Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop [Paperback]

Scott Onstott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782143865 | ISBN-13: 978-0782143867 | Publication Date: January 21, 2005

"If you're an architect looking to get the most out of Photoshop, look no further! Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop is a killer book."
—George Omura, Author, Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005

Bring Your CAD Drawings to Life Using Artistic Photoshop Techniques

Most architects find that traditional CAD drawings are not the ideal medium for sharing their visions with clients. For an untrained eye, it's difficult to imagine a complex design by simply viewing a line drawing. Fortunately, you can use Adobe Photoshop to enliven CAD drawings and improve graphical communications.

Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop is the first book to demonstrate how you can use Photoshop to transform CAD drawings into dynamic, attractive presentational pieces that speak to everyone. First, you'll master the basic Photoshop concepts and tools. Then you delve into sophisticated illustrating and compositing techniques. Practical tutorials lead you step-by-step through each process, and a full-color insert featuring before-and-after images is certain to inspire you with ideas and solutions. While appealing to the artist in you, this unique book will empower you to win bids and wow clients.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Plan your work flow to ensure consistent color printing
• Work in the digital darkroom and hone your retouching skills
• Extract entourage objects from photographs and use them in architectural illustrations, renderings, plans, and elevations
• Enhance your line drawings with color, pattern, gradient, transparency, and shadows
• Dress up basic elevations using Photoshop's layer style effects, reflection and refraction, and entourage
• Transfer 3D objects from Autodesk VIZ into image layers in Photoshop
• Make objects look realistic using layers and clipping groups
• Transform 3D models into pencil sketches, watercolors, and paintings
• Share your digital work with your clients via prints, e-mail, the Web, and slideshows
• Protect and catalog your intellectual property

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"If you're an architect looking to get the most out of Photoshop, look nofurther! Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop is a killer book."
George Omura, Author, Mastering AutoCAD 2005 andAutoCAD LT 2005

Bring Your CAD Drawings to Life UsingArtistic Photoshop Techniques

Most architects find that traditionalCAD drawings are not the ideal medium for sharing their visions with clients. Foran untrained eye, it's difficult to imagine a complex design by simply viewing aline drawing. Fortunately, you can use Adobe Photoshop to enliven CAD drawingsand improve graphical communications.

Enhancing CAD Drawings withPhotoshop is the first book to demonstrate how you can use Photoshop totransform CAD drawings into dynamic, attractive presentational pieces that speakto everyone. First, you'll master the basic Photoshop concepts and tools. Thenyou delve into sophisticated illustrating and compositing techniques. Practicaltutorials lead you step-by-step through each process, and a full-color insertfeaturing before-and-after images is certain to inspire you with ideas andsolutions. While appealing to the artist in you, this unique book will empoweryou to win bids and wow clients.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

Plan your work flow to ensure consistent color printing

Workin the digital darkroom and hone your retouching skills

Extract entourageobjects from photographs and use them in architectural illustrations, renderings,plans, and elevations

Enhance your line drawings with color, pattern,gradient, transparency, and shadows

Dress up basic elevations usingPhotoshop's layer style effects, reflection and refraction, andentourage

Transfer 3D objects from Autodesk VIZ into image layers inPhotoshop

Make objects look realistic using layers and clippinggroups

Transform 3D models into pencil sketches, watercolors, andpaintings

Share your digital work with your clients via prints, e-mail, the Web, and slideshows

Protect and catalog your intellectual property

About the Author

Architect Scott Onstott is a consultant, former university CAD professor, and a long-time Sybex contributor in authoring and technical editing roles. He most recently co-authored our Mastering VIZ 2006 book. He also publishes CAD-related video learning courses, including Photoshop for Architects.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (January 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782143865
• ISBN-13: 978-0782143867
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #685,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I went to college at UC Berkeley and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1992. I began my career doing manual drafting and soon transitioned to AutoCAD. I discovered that I enjoyed using computers and fully embraced the change technology brought to Architecture.

I gained experience in several prominent engineering, architecture and interiors firms in San Francisco. I worked as Draftsman, CAD Designer, Job Captain, Animator, and Programmer before becoming an independent consultant. I taught over 45 semester courses at three Bay Area colleges and have now written and edited dozens of technical computer books.

