looking for a certain kind of software( If it exists)

BradleyS. · 10-06-2004, 05:55 PM

I have a school project coming up where you have to invent something, make a model of it, and draw a 2D and 3D drawing of it from all sides. Being the terrible artist that I am, I am looking for a better way to do it. Is there some sort of software that can take a picture( like one I take from a camera and upload to the computer) and outline the general shape. I dont believe the drawings have to be in color so thats not an issue. Just a black outline of the figure would be great.

Rob Gardiner · 10-06-2004, 07:13 PM

Photoshop can do the job, with a little practice.

Send me a scan of your photo and I'll help you out.

BradleyS. · 10-06-2004, 07:17 PM

ok thanks so much rob!!! I don't have the project completed yet, but I'll try to get the photos to you by this weekend.

BradleyS. · 10-06-2004, 07:20 PM

actually will adobe photoshop elements 2.0 do the job? I have this program.

Chris · 10-06-2004, 08:31 PM

You actually really want 3D Modeling software, doing this in photoshop and keeping allthings equal will be a bear.. photoshop just isn't designed for 3D.

Something like Ulead 3D is very simple, and maybe not exactly what you're after.. but it's the cheapest of the ones I can think of.

The thing is, with photoshop, you will literally be manually drawing this thing from different views, which will make keeping scale and ration exceptionally difficult.

But, it's all up to you

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BradleyS. · 10-06-2004, 09:40 PM

I'm looking on download.com at the Ulead stuff. Can someone point to the right program? Theres to many choices and i dont exactly know what im looking for.

Chris · 10-07-2004, 08:52 AM

Look at Cool3d to start.

Tekara · 10-07-2004, 02:07 PM

You may also want to look into autocad, drafting is always the non-artists friend.

Rob Gardiner · 10-07-2004, 03:11 PM

After reading some of the other responses in this thread, I think I might have misunderstood the project.

My impression was that Bradley would take photos of the item. These photos would be scanned and loaded into Photoshop. Then the "edge detection" filter (I think that's what it's called) could be used to generate a line drawing from the photograph. Some touching-up with the eraser would get rid of unnecessary lines. Is that what you had in mind?

Chris · 10-07-2004, 04:14 PM

Hmm. See, I looked at it like he was trying to create a schematic for how it went together.

That's a good question: what exactly is the goal? Do you physically build it and then present it?

For the 2-D model, though, if you do assemble it, you can use something like Photoshop's edge detection, or better, something like Corel Trace, which would convert a flat blueprint out of it.