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I'm not sure if this warrants a post, but I thought Id mention it nonetheless

I was recently thinking about how to improve the paint schemes I have on my cars. Ive seen people use art packages to do this, but since I don't have any of this kind of software, I was looking at other options.
Excel, it turns out is ideal. Using the 'box', 'circle' and 'line' functions, a basic side profile of the bodyshell can be made. Then, the 'fill' option can be used to try out various colour combos. This is particularly powerful, since fade and transparency effects can also be done. The nudge, and stretch options on the shape make it easy to manipulate the boy shape, especially combined with the 'curve' options.

Excels isnt particularly difficult to use for this purpose, and even for those unfamiliar with it, it wouldnt take long to familiarise by just playing around. One you have the hang of it, spiky tires effects etc can be made by cleverly overlaying circle shapes on stars etc.

Just a thought anyway. Since shells arent particularly cheap, this could save some money rather than the trial and error approach im all too familiar with.

I think Word has more drawing options. Otherwise, the mighty MS Paint, includes with each copy of Windows.

You probably also can find freely available drawing programs on the web. The GIMP has a Windows version: http://www.gimp.org/windows/

Thanks for the post EvolutionRevolution.

It may just be personal preference, but I found Excel to be far more accommodating than Word when it comes to drawing lines, boxes etc. Gimp as you say would be a good option, but requires a fair bit of practise to use it effectively. The auto shapes option "free form" choice in Excel let's you draw any vector you like, and then the ability to manipulate the line as required. This is great because you can import a picture of your car, and the trace out the shape over the top.

I'll try and post some examples later when I get back home.

Here is an example of Excel used to create simple mask

Wou! I have never even imagined to use Excel for that purpose. Thanks for the tip, from now on I will.

Jirka

InkScape and OpenOfficeDraw are two very good free vector programs, that would work ideally for that sort of thing. InkScape is more powerful, but more difficult to use than OpenOfficeDraw is. Although, if you know how to use anything like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator, you'll basically know how to use InkScape.

Thanks for the post.
Here is another excel file based on the paint scheme of the Maxima from a thread I read earlier this week