Chapter 3: Decals, Markings & Livery Systems

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Decals, Markings & Livery Systems — Materials & Surface Language

Why Markings Matter

Decals and livery turn hardware into identity. They carry doctrine, maintenance culture, safety, and narrative—often more efficiently than geometry. For concept artists, markings frame readability: they guide the eye to controls, break up large value fields, and communicate role at a glance. For production artists, a disciplined marking system keeps assets consistent across families, survives LOD, and plays nicely with shaders and texel budgets. This article offers a depiction‑only framework for designing decals, markings, and livery across metals, polymers, wood, composites, and ceramics without drifting into fabrication guides.

Visual Hierarchy: From Authority to Accent

Great markings obey hierarchy. At the top sit authority marks—serials, QR/data plates, maker’s marks, and compliance stamps—small, quiet, and permanent. Next come operational marks—selectors, safety icons, load/vent arrows, and service labels—which must be legible at gameplay distance. Third are role/livery marks—unit insignia, numbering, hazard bands, and faction colors—that carry identity and affordance. Finally come personalizations—kill tallies, etched prayers, tape tags—which add character but must never overpower readability. Keep each tier in its lane so the viewer never confuses safety for style.

Readability Under Camera

In first‑person, the lower‑right quadrant and receiver flank do the heavy lifting; place selector legends, chamber indicators, and status glyphs where they survive hand occlusion and muzzle climb. In third‑person, silhouette‑skimming bands and big shapes read; keep small text to quiet panels and reserve bold color for high‑contrast silhouettes that won’t alias at distance. Test at gameplay FOV and motion; if a mark turns to crawl or moiré, simplify it or move it.

Substrate Behavior Across Materials

Markings inherit the physics of their host material. On metals, laser etch bites into oxide layers with crisp edges; paint and pad print sit slightly proud and chip at corners, revealing brighter substrate. Polymers drink ink more softly; pad prints bloom at the edges and wear to a satiny ghost where hands rub. Wood accepts dye and inlay; engraved fills catch oil and darken over time; varnished surfaces reflect, so contrast must come from value, not gloss. Composites want large‑scale graphics; avoid tiny text over high‑frequency weave and bias marks along panel principal directions to reduce distortion. Ceramics (cerakote‑like reads) hold the cleanest stencil edges and resist UV fading; chips are matte and chalky, so plan color breaks to keep revealed undercolor believable.

Mark Types and How They Read

Painted bands and panels are the loudest, used for unit color blocks, hazard rings, or camo breaks. Keep their edges purposeful—following ribs, panel bezels, or parting lines—so they feel engineered. Stencils imply field applications: slight overspray, registration fuzz, and variable opacity sell reality without noise. Pad prints excel at selectors and micro icons; they prefer flat or gently curved zones. Laser etch reads premium and permanent; its contrast depends on finish—best on satin. Engrave/inlay suits ceremonial or heritage weapons; use sparingly on working guns. Data plates and ID placards anchor diegetic data; place them near service points and keep them small and rectangular with chamfered corners.

Selector and Safety Language

Selector legends carry gameplay. Use simple, localization‑proof glyphs and short terms: SAFE, FIRE, BURST, AUTO; LOCK/UNLOCK; OPEN/CLOSE; VENT. Pair with shape cues: dot for SAFE, wedge for FIRE, segmented bars for burst. Print them where the lever pauses at detents, not in the sweep path. For north‑star clarity, combine a satin halo patch around the legend with a matte field so highlights frame the icon without glare.

Numbering, Insignia, and Livery Grammar

Livery communicates chain of command and role. Keep a fixed grammar: unit insignia on the receiver flank or stock panel; role bands on barrel shrouds or magazine faces; asset numbering on the top cover edge for easy rack reading. Use two values of accent: a bold primary color and a muted secondary for stripes or chevrons. Limit count to avoid sporting‑goods noise: one insignia, one number, one or two stripes. Place marks where they align to structure—over ribs, within recesses, or following chamfers—so wear breaks them gracefully.

Hazard and Service Marks Without Clutter

Reserve strong hazard palettes (yellow/black, red/white) for true hazards: hot vents, pinch points, high‑voltage connectors, pressure canisters. Elsewhere, prefer value and texture contrast over color. Use small directional arrows and triangle clusters near feed direction, belt path, and battery locks; accompany them with a single verb: FEED, LOCK, VENT. Add torque‑paint witness lines at critical fasteners; they are tiny, readable, and instantly convey maintenance culture.

Camo and Pattern Interactions

Camo is livery at a different frequency. Maintain value discipline so markings sit on top of camouflage without disappearing. Frame critical icons with micro‑masks—small matte patches—before applying pattern. Break camo at panel edges and controls to protect silhouette and interaction reads. In urban factions, bias toward large, low‑frequency blocks; in wilderness, keep pattern scale balanced with the weapon size so it does not turn to noise.

