Use of Colour on Drawings

[Jasonb]

As I'm working on a couple of sets of drawings that won't just be for my personal use I thought I would canvas opinion as to what people prefer in the way of colour on a drawing. I'm specifically talking about what is on the 2D print that you will be working from and even more specifically the shading of the part. I'm not thinking about the use of different colours of lines for things like dimension, ctr, hidden detail, etc which I personally don't like  or the use of a multitude of colours for each part during the design stage.

Below are 3 possible options

1 Just plain lines. No different to how drawings have been presented for years and how I have done the last couple of drawing sets shared here.



2. The 3D image has been coloured based on what I used during the 3D modelling which in the case of this part is a darkish grey for cast iron, steel would be a lighter grey, brass yellow etc. Uses a small amount more ink and I have kept the 3D image smaller than the scale of the actual part to reduce this.



3. Fully coloured. This would definately use up quite a bit of ink which some people prefer not to do and I tend to feel the same preferring to spend my money on metal rather than ink refills. The other downside is that the darker grey can obscure some of the lines and dimensions and may be worse if printed on basic paper as the ink can bleed a bit. Plus side it it can look nice.




Look forward to your thoughts and Comments

J

[b.lindsey]

If I were working from the drawings, I would be quite happy with option 1, just plain lines. Colors can be helpful in assembly drawings I think, where multiple parts are being shown, but for a working drawing of a single part, the color doesn't really add anything for me. Just my two cents.

Bill

[pgp001]

Jason

Just my 2p worth.

On Solidworks, I use option 2 with the addition of dimensions being in red.
I have good feedback from shop floor workers who actually use my drawings day in day out, and that is how they like them.

Sometimes on assembly drawings I use full colour which makes things look more realistic.

Phil

[glorfindel]

There is no standard for color on 2d drawing because no body is putting color on 2d drawing. You can have some color on your computer, but usually, they are converted in "lineweight" ( thickness) for printing.

Most standards have different line thickness for line type (doted line, center line, border line)


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[Stuart]

Jason
No.2

The isometric view give a better perspective

No. 3 ugggg👎👎👎👎
No.1 ok but no.2 is slightly better

Just a view of a old codgers eyes 


Stuart

[Vixen]

Jason

+1 for option 1

Keep it simple

Mike

[Dave Otto]

All of the drawings I have done recently including the two Morrison & Marvin vise projects, I use and prefer option 2

Dave

[glorfindel]

Just use an international standard like ASME and be done with it.

Home made standard are a plague.

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[Brian Rupnow]

I don't use colours on drawings. My first 32 years in design world was on a drafting board, and there was a definite difference in line weight so that people wouldn't confuse part outlines with dimensions. Now in 3D computer world, I use a lot of color in my models and assemblies, but mainly to make it easier to differentiate one part from another. A model where everything is uniform monochrome grey is much harder to tell where one part stops and another part begins. I still use only black lines on white backgrounds for all of my 2d drawings. I personally don't like colors on a 2D drawing.---Brian

[Xldevil]

Option 1 I would use.
Best visibility,in my eyes.

[ddmckee54]

I agree with Brian, colors are great on the screen for visual separation, but that doesn't always translate to the printed page.  Light colors, even something printed in greyscale, can be very difficult to see.  Most of the printed drawings that I do are printed in monochrome.

If you are going to print something in color, avoid light colors - particularly yellow.

Don

[steam guy willy]

Hi Jason,  I find putting a banana beside the drawing helps with the scale  !! but perhaps a greener one would show up better !!! ....sorry couldn't resist that !!!

willy

[steamer]

Hey Jason,

As the old saw goes, put whatever conveys the information the best on the print..and nothing more.   That said, for those of us in the first angle projection world, a crisp picture of the part is nice as in fig 2.  Otherwise figure 1.

Dave

[bent]

I usually have a 2D sheet in the shop with me when making parts, printed on the laser at work or at home.  On paper, colors don't always reproduce well, esp. on black+white printers/copiers.  So, I generally avoid colors for prints.  Also, I like to mark up prints with my red ink pen when working on prototypes, so having all the existing dimensions and lines in black helps differentiate (as drawn vs. as built) when I take the mark-up back to the office to redraw the parts.

On screen, or for 3d models in various outputs, I like colors.

[10KPete]

Black on white. Anything else can be hard to read.

I hate 'puter 2D drawings because they ignore the art of drafting. Biggest gripe is that extension lines should break when crossing object lines and should be of a lighter weight. Etc, etc.

Pete

[Kim]

I like option 2.

Option 1 is also good, but personally, I give 2 the edge.

Don't like option 3.

Kim

[scc]

Well said Pete      Terry

[vcutajar]

Option 2.

Vince

[gbritnell]

One thing I learned when I was 'on the board' doing pencil drawings was ordinate or datum dimensioning.
Pick a surface or location point (dowel hole) and make that the point of origin X-0, Y-0 then dimension most everything from there. On a simple drawing point to point is ok but when you have many dimensions from the same point using dimension lines with arrowheads starts to take up a lot of space. The drawing you presented us could be cleaned up a lot using ordinate dimensions.
I use AutoCad for my 2D drawings and I spend the time to make sure hidden lines and such follow correct drafting procedures.
The correct practice for making 2D drawings is to vary the line weights, heaviest for borders and sections, medium for all object lines and light for extension an dimension lines. AutoCad gives the option for line weights but the problem is they only show up when printed so if one doesn't keep track of what they are doing it can become quite a mess.
A 2D drawing accompanied with an isometric or picture view in a lot of cases helps the viewer visualize what the part looks like but unless you are using a program such as Solidworks that will create a 3D part from a 2D drawing it's a moot point.
Having been around drafting and part modeling for the better part of 50 years I can say that I do like the included picture view. Does it need to be shaded or colored, I don't think so.
gbritnell

