I'm Shammi, developer on Forza Motorsport 2. Along with Bill Giese, I worked on the livery editor. As you all already know, the editor is an extremey powerful tool and in some cases a little overwhelming. We really appreciate all the awesome contributions from the Forza Community; the fantastic liveries, the tutorials, etc. We have observed a lot of similar questions being asked on the forums, and also felt that there were a lot of neat shortcuts we put in there that were not published. Therefore, to address those as well as cater to users who don't frequent the forums, I decided to write this blog entry. This has been formatted like an instruction manual. Regardless, I recommend that both new comers and experts give it a read. If you are already very familiar with the editor, I have somewhat advanced tips in Navy Blue below.

MOVING THE CAR OR CAMERA

Throughout the livery editor, you can use the following controls to move the car/camera.

Moving the RIGHT STICK rotates the car horizontally and vertically.

Clicking and holding down the LEFT STICK, while moving the right stick zooms and pans the car. This can be very useful for getting close to the car when working on the small details of the livery.

COLOR SELECTOR

Depending on the painting screen you are in, different tabs are available in the color selector. You can switch between the tabs by pressing the LEFT and RIGHT TRIGGERS.

The different tabs available are…

On the Paint Body, Brakes, Hood, Mirrors, Wing and Rims screens

Change between the tabs using LEFT TRIGGER and RIGHT TRIGGER

•  Normal colors: Allows you to select the color from a color wheel and applies a regular glossy finish to the car or part.
• Metallic colors: Allows you to select the color from a color wheel and applies a metallic finish to the car or part.
• Special colors: Allows you to select from a list of more than 100 special colors that includes two tone and chameleon colors that change based on the viewing angle.
• Manufacturer colors: Allows you to select from a list that includes the original manufacturer colors that are available for the car. The colors in this list are the same ones that are available when you buy the car.
• Previous colors: Allows you to select from a list that include colors that you have already used. This is great for choosing a color you already chose for other parts or reverting to colors you have tried out earlier. This list is reset every time you restart the game.

On the Layer Color and Tint Windows screens

                Change between the tabs using Left Trigger and Right Trigger

• Normal colors: Allows you to select the color for the layer or the window tint from a color wheel.
• Previous colors: Allows you to select from a list of previously selected colors. This is great for choosing a color you already chose for other layers or for reverting to colors you tried out earlier.

Tips and FAQ for the Color Selector and Car painting

• The center of the color wheel shows the current color of the part or layer you are choosing color for with the following exceptions…
  • When choosing the color for a new layer it defaults to the last color chosen. If it’s the first layer you are creating, it defaults to white.
  • When choosing the color for Painting Rims it always defaults to silver (default reset).
  • When choosing the color for Tinting Windows it always defaults to a clear window (default reset).
• Depending on what parts are paintable on your car, the option to paint them will not be available. E.g. For cars with chrome mirrors, the option to paint the mirrors is removed.
  • Only upgraded rims are paintable. In order to paint your rims, you will need to change your rims in the Upgrades screen.
  • Carbon fiber hoods and wings are not paintable.
• Painting the body will override the color of the hood, mirrors and wings.

CHOOSE LAYER SCREEN

The editor divides the car into sides which represent the surface on which you can place vinyls and decals. You can place layers on these sides where each layer can contain a vinyl or a manufacturer decal.

• Front bumper – supports a maximum of 500 layers
• Left side – supports a maximum of 1000 layers
• Hood/Top/Trunk – supports a maximum of 1000 layers
• Right side – supports a maximum of 1000 layers
• Rear bumper – supports a maximum of 500 layers
• Wing (only available if the car has a wing) – supports a maximum of 100 layers

Navigating between the layers and sides…

• LEFT and RIGHT with the LEFT STICK or the DPAD will change the current layer on the current side. Holding the stick towards a direction or keeping the DPAD pressed will scroll the layers at a comfortably fast speed.
• UP and DOWN with the DPAD will skip to the next 100^th layer or the first or last layer. This is very useful when you are using a lot of layers.
• LEFT TRIGGER and RIGHT TRIGGER will allow you to change the side you are working on.

