Overview

Illustration and rendering is a key skill for designers and engineers. Do not confuse this with art - this is about effective communication of concepts, ideas or solutions to an audience. 

​In this section of learning, you will learn both manual and electronic techniques for making presentation graphics. 
Typography Task
Course Presentation

Manual techniques

Manual techniques are a lot of fun. Here I provide two quick tasks:
Sneakers are big business. In these two tasks you explore different sketching approaches and how to illustrate and render designs.

​The N5 Graphic Communication Course Notes book has a step-by-step tutorial for using these pens to create a rendering. Spirit markers are awesome! You can create striking illustrations using these versatile pens. Here, I can provide you SVG files of the 'GIZMO' to help you practice.

A4 worksheet

A4 Drawings Pack

Course Presentation

Sneaker Design

Sneaker Render

National 4/5 Book

National 4/5 Book

Typography Task
Course Presentation
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"Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn't theirs"

Frank Chimero
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Blender

Learning to use a computer to create renderings can be a lot of fun. There is a lot to learn if you want to achieve good results. There are lots of different software platforms you can use, ranging in price and performance. 

I recommend Blender. Blender is completely free to use (and always will be), is fantastically well supported and is widely used in industry. It can do lots of different forms of CGI and is a powerful and creative tool. 

In this short project, I look at rendering four primitive forms as four four different materials. The support files to follow this tutorial are supplied below.

A4 worksheet

A4 Drawings Pack

Course Presentation

Primitives worksheet

Primitives worksheet

Blender Tutorial

Typography Task
Course Presentation
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"With a bucket of Lego, you can tell any story."

Christopher Miller (1975 - ) 
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Lego Mini-Figure Packaging

Lego is an iconic toy, loved by children and adults alike. I still get Lego at Christmas and my birthday...

In this task. pupils create packaging for a custom Lego mini-figure. The .STEP file CAD assembly is rendered within Blender, and the renders added to a DTP package.  These resources are for this project.

A4 worksheet

A4 Drawings Pack

Course Presentation

Importing to Blender

Splitting Model & Lights

Basic Materials

Decal the Face

Adding noise

Bump Maps & HDRI

Lights, Camera, Render!

Animations

Typography Task
Course Presentation
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"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas.
​Worry about the day the stop"

Jeffrey Zeldman (1955 - ) 
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Assessment ​

The following materials have been created to assess learning in this unit. Some of these documents are for 'Coffee' supporters of DesignClass only.  

A4 worksheet

A4 Drawings Pack

Course Presentation

Assessment 1

Assessment 2

Assessment 3

Assessment 4

Typography Task
Course Presentation