[Brian Rupnow]

George--I have had many "shop guys" tell me how much it helps to have an isometric view of the object that is detailed in 3 view orthographic projection. Of course, until I started working in Solidworks 3D about 18 years ago, it was almost impossible for me to do that.--Brian

[john mills]

I started working with drawings in the late 1960's no colour was possible then.In the 1980'swhen i started with cnc
machines i did nite school to learn programming.i saw colour when i did subject to use anvil 4000 it used a very expensive colour pen plottor we did not have computers with any useful programs other than for editing my cnc programs the drawings some done in the 1960"s often could only be sorted out by going to the machine and looking at the part it was often impossible to work out which face holes and shape were on.if you can use colour to make the drawing easier to read that would be good.with modern computers and computer aided drafting programs .with colour printers it is now practical .i have had recent drawings that have colour but when engineers with poor drafting training and never worked from drawings colour won't help .A good drawing that can be helped with color would be a delight to work from.

[Jasonb]

Thanks for the many replies, I won't respond to you individually but will make these comments:

It looks like No1 is the popular choice with No2 a close second. No1 is as I said what I have used in the past so that looks like it is the way to carry on with the 2D drawings. However I think as part of the package I will do a few sheets with coloured general arrangement and some sub assemblies possibly sectioned too that can be viewed on the screen to get a feel for how things go together much like this which I have just quickly put together. May also do a fancy rendered one too which I did start on a while back. There will also be my usual 100plus build photos available.



The small isometric will stay as I think that helps visualize the part particularly on my own engine designs that have been aimed at the beginner, this particular one is for a set of castings by Alyn Foundry and I don't see many beginners making that and maybe only two others makers if no more castings are forthcoming.


I do have an A3 printer but have sized all the drawings to A4 and scaled the parts to suit as that is what the majority of people will be using to print out their set on.

They will be in PFD format as that again does not need anything special to open, view or print and the files are a reasonable size. i'm approachable to anyone who may want a part in a different format for CNC etc, don't think there is a lot in this one that would lend itself to that but some of my Series 24 from barstock designs would.

Line widths have come up in a few replies, The images posted here are just screen shots and then resized by the forum software so don't really show what the actual print looks like. main solid lines are 0.25, dimension 0.13 and hidden detail 0.31 grey scale which are standard ISO pen nib sizes so will reproduce to standard sizes if the drawing is blown up to any other A size sheet. I will change that solid "Detail A" ring to a broken line as that was bugging me too. Below is a screen shot of the PDF ( again some clarity lost) or a direct link to download for those interested here



Although ther may not be a current standard for use of colour there certainly was in the past, I'm not ancient but can remember doing water colour washes on drawings at college where each material had a specific colour which is much the same as what has been shown here. You still see this on a lot of the old drawings and etchings.

Thank's again and keep any feedback coming.

J

[Admiral_dk]

Your two last examples are very easily understandable and clear 

I think that an ISOmetric for each part on their own drawing as mentioned before will complete the drawn documentation. Only add on for really complex assemblies would be an "explosion drawing".

Nice work Jason   

[steamer]

Thanks for the many replies, I won't respond to you individually but will make these comments:

It looks like No1 is the popular choice with No2 a close second. No1 is as I said what I have used in the past so that looks like it is the way to carry on with the 2D drawings. However I think as part of the package I will do a few sheets with coloured general arrangement and some sub assemblies possibly sectioned too that can be viewed on the screen to get a feel for how things go together much like this which I have just quickly put together. May also do a fancy rendered one too which I did start on a while back. There will also be my usual 100plus build photos available.



The small isometric will stay as I think that helps visualize the part particularly on my own engine designs that have been aimed at the beginner, this particular one is for a set of castings by Alyn Foundry and I don't see many beginners making that and maybe only two others makers if no more castings are forthcoming.


I do have an A3 printer but have sized all the drawings to A4 and scaled the parts to suit as that is what the majority of people will be using to print out their set on.

They will be in PFD format as that again does not need anything special to open, view or print and the files are a reasonable size. i'm approachable to anyone who may want a part in a different format for CNC etc, don't think there is a lot in this one that would lend itself to that but some of my Series 24 from barstock designs would.

Line widths have come up in a few replies, The images posted here are just screen shots and then resized by the forum software so don't really show what the actual print looks like. main solid lines are 0.25, dimension 0.13 and hidden detail 0.31 grey scale which are standard ISO pen nib sizes so will reproduce to standard sizes if the drawing is blown up to any other A size sheet. I will change that solid "Detail A" ring to a broken line as that was bugging me too. Below is a screen shot of the PDF ( again some clarity lost) or a direct link to download for those interested here



Although ther may not be a current standard for use of colour there certainly was in the past, I'm not ancient but can remember doing water colour washes on drawings at college where each material had a specific colour which is much the same as what has been shown here. You still see this on a lot of the old drawings and etchings.

Thank's again and keep any feedback coming.

J

I do like the view you displayed above.   It does add to the understanding of the overall engine.   As I stated previously, an single Isometric on the details is usually helpful.

    Looks great Jason!!!!

Dave

[Jasonb]

Thanks

While I'm at it can this cloud link to the 3D PDF be opened OK. You may need to trust the document the first time you click on the image than after that you should be able zoom in and out as well as move it all about!

[Stuart]

Yes Jason it opens ok on my iPad

[steamer]

Opens for me on Android.

[b.lindsey]

Opens on Windows10 and I can zoom but can't rotate it.

Bill

[Jasonb]

Thanks for the conformation that it works on several platforms.