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Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 15 2011, 08:54 AM

With notification of replies to the thread "the flared creamsicle' choking up my inbox for 3 weeks now, I've been prompted to making the 'configurator' I've been thinking about that uses a photo of a 3/4 view instead of the vector drawing side view that those things always use.

I've included a lot of options including paint finish (matte/ gloss), ride height, early and late as well as a 916 bumper. It is sweet to see in a 3/4 view what the car looks like with and without flares - that was the hardest part. I've got options so far for painted sails, vinyl sails, textured black targa, painted targa, 916 top, and also a no roof option. The roof as well as the sails and the bumper I've got an option to make them a secondary color (primary and secondary colors you have to choose from 1 of the 36 available stock colors). I've got a few badges done. Currently just gasburners, but I've got some fuchs ready to go on and I plan to do steelies, rivs, deep fuchs, 4 lug gasburners, 2.0 fuchs, and pedrinis. There are some mirror options: stock, 911, and the monacle from the 8. It's minor in the shot but will do option for 1 or 2 mirrors. Also, Euro taillights or us; working on option for the 'wart'. Anyway, I'd planned on finishing the color change on the rocker panel and an option of a PORSCHE decal and the option to color it. I should be ready to post a beta maybe tonight maybe tomorrow night. I'm working on options for euro license plate, cali plate, and the ability to enter custom text. I had a cool idea that may take some playing with to be able to set the wheel offset on a slider.

The one thing I really need is a photo of an LE rear valence, as I've currently only got the cutout one, and can't find a good shot of any of the others at the angle I need. Can any one post a shot of a creamsicle orientated similarly to the shot below? I can skew and rotate and distort a similar pic to work but need it about the size below and close to the camera angle.

Posted by: Cairo94507 Feb 15 2011, 09:47 AM

Very cool; I can't wait to play with the different configurations. Thanks.

Posted by: Jon Fernandes Feb 15 2011, 10:52 AM

Looking forward to it!

Posted by: flipb Feb 15 2011, 12:22 PM

Are http://www.google.com/images?q=914+creamsicle+rear&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1195&bih=781 usable?

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 15 2011, 12:30 PM

I did try that believe it or not
This is the best of them

But it's pretty blurry and dark and small. It looks a lot like the one on the blue car? Is it that the front 1 is different but the back is the same shape?

Posted by: dlkawashima Feb 15 2011, 02:46 PM

Here are two ..... not really the same angle however.

Posted by: DrifterJay Feb 15 2011, 02:51 PM

Can you add a Sepia brown to the configurator?

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 15 2011, 03:09 PM

Thanks! That is awesome, the 2nd one.

About the valance, it looks the same as the one above though that one looks a bit 'worked' to conform to the flare. Is it that there are only 2 stock early rear valences? I've got "the snowplow" on my car but it's disassembled currently. If anyone has a pic of that in similar angle of the 'hole-through' valance, that would be awesome. It would be great to have that as an option.

I can use the smaller exhaust as an option also as I only got the banana muffler from the other pic presently so I'll have the 4 and the 6 option. The black 2.0 badge will be useful, too along with the tits.

Are those rightly called 'bumper guards'? The other seems a bit out of place. I've got my work cut out for me to add all I need to make an LE car. I will post a link soon. Thanks again, dlkawashima.

Posted by: gothspeed Feb 15 2011, 03:10 PM

Great idea!!! I can't wait to see the configurator ....

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 15 2011, 03:21 PM

I've got in it currently all the colors on the first page of this site
http://members.rennlist.com/chuxter/914colors.htm

There's a matrix of additional cost colors that I don't have, as they don't list names, and it did take forever to cut and paste the name number and convert the rgb codes listed there to hex to make the arrays for 36 even.

I was considering making an option where you could enter in a hexidecimal value to make the primary or secondary color anything you'd want. Originally I'd envisioned sliders to affect hue, lightness, and saturation, but it got tricky, the coding and I went with swatches. Finding hex values isn't very intuitive, I'll think about how I could fit that in.

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 15 2011, 04:05 PM

Can't wait to see it and use it.. Can you add positive and negative stripes?

Posted by: utah914 Feb 15 2011, 09:35 PM

This is a great idea. I've been thinking I'd like to do the same thing with the "flared creamsicle" thread image. I assume you already know how to make the actual configurator? If you'd be willing to help me make the actual configurator, I'd be glad to provide images based on the other pic.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 12:43 AM

Alrighty then, I've finally got it in some shape to post a link.

http://www.eggscollective.org/nathan/storage/914_configurator_j.swf

I won't go into all the things I had trouble with or point out all the flaws as is my inclination. Keep in mind it is still very fresh, so it may be buggy. I styled it to look like the old school vw literature. I've yet still to get placement of the type below perfectly. Again, it is very...wrinkly presently, but still lots of fun.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 12:59 AM

I'm thinking the only 'easy' way to do it to another set of photos would be to take the shots all at the same angles. A lot of the insane work that I put into it was in getting pieces to fit. It was like an easier version of actually bringing a real car to life, to look for 'the part' then prep it. A lot of use of outlining. Because all the cars I used were at slightly off angles it is sometimes weird. Like the late bumper looks really fish-eyed. I I were to set out to fix stuff like that it would be with shots I'd taken of cars all with the same lighting, etc. For just a color change on 1 photo, that would be easier, but still got to use the pen tool. I used flash and photoshop, a little of illustrator just to get the outlines to make the vector shapes in flash. I coded everything myself in actionscript. It took me probably 30 hours over 3-4 days.

