When we set out to bring textbooks to iPad, there were really three areas we focused on: we wanted to have really fast, fluid navigation, we wanted to have beautiful graphics, we wanted to create an easier way to take notes.

—Roger Rosner, VP Productivity Applications, Apple

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJxZG2Nv4KA

Apple also released a free iBooks authoring suite, iBooks Author. This application enables anyone to write, design, create interactive modules, and publish a book to the iBooks store for sale.

While I’m not sure that the iPad is a more durable medium than paper for kindergardeners through high school students (could you see yourself in your garage with a iHaynes manual?), this is certainly an encouraging development for our trade. It demonstrates that people learn best, are enthusiastic about learning, when information is presented in a highly visual, immersive way.

The choice of graphics shown might also be a signal that if you’re not dabbling in 3D, motion and interactivity yet, it might be a good time to start. Remember, every threat is also an opportunity.

• Part 1: Hans Jenssen
• Part 2: Frank Soltesz and L. Ashell Wood
• Part 3: Yoshihiro Inomoto
• Part 4: Stephen Biesty
• Part 5: Graham Bleathman
• Part 6: Christopher & Matt Cushman
• Part 7: Richard Chasemore
• Part 8: The Das Brothers & Roger Stewart

Brett wrote in looking for a way to accomplish a diamond grip pattern wrapping around a cylinder, like the one shown above. It’s easy enough to trace a photo, but what if you didn’t have one, or it wasn’t at the right angle?

The technique I’d use is similar to mapping a label to a can.

1. Create the artwork you’ll need. The diamond pattern matches the angle and density of the original. The black circle is the same diameter as the reference part, and is filled with no stroke.

2. Make the pattern a symbol. Drag the pattern into the Symbols palette.

3. Extrude the circle. Go to Effects > 3D > Extrude & Bevel. Click the Surface dropdown at the bottom and select Wireframe. This will help you orient the cylinder to the desired angle. I usually start by entering 0° for all the rotation angles, then rotating one axis at a time by grabbing the edges of the preview cube.

You may need to reposition your cylinder to line up better with a reference image. To do this, Click OK, move the cylinder as needed, then open your Appearance pallete and double click on the 3D Extrude & Bevel item. You may need to turn Preview back on.

When you’re happy with your geometry, click Map Art…

4. Map Art. Click through the Surfaces to find the rectangular side surface. Then select your pattern from the Symbol drop down. Next, select Scale To Fit at the bottom and check off Invisible Geometry. Click OK.

5. Change Surface to Flat Shading. Click OK. You can now edit the artwork as needed by going to Object > Expand Appearance. In my example, I changed the yellow fill to white, then drew the rest of the lineart on another layer.

Have a common problem in Illustrator? Let us know in the comments, or email it to suggest@technicalillustrators.org!

Often the most difficult and time consuming part of technical illustration is finding good reference material. While the internet serves up a limitless selection of images, finding one at an appropriate size, fidelity, viewing angle, and unambiguous copyright status, can be next to impossible.

Sometimes it’s much quicker to simply step away from your desk and go snap a photo of whatever you need. Of course, this isn’t practical if you’re drawing a submarine or a satellite, but it can help if you’re trying to fill a scene with commonplace objects.

Where it gets tricky is matching your photo reference up to the rest of the drawing. We’ve all seen drawings badly traced and assembled together from photos taken at different angles. We can recognize this because we understand perspective. So let’s apply that understanding when shooting our own photos.

Shooting Isometric Photos with an iPhone

They say that the best camera is the one you have with you (You can’t take a photo with a camera that’s not with you). For me, that’s my iPhone. But the other reason I’m using an iPhone is that it’s a smart phone and, of course, smart phones have apps.

One app in particular, BlendCamPLite (Free!), makes this process easier. It’s intended to composite multiple photos together like layers in Photoshop. But it also lets you load a photo from your library and use it as an overlay while shooting a new photo. There may be similar apps for Android, or better iPhone apps than this one, let me know!

1. To begin, get the app, then load this isometric grid into your iPhone photo library (put it in a folder and then tell iTunes to sync that folder).

2. Next, launch BlendCamPLite and press Add New.

3. Select Load from photo albums.

4. Select the isometric grid in your iPhone photo library. Then press Add New again.

5. This time select Take a photo.

6. Set up your object. Because of its irregular shape, I placed a card under mine to help align it to the grid. Select Overlap.

