Send e-mail Download Zipped Tutorial Before we start, we’ll make a few adjustments to the settings and options of our document. From the Utilities menu, select Options… to open the Page Options  menu. Under the General tab, Change the Nudge size: to 1px, Change the Duplication distance: to X: 0, Y: 0. Click Apply. Under the Units tab, change Page Units: to Pixels, and click Apply. Under the Page Size tab, change Paper Size: to fit the size of the photo we’ll be using for this tutorial. Chose Custom and set page size to 3240px (W) x 2160px (H), and click Apply. OK, let’s get started. STEP 1 Import the car image that we will use for this tutorial. The image file photo-white-mustang.jpg will be located in the same directory as the tutorial files. Or you can click here to download the image. Xara will ask you to make a decision: Import Reduced or Import Original. Select Import Original because we need the highest resolution to ensure accuracy in the drawings we are about to make. Use the Selector Tool (v) and select the white-mustang.jpg photo and center it on the page. You can do this visually or select the photo and use the Alignment menu to center the photo on the Page. Open the Page & Layer Gallery (F10) and highlight Layer 1. Click the Properties button, rename this layer Original Photo, and click OK. Lock this layer so it does not move when we draw over the photo. While the Page & Layer Gallery is still open, create a new layer by clicking the New button and re-name this new layer Car Cut-Out —  TEMPLATE. Custom Paint Job Tutorial ©2011 Madalynne Crowe STEP 2 In this step, we’ll create a very accurate vector image of the Mustang’s body. I like to use the Shape Editor Tool (F4) to create this detailed car body object. This vector shape is going to be the most important shape because it's going to be used as a template (many times) for this project. The more time you spend on this step, the better your final image is going to look. So spend as much time as you feel it needs. Select the Car Cut-Out — TEMPLATE layer. We’ll do our drawing on this  layer, using the white photo as our template. Be patient as this step is going to take some time. We are going for accuracy, not speed. Note: Once the filled shape is created, I like to add a Transparency (F6) (Flat -Stained glass @ 40% - 90%.  In this case, I picked 50% with the blue color) You'll need to be able to see the car under the shape you are working on.   Note:  The image above shows the blue shape with a Flat, Transparency at 0% to show the solid shape. The image below is in Outline view to show the outline shape and my control points. Custom Paint Job Tutorial ©2011 Madalynne Crowe Custom Paint Job Tutorial ©2011 Madalynne Crowe I draw with a series of connected straight lines from point to point. I go through and curve the the line segments to fit the shape by dragging the lines into curves with the Shape Editor Tool. In the example above I made a single large shape. The solid shape now  needs relief cuts taken out of this shape for anything that isn't going to be 'painted', like; the windows, plastic, rubber, carbon fiber, grill, lights, license plates & emblems which you can see in the photos below. Here’s the shape so far. All of the inside shapes (lights, grill opening, etc.) have been removed from the solid shape using Arrange > Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes. Don’t be in a hurry. Make sure your shape is as perfect as you can make it. Here’s How First create the inside shape, the headlight for example, then select the headlight shape and the car shape and with both shapes selected, from the Arrange menu, select Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes. Repeat this step to remove the other openings as shown. STEP 3 Now that you have the car cut-out shape as you like it, open the Page & Layer Gallery and select the Car Cut-Out — TEMPLATE layer and lock it by clicking the padlock icon. This layer will be used again later in the project but for now we don’t want to disturb it. Select the Car Cut-Out — TEMPLATE layer and press the Duplicate button. Re-name the new layer Car Paint 1 and unlock this  new layer. The work we just did on Car Cut-Out — TEMPLATE is exactly what we need for the layer Car Paint 1 layer and no other work needs to be done to this layer at this time. Create a Duplicate layer of Car Paint 1 and re-name this layer Car Paint 2. Custom Paint Job Tutorial ©2011 Madalynne Crowe On the Car Paint 2 layer, use the Shape Editor Tool (F4) to make a shape that will allow you cut just the roof from the shape. Don't be afraid to go outside the shape to make the lines smooth. It should very similar to the photos shown above. Note: The critical areas are where the roof and the body meet. These need to fit precisely. TIP: When hand tracing a bitmap image disable Snap to Objects (the orange magnet icon will be in the up position). This gives you more control when hand tracing. Click the padlock icon to lock the layer Create new shapes for the ellipse and the GT and remove them from the side panel (Subtract Shapes)