Using Your Computer
to Shift Colors
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Using Your Computer to Shift Colors |
| When I was building my '59 Impala convertible, I chose a factory authentic exterior color that didn't quite go with the interior seat inserts that were included in the kit. Not to worry! Here's what I did: (Click on any of the thumbnail images for a larger version.) |
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Step one was to scan the original sticker sheet into my computer. I used a high scan resolution (600 dpi) so that the finished product would be good quality. I was planning to use the red section of the sticker sheet because it was closest to the color I wanted to achieve. | ||
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Then I imported the scanned image into one of the graphics programs on my computer, in this case, Image Expert®. Using the image corrections feature of the program, I increased the amount of green in the image. | ||
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It helps to know a little bit about how different colors are made up. In this case, I knew that adding green to the scanned image would shift the red colored area to a brownish hue. This is what resulted. | ||
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By adding and/or subtracting various colors, you can pretty much shift things around to anything you want. In this example I added magenta. | ||
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And this is what it looks like with both yellow and green added. | ||
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Once the color looked right on my monitor, I cropped the image. | ||
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Next, I imported the image into Corel Draw® to print it out, making sure that the image remained the right size. You might have to alter some of these steps, depending on the graphics program(s) you are using. I printed it out on heavy paper. | ||
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Finally. I trimmed the individual inserts, cemented them in place and coated them with flat lacquer to seal them. This process would work with just about anything, including decals. For decals you would just print them out on decal paper instead of plain paper. |