[Music] In this tutorial, I want to show you how I achieved these two different styles of program diagrams using Adobe Illustrator and a little bit of Photoshop. Now, have you ever wondered how these amazing program diagrams are created? They seem so easy and straightforward to make, but when it's

your turn to make one, it ends up looking like this and not so beautiful at all. So this is a problem I always had, and my program diagrams didn't start to look 10 times better before I applied this workflow that I'm about to show you in this video. And also, I do want to say that this workflow is

the one that has worked best for me, but I know that many studios and many different offices use different kinds of workflows, and that's completely okay because when it comes to communicating your architectural ideas, there are many ways and many paths to get to a similar result. Now, for our first

diagram, we are going to start with some references. I always like to use this free software called PureRef to collect quick references and to get a general idea of what I'm looking for. I usually go on to Pinterest and either start saving the images that I like or hit Ctrl+C and paste it on my

reference board. Now, when you think of creating a program diagram, your main goal should be to show the program of your design in a way that's easy to understand and also match the graphic design of your other drawings and of your other program diagrams of the same project. And when searching for

different program diagram ideas, I found two that I really liked and thought could be applied to my product projects. For my first one, it's the classic multicolor diagram that we all love so much, where you assign a color to each use. And the second one is a diagram of one single tone but with just a

Change in light intensity to also show the program of the building. Many of these program diagrams can be shown from a floor plan and also a section view, but I find that for some cases, an isometric view gets the job done perfectly. So let's start with our first diagram, where I will use a portion

of a project I've shown here before that is all modeled in SketchUp to show the program of this particular area. From here, I'm taking references from these multicolor diagrams. So let's start with our first diagram. So first, open your 3D model. I'm creating this in SketchUp, but the workflow is

very similar if you're working on other software like Revit, Rhino, or ArchiCAD. And as you can see, I've separated the model from the whole context just so it looks a little bit cleaner. Also, I'll draw a slab base around the model so we can frame our architecture and give it a nice place to sit on.

And after this, let's set up our view. Let's make sure our view is in parallel projection and let's select the isometric icon. Now let's export the view as a PDF and close SketchUp. I'll open Illustrator and import my PDF into a new file. And first, our main goal is to erase imperfections

when exporting from a 3D model. The drawing comes with a lot of lines, a strong line weight, and maybe some imperfections in our drawing. So overall, sometimes it can look very messy, like a very messy drawing. So here I'm just erasing unnecessary lines first, just to clean up the

whole drawing. Also, I like to adjust all the lines to the same line weight, like for example, 0.75 points in this case, but you can define your line weight according to the level of detail that your diagram has. This is what the PDF looks like before adjusting it, and this is after. Now, previously we

I had seen some references of the diagrams we liked, and one of the most important elements about these diagrams was the correct color palette. So I'll import a color palette that I created previously and leave it in one corner of my drawing. I'll also place my color palette into a new layer and lock it.

This is something that you should always do: create new layers and lock the ones that you're not using. Now, with the Live Paint Bucket tool within Illustrator, you can start painting the program of your building. At first, there's a high chance that your drawing doesn't have any fill, so

we select everything, press K on our keyboard for the Live Paint Bucket tool, and click anywhere on the canvas. So Illustrator applies a fill to our drawing. Now, with the Eyedropper tool (or you can press Alt on your keyboard), you want to select the color you want to sample and apply it to

the shape you want to paint, just like this. It's pretty easy, and for faster selections, just click and drag your mouse over many selection spaces to paint at the same time. Now, for the B-B slab, I want to adjust the gray of the slab to give depth and three-dimensionality to the drawing.

So after I painted the base color, I'll open the color window and drag my color into the darker side. With this, I'll paint the other sides of the volume. And for the colored buildings, I want to add some shininess and a glossy effect to my volumes. Right now the color looks good, but it looks kind

of flat. So I'll select the base tone, which is this one right here, open the color window, and drag my mouse up and to the left for a lighter and more desaturated color, and apply it to the top parts of my volume. And I'll do the same step for all of my different buildings. So, as you can see,

Before, we had color applied, but it looked kind of flat. Now it looks like a beautiful ice pop that just grabs your attention. After this is done, I'll place a smaller version of the buildings on the bottom part of the page to further explain the area distribution and use of each volume.

So first, I'll select everything from the layer and copy it. I'll create a new layer, name it, and lock our base layer. Now I'll paste the copy onto my new layer. Next, I'll expand and ungroup the layer until I can easily select each shape. So I'll have to do this probably many times: expand, ungroup.

