drawing isometric fasteners

[Rick E Johnson]

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?

[Omar.Fathy]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Doug A Roberts]

Hi @Rick E Johnson 

Amazing work. I just got the update.

I wonder if there could be a way of defining a graphic style for the fixings? As it is they seem to take my active stroke colour, but not sure what is defining the fill. It always sets a light grey.

[Rick E Johnson]

Thanks, Doug, I'm glad you like the fasteners. Depending on the fill method in your Draw Settings panel, fasteners will be given a simplified fill of either white or a light cool gray. I'd be happy to work with you to change that, if it's helpful to you. Please contact me through either the https://rj-graffix.com web site or click the Support button in the plugin's About Box. -- Rick