So, there are a lot of people out there with photoshop/paintshop pro who could be making great skins, but there things stopping them -

Creativity - How can I make a good looking skin? I know what I want (Say an "insertsponsorhere" themed car), but I just can't do it!

Lack of Experience - How do I use this tool? What about this one? What the heck am I doing? Why won't these positions match up?

Uselessness at Design - How the HELL can I make decals look good on this car?

So I propose a set of templates with premade liveries, so all the "skinner" per se would have to do is just change the colours to his/her liking and then slap some decals on and use it.

Sure it wouldn't be as personalised as some peoples personal skins, but it would give people a good idea of how skins work, lower the amount of requests that you guys get and maybe unleash some talent from the community.

Sound like a good idea? Yes? No?

Master Skinnerz here you will find anything you need to create Skins and Renders. Skinkits, Tipps, hinds etc. Learning skinning is easy here.

Is this the sort of thing you are seeking?

not really.

basically premade paintjobs with stripes/whatever where people could just slap decals on perhaps.

Here are some short answers

Creativity - Find some pictures of racing series and take a look of them, how they are designed and wich color combinations they use. Don't copy them, just get some inspiration, make some paper and pencil designs.

Lack of experience - You have to spend some hours in front of Photoshop to get experience, it's a bit frustrating at the first tries, but keep trying

Useless at design - The only secret for good looking decals is finding hig-res pictures of them. Do not use crap 200 pixel logos. Find 800 pixels and reduce them to suit your design. And NEVER expand a small logo. If you can't find a big one, don't use it

This isn't a "try yourself and don't bother asking" post. I'ts just that if you make your own skins from the base, you will find it a lot more rewarding. And every skin you make will be better than the last

There are some templates to start with in RSC, in the skins section, just search a bit

Lol Fragmatic, would you like fries with that? Heh. With the changes made for S2 skins tasks like adding stripes are relatively easy and will be an excellent way to begin using any graphics software. If you need help just ask, there are plently of people here who will cheerfully help you find your way.

This suggestion will only stifle creativity, and give loads more people very similar looking skind IMO.

Al is right. The best looking skins are always the ones that you put a lot of thought into.

Oh, and for "these positions won't line up" in Photoshop, I set a macro to save as a particular filename and bind it to an easy key to whack (mine is F3), then use the 'nudge' tool with the cursor keys. Nudge, save, refresh in the viewer. Repeat as needed.

I guess what frag is looking for is the sort of paintshop you get in nascar racing, with a premade set of decals and logos you can stamp on after painting, which is ok for 10 minutes (my little girl still loves to play with this then see her bringht pink car with black spots on racing round Talladega ) but will always be very limiting

I agree some form of 'instant' skinning would be a welcome addition in LFS, maybe something on the colour picker to place door numbers and a few token decals? Nothing to elaborate, just something to give folks a quick way to look different.

That said, LFS has to be the easiest game (racing or otherwise) to skin that I've ever come across. Load up the relatively easy to decipher JPG and away you go. Brilliant.

Quote from Resound :

Oh, and for "these positions won't line up" in Photoshop, I set a macro to save as a particular filename and bind it to an easy key to whack (mine is F3), then use the 'nudge' tool with the cursor keys. Nudge, save, refresh in the viewer. Repeat as needed.

Don't understand that, but it sounds useful, could you explain in pictures?

yea i think alot of ppl would just like lfs skinning to be like (dreads saying the name) nfug lol bu i find it better to make your skin from scratch the enjoy ment you get when its done is alot more then chosing from a few over kill decals and viynls lol..imho

mega bump....i am very sorry as i know people will flame me a bit....but i am really curious about the 'macros' used to line up the skins