[drm184]

I`m ready for the trick, custom paint job for my street rod BUT, I want to see it first on a graphics model before I spend a fortune on a color that I don`t like. There are paint suppliers that have software for certain cars but I have a Chevy powered 1978 Mercedes 450SL and since it is, after all, still a classic Mercedes, I can`t paint it purple with red and orange flames. Color will make or break the finished look. I need software that will allow me to experment in cyberspace so I don`t screw it up in the real world. I know the good stuff is not free, I just need something that will work. Any help with software or graphics would help me finish a classic street rod thats really going to get noticed. Help please and thank you in advance. drm184

[MARTINSR]

First off, a 78 Mercedes with a sbc is not a "street rod", it is a "street machine" or "Hot Rod". A "Street Rod" is a pre-1949 car with an updated drivetrain. Most of these terms are pretty universal then, others aren't. "Street rod" is one that is not, it is a pre-1949 car, period.
Ok there is a little bit of disagreement on whether it goes up to 1954, but that's it, period.


On your graffics, I have to tell you, I think you should stay as subtle as possible. Have you made any body modifications? Removed chrome, that sort of thing? If you havn't, the styling of that car is kinda "busy" and personally I think any graffics will just be too much.

Personally, some nice wheels and a nice detailed paint job would set the thing off nice. Just because it has the sbc doesn't mean you have to put a neon sign on top screaming that it is a "Hot rod". Unless you have made some serious body mods I don't think a custom paint job belongs on it any more than a stock 78 450SL. To the viewer, that is what they will think it is.

I picture it with a perfectly executed paint job with tons of detail, panels fitting perfect, chrome fitting perfect and polished to perfection, a set of 20 or 22" wheels and rubberband tires and a chrome roll bar. That would be AWSOME to me. The color, heck, just about anything you want.


Take some nice side shot photos of the car, blow them up and draw graffics on them. That will give you an idea. I think in this case, "Less is more".

Brian

[Ghetto Jet]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

I picture it with a perfectly executed paint job with tons of detail, panels fitting perfect, chrome fitting perfect and polished to perfection, a set of 20 or 22" wheels and rubberband tires and a chrome roll bar. That would be AWSOME to me. The color, heck, just about anything you want.

Brian

22's on rubber bands and a chrome roll bar? lol, everyone has different taste I guess. Personally I would keep it looking as clean and stock as possible, stocks wheels included, and let the exhaust note tell everyone there is something different about the car.

What color is the interior?

[MARTINSR]

I wasn't a fan of the "20's" either. But they have grown on me. Besides, they are a "free modification", no work envolved, just bolt them on and unbolt them when you are tired of it. Unlike a paint job which is weeks of work and a thousand bucks non returnable. At least you could sell the rims and tires.

I have a 1965 Buick Gran Sport convert. The thought of those wheels on it made me sick when they first started showing up. Then one day I saw a 65 Chevelle from across a parking lot rolling slowly along with a set of 18" or possibly bigger five spoke Americans fully polished. It looked like a shark skiming the bottom of the ocean floor...menacing. That is what they do to a car in my opinion, they give it a "Menacing" look. Like it is out on a hunt for a car to apex the corner right in front of and blow away.

My eight year old has a number of die cast toy cars that we pickup at car shows and the like. They all have a stock body, nice paint, and those giant rims with "rubberband" tires. They really look cool. Everytime I see a car on the street with them it reminds me of those toys, the real thing is sort of a "charicature" like a Big Daddy Roth drawing or something.

Yeah, I like it, the roll bar, I may have to lean your way on that, possibly that would be too much like graffics.

Brian

[drm184]

O.K. guys, keep in mind that its a Mercedes Classic as well as a Street Machine. You would not paint flames on a Rolls Royce cause its a classic. I have to follow the same idea for a classic Mercedes. I saw another 450SL set up as a drag car and it was painted in random horz. stripes in 4 colors. The paint job was high dollar and on a Chevelle, it would have looked great but on a classic, it looked like a clown car. The finished paint on this car will make or break the whole project. Thats why I need to preview colors in cyberspace FIRST, before I paint in the real world. The best way to do this is with the right SOFTWARE. I need the software to do this and I know its out there somewhere. House of Color has a program, but uses only a few models of the most popular cars but not mine. I got one guy to do one rendering but he is no longer online. If you want to see the example, go to ( www.photobucket.com ). At the home page, type in drm184 in the search box and hit search. That should take you to my photo site and at bottom of second page you will find the first rendering. Hope this helps, thanks, DOUG drm184

[mrcleanr6]

unfortunately thats probably what you are going to have to do. sit down with an artist and pay them to do renderings for you until you get something you like. there is no program that magically pops different paintjobs onto your specific car atleast with graphics and stuff like that. single colors can easily be photoshopped. anything else will need to be drawn up by an artist either with conventional media or computer. if you know the graphics you want you can have an artist do it on computer for you then you can swap out colors and effects easily just by a few clicks.

[grouch]

Originally Posted by drm184

[. . . snipped . . .]
I know the good stuff is not free,

What we "know" and what really is don't always match. Software is not like machinery; you don't consume mass quantities of real resources to build it. You can't crank out the best machinery using poor raw materials, sloppy castings and cheap machine tools. The quality of software, on the other hand, does not depend on how much was paid for the computer on which it is developed. You can't crank out a nuclear submarine using $100 worth of tools, but you can develop software for it on a $100 computer.

Movies such as Scooby Doo, Harry Potter, Stuart Little and The Last Samurai all depended on free software. Film Gimp, renamed to CinePaint (http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net) began as a specialized fork of Gimp (http://www.gimp.org).

[Edited to add:]
Post some pictures and see if somebody comes up with any renderings you like. Go through those 'Virtual Kustomz' threads and see how much customization whlie-you-wait takes place.