Best graphics program for decal-making

We need a definition of best.  Photoshop is an excellent program, but costs a fortune!  I use Paint Shop Pro, myself.  Photoshop Elements is an okay problem that sells for about the same price as PSP, in the range of 70 to 100 bucks.  There are two good shareware programs, GIMP and Irfanview.  Only trouble with the shareware stuff is that the instructions/user manuals aren't the greatest.  However, there is a new GIMP for Dummies book out that solves that problem.

To eliminate the blue backing color of scanned decal sheets I use the selection tool that selects areas by color.  I set the brush color to pure white.  Then I select the blue areas. Once selected I use the "bucket" tool that fills selected area with the primary brush color.  Works very well, though if there are closed areas of blue, as in numbers like eight, four, etc. you need to select each closed area.

Thanks again Don. I can't tell you how many times you've bailed me out.

But if your decals contain white numbers with no outlines, you will have to leave the blue so you can see where to trim out the white numbers.  (The white numbers will disappear if you make the background white.)  

If the design requires white numbers you need to use white paper. If you use white paper a way to eliminate the need to be super accurate in cutting out the decal is to surround the numbers/letters with the color that is the background on the model in the area of the decals.  This is fine if the color is a primary color- very hard if it is a weird color. I am always reluctant to make white decals- I look for stock decals or dry transfers in those cases, and make white decals only if there is no alternative. In fact, not only white, but any really light color can be a bear to make in inkjet decals.

My vote is for Adobe Illustrator and yes, it's pricey too.  It's a vector graphics app which gives you a bit more control over sharp edged graphics and type.  There is a nice sub app included called live trace which enables you to scan images (or copy them from a web image) and create vector files from those images and modify to suit your needs.

Regarding matching colors between you models and a decal sheet... If you have any friends/family that are in or know of someone that is in the graphic design industry, ask them if they have any old Pantone color charts/books laying around.  Technically, they should be replaced every year or so but they are expensive.  The ones with CMYK breakdowns are the ones you need.  They are color fans with CMYK breakdowns for hundreds of colors that you can hold up the the model and match the color then enter the breakdown into your design app. Trying to match a color on screen to a model is difficult.

The advantage to a program that uses vector graphics is that your image can be scaled infinitely without losing detail - if, that is, it's a good image to begin with.

For me there are three very critical criteria when it come to graphics manipulation software; first your level of skill and knowledge, second price and finally sophistication.

For my skill level and price my vote is CorelDraw 7.  There are later versions but I was lucky to get 7 on Amazon.com for under a hundred dollars.  The newer versions retail for over three hundred depending upon how many whistles and bells you want.  

I like CorelDraw because it is a relatively powerful vectored graphics program with a very large library of copyright free artwork that can be broken apart and part or pieces can be extracted to build or augment a completely new graphic.  There is also a very large font library, however, I do recommend that you purchase some font disk at any of the big box office supply stores or go online and download what ever you think that you’ll need.  

In closing, CorelDraw takes a little getting used to but once you figure out some of the quirks, it is a very user friendly program that has allowed this modeler to produce custom decals for a variety of models ranging from military and airliner logos, railroad heralds, and instrument panels.

Radarider  

While my software does allow vector layers, I just generally prefer staying in raster- more color and shading options available, at least in my PSP software.

To allow resizing I just start with a high dpi.

i am going to reload coreldraw 9 on my bunker laptop. i like coreldraw better than illustrator. i agree earlier software versions are excellent for doing things like this. it does take some learning. i started on 2 after doing autocad10 for a year and that was a rough week at work since 2 was quite weak.

layers are your friends but i am a layer freak. i also use VISIO which works great for a lot of decal work as long as you don't need a gradient. the color selction looks weak but can be tweaked with advance settings. i habe been using it for technical cad like drawings for 14 years.