Posted by: Andyrew Feb 16 2011, 01:53 AM

So far its awesome!!!

I dont understand the image uploader thing..

Posted by: flipb Feb 16 2011, 08:03 AM

Awesome!

Are the grayed-out boxes things that are still being developed? (such as other wheel types)

Is it helpful for us to report bugs here?

Posted by: DrifterJay Feb 16 2011, 08:06 AM

how do you rotate the car?

Posted by: jaxdream Feb 16 2011, 08:14 AM

Thanks man , this is great !!!!!!

Jack / Jaxdream

Posted by: utah914 Feb 16 2011, 08:23 AM

Wow, this is really cool. Nice work

Posted by: Beach914 Feb 16 2011, 08:29 AM

FANTASTIC!!!!! I get to see what my car will look like with flares, 911 mirrors and 916 bumper in Dephi Green.

I was having doubts about its looks. I think that I'll need to go with color matched sail panels.

Keep up the great work. Can't wait till youget the other "buttons" finished.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 08:40 AM

Yeah, it takes awhile to iron out problems, so not everything works yet. I've got a huge list of things to fix and add. I see I forgot to grey the positive decal.

I see how the no roof option of the flared body the other roof still there, and the valence should not be clickable when the 916 bumper is on. I'm going to 'even out' the chrome early bumper for when it's painted. I see a glitch in the color of the bumpers when switching between 916, something with the toggle.

but yeah, if you see something. Hopefully it will be more seamless in the next few days. Also if something really bothers you let me know. I've got to fix the gap between the 916 bumper and body. or if I've mis-labeled something. I almost called the front spoiler a front valance? I see how on the sails it says 'colormatched' and should be 'primary color' for consistency. -lots to work out yet.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 08:41 AM

I will get to the positive stripes tonight. I want to make an inverted bumblebee with it.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 08:49 AM

by 'image address' I mean something like

http://www.zastavki.com/pictures/1600x1200/2008/Cities_Long_road_005335_.jpg

If you right click any image in your browser and hit 'copy image url' or 'open in new window'/tab and then copy the url from your browser's address bar. Like copy and paste that url into the input textbox, hit 'load' and it should in a second or so load the image into the background of the car. I will add a slider to control the size of the image. I just thought of that background image thing last night.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 08:54 AM

yeah, right

That would be nice, but it's not really 3d. The original plan was to have 2 views, but it takes too long to make 1 view work. Version 2.0, if I took the photos I might try that. But rotating, no.

Posted by: poorsche914 Feb 16 2011, 09:04 AM

Very nice. I certainly appreciate the amount of work involved to put this together.

Posted by: Dr Evil Feb 16 2011, 09:31 AM

AMAZING! I was only expecting something like this:
http://www.busselecta.com/

Under the Porsche section there is a 914 option.

Posted by: johannes Feb 16 2011, 10:05 AM

I already have done one like the Busselecta but with less errors ... But it is still vector drawing and not based on a photography http://club914.fr/914blueprint.swf

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 10:27 AM

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!
Hopefully, Johannes, you do not mind that I used yours for some inspiration. Definitely a step up from the selecta one that barely works. I was thinking I would change the name since configurator is what yours is called, and it is maybe not a word.

I do think the 3/4 and the bitmap gives a sense of depth and realism that makes it quite useful as a tool for visualization.

Posted by: Dr Evil Feb 16 2011, 10:33 AM

Johannes, that is a much better selecta. It is nice to have all of these things to mess with

Posted by: Andyrew Feb 16 2011, 11:12 AM

Couple of issues I noticed.

Again its really awesome what you did! Just want to help!

1.RR tire not there when you lift the body
2. gap between 916 bumper and body
3. front bumper doesnt change
4. targa top becomes "saratoga top" with flares

Thanks again!!

Posted by: nsr-jamie Feb 16 2011, 11:12 AM

Excellent work!! I love it !! Thank you so much!!!!!!

Posted by: KELTY360 Feb 16 2011, 11:48 AM

Instant classic! You've done a real service to the whole 914 community with this.

Of course I have to add my $.02. I was going to mention the color distortion on the bumper when selecting primary or secondary color but you mentioned you're working on that - excellent. The shadow lighting on the side of the body is also fairly harsh, especially on the lighter colors. The trim line at the base of the sails should disappear when the primary color is selected for the sails.

Thanks for your effort.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 16 2011, 12:12 PM

Thanks, man. Yeah, need to work on the front bumpers, the 916 and the late. Also the regular valence is not there at all sort of or it's shorter than it should be. Is that the name for it, 'regular'?

I can fix the other stuff there pretty quick once I'm at it tonight.



Point taken on the harsh lighting. There is less versatility with how it's made than when doing it in photoshop. It is a vector shape over top of the b&w bitmap. That shape gets changed in color through the code and affects what's below with an 'overlay' transfer mode. There aren't quite as many options as PS and I want to keep it to every color being the same way to produce the effect. If I alter the vector shape for the color to not include the trunk lid gap it should make it somewhat better.

For the sail trim, the greyed-out 'trim' option will add/delete the trim. That's something I will work on tonight, as it makes a big difference in effect, keeping it or not.

Thanks again, guys for your help and encouragement. It takes awhile to get all the features implemented. I will keep on. I do need a bit of a rest on working on my real car.

Posted by: Rod Feb 16 2011, 03:41 PM

That is fantastic! Well done

Can't wait to see the options grow!

