Community Corner

A Virtual Beat: Student Creates Local Police Cruiser Skins

Nik Schools, a student at St. Michael's Country Day School in Newport, has used a technique used by video games to simulate Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth police cruisers.

Although some students might not consider police officers “cool,” one 8th grader’s hobby might be able to convince them otherwise. 

Nik Schools, a student at St. Michael's Country Day School in Newport, has used a technique used by video games to simulate Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth police cruisers.

“I started doing the textures because for my school we had to do 20 hours of community service and I helped out at the Portsmouth Fire Department,” said Schools, who turns 14 in February. 

Find out what's happening in Portsmouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At that time, he setup the Portsmouth Fire Department up on Facebook, which the tech savvy student currently manages along with the chief. 

To create his simulations, referred to as skins, Schools uses Photoshop Elements, templates and photos of police cruisers.

Find out what's happening in Portsmouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I started with Portsmouth Police Department, but I didn't like my first texture because I didn't have the right font,” explained Schools. Schools said he challenges himself by increasing the difficulty level of each cruiser he creates.  

His skins have impressed the experts. Officers in the Newport police department remarked his virtual cruisers looks almost identical to the real thing. 

In addition to the local departments, Schools has created skins for the California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles Police Department, Honolulu Police Department and South Kingstown Police Department.

Watch the videos 

  • Curious how Schools makes his skins? Watch his three-minute demonstration here.  
  • Schools has created two skins for the Newport Police Department. The 
    Chevrolet Tahoe and the cruiser
  • Check out his other skins here.  

 

 


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