Arbortext instead of Adobe Illustrator for lineart on a product?

[jwagh]

Does anyone use Isodraw (or Creo Illustrate) instead of Adobe Illustrator to do their 2d artwork that goes on the outside of a product? I thought I heard someone say in the past that they do this, but recent conversations seem to indicate that these tools are primarily for the 3d conversion for publications. I'm curious to hear about the Adobe Illustrator replacement capabilities.

Thanks!

[GarethOakes]

Full disclaimer, I'm not an illustrator 🙂 IsoDraw and Creo Illustrate are fantastic tools for technical illustrations. They include plenty of time-saving features and neat capabilities to allow illustrators to efficiently create and update technical illustrations over the life of a product. By technical illustrations I mean drawings like exploded parts diagrams, detail views with cutaways, component locations, etc. An example of a neat capability is importing a CAD model to the illustration.

It sounds to me like you are asking if the PTC illustration products can also be used for the artwork for product packaging? I would say tentatively the answer is "yes" but there may be more appropriate or cost-effective alternatives. While the PTC tools are able to be used for any illustration work where they really shine is for technical drawings.

I'm not sure if this perspective helps or not and I hope we hear from others with more hands-on experience.

[jwagh]

Thanks Gareth. I believe our publishing teams are also interested in it as well. I was hoping to kill 2 birds with one stone... 

[GarethOakes]

Good idea. You might also be able to get hold of an evaluation license or live demo from a PTC rep or partner company. That way you could invite the illustrators to judge the fit for their needs?

[jwagh]

I'm working on that as well. Based on initial conversations with the ptc partner, I'm not sure how familiar they are with the 2d lineart functionality, which is why I'm trying to find out if other people have done this before my meeting with them tomorrow. 

[GarethOakes]

One of our reps actually used to work at the original IsoDraw company and has a background with military tech pubs. Feel free to private message me or visit our website www.gpsl.co if you are interested to get in touch with him.

[jwagh]

Thanks! We'll see how the meeting goes! If anyone else wants to weigh in, that would be great! 

[bfriesen]

We use jt files in Isodraw for all our 2d line art. Works great for our needs.

Bryon