Almost lost everything I have been working on over the last few weeks due to a DropBox account snafu... Crisis averted, I still have everything by the skin of my teeth.

In other news, that one vinyl company is no longer returning my emails, so I'm off to choice #2, which actually does vehicle wraps as well, so they hopefully know what they're doing, and also know how to cut a die line correctly.

 

"The image you are requesting does not exist or is no longer available.

imgur.com"

 

Hopefully it's fixed.

Also made some BFG tread lookalikes just for fun.




Also, I know the gas filler is "on the wrong side" but this is just a drawing I flip and I dn't want to redraw it

 

I think I like this one the best. Wouldn't put one on mine though.... might seem asinine, but mine's a laredo. Even though I've modified it so much you can't tell it's a '92 anymore much less a laredo lol.... either way, I'd know and it would bug me

 

See, and i think "sport" would look way better there instead of "classic," but my VIN says it's Classic lol.

I'm having second thoughts on the "4 x 4". It didn't look right to me yet. I think the scale is wonky. Maybe I'll find another place for it. Good thing is that I have a lot of time, as I'm definitely going to get it painted/wrapped before I do any cool exterior decals.

I was looking at a scan of The Jeep Book 1998 and it's so funny to see where they omitted certain options for each trim and where they didn't care. It was mostly cosmetic options locked down to reach trim level, like my wheels and even the cloth/stitch type...

The images in that linked zip file are out of order, but they're scans from the 98 book—just the XJ section. Some whole pages, some highlights. I'm surprised they still fetch an actual price on eBay...

In other news though, the vinyl place did get back to me and they're running another proof for me. Hopefully the pattern looks correct. They did assure me that they could get the diecut correct, it would just take them longer to complete the job, and they didn't say if it would cost more, but it might, because time is money.

 

Maybe "4x4" would look better in negative.

 

Got caught up on the progress I lost on the 4x4 decals.





I'd really like to know if this is OEM or not, if anyone knows:

 

Best viewed at 100%
Here's a flatbed scan of the detail I'm trying to get right:



Brief graphics lesson:
Vector: programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Inkscape, etc. use maths to shape Bezier curves into line and even more complex drawings that are infinitely scalable, no loss in quality.
Raster: think "bitmap" or "pixels;" basically any image viewable on the web that isn't an SVG (which is vector) is a raster or pixel-based image. Very hard to add resolution without artifacts.
Optical: Back in the days before everything went digital (well, printing presses anyway) graphics had to be "stripped" (and Ralph can correct me here), by essentially using a film-based table that would separate color graphics into their respective process colors: Cyan Magenta Yellow and blacK

Anyhow, the original was most likely created using the optical method, only with a single color (cheaper to print back then) rather than "full-process."

A quick and dirty way to get "gray" was to use tone sheets, like Zip-a-Tone:


When printed at the correct scale, this would give the eye the illusion of shades of gray with only using a single ink, in this case, black. The best version of the original I could find (the scan) lends itself to this method for that background tree.

Now with modern graphics, i.e. vector graphics, to get something a non-pen-plotter-style printer can print, it needs to be RIP'ed- or be sent through a Raster Image Processor. Usually nowadays it's 3rd-party software. Most high end presses have an expensive RIP, while most sign shops use cheaper software, because small businesses can't afford the licenses.

A poor-man's RIP is Adobe Photoshop. In fact, a knew a guy running a sign shop back in college who did just that. He had Photoshop 6 and would spend upwards of an hour just opening the artwork on his ancient (even then) PowerMacintosh G3 beige tower.

ANYWAY, Tl;DR
Hopefully doing this extra process on my end (2nd vinyl proof) gives it a bit more authenticity.

 

You had it right. Basically any combination of the 4 process colors that you listed can be used to pretty much make any color. Blue and yellow make green. But putting what we call a screen tint in one or both colors will make different color (shades) of greens. Screens are uniform throughout. Not like those images above. Come in percentages. No screen tint would just be 100%. If you are running a 50% tint that means the color will only be half as dark as 100%. Also only using 50% of the amount of ink on the paper that you would use if you were running a solid color.

I doubt that is even close to being clear. Sorry about that. What is it they say: Those who can't teach. Well I can't teach cause I can do. Or at least used to be able to.

So I am unclear as to which of the 4 images above you like. I like 1st vinyl print (vector). The image is clearer. At least from what I see here. Thinking the smaller tree is about 70% as dark as the bigger solid color tree but still get a good contrast between the two. But again. Not a graphic designer. Never was involved in the creative end. I just made into reality what creative people designed. My job was mechanical in a sense.

 

I guess I'm getting hung up on how that pattern is getting reproduced.

My feeling that it was 50/50. That test print I did on the laser printer was dead-on to my eyes— I should've mentioned I boosted the contrast on the scan I made of all four of those specimens.

I think the 2nd vinyl print was closer to the original, personally. It's not perfect, but I think the 1st print is way too dark— there's too much dot gain on it.

At any rate, I still haven't gotten pricing regarding the static-cling vinyl, but will poll out who wants what after I get a proof of it.

 

I'm usually not into those kind of things...but have to give it a X2. gives it a decent kinda "vintage" look.

 

Update on the Up Country decals

I was able to go and get a proof today and I ran into the same issue with the other vinyl shop: there's some serious "dot gain" on the tree. It's not really dot gain, but it's how the RIP is interpreting that complex pattern to spit out lines for printing. It just looks too damn dark

After talking with the manager, who is an upstanding person, and getting nowhere, I talked with the tech who was running the machine and between the two of us have a probable solution, which is what I suspected I'd have to do anyway: rasterize (make pixels out of) the pattern so their RIP doesn't make it a blobby mess.

So hopefully I'll be able to get a second, small proof (they did a sizable run on the first, which I didn't ask for, and made sure to tell them I just need the single sample.) and give my final graphic-compulsive approval.

I'm hitting their shop minimum charge with all the quantities I was looking at, so I'll most likely go with the largest run for these, since there's no benefit doing a small run. These will be the (as far as I've been able to deduce) OEM application, which was static cling.

I'm planning on doing outward-facing-inward-adhesive as well as outward-facing-back-adhesive variants as well. The quantities will depend on the poll I have yet to put out to the forum.

 

Finally got around to replicating the '91(?)–'96 "Limited" trim decal lettering TwistedWrench snapped for me WAY back in May. Work has finally slowed down enough that I can squeeze this in around lunch break. The line work will need a touch of refinement, as I'm sure they don't just cut off 90º square on the letter-ends, but I'll need to source a complete (non-ripped) decal.

 

Working on the Country trim level striping and lettering now. Fun fact— the lettering in "COUNTRY" is exactly the same as the "UP COUNTRY" suspension group decal. Recycling is cool, kids.

 

Quote:

The old COUNTRY trim stripes are DONE!

Measure twice (or thrice) cut once. But before that measure a fourth and fifth time.



My measurements, or rather my measuring apparatus, was not so accurate. Got another and re-checked all the decal lengths again. I had supposed the rear panels were the same length as the rear doors, but nay.