BLiTZ's Liveries - Latest Update: #1 Nissan ALTIA GT-R '99

  • Thread starter BLiTZ
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@BLiTZ , as others have said, your attention to detail is outstanding and seeing the 92 R32 in all it's glory also brings back great memories of watching touring cars as a kid.

My favourite livery for the R32 is the Gibson Motor Sport 1990 livery used for the tail end of tail end of that season. If you could have a crack at that one, I am sure many Aussie Godzilla fans would appreciate it. I am sure you can find pictures for it, but here is one I found on a quick search.
 

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@BLiTZ , as others have said, your attention to detail is outstanding and seeing the 92 R32 in all it's glory also brings back great memories of watching touring cars as a kid.

My favourite livery for the R32 is the Gibson Motor Sport 1990 livery used for the tail end of tail end of that season. If you could have a crack at that one, I am sure many Aussie Godzilla fans would appreciate it. I am sure you can find pictures for it, but here is one I found on a quick search.

Thanks! That 1990 livery looks great, if I can find some decent reference pictures I might have a crack at it. My biggest issue has been lack of time hence no major updates. I keep meaning to do a write up on the Carbon Fibre textures I've been uplaoding but just haven't had time to do it.
 
Thanks! That 1990 livery looks great, if I can find some decent reference pictures I might have a crack at it. My biggest issue has been lack of time hence no major updates. I keep meaning to do a write up on the Carbon Fibre textures I've been uplaoding but just haven't had time to do it.

No worries mate :D, it's more of a "if you ever have time" kind of request.
 
...It's been a while...

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I can't believe it's been nearly two months since my last update in this thread, but then again, I can. With a handful of family birthdays (including my own 30th) and work getting busy again I'd gone from logging into GT Sport almost daily to being lucky if I could find a couple of hours a week never mind sit here and write about my endeavours. For those who follow me in-game you'll know I've still been busy, uploading a few things here and there and finally I've the time to catch you up with what's been going on...

Carbon Fibre

After updating the Winfield and Falken Skylines I embarked on a project (read obsession) to create a high resolution carbon fibre texture. Unimpressed with the popular options available in the discover section and with that nagging 'I know I can do better' voice in my head I set about trying a few things to see what I could come up with. Initially I tried to create a 'physical' texture (drawing the carbon using separate shapes) as this is the most obvious solution, but by the time you've laid out a few hundred shapes the point count is obscene and the resulting file size was massive (as the shapes are simple even SVGOMG has little to no effect in reducing the file size as there's nothing to reduce).

My next theory was to use a dashed stroke on a series of parallel lines. On the computer this gave fantastic results (admittedly better than my eventual solution), but I soon learnt that GT Sport is unable to render dashes (the result in-game was just a solid stroke) and this was a dead end. It was then that I remembered some of the additional information I'd read whilst learning how to manually code gradients in SVG files (again big thanks to @MatskiMonk for pointing me in the right direction with gradients).

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One of the options within gradient fills in SVG's is the ability to repeat. IE if you create a gradient shorter than the overall shape, you can set it to repeat until the fills it completely. By creating a simple two tone gradient then applying it to a series of parallel rectangles I was easily able to cover a larger area than any of the previous attempts had allowed. This wasn't without fault and highlighted some of the shortcomings of GT Sport's ability to render SVG's. The first issue was that with the parallel rectangles, the game was creating thin gaps between them allowing the base colour to show through. Whilst this was easily overcome by applying black decal underneath, it wasn't ideal.

The next issue is GT Sport doesn't render repeats or parallel shapes evenly. Instead of producing |||||||||||||||||| you actually get || ||| | ||| || ||| | ||| which isn't great and whilst you get away with it on smaller areas once applied to a bonnet (hood) you really notice it. I knew I was close, so I kept trying new ideas until I stumbled upon an even more elaborate method that uses onto two squares and two gradients, taking advantage of transparency to create the 'effect' of carbon fibre by overlapping two repeated gradients at different angles. The files are tiny meaning you can create huge shapes with a high thread count. Getting it to 'look right' took a huge amount of trial and error. Truth be told I must have created over 50 versions of these decals, spamming the GT Sport decal uploader as I tweaked the numbers in the SVG in TextEdit until I finally ended up with something I was happy to share.

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The final stage was creating a version that uses transparency to allow you to use different base colours and textures to create different carbon effects. In the shot below I've use a half matt black to create a more dry-carbon effect.

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If you haven't already downloaded them be sure to grab them from my profile Here

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Ford Focus ST '15 - Mountune #80 & #81

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "mountune" "st" | Version(s): (ver 1.00 SM) | Link: Download Here & Download Here

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As my avatar may suggest I currently drive a '14 Ford Fiesta ST. After owning a Skyline 25GT Turbo (ER34) and a Civic Type R (EK9) a Fiesta ST might seem like a step down, but its a cracking car and I love it. Since owning the car I've had the factory approved Mountune MP215 upgrade applied which comprises of an air box and remap that takes the power up to 215ps. The Fiesta doesn't feature in GT Sport, but it's big brother the Focus ST does and after making the Mountune decals I decided to create this pair of touring car style liveries.

(PLEASE NOTE: The images below show the black car with #800 and both versions wearing my '30 Years' decal, these were changed after I'd taken the scapes)

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I created the yellow version first, inspired by Mountune's own packaging and printed matter which employs the bold yellow background and black hatched pattern. I then paired it with a few supporting decals from Ford and Castrol. The black version was a spur of the moment thing that I think works well enough t share also. I'm particularly proud of the Ford decal on the roof. I found the vector ready-made online but had to recode all the gradients from scratch so that they appeared in GT Sport which was no mean feat.

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Honda NSX Gr.4 - Gran Turismo #39

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "spoon" "nsx" | Version(s): (ver 1.01) | Link: Download Here

At the time of writing, voting for the first GT Planet livery editor competition has just finished and I'm so proud to be the winner. I've reposted the livery write-up here with hi-res shots.

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Based on the Racing Modification Honda S2000 from GT2 (which is in fact based on the real life Spoon Sports S2000 that finished 2nd in the 1999 Tsukuba 9 Hours), I chose to do a full replica of the real livery using the Gr.4 NSX as I felt that it was the closest car in GTS to the Gr.N S2000 that the original is based on.

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Despite looking simple, quite a lot of research and decal making went into this one and all the decals from the real car are present. Almost every decal is custom or edited in some way. and I must have spent a good 9 Hours on the computer before I even fired up the PS4! I've had to use a bit of artist licence in places due to the obvious differences in the cars, but decal placement respects the original quite closely.

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Couple of little details worth noting like the yellow Honda badge as seen on the real car and the matt black roof to replicate the closed soft top on the GT2 model. I don't expect to win, but it was a fun livery to make and has also inspired me to make a few more Spoon liveries in the future!

