badun

Adjusting vinyl designs for curved surfaces

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The attached graphic will go on the front of a baseball helmet.  I can get it to lay flat on the curved surfaced but only through lots of stretching and manipulation.  I need to be able to hand these off to people so they can easily apply their own.  Are there any graphic adjustments (I use Inkscape)  that can make the application easier while still retaining the same look?  Note that the attachment may not be the final version, it's just the one that I had available on the computer I'm using.  But it's close enough for illustrative purposes. :)

Force.svg

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Inkscape (or any other graphic software) cannot change the fact that the vinyl is flat and

the intended surface for application is spherical.

 

That being said, you can make changes to the graphic that affect the appearance of the applied design.

Ie. how straight or curved the text appears... is that what you are trying to change?

 

Again, nothing in the software is going to make it easier to lay flat short of cutting "darts" in the design.

 

I kinda doubt you wanna do that.

 

Heat will help somewhat with the install, as will the use of a cast vinyl.

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Thanks for the response!  I wasn't expecting any miracle settings in Inkscape or any other application. :)  It's very hard to describe but what I'm picturing in my head is adding curvatures where the vinyl wants to go in one direction but the graphic dictates that it should go another way.  I can experiment with this but my hope was that someone would respond with "Oh, that's easy!  Just twist here, here, and here.  We do that all the time with helmets!"  But I can definitely use heat/different vinyl on helmets (I'll just charge extra for application and tell people it's included in the price).  Thanks again!

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Is this layered or just the outline?  If it's just the outline should be a piece of cake!  Might try it - Helment color would show through.

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It will most likely just be an outline.  It's been a while but I cut one on old vinyl (less flexible) and it was a pain to get it to fit the curvature.  To my surprise it held up well through use and abuse but it wasn't something I could hand to a parent and tell them to put it on Little Johnny's helmet.  I know that using fresh vinyl will help but this is a question I've been meaning to ask for a while since not all surfaces are flat (motorcycle gas tanks, for example).

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Get some Oracal 751 cast vinyl (or other cast vinyl) for the compound curves and practice a bit.

 

After the above, you should have little problem with that design, in one color layer, at the size shown (5.3x 2.8 ) on a helmet.

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What you're wanting would be slices in the graphic itself. Say for example you have a cicle you want to lay onto a dome. In order to get it to lay correctly you'd need to cut some pie shapes out of the circle then line up the edges when you lay it on the dome. Something like this.

post-25571-0-58252800-1406726250_thumb.j

There is probably some high end 3D modeling software out there that would do what you're wanting but there's no easy way.

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Thanks, all!  

 

The global map example is what I was imagining in my head but "high end 3D modeling software" vastly exceeds my needs for this project. :)  I do know some people that dabble in CAD so I may pose the question to them but I think the solution for this run is fresh 751, heat, and patience.

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Thanks for the response!  I wasn't expecting any miracle settings in Inkscape or any other application. :)  It's very hard to describe but what I'm picturing in my head is adding curvatures where the vinyl wants to go in one direction but the graphic dictates that it should go another way.  I can experiment with this but my hope was that someone would respond with "Oh, that's easy!  Just twist here, here, and here.  We do that all the time with helmets!"  But I can definitely use heat/different vinyl on helmets (I'll just charge extra for application and tell people it's included in the price).  Thanks again!

A lot of it just depends on the design and amount of curvature in the surface you are applying it to. You can do different deformations within most software to compensate for the contours. An example is adding arch to text that will be applied to the top of windshields. Some arch can be added to your design to accomplish the same thing.

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I would weed it and get your transfer paper on and then slice down between each letter but stop short of the swish and then it will do a little better to install because each letter can splay out as needed to compensate around the curve. Do a trial run and if it looks bad when on then do some mods to the design to compensate for the curve and you will be golden. I did some vinyl for a lady who put them on large christmas balls. It had upper middle and lower text. The upper and lower text ended up un a U shape to curve with the top and bottom of the ball and the middle was basically straight. Once it was masked I cut out between the text runs and it went on just great.  

 

If you have an OLFA top sheet cutter you could also cut the backing to separate each letter so the backing can be pulled one at a time which may also help parents get them on easier. This might be one of those decent applications for some clear app tape too which will stretch just a little rather than crease quite as bad. 

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An update...

 

I ended up using FDC 2100 vinyl because Oracal didn't offer the color I needed (I ended up with a layered design).  I did the initial demo yesterday and it turned out quite nicely.  I used clear tape and cut it closely around the design, then heated it up over a lamp.  The text went down easily with some gentle pressure.  The tail didn't want to follow the same contour so I cut it off and applied it separately.  The issue of the customer applying it themselves resolved itself when the team's coach decided to give me the helmets before players get them so that I can apply the decals (with that bit of labor going into the cost).  Thanks again for all the replies, they were very helpful!

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