What are the paint options in FH3?
When selecting a car from the Autoshow, players will be presented with a selection of Recommended Designs from the community, with preference for Featured Item (contest winners), Popular,
Friends and Followed creators. In this menu you can also Search for designs by Keywords, Creator name, or Description. Choosing a design and buying the car will put that design on the car for free, and it can be removed in the Garage menu. If you don't want to choose a design, you can instead press the button for Colors; this will present Manufacturer Colors (number of options varies by car from 1 to over 30), or Normal, or Special Colors. Normal allows you to select from a grid covering the spectrum of 20 colors, each with 9 levels of saturation, in glossy finish. Special Colors offer different patterns and surface types:
- Semigloss or Matte
- Metal Flake
- Two-Tone (Polished, Semigloss, or Matte)
- Prismacolor (White or Black)
- Carbon Fiber (Polished or Matte)
- Carbon Kevlar (Polished or Matte)
- Spyshot (Twirls or Triangles)
- Blob Camo Desert (Polished or Matte)
- Blob Camo Snow (Polished or Matte)
- Blob Camo Woodland (Polished or Matte)
- Digital Camo Desert (Polished or Matte)
- Digital Camo Snow (Polished or Matte)
- Digital Camo Woodland (Polished or Matte)
- Realistic Camo Snow (Polished or Matte)
- Realistic Camo Woodland (Polished or Matte)
- Aluminum (Polished, Semigloss, Brushed)
- Steel (Polished, Semigloss, Brushed, Galvanized, Damascus)
- Brass (Polished, Semigloss, Brushed)
- Copper (Polished, Semigloss, Brushed)
- Chrome
- Gold
- Zinc
- Diamond Plate
- Wood (Light, Medium, Dark)
To Fine Tune Normal or Special colors, go to Garage tab / Designs and Paints / Paint Car / Paint Body / Normal or Special Colors tab and select Fine Tune to change Hue, Saturation, and Brightness (including for base and highlights in Two-Tone and Metal Flake colors). Note that painting a car with a different color will usually remove factory stripes or decals (race cars etc) to make the whole body the color you choose. You can always Exit Without Saving or Erase Paint/Decals in the Designs menu to return the car to its factory color. You can separately apply these paint colors to the side mirrors, hood, wing, and rims, and tint the windows. To add stripes, logos, and custom designs to your car, go to the Garage / Designs / Apply Decals menu to enter the Livery Editor.
Can I import image files to add to my designs? Is there an app to make designs outside the game?
No, neither the console or PC version of the game allows for image import, and there is no way to remotely access the game. All vinyls and designs have to be created with the in-game Livery Editor.
How do I use the Livery Editor to make custom designs?
From the game description: "Each side of the car consists of several layers. A Single vinyl or decal represents one layer. The layers are numbered and the higher-numbered layers always appear on the car over the lower-numbered layers. For tims and advice from skilled Forza Horizon 3 designers, visit Forzamotorsport.net. By decorating this car, you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for the decoration, that you have all necessary rights to make it publicly available, that it complies with all applicable laws, that it does not violate the rights of any person or entity, and that it does not violate the Xbox Live Terms of Use." (For example, don't paint "Free Candy" on your van. You know why.)
Select an available layer slot and OK, then choose from Apply a Vinyl Shape, Apply a Manufacturer Decal, Load a Vinyl Group, [Insert All from Right/Left Side], or Delete all Layers. The Manufacturer Decal list includes over 45 logos for the Forza franchise, Xbox, FH3 radio stations, and familiar automotive companies. The Vinyl Shapes menu includes 40 shapes in each of: Curated Groups (from the community), Primitives (basic geometric shapes), Community Vinyls 1-4, Gradient Shapes, Stripes, Tears, Racing Icons, Flames, Paint Splats, Tribal, Nature, Upper/Lower Letters 1-11 (various fonts and special characters). Once you select a vinyl shape, you choose its color (Normal/Fine Tune Hue/Saturation/Brightness), then its position, Size, Spin, Skew, and Transparency. Once placed, you can select multiple layers and Group them to either move or change color, and Create New Layer Group which can be loaded in other designs. Back out for the option to save the whole design to the Current Car or Design Catalog (to be loaded for the same model). You can come back later to change the layers in the design on your car.
For tips and guides, see the Paint Booth discussion forum. You can also enter your design in the periodic official Livery Contests posted in the Community Events forum.
Can I use different surface types on each layer?
No, all vinyl layers are single color glossy, but you can paint a car in a Special Color and then use vinyls to mask over most of the car, creating the appearance of a special highlight surface type.
What are the layer limits for each side?
Each car has the following zones: Front and Rear Bumper (1000 layer limit each), Left and Right Sides (3000 each), Top/Hood (3000), Wing (1000). Note that some cars have unusual panels that can't be painted.
Can I paint brake calipers, engine bays, two-tone rims, and add stickers to windows?
Not at this time. Upgrading the brakes from Street to Race will change the color of the calipers automatically.
Can I change the interior color, materials, seats, or steering wheel style?
Same no as calipers above, see interior customization discussion thread.
Can I paint the driver helmet or customize the racing suit?
In this E3 video interview Ralph Fulton mentions 14 different avatar types who are diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender. There is no customization such as clothing or appearance.
How does license plate design work?
License plates cannot be painted in FH3. Instead, go to the Garage tab and License Plates tile to customize your 8-character plate. The options are alpha-numeric, blank, or Australia icons. Your customized plate applies to all cars you drive, but can be changed as often as you like for no cost. Horizon Edition cars have a different plate frame color than standard cars. Only the rear plate is shown on game cars (some traffic cars have front plates).
(Written by Manteomax)