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 16 2011, 04:07 PM

Absolutely cool. This is a great tool I like. Thanks

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 18 2011, 01:03 AM

Finally it's coming together. Enough to post an update and the new link. I'd updated yesterday with some changes, but maybe caches need clearing? It is a new link now

http://www.eggscollective.org/nathan/storage/914_configurator_j.html

I renamed it - seemed appropriate and easy. I've fixed all the big issues from before. Still some glitches in the bumpers. Evened out the body shading and seems all around. Added some wheels, sail trim option. Check out the jack stand option

There is still the wheels colors to do, and the 4 lug wheels for that matter. The wheel offset slider will be sweet but not yet. I'll have to make the background scale from the middle. The slider is however working and it being a swf dile instead of html it opens so a back ground image can fill the screen. -edit that made it scale down. I'll have to do that later )

Try cutting and pasting this one in and scaling it up. (I will have to make it start at maximum scale as it goes to the middle presently). Copy and paste the url below into the 'background image' box and hit load. It is big so it takes a few seconds. (make preloader?)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Daytona_International_Speedway_skidmarks_on_racetrack_view_of_grandstand.jpg

Posted by: Rod Feb 18 2011, 01:54 AM

SUPERB!!!

This is what I want mine to look like (nearly there) :cheers:


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Posted by: Andyrew Feb 18 2011, 06:16 AM

Awesome update!!!

Posted by: mrdkrantz Feb 18 2011, 06:25 AM

I love the jack stands!!! So cool

Posted by: Gint Feb 18 2011, 06:38 AM

Nice work!

I didn't read every bit of this thread. Is it just me? THere are some colors that just don't do anything. Wait a sec... primary vs. secondary color. Maybe I should rtfm.

Posted by: chuckc Feb 18 2011, 08:06 AM

You are the man!!!
This is fantastic.

Posted by: Rod Feb 18 2011, 08:35 AM

Nathan,

I reckon you have hit on a money making idea here.. Convert this into an ap for the iphone, do it for various makes of vehicle and sell it on the iphone app store for 99c, I reckon you'd sell thousands.

I only ask for 30%

Posted by: Dr Evil Feb 18 2011, 10:35 AM

The reflection in the rear-view mirror does not reflect the change in the cars color

It just gets better and better.

Posted by: Root_Werks Feb 18 2011, 10:53 AM

Now that is cool!

I did my light ivory 914 flared, steel top etc. Looked cool.

Posted by: moparrob Feb 18 2011, 11:44 AM

HEY! That's my car!!!

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 18 2011, 11:58 AM

I thought about that. I haven't got a smart phone. My phone is stupid.
I know iPhones won't run flash files, swf's, but I've heard about converters to make it into javacript. I'll look into it when I've got a phone to test it on. I have had people all asking me how hard it would be to do a different car. It's a lot of rotoscoping or outlining pen tool stuff though.

I'll be working on it through the weekend. I want to get to a 'done' point so I can get back to my car!

many thanks again for all the encouragement. I've still got a list of things like a page long to implement. That mirror reflection thing is on my short list!

Posted by: Als914 Feb 18 2011, 12:11 PM

This is really great stuff!
I came into this posting late so I didn't see if my question was previously addressed. Sorry if it's redundant.
Are you planning to include a rotate feature to be able to configure a 3/4 front view? That would really be awesome!
Keep up the great work.

Posted by: Rod Feb 18 2011, 12:16 PM

That would be very very difficult!!! This has been done from photos, it isn't a vectored drawing, the next stage would be a vector, which would be rotatable etc, but your talking hours and hours of work. I take my hat off to him for doing this, I think it's awesome.

I want coloured Fuchs (the whole inside and also with polished petals) and I noticed that you can't go back to a chrome bumper after you select a colour.

You have also forgot the oil these things always leak onto your lovely shiny garage floor!!!


I see an avatar craze on the horizon!!!

Posted by: poorsche914 Feb 18 2011, 12:18 PM

Should there be an option for "no wheels" when the car is on jack stands?
How about painted wheels? (at least for LE cars)

Great job!

Posted by: AZ914 Feb 18 2011, 12:29 PM

Great work!

Posted by: flipb Feb 18 2011, 12:41 PM

If you need a photo of 4-lug Mahle wheels at close to the right orientation, I can offer you this one:

(FWIW, I think only the 5-lug Mahles are properly referred to as Gasburners)

Click https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_adaRwINBOu4/SvMHU5aNYeI/AAAAAAAABJk/yMzCt5iwsrs/IMGP0154.JPG for a higher-res version.

Posted by: ellisor3 Feb 18 2011, 01:01 PM

I realize it is late in the game but I thought you might like a couple more option for you configurator. Sorry I did not get them to you sooner, work sucks. A couple option I included is the:

1.) 2 out SS Sport muffler with the 914/6 rear valence

2.) A more current Porsche Sport Classic wheel for those who are looking at a more modern wheel.

The engine is not back in yet so it sits high in the back.

That is a great configurator, wish I had it when I started my project. Super Work

James


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Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 18 2011, 01:29 PM

The oil stain sounds awesome. I have a list of the 'real' stuff to put in, a slider for rust, tail light cracks, wrinkly bumper pad. We'll see about that. The oil stain though, gotta make that happen.