In 2003 my wife and I moved to Canada where we enjoy living on a remote island in beautiful British Columbia.

I do not work for the companies whose software I teach. Having an independent perspective makes all the difference, giving me objective insight into programs' strengths and weaknesses.

Being fluent in many diverse programs gives me a broad knowledge base which helps me uncover interesting and efficient ways to use software packages together.

Having professionally known 3D software since the early 1990s, I (mostly) remember the jumps and starts in its evolution--I like to think this knowledge gives me an edge in prognosticating its future.

Finally, teaching over a thousand students in real classrooms has taught me how important context and timing are in assimilating new information, and hopefully this experience informs my teaching style.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant book, June 22, 2005

By 

Roger Macon (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop (Paperback)

I am very very pleased with this book. It is exactly what I have been looking for. I first purchased a DVD by the same author called *Photoshop for Architects* which I felt was so well done that I decided to buy the book. Having both is a real asset for they work in unison. Buying the book and the DVD, in my opinion, is a necessity. Each stands alone but they compliment each other. The DVD provides comprehensive coverage without going into every small detail. The book parallels the same information on the DVD but goes into greater detail. I am Architecturally educated but with limited computer experience and I have only recently purchased a first ADOBE product which is ADOBE CS. I imagine this book would be an excellent tool for anyone new to PS no matter what the intended use of PS will eventually be. The book starts with some general, but relevant, tech info without scientific overload. It step by step moves one through a real project from beginning to end so you learn most of the tools, how to set things up, various ways of accomplishing the same things and what to do in finishing out a project. I consider the presentation style to be superb for learning.

I am currently working my way through a real project and learning a lot which has not easily come together for me, in total, when reading other books which explain how to do this or that little thing but seem unrelated, in a comprehensive way, to a total project of substance. Working from and by referencing back to the CD that comes with the book and the separately available DVD, I feel that I have more quickly learned and also taken an interest in certain important basics. I have learned many tools very quickly, discovered alternate ways of doing things (plus reason why) which causes me to realize the value of investigating multiple PS capabilities, reasons for things needing to be done in specific ways and the limitations of doing things in cetain ways etc. I like the fact that I can use the book and DVD to step through a real project from beginning to completion.

This book and DVD is the best and most enjoyable learning tool I have found for learning PS and I have looked at many and purchased all from Adobe that relate to each part of Adobe CS. What this author offers is exactly what we have been looking for and I am hoping he will be creating similar documents for Adobe Illustrator and other Adobe products (for Architects) as our interest and abilities develop. If anything better exist I sure would like to know what it is.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but ..., June 21, 2007

By 

Michael F. Kennedy (Roanoke, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop (Paperback)

First of all, if your life involves CAD and Photoshop, you should probably buy this book: It's very useful. Part of the reason it's useful is because there are not a lot books on this subject.

One of the greatest features about this book is its greatest flaw: the enclosed LISP program that turns AutoCad layers into Photoshop layers. What promise that has! It works great with the tiny 8.5 x11 drawings on the enclosed disc. But when you try to use that with a real drawing, say in 36" by 24" format, the drawing crashes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Meh., May 26, 2009

By 

William T. Stattman (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop (Paperback)

I'm a little disappointed with this book. I got it as an architecture student looking for some inspiration and helpful tips on producing better drawings. Unfortunately, this book focuses more on technical aspects than graphic ideas. Only a few pages are in color, and there's even a section on tweaking image color that uses black and white images as examples(!). It covers a lot of things I already know about photoshop and provides lots of useless information that won't actually enhance my work.

Many of the examples aren't 'Architectural' and come off as cheesy, I'd be ashamed to pin some of them up. This is not 'Architecture' with a capitol A, this is the kind of stuff I'd expect to see at the open house for a cheap cookie cutter housing development. In fact, I'd consider many of the 'enhanced' plans to be inferior to the original CAD drawings. Lastly, Adobe Illustrator should really be included. Its a crucial link between AutoCAD and Photoshop and this book ignores it. I'll use this thing as a reference periodically when I'm in need of technical assistance, but I wouldn't recommend it. When you already know what you want your drawings to look like this book could help you with the software, but it will not teach you how to produce good work!