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Subject:Re: Using digital camera for illustrations? From:cchris -at- toptechwriter -dot- us To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:36:55 -0700
Hi Greg,
My answer depends on how rushed your deadline is. If you're on minus time,
use a camera, just make sure the hardware is well lit by indirect
lighting, *don't use flash*. A camera's flash turns shiny metal parts into
bright indistinct blobs.
If you've got a day or so of extra time, you could learn enough technical
illustration to turn out really nice graphics (especially when you're
drawing a simple shape like a TV set-top box) and at the same time pick up
an important skill. If you're interested and have access to a line-art
application like Macromedia FreeHand or Adobe Illustrator, let me know and
I'll send you some step-by-step guides on doing isometric artwork.
Regards,
Chris
___________________________________________
TopTechWriter.US http://www.toptechwriter.us
Award-winning technical writing and illustration services.
> Hi All:
>
> I have a client that has a TV set up box the requires some documentation.
> I
> am ok with the software part of doing the docs, but it is the hardware
> element that bothers me. I can describe the hardware (and have done so in
> the past) but I have always had a technical illustrator to work with when
> I
> did hardware documentation. My illustration skills are limited so I was
> thinking about using a digital camera to take pictures of the hardware I
> needed to document, than add call outs to the pictures once I added them
> into the manual. I almost worked with a client that wanted me to do
> something similar for them, so I have always had this in the back of my
> mind
> as an approach I could use in future jobs.
>
> Has anyone had any experience with using a digital camera to take pics of
> hardware components they have had to document? Got any suggestions for
> best
> practices?
>
> Thanks
>
> Greg Thompson
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