Follow these steps to prepare for previewing liveries

1. To the right of the topmost menu bar, switch from Blender Render to Cycles Render
2. On the menu bar below the 3D view, click the ball icon next to Object Mode and select Material
3. Right-click the default cube to select it
4. Select the Material tab in the Properties pane
5. Click + New
6. On the left of the menu bar below the 3D view, click the cube icon and select Node Editor
7. You should now see a Diffuse BSDF with its BSDF output connected to a Material Output by its Surface input.
   1. If not, press delete to clear the Node Editor (press A then delete if this does not clear the Node Editor)
   2. Click Add > Output > Material Output and click anywhere in the Node Editor to place the node
   3. Click Add > Shader > Diffuse BSDF and click anywhere in the Node Editor to the left of the Material Output node to place the node
   4. Click and drag from the BSDF output of the Diffuse BSDF node to the Surface input of the Material Output Node
8. Click Add > Shader > Mix Shader and click with it over the line between the Diffuse BSDF and Material Output
9. Right-click the Diffuse BSDF node to select it, press Shift-D to duplicate it, and click anywhere below it to place the duplicate
10. Click and drag from the BSDF output of the duplicate Diffuse BSDF node to the second Shader input of the Mix Shader
11. Click Add > Texture > Image Texture and click to the left of the duplicate Diffuse BSDF to place it
12. Click and drag from the Color output of the Image Texture to the Color input of the duplicate Diffuse BSDF
13. Click and drag from the Alpha output of the Image Texture to the Fac input of the Mix Shader
14. In the Material tab of the Properties panel, click the F next to the material name
15. On the left of the menu below the Node Editor, click the icon and select 3D View
16. Press A to select all (press until orange outlines are seen)
17. Press Delete and click on the confirmation popup
18. Press Ctrl-Space to hide the 3D cursor
19. Press N to show the sidebar
20. In the Display section, check Only Render
21. Press N to hide the sidebar
22. You may want to File » Save, or File > Save Startup File as this is a good starting point for previewing liveries

1. Click File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)
2. Browse to and select the file, then click Import OBJ
3. On the Material tab on the Properties panel, click the ball icon next to + New and select F Material
4. Click the + icon next to Image Texture
5. Click Open
6. Browse to and select the livery image file, then click Open Image

Instead of repeatedly opening the livery texture file every time you make a change, you can install a plugin that will automatically reload it every time the file changes.

• If you use GIMP or Photoshop, you can use the add-on External Paint Autorefresh
• If you use another program, you can use Auto-Reload Images

1. Download your prefered auto-reload plugin
2. In Blender, on the top menu bar, select File > User Preferences…
3. Click Add-ons then Install Add-on from File… at the top
4. Browse to and select the ZIP file you downloaded above, then click Install Add-on from File…
5. Click user under Categories on the left
6. Click the check-box next to the add-on you just installed
7. Click Save user settings
8. You may have to enable the auto-refresh functionality when launching blender or opening a file
   1. For Auto-Reload Images, click the clock icon on the right of the top menu bar