Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

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When it comes to architectural presentation boards, CAD programs fall further behind expectations, more and more people are using other software tools to create their presentations that meet their needs. Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator are some of the most popular tools when it comes to preparing presentation boards. If you have not use either one of these software to enhance your presentation boards, then you must be missing something. In this article, we will look at one of the most common effects architecture students and illustrators love to play with but find difficult to figure out: the Gradient Mask.

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

In order to blend both of the images, you have to export them in the same exact view. To capture both views you can use any CAD software offers, In AutoCAD and Architectural Desktop, you can Plot a Hidden Wireframe to a .tif file and Render to a .tif file format as well to get really high resolution images.

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

With both the images from your CAD program, import them into Photoshop and put them on separate Layers. Typically I like to put the Wireframe on top of the Shaded or Rendered image but it is not necessary to follow my preferences.

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

Align the images by adjusting the Transparency Bar on the top Layer so you can see both images blended at the same time. Zoom in to match the Wireframe up against the Shaded or Rendered image. After the alignment, please remember to set the opacity back to 100%

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

After adding a Mask to the current selected Layer, use set the Paint Bucket tool to a Gradient tool and make any adjustments you see fit. The Color should be set to Black. You can always adjust the falloff of the gradient by double-clicking on the gradient drop-down.

Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop

With the Gradient Tool set, select two points across the image and witness the gradient results immediately, illustrated example can be seen at the image above. If you increase the distance the falloff should be stretched and less drastic while decreasing the distance should create a dramatic falloff as illustrated to the right. Recommended to use the Shift key while drawing the gradient line in order to create a straight gradient.

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Author: . This entry is filed under Architecture Tutorials and was updated on May 19, 2012.

 




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Citations And Footnotes:


  • ^ Architecture - Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων – arkhitekton, from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "builder, carpenter, mason") is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
  • ^ Architect - An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings, that have as their principal purpose human occupancy or use.
  • ^ Pritzker Architecture Prize - The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture".
  • ^ - Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, Dover Publications(1985). ISBN 0-486-25023-7
  • ^ - Rondanini, Nunzia Architecture and Social Change Heresies II, Vol. 3, No.

Comments:


  1. Valeria
    1

    Thank you for this tutorial!
    I have a question, do you know where I can find info about illustrator for architecture?
    Have fun
    Valeria

  2. Michal
    2

    Thank You very much for tutorials. Very helpful to me!

    Merry Christmass and happy New Year!

    Take care

  3. simon
    3

    thanks for the quick tutorial. good luck.
    simon

  4. dev
    4

    hey…thanx for the tutorial…keep more coming in…but after ur thesis..all the best for that..

  5. anil jadhav
    5

    thanks for radient masks.

miragestudio7 admin
:-)

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