Matt Lorenzi here from New Westminster, BC...formerly from Calgary. I'm in a few things right now: graphic / web design, technical writing and illustration. Wish I could focus on just one, but not quite enough work coming my way to be choosy. A few of my most detailed illustrations are motorcycles.....

This is an interesting discussion about line weight, I won't highjack the thread, but when would you consider different thicknesses of line weight? My thoughts, if the object is small, let's say a hand-held sized item, there's not much gained in having thicker lines. As the object becomes bigger and...

I see this was already asked by Stevenwhoward, but what the hell...

I've heard of it...not sure if it's good/bad, but I guess it is free. That is why I ask...
http://www.blender.org/

No doubt some of you will have seen an interactive CAD file embedded in a PDF. By that I mean, when you click on the object within Adobe Reader, it loads a 3D version of the object. You can then rotate the object 360 degrees, and choose a host of other viewing options...very cool! Do any of you know...

Just revisited this thread as it has come up with a perspective client I am meeting with tomorrow. I like what James put in about building in a bit of a premium if fully giving up rights to the work. That said, the work will likely be quite specific to the client's product that there is little chanc...

I've looked at those too....pretty cool, and I can see those saving a lot of time.

Jim, just checking out some of your work again. You ever dabble with any 3D programs for your work? You sound like a straight-up Adobe kinda guy, but you produce nothing short of beautiful work. You mentioned in one of my threads to "just draw it"....good advice, but surely you have some short-cuts....

Jhatch, you are probably right.
Usually do the same thing...but might have a few elements that need wood texture, so would be nice to reuse.

Does anyone have tips or tricks on the best way to create wood grain in Illustrator?
I'm thinking either using a pattern fill or a pattern brush, but which is more scalable?
There are probably wood grain "plugins" out there, but would rather create my own.