Simulating 3D with Isometric Systems

Simulating 3D with Isometric Systems © Copyright Giulio Porta . All rights reserved.
Isometric is a visualization system that predates computers. What it does in essence, it allows objective representations of a given subject matter by spacing the angles among dimensions, such as height, width, and depth equally, the depth of the space create by this system is constant. In this project you'll be expected to design a simple object like a small building, or some furniture using an isometric system.
Everybody knows that space can be described 2 or 3 dimensionally. A room can be described in terms of his size as possessing a height, width and depth. In an Isometric system the 3 dimensions height, width and depth are equally spaced from each other. An easy way to achieve as well understand that relationship between the 3 dimension is to look at the face of the clock where spaced is counted by dividing space by 12 , even though there is no relation between time and the 3 dimensions, the face of a clock offers a excellent graphic representation of a 2 dimensional space divided into and equal number of parts. Now think of the 3 dimensions as 3 arms of the clock pointing at 12, 4 and 8 o' clock, at 4 hours intervals. In our case the 3 arm of the clock represent the 3 dimensions, that are now equally spaced, the face of the clock has help us in achieving that goal, in other words in crating the foundation of our isometric system.
Adobe Illustrator does not have Isometric grid guides, at least not in version 9. The grid available in Illustrator 9 is Othogonal, meaning straight, made out of vertical and horizontal lines spaced at equal intervals. For screen capture purposes the color, measuring units, and grid subdivisions can be changed under Preferences. But for this project turning on the Ortho grid will not do you much good as far as the Isometric system is concern. The grid could be used as a reference. You can get around this limitation by skewing rectangular shapes or lines at a 30 degree angle, in that manner you can set up equal angular and depth distribution among the 3 dimensions.
This equal angling of the 3 dimensions will present the tree visible sides (top or bottom and two sides) of an object, without favoring or disfavoring a particular side. The 3 dimensions, height, width, and depth, are also known as X, Y, and Z axis, or Cartesian coordinates, after the name of its inventor, the French mathematician Descates, known as Cartesius. Once these coordinates are set up, their relationship is fixed, every object that you'll draw within them can be measured from them, as well a viewed objectively. How the X, Y and Z dimensions are viewed: The Z runs vertically, up and down, parallel to the face of the viewer, the X and the Y run horizontally at 30 degree angles from the horizontal, and they describe the width and depth of the space that you want to illustrate. But in some 3D programs the X and Y lay on a vertical plane and the Z represent the depth of the space. Regardless how axis are viewed, they will always maintain a 90 degree relationship among each other, that is why they are referred as coordinates. The letter X, Y, Z do not have any particular significance, axis were named after the last 3 letter of the alphabet. Under View select Show Grid and also check: Snap to Grid and Snap to Points These menu choices will allow to produce precise shapes.	A cube drawn within an Isometric System will be presented with 3 equally angled, equally visible sides. Each dimension is angled 120 degree from the other, 360 : 3 = 120.
Go to Edit > Preferences, you'll need to change Units to Millimeters, that choice will increase the number of divisions in your grid.
Go to the next item in the preference panel and under Gridline every: type in 10 mm and under Subdivisions: type 10 In my view to set the subdivisions to 10 is important because working with decimals is easier for most of us than working with inches, whose fractions are 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16.
Draw out the front and the side views of a boxy looking object like a cabinet, or a house, you do not need to draw the top of it, that can be done later. Give the two side two different colors, one lighter than the other, so to simulate a light source coming from the left or the right, consistently for any other object that you are going to ad to this assembly. Select the face of the cabinet you have made on the right side of the screen and in the Transform panel, Windows > Show Transform, the the Skew entry field, at the bottom right of the screen select 30 degrees.	Straight views of front an side of a cabinet
Repeat the same operation for the left side of the cabinet, but set the Skew option to - 30 degrees to skew in the opposite direction.
Now that the sides have been skewed, they will have to be rotated vertically. This operation should be done numerically, not manually, to ensure precision. Disregard the top, it will have to be created otherwise, as you may have noticed, skewing will stretch the side along which the skewing will take place. The greater the degree of skewing the more stretching will take place along the side that is skewed. This is obviously undesirable, if the front and the side of the cabinets have the same width, the top and bottom of the cabinet will be both square shapes with 4 equal sides even when they are skewed.
After skewing the two sides of the cabinet, you'll have to turn them upright. Activate the Rotate tool by clicking on its icon, and activate the Rotate dialogue box by double clicking again on its icon, under Angle: type in - 30 for the left piece and 30 for the right.
Now the two sides of the cabinet will have their vertical side lined up vertically and their width skewed at 30 and - 30 degrees respectively, you can draw the top, and assemble the four pieces.
The cabinet's top side can be laid out with the Pen tool and its four corner adjusted to match those of the vertical sides of the cabinet. Each anchor point making up the four corners of the cabinet's top can be moved by small increments using the arrow keys on the keyboard.