In my prior post, I discussed the option of custom ordering your Newmar coach. I am going to discuss how I use Adobe Illustrator to customize the prints as an aid in choosing my colors.

Assumptions:

• Adobe Illustrator for Windows. Mac may be slightly different.
• A dealer provided print for your year, model and floorplan

I have provided a sample dealer template for a 2022 Dutch Star

Starting with original pdf named “2022-RB-DSDP-Template.PDF”.

• Open in Illustrator
• From Window menu select “Layers” – it may be already selected. Needs to have a checkmark
• From same windows menu, select “Swatches” so it is check marked.
• Open Layers Tab, and expand graphics
  
  • You will see 3 sections, Front, Rear, Side. Expand Side
  • There are 4 groups. Click the “eye” symbol on the left to turn the group on or off, to help identify the group you are on.
  • Top group is the skin. Highlight this group as shown in picture above
  • In the swatches, you will see that the “eggshell” is highlighted once you have the selection above

• Click on a new color from the list. This will change the color.
• Repeat this for each of the “groups”
• Advanced Selection to make it easier
  • After you select the side graphics from step 4, expand out “front Graphic”.
  • Press “Ctrl” and click the circle to the right of the group. This adds the front graphic to the side graphic
  • Expand Rear Graphic, and again, press CTRL and click the circle to the right of the group for the skin.
  • Next You will see 5 groups under the graphics that are not labeled. As you expand them, there will be a sub-group and then a text. Find the one that matches “SKIN:” and add that to the selection using ctrl-click on the circle to right of group

• This will now allow you to change all the colors at the same time.
  
  Repeat this for each of the 4 groups. Before you start another group, go to the menu “select” and choose “Deselect”. This will let you start from scratch.

• To add colors, you first need the color code you want to add.
  • Open one of the PDFs you found with a color you like in illustrator.
  • note: always import range page 1-1 when opening. This is the default
  • you may get errors, you can ignore by choosing “OK” or “Close”
  • Choose the eyedropper tool by pressing “I” on the keyboard, or clicking this icon on the tool menu
  • Go to window and choose color to open the color tool bar
  • Now move the eyedropper over the color you want to match. This is best done on the side view image.
  • My example was sampling what Newmar calls “64147A SALSA RED PEARL”. I have this view:
     
  • The 4 % values are what you are after.  Make note of these values
  • Return to your main document, and go to Color tool as shown in the above image.
  • Your color will have changed to another value. Update the 4% values to match what you documented in step 4.
  • Drag the color from the square shown below and place it on your swatches group, anywhere you like

• You should end up with a name like shown below, with your different % values and a preview of the color. Double Left click this value and put in the name the way Newmar labeled it.