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (R32) '94 - Calsonic '93

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "calsonic" "r32" | Version(s): (ver 1.02) | Link: Download Here

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I know, I know, it's been done to death, but I like to use my own liveries when racing so decided to have a crack at it. Next to Falken, Impul's iconic Calsonic scheme is one of my all time favourite liveries, I've a number of die cast models of various Calsonic cars on my shelves and even tried (and failed) building some of the available Tamiya kits back in the day. Lots of custom decals (the REINIK one took a lot of work) to get everything period-correct and a few tricky areas (like the Potenza logo under the spoiler) that needed a bit of fiddling to get right.

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Despite referring to the car as the '93 (as per it's title in Gran Turismo 4-6) the livery is based on the car (that currently resides in Nissan's own race car collection) as it stands today and not as it appeared in '93. Over the years various additional decals have come and gone and the current layout appears to take elements from different seasons between '91-'93. For example the car lacks the Cockpit and NTN logos that appear on the bumpers in photos from the time and at some point the number board on the roof was repositioned further back compared to it's original location.

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Nissan NISMO GT-R Super GT '16 - ECR Falken

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "falken" "gtr" | Version(s): (ver 1.01 SM) | Link: Download Here

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With the release of Gr.2 and the Super GT cars I wanted to create a livery I could use in Sport and Gran Turismo Modes. Falken Motorsports never officially raced in the JGTC or Super GT championships, but here's my take on what their car could look like if they did. Taking inspiration from various versions of the Super GT GT-R's from recent seasons I've taken certain elements and combined them with the classic Falken livery.

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Details like the NISMO road car inspired front bumper treatment (featured on the 2017 cars) and certain decal placement mimics the look of the other works cars whilst using the default number boards means that the livery is compatible with Sport Mode.

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So that's everything between early February and today. I hope you enjoyed the update and thanks for reading.

If you like what you see, please Like and Repost in-game!

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After comparing the scapes of the Calsonic GT-R to real life pics, I've ever so slightly adjusted the side decals and re-uploaded for anyone who downloaded the original.
 
Minor update...

I spent last night tweaking my Falken R35 Super GT, moving some decals around, making the NISMO elements on the front bumper more accurate and adding the little light extension decals that the real cars have to make them look more like the road car (sadly until we're able to use special paints for decals I can't make them chrome like the real thing).

When I've finished messing around with it I'll upload it.

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After using the NSX S2000 livery in Sport Mode I wondered if you could make a second version of the livery a bit more compatible to the in-game numberboards? :D 💡
 
After using the NSX S2000 livery in Sport Mode I wondered if you could make a second version of the livery a bit more compatible to the in-game numberboards? :D 💡
Consider it added to my post-holiday to-do list 👍

To those who follow me in-game you'll have seen I've updated most of my Nissan liveries and added a new one. Once I've scaped the changes and got the images on my laptop I'll post an in-depth write up so keep your eyes peeled!
 
Firstly apologies for the delayed arrival of this post. My original plan had been to put this up alongside my recent livery releases before I left for a week's holiday in Lanzarote, but the week's events conspired against me. The day I'd set aside for catching up on the Livery Editor was spent in bed with a temperature and flu-like symptoms thanks to the freezing weather trackside at Donington Park for Rounds 4-6 of the BTCC.

There's nothing worse than coming down with something just before you're due to go away and after all the time and effort my latest livery had taken I was doubly gutted that I couldn't share the story as it went live in-game. But just over a week and a half later than planned (and ironically drafted on the Notes app on my iPhone during a quiet moment whilst my wife was having a post-swim siesta) here is my latest update...

In Pursuit of Perfection

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Initially I was unsure in which order to post things up, as alongside my latest creation, I re-released 4 of my previous Nissan liveries all with varying degrees of tweaks and changes to bring them up to date. Whilst I want my 'main event' to take centre stage I also want to ensure that on my constant quest to deliver accurate liveries that some of these smaller changes don't get ignored.

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Why keep re-visiting and re-releasing the same old stuff I hear you cry?! Well the answer is simple and one I'm sure a number of you can relate to. Quite often, after finishing a design, I spot areas that can be improved. Whether that's a result of stumbling across a new gallery of images that show all the angles you struggled to cover before or you accidentally finding that decal or font that had alluded you first time round. A lot of people would let it slide "I've already done 'that one' once, no need to revisit it!" etc etc but for me, I enjoy the pride and satisfaction of knowing I've produced the best I can do, so even if it's just a tweak to the smallest of decals, my OCD is far happier in the knowledge that it's been updated.

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Nissan NISMO GT-R '16 Gr.2 - Falken Super GT (1.04 SM) - I previewed this update in my last big post and it's actually handy that I was delayed in posting it up as the 1.17 update brought the chrome headlight vanity trims back to custom liveried cars (meaning the ones I'd created were now redundant and could be taken off). As I'd mentioned previously, this was more of a subtle evolution of the initial design seeing slight tweaks to the shape of the NISMO bumper elements and layout of the minor sponsor decals. I also corrected a couple of areas where the body colour decals bled into unpainted matt black lower body. Download Here

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec II (R32) '94 - Calsonic '93 (2.01) - Whilst researching and preparing for my next livery I stumbled across an official vector for the 90's Nissan logo. That meant I could go back and replace the handmade version I'd been using up until now. After studying better reference images I also took the opportunity to re-scale and re-position a number of the other decals for more accuracy. Download Here

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec II (R32) '94 - Winfield Racing '92 (2.01) - Updated with the official Nissan logos. Download Here

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec II Nür (R34) '02 - Falken '02 (3.00) - In my research I'd also found better versions of a number of decals I'd used on my Falken R34. These were too good to ignore so this release sees updates to the C-West, Project Mu, Bride and ATS logos with official vectors (where necessary, modified to suit) replacing my original handmade versions. As before only one decal still alludes me (the small white rectangle with what looks like a blue MasterCard logo and some Japanese text below the Calpis decal) but it is now more accurate than ever! Download Here

If you've read this far, congrats. I feel as though some sort of intermission is required, drinks and a selection of snacks are available in the lobby and toilets are situated towards the rear of the building (but this is the internet and chances are you're already on the can whilst reading this!).

*The lights flash to signal that the audience should return to their seats*

Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - Nissan Prince Chiba '95 (1.01)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "princechiba" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.03) | Link: Download Here

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Flashing back a few weeks and I'd just finished submitting my theme to @syntex123 for the third round of the Livery Editor Competition. Knowing I'd not be eligible to enter my own round I needed a new project to embark on. The BCNR33 had just been added to the game and it had been on my to-do list and now it felt like the right time to give it a crack.

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Despite previously owning an ER34, I'm unashamed to say that if asked to choose, that the BCNR33 has to be my favourite Skyline and trying to choose an appropriate livery for your favourite car can be a tricky task. Whilst the BNR32 enjoyed the majority of its fame and success in the road-car based Group A and N categories, the BCNR33's Iconic liveries all seem to stem from the wildly aero'd JGTC and GT2 divisions. Somehow replicating full-fat GT liveries on road-cars always ends up looking a bit naff.

