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ChazInMT · 01-17-2010, 12:49 PM

Bummer, so you have a hard time making

THIS!

I made this last week and played with it after you mentioned you wanted to make a Kamm for it or something. I was wondering if it would help or not and I think it seemed a wash.

I make these fairly easily & quickly by using MS Draw features in the MS Word program I have. I get a good photo, open it in a word doc, then use the Draw Autoshapes/lines/enclosed box thingy. I trace the outside of the car using as few a points as possible, putting a dot in the places where the car shape changes direction.....ie. Base of windshield, front bumper area, back of trunk lid etc. Thing is, you want to make as few points as possible, because, once you have a rough shape, you can right click on your "Stick image" and (drum rolllllllllllll) Edit Points! That’s Right! Here is where the real magic takes place.

Main points for using Draw:

If you right click the point at, for instance, the base of the windshield, and designate it as a "Corner Point" you get these 2 Bug antennae looking things poking out, now when you manipulate these, the line for the hood will form a perfect curve match. If you designate the point at the front of the hood a corner point, you get another set of manipulators for it and now you can change the shape of the hood line from both ends. It may sound a bit complicated, but in use, it is very simple and very very accurate to use.

You can right click on a point and delete it if you don't need it.

You can left click the line anywhere and move it and it will create a new point.

Play with the different features, once you get the hang of it, you can make a line drawing in 10 Minutes or less that is a perfect outline of your car.

Now you can simply click on the image when the trace is done, pull it down so it's on its own, then right click it, hit "Copy", open MS Paint, hit paste. Make sure in Paint you make the "Image/Attributes 1000 x 500" pixels.
Then just use the paint bucket to fill the outline black.

Easy Breezy.....well, works for me anyway.

I love this MS Draw program, It is a basic CAD program which allows you to do some great accurate drawings.

Check this out, I designed the shape of the support ribs for my AeroCap, then took it down to Kinkos where they scaled it up to life size (3 foot by 6 foot) and printed it. For $9 I have a perfect template to work from to make these 8 complex shapes. And it is dead on accurate.

01-17-2010, 12:49 PM	#6 (permalink)
ChazInMT Aero Deshi Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Vero Beach, FL Posts: 1,065 MagMetalCivic - '04 Honda Civic Sedan EX Last 3: 34.25 mpg (US) Thanks: 430 Thanked 668 Times in 357 Posts	Hope this helps Bummer, so you have a hard time making THIS! I made this last week and played with it after you mentioned you wanted to make a Kamm for it or something. I was wondering if it would help or not and I think it seemed a wash. I make these fairly easily & quickly by using MS Draw features in the MS Word program I have. I get a good photo, open it in a word doc, then use the Draw Autoshapes/lines/enclosed box thingy. I trace the outside of the car using as few a points as possible, putting a dot in the places where the car shape changes direction.....ie. Base of windshield, front bumper area, back of trunk lid etc. Thing is, you want to make as few points as possible, because, once you have a rough shape, you can right click on your "Stick image" and (drum rolllllllllllll) Edit Points! That’s Right! Here is where the real magic takes place. Main points for using Draw: If you right click the point at, for instance, the base of the windshield, and designate it as a "Corner Point" you get these 2 Bug antennae looking things poking out, now when you manipulate these, the line for the hood will form a perfect curve match. If you designate the point at the front of the hood a corner point, you get another set of manipulators for it and now you can change the shape of the hood line from both ends. It may sound a bit complicated, but in use, it is very simple and very very accurate to use. You can right click on a point and delete it if you don't need it. You can left click the line anywhere and move it and it will create a new point. Play with the different features, once you get the hang of it, you can make a line drawing in 10 Minutes or less that is a perfect outline of your car. Now you can simply click on the image when the trace is done, pull it down so it's on its own, then right click it, hit "Copy", open MS Paint, hit paste. Make sure in Paint you make the "Image/Attributes 1000 x 500" pixels. Then just use the paint bucket to fill the outline black. Easy Breezy.....well, works for me anyway. I love this MS Draw program, It is a basic CAD program which allows you to do some great accurate drawings. Check this out, I designed the shape of the support ribs for my AeroCap, then took it down to Kinkos where they scaled it up to life size (3 foot by 6 foot) and printed it. For $9 I have a perfect template to work from to make these 8 complex shapes. And it is dead on accurate.