So I have a template worked out, done at least one test build, worked out any immediate kinks,
and added the necessary glue tabs...its time to start working out artwork and colouring.
Most vehicles have a solid base or background colour...
maybe even a texture that needs to go under the base colour or be part of it.
So I will usually create a "skin"...just a large enough panel of colour and/or texture that I can use as a "fill" in Corel.
In this case, with the DeLorean, I started with a gradient gray to match bare stainless steel.
In Corel any enclosed object can have a colour fill applied to it.
An enclosed object is just a set of vector points with lines connecting them.
A "group" of lines that looks like an enclosed area, is not, since the lines aren't actually connected at single vector points.
So steps must be taken to turn a set of lines or connecting objects into one single enclosed object.
For the side panel part of the DeLorean model, its actually three enclosed horizontal sections.
Each contacting at a fold line.
I did this so I could adjust(stretch) the height dimensions of each section individually,
but now that the part is properly adjusted, it needs to be one area that I can "fill" with the proper stainless steel colour.
In Corel, I can choose to apply a single solid colour fill to an area...
or create a gradient fill using whatever colour combination I desire.
This is actually a "vector" fill...not a raster/bitmap fill, so it isn't affected by resizing or any distortions.
As you see, my gradient just didn't have the correct stainless steel tone and I wasn't happy with it.
Even though metal surfaces generally reflect colour and can be any colour you like, a static application
like this calls for colours that are more easily recognized as a certain metal.
Corel can also apply bitmap fills to objects, using a ready made bitmap or photographic image.
If the raster image is large, high resolution with a lot of detail, it can add a large data size element to the artwork.
But there are ways around this, if the bitmap fills works better.
I had already created a brushed aluminum skin as vector art for another project.
With a little tweaking, and colour adjustment, the effect was almost like the brushed stainless steel skin of a DeLorean.
I turned the aluminum artwork into a bitmap image, reduced it in size, played with the sharpness and tone of the image...
and created this brushed steel panel that I would use for creating bitmap fills.
If you remember, I decided to connect the side panels of the car body, to the roof center panels...
this created one large body part.
I had to "weld" all the sections of the center strip together to make one long central strip
and then weld it to the welded side panels, producing one large outline part.
I've still got the original copy of all the separate sections and parts....
this single larger outline will only be used to create the colour/skin layer that will be my background.
In Corel, its a simple task of laying the outline object on the bitmap fill image,
and then I use the Corel "Shaping" tool to intersect the outline with the other object (in this case, the bitmap object).
Corel then creates a third object, which is the bitmap skin in the shape of the first object/outline.
This is my single bitmap object that will be a layer under other artwork.
Note: if I am concerned about data file size at this point: the new bitmap object contains
all the size, resolution and data of the original bitmap image...unless I resample it to a new bitmap.
This will drastically reduce the file/data size, but may also change the overall look, quality and resolution of the bitmap.
I have to be careful to adjust the bitmap save settings, or leave it alone.
In my case, the original bitmap skin was carefully sized and adjusted to be a reasonable data size, so all is good.
But had I used a high resolution photo (for example), I might need to resample the new bitmap.
Especially if I was applying multiples of these types of bitmap fills.
Now that I have the background skin colour in place, I can focus on other coloured areas and foreground artworks.