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Hot on the tails of my Impul BNR32, my initial plan was for a "What if the Japanese Group A series had continued into the late 90's and featured the BCNR33?" version of the iconic Calsonic livery, I mocked it up in the Livery Editor but it didn't really smack of originality or show any real skill. I knew I had to try harder.

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Like the '32 before it and '34 that followed, the '33 enjoyed plenty of success in the popular N1 Endurance series (now the Super Taikyu Series). The early cars wore road bodywork and featured minimal mods, the style lending itself well to road-cars. Wanting to try and be original, my idea (somewhat inspired by my own theme for the LEC) was to create a fictional ECRacing design. I looked at various cars from the time and I got as far a finished state.

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The colour scheme was simple, black with fluro' red/pink accents. For sponsorship I chose Q8 oils (it seemed commonplace in 90's JDM Racing to have obscure smaller domestic or 'exotic' overseas oil suppliers) and later added the Akai decals as they seemed appropriate. Once complete something didn't look right, for the time involved it looked too basic and I wasn't proud enough to share the results never mind release it as my 'definitive' BCNR33 livery, I had to go one better.

Technical Point: It's worth noting at this stage that the skin for the R33 is bugged to hell. The skin for the spoiler overlaps the 'Body' (a thin vertical line on the driver's side front wing/fender) and 'Other' (a thin horizontal line on the passenger side B pillar) sections 'cross-contaminating' with the area around the 3rd brake light meaning decals placed in these positions result in artefacts appearing elsewhere. There's also an area behind the rear pillars that doesn't cover 100% with decals meaning masking can look a little rough if the paint is a different colour to the decals. I'd tried a concept with a gold base coat with black masking but 'cracks' appear in the decal layer allowing the gold to show through from certain angles.

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If one thing my N1 research showed, it was the popularity of the #32 Nissan Prince Chiba entry. I'd long been aware of this specific team/car, not only as I have a 1/43 scale resin model of the later BNR34 on my shelf, but more so as it provided the basis/inspiration for the Race Modification version of the BCNR33 in Gran Turismo 1 and 2.

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I was initially put off attempting a replica by the Japanese text that adorned the sides. If I couldn't get that right then any attempt would look half-baked. Thankfully some careful Kanji/Hiragana matching and lots of copy and paste led me to translating the wording to (the now rather obvious) 'Nissan Prince Chiba', this led to finding their website and better still a PDF containing their logo!

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After further studying some rare high-res images I discovered via www.progcovers.com (I implore you to check it out, lots of high-res scans of historic motorsport programme covers, often showing cars from smaller series not necessarily found elsewhere online) I worked out that if I replicated the '95 car (as per the Sportsland Sugo programme cover) not only could I avoid having to place decals on the dodgy areas of the R33's skin, but that I'd also be able to avoid a selection of decals I'd so far been unable to identify or find in enough detail to copy. So began what turned out to be a mammoth project.

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You may look at the finished result and think it looks a bit simple, almost 'too easy' in fact and I wouldn't blame you. But in truth I've lost count of the time spent researching and tracing/making decals. The hours involved just getting everything I needed together before even firing up the game could easily be grouped into days if not weeks. At the very start I listed every decal on the car and one by one I ticked them off, however much like a kid with a plate of vegetables I left the worst till last and by the end I was spending a day alone identifying and replicating what I needed.

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Some decals were easy. I (obviously) already had Falken in my collection and the modification to add a thin white stroke to the red cross bar on the F was an easy job. The Nissan Prince Chiba PDF had provided the main sponsor logo and it didn't take much custom work to modify it into the Nissan Prince Sunny-Kita logo required for the rear wing. The number board and driver names were child's play and I was able to source the Häagen Dazs and a usable version of the (not actually period-correct for the 90's but what they used on the real car) 70's Subway logos. I already had the necessary TEIN and RAY'S logos uploaded but that's where the luck ran out.

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Aside from discovering a (logo containing) PDF for RESPO (fuel additives) and sufficient 'parts' in various PDF's to create the Suntory Coffee BOSS decal, everything else you see on the car has been done from scratch either from matching fonts, tracing or by eye. A mean feat when you realise that few of the sponsors still exist never mind had a web presence when they did. Despite hours of research I still have no clue as to who/what half these sponsors are.

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Even having having half decent reference images can be just the start of it. For example, Auto Land Zoo appears to be an import car dealer but there are numerous companies trading under similar names none of which using this particular branding. In the end I had to manipulate the logo from the (more readily available) high res shots of the BNR32 N1 car (which resides in the Prince & Skyline Museum) and in a CSI-style moment, skew and reshape them in Photoshop to form a good enough version to allow an online SVG tracer to do the rest (I'd normally frown upon auto-traced decals, but the bumpy nature of the text meant it was easier than trying to trace by hand).

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In regards to reference material, it was hit and miss. Much like the Winfield BNR32, the car still exists today as part of the Nissan Heritage Collection (albeit in its be-winged post-'97 guise) and whilst the modern high-res shots have proven useful (on the sides for example, aside from the position of the number boards changing, the door panels have remained largely unaltered since '95) finding detailed in-period shots proved much harder. Trying to ascertain the identity and position of the decals on the hind quarters was a balance of working it out from lower quality (think early days of the internet) photos and from pictures of the various die-cast replicas of the car which helped to provide content at the expense of scale and position.

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The Nitty Gritty

All in all I must have compiled, studied and cross-referenced every shot of the car available online and re-positioned each decal at least 2-3 times in order to get to the stage I'm at now, and in terms of accuracy id say it's as good as I can physically get. For now I know I'm definitely missing one decal on the lower sills. This is wholly down to being unable to identify what it is. In all the images I've found of the car, this area changes every time (it's like the team ran a different decal (or message) for each round).

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Assuming I stay true to the two main images I've used as a guide from the '95 season, then I've narrowed it down to either a decal for NPC-S Club (as seen on the Gulliver Tomica-based 1/64 scale die-cast model, an earlier version I've found on the team's previous BNR32) or (as per the Sportsland Sugo programme cover) another location of the Nissan Prince dealership chain (but due to the angle of the shot I'm unable to identify the crucial last two Kanji). Aside from that, the 1/64 scale die-cast decal sheet suggests there's another decal missing from the boot lid (possibly a series specific N1 logo) but it's far too small to decipher and there's no other reference available to collaborate it's existence. Either way I've decided to leave them off (if I ever identify them you can rest assured that they'll be added).

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It wouldn't be one of my liveries if I hadn't included some little extra details and special techniques to separate it from the crowd and this livery indeed packs a couple of tricks up its sleeves. By default, GT Sport has you colour the full front splitter (including the insides of the brake ducts which looks unrealistic), here I've painstakingly coloured the insides of the ducts dark grey to closer match the real car (I'd have loved to have used matt black but this was not possible).

