From the Introduction:

Not so long ago there was a short discussion about multistory building construction on the TurboCAD User Conference Forum. Although the discussion was short it reminded me of how many times over the last few years that I have thought about creating such a thing. After doing a bit of internet research and finding a bit of usable data I decided that I would not just create a multistory building, I would create a tutorial illustrating the steps to do so. With the initial excitement mounting I quickly set pen to paper and produced the work below. I hope that you will enjoy working through the tutorial as much as I did writing it.

Best regards,
Don

There are many approaches that can be used to create a multistory building in TurboCAD and more often than not, the intended purpose will dictate the approach. Will the entire structure be created, I-beams and all, or will an overall exterior view be sufficient? Are the drawings required for building purposes, or are the drawings and renderings required for a sales brochure? Since creating the structure, I-beams and all would be far too intense to fit within a reasonably sized tutorial this tutorial will concentrate on the exterior view.

Although this tutorial will approach construction with one main approach, alternatives will be mentioned along the way, briefly describing why one method may prove better than another in specific situations.

Overall, the reader will be lead through every keystroke to produce the multistory building that is illustrated on the cover of the tutorial. The reader will learn how to create all the elements used within the design using 2D profiles and 3D primitive shapes. The reader will learn how to insert standard lighting and how utilize render scene luminance. Additionally, the reader will learn how to render their drawing and save it in a high resolution image format. Finally, the reader will learn how to utilize paper space where drawing sheets will be created utilizing viewports and annotations. An optional section has been included to lead the reader through a couple final render image edits using Paint Shop Pro X2 or Photoshop CS3.

View Sample Pages  22 pages 2.39MB PDF file

From the Introduction:

Garden and landscape design are topics that are occasionally addressed on the TurboCAD User Conference Forum. It is a little disheartening that those seeking advice are often directed to other programs that have been created specifically for this type of work. Perhaps this is even sound advice if a user is planning on doing garden and landscape design on a full time basis. However, for an occasional design in this particular genre TurboCAD will work just fine. In fact, it is the opinion of the author that TurboCAD would be a great choice providing a user takes time to create a library of landscape and design symbols to help with a speedier creation.

Within this tutorial the reader will be lead through every keystroke to produce the back yard design that is illustrated on the cover of the tutorial. The reader will learn how to create almost all the elements used within the design using 2D profiles and 3D primitive shapes. The reader will learn how to insert free 3D plants found on the internet and a 3D bench created and supplied by the author. The reader will learn how to insert standard lighting and how to use a render scene environment and render scene luminance. The reader will learn how to render their drawing and save it in a high resolution image format. The reader will also learn how to utilize paper space where a final plan layout will be created utilizing viewports and annotations.

From the Introduction:

Images that are created with the intent to share information in graphic format are called Information Graphics or Infographics, for short. Perhaps it is not so well known that TurboCAD can be used to produce such graphics without the need for additional illustration software.

While researching this genre of illustration the author came across the work of Stef Bayley and Phil Holmes. Stef and Phil's space elevator infographic illustration is a great example and it will be used as the general basis for the inforgraphic that will be created in the tutorial.

It is generally recommended to draw at full scale in TurboCAD so that when dimensioning is addressed there will be no size issues. Scaled drawings can be created utilizing viewports in paper space and associative dimensions. The author has always employed this practice in all previous tutorials but has chosen not to do so in this tutorial for two reasons. First off, to show that a user can 'sketch' out ideas, if need be and secondly, because real world dimensions were not available. On top of that it is perhaps impractical in this case, due to the disproportional effect that is being worked toward in the inforgraphic.

During the tutorial, the reader will learn how to create all the components of the illustration on the cover of the tutorial, with the exception of the off-shore anchor platform, which is supplied and will be inserted during the tutorial. The reader will learn how to insert lighting and how to use a render scene environment and insert render scene luminance. The reader will learn how to render their drawing and save it in a high resolution image format. The reader will also learn how to utilize paper space where the final illustration will be created utilizing an inserted image (the saved render image), viewports and annotations. The tutorial will illustrate all of these processes with each keystroke.

Without a doubt, TurboCAD is an exceptional tool when it comes to creating CAD drawings. Perhaps not so well know is the fact that TurboCAD is also an indispensable graphics tool. One of the best benefits that come from using TurboCAD in this fashion is that once the 3D model is created a near infinite number of views can be established. These views can include a variety of environments, lighting schemes and embellishments. The TurboCAD user can create detailed full model visuals, exploded views, section views and even cutaway views which, is what will be worked toward in this tutorial. This tutorial was initially written for version 11.2 and creating the illustrated cutaway cylinder required a great deal more effort than it will with V15.1. This is due to the fact that a user now has the ability to apply materials to individual facets of multi-facetted objects. This will save much time and effort.