Expand, ungroup. This is probably because, out of SketchUp, the PDF comes grouped in many different layers. After this, I'll select everything within my layer and, to simplify everything, I'll just click on my color shapes, leaving me only with my lines selected, and I'll hit delete since

I can create the strokes already from the shapes that we have. I don't really need any extra lines, so I'll just erase them. Now I'll start to separate each building into its own individual layers. So I'll just start by selecting one building, maintaining the Shift button to add to the

selection, and then press Ctrl+X, create a new layer with the name, press Ctrl+V to paste it in place, and just to be a bit more organized, I'll group that later. I'll repeat the same process with all of the other buildings. This is so I can move each building and place it wherever I want. So if later

on, I have to make a correction or I want to change everything, it's easier to select building by building than having to create the whole selection entirely one more time. Next, I'll grab all of my buildings, adjust the scale—just reduce the scale just a bit—and place it in the lower part of the

Diagram here. I place them below because it creates
a high-key contrast with the main drawing, but if I were creating, for example, a presentation board,
the position of everything could probably change depending on how I'm composing my board. Now,
I'll place some trees. This probably isn't that

necessary in a program diagram because our main
goal is to show the program of the building, but for this specific case, I do want to show a sense
of scale and to make it clear that in the exterior
area of these buildings, there's some green space
that is intended to have some trees. So

probably it may not be technically necessary to
add trees and people to make it look better, but I mean, if this makes your diagrams look 3% better,
then why not? And in this case, I'm grabbing the trees from our conceptual trees
pack. I'm adjusting the scale and changing the

color palette to match the existing green tones. If I used probably a more detailed tree, it would
not look good or probably get more attention than
needed, so these conceptual trees work just fine
for me. And in case you want to use these trees too,
I'll leave a link to them in the description, but

you can feel free to use the trees that you like
the best or the ones that fit your style the most. So I'll import all the trees, delete the ones that
I decide to use, and adjust the color fill and line fill to match the base drawing. Now, to even add
a little bit more detail, I'll do the same with

the people here. I have really detailed people, so
I want to simplify them a little bit more. So I'll
leave the stroke and fill color just the same,
so it looks much simpler. And these people are
from the conceptual tree pack that we created a
while ago and that you can also grab from the link

in the description in case you're interested. So, adding people and trees instantly gives our diagram scale, life, and variety. As an individual image, it looks pretty good. So now let's start to add the text. First, I want to add some isometric text that will follow along with the perspective of

the building. So I create the text, go to Window, 3D and Materials, and make sure these are my settings for my isometric text. As always, we want to make sure our text is in a separate layer, and also we want to make sure the 3D type we have it set to "Plain". And in presets, you can start off by selecting an

option like "Isometric Right", or the angle that you need best. And if you want to adjust it, you can use the sliders at the bottom. Now I'll copy this text and do the same for the other street names. Now let's add text beneath each building along with the area. For all this text, I'm using the font

called Roboto Mono. It's a free Google font you can use, and which I talked a little bit about in a recent video, which if you haven't seen it, you can click right here on top or in the description. I'll send you the link. Many of you think that the font and the text isn't necessarily a part of

the diagram creation process, but I think this is far from the truth. Uh, choosing the correct font, knowing how to place it, knowing what size to use can probably make or break your diagrams. Here, I'll also add some framing text to this whole diagram to indicate more hierarchy and more order.

And after this is done, we can pretty much say our first diagram is complete. I really love the primary colors that it uses and how the volume looks like a candy with a variation in color; how the trees and people give life and scale to the image. But let's say I wanted to create

a completely different program diagram; this one is very urban-focused, and each building is more or less its own program. So let's create a program diagram of a building only, and let's see what techniques we can use. So, as usual, I want to grab some references from some building

diagrams that have their own programs. And I've already created a diagram with many colors on it, but what if I want to create a diagram with only one main color palette? So this is probably the case for most of you. Sometimes, for our projects, we choose to have one main

color in all of our images and drawings. And, of course, we also want to apply this to our program diagram. Let's go to our 3D model and adjust the view to a parallel projection line view. This is a project that I have worked on for a while, and in many different videos around the channel I've

created renders, sections, matte details, and so much more. So I thought it could be really cool to create a program diagram of this building. Now, for this diagram, I also want to include a clay render as a way of adding shadows and texture to the diagram. In this case, I'll do this with

endscreen views.  They should appear exactly like my diagram view. And in the view settings, I'll select the white style, make sure there are no lines, the resolution is high, and I also don't want any hard shadows. So the sunlight intensity will be at 1%, and also the shadow sharpness will be at 0%. And

after doing this, I will render my image, and I'll also save my diagram view as a PDF with similar settings as our first diagram. Now I'm going to import my PDF onto Illustrator, and similar to our previous diagram, I'll start to clean up my drawing. Now, since this is a building with much

More detail; uh, it has columns, window frames, slabs, creases—so many more things. The cleaning process will take a little bit more than the previous diagram, so probably your time-saving instinct may want to skip this part completely and work with the diagram just as it is.

