disclaimer:  i am not an artist, nor do i claim to be.  in fact, most of the cars i make are ghey.  i made this tutorial in the hopes that true artists will get real good real quick at using the full potential of the design portion of this game...so good i'll never be able to afford the cars!  enjoy.

feel free to add more, but please try and keep the steps clear and understandable.

TO CREATE A MIRROR IMAGE OF A VINYL GROUP ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE CAR:

1. create the image (duh!).
2. if you created the image on the roof (i.e. a mini...), cut and paste it to the side of your car.
3. go to the other side of the car and do the copy all layers from opposite side function.
4. highlight the newly copied layers and copy/cut them to the clipboard.
5. go back to the left side (or the hood, roof, or whatever...) and paste.  tadah!

TO COPY TEXT AND OTHER VINYLS FROM ONE SIDE OF THE CAR TO ANOTHER W/O MIRROR EFFECT:

1. create the image or text (duh!).
2. highlight all the layers you wish to replicate.
3. copy/cut the layers (DO NOT USE THE COPY ALL LAYERS FROM OPPOSITE SIDE FUNCTION!!!)
4. go to the other side of the car and paste the vinyl group.  (see?  the letters face the right way!)
5. adjust position as necessary.  wow!  amazing...

TO INSERT A GROUP OF LAYERS:

in order to properly arrange and align everything, i like to put down a bunch of layers with a low, but still visible, transparency.  i do this OVER what i  already have.  then, raise the transparency to the desired level for each layer you want to insert, select them as a group, and cut and paste!

MULTIPLE CLIPBOARDS:

i've noticed at times that i wished i could save more than one vinyl group for cut and paste work.  this is probably a no brainer, but use a file (or two...) you can overwrite when you want in the "create a new vinyl" save window as your second or third clipboard. 

CUSTOM COLORS:

can't find the color you want in the color wheel?  use two layers, adjusting the transparency of the top layer to get the color you want...remember...yellow and blue make green ;)

SUPERZOOM:

did he say "superzoom"?!?  yes, folks...superzoom.  have you ever felt your creation was good, but it wasn't great?  like things just weren't lining up right?  or maybe there was a fine-tuned adjustment you just couldn't make?  wish you could zoom in?  well...you can.  here's how:

1. highlight (as in, make a group of) the layers involved, and a little around the area you want to work on.
2. move the area to a flat surface, (such as the roof of a mini...)
3. take note of the original size, and then resize the area until you are satisfied with the level of detail.
4. unlock the group.
5. make your adjustments.  you can even add/delete/insert (using the steps above) layers if you want!
6. when you are happy, highlight the whole group and shrink it back to the original size.  see that detail?  oooohhhhhhhhh....

i will add pics if anyone needs them to understand...cheers!

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some say "cheese" and i'm picturing something lovely. others say "cheese" and i'm thinking government subsidy.

to quickly resize a layer, simply hold down the left thumstick and press A, so only that layer is highlighted, then let go and press A and select "resize"

Also works with layers you group together

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Good Artists borrow, Great Artists steal.

Neubourn:

to quickly resize a layer, simply hold down the left thumstick and press A, so only that layer is highlighted, then let go and press A and select "resize"

Also works with layers you group together

very good to use for resizing groups as long as proportions are correct.  resizing in this way locks x and y together...

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some say "cheese" and i'm picturing something lovely. others say "cheese" and i'm thinking government subsidy.

yeah, you dont know how many times i got a layer in the shape i wanted, but went to resize it using the ol X,Y method, then one day i magically linked the layer by itself and presto...resize in a second

another tip in that vein...if you want to highlight only a group of layers...say 50 layers in the middle of a group of hundreds of layers...start with the first one you want to include, click and hold down the left thumbstick, keep holding, press A and then while youre holding the left thumbstick...push the right thumbstick to the right until you get to the last layer you want to include in the grouping

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Good Artists borrow, Great Artists steal.

you're my hero man..thanks

Why not:
To create an outline, select the shapes that make up the figure you want an outline of.  Copy and insert this selection just before the first vinyl in the group.  Now select the group, choose "change color" and pick the color of the outline.  Now, press A on the group again.  Make a note of where it is (X, Y)  and move it up and to the right to create the top, right portion of the outline. Watch that corner for the proper thickness and stamp it.  Now all you have to do is move this group down and left the same distance from the center to create the rest of the outline.

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Ratt Fink + Rice Burner = Rice Fink

Gamertag: Wedge Park

YOU CAN NOT IMPORT PICTURES! YOU CAN NOT IMPORT PICTURES! YOU CAN NOT IMPORT PICTURES! YOU CAN NOT IMPORT PICTURES!

I used a similar method for outlining some text, but I also needed to stamp the top left and bottom right to make sure the outline went all the way round the letters properly.

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eta: superzoom!

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some say "cheese" and i'm picturing something lovely. others say "cheese" and i'm thinking government subsidy.

Superzoom is great.  It makes shading and detail much easier.  Also, as said above, get good and selecting the layers you want and manipulating them as a group.  Helps out when the lines are right but size may be a little off.  After playing around with it for a couple hours all of this should be fairly second nature.  Also, when creating designs, if you click to zoom with each new layer, it will bring it in a little closer.

Is that just the clicking on the right stick to zoom in?

Also, are the directions correct for selecting a bunch of layers to group by holding the left stick down and moving the right stick?  I tried it, and it didn't work.

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AustinWolv:

Is that just the clicking on the right stick to zoom in?

Also, are the directions correct for selecting a bunch of layers to group by holding the left stick down and moving the right stick?  I tried it, and it didn't work.

no what everyone is talking about is making your design really big on the roof of the mini. Thus it's much easier to get small details drawn on the car... then you save it all as a vinyl group and resize it when needed elsewhere.

youll keep all the detail in it, might not be able to see it all once it's shrunk down, but it's all there and it will look better.