Minifig Decal Templates: Just Made a Set

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Recently I've noticed that customizers use a variety of resolutions and measurements in creating their custom decals. I suppose it all gets averaged out in the end, assuming someone prints the decal properly, but that's a large assumption and relies on their paint program and it's ability to resize, which always results in a poorer quality decal.

Getting the measurement right in the first place is vital to a clear decal.

That said, I went over to a well known site that offers templates and after being redirected 3 times to their active site, which basically contains none of the content needed, I became a bit annoyed and left. I did, however, pick up their minifig part measurements with the intent of making my own templates.

Using those measurements, I made templates and then found myself in an interesting position. Taking the torso outline and placing it directly on a real scanned torso of the same exact resolution, it was wrong. Repeating the process over 6 other torsos, the difference varied, with some just making it within the allotted outline, and some expanding out by as much as .15cm in width. The heights weren't as far off, but enough that for a torso with a neckline and belt, something will get cut off.

I have, for example, printed a few of my decals as a test without resizing, just load and print, and they come out the correct size. I've also seen a few of them printed by others, with the same result. Comparing them to these measurements, they're too wide in most cases.

Applying the same standards to other decals available on the net, including some by well known customizers, most are wrong. Makes creating reliable templates a bit complicated.

The one thing that I've concluded is that perhaps they're measuring a bit arbitrarily based on the flattest point of the torso surface, without any allowance for the additional width as it curves to the sides. TLG does allow the print to extend that far sometimes, and that would be enough to make up for most of the variation.

All of that in mind, here is a basic set of torso, belt and leg templates at 600dpi. Don't be surprised if your decal doesn't fit it exactly yet looks fine when printed. This just isn't an exacting enough science, it would seem. That said, if you are creating a custom decal, or even a recreation of an official one, you may end up going past the arbitrary limits set by these templates, and those used on other sites, and still be fine.

Trial and error... trial and error.

Use them freely, tell me how they work for you. I really like 600dpi because most printers can do it and yet it's small enough to allow a lot of fine detail without having to smooth your image. Crisp and clean, easy to modify. At least that's my opinion.