On the top left side of this screen,  shows you the current layer, its index order and the total number of layers available on the current side.

Groups

Each side also has a single group. There is only one group per side. You can add and remove layers to this group. The advantage to having a group is that when you manipulate the group, all the layers in the group are edited together. Layers in the group are represented with highlight and a link symbol as shown here…

Adding and removing layers to and from groups

In order to add/remove a layer to/from a group, you will need to..

• Press and hold the LEFT STICK CLICK.
• While holding the LEFT STICK CLICK pressed, press A to toggle the highlight of the current layer. If the layer is not part of the group, it will add it to the group and vice versa if it is part of the group, it will remove it from the group.

In order to add/remove multiple layers to/from groups together..

• Press and hold the LEFT STICK CLICK
• While holding the LEFT STICK CLICK pressed, press and hold A
• While holding A pressed, you can now release the LEFT STICK CLICK. This step is optional, but makes it very comfortable to use.
• Move the LEFT STICK or use the DPAD to move the current layer. As you keep changing the layers, every layer you scroll to will have its highlight state toggled.
  • You can also use the UP/DOWN on the DPAD to skip to the nearest 100^th, first or last layer and all the layers in between will have their highlight state toggled.
  • This makes it easier and faster when you are working with groups with a lot of layers.

To save a group…

• Once you have added all the layers to a group, select any layer in the group and press A. This will bring up the Edit Vinyl Group Menu
• Select Create New Vinyl Group
• Select NEW GROUP or overwrite a previously existing group.

To reuse a group…

• Select an empty layer and press A. This will bring up the Create Layer menu
• Select Load a vinyl group
• Select the vinyl group from the list.

Restrictions and information about Groups

• Saved vinyl groups cannot contain Manufacturer Decals.
• Groups can be moved, sized uniformly and rotated.
• Groups cannot be sized non-uniformly or skewed.
• The colors for all the vinyl shapes in a group can be changed together, but the transparency cannot be.

Clipboard

Every time you cut or copy a layer it gets copied to the clipboard, which can be later inserted or pasted onto layers. The clipboard is shown on the right side of the screen displaying its contents.  

Single layer in clipboard                           Group in clipboard

Moving, ordering and reorganizing layers.

The shortcuts on the CHOOSE LAYER screen are designed to help you quickly reorder and duplicate layers.  

In order to reorder the layer…

• Select the layer that needs to be moved.
• Press X to cut it. This will remove it from the list and place it on the clipboard.
• Move to the layer before which the cut layer needs to be moved to.
• Press Y to insert it there.

This method will also work with groups. If the layers in the group are not together, all the layers in the group will be together after being moved using this method.

In order to duplicate a layer…

• Select the layer that needs to be duplicated
• Press LEFT STICK CLICK and while holding it down, press X to copy it to the clipboard.
• Move to the layer before which the copied layer needs to be duplicated to.
• Press Y to insert it there.

Like with the reordering, this will also work with groups.

You can use these shortcuts to also move and copy layer(s) to different sides.

CHANGE POSITION

Depending on what you are editing, the tabs on this screen are configured differently…

• You can move between the tabs using the LEFT TRIGGER and the RIGHT TRIGGER
• Once on a tab, you can interact with the layer by using the LEFT STICK or the DPAD.
  •  The LEFT STICK will change the value in greater increments
  • The DPAD will change the value in small steps.

Stamping…

One of the most powerful features of the livery editor is the Stamp shortcut in the CHANGE POSITION screen. Pressing Y on this screen will duplicate the current layer and stamp it as the next layer. Using this feature, you can treat any vinyl shape, decal or group as a brush shape and stamp it while moving it or changing other properties.