7. Select either Overlap a photo or Overlap a thin photo. The difference is the opacity of the overlay.

8. Voila, you can now move your camera (or object) around until it matches the grid. Press the camera icon to take the photo.

9. The app will return to the main screen and the results may not be what you expected. Select the top layer.

10. Select Darkness priority. This acts like Multiply in Photoshop.

11. That looks better. If you’re happy, select Preview & Save.

12. Select Save.

13. The photo AND the composite will be saved to your Camera Roll. Press OK.

And there you have it:

Of course the photo isn’t truly isometric, things still converge into the distance out here in meatspace. The iPhone’s wide-angle lens will emphasize that perspective, so for the best results move back as far as possible from the object and then zoom in. You should be able to get a close enough angle and then correct for any distortions when you start tracing in Illustrator.

Shooting On-Angle Photos with a Point-and-Shoot or DSLR

The same thing could be accomplished on a point-and-shoot camera or DSLR by printing out our handy isometric grid or your perspective lineart onto tracing paper, then taping that to the LCD screen. You may have to tape the tracing paper to another sheet of paper to get it through the printer in one piece. (Frankly, I’d rather stand outside shooting 100 photos and hope one of them matches than do all that.)

UPDATE: GazVezir wrote in to tell me that this can be accomplished on Android devices with Camera Zoom FX ($4.99). I don’t have an Android to test this, so your mileage may vary.

Do you shoot your own reference material? Any tips or tricks to share? Let us know in the comments! 

Iaroslav Lazunov has a great tutorial over on Astute Graphics’ blog on how to create proper gears in Adobe Illustrator. This tutorial makes use of the plugin VectorScribe, but the same results could be achieved with Illustrator’s default tools with some extra steps.

An important distinction is made here: Proper Gear. Most gears that show up in illustrations and icons would not work with any efficiency and some would just shred to bits. While you wouldn’t necessarily 3D print these and use them, you’ll end up with something that at least looks like it would work (unlike the failboat below).

Also included in the tutorial is a way to accomplish conical gradients in Illustrator (unfortunately the technique is extremely convoluted).

Check out the tutorial!

I thought I’d share what I’ve learned using Astute Graphics’ VectorScribe plugin for Adobe Illustrator (previously) over the past few months. I’ve put together a bit of a demo video highlighting some key features of the suite that I’ve found helpful.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AydOgXNnQjs

This only scratches the surface—As mentioned in the video, be sure to check out Astute’s video tutorials to learn about all the features in detail. I think this package is a great, feature-rich and intuitive extension to Illustrator’s toolkit.

If you’re using VectorScribe or have tried the demo, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Peter Beach, a technical illustrator with over 25 years of freelance experience, wrote in to share his blog The Business of Freelancing Creative. There Peter has a wealth of wisdom, including his 21 Practical Tips to a successful illustration career, and candid essays on finding your niche, work-for-hire, copyright, pricing and stock illustration.

I’ve only started reading through, but it’s already proving to be a valuable resource for those considering a career of freelance and seasoned professionals alike.

If you have a site or resource to share, please visit the Suggest page.

Steve Brodner summed the whole thing up best:

One more thing I tell my students: if [clients] pay you like shit, they treat you like shit.

It might be a good time to review our tips on pricing technical illustration.

Have a similar horror story? Let us know if you can relate in the comments.

Greg Maxson just announced that his book The Complete Technical Illustrator [previously] is now available for purchase as a PDF eBook:

Originally published internationally by McGraw-Hill, this 500-page full-color text is a comprehensive look at vector-based technical illustration. Several software products are featured including Adobe Illustrator and Autodesk’s AutoCAD and 3ds Max, but the procedures and approaches are easily transferred to CorelDRAW, inkScape, Maya, and Blender, among other graphic tools. This text also features numerous illustration tips and case studies of illustration taken directly from business, industry, and commerce. Written in a conversational manner and full of explanations, The Complete Technical Illustrator is a welcome addition to your illustration resources.

Dr. Jon M. Duff has written about and taught technical illustration for forty years and is Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Arizona State University. Greg Maxson has been a professional technical illustrator for over two decades and operates his own studio in Urbana, Illinois.

The Complete Technical Illustrator by Greg Maxson & Jon Duff [$20]

Check out this huge collection of vintage science and technical illustrations from various Russian books. Great rocket-aged inspiration. Warning: animated GIF background.

Science Illustration via @CarlWiens