I had a dilemma last week. I really wanted to get Forza 3 but I didn't know if my reason for wanting it was worth shelling out the $59.99. I'm not the biggest racing game fan but there's something else I'm always interested in with the Forza series - The livery editor.
I did end up getting a copy through selling my soul to the devil and immediately started racing. Of course, this was just to get money to buy more cars so that I could make them pretty. My first car was an Audi TT that I proceeded to paint black. That part was easy. Next stop was the vinyl pit of despair.
Painting your car in Forza 3 is incredibly time consuming and can become physically painful as I found out after 10 hours of thumbstick manipulation (shut up you dirty people). Unlike a normal photo editing/art creation tool, you have to use pre-determined shapes to create your images. All of those lessons from art school like drawing negative space and creating collages come in very handy in trying to master this evil, evil tool.
I don't remember exactly what tools were available in Forza 2 but the best "paint job" I came up with was a Koi on a GTI:
My first attempt in Forza 3 wasn't that good. I was trying to do an Angeline Jolie likeness. Problem was, I didn't really take into consideration where I was going to put her or what pose would work well on a car regardless of where she was. Don't do what I do, do what I say: Think about placement first! Even though it was a fail design-wise, it was a good intro into the new decals and tools. They have given us "move", "size", "spin", "skew" and "transparency" for each of the different vinyls. There's a fair amount of them to choose from, too. We now have everything from solid primitive shapes like squares and circles, to more complex flames and paint splats. They've also got gradient shapes that came in REALLY handy.
Tip: If you like to do outlines on your designs, the crescent shape in the top right corner of the primitives tab will become your best friend. This is the most easily adaptable shape in your arsenal. Using spinning, sizing and skewing, you can twist it to create anything from a tapered straight-ish line to a severe curve. Did I mention you need to set aside a very long period to do anything remotely complicated? Making a straight line takes finesse and it will probably never be truly straight.
I got the main shapes down on my canvas but she was not doing well. It really did look more like Mariano Rivera suffering from a punch to the mouth. Perhaps it was partly because she was lacking hair at the time. Not appealing - PinkSage would agree, I'm sure. I managed to soften the features somewhat and as I added transparent shapes to create shadows and light, she really started to take form. Perhaps not Angelina form but at least it was starting to look more female :|
My hand started to cramp after hour 3 of this Frankenstein creation but I really wanted to "get ‘er done" so I kept going. I finally hit the sack at 2am. I just couldn't take it anymore. Here is the end result:
The next morning, I decided I didn't want to work on her anymore and I got cocky. I wanted to do something even more complicated. I wanted to take on Isaac Clarke from Dead Space. I don't know why, but I just feel creative with Isaac. I also like black cars so he seemed a good fit.
I found some photos of him online and set out to create. This time, I imagined where he would go and what would be an appropriate pose. I envisioned everything as solid shapes as before. Shadows would be made of arcs and squares, a paint splat would become rust or blood splats, a pork chop shape would be made into a curved metal armor piece, a tribal flame looking thing would simulate a gouge in the armor. You are forced to think outside the box and I admit, it's kinda fun to look at a shape and imagine how you can make it into something else.
Tip: If you need a shape that needs to be skewed, sized and rotated, make sure you do all of your skewing and sizing first, if possible. It becomes difficult to remember which ways to push the thumbsticks to achieve the right result if it's rotated first.
I ended up using 197 layers. Forza 3 allows for 1000 shapes per vinyl group so try to make as many large background shapes as possible to create depth. Think about big blocks of color. Your shadows and highlights will come from shapes placed on top. For instance, Isaac's helmet is made from a squished circle for the crown and a simple rectangle for the head encasement. Another large rectangle was used as the base of the face mask. On top of this, I used another large gradient shape to give the mask depth. It wasn't until those were down did I start adding the glowing slits and shadows/highlights. Even when I was done with the shadows and highlights, Isaac was still looking very plastic. It wasn't until I started using the paint splats for the rust and blood that he took on his battered feel.
Textures are important, even the smallest ones that may seem insignificant will make your end product more realistic.
Tip: If you make a layer and realize it's in the wrong layer order, press "X" to cut it. Go back to where you need it to be, press "Y" and it will paste in exactly how it was before you cut it. Very handy.
Five hours later, Isaac was done. I was pretty damn proud of him, too.
If you have the patience, I would say go play with it. It's still my favorite part of the game and when you're done, you really feel a sense of accomplishment.
