Quick Keys: Rendering an AutoCAD drawing in Photoshop

By Ashley Calabria,University of Georgia, Athens Graphic Arts instructor

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Quick key articles are here to serve professionals in the field of landscape architecture, explaining in simple terms, basic computer skills. This is part 2 of a three-part article which takes the reader through the steps of: Part 1?EUR??,,????'?????<
There are some new things to keep in mind for this section of the article. Rendered objects on layers in Photoshop appear in the same hierarchy as they appear in the layers palette. For instance, a tree rendered on a layer but appearing beneath a shrub layer in the palette will look like the shrub is floating above tree. All you have to do is click and drag the tree layer in the palette to be above the shrub layer for it to be seen over it.

Another important step to remember is to NOT render on the base layer. It makes alterations more difficult. Layer management is very important. It would be wise to think of the items you plan on rendering and creating layers for them prior to starting.Layers named with shadows will have a drop shadow applied to those layers. The automatic effect of drop shadow is applied to everything in that layer.

One final thing to remember is that Photoshop will read the black lines of the drawing as a selectable area. If you want a line to show through a rendered object, the line needs to be unselected, so it won?EUR??,,????'?????<
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AutoCAD allows you to customize your layer palette. This sample will have the following list of layers: trees with shadows, blue trees, under story trees with shadows, under story trees, shrubs with shadows, shrubs, paving, water, turf, ground cover, house, patio and gazebo.

Setting up the Layers

Go to the arrow (palette menu) in the layers palette and select ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Selection Options and Rendering

 
There are several ways to select areas that will be rendered. This article will review the most widely used methods for selection; elliptical marquee, magnetic lasso and the magic wand.

Elliptical Marquee

The elliptical marquee is excellent for selecting circular objects like simple tree shapes. It will be used to select the large tree in the bottom left corner of the drawing. First, zoom into the area of the object using the zoom tool and click on the area to work on. The magnifying glass will have a plus sign in it. If you zoom too close hold down the ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Make sure you are on the base layer. Select the elliptical marquee by selecting on the upper left icon of the tool bar and selecting elliptical marquee tool.

Click starting from one side of a circle and drag an ellipse across a tree symbol. Holding down the shift key while dragging will turn the ellipse into a circle. Holding down the space bar at the same time allows the circle to move so it is more aligned with the shape of the object. Stay inside the black line of the circle. If the selection isn?EUR??,,????'?????<
Change to the layer that the selected object will be rendered on by selecting that layer in the layer palette. In this sample, the large tree rendering will go in the layer named ?EUR??,,????'?????<

After being selected from the plant palette, this large tree (green circle) is about to be placed on this layer or any other layer from the layer palette on the right.

Using the Paint Bucket and brush to render

Select the paint bucket tool. This will fill the entire selection area with a solid color.

To select a color, click on the foreground color tool.

Scroll up the color bar and then select in the color box a light green. It is a good idea to start light and then go darker with the brush.

Once the color is selected, choose ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Now use the air brush to highlight the sunny side and darken the shadow side of the tree.

Select the airbrush tool.

Up by the paint brush options, select a large textured brush like the ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Change the foreground color to a lighter color. This sample will use a light yellow to highlight the sunny side of the tree.

Now go back and select a darker foreground color to shade the shadow side of the tree. Select as many colors as you want to blend the two sides together.

Change the opacity of this layer so that items below it can be seen as well.

Once the rendering is finished, add a shadow to the layer by going to ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Select different shadows to see their effects and find one that works for the drawing.

Once the tree and shadow are done, go to ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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