Illustrator Lineweights Assignment

This assignment is supposed to just introduce the idea of lightweights and AutoCAD.  You can download AutoCAD from the Autodesk website but be forewarned- the download will take a while.  Also, all the lab computers in the architecture building and university library computers should have AutoCAD.

You were instructed to choose a building from a book that I gave in class.  If you need to find the book, it is called "Great Buildings of the 20th Century."  On the white-board in class, there is the call number and all the information you will need to look up the book.

In the book is a CD.  It is in this CD that you will copy the .DWG  file from the appropriate folder index that is located on the last page of the book.

Open this file in AutoCAD.

We are only going to be interested in the section for this assignment.  Make sure you understand how to read the sections.

First things first, select the section in AutoCAD and type "explode."  If your AutoCAD file has fills or poches select them and delete them.  They will not look right when you put them into Illustrator.

To transition into Illustrator just select your section in CAD, then copy it.  Go to Illustrator (make sure you have a new file 11x17) and simply paste your section.

If you have a tall building or a shape that would easier to read in portrait, do that.  (for example a skyscraper or multi-rise)

Now that its in Illustrator use appropriate line-weights.  The section lines should be one of the thickest stroke values.  The other lines and objects in the section should use strokes that are appropriate to how close or far they are.  So lines that are close should have thicker line-weights than those lines that are far in the section.

Also, be sure to fill in the section plane- I think a grey is always nicer than a black fill, but up to you.  To do this, select what you want to fill and "live paint bucket" them.


Here is the example (below) I did in class and you should be aiming towards this type of drawing.  The gradient fill is not required but can add nice touch to simple drawings.  To do this create a simple box and then use the gradient tools around the stroke and layers.  Double click the small boxes of the gradient to change the color from the default black.  You can add entourage if you want, if you do though, use simple outlines of people, not full color people.  You can find tons of stuff like this online.

Here's a link to learn everything about gradients:
 http://klethegr8.blogspot.com/2008/09/adobe-illustrator-cs3-tutorial_29.html