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For accurate shape and position, masking decals were required for the J and Mu on the main Project Mu logos as they ended up stretching and distorting due to the complexed curves of the front wings/fenders no matter what angle you projected them. For the front I had to create a special version of the Häagen Dazs logo that gradually got more squat towards the top to compensate for the stretch as it wraps over the curve of the bumper (I'd initially attempted this by 'cutting' the decal in half using the angle limit but could not get a clean join). After much trial and error I also made a curved version of the Falken decal to match the shape of the front splitter. This proved tricky as I also had to reduce the height to compensate for the angle of the splitter. As the real car ran a slightly different N1 splitter I had to make a judgment call in terms of optimal scale and position.

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Splitting the Nissan Prince Chiba decal for the driver's door to have it avoid the panel gap (as per real life) and some clever splitting and scaling on a couple of the other smaller decals helps maintain a realistic appearance as they transition over the more complex shapes of the bodywork.

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I afforded myself a small degree of artistic licence for the Sparco and Häagen Dazs logos, placing them slightly higher than on the real car in an effort to avoid the GT emblems not present on the racer, and the inclusion of the Super Taikyu front plate merely makes use of the otherwise redundant space, but every other decal is placed as accurately as I can manage.

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I don't go into these gallery threads all that often, quite rare actually. But after you tagged me and the first images I spotted, I just had to look through every post. I'll admit I was too lazy to read a whole lot right now, but wow! I'm absolutely stunned. Absolute perfection. Hat off, Sir. :cheers:

I totally get why you revisit liveries, I do too. Like you said - the second you post a livery you find something to fix. :dunce::lol: Happens to me all the time.
I'm tempted to revisit my older liveries and going deep to perfect them as much as I can as well. I was going to make a Calsonic R32 (because ironically I never did when that car came to the game - I chose to go a different route with a livery not many have done. Dare I say none. Sure variants of it, but not the actual one I did.)

I digress. Absolutely fantastic work. My stomach is twisting and hurts because I drool so much I want those cars to be real. The work is insane. The imagery is insane. It's ridiculous how good those shots and liveries are. I have to stop writing now. I need to get my head out of my bum and step up my game too. :lol:
 
I don't go into these gallery threads all that often, quite rare actually. But after you tagged me and the first images I spotted, I just had to look through every post. I'll admit I was too lazy to read a whole lot right now, but wow! I'm absolutely stunned. Absolute perfection. Hat off, Sir. :cheers:

I totally get why you revisit liveries, I do too. Like you said - the second you post a livery you find something to fix. :dunce::lol: Happens to me all the time.
I'm tempted to revisit my older liveries and going deep to perfect them as much as I can as well. I was going to make a Calsonic R32 (because ironically I never did when that car came to the game - I chose to go a different route with a livery not many have done. Dare I say none. Sure variants of it, but not the actual one I did.)

I digress. Absolutely fantastic work. My stomach is twisting and hurts because I drool so much I want those cars to be real. The work is insane. The imagery is insane. It's ridiculous how good those shots and liveries are. I have to stop writing now. I need to get my head out of my bum and step up my game too. :lol:

Thank you! Be sure to drop back in from time to time as I generally dump more images into this thread than I share elsewhere (tagging and narrating scapes in-game seems to take too long even with a USB keyboard though I must make an effort to post more there).

Speaking of re-visiting, I'm already working on a minor edit for the BCNR33. The Haagen Dazs logo on the bumper is bugging me (whilst it looks ok in the Livery Editor, it looks out of shape in the scapes) so after a bit of head scratching I formulated a plan of how to map the curvature of the bumper and edit the decal accordingly. I had a good go last night but realised I made a miscalculation so will try again tonight. Sadly it means having to re-upload (shame we can't overwrite liveries as this one's been quite popular and I don't like losing the likes, but I also hate duplicate liveries in my library even more :lol:).
 
On the Spur of the Moment

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Once again, this update feels about a month later than planned, but in reality it's only 9 days since I shared my latest livery.

Getting the boring stuff out of the way first, this week's 'house keeping' mentions go to the minor updates to the Nissan Prince Chiba BCNR33 and Falken BNR32. On the R33 I've updated the Häagen-Dazs decal on the front bumper with a modified version more accurately mapped the curvature of the bumper. I'm much happier with the result this time round and although it's a small thing I feel better knowing it's sorted and means I can finally 'shelve' the livery in my mind. The process of mapping the curve was somewhat time consuming and not something I see most casual users adopting, but for those who take replicating liveries seriously it's something I might delve into at a later stage with an in-depth technical write-up if there's enough interest.

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The update to the R32 comes after finding an official version of the old KYB logo. Killing two birds with one stone I decided to re-do the 'shopping list' on the side of the car as I'd also found a better reference image for scale and positioning. I had also considered taking the opportunity to swap the wheels over to RAY'S GT-C's as their scalloped spokes match the real-world car's Enkei's better, but I decided that the overall shape of the Work Meisters mean they stay on.

Feeling like I'd spent too much time glued to the PS4 lately, I'd actually decided on taking a break before attempting another detailed replica, but after seeing @Stephen220378 's fantastic renditions of the '97 and '98 RML Vodafone Nissan BTCC liveries I was instantly inspired to have a crack at my favourite BTCC car of the Super Touring Era...

Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - Team Dynamics '99 (1.00)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "btcc" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.00) | Link: Download Here

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Growing up I was never a fan of F1, for me it was all about the BTCC. The anticipation of tuning into BBC Grandstand each weekend hoping to see the highlight, then watching cars your dad would drive fighting it out. As a 6 year old I remember rooting for the Alfa Romeo 155's mainly because they were a) red and b) because they regularly won (it was also around this time that my dream car was a Diablo Red Peugeot 306 XSi D Turbo so my taste for JDM hadn't quite kicked in yet). Latterly I supported Honda, with local boy James Thompson's works Accord starting an obsession with the brand that continues today.

Despite being a massive Nissan fan now I was never really bothered for the works cars in-period, I much preferred the independent Team Dynamics entry. Maybe it was because they were the underdogs, maybe it was the Max Power Magazine sponsorship that brought scantily-clad women to the paddock or maybe it was because the car was red, either way I loved watching Matt Neal bring it to the works teams.

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Sharing Stephen's approach, I too went for the R33 GT-R as it does have a vague similarity to the P11 Primera. Coincidentally, Matt Neal actually won the '90 and '91 British Group N Championships in an ex-Janspeed R32 GT-R, so you could almost argue that had the BTCC run to Group N in '99 (as almost happened in the early 2000's) this is how the car could have actually looked.

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In an ideal world I'd have gone with the more appealing '98 design, however trying to replicate photographs of 6 different alloy wheels in SVG format was never going to work (or at least to a level I'd be happy with), so instead I opted to copy the '99 car as Rimstock had phased out the older '100+' branding in favour of 'Team Dynamics' dumping the wheel images for a cleaner look and making the job of livery creation much easier.