Colored wheels and a proper regular front valance are the first things to get to, along with some steelies and then 4 lug gasburners to make a proper LE car. Also, will make a black option for the front spoiler. About getting the chrome back on the early bumper, you can toggle primary and secondary color off to get back to chrome. -kinda not as intuitive, but god how many radio buttons can we fit?! I thought about making the buttons that toggle square and then rounded radios, but some complication in the 916 bumper automatically doing the primary color makes it a little mixed. Also interface-related, about the secondary color not doing anything at first. ... Seems the only way would be instructions, like there are for the background image. I will give it a go.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 18 2011, 01:40 PM

Cool, I've never seen such a valance. Doing the snw plow is also high on my list as that's what my car has, the 4 version. I'd thought about doing a no valance also for the GT car look, and then option of exhausts. I guess stock 4, bursch, triad, then the bannana 6 muffler, and the GT exhaust which I think would be what you've got there. I would have actually made the valance not an option when running the supersport/ GT exhaust.

What is it that those wheels are called? I'd planned on including more wheels, 924 Teledials, boxster twisties, also considering ats cookiecutters.


I think what I've confused is the pedrinis are actually like aftermarket versions of mahles, so there are 5 lug gasburners and 4 lug gasburners. Thanks for the pic but it's off by a few degrees! Colored 4 lug gasburners coming soon.

Posted by: SirAndy Feb 18 2011, 01:45 PM

Well, now that everyone is adding suggestions ...


- The colors appear a bit "dull" for the lack of a better word. Maybe you can pep them up a bit?
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=colors

- The 914-6 badge should be gold

- I'd like to see an option where you can have the bumper tops in color (think painted FG bumpers)

- Ducktail rear spoiler? 6" race spoiler?

- GT flares should have GT rockers

- Engine grille lettering?

- Blacked out chrome trim?

- Painted wheel centers?







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Posted by: Sleepin Feb 18 2011, 01:51 PM

Cookies?

Posted by: DanT Feb 18 2011, 01:59 PM

this is great because I can manipulate it to give me ideas on my stripe package

thanks for the effort


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Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 18 2011, 02:31 PM

The colors are a challenge because of how they're made. The making it look like old VW literature was somewhat of a solution to that, to make it look 'on purpose' I'd got the colors from the other link to 914 colors that I'd posted as it had rgb values listed. I think it may be colorsaturation that you're talking about. I was thinking of having a slider to adjust that so that you could make it look more natural against different background images. I will play with that, but I'm reasonably happy with it resembling 70's printing come to life - production value could be better if I started with my own photos instead of stretching pre-compressed jpgs.

The FG colored bumper tops is a good idea, I'd thought about going that route with my own car. I will try the trim blackout option. The GT rockers, yeah, I was getting to that, will be a challenge, that one. Engine grill lettering I've been looking for just the right pic. Was gonna try this one but it seems smallish, still looking. i guess I could shoot my own, right?

i'd planned on having the badges be whatever color, black gold or silver as an option, though they did only come 1 way each?

Painted wheel centers, where will we put all the radio buttons? I will try though

About the rear spoiler, I've got the one on the original car, the blue flared one, that is the "6 inch race spoiler"? I was going to call it the "GT spoiler". Was laso looking to put in something like this, not sure what that's called?


Thanks for the suggestions and for keeping me ontrack with what's technically correct!

Posted by: Gudhjem Feb 18 2011, 02:35 PM

What a great tool. Fantastic work!

Oh, and, "Blacked out chrome trim"

Posted by: DanT Feb 18 2011, 02:38 PM

lid lettering


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Posted by: Als914 Feb 18 2011, 02:48 PM

May be you can use these for your configurator?

Posted by: Als914 Feb 18 2011, 02:53 PM

And these.

Posted by: ellisor3 Feb 18 2011, 03:07 PM

The wheels are called Sport Classic's, they are 5 lug and available on 993 & 996's
I have also inclosed the front valence as well.


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Posted by: bandjoey Feb 20 2011, 12:36 PM

ADMINS...CAN YOU PIN THIS TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE?

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 20 2011, 12:39 PM

When you get a free minute...almost never do I see customized Pedrini's. Here's one you might consider adding. Thanks. Love your work.


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Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 20 2011, 04:06 PM

[img]

It seems to me that Pedrinis are the same as gas burners? I am working on the colored, all and just the background of those right now. I do notice that the way the lug nuts line up on the ones I'm working on is shifted. If you could let me know the difference?

I've been working on it. I have the FG colored bumper pad, the blackened targa trim, I got the wheel offset to work, front and rear on separate sliders, also the engine lid lettering with gold and silver options, the flared rockers implemented, a driver window that goes up and down. I've put in the rear spoiler. From how I understood it, the GT spoiler and the 'duckbill' spoiler are the same thing? I always think of the 911 ones when I hear duck bill. If anyone could clarify what that refers to, or if I got it right.

Still need to make a 'normal' front spoiler. Need to make the badges colors (and most of the badges actually , license plates the snow plow rear reflector, the blackened sail trim, additional wheel options, maybe the race number, and yes the oil spot. It could be timed to turn itself on at random.

I posted the so-far versions I've made updates. Maybe you'll have to clear your browser cache. I'm getting there. Bug reports, suggestions or whatever idle banter welcome.

same link

http://www.eggscollective.org/nathan/storage/914_configurator_j.html

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 20 2011, 04:12 PM

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 20 2011, 11:37 PM

At the Porsche museum

Is there a quick way to save this image other than screen print and then crop and resize? The sharpness of the other images is much better than this one.


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Posted by: flipb Feb 21 2011, 08:02 AM

4-bold Mahles and Pedrinis are pretty similar... see http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_wheel_types/914_wheel_types.htm.

Posted by: computers4kids Feb 21 2011, 09:45 AM

Every thought of adding a "pixel picker" as part of the color options? You could build cars with the exact color of other 914s they just love.

