AUTOCAD to Illustrator TutorialA quick overview on how to import CAD drawings to Illustratortips on how to enhance drawing using some of the techniques you already know

• We start with our drawings in CAD.

• The first thing to do is set up a paper space layout.

• Click on the paper space tab (Layout1 or 2) to switch to paper space. Right click the tab then

select “Page Setup Manager...” In the menu that pops up select “Modify”.

• If you don’t have a viewport already, you can set up new ones by typing “Viewports” and hitting enter. This will make the viewport menu pop up

• In this tutorial I’ll use 4 viewports. Select “4: Equal”. Click OK.

• On paper space click in the top left corner and bottom right corner. Four viewports should appear.

• The Viewport can be set in a non-print layer, however the box can be deleted in Illustrator so you don't have to worry about it too much.

• Rotate the viewports so that all the elevations are upright. Set the scale for each of the of the viewports. Use construction lines (Xline) to line up everything.

AUTOCAD to Illustrator Tutorial

• Resize the viewports to hide any extraneous lines.

• To set the scale of the image in the viewport, double click on the viewport. The frame of the viewport will become bold.

• In the ribbon on the bottom right select the the scale icon and choose a scale that best fits the viewport from the pop-up list.

• the standard scales are: 1/2” = 1’ for smaller projects1/4” = 1’ for mediumprojects1/8” = 1’ or 1/16” for larger projects

• Click on the “A” in the top left corner to open the file menu.

• Select “Print” and choose “Plot”

• Print or save the PDF to your desk-top or somewhere you can find it.

• Set printer to “DWG to PDF” or “Adobe PDF” printer

• Choose Paper size and orientation and set the plot area to Layout

• Be sure that “Fit to paper” is NOT checked and that the scale is 1:1

• Set the .ctb file to “none” or “acad .ctb”

• “Preview” the drawing before you print to check line weights.

AUTOCAD to Illustrator Tutorial

• Now open Illustrator

• Go to File, Open and select the PDF of your drawing

• If you printed the PDF as a landscape the drawing will be sideways.

• To fix this click the “Edit Art Board” bottom in the tools ribbon, select landscape.

• Then select and rotate the image.

• Now you can delete the viewports and (if you have the student version of CAD) the “PRODUCED BY AUTODESK” border

• you should still have the colors from your origional CAD file.

• Select a line in your drawing, say a window elevation line in this case a yellow line. • At the top menu bar click on “Select/Same/Stroke Color”

• Now all of the Yellow lines in the drawing will be selected.

• You can also adjust the line weights and change the line colors to black

• You can also move the objects around to adjust the layout for your board.

Edit Art Board botton

AUTOCAD to Illustrator Tutorial

You can use the live paint bottom by selecting a plan, elevation, or section clicking the “Live Paint” bottom and then clicking on the object to make it a live paint object. This way you can add hatching and color to your drawings for depth or use patterns or texture images to add material to the drawings.

You can also add people to give a sense of the scale of your drawings.