As it happens the '99 car is perhaps the more significant anyway. After purchasing the car from Nissan at the end of the '98 season it was immediately flown down under to compete in the Bathurst 1000 where in the hands of Matt Neal and Steven Richards it finished a close second to the winning Volvo S40 of Rickard Rydell and Jim Richards having led the race for many laps. The big(ger) significance came the following year at Donington Park where Matt Neal became the first independent driver to take an overall win netting a cheque from TOCA for the sum of £250,000.

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Finding reference for the livery wasn't too hard. I have a 1/43 scale model of the car which helped with the basic layout and a couple of hi-res images took care of identification. Sourcing period-correct decals however, was a typical nightmare. With the exception of the Michelin, Fujifilm, Alpine, Kamasa Tools and Scalextric logos, everything else you see had to be made from scratch. Most of the logos are 90% accurate. The Team Dynamics logo for instance uses the modern version's kerning of the letters as I was unable to find a hi-res-enough image to get it right nor could I fully identify which arm of Carr's Coatings actually sponsored the team at the time (the correct logo has two words underneath which are too small to read).

The Sparco Cafe logo has been done by eye as the Monaco-based establishment is now defunct with little to no reference on the internet and the 'CLC' logo is done by-eye from images as I don't know who/what they are to be able to find the actual logo. The little white square under the number board also eludes me (and also at the time, Minichamps, as the die cast model is also blank).

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I'm particularly pleased with the number board as it took quite a bit of font matching to be able to recreate the Auto Trader logo (Rockwell and Antique Olive if you're interested) and in absence of an official font, a fair bit of manual tracing to replicate the 77. I also made sure to include the correct stroke and inner shadow that most people seem to omit in BTCC skins (an issue across the board not just in GT Sport). The curved Union Jack flag on the roof was also quite tricky to make but I'm really please with how it turned out.

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Ultimately I only had to make a couple of allowances for the different shape of the Skyline compared to the Primera. The shorter wheelbase required me to overlap the Michelin Logos slightly on the driver's side and the different position of the rear registration plate recess meant I had to lose the Michelin logo but everything else seems to fit ok. Wheel-wise I should have gone for BBS mesh wheels as per the '99 car but I chose to stick with RAY'S TE37s (as used on the '97 and '98 Primeras) as the curvier BBS FZ-MG's in-game look too modern and don't really suit the car.

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That's it for this update, but hopefully I'll be back soon with news of my new livery project. For now here's a teaser...

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The Devil's in the Detail

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After a few weeks of hinting and teasing, I'm pleased to finally announce the release of my 'Track Day Series' livery collection.

In a departure from my usual race car liveries, this new (and hopefully expanding) collection shifts the focus to 'tuned' street cars. It gives me an opportunity to explore new ideas and try out different techniques, and whilst they may look basic, as you'll see below I've invested a huge amount of time and effort into the fine details adding my own special touches to make them as realistic as possible.

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The idea for the first livery started after seeing @JKcreativeworks' Amuse BNR34. I loved the simplicity of the design and how well it captured the look of the typical cars you'd see in blog posts from track days and time attack sessions in Japan. In the beginning I'd only planned to make the one car, but as I spent more time researching ideas I was inspired to make a series of cars to try and push myself to release more liveries.

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Once I'd decided on the idea of a collection, I set myself a couple of rules. I wanted the liveries to work with Sport Mode number boards (though the different shaped boards used in GT Mode may prove to be an issue). I also wanted to follow the trend set by die cast model companies and offer two or more colour options for each release, the nomenclature reflects this with a simple code for each design and an 'a' and 'b' version. Each numbered release will have the same basic design features (masking, carbon trim etc) and then the 'a' and 'b' version will bring a different colourscheme, sponsor decals and wheels.

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The first 'wave' comprises of 4 GT-R's, two BCNR33's and two BNR34's. I've deliberately kept the designs simple with an emphasis on realism, the idea is that they look like everyday street cars that have been taken to the track. I've also employed my new scaling technique on a number of the decals to ensure the correct size of various items even down to the size of the screw heads on the registration plates! Whilst I won't bore you with the full story behind each design and the process involved, I've written a quick summary and added a collection of close up images of the cars to help you appreciate some of the details from each design.

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Longterm, the plan is to add more cars to the collection. I've got a Lancer Evolution IV in the works and plans for a BNR32. I've a feeling that some of the Gr.4 cars might also fit into the theme as tuning shop demo cars. I'm also open to suggestions, so if there's something you want me to look at, let me know!

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - Track Day TDS-01a/b (1.00 SM)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "trackday" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.00 SM) | Link: Download Here and: Download Here

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Both versions feature a gloss/half matt carbon bonnet (hood), gloss carbon spoiler blade and correctly painted/masked front splitter.

For the 'b' release I decided to replicate the '96 GT-R LM Limited. I'm particularly proud of the GT-R decals on the C pillars which took a good few hours to make from scratch. I'd been struggling to find a reference image until I remembered I still had the box from my AutoArt 1/18 scale model sitting on the shelf and it had the logo on the back! In an ideal world I'd have gone for some gold centred classic BBS LM's, but since they're not in the game, I've chose the Enkei RPF1 as they have a 'similar' look/feel to them.

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Both version feature unique registration plates and number boards. TDS-01a features a 'home-made' style number board affixed with brown packing tape. For added realism, the car uses a half matt white base which I've then masked over with gloss decals leaving only the number board exposed making it appear as though its made out of paper. TDS-01b uses the more common JDM Yokohama ADVAN style track day board (with the correct font for the numbers) and is held on with blue duct tape. If you look closely you can actually see the weave in the tape, which took quite a bit of effort to do in an SVG under 15kb!

CLOSE-UP GALLERY

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec II Nür (R34) '02 - Track Day TDS-02a/b (1.00 SM)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "trackday" "r34" | Version(s): (ver 1.00 SM) | Link: Download Here and: Download Here

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Both versions feature a gloss/half matt carbon bonnet (hood), B pillars and spoiler blade.

I said this project was an opportunity to try new ideas and colour-shift paint is not something I normally go for, but on the Maziora inspired 'b' version it works really well with aa early 00's demo car appearance.

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For both versions I went with the Dunlop number boards (as I felt the yellow balanced the liveries out nicely) and clear duct tape (again with visible weave).

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I always thought that the colour-shift paints looked too bright in the Livery Editor, but in Scapes they actually render really nicely.

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CLOSE-UP GALLERY

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Final Thoughts...

The project has also served as a great tool to showcase my new version 5.00 carbon fibre texture.