Posted by: poorsche914 Feb 21 2011, 10:51 AM

I love the "add your own background" feature

Posted by: bandjoey Feb 21 2011, 12:03 PM

After creating the car and background, how do you save the pic to post here?

Posted by: poorsche914 Feb 21 2011, 12:51 PM

I do a screen capture then open it in Photoshop (NEW and then PASTE), crop, resize and save.

When you do a screen capture, your computer is holding that image in memory. Should be able to PASTE it into most any graphics program. Just tried it in PAINT and it works fine. Paste, crop, resize and save.

Posted by: Madswede Feb 21 2011, 07:10 PM

This ... is ... awesome.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 21 2011, 07:54 PM

I looked into incorporating a screen grab kind of thing, but it looks pretty complicated to do for now, sorry. As image quality goes, I don't recommend resizing it as that's where it gets degraded.

I'm not actually sure how to make an 'eyedropper' tool in actionscript. I'd almost worked out how to do sliders for saturation, brightness, and contrast, but couldn't get them working together predictably. Sometime, if I can get it functioning, I will implement it. It would be like the 'hue/saturation' window in photoshop, by which any color should be possible.

flibj, that link is super handy. It looks like the 4 bolt mahles are not called gasburners as I'd thought, and maybe it is more appropriate to say 'bolt' than 'lug'? I will have to add the pedrinis.

It's great that it's been such a hit. Still a bit to do, must finish

Posted by: SirAndy Feb 21 2011, 11:14 PM

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Posted by: bandjoey Feb 21 2011, 11:26 PM

Pin this at the top ??

Posted by: rjames Feb 22 2011, 12:36 PM

I love it! I can't get the 'add background' feature to work on my computer yet, but will keep trying.

Real and 'visualizer' versions of my car. :-) Using the visualizer, the BBB look even bigger than they do in real life.

Posted by: Rod Feb 22 2011, 01:23 PM

I love this. It's so easy to see what's going to look crap before making a costly mistake! Reminds me of a new car builder

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 22 2011, 03:20 PM

I was just now looking for images to complete the remaining missing options, and the I must say, your tits are looking pretty good.


...those centercaps, too.

I've got a reflector, coming soon also.

Posted by: SirAndy Feb 22 2011, 03:54 PM

Btw. the edge of the front bumper stays black even after you chose a color for your bumpers ...

How about some aftermarket mufflers? I think i got a few pics at the correct angle ...

Posted by: McMark Feb 22 2011, 04:16 PM

And choosing a late black plastic (actually it's rubber) bumper should disable all bumper top options.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 22 2011, 09:18 PM

Yeah, post em.
Could be some complication with the valence holes. I'll make a concentrated effort to do a no valance option, the double-through-the-snowplow one, Probably auto update the cutaway for the double ones, I think triad and bursch? I will check that soon. I need to get the badges, and some other stuff but I'm resting today, sort of.

Posted by: nathansnathan Feb 22 2011, 09:20 PM

Ah, I see how if the early bumper has the pad painted fg, you go to late and it has the painted pad still there. Also how the pad is then not painted when you go back to early. I've fixed that, and also greyed controls for the pad for the late and 916 as well.

Posted by: SirAndy Feb 22 2011, 11:23 PM

Manta muffler ( ), you can probably flip that picture ... Might even be able to use the cookie wheels and racing schlicks ...

Posted by: SirAndy Feb 22 2011, 11:26 PM

Patrick Motorsports "Laguna Mufflers" for the /6 ...




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Posted by: SirAndy Feb 22 2011, 11:30 PM

One more, better angle but might be too dark ...




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Posted by: SirAndy Feb 22 2011, 11:32 PM

Found another one of the /4 Manta exhaust ....






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Posted by: silver74insocal Feb 23 2011, 12:03 AM

lotsa fun! thanks for the contribution great work NAthan! im gonna be farting with that thing for an hour Dave

Posted by: dlkawashima Feb 23 2011, 02:00 AM

Nice background image for visualizer:

http://hdwallpapers.us/seasons/summer/road-hd-wallpaper/

Posted by: scotty b Feb 23 2011, 07:11 AM

Not enough colors. how about you every car color ever made ? Maybe a better selection of wheels, like every 4 and 5 bolt Porsche pattern ever made ? Maybe you could also add a MIATA as an optional vehicle. Maybe a setup so we can see what a custom made bumper would look like, or just what a MIATA bumper would look like on a 914. Maybe a 951 bumper too. Oh and how about a set of big reds ? Or maybe just 951 brakes. Then we would need to be able to color the calipers on all options. Could you alos add an option for different types of brake pads ? I'd really like to see what a set of Pagids would look like on my car. Oh and I'd really like to see how the car sits with a Olds rocket 88 engine in it


Awesome work. Definitely needs to be in the classic forum when done

Posted by: 76-914 Feb 23 2011, 10:20 AM

Slicker than greased owl shit, my man.

Posted by: 76-914 Feb 23 2011, 10:23 AM

Hey, I just noticed that you accidently clicked L80E on your legs, Andy.

Posted by: SirAndy Mar 2 2011, 12:41 AM

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Posted by: nathansnathan Mar 2 2011, 09:20 AM

Thanks, guys.
i've been working on it the last few days but without updating it while I work out the 'background only' option for the wheel colors. Being in the middle of that, none of the color wheel options are working in the most up to date version. Also, I've got the license plate working, but only the CA one for the early bumper. I've got to do the 916 and late bumper version at least before it will be usable. I've got the Pedrinis all done. I'll have that up this weekend probably.

