Hi everyone,
I am looking for tools and softwares that would help me with designing product-related infographics. Specifically, I want to be able to quickly implement graphic components to show zoomed-in shots of parts of the products to pinpoint on their feature and etc., and also be able to show dimensions of various side in a perspective form vs flat, and any related capabilities to enhance the infographics.
Thank you,
Amir
Adobe Illustrator with the CADTools plugin from HotDoor.
Most CAD software on it’s own is not suited to creating graphics, but Illustrator is, and CADTools is a most excellent little plug-in for dimensioning things. Can’t live without it where I work.
There is no easy button though. No fill-in forms. You have to create. From scratch.
“Quickly” is the word I’m stumbling over. Technical illustration is not quick. I used to do it full-time for about two years when I worked for Unisys on their mainframe documentation booklets. That was many years ago.
Anyway, PrintDriver has the right answer. A combination of Illustrator and CADTools is probably the best software for the job — that and a good camera and some lights for close-up shots. For that matter, if you’re after quick, sometimes a photo itself will work. What you described, though, is more akin to a whole lot of work in Illustrator painstakingly drawing things by hand. If you’ve never done this before, you’ll save time and money by hiring it out — unless, of course, you really want to learn yourself.
Thank you for your feedback. I thought I would share some samples to give you a better idea about the kind of infographics I am talking about
Thank you for your feedback. I thought I would share some samples to give you a better idea about the kind of infographics I am talking about
All of that is do-able within Illustrator and utilizing Photoshop for your photos. You still need a good camera and possibly a lightstand/tent to take product shots. For your close up shots, the original photo has to be high resolution.
CADTools in Illustrator will give you lengths of an incline. Assuming you know your scaling math. The software has a built in calculator.
You may have to draw an invisible box to it and snap to that, but you can use two-point selections, which don’t have to snap to a shape. CADTools is not free, and there is a learning curve on all of this. It won’t be “quick” in the beginning.
Or, even without CADTools, what you show is very easy to create using just the tools in illustrator. Lines with arrow ends are 4 clicks. Typing in your own dimensions. Et cetera.
There may be a drag-and-drop POS software out there that does this for cheap, but I don’t know of any.
Stock photo sites have a lot of good resources to get you going, just search Vector Inforgraphics.
Just make sure you purchase the EPS versions so you can use them in Illustrator.
