I click around the image, making a very boxy version, and then I use the direct selection tool to select individual anchor points and smooth them into curves. If I find a color photo of something I like, like this ornate door, I draw over it using the pen tool. If I find a good black and white clip art image, I can use the image trace function to turn it into a vector drawing. I look through online images of real buildings and also free clip art libraries to find motifs I like. For this example, I have decided to use an art deco flavor for the building. The really fun part of designing a scale model is creating some of the design elements that will drive the overall look and feel of the model. I use green for important references, for laying things out, and for 'virtual testing' which I will talk about later.

Three colors will be used in my drawing: RGB red is a cut line on my laser, RGB Blue is a vector engraving line and RGB green is a line that I can use in my drawings but will not effect the laser. Transform (for changing the dimensions of shapes)Īnd of course, the Layers window is essential. Pathfinder (for creating custom shapes) I've created my own workspace that has the windows I most frequently use: I set 'snap to grid' on, but I will be toggling this setting on and off frequently, so I know the keyboard shortcut for doing that (shift ctrl '). I make sure the colors of the grid lines are easily visible. For example, the plywood I typically use for models is 1/8' thick, so most of the slots I create are 1/8' thick. I turn on the grid and set the grid subdivisions to 8 because much of my work is done in 1/8' increments. I set the color model to RGB, because that is what my laser cutter recognizes (as opposed to CMYK, which is used for printing). You can also make this size match the materials you will be using, for example 12' x 12' plywood sheets. I make the drawing 24' by 18' because that is the size of my laser cutter bed.

Since I am designing a model that I will be executing using inches for my physical dimensions, I use inches for my drawing scale. The first thing you will need to do is create your drawing and organize your workspace.

3d shapes illustrator