Oh, in the yet-to-be-posted version, I've made the 'deep throat' spoiler from the pics posted here. What is that spoiler actually called?

About the sport classic wheels, it seems that there are quite a lot of different versions of those if you do a google search for say "sport classic" porsche. I'll get to the manta muffler soon.

Since I last posted here I did post an updated version with some new options, you can now reposition the whole car for use with the background image feature. Also, the background image now scales from the center and I've put in a 'flip horizontal' button - so the road shot above looks right, for example. ;-) I've done the laguna muffler, quite tricky patching the holes in the snow plow or the 916 bumper. I still may need to fill in the cutawy on the late rear valance. Also I put in some GT sticker options and added the tits, early and late. Also got the badge colors working, for the 914, 914-6 and now the 2.0 - currently badge lettering matches the lid letter color. Soon it will be fully operational!

Posted by: AZ914 Mar 2 2011, 09:36 AM

Awesome man!! I've had fun playing with this. I'm trying to think of other options, perhaps having different colors for the grill letters and the rear emblems... and CHROME TIPS option for the exhaust.

Thanks for the hard work!

Posted by: clapeza Mar 6 2011, 10:52 PM

This is an awesome tool! BUT -- with any tool, it can be used with horrifying consequences...

(OK, so it was mostly Photoshop that wrought the evil, but I couldn't have done it without the configurator!)

I have a buddy in the sign business who is going to make me up some graphics so we can do this for real, using my spare top!


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Posted by: flipb Apr 5 2011, 10:45 AM

Thought I'd give this thread a

Compare generated to actual:





If/when side markers, Monza exhaust, and wheel center caps become available on the configurator, it'll be perfect.

Posted by: nathansnathan Apr 5 2011, 11:49 AM

I was thinking that, "need to do the side marker"!
I've been stalling on getting the license plates right between the euro and the US one between the 916 and the early bumper - the angle makes it tricky, and then the random license plate thing, I will have to tackle.

I'm thinking of doing a centercap/ no centercap option so I can do no hubcap early steelies versions.

I'll have to put up the current version, as I've done the regular front spoiler. Also, I was able to make the whole thing a bit shorter so you can see all options on the screen at once for most users, this by making little swatches for primary, secondary, and black next to each item that can change, instead of listing below. I will put it up later!

I've been focusing on my car the last few weeks. In a few weeks, I'll be able to work on it more.

Posted by: Scott Schroeder Apr 5 2011, 12:38 PM

Man.... this thing is addictive.....


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Posted by: Sleepin Apr 5 2011, 01:25 PM

Would love to see some ATS five-lug Cookie Cutters.

Posted by: 914-300Hemi Apr 5 2011, 02:48 PM

Great Job.



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Posted by: jmill Apr 5 2011, 09:02 PM

Just awesome! I just created the vision I had of my car using your program. It was fantastic seeing it rather than imagining it. The only thing it needs to make my vision complete is the M471 black stripes.


My vote is instant Classic. Stickey this thing already.

Posted by: nathansnathan Apr 5 2011, 09:28 PM

Thank you
Is that like
M471 Stripes?
From what I have read, those aren't part of the M471 package? Or do you mean the "Carrera" stripe?

Posted by: kg6dxn Apr 5 2011, 10:14 PM

I second the nomination for sticky... Where's all the admins?

Posted by: jmill Apr 6 2011, 04:54 PM

Exactly like the red Strenger (sp?) GT.




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Posted by: Madswede Apr 6 2011, 05:59 PM

Yellow ones!!

Posted by: nathansnathan Apr 6 2011, 09:15 PM

Alright, I kind of needed a break from the grinding, so yellow ATS Cookie Cutters it is.

It's the new 'swatches' interface. I've fixed a bit of weirdness on the 916 gloss bumper where the tailpipe hole is shaved, and also got the regular front spoiler in place. I've really got to get to the front side markers now and the front bumper and pad, at least the early one, and then the late and 916 fronts. Oh, the random licence plate feature is there now. - I've got to make it clear that you can keep hitting that, and also that you can toggle things on and off like the bumper color to go back to chrome, as well as the wheels - you can do it now, but it's just not apparent that hitting it again will toggle the color off. A few more exhaust options to work out, some badges, and the europlate functionality and it'll be pretty complete.

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 22 2013, 10:00 AM

I've been revamping this for some time, and I've finally got around to doing the work to get it to a point worth updating the live version.

The objective was initially to have gone to version 2.0, which would have been using photographs of actual cars in the same light mostly, but plans fell through to get the shots when my video camera (battery) fell through.

So 1.2 is written in a different way that makes the gallery possible. The gallery is just short of functioning currently, as in it doesn't work. - I just need to make a way to get to other 'pages' of cars as only the first 12 are shown. If you hit the "ad to gallery" button, it is creating a txt file on my server space with all the variables saved and I will get it implemented once I have it functioning (crudely ) in a few days.

There are lots of new things, though it is mostly the same.

First, the custom color swatch at the far right. You should be able to get any color you can imagine with the 3 sliders. It works about the same as photoshop's 'hue/saturation". There are a few weird glitches (something to do with dividing by zero?), but it is 99% working so good enough.

The wheels are 'smoothed'. I tried to do all the scaling previousl in photoshop and go crisper in flash, but using smoothing, I can scale the 1 wheel to be both wheels. This makes it look just a tad blurry, but it ends up more realistic, and it's also possible to line things up better, plus less work in implementing that you can now color the outer ring of the wheels, the inner, as well as the spokes- I need to fix this functionality some, I know. Still no Rivs, either.