Weathering and Aging of Marks

Marks must wear honestly. Pad prints and paint scuff along hand paths and on raised features; edges chip first, interiors fade later. Laser etch does not chip; it fills with oil and darkens. Stencils over phosphate collect dust in the tooth and soften at high‑touch zones. Over ceramics, chips are matte and reveal undercoat rather than bright metal. Plan break maps so insignia crack along corners and screws—not randomly—and so numbers remain legible even when partially worn.

Ethos and Restraint

Decals can tip into cosplay fast. Use restraint, especially on lethal hardware in grounded settings. Kill tallies and provocative slogans shift tone; if included, keep them small and contextual. Prioritize markings that enhance safety, maintenance truth, and faction identity over vanity graphics, unless your narrative explicitly leans stylized.

Building a Livery System (Per Faction)

Define a kit rather than one‑offs: a primary color, a secondary, two neutrals, one hazard color, three glyph families (authority, safety, identity), and placement rules. Corporate factions might employ cool neutrals, small QR plates, and thin accent bands. Industrial militaries prefer phosphate blacks, olive drabs, white stencil numerals, and torque‑paint orange. Insurgent/frontier groups adopt mismatched paints, hand‑cut stencils, tape tags, and oversprayed repaints. Exotic/arcane tech uses interference films, precise micro‑glyphs, and ceramic color blocks with minimal text. The system should scale from pistols to belt‑feds and translate to energy cassettes without redesign.

Placement With Mechanism Logic

Marks should respect the three rivers—heat, gas, and recoil. Keep vinyl‑like panels and large paint fills away from hot vents and ports so they don’t read melted. Print safety glyphs outside pinch arcs and cable paths so hands can see them while operating. Place data plates near access panels and field‑strip starts. Align stripes with recoil direction to lengthen form; use cross‑bands to shorten or balance large masses.

Subpixel & LOD Survival

At distance, tiny text fails. Protect function by using shape‑based icons, bold numerals, and high‑contrast value blocks for anything critical. Bake key marks into albedo/roughness rather than relying on normal‑microdetail that mips away. At LOD1, keep selector icons, numbers, and one insignia crisp. At LOD2+, collapse micro text and keep only bold shapes and color blocks. Ensure decals do not shimmer by avoiding ultra‑fine line weights; increase stroke widths until stable in motion.

UV and Projection Hygiene (Depiction Only)

Plan marks for clean UV territory. Keep selectors and data plates on single UV islands to avoid seams; run stripes along directions where stretching will be least noticeable. On heavy curves, use tapered bands or break marks into panelized segments so they read as designed, not distorted. For layered materials (polymer overmold on metal), split marks across the correct shell; don’t float a decal across a parting line unless you mean to show field repaint.

Color Management and Accessibility

Use color as an accent, not a crutch. Choose value contrasts that survive color‑blind viewing: light icon on dark field or vice versa. Prefer matte or satin inks to avoid flare; reserve gloss for ceremonial or hero badges. Keep emissive marks minimal and motivated (status windows, IR strobes) so they don’t compete with gameplay UI. If emissive is necessary, bind brightness to state (LOCKOUT, OVERHEAT) and limit area.

Wood, Composites, and Ceramics Nuance

On wood, try engraved fills and brass inlays for authority marks; paint bands should border with binding lines or checkering edges to feel crafted. On composites, design graphics that follow ply directions or panel frames; avoid tiny sans‑serif text over visible weave. On ceramics, leverage crisp two‑tone inlays and micro‑stencils; chips expose matte underlayers that should harmonize with the base palette.

Tape, Tags, and Temporary Language

Field realities add temporary labels: cloth tape with marker notes, heat‑resistant tags, grease‑pencil arrows during drills. Use these sparingly to push narrative. Tape edges lift and collect dust; handwriting should be short and legible at distance. Temporary marks should never obscure safety icons or sightlines.

Handoff for Production

Deliver a Livery Sheet per faction: orthos with placement rules, a color key with roughness targets (matte/satin), a glyph library (SVG), and three hero crops showing marks under common lighting. Provide a modular decal atlas with selector icons, numbers, data plates, and hazard arrows; label layers clearly (AUTH_, SAFE_, ID_). Include a small wear guide (edge chip map, overspray fuzz, etch darkening) so lookdev teams reproduce intent consistently.

Testing and Tuning

Print or render gameplay‑size crops of selector area, receiver flank, and barrel band. If peers can identify faction, role, and safety states in two seconds, the system works. If not, increase value contrast, shift placement toward silhouette, or reduce competing camo. Re‑test after LOD and motion blur to confirm stability.

Common Pitfalls

Too many colors, micro text that crawls, hazard palettes used decoratively, decals bridging parting lines without purpose, and markings that contradict mechanism flow (e.g., feed arrows pointing the wrong way). Fix by returning to hierarchy, pruning to essentials, and anchoring every mark to structure and function.

Closing

Markings are quiet UX. When your decals obey hierarchy, respect materials, and align with heat/gas/recoil logic, they turn hardware into legible, living equipment. Build a disciplined livery kit per faction, place marks where hands and forces make sense, and author wear that ages them truthfully. Your weapons will communicate identity and safety at a glance—and your production pipeline will thank you for the clarity.