Track Car Branding

[edwardo]

Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advise regarding wrapping graphics around a car model in a way that i might have some control over it. I have attached an example of what Im talking about.

The majority of the graphics will be able to be applied as 'labels' in keyshot, so no problem there. My concern comes mainly from the base colours (in this case the orange and blues), and how they 'wrap' around the car. I don't know much about UV's (particularly how to create them from scratch), and I will be working on a purchased car model (from turbosquid or similar) which will likely not have UV's to start with.

As it stands I can project a colour material to my car from the side or top view (then apply labels), but i feel that limits what I can achieve. Other than that I can actually slice up the 3D geometry into the various colours.

Its an 'open' question, but does anybody have any advise, or could anybody point me in the right direction of tutorials?

I  suspect that the car geometry is too complex to un-wrap... In theory is it possible to create UV's from a much simpler model then apply them to the more complex model?

Thanks for any help in advance, and my apologies for my ignorance on this matter - its just one of those things i have never had to do before! I suspect there is no 'short answer' to this.

Thanks
Ed

[Chad Holton]

If it were me and I had no way to UV unwrap, I would apply orange as the base color and add the blue color as multiple labels (and assuming that these colors aren't metallic or a gradient). Easier said than done but don't think it would be too hard to achieve. There would be some blue labels overlapping on the front and back but that won't be noticeable.   

[edwardo]

Thanks Chad. That sounds like the quickest way to go about it. And i think its safe to assume that any vinyls wouldn't be metallic (whereas the base colour may be).

Any more advise from anyone is MORE than welcome.

Thanks
Ed

[TpwUK]

Depends on the model type to me. If its in your polygon modelling app´s native format and has subd surfaces then you can reverse the subd, unwrap and paint.

If it´s not then you use something like MoI3d to import the STEP/IGES model and use the mesh exporter to put it out again as a low(ish) OBJ or FBX then import into you favourite polygon modeller for painting and subd work.

If you have no specific app to subd and paint with, then you could keep the mesh density and paint with the new Substance Painter which is like photoshop for UV work

Martin