How to design a Tesla wrap in Photoshop, Procreate, Canva or GIMP

Quick answer: Open your car's official template in the editor, paint on a layer above it, hide the template and export a PNG at the template size (1024 by 1024, or 1024 by 768 for a Cybertruck) under 1 MB. Then run it through the free Tesla wrap file checker and look at it on a 3D car in the studio before you upload it.

All four editors can make a Paint Shop wrap. None of them knows what a Tesla is, though, so they'll let you stretch the template or export a file the car quietly refuses.

Steps 1 to 4 work in every editor. The editor sections give the exact menus, and steps 5 to 7 check the file and send it.

Step 1: Download the exact template for your car

A Paint Shop wrap is painted onto a template: the car's body unfolded into one flat PNG. Our Tesla wrap templates page links Tesla's official template for every version of every car.

Match the version, not just the model. A template from another version still loads, but the panels won't line up. The Tesla Model Y wrap template guide and the Tesla Model 3 wrap template guide show how to tell versions apart.

Two sizes cover the lineup: 1024 by 1024 pixels for the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X, and 1024 by 768 for the Cybertruck.

Step 2: Make the canvas exactly the template's size

The safest start is to open the template file itself, so the document begins at the right size. If your editor makes you create a canvas first, type the template's pixel size.

Never stretch the template to a different shape. That moves every panel line, and the art lands shifted on the car. If you have to scale it, scale both directions together.

Step 3: Paint on a layer above the template

Keep the template as the bottom layer and put your art above it. Tesla's template is white panels with dark outlines on a see-through background, so a copy set to Multiply on top of your art shows the lines and hides the white.

On a square template, the top is the front bumper and hood, the bottom is the rear, and the left and right edges are the driver's and passenger's sides. The center is the roof, which the car draws as glass whatever you paint there. The Cybertruck lies on its side, front on the left.

Words and figures read upright on the car when their top points toward the center of the template. They look rotated on the flat file. That's correct.

Paint over the outlines and a little past them. Anything outside them never reaches the car, and stopping short can leave a panel edge bare.

Step 4: Hide the template and export a PNG

Turn off the template (and any Multiply copy) before you export, or the outlines get printed onto your car. Export a PNG at the template size. A JPG won't work, and renaming one to .png doesn't convert it. Name the file with letters, numbers, spaces, underscores and dashes only, 30 characters at most.

How do you make a Tesla wrap in Photoshop?

1. File > Open the template PNG. The document is already the right size.
2. Add a layer with Layer > New > Layer and paint there. For outlines on top, duplicate the template layer, drag the copy to the top and set its blend mode to Multiply.
3. Skip the clipping mask. Nothing outside the outlines reaches the car, and art clipped to the template layer vanishes when you hide that layer.
4. Hide both template layers, then File > Export > Export As, format PNG, scale at 100%.

No Photoshop? Photopea is a free browser editor laid out much like it, and the same approach works there.

How do you make a Tesla wrap in Procreate?

1. In the Gallery, tap +, then the custom canvas icon (a rectangle with a small +). Set the units to pixels, enter 1024 by 1024 (1024 by 768 for a Cybertruck) and create it.
2. Add the template with Actions > Add > Insert a file (or Insert a photo). If it doesn't sit flush with the edges, tap the arrow icon, then Fit to Screen, which scales it without changing its shape.
3. Tap the template layer and choose Reference. ColorDrop fills on your other layers then follow the template's lines, a quick way to block in whole panels.
4. Paint on layers above it. Untick the template layer, then Actions > Share > PNG.

How do you make a Tesla wrap in Canva?

1. On the home page, choose Custom size, set the units to px, enter 1024 by 1024 (or 1024 by 768) and create the design.
2. Upload the template under Uploads, drag it onto the page and size it to fill the page edge to edge. Select it and choose Lock.
3. Add shapes, graphics and text above it. To see the outlines under a piece of art, lower that element's transparency while you place it, then set it back.
4. Click the template's padlock to release it and delete it (undo brings it back). Then Share > Download, file type PNG.

On the free plan, Canva downloads at the design's own size. Transparency, compression, the size slider and Limit size are Pro features, per Canva's download help. The white background doesn't matter to Tesla. The file size can.

How do you make a Tesla wrap in GIMP?

