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Quick Keys: Rendering an AutoCAD drawing in Photoshop - Part 311-01-04 | Department

Quick Keys: Rendering an AutoCAD drawing in Photoshop

Part 3 - Rendering in Photoshop

By Ashley Calabria

Quick key articles are here to serve professionals in the field of landscape architecture, explaining in simple terms, basic computer skills. This is part three of a four-part article which takes the reader through the steps of: Part One?EUR??,,????'?????<

Magic Wand Tool



When the magic wand is used to select an area it will also select a similar range of colors adjacent to the selected pixel. This range is specified by the tolerance, which is labeled in the menu bar after selecting the magic wand. If you want a more refined selection, set the tolerance number lower. If you want to select a broader range of colors (or area) set the tolerance number higher. Since we are selecting areas that are white or black, the default tolerance of 32 can be left alone.

Go back to the Base layer. With the magic wand selected, select the area to be rendered. This sample will render the set of shrubs along the bottom of the drawing. Notice that if the area selected has a black line running through it, the selection runs along the selected side of the black line. Hold down the shift key and select the other side of the symbol that is needed. If you select something that shouldn?EUR??,,????'?????<
Change to the layer that this will be rendered on, and choose the paint bucket. Change the foreground color then pick inside the area that is selected. Again use the paintbrush to darken the shadow side of the shrubs or lighten the sunny side of the shrubs. This sample used the airbrush tool and selected a soft round 65 brush under the brush selections. Add shadows to the layer if needed.

Once the area rendered is finished, go to Select then Deselect and go back to the Base Layer.




Upon bringing an AutoCAD drawing into Photoshop, some of the small trees in this image were created using a layer style called ?EUR??,,????'?????<


Magnetic Lasso Tool

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The magnetic lasso tool selects along a line. The line selection is actually a color differentiation between pixels. Magnetic lasso reads between different color pixels. This sample will use the magnetic lasso to select the large groundcover area along the front of the property. Zoom into your area and pick a point along the inside edge of the area needed, then start dragging the lasso along the inside edge of the shape. Finish out the selection even if you make a mistake by looping back to where you began. If you miss something you need to add, go back and hold down the shift key while you encircle the area needed to add. If you get something that you don?EUR??,,????'?????<

Similar to the previous method, change to the layer that this will be rendered on, select the paint bucket, change the foreground color, then select inside the area. Using a brush, add some texture to the foliage and in this sample we will use a soft round size five brush to add the flowers along the edges. You can lower the opacity as well to show the effect of the lines beneath the rendering.

When finished rendering, go to Select then Deselect.




The gazebo in this image was rendered with a linear gradient going from foreground color to background color. The pavers were painted with a solid color from the paint bucket. The under story trees, larger trees and rock were all rendered with the paint bucket and airbrushes (you can also try using the soft round 65 brush). The opacity was lowered on some to help see underneath them.


Using a Color Gradient



The color gradient will be used for rendering both the pond and the turf area. Zoom into the area for the gradient. Make sure you are on the Base layer. This sample will use the magic wand to select the pond area first. After your selection, change to the layer for rendering, in this sample it will be the water layer. Click on the gradient tool icon.

Under the gradient picker, select a gradient that will go from a foreground to background colors. We will also use a radial gradient. Make sure it is highlighted. Select a light blue foreground color and a darker blue background color with the color picker. Then click and drag from the center of the object, in this case the pond, out to the edge of the pond.

Now you can do the same process with a turf area but first, turn off all the layers that have a rendering on them so that the selection process is much easier. If you don?EUR??,,????'?????<



The gazebo in this image was rendered with a linear gradient going from foreground color to background color. The pavers were painted with a solid color from the paint bucket. The under story trees, larger trees and rock were all rendered with the paint bucket and airbrushes (you can also try using the soft round 65 brush). The opacity was lowered on some to help see underneath them.


Using Copy and Paste to render many trees that are alike.



If there are many trees on a drawing that are can be rendered alike and that are the same size all you need to do is render one as mentioned in one of the above processes. Then with the tree still selected, go to Edit, then Copy. Go back to Edit, then Paste, and using the move tool just move the rendered tree to the other ones that match.

Notice also, that when you copy and paste a tree, it makes a separate layer for it called layer one. In the layers palette, go to the arrow and select merge down. This way all the same trees will be on the same layer. If you want them on separate layers, simply double click on the layer one and you can rename it.

Using all the commands above, you are capable of finishing a simple drawing.

Remember the drawing shown and explained is a very simply rendered plan. I hope this article gives you the courage to really have fun with all the benefits Photoshop has to offer as an easy, creative program that?EUR??,,????'?????<



Article author, Ashley Calabria, AutoCAD expert and graphics design instructor, University of Georgia, Athens









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