Livery and Vehicle Design Basics

ERLC livery design operates within specific technical limitations that affect your design decisions:

• Liveries are applied as image overlays on in-game vehicle models. The underlying vehicle shape and color affect how your design appears.
• Small text and fine detail often become illegible at in-game scale. Design for visibility from a distance, not for close inspection.
• ERLC uses specific UV templates for each vehicle. Your design must be built to fit the template, or it will not align correctly on the vehicle.

Download the correct UV template for each vehicle you intend to design before starting. Working without a template produces misaligned results.

Each livery in your department should share a common visual language. Define the following before designing:

• Color palette: Typically your server's primary and secondary colors plus white or black for contrast.
• Logo placement: Where your department seal or logo appears on every vehicle — most commonly on the door panels.
• Unit number format: Where unit numbers appear, what font, and how large.
• Pattern or stripe system: A consistent graphic element — a stripe, a band, a geometric shape — that ties all vehicles together.

The most effective ERLC liveries are simple. Complexity is a design risk, not a feature:

• Use high contrast between your base color and graphic elements. Low-contrast designs disappear in-game lighting.
• Limit your design to three to four distinct elements: base color, stripe or accent, logo, unit number.
• Avoid gradients on large surfaces — they often appear muddy or compressed after export.
• Test your design at reduced scale before finalizing. If it is not readable at thumbnail size, it will not be readable in-game.

Several tools are used for ERLC livery creation:

• Photopea: Free, browser-based Photoshop alternative. Supports PSD files and UV template layers. The most accessible option for beginners.
• Adobe Photoshop: Industry standard. Offers the most control but requires a paid subscription.
• GIMP: Free and open-source. Capable but has a steeper learning curve than Photopea.

For most ERLC server needs, Photopea is sufficient and has no cost barrier.

Visual consistency across all department vehicles is what makes a livery system look professional:

• Build a master template document that contains all shared elements — logo, color swatches, stripe patterns — and use it as the base for every new vehicle design.
• When you update the logo or color palette, rebuild all existing liveries from the updated master. Partial updates create fleet inconsistency.
• Document which livery file corresponds to which in-game vehicle. Livery files without documentation become impossible to manage after a few months.

Liveries are only effective if members use them correctly:

• Post finalized livery files in a pinned, member-accessible channel. Include a brief installation guide.
• Specify exactly which vehicles each livery applies to. Do not leave members to guess.
• Include livery compliance in your uniform or conduct standards. Members operating with incorrect or personal liveries should be corrected during patrol debrief.