1. File > Open the template. The image opens at the template's size.
2. Layer > New Layer, filled with transparency, and paint on that. For outlines on top, duplicate the template layer, raise the copy to the top and set its mode to Multiply in the Layers panel.
3. Click the eye icons to hide the template layers.
4. File > Export As, a name ending in .png, then Export. Leave the compression level at 9: it's lossless, so the only cost is a few seconds.

How do you get the PNG under 1 MB?

Flat color and crisp graphics compress well. Photographs, grain, noise and soft airbrushed gradients don't, and a detailed design can land well over 1 MB.

A 256-color file can band a smooth gradient, so look at it at full size. Going below 256 colors doesn't shrink a PNG further, per GIMP's manual.

Still over? The checker in Step 5 scales the file down evenly, at some cost in detail, or you can rebuild the design in the studio, whose downloads already meet Tesla's rules. If size isn't the problem, the Paint Shop troubleshooting guide covers the other reasons a car skips a file.

Does a Tesla wrap need a transparent background?

No. Tesla's rules ask for a PNG, 512 to 1024 pixels, under 1 MB, with a plain filename, and transparency isn't on the list. Anything outside the panel outlines never reaches the car, so a white background from free Canva is fine. AI wraps from our studio are solid black there.

Inside the outlines, paint every panel edge to edge and leave no see-through holes. Tesla doesn't document what a transparent pixel on a panel looks like, so don't count on it showing your paint color.

Step 5: Check the file before you upload it

Drop the PNG into the free Tesla wrap file checker. It runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, and checks for a real PNG (it reads the bytes, so a renamed JPG is caught), a square or Cybertruck 4:3 shape, 512 to 1024 pixels a side, under 1 MB, and a filename Tesla accepts.

If something fails, one click renames it, converts it or scales it down evenly, to 768 and then 512 pixels if that's what it takes. It never stretches a design, and it can't tell whether the art lines up with your car's panels. That's Step 6.

Step 6: Preview it on the 3D car

Open the studio, pick your exact car and choose Upload Image. A crop window opens with the box locked to the template's shape, so a file at the template size is already covered edge to edge. Press Crop & Apply. On a Model 3, Model Y, Model S or Model X template, the design fills the template exactly and is pinned in place.

Spin the car. Check the nose, the tail and both doors, and make sure words on the sides read upright (what to look for). If something's off, fix it in your editor and export again.

This check only lines up on the square templates: an uploaded 1024 by 768 Cybertruck file doesn't land in the right place on the studio's template. On a Cybertruck, use the 3D preview in the Tesla app before you apply the file (Step 7), or design in the studio directly with the Cybertruck design tutorial. Only want one photo on one panel? See putting a photo on your Tesla wrap.

Step 7: Send it to your Tesla

In the Tesla app, go to Creations > Wrap > Upload, pick the PNG, check the 3D preview, then tap Upload & Apply Wrap. You need Tesla app 4.59.1 or newer and car software 2026.26 or newer (step-by-step with screenshots).

On older software, copy the PNG into a folder named Wraps at the root of a USB drive formatted exFAT, FAT32, ext3 or ext4, never NTFS (the USB tutorial). Either way, the wrap shows up on the car in Toybox > Paint Shop > Wraps. The car holds up to 10 wraps from the app and 10 from USB.

What usually goes wrong?

• The wrong version's template. The design lands shifted at the nose or the tail.
• Exporting at 2x. A scaled export comes out at 2048 pixels, past Tesla's limit.
• Sideways words on the doors. Their tops weren't pointing at the center.

No design software at all? The AI Tesla wrap generator paints a wrap onto your car's template from a sentence.

Made your file? Drop it into the studio and see it on your car before it goes anywhere near the Tesla app.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make a Tesla wrap with Canva's free plan? Yes. Make a custom 1024 by 1024 px design (1024 by 768 for a Cybertruck) over the template and download a PNG. The free plan has no compression, so keep the design flat or fix an oversized file with the wrap checker.

Does a Tesla wrap PNG need a transparent background? No. Tesla's rules don't mention transparency, and anything outside the panel outlines never reaches the car. Inside the outlines, paint every panel fully.

Why is my wrap PNG over 1 MB? Photographic detail, grain and soft gradients compress badly. Cut the colors with Smaller File in Photoshop or Indexed mode in GIMP, simplify textures in Procreate, or let the wrap checker scale it down.

What canvas size do I need for a Cybertruck wrap? 1024 by 768 pixels, landscape. The front of the truck is on the left of the template and the tailgate on the right.