The new texture is again available in two flavours. The 'a' release is a solid decal and is designed for quick and easy use. More experienced livery editors will find the 'b' version much more useful as it uses transparency allowing you to change the colour. It also means you can mix and match paints and textures to create different looks. I've personally found that the most realistic appearance can be achieved from painting the decal in the game's 'deep black' and using K3 Half Matt Special Paint as a base layer. The way the game's lighting interacts with the difference in textures mimics the look of carbon fibre really well.

The decals can be found: Here and: Here

As always, Likes, Re-Posts and Downloads are always appreciated! Be sure to Follow me in-game to see the latest releases!

For now, thanks for reading!

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Marvelous update!

Looks like midnight purple III on the bnr34? Lovely work!
Almost! It's BGP (I think, I'd need to check) colour-shift. I chose it as it's close to one of the real Maziora colours. The one in this week's Mileage Exchange is also close so I'll be using that at some point down the road too!
 
Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - GTP-LEC-08 (1.00)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "gtplec" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.02) | Link: Download Here

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The timing of the Track Day theme for the LEC couldn't have been better. Having just launched my Track Day Series, my head was definitely 'in the zone' for this and I decided to adapt an existing idea I had in the works as my entry. I'd been wanting to do a Tommy Kaira inspired livery for a while and after a bit of research into the R33 based Tommy Kaira R, I had a good idea for the look I was going for.

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The aero on the R is subtly different to a standard GT-R and as I don't do 'fake' bodywork decals, I decided that this would be more of a tribute livery rather than a full on replica. With that in mind, the one part I had to get right was the side decals. Once I'd found some high res shots I soon discovered that the original decals use a solid to transparent gradient (quite impressive considering vinyl technology at the time) to create a unique overlapping effect. Once I found an official vector for the logo, a bit of trial an error with gradient fills soon produced a decent result.

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The small Tommy Kaira Owners Club decal was more of a spur of the moment idea inspired by an R34-based R I saw on Flickr and didn't take too long to make. I wish the same could be said about the taping for the number board. I knew if I was placing the mandatory number board against the white body that I'd need something as a border. I tried various tape types and sizes. 48mm duct tape proved to encroach too much covering the logos at the bottom and clear tapes didn't help the white on white issue. Eventually I settled on a black 25mm insulation tape which ties into the overall colour scheme and gives the car that JDM track day look that I've achieved with the cars in my Track Day Series.

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The bodywork details include a carbon bonnet and gloss carbon spoiler blade, the grey rear trim from the Tommy Kaira R and my trademark painted R33 splitter.

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As it stands, the livery currently fails to fit within my own rules for the Track Day series as it's not Sport Mode compatible so won't be included in the list. I plan to release a version without the LEC number boards but again that will just be a standalone livery.

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Rare Beasts

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This week's update features two 'Rare Beasts', the '96 GT-R LM Limited and '96 Tommy Kaira. Both car's are stock versions of my recent liveries (the Track Day Series TDS-01b and GTPlanet LEC Round 08 entry) and are designed to be as close to the real car as possible (lack of aero aside in the case of the Tommy Kaira).

Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - Tommy Kaira '96 (1.01)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "trackday" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.01) | Link: Download Here

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I'd always planned to make a (more) stock version of the Tommy Kaira livery I'd used for my GTPlanet LEC Round 08 entry, but it wasn't until I'd worked out (with careful use of the 'Align with Camera' projection method and Angle and Depth settings) how to satisfactorily mask the rear light clusters that I was happy to release a final version (Because to be honest, without the light masks all you really have is a white R33 with a Tommy Kaira decal on the door). I chose (W1 Aluminium Metallic painted) TE37V's as they're as close as you can get to the original Tommy Kaira split rims in-game.

GALLERY

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V・spec (R33) '97 - LM Limited '96 (1.00)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "lm" "r33" | Version(s): (ver 1.00) | Link: Download Here

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This livery (if you can call blue paint, two small pillar decals, a carbon spoiler blade and factory show plates a livery) was a simple 'de-tune' of my Track Day Series TDS-01b release. The majority of the man hours had already been spent making the GT-R decals for the rear pillars for the earlier design, however I had to make the correct GT-R emblem for the plates as I wanted the car to appear as it did in the LM Limited brochure and promo shots. K3 Matt paint restored the look of the factory bare plastic lip (that gets lost when you paint the car) and a return to stock wheels and ride height complete the look. I refrained from a 'fake' N1 bonnet lip as I'm not a fan of bodywork decals, but that's the only missing detail from the real car.

GALLERY

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Anyway, that's it for an unusually short (for me) update. Stay tuned for whatever my brain decides to pump out next!

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Persistance Pays Off...

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As I've often said before, I often find myself drawn into making a livery that I never intended to attempt and this one is no exception. Whilst incredibly simple in layout and design, the huge amount of detail with smaller sponsor decals and custom graphics required make it a non-starter for the most part, but somehow I found myself making a full replica and pouring a huge amount of time, effort and (thanks to the recent hot weather we've been having) sweat into researching, decal making and final assembly.

Just to put that into context, the panther graphic on the bonnet (hood) alone, took at least 9 hours work to create from scratch (I say at least as I stopped clock watched at the 8-hour mark on the first day)

As a bonus, and because I found the car quite enjoyable to drive (albeit a bit tail happy with no TCS) I've also released a version without the number boards meaning the livery can be used in Sport Mode, both are available to download now.

Toyota 86 Gr.4 - ENDLESS SPORTS '18 (1.01)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "endless" "86" | Version(s): (ver 1.01) & (ver 1.01 SM) | Link: Download Here & Download Here

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The path to this particular 'rabbit hole' began a few months earlier. Whilst researching some decals for another project, I stumbled across a vector of the iconic ENDLESS Blue Panther graphic that's graced many of the team's race cars since the early 2000's. The file was monochrome and was missing a few elements and up close looked a bit rough. As this wasn't the focus of my research at the time, I left it in my Downloads folder and didn't think about it for a few weeks until a bit later on when I decided to see if the graphic could be made usable.

Comparing it to high-res photos I soon realised that it had to be more official than first thought, as the 'rough' elements that had struck doubt were also present on the real cars. I'm slowly learning that the Japanese have a very 'That'll do' attitude when it comes to vector graphics, as many official vectors I've come across tend to have some rather unrefined curves resulting in wobbly lines or weird stroke behaviour due to handle direction.

I began painstakingly editing the file in order to make it usable as a decal whilst at the same time adding the required coloured gradient fills. This was particularly tricky as ENDLESS don't really use the graphic beyond some of their packaging and the cars themselves, so many of colours had to be done by eye from photographs.

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Whilst I had a working 'side' panther, I was unable to find a vector for the 'curled up' design that's used on the front of the cars, meaning I'd always struggle to make a full replica of any of their cars. Instead, I decided to make a custom livery 'inspired' by the full design and those of you who follow me in-game may have seen the Scape I shared of the resulting GT-R Gr.4.