It comes out of SketchUp, uh, but I promise this step makes a difference—it makes all the difference, if you ask me. So, spending some time on this line work will separate you from the rest. I mean, yes, it will take some precious resting time, but this will be a diagram so clean, so beautiful that you

might even want to frame it in your studio space afterwards. So, this is the before and after of adjusting the line work in my base drawing. To me, I think it's worth it, and this drawing is not only useful for my program diagram but also for the rest of the drawings that you can possibly

create from this project. Now, I'll grab the color palette I want to assign to this drawing and paste it inside my Illustrator file. I'll select all of the lines for my drawing and, with the live paint bucket tool, I'll start painting each floor with a different color. Since the program in

this building is divided by floors, I'll go from the darkest kind of blue and apply it to the top part down to the lightest blue for the first floors. Again, choosing a color palette is a crucial step in this diagram as well. If you notice, these are all blues from the same hue, meaning they're

all more or less from the same family, so it looks good. But if I had different kinds of blues, the image probably wouldn't look as good. Now let's add an outer stroke to this drawing. I'll select everything and copy it. Now I'll create a new layer and paste it here. I'll select one line and, with the

a select and filter by line weight option. I'll select all the lines of my drawing and erase them. Now, having all my shapes selected, I'll go to the Pathfinder tool and click on 'Join'. Here, I'll erase the fill of my shape and just add a stroke. And for this stroke, I'll increase the line weight to

about 12 points, just so it stands out. Finally, I'll place the stroke beneath the base layer. Now I want to make a small exploded geometric diagram right next to my main diagram. So for this, I'll select the base layer, copy everything inside, create a new layer, and copy it there. And as always, let's

lock all of our layers just in case we don't want to make any mistakes. And for my new copy of the drawing, I'll make it smaller and move it just to the side. Now I want to separate each color in its own layer so I can properly explode it easily. And we can use the same

selection technique as our first diagram, but it can take some time, so I think it's just easier to use the Magic Wand tool, which I think is a pretty interesting tool within Illustrator. Here, I select the Magic Wand tool, and I can just select one color, and Illustrator will instantly recognize

all the shapes with that color and select them for me. Now, if it selects more than you probably want, you can open the Magic Wand settings and lower the tolerance. Now, since all of my blues are almost similar in hue, I have to adjust the tolerance to about five points to get a correct

selection. And after my selection is made, I'll hit Ctrl+X to cut the selection, create a new layer, label it, and paste it with Ctrl+V. And of course, group it. I'll repeat the same process with all of my other four colors. And as soon as I have them, I'll explode them and separate them to get

A feel of an exploded diagram now. Since some vectors are not complete, I'll have to go inside each one and complete the vectors. But for this, I use the pen tool and add the shapes that I need. But since this is such a small diagram, I don't want to spend too much time here, so I'll do a

general selection of it, and that's pretty much it. And this is how it looks after adding some detail to each slab and exploding it. Now I'll also add a general outside stroke to everything with the same technique we used before, and I'll add some dashed lines just to connect every floor together

and indicate that it's an exploded diagram. So, just like some diagrams look much better with trees, textures, or people, some also look really good with icons; they look better and, of course, help

the viewer understand better each color and its own use. So I added some icons to make sure each

color matched the color of the floor they were related to. And here I used icons from our icons and symbols pack, but you can use the ones that you like best, of course. We also have to

add our text. I'll grab the text from my previous diagrams and adjust it here. For the trees, I want

them to be less noticeable here. So, after I import them, scale them, and adjust the color, I'll lower the opacity. And for the people, I'll adjust the hue as well as the scale so they can give a sense of

dimension to the diagram. And now I'll save this Illustrator file and open Photoshop. Here I'll

open a new file, select the dimensions of my canvas, or whatever the dimensions are that I'm going to create, that I'm going to export this diagram with, and import my Illustrator file inside of this canvas. In case I need to make any changes, I'll just save my Illustrator file again and the updates

will be available on my Photoshop layer. Now I'll import my clay render onto Photoshop and adjust it to match my original drawing. So, to make it easier, I sometimes lower the opacity. Uh, I know it can take some time, but it's important that it matches perfectly with your base drawing now.

I'll add a levels adjustment layer, apply it onto my clay render on top, and increase the intensity of the whites just so we don't see these gray areas in our diagram. And I'll also change the blending mode to multiply, and that's pretty much it. So this is the final result of

my second program diagram. As you can see, it's completely different from the first one, but at the same time, our main intention is to show the program of the building and how the design is distributed. Now, if you needed to create a diagram, which style would you use and why? And if you've

made it up to this part of the video, I would love it if you can like this video and subscribe to the channel because we upload regular content, or more or less regular content, onto the YouTube channel of architectural representation tutorials. We also create courses and resources for

architects around the world. If you want to see more tutorials on diagram creation, click on this playlist right here. Thank you all for watching, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye! [Music]

I created a program diagram in two different styles! Illustrator Tutorial

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