The best bit may be the tire width and series sliders. The offset sliders are now both in one. Together you can really change the character of the car.

Besides this, minor things, like the exhausts line up for the 2 stock rear valances (though I am thinking that the cutaway stock tailpipe is, in reality further in...). There are also a few new exhausts to play with. A few colors I've updated. I had gone off a page on rennlist, I think it was that had rgb values and I think they were a bit off. I think they are better now. - If you think they are off, let me know, send me a link to a hoto of how it should look more, and I can adjust the values to be more like that- it's a very finite thing adjustment to get the colors...

I will be working on it the next few days, getting the gallery up and running, but in the meantime, the rest of it is working (I think ).

http://www.eggscollective.org/914visualizer/914_visualizer_nnn.html

Posted by: Tilly74 Jan 22 2013, 10:52 AM

THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK AND TIME THIS THING IS AWESOME!!

and...go figure...I bought a set of Rivieras over the weekend and can't wait to see what they'll look like! No rush though!

Posted by: carr914 Jan 22 2013, 10:54 AM

Under Decals you have Exxon, but the Pegasus was a Mobil Symbol

I know it is Exxon-Mobil now, but

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 22 2013, 12:04 PM

Ah yeah, you're right. They merged in 1999, but technically it is a 'mobil' pegaus - actually a remnant of magnolia from back in the day, according to wikipedia. But Mobil would be period correct. I will switch that.

Posted by: Dinobx Jan 22 2013, 02:26 PM

FANTASTIC work !!!! What a great contribution to this community you've made.
Thank you for all your hard work.
How about an IMSA front bumper as an option?
And a Porsche rear reflector instead of rear script/badges?
Dino

Posted by: tadink Jan 22 2013, 03:44 PM

fantastic indeed - and I laughed out loud to see the jack stands! perfect!
td

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 22 2013, 03:59 PM

I had to look up what that was



Since there's no front view it would be kind of hard to see. Even the front late bumper and 916 one I've left off doing... a lot of it depends on being able to find pics of a car in the right position. I will keep an eye out for some like that.

You would think the porsche lens would be easy but I've tried a few times and have been less than happy with it. I will give it another go, though, as that should be there.

So should this, though.


Some other things I'd like to add are the rear hold downs and also a roll bar/cage option

Posted by: dakotaewing Jan 22 2013, 04:15 PM

Nathan -
Thanks so much for putting this together for the community, as it is greatly appreceiated by all of us!

We all understand that a tool of this kind takes a long time to build.

Now that I have suffucintly kissed ass, how hard would it be to add some additional wheels?
Cookie cutters, phone dails, Cup 1's, Cup 2's, HRE's, Champions, etc.???
Not all of us are wanting Fuchs on our cars!

Thanks!

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 22 2013, 04:27 PM

I was thinking that I do want to add these, I don't know what they are called, "Magnalites?" This image would work for wheels. It's best if they're not too glossy to start.


Wheels are one of the hardest things to do, but now easier since I just need to do 1. -For these ones though, I want to make the option to do a mixed look like the original GT cars had.

Can you post pics of the wheels? I'm not sure what Cup wheels look like, or hre's make a few different ones it looks like.

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 22 2013, 05:55 PM

I think I've found them now, hose wheels
cup 1


cup 2


HRE P40's


Seems like they are all like 2 colors max.....

The ones above are not magnalites but ture minilites. - Magnalites are kinda like gurneys? Someone wanted gurneys too, but I don't have a good pic.

Posted by: dakotaewing Jan 22 2013, 08:04 PM

Phone Dails...


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Posted by: FourBlades Jan 22 2013, 08:15 PM

Great work man!

I love this thing.

John

Posted by: scotty b Jan 22 2013, 09:27 PM

someone needs to do this


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Posted by: SirAndy Jan 22 2013, 09:45 PM

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Posted by: SirAndy Jan 22 2013, 09:51 PM

Hmmm, when lifting it up to make a rally car, the missing passenger side rear wheel looks a bit odd ...





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Posted by: kg6dxn Jan 22 2013, 10:50 PM

Slight glitch if you have widest tires and switch rims. The rims go inboard and the tires stay wide. If you re-adjust the tire width, the rim snaps into place.

Posted by: lennyhope Jan 25 2013, 04:54 PM

How do some of you get the detail? I can see the options but cant add reflector and euro plate etc....

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 25 2013, 05:10 PM

There are some options that are there just to tease you. Mostly they are greyed out when they're not functional. I see the radio but not the label for euro plates is greyed out. I will fix that, well, grey it out for now.

I have been messing with it more, and will update the posted version soon. I've taken care of the wheel jumping glitch, definitely going to get the rear right wheel going.

I've got to implement the selector square thing on some of the miniswatches, I really want side marker option. Front bumper color is starting to seem important, and I want to put that in. Maybe onother set of wheels. I've been working on the gallery and I've just about got that functioning. Hopefully I can "finish" and get a decent version up this weekend.

Posted by: scotty b Jan 25 2013, 05:17 PM

Great job. Now get to work on a 911 one

Posted by: audio_file Jan 25 2013, 09:10 PM

A big 'thank you' from this guy too... really helps visualize options when you haven't seen a car that looks exactly like what you want!!

Posted by: dakotaewing Jan 25 2013, 10:12 PM

Nathan -
If you, or no one else has a preference on which wheels to add next, please work on the Cup 2's!