While stamping you have access to the color selector (by pressing X) which allows you to change the current layer’s colors and then continue stamping. Combined with changing the transparency, this can be used as an effective shading technique.

SAVING AND THE CATALOG

When saving, you are given the option to save it to the current car or the catalog.

• Saving it to the current car will save the livery to the car in your profile garage. If the car had an existing livery on it, this will overwrite it.
• Saving it to your catalog will save the livery to the particular car model’s catalog. You will be able to view and apply this catalog livery to ONLY the same model cars. The catalog’s main purpose is to allow you to store multiple liveries for the same car.

Browsing and applying from the catalog.

The catalog will show all the designs stored in your catalog and also liveries of the same model cars in your garage. In the screenshot above, the green car with the garage icon is the livery stored on the car in the garage and the red/blue livery is one stored in the catalog.

OTHER MISC. TIPS AND FAQs

How to select layers colors with specific RGB values.

• Order the layers with descending values for the red, green and blue values. E.g. If you wanted you had R=0.3, G=0.8 and B=0.5, your order will be G,B,R.
• Choose the vinyl, select Black in the color selector and place it.
• On the position screen, press Y to stamp it.
• Press X and change the color to the first ordered color (Green in the example above)
• Change its transparency to the value (0.8 in the example above).
• Press Y again to stamp.
• Press X and change the color to the next ordered color (Blue in the example above)
• Change its transparency to the value (0.5 in the example above)
• Press Y again to stamp.
• Press X and change the color to the last color (Red in the example above)
• Change its transparency to the value (0.3 in the example above)

 Here we are using white as a background color and then placing varying transparent levels of R, G and B allowing you the ability to mix the colors as you desire. This may not be very perfect, but playing around with the transparency values will get you the desired result. The important thing to remember is that the layers need to be ordered such that the higher layers have lesser transparency.

This method is not guaranteed to work exactly. Your mileage will vary greatly. Often, you will find yourself tweaking the transparency values until the color matches. I just wanted to make sure you understood this concep

How to transfer and mirror layers

Once you finish working on the left or right side, you can have all of the layers mirrored to the other side.

• Go to the other side by using the LEFT or RIGHT TRIGGERS on the CHOOSE LAYER screen
• On an empty layer, Press A to bring the CREATE LAYER menu
• Select Insert all layers from Right/Left side.
• This will take all the layers from the other side and mirror them and insert them.
  • The manufacturer decals will not be mirrored but their positions and rotations will be mirrored.
  • The letters will also be mirrored.  You can fix this by…
    • Selecting all the layers with the mirrored letters to a group and cutting them by pressing X
    • Go to the other side and select all the letters to a group and copying them by pressing LEFT STICK CLICK + X
    • Come back to the mirrored side and inserting the copied layers by pressing Y
    • You will need to reposition the group to match the correct position

How to transfer designs to different car models

• Take the car with the design you want to transfer into the livery editor
• Select all the layers to a group and save it as a vinyl group
• Get out of the livery editor and change to the car you want to transfer the design to
• Go to new layer and select Load from a vinyl group and select the saved design.

How to Undo a Cut

• If you accidentally cut a layer (by pressing X) from the CHOOSE LAYER screen, you can undo that cut by pressing Y which will insert the cut layer back in.

How to import images from Photoshop

You cannot import any images. Why?

• The livery editor community thrives on the skill required to paint these cars. Allowing importing pictures will dilute this skill.
• Making inappropriate content becomes much easier and faster. As is, the auction house is flooded with such content.
• Allowing transfer of data from an external source will have to be secure. It’s another door for hackers and cheaters and we want to keep them out in order to preserve the integrity of your online play, leaderboards and auction house.

How to get a start on making the next Mona Lisa or Jessica Alba

The Forza Motorsport Forum has tutorials and threads dedicated to this with tips from some of the best painters in the community. Here is a link to a beginner’s tutorials on the forums…

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/31/ShowForum.aspx