AutoCAD 2002 -> Illustrator (How can I keep drawings to scale) ?

[mzagorski]

I am trying to import from DWG files into Adobe Illustrator 10 so that I can add blocks of colour for glass etc. I can do this in Photoshop but creating layers behind the CAD lines, then adding colour with the fill tool.

 

Is there a way that I can use AutoCAD 2002, Illustrator 10, Photoshop 7 to get colour and do the following:

 

1) Maintain the drawing scale for final print out.

 

2) Somehow get AutoCAD lines weights to show... so that I dont have to change them manually. I use a lineweight by colour plotstyle just now.

 

3) I want the final print to be hi-res so that I get nice crips prints!

 

Mike

 

[ January 11, 2003, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: mzagorski ]

[Christian Miranda]

Illustrator doesn´t recognize lineweight. Here goes the process:

 

1. Prepare your drawing in Autocad.

2. Draw a rectangle the size of your final output format, let´s say A1 or A0, etc.

3. Insert your drawing on the rectangle.

4. Save the drawing as .dxf.

5. Create a document in Illustrator the same size of your already drawn reactangle. Import it into Illustrator and scale the rectangle along with all your drawing to the final output size/format.

 

That way you can mantain the drawing´s scale in Illustrator, after finishing the drawing in Illustrator, just export it (at your desired print size and resolution) to Photoshop.

 

I hope it helps.

[kid]

Hello, me again

 

If you plot to .pdf file your line weights will be translated too, so Illustrator will be most helpful there. I've not had much luck with importing dwg files into Illustrator as far as scale goes.

 

What I usually do when doing more presentational graphics is to try to keep the scales as close to 1:100, 1:50, 1:20, etc as I can, but instead of labelling the drawings with the exact scale I put a scale bar on each drawing, so if it's not exactly at a scale of 1:100 it's not going to matter too much, but if it's just design concept illustration then how exact does it need to be.

[mzagorski]

Hi Guys,

 

Christian - after I posted that msg last night, I realised that I'd plotted to PDF from AutoCAD in the past... I've just got to sort out some damn bug because I can only get Acrobat Writer to work... and not Distiller - which I think gives better output, and can go to larger sizes / higher resolution.

 

Anyone got tips on adding colour once I've got the PDF - either in Illustrator or Photoshop?... Flash works well for this.. but that loses my scale.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[Christian Miranda]

Mike,

 

Sorry, I´ve not used Adobe Acrobat with Autocad yet.

 

That solution that I presented has been the most flexible for me. You can export from Illustrator at any size/resolution. But it does require preparation work: You have to export closed polylines from Autocad.

[kid]

Here's a bit of a school project. I drew it 2D in AutoCAD then plotted to .pdf file. The linetypes and thicknesses were translated to Illustrator but I did a bit of tweaking to get more legible print.

 

The different shades were applied in Illustrator. I locked the linework layer, then on a layer underneath drew shapes filled with the different colours.

 

If you were to import the pdf into photoshop then you can set the linework layer to Multiply mode, make a new layer (or several layers) underneath for the colours. What I do is on the linework layer use the magic wand tool to select the areas I want to fill then got to the colour layer underneath and fill with the desired colour. I do it on seperate layers so the linework will always be intact, and if you want to do some colour shifts/corrections the linework is not affected.

 

Picture

 

Just ignore the trap door in the floor, it was a treehouse or something

[mzagorski]

Hey KID... thats cool - exactly what I was wanting to do in my other posting that you first replied to ) ... How did you get 3D into Illustratoe? I tried that last night but it just imported an orthoganl view.. I even tried changing the UCS before import but it never worked for me.

 

Nice Work!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[kid]

That one wasn't 3D, just axonometric line drawings done in AutoCAD, much quicker in this case.

 

But if you want to plot perspective/camera views of a 3D model to file I think it might be easier to set the views up in Paperspace by bringing the camera views up in viewports, remembering that perspective views are not to scale anyway.

 

EDIT: Just had a look at your site Mike. Nice cycling photos and stuff. It seems everyone has a bike but there's not a whole lot of poeple who take cycling seriously. I don't get as much riding done as I used to and I'm getting a bit soft and squishy with university and work taking up most of my time. Hope you get your Elite license. My little pushbike

 

[ January 11, 2003, 07:24 AM: Message edited by: kid ]

[nisus]

ps8? (Isn't that supposed to be launched only autumn 2003???)

[mzagorski]

Correct Nisus... my bad. It was there to check if anyone would notice. Congratulations - you win the competition. Unfortunately... points dont mean prizes here

[Jim Kessler]

There is also a little known plugin for Adobe Illustrator called CAD Gate which will import dwgs to a selected scale.

 

Applicraft $199

[Island J]

Plotting to scale to an eps works for me. Then I can go Illustrator or Photoshop and the image will be to scale. This option also lets me have control over the resolution of the image as it is opened in photoshop. then magic wand, rectangle, layer, colour, etc.