"Software reccomendation for decals" Topic

I was wondering if anyone has made their own decals and what software they thought best for making them. Thanks for any input TMP.

I've made my own decals. If you mean what software to use to design the image, that I can't help you with, because there are a huge variety of drawing progams out there.

Whatever you use, make sure the image is made into a vector image, not a jpg.

For my Warhammer 40K decals, I've printed out pdf's of the images onto the paper. So, very basic.

I use a laser printer and clear paper from Papilio. If you want white decals, its best to paint the surface white and print the decal on clear paper, because white decal paper is thick. Printers do not print white ink. Most amateur decal makers used the old ALPS printer, but those are long out of production.

Yes, I've done lots. All drawn in Adobe Illustrator. As Keifer writes use a vector based program. I've had stuff printed for me and the quality has varied from barely usable to amazing and the cost I've paid each time for the print has been directly linked to the quality I've got back.

Sometimes you'll get sent sheets back that has scuff marks and that kind of thing so you can paint over any imperfection. Paying quite a lot of money I got an amazing sheet back. All were printed on the ALPS system.

The set-up of the artwork required is different as ALPS printing is a bit of a dark art and those who use the system all have their on preferences about underpainting and knock-outs so you need to talk to who ever you use about what they want as a set up.

I've made some basic ones in MS Word.

Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw are basically the go-to programmes for decal makers, although I've always liked Paint Shop Pro, which is a hell of a lot cheaper…. As others have said, vector graphics are generally preferable – you can work with raster images, but if so make sure you're working at 600 pixels per inch minimum.

Thanks for the information, I am merely looking for software to make usable decals for my medieval and ancients 28mm forces shields using decal paper and my inkjet printer. I might try to make some for my sci-fi 6mm stuff as well. If anyone else has some advice or actual experience with inkjet printer made decals I would appreciate your input, thanks.

One of the commissions I did was for a set to be printed on ink jet at home. Software requirement is the same but what may be relevant to you, as it was to my customer, was that I put a thicker than necessary out-line around the decal so that when they were trimmed the colour bled to the edge of the cut-out decal. The decals I made for him were ovals but I'd say the same applies in your case to your shield decals. I recommend that you get a pair of scissors designed for those who tie fishing flies for your cutting out.

I also recommend that you get some Micro-sol and Micro-set if you don't already have them. Both will make your life a whole lot easier when it come to applying the decals and getting them to bed down nicely. If you are putting decals on 6mm sic-fi I'm guessing there may be panel lines etc on the models, in those instances the Micro-sol will be invaluable.

Adobe Illustrator here as well.

An A4 sheet of decal paper is a lot of real estate. So unless you are planning needing a large number of decals, it may be an idea to split the A4 down into A5 or even A6. Most ink jet printers should happily feed the smaller paper sizes through.

Ink jet decal paper is generally more of a faff than the laser printer variety as you'll need to seal the ink onto the paper with some sort of varnish.

When it comes to trimming the decals I've normally use a scalpel, which I find to be much easier to work with than scissors for small decals.

I'd agree on the general points Keifer113 made.

There is a solution for printing white in the shape of a laser printer that OKI makes. But it's somewhat out of my price range at £2,000.00 GBP ex VAT.