Colorize A CAD Floorplan
ColorCaps needs a high resolution .png image of the CAD drawing. The lines can be black or colored. In this case they are black.
Shown below are two .png plots of the CAD drawing. The first is missing the fine detail that would get in the way of the colorization. The second has only the fine detail:
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The two .png files shown are found in My Documents\ColorCaps\Big PNG. They come with the ColorCaps installation.
Launch ColorCaps and import WilliamsSansDimensions.png using File/Import CAD Lines. It only takes a few seconds. Here's a view of it sitting in ColorCaps with a default gray background.
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Change the background color to yellow. Click Background to get the background setup. Click Palette/Load and select WilhomeSpotColor.pal. The palette will appear at the bottom of the screen:
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Click on the yellow and the background will change:
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Put a gradient lighting layer on top of the background. Click Layer/Lighting Gradient.
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Notice there are now two layers. Select the CAD Layer by clicking on "CAD Layer".
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Darken the wall section cuts. Select the Color Tool to get the color painting controls. Press F4 to get the loaded palette back. Click on the dark bluish gray color. Press the Fill button and click the color into the wall cavities.
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Using the same technique, fill the various rooms with color. Add some related color to the details.
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Add some shadow around the outside of the building to lift it off the background a bit. Select the Lighting Tool to get the lighting controls.
Pick a shadow a few buttons to the right of neutral and paint it on the right and bottom sides. |
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Pick a lighter shadow and paint it on the top and left sides. Select the Lighting Blend button and feather the shadow away from the building.
Also, while you are painting lighting, add some highlights to the window details. |
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Apply a marker effect by clicking Layer/Marker Strokes. The large colored buttons show the colors in the drawing. Press the ones you want to receive the marker strokes. Click Update.
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Load the fine detail .png image by clicking on File/Import CAD Image and selecting WilliamsDimensions.png.
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You're done!
Notice you now have three layers.
It takes us about 10 minutes to go through the steps on this page.
When we plot this at 24 x 36, we get the 1/4 in/ft scale that matches the .dwg file. So it's the same size, scale and detail level that you would get by plotting the .dwg file directly, but now it has color.
The most universal reason for adding color is readability. Save time, mistakes and money with more reliable interpretation of your professional drawings.
The uncolored sample drawing shown is copyrighted by Harkins and Associates, and is shown here as an example of how to colorize CAD drawings.
Copyright 2007 ColorCap Software |
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