Preparing the Drafting Trace

You can use the downloaded Conceptual Site Plan Image mentioned earlier for the rest of this chapter. This exercise’s image is already scaled to the correct size. The image group is on its own layer, and the group itself is locked.

As described in Chapter 6, the Flatwork Base will be sculpted on a rectangular face. Because the plan image will be traced onto the rectangular face, the surface needs to be transparent. To prepare the drafting face, follow these steps: 1. Create the drawing surface. a. With Layer 0 as the active layer, draw a rectangular face over the entire image. b. Snap the first point of the face at 0 insertion; make sure to cover and overlap the entire image surface (Fig. 7-3). 2. Make the face transparent. a. From the Paint Bucket tool, select Color 001 from the Colors palette (select Colors from the drop-down menu). b. Apply Color 001 to the face. c. Select Edit in the Materials menu. d. Under Edit, find Opacity. (In some systems it might be hidden. Expand the menu by dragging the corners to locate Opacity at the bottom.) Set the Opacity value to 50 percent.

The image plan underneath is now visible through the face, and the face is ready for drafting (Fig. 7-4).

Fig. 7-4: Paint the drafting face and make it transparent. Fig. 7-3: Draft a rectangle face over the plan image.