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Decals are a great way to add a company logo or label and just a bit more realism to a photorendered model. But do you know the shortcuts for making decals easier to use and providing better display quality?
The first two tips below outline the basics of creating and applying decals. The second two are timesavers that will improve the flexibility and quality of the rendered output. Note: Although you don’t need Pro/PHOTORENDER to create decals, the final product will be better if you create your images with it.
1. Open model on which decal is to be applied.
2. Click on View, Color and Appearance.
3. Add a new “color” by clicking on the + symbol in the right-hand side of the Appearance Editor window. Name the new color if desired.
4. Click on the Map tab in the Appearance Editor window.
5. Click on the empty gray square located under the Decal heading.
6. Click on File, Open or click the + in the Appearance Placement window.
7. Select an appropriate graphics file to use as a decal and click Open.
8. Click on the desired decal file in the Appearance Placement window and click Close. You now have a decal ready for application.
1. Click on View, Color and Appearance.
2. Select the “color” that represents the decal from the Appearance Editor window.
3. Select where the decal will be placed from the Assignment heading of the Appearance Editor window (i.e., Part, surface, quilt), and select the corresponding reference.
4. For best results, orient the model so that your view is normal to the surface where the decal will appear.
5. Click on the Apply button. Note: If applying on a created surface, choose “both” when prompted for the side on which to apply the decal.
6. To edit the size, quantity and location of the decal, click on the picture of the decal preview located under the Decal heading of the Map tab of the Appearance Editor window.
7. Click on Mapping to adjust to the shape of the geometry where the decal is to be applied.
8. Click under the options of Copies to adjust the number of occurrences of the decal. Scale will turn into Copies, and the amount can be adjusted there.
9. Drag the X and Y dials of Scale to size the decal.
10. Drag the X, Y and Rotate dials of Position to adjust the location of the decal.
11. Click Close on both the Appearance Placement and Appearance Editor windows when you are done making adjustments.
The first timesaving tip involves creating an “outline” of where your decal will appear. This step has several benefits—it takes the numerical guesswork out of scaling the decal, makes it easier to adjust its proper location, and automatically “crops” the decal when you scale it, so that you cannot exceed the size outline of the created surface.
1. Click on Sketched Datum Curve button of the Datum toolbar.
2. Sketch an outline to represent the size and shape of the finished decal.
3. Complete the feature.
4. Select Edit, Fill from the pulldown menus.
5. Complete the feature.
6. Apply and adjust the decal as instructed above, using the created surface bounded by the sketched curve as the assignment for the decal.
7. To adjust the location of the decal on the model, you can edit the surface feature. This allows access to the dimensions used to create it, and thus provides an easy (not to mention parametric) adjustment to the decal location. Because of the novel way Wildfire operates, if you adjust the curve location, the corresponding surface will not adjust.
8. Render the model if desired.
As you will see when you implement these steps, the created curve does not render with the model. The one caveat to this method is that the appearance of the decal on the rendered output is poor quality.
This is where the second tip comes in. What you can do now is offset the surface that was created for the decal by a minute amount. This will eliminate the “slicing” effect on the decal and the small offset will not be noticeable in the rendered images.
1. After completing the preceding tip, select the surface that represents the decal outline.
2. Select Edit, Offset from the pulldown menus.
3. Enter an offset amount for the surface (.001” recommended as the minimum amount).
4. Complete the feature.
5. Apply and adjust the decal as instructed above, using the offset surface as the assignment for the decal.
6. Render the model if desired. 
John Randazzo is a mechanical design engineer at ASRC Aerospace, Kennedy Space Center. He can be reached by email at John.Randazzo-1@ksc.nasa.gov.
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