The problem was, in researching various ENDLESS liveries to create that GT-R, I'd spent a lot of time looking at their Super Taikyu ST-4 Class Toyota 86 and ST-X Class GT-R GT3. The more time you spend looking at a particular livery, I find the more you want to make it and pretty soon I'd abandoned the GT-R Gr.4 and was trying to decide which direction to take with one of the real cars.

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The limitations of the GT Sport Livery Editor meant if I went for the GT-R GT3 it would have to be compromised in one way or another. If I wanted to preserve ENDLESS's signature deep metallic blue (GT Sport's Small Dark Flakes B4 is great match) I'd have to lose the chrome roof, likewise, a chrome base masked off with gloss blue was also less than ideal if going for a full replica.

The 86 doesn't have the same dilemma as the real car is all one colour. It's also a car I've never worked with before in the Livery Editor, nor used in the game outside of licence tests (at the time I didn't even own one - not even from Daily Rewards!) so it provided opportunity for a fresh experience.

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The initial plan was for a 'semi-replica' as my early dives into Discover showed that no-one else had really attempted this livery (I suspect due to availability of the panther graphics) or if they had, they'd used their own place-holder sponsors and a less accurate panther for the sides and bonnet. My thought was, whatever I made, it had to be better than what was already available even if it wasn't 100% complete.

That plan held true for a few days, but as I came closer to obtaining or making the rest of the decals I also found a very early livery in Discover that was closer to complete than any of the others I'd seen. I now had a choice; do a half-baked job and live with knowing I hadn't put the effort in or go all-in and make it in full. As you can tell by now I went with the latter.

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Compared to replicating a 90's livery from old grainy photos, my initial hope that doing a 'current' car would be easier with all the sponsors at least still existing and having easy to obtain logos was soon thwarted. In true JDM race car fashion, most of the smaller sponsor logos are either bespoke to the car (The Altrack logo for example, is different to the company's logo on their own website), from small companies that don't have a web presence or plain-old don't exist (I've no clue who/what EOil is, and the apple and grapes logos are part of a fruit and veg initiative run by ENDLESS themselves and decals are just made up from the Japanese equivalent of Arial and Comic Sans). The result was many hours spent re-creating decals from scratch, matching/researching fonts and/or modifying existing logos to match the version used on the car.

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By the time I'd made all the other smaller decals, making the 'curled' panther was actually quite enjoyable. At the eleventh hour I found a promo image via ENDLESS New Zealand's FaceBook page (admittedly wearing a Santa hat which had to be edited out) which meant I now had a 'straight-on' image vs. the photo of a brake disc box that I was going to have to warp back into shape in Photoshop. Sure it took the best part of a day to complete, but the sense of achievement once I'd completed it and then created four usable <15kb SVG's was immense.

But the two panthers are not alone. They're joined by Spark, Super Taikyu's cat mascot on the number board and a guy I like to call 'Mr Grapes' who represents 'Salt Ripe Grapes' (Japanese to English translation) on the rear corners. These were also 'from scratch' jobs and are incredibly detailed at full size (such is my level of OCD) yet completely wasted in-game as they are very small on the car and render quite pixelated.

In fact out of all the decals the least accurate is the UEHARA logo (again, I don't know who/what they are) which I was unable to match the font, but as it is so small, felt I could get away with it.

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Once I'd made all the decals, assembly was fairly straight forward. The 86 Gr.4's skin is surprisingly well mapped and unlike some of the more 'simpler' looking cars in the game, many of it's complex angles are catered for meaning you don't have to rely on align to camera too much nor create special decals to avoid skewing. As a result I was pleased to find that the only decal I had to tailor specifically to the car was the Fujitsubo logo on the front bumper.

Speaking of Fujitsubo, that brings me to the only in-game decal on the car, the 'full' version of their logo on the rear bumper which surprisingly, I struggled to find online, that means that everything else you see (aside from a couple of masked areas) is custom.

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The finished result is as close as I can get to the real thing but I'll admit that I had to make a few more artistic choices than normal as the bodywork of the 86 Gr.4 differs somewhat the ings+1 kitted Super Taikyu car. This means certain decals have had to be placed according to the shape of the body to avoid running off the edge of panels or looking messy over different shaped elements of the aero kit.

In terms of attention to detail, a good amount of time was put into masking the door handles. By default the panther decal would have coloured the handles as they're part of the body, but by using the align to camera projection method and the angle and depth settings I was able to mask the handles as per the real car (Yes that means they're only gloss blue instead of metallic, but I'm happy with the result vs. not having them masked at all).

All of these details can be fully appreciated in the high-res shots in the gallery below:

CLOSE-UP GALLERY
(Click for Full Size)

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If you're still with me by now, thank you. I hope you've enjoyed the insight into the creation of this livery and ask that you Like and Repost the liveries in-game!

Of course please download the livery and enjoy it!

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This..this is a masterpiece! I thoroughly enjoyed the write-up, it was a fantastic read. I have no idea how much effort you put in to re-create the panther graphics, but I can tell you it definitely paid off, because it is simply beautiful! Especially when looking at it close-up. What I’m most impressed with though is the little details, the slight curved Fujitsubo decal on the front bumper and the door handles! I remember I had to do the same cover-up on the door handles of my Ken Gushi's 86 drift car, these are the kind of details that people neglect even when done, but it will affect the overall look if you leave them out and makes the livery look less “professional”. Very well done, already gave it a like and repost on gts, hope to see more masterpieces like this from you in the future!
 
Thank you! At a rough guess, I must have put in around 100 hours into research, decal making and application on this one.

Whilst I have a personal livery on the go (plus needing to get a Sunday Cup spec R34 done) I haven't planned my next replica just yet, I think I need to spend some time racing and learning the new physics engine before tying myself up in another big project (though I think I said that to myself before I started the 86 :lol:)
 
[Buzz Lightyear] "Nissans, Nissans Everywhere" [/Buzz Lightyear]

Yes, it's another GT-R livery update bonanza, those of a non-Nissan persuasion should hit the Back button now.

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First off the blocks is my ECR × ENDLESS SPORTS GT-R. It's a design that I've been teasing for a while now, but have only just got to a level that I'm happy with. It started a few months ago when I began talking to @JKcreativeworks about his idea for the Clubman Cup, a spin off of the Sunday Cup lobby that he was running off the back of the super successful Livery Editor Competition round of the same name. The plan was for Super Taikyu inspired multi-class racing, combining top tier Gr.4 cars against N class entrants with the ultimate goal of running an endurance race at Tsukuba. I began work on a livery for myself and potential promotional shots and the result was a fictional livery based on the ENDLESS SPORT cars that run in the afore mentioned Japanese series.

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Work on the livery stalled as I decided to investigate the 86 as a potential alternative to the GT-R for the series. You've seen above what happened to the Toyota, which went on to become a full blown replica, and it's thanks to my persistence in completing that livery that I'm able to re-visit this livery again.

