
Where have you been? The ALPS printer was introduced around 5 years ago;
I've been doing home made decals since then on clear decal film. It prints
CMYK, as well as white, metallic cyan, metallic magenta, metallic silver and
metallic gold.
Only problem is they have been discontinued, and not replace in North
America by anything; they are still sold overseas and available gray market.
Crud, you can do that with MS Paint, and use MS Photo Editor to size the
resulting bmp file into a JPEG. Just as a minimum starting point, y'understand.
Jay
CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"
That works great for the standard box-with-text-inside graphic but I too
have always wondered what else is out there that can create more complex
images without costing an arm and a leg. I've used Corel a few times in the
past but not everyone has the luxury of having access to a full copy of the
software at work. I wish I could find something reasonable that I could use
at home. I've tried a few shareware/freeware programs but they had too many
limitations.
That works great for the standard box-with-text-inside graphic but I too
have always wondered what else is out there that can create more complex
images without costing an arm and a leg. I've used Corel a few times in
the past but not everyone has the luxury of having access to a full copy
of the software at work. I wish I could find something reasonable that I
could use at home. I've tried a few shareware/freeware programs but they
had too many limitations.
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Some like Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8. I haven't used it, though.
formatting link
Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
N Scale Model Railroad:
The January 2004 issue of MR has an article about N scale bridge modeling
that discusses how to print your own decals - and references earlier
articles that go into greater detail.
The results looked pretty nice - some of the best N-scale modeling I've
seen.
As for undecorated cars, most trains that I see have reporting marks only.
No fancy logos. I know a few guys who *must* have a herald on every single
car - but those are the type of people who run an entire train with nothing
but Chessie cars or some other silliness. Most trains I see have a variety
of roadnames from all over North America - including those without logos.
As for the UP problem, you can do whatever you want with their logo in your
own home. If you try to sell it, you have to pay royalties, which seems
fair to me.
I did some checking and found that they have special online content related
to this article. You can find it here:
Custom Decals
Tips for creating your own decals as seen in the January 2004 issue of MR
by John Socha-Leialoha
Amazing ..... thanks and timely too.
As I model in 1:1 scale I usually use drafting tools to create stencils that
I need, then follow thru with the old hand paint brush. I've found that
tractor implement paints stand up best in the sunshine especially with a UV
Clearcoat. In HO I'm not active although years ago I was and used Champ
decals. Around Christmas every year I get the yearning to set up a couple
ATSF old Atlas O gauge around the tree for the neighbor kids and visit the
local hobby store to order some cars (AGPX string of CH's this year in HO)
and usually pick up the Dec and Jan Model Railroader. For some reason I
didn't this year ... now a priority in the next few days.
The logos and markings on RR cars used to be taken care of with more care
than the last 10 years or so. Some of the remarking jobs today are really
ratty so no matter how good or bad you might be at creating your own decals
you can find a prototypical match in the real world now a days.
My point would be on the UP issue ... they really have better things to
worry about and get fixed than the model RR logo issue. The fact of their
investment of time and energy into this rather than the railroading problems
is unsettling.
Dave Johnson
Some days "Quick Service" isn't so quick.
On 12/30/03 11:21 PM, in article
snipped-for-privacy@mb-m17.aol.com, "JCun>> I think he's looking for the software to design the graphics with, not the
MS Paint? MS Photo Editor? I don't get your banter, man.
You can get Photoshop Elements for around a hundred bucks, that will
do anything you could want as far as decals are concerned. There are
other shareware and freeware programs as well. If you can post a
question here you have the knowledge to find a graphics program on the
net.
I've been using Paint Shop Pro. It would seem to me that just about any
decent paint program will do decals. The main hurdle is designing them at
the right size for printing. You don't always want to take a raw image and
shrink it with JPEG - you can get artifacts that way. I would start with
JPEG, so that you can have access to anti-aliasing, and then save in GIF
format, which will take the current colors used (including the anti-aliasing
shades) and reduce to 256 colors, max... but with no artifacting.
and check out Paint Shop Pro. I think they are now on
version 8.0. I've used it for about eight years now and have found it to be
pretty good for the $$$ involved. You are right; if you have access to
Corel or Adobe type software, that is probably the best... but I think you
will find that PSP will do about 80% of what the other programs will do at
about 20% of the price. I'm not sure if they still do, but they used to
have a thirty-day free trial version of the software that you could d/l and
try.
One thing that I might add... when saving artwork, you are probably best off
to save the artwork in the program's "native format." In the case of Paint
Shop, it's a PSP file. I'd suggest not saving things like graphics in a
JPEG file as they tend to "fuzz up" the edges.
FWIW, I've been making decals using my ALPS and PSP for about five+ years...
it is TONS of fun but does tend to cause an accumulation of rolling stock...
I've got cars made for friends, local businesses, favorite things and just
plain goofy stuff. But it is a blast!
I'm really disappointed that ALPS no longer makes their line of printers...
a previous poster mentioned that they were available overseas; I don't even
think that is the case any more. Too bad; they are fun to use.
dlm
---------------------------------------------------------------
Corel has a "lite" version out - CorelDraw Essentials2, or something like
that. MSRP is $80. It's basically the CorelDraw program, with a
lightweight photo editing in place of PhotoPaint, and fewer utilities and
add-ons that the full suite includes.
a.. CorelDRAW Essentials 2?award-winning graphics and page layout
b.. Corel Photobook?photo retouching and editing
c.. Corel PhotoAlbum?photo organizing and sharing
d.. Quick Start Manager?quick and simple access to applications, letting
you easily start special projects and organize files
e.. Hemera® The Big Box of Art??100,000 clipart images
f.. A free Lynda.com multimedia training CD?helpful design tips, tricks
and techniques
g.. Over 250 templates
h.. Over 500 TrueType® fonts and symbols
Lots of power, if you can find your way through the maze of menus, toolbars,
dockers, ad nauseum.
Val (user of CorelDraw since ver 1.0 )
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