What tools do you use to visualize a paint design?

I'm building a Big Bertha right now. I was hoping (based on the Amazon picture) I'd get one of the cool, futuristic decal sets with the suggested black paint job, but in fact, I got the goofy, old 1970's decals, and I'm not really interested in painting my rocket that way.

I've been thinking about how I would paint this rocket for a couple weeks now, and I can't think of anything. I've had a few ideas, but I'm having trouble visualizing it.

How do you come up with your own paint design? Do you like to use any particular software to play with color schemes or patterns? I have another rocket I'll be building soon with no prescribed paint scheme, and I'd like to come up with something cool for that, but I have no ideas.

Bonus points if you post pictures of your non-prescribed Big Bertha.

My daughter said she wanted her rocket to have yellow polka dots, orange rocket, and Black nosecone. I painted the whole thing yellow, gave her a stack of garage sale dot stickers and had her put them on wherever she wanted, sprayed orange over the whole thing, then removed the dots.

This is my Lil' Nuke after a rebuild. Got some compliments on the paint today. I knew I wanted something like a transition between two colors and shiny fins. I kept it simple. Simple to mask, easy to make a mental image come true...

This is my Phoenix. I knew I wanted to make it fire-like (playing on the "Phoenix" idea)... I tested out the spray pattern on a spare piece of cardboard.

So, to answer your question, I don't use any software or anything... I just kind of go with what's in my mind and figure out how to make it happen. I do, however, browse the forum a LOT and look at pictures. RocketReviews.com is another place to see lots of pics of painted rockets.
I'm working on a 4" Batray at the moment, and I have no desire to match Madcow's paint scheme. It's cool and all, but I really want to go for something reminiscent of the old Adam West Batmobile. Still haven't figured out how, exactly I'll make it happen, but as I'm nearing the end of my primer/sand routine, I'll have to figure it out soon. In the meantime, I'll stare at pictures of the Batmobile for hours and then look at my Batray and back and forth... I already have one part of the design in mind, and just have to play around with the masking tape when I get around to it.
The key thing I've learned is that nothing on computers looks good enough for me. The graphics don't give me a real vision of what I'm looking for. Maybe I lack the ability to abstract visualize... I don't know... Either way, I find it easier to fiddle with paper on the rocket, get approximate colors and figure it out on the actual rocket. Then, as I start the paint job, I have to be willing to change my plans if the rocket demands it... That sounds real Zen, but it's how I do paint.
The last little bit that I've learned, and I'm sure you'll hear lots about... There's the Murphy's Law of Rocketry which states that the harder you work to make the rocket look beautiful, the likelihood that the rocket will lawn-dart, land in water, get stuck in a tree, etc. increases proportionally. It's the rockets made to land in water that don't. It's the rockets made on the fly and painted crappy just to cover it that last years. It's the beautiful rockets that get dragged across a parking lot by the chute... Speaking from personal experience.
Hope that helps.

EDIT: after playing around in OR, having read later posts, I Love the wrap tool... Great for playing around with ideas. It does require a little knowledge of pic programs, but fantastic planning tool.

I don't really use any software for visualization purposes. If I'm going to add lettering or have vinyl stickers made, I usually will lay out the design in some kind of simple graphics program or even Word, print the design out on paper, and then tape the paper design on the rocket to see how it will look.

Have you seen the Gallery for the Berthas, Rangers and related rockets? That's a great place for ideas. Whenever I build a kit, I check out the Gallery for the new rocket to get ideas. Be sure to add a pic of your rocket to the gallery when you are done. Here it is:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ger-(K-6-or-1206)-Gallery&p=265919#post265919

I have hand drawn a couple of side by side pictures on a piece of paper and colored them with colored pencil to get an idea of some of my designs. Probably going to do that with my argent too

Paint? What's paint?


Mark Koelsch
Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

Open Rocket.

Each change in color along the length of the body tube is made into a body tube of its own, and if the fins are different colors, I "split fins" and color them appropriately.

Examples:









Decals still have me stumped in OR

K'Tesh said:

Open Rocket.

Each change in color along the length of the body tube is made into a body tube of its own, and if the fins are different colors, I "split fins" and color them appropriately.

Examples:









Decals still have me stumped in OR

Click to expand...

I miss my Eggspress.

I use Or with Wraps. I can even find some fading colors and apply them the way I want, to see the result before painting.

Here's what I wanted,

here's what I got:

I feel your pain - my visualization skills don't always pan out when it comes to paint schemes. I sometimes resort to a tool that's been around for a while - thievery! Old catalogs, the gallery section here on TRF, whatever.

Here is my Big Bertha which uses colors from an old Estes catalog. (And a decal sheet from Excelsior.)

Crumb fire said:

View attachment 184942View attachment 184943

I use Or with Wraps. I can even find some fading colors and apply them the way I want, to see the result before painting.

