Help:Vehicle photos

Vehicle Database
Rules, info, and guidelines
Releases • Vehicles • Series • Cases Photos
Development notes
Foundation • Configuration

Photos are key to any collectible-based catalogue. Anyone may contribute their own works to the project, but official stock images are the definitive standard. Below are the rules and guidelines.

"Main" images

First, the anomaly: Those presently called "main" images, absent a more convenient term. These are the more-or-less mugshots used in the Vehicle: overview box, portraying an overall identity with respect to different sizes, scales, and so on. How should that be selected?

1. Ideally the basic vehicle design, in other words 1:55, die-cast metal and with screen-accurate proportions.
2. Backup are the "special series" like Color Changers or plastic playset cars.
3. Last line of defense are Mini Racers or Micro Drifters iterations, as officially designated secondary lines. The former in fact has its own renders as excellent options.
4. Should all else fail, go with perhaps the most frequently-released version; Mattel > Tyco^® > Fisher-Price^®.

Most cases are settled at stage one. Mattel traditionally gives each character an icon-style shot for official marketing material, namely posters (checklists) and of course packaging: Diagonally and consistently angled, these offer the cleanest universal choice. Rarely however are they sent as product images (some, such as Final Lap-exclusive models, have never been seen at all). Secondhand copies from digital scans are fine; Background removals likewise, so long as they are identified in the |edited= file page field.

Especially in modern series, where digital renders have become the norm, some such images are deliberately "unrealistic". Main images don't have to match any final product of a vehicle. Closest is best when many are available, but otherwise, iconic is the way to go. Should preferences ever clash, common use principle could apply.

Product images

The bulk of images are for the actual database rows, which chronicle each distinct release. Here, accuracy is the highest virtue.

• All photos must match the final product. The Vehicle Database strives to help even the most casual user discern any given model, down to the most specific detail; bringing unobtainable variants like prototypes into the mix creates inherent confusion. Leeway is more easily granted for unique, one-off vehicles, where minor elements least interfere with identification, but exactness is critical any time comparison (between one or more other releases) comes into play,
• By the same principle, identical releases must all use the same photo. Consistency is key in communicating sameness while not having to explicitly say so each and every time. This is not to discourage documentation of multiple photos; Alternates are simply best left as that, archived in the primary file info rather than a separate upload.
• Finally, solid white #fff should always fill negative space. No transparent backgrounds: The one and only exception are for existing "main" images acting as substitutes.

Loose photos

The one in the |photo= slot. Refer to the right-hand example of the ideal angle: Front facing left (Raoul says, "That's my right to you...") and displaying a fair ratio of the top, front, and side. When only the opposite or rear faces carry the distinction, those should be displayed instead. Contributing collectors, please keep paint chips and/or broken pieces to an absolute minimum. That said, don't be intimidated by rich boy Matty's studio photography... We are far less concerned with the beauty of your photo than the little car inside.

Package photos

Carded (or boxed) photos tend to be more simple: Items rarely make it to the photography stage in less than final presentation. At minimum, one must be conscientious of regional variations and ensure placement in the respective slot. Standard view is head-on with a slight downward tilt; Leave the balance stem in, and we will leave our jokes out. Francesco says, "You a-love the open body."

Another occasional consideration are stickers, most common with store-exclusive items. Please include them; be wary of secondhand shops editing them out.

Hunting

Any authorized reseller can potentially aid in promo collecting. Still, you'll likely find yourself gravitating to one or more of the following resources:

Source	Base format	Retrieval	Misc. notes
	.jpg .png .avif	Straightforward. Search is full-text - Product number is usually best.	Most consistent way of obtaining OG files with the color profile intact.
	.jpg .tiff	In a product entry, click on the thumbnail photo. A lightbox should display multiple options below each image. Always pick .jpg original. The other options are generated by the platform and bound to be unnecessarily large. In the event the source image is .tiff, you will need to re-export it, or pick instead .jpg high.	You can also click the option in the data table for Download images pack to get everything in a .zip file. May take a few tries.
	.jpg	1. Right-click, inspect element 2. Hover mouse on the link in the highlighted section: It should start and end with </img> tags. Right-click again, open link in new tab 3. Remove everything in the URL after the file extension (usually .jpeg) Sometimes whitespace will remain intact, others it will disappear: It simply depends on whether it was part of the original upload. 4. If you still get a .webp, check for the /seo/ URL string. Replace with /asr/ and remove all subsequent text up to (and including) the closest _ underscore. Before: https://i5.walmartimages.com/seo/Disney-Pixar-Cars-Toy-Cars-Trucks-Moving-Moments-Lightning-McQueen-Vehicle-with-Moving-Eyes-Mouth_bd7a3629-f2ac-4ba1-a67e-7fbfd47be18e.93003a052e4049e1bf3432fd3aeb8238.jpeg?odnHeight=2000&odnWidth=2000&odnBg=FFFFFF After: https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/bd7a3629-f2ac-4ba1-a67e-7fbfd47be18e.93003a052e4049e1bf3432fd3aeb8238.jpeg	Walmart Canada (walmart.ca) and Mexico (walmart.com.mx) both tend to have independent listings, which are especially useful for international cards. These though are more rigorously maintained and likely to need an archival search engine (namely Bing or DuckDuckGo) to have hope at recovering.
	.jpg	1. Right-click, open in new tab 2. Put ._AC_ before the file extension in the URL, and remove any number that looks like _SL1500_ Before: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61DnC+YO9KL._SL1500_.jpg After: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61DnC+YO9KL._AC_.jpg Both are modifiers that Amazon uses to generate re-sized or auto-cropped (AC) photos - they're not part of the actual image address, and must go between the two periods, otherwise the URL breaks. The underscores don't matter.	Has a plethora of regional sites, all of which are asynchronous: A listing removed on one site often remains on another. Try as many as possible if you come across a dead link.