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Rick E Johnson
Rick E Johnson
Inspiring
September 13, 2023
Question

drawing isometric fasteners

  • September 13, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1241 views

What methods to other technical illustrators use to draw isometric fasteners in Adobe Illustrator? Using AxoTools, it's relatively easy to project flat art and assemble isometric views, but for fasteners and other small hardware I keep a clipart file open to copy fasteners, then paste, rotate, and scale as needed. Is there an easier way?

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1 reply

Omar.Fathy
Community Expert
Omar.FathyCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 16, 2023

You can also use the isometric grid. You can make it yourself or download it from anywhere.

After drawing lines, you can convert it to guides. View> Guide> make guides.

Rick E Johnson
Rick E JohnsonAuthor
Inspiring
September 16, 2023

Thanks for responding, Omar. I rarely find grids useful unless I'm making a diagram. In my work I need more precise control so I use AxoTools. For things like nuts and bolts, however, when I draw a new fastener I save a copy in a clipart file that I refer to later as needed. Much of it goes back to the late 1980s!

I know a lot of technical illustrators have switched to some kind of CAD or 3D app for this kind of work, but I haven't seen one of them that matches Illustrator's quality, especially for a comparable cost. It seems to be mostly a matter of choosing the part, then scaling and rotating it, so I'll take it as a challenge to find a way to simplify it to a few clicks.

    Rick E Johnson
    Rick E JohnsonAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 21, 2023

    Since there is apparently no better method for fasteners than clipart, I came up with a solution.

     

     

    In the panel, you choose which pieces you need, then either click a button or swipe with a tool. Unlike clipart, it's dynamically created so it works for any projection, not just isometric.

     

    https://rj-graffix.com/downloads/plugins/#axotools

     

    I hope this makes it easier for people to do this kind of work in Illustrator, rather than some clumsy engineering app.

     

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