View attachment 184944 Here's what I wanted,

here's what I got:
View attachment 184945

Click to expand...

Wait... wut?

This is cool! OpenRocket has wraps? How do you do that? You got some good preview results, and the finished rocket looks really great!

I just use "Visualization", a Skill that now seems to be quite Obsolete:dark:

TLAR, That looks about right!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Wait... wut?

This is cool! OpenRocket has wraps? How do you do that? You got some good preview results, and the finished rocket looks really great!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

It's easy!

Let's say you like this:


Just click on the part that need a wrap (airframe, transition, nose cone or fin...), go in the "appearance" tab, and click on the "texture" line and browse any picture, logo or texture that you previously recorded on your computer. Rotate it, stretch it to suit your rocket part. You can also cut some parts to suit the limit of wraps.

Voilà!


One thing: you can't export it unless you export all logos, and images first.

I stripe with Trim MonoKote. I bought a 9" E-Xacto paper cutter to aid with the cutting of the various stripes I envision(like that word? ). I'm pretty much seat-of-the-pants with everything involved. I used to run VCP 1.64 but it won't run in Windows 7 Pro 64. Now it's just intuitive and placing stripes where they look right

You might try playing around in Paint. Ive been doing a few things in Paint like ellipse's. You might be able to come up with some mock-up that will work for you.

lcorinth said:

How do you come up with your own paint design? Do you like to use any particular software to play with color schemes or patterns? I have another rocket I'll be building soon with no prescribed paint scheme, and I'd like to come up with something cool for that, but I have no ideas.

Click to expand...

No software - just the Mk 1 Eyeball and Mk 1 Brain. I don't have much imagination when it comes to colour schemes either, so if I'm painting something of my own design then it's likely to be one or two colours for the body tube and one or two colours for the fins. Then maybe I'll put some stripes on it. So it's easy to imagine what the rocket will look like.

Bonus points if you post pictures of your non-prescribed Big Bertha.

Click to expand...

I'll claim that bonus.



The colour scheme isn't the only thing which is changed. See those rubber bands around the tail end? This Bertha doesn't need a parachute - the vertical stripes aren't just for decoration, they're helicopter blades.

I use Open Rocket and Photoshop.

Quake I'm really surprised,,,
How do you like working with Photoshop...
I just got it and find it a bit complex and confusing...
You've surly got some nice results there...

Teddy

onebadhawk said:

Quake I'm really surprised,,,
How do you like working with Photoshop...
I just got it and find it a bit complex and confusing...
You've surly got some nice results there...

Teddy

Click to expand...

At home I use an ancient version, Photoshop 6, that I've had for years. At work, I use Photoshop CC. The method should be close to the same for both. What I do is create an "empty" version of the rocket in Open Rocket. That is, no fin tabs, motor mount, centering rings, bulkheads, couplers, nose cone or transition shoulders, etc. Export that as a PDF, then open the PDF in Photoshop. Crop it and erase the CP and CG marks, then you can "fill" the sections with colors using the paint bucket tool. Be sure to choose the foreground color before using the paint bucket.

View attachment Unguided_Mayhem_empty.ork



View attachment mayhem_empty.pdf

qquake2k said:

At home I use an ancient version, Photoshop 6, that I've had for years. At work, I use Photoshop CC. The method should be close to the same for both. What I do is create an "empty" version of the rocket in Open Rocket. That is, no fin tabs, motor mount, centering rings, bulkheads, couplers, nose cone or transition shoulders, etc. Export that as a PDF, then open the PDF in Photoshop. Crop it and erase the CP and CG marks, then you can "fill" the sections with colors using the paint bucket tool. Be sure to choose the foreground color before using the paint bucket.

Click to expand...

Wow,,
Pretty cool Quake....
I don't have time right now to poke around much with PS..
So it just gives me a headache... lol

Teddy

Now that's the truth,,,
PS is massively capable....
That means it's inherently complex....

Teddy

I use The Theatre of The Mind.

Crumb fire said:

Thanks!

It's easy!

Let's say you like this:
View attachment 185007

Just click on the part that need a wrap (airframe, transition, nose cone or fin...), go in the "appearance" tab, and click on the "texture" line and browse any picture, logo or texture that you previously recorded on your computer. Rotate it, stretch it to suit your rocket part. You can also cut some parts to suit the limit of wraps.

Voilà!
View attachment 185008

One thing: you can't export it unless you export all logos, and images first.

Click to expand...

Thanks for turning me on to this!!! I've been playing around with it all afternoon... It's a great tool!

I think I'm going to keep it clean and simple for this one. Something like this:

I've learned the hard way that LARGE image files won't work in OR... If it doesn't work, try scaling it down. My image needed to be downsized by 50% before it would work.