Thanks!

Posted by: lennyhope Jan 28 2013, 11:30 AM

Is a 360 viewing option possible?

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 28 2013, 11:50 AM

haha. sorry that's beyond my skill set currently.

That was the "critique" of my designer friends, mocking me for my affinity for rear ends. It would be nice to have at least front and back, but the back lets you see more options is why I started there.

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 28 2013, 11:58 AM

Doing the Cup 2's was a bit of a departure - i couldn't find a good shot with them mounted so I had to mock up the rotor/caliper from a different pic.

I made them a bit larger as they're 17's. Even though the fuchs should be bigger too, being probably 16's, and the same size as the stock 15's, but oh well...

None of the wheels have the centercap there/not there or painted/not painted. That's for another rollout. I'm about to start working on my car again..

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 28 2013, 12:12 PM

So yeah, it is launched

I had made a launch poster a bit ago, a shot of a configurated car, with some new features, but with the gun of a storm trooper mounted to the roll bar as like a cannon. I will have to post it later as I am at work currently.

I got the gallery working, though I am noticing now and will have to fix later that custom secondary colors are not saving and front side markers are not checked initially even though they are there. Also the front bumper color isn't working with the 916 bumper, and the wheel color options should ideally be grey and disabled until a wheel color is picked, and also some separation of the wheel options. .. little things.

I put in a toggle options button for the background feature, so you can move stuff around

Hit "add to gallery" at the bottom and the car will be saved to the gallery, which is cool. -it doesn't save the background image, but everything else... Save as many as you want.
http://www.automobilesreview.com/img/aston-martin-v12-zagato-at-the-nurburgring/aston-martin-v12-zagato-at-the-nurburgring-05.jpg

Posted by: dlkawashima Jan 28 2013, 12:14 PM

All the new changes/additions are great. I just have one question: is there a way to make the rear badge and the engine lid lettering change color independently?

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 28 2013, 12:33 PM

I thought about doing that, since you need to in order to make an LE car properly, I think. I will add that to the list of minor modifications to make.

Posted by: Dinobx Jan 28 2013, 02:22 PM

Hey,
What am I doing wrong. I cannot get the background image to come up without it being washed out and there's a clear portion inside a horizontal bar just above the options.
????
Dino
Here's the link for the background I'm using.
http://oldsheila.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/img_road0001.jpg
 916_Test_image.tiff ( 964.79k ) Number of downloads: 48

Posted by: nathansnathan Jan 28 2013, 02:47 PM

It is a pretty big file, which is ideal but it takes awhile to load. Once it was cached on my machine here it came up quick though - seems to work fine for me. This is with the options toggled off. I'm not sure what you mean be "clear area"?

I'm thinking maybe you have an old version with an output textbox box cached on your machine maybe? Try clearing your cache and reloading it - when the page isn't open. I've redirected the 2 or 3 common previous versions to the current one so I'm pretty sure we're looking at the same thing. - like click on the link in my forum signature and compare the url/address you were looking at?

That is the factory 914_8 I've made there, but with ca plates btw

Posted by: moparrob Jan 28 2013, 08:46 PM

Wow, this just gave me new inspiration for getting my car off of jack stands. This is her when she is finished:

Posted by: dakotaewing Jan 28 2013, 09:47 PM

 914_3.bmp ( 1.05mb ) Number of downloads: 59
Ok, this is awesome!!
Can someone tell me how you are saving the images and reposting them?

Posted by: Dinobx Jan 31 2013, 09:10 PM

Hey Nathan,

That's exactly what it was. I couldn't clear my cache for some weird reason. I tried deleting cookies, history, caches, everything. Then I tried F5 to reload the page after I clicked your most recent link to the visualizer.

I'm going to remove the targa sail panel vertical trim by painting it red.

THANKS for the Porsche rear reflector.

You're are a terrific guy for doing this for us. If we ever meet, lunch is on me buddy.

All the best.

Dino

Posted by: ThePaintedMan Jan 31 2013, 10:14 PM

Doh, stupid Windows paint cut off the image, but here's my contribution. Very, very cool Nathan. I am extremely impressed with how far its come!




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Posted by: 3d914 Feb 1 2013, 06:58 PM

Thom, you can use an image capture program or screen capture then edit it in Microsoft Paint or similar.

Nathan, this is awesome. Thanks again. I like the updates.

Posted by: dakotaewing Feb 1 2013, 10:32 PM

3d -
I was able to save the image in paint, but when I attach the file for my post, it requires the viewer to download or click the file in order to view. Files are saved as bitmaps? My version of paint will not allow me to save the image as a jpg...
Any ideas?

Posted by: Dave_Darling Feb 2 2013, 09:45 PM

Either upgrade your version of Paint, or download a copy of "irfanview". That's pretty good freeware for looking at and tweaking images.

If you're not on a Windoze box, check out "the GIMP". More complex but richer feature set than most other freeware; it has many photoshop-like features.

--DD

Posted by: CptTripps Sep 30 2013, 09:00 AM

Holy crap...this is exactly what I was looking for. I started in Photoshop doing it manually, but then found this by complete accident.

I'm about a year late to this thread, but I wanted to say "Thank You". WAY easier than how I was doing it before.

Here's where I think I 'm headed...


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Posted by: scotty b Nov 4 2014, 06:09 PM

Dealing with a 911 color today got me to thinking. I don't think I've seen a 914 in Sea green / sea foam green so I took a couple minutes. I dig it. Maybe some inspiration for someone to do something a little different


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