Making replicas often results in a library full of decals that only have one purpose. Logos or shapes that only apply to a particular car and once applied have no further use. Some of those logos/designs can take hours if not days to complete and I've recently found myself looking for ways that I can get a bit more value for money out of them. This GT-R was the first step in that process. I decided whilst I wasn't going to commit to the GT-R GT3 replica (I've explained my reasons for this already) that there was nothing stopping me having another crack at the Gr.4 car.

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The process was fairly simple, taking my NISMO Competition Oil GT-R from the 'Suit Up' LEC round and switching the base colour and sponsorship over to ENDLESS. One of the proposed rules for the Clubman Cup was no 'Works' teams so the Nissan/NISMO branding that I've ran up until now was heavily reduced and additional smaller sponsor decals added. I also made a matching suit, again switching the colours and branding on my NISMO suit from the comp.

For now, I'm using this as my personal livery for Sport Mode races (the number boards on the doors and bonnet get covered by the Sport Mode versions) but if there's enough interest then I'm happy to do a 'public' release (sans name and my number etc).

BONUS GALLERY
(Click for Full Size)

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Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II Nür (R34) '02 - Nissan Prince Chiba (1.00)

Status: Uploaded | Availability: Public | Tags: "ecr" "princechiba" "r34" | Version(s): (ver 1.00) | Link: Download Here

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After finishing the ENDLESS GT-R I was looking for inspiration for my next livery and in-keeping on with the theme of re-using past decals I began throwing a few ideas together. I won't say what my first rough 'draft' threw up, but it's safe to say that it's not been completely abandoned and since it'll fit in with @Stephen220378 's latest thread quite nicely I might re-visit it in due course. It was on the way into work the next day (coincidently the Tuesday before the replica theme for LEC13 was announced) that the idea to look at the '99 Nissan Prince Chiba seeded. A quick glance at the few images I could find online confirmed my suspicions that most of the decals on the BCNR33 would carry over to the BNR34 and I figured it would be a relatively straightforward job and spurred on by the idea that it could be entered in the comp I made a start.

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As with any new livery I began collecting as much reference material as possible, this produced two reactions. Firstly a sinking feeling as I realised that the 'few images' I looked at initially soon turned out to be the 'only images' of the car. Thankfully, compared to tackling the livery from scratch, having the decals from the BCNR33 in my library made life a lot easier. In terms of 'new' decals there was only a handful that were different between the two cars, but as I delved deeper I realised there were a number of small changes and variations that I had to take into consideration. The second feeling was irony, as one of the first images that cropped up in my search was a decent side shot of the BCNR33 from the late'95-'96 season. Whilst it reassured me that I'd done a good job, it also highlighted a few issues in my own livery that I was already aware of, but equally meant that I couldn't ignore them.

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Around this time my iBooks pre-order of Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to Race landed on my phone. I'd discovered the book whilst researching the '95 livery, from the preview on Google Books I could see that it had some information about the N1 Endurance GT-Rs as well as some images of the Nissan Prince Chiba cars that I hand't seen elsewhere. It was long out of production and I wasn't prepared to pay the ridiculous sums being asked on Amazon and eBay, but when it was announced that they were releasing an eBook version I signed up. The book is an interesting read and goes into a huge amount of detail about the history of the GT-R as well as documenting certain parts of the racing history of the GT-R not widely publicised outside of Japan. Crucially as far as my livery work is concerned it had an image of the rear of the car, this, with the other image started twanging at my OCD and suddenly I went from working on one livery to working on the two cars in parallel.

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This had it's benefits as it meant I could cross-reference between the two but having also learnt a number of new techniques making subsequent liveries, revisiting the BCNR33 resulted in numerous improvements. As well as new more accurate number boards (using my scaling technique to ensure that they're the same size on each panel), I made changes to the 'NOW RACING!' and 'SYSTEM CREATIVE' decals, (more accurately) re-coloured (and scaled) the Nissan Prince Chiba dealership sticker on the rear bumper, re-scaled/positioned most of the decals on the doors and (thanks to the eBook's information about the N1 regulations) switched the wheels back to (stock sized) 17". The final change was a subtle tweak to the colour, after analysing all the images of the car on my computer and taking an average, I altered the Hue by 1% and bumped the Value (brightness) by 5% producing a better representation.

I've re-released the livery and it can be found Here

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From my LEC13 entry: "In 1999 Nissan introduced the BNR34 to the Japanese N1 Endurance (Super Taikyu) series. Several cars were entered with most teams swapping their BCNR33's for the newer model. The Nissan Prince Chiba team picked up where they left off and once again were the dominant force taking the championship. In 2000 the main sponsor changed to 5Zigen and for 2001 the team got it's 3rd 'look' when Falken took over. Despite it's success, this particular car doesn't appear to have the same following as some of the earlier/later guises. Apart from the recent Ignition Models 1/34 resin scale model, the only other notable appearance was as one of the RM cars in Gran Turismo 2.

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The livery is effectively the same as the one the team ran since 1995, and thankfully most of the decals were a straight forward carry-over. This was a good job as unlike the BCNR33 that now resides in the NISMO collection, the BNR34 was stripped and sold soon after it last raced so there are no high resolution shots of the car whatsoever. In the end, the whole livery was recreated from 4-5 grainy (one even B&W) images and the 1/43 scale model that I have on the shelf. I spent countless hours measuring and cross-referencing images to get every decal scaled and positioned as close to the real thing as possible, so much so that the end result is asymmetrical just like the real thing!

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By the end of the season the car had sprouted a large rear wing, vented bonnet and deep side skirts so I chose to recreate the car's earlier appearance, wearing almost entirely stock bodywork (save for a C-West front bumper) which allowed me to get as close to 1:1 as possible. That said, I've had to flex my artistic licence a little with the decals on the stock splitter, as well as moving a couple of decals to avoid overlapping the GT-R badges (which were deleted on the race car) but I'm happy that it's as accurate as I can physically get."

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With work and family diverting me away from the PS4, It was touch and go if I was going to get it finished in time, but in the end it was done and whilst it was never going to compete against the likes of @MatskiMonk or @Cytoria 's great efforts, I'll take the handful of votes it's gained, as I never expected an obscure 90's Japanese race car to take top honours.

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BONUS GALLERY
(Click for Full Size)

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And finally...

As a small bonus for this week, I've also re-released my Tommy Kaira '96 livery having made a couple of small changes to the masking on the front lip and the rear light clusters and after looking at more images of the car in real life I've also swapped to the white show plates that Tommy Kaira used in their promo shots.

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The new livery can be found Here

Until next time, thanks for reading!​
 
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Until next time, thanks for reading!
I would rather say « Thanks for writing ».

One more time, it’s a pleasure to read your update. Great pics, great text, in-depth review of what you did for achieving such high-end liveries...

Edit : And I’m usually not a fan of yellow lights and try to avoid them on my original designs but on the dark blue GT-R they just look perfect !
 
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