These images come from my L1 build thread...

CzTeacherMan said:

View attachment 184932

This is my Lil' Nuke after a rebuild. Got some compliments on the paint today. I knew I wanted something like a transition between two colors and shiny fins. I kept it simple. Simple to mask, easy to make a mental image come true...
View attachment 184934

Click to expand...

How did you do that mask? I did some simple triangles for my Hi Flier, but I got some tape dams. I masked one edge of the triangle with a big piece of tape, then went back and masked over that for the other edge, and there were marks afterwards.



A flat clear coat masked some of this, but not all of it.

Also, you can see I still have texture problems (the fins aren't properly filled, but that's not what I mean. That was a mistake, and I know why it happened). Someone once told me this was "orange peel." I don't know if that's true - I photograph my rockets pretty close up to get details, and use the macro function, so the texture is kind of exaggerated in pictures. Looking at the rocket with the naked eye, this doesn't look like some of the bad orange peel I've seen on other rockets. But it's also not totally smooth.

Am I expecting too much from a can of spray paint? I've been trying my hardest to follow all the instructions I can find on getting a smooth paint job, but there's still a tiny bit of texture on all my rockets. I've thought of trying an air brush, but I've never used one before. Would that perhaps give me a better texture?

Crumb fire said:

View attachment 184942View attachment 184943

I use Or with Wraps. I can even find some fading colors and apply them the way I want, to see the result before painting.

View attachment 184944 Here's what I wanted,

here's what I got:
View attachment 184945

Click to expand...

Beautiful! How do you get that cool crossfade effect in the paint colors? I'd like to learn how to do that.

Edit - And how do you get them so darned shiny? I'm still trying to get my paint to look like that.

lcorinth said:

Beautiful! How do you get that cool crossfade effect in the paint colors? I'd like to learn how to do that.

Edit - And how do you get them so darned shiny? I'm still trying to get my paint to look like that.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that he's using a paint program to fade from one color to the other, saving it as an image, then using the OR texture feature to make a wrap out of it.

Shiny paint is the result of good surface prep. Primer properly applied, allowed to dry, sanding, then going for the color coat when the base is ready.

lcorinth said:

How did you do that mask? I did some simple triangles for my Hi Flier, but I got some tape dams. I masked one edge of the triangle with a big piece of tape, then went back and masked over that for the other edge, and there were marks afterwards.

A flat clear coat masked some of this, but not all of it.

Also, you can see I still have texture problems (the fins aren't properly filled, but that's not what I mean. That was a mistake, and I know why it happened). Someone once told me this was "orange peel." I don't know if that's true - I photograph my rockets pretty close up to get details, and use the macro function, so the texture is kind of exaggerated in pictures. Looking at the rocket with the naked eye, this doesn't look like some of the bad orange peel I've seen on other rockets. But it's also not totally smooth.

Am I expecting too much from a can of spray paint? I've been trying my hardest to follow all the instructions I can find on getting a smooth paint job, but there's still a tiny bit of texture on all my rockets. I've thought of trying an air brush, but I've never used one before. Would that perhaps give me a better texture?

Click to expand...

I can not imagine how you are getting a finish like that. It almost looks like spatter wall texturing. What paint are you using? As far as a sprayer airbrush is s l o w. They are not meant to cover large areas, they are for detail. For somewhere between $50 and $75 or so would set you up with a small compressor and gravity fed spray gun, the small size. ACE has enamels in pints, quarts and gallons for instance. Depends on what you want to invest in.

Before all that I'd try a different paint, Rustoleum 2X is good paint...unless that's what you're using

lcorinth said:

How did you do that mask? I did some simple triangles for my Hi Flier, but I got some tape dams. I masked one edge of the triangle with a big piece of tape, then went back and masked over that for the other edge, and there were marks afterwards.

A flat clear coat masked some of this, but not all of it.

Also, you can see I still have texture problems (the fins aren't properly filled, but that's not what I mean. That was a mistake, and I know why it happened). Someone once told me this was "orange peel." I don't know if that's true - I photograph my rockets pretty close up to get details, and use the macro function, so the texture is kind of exaggerated in pictures. Looking at the rocket with the naked eye, this doesn't look like some of the bad orange peel I've seen on other rockets. But it's also not totally smooth.

Am I expecting too much from a can of spray paint? I've been trying my hardest to follow all the instructions I can find on getting a smooth paint job, but there's still a tiny bit of texture on all my rockets. I've thought of trying an air brush, but I've never used one before. Would that perhaps give me a better texture?

Click to expand...

My experience has been that if you are getting this kind of spattered texture, it is probably a bad nozzle on the paint can. As soon as you see paint going on with any amount of texture at all, swap out the nozzle. Also, if you warm the paint cans in warm (not hot, just warm) water, the paint goes on better.