Technical Illustration with Micro-Precision

In technical illustration, it’s important to be able to create documents that look exactly as you need them to. You can sometimes get away with drawing tools built into your primary software, but when you need finer control, you want something purpose-built for technical illustration. One option is Canvas X 2018, the latest version of Canvas GFX’s Canvas technical illustration package, and Canvas X GIS 2018, the variant with extra functionality for geographic information system (GIS) professionals.

Canvas X 2018 offers a new Paste Within Selection function to easily paste content above or below a selection. (Image courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

We spent some time with both packages to give you a better idea of what you can expect from Canvas X.

Canvas X 2018

The Canvas X 2018 user interface. (Image courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

Canvas X greets the user with several options for what type of document they’d like to create: an illustration (the default), a publication, an animation, or a presentation. In each case, the interface remains largely the same, but with settings optimized for your final product.

On the top of the UI is a standard menu of options as well as a space for properties to be displayed. The left side of the UI is home to the toolbox of drawing tools, and, on the right, users will find several tabs: the Canvas Assistant, to help new users; the Document Layout, which breaks down layers and objects; the Page Navigator, for documents with multiple pages; and the Flowchart and Symbol libraries for users to easily add flowcharts and specialized industry symbols.

In terms of functionality, Canvas X offers all the technical illustration tools you would expect from an established software package. You’ve got all the shapes and lines you need, text tools, handwriting tools, dimensioning tools, annotations and magnifying callouts, sprites, effects, and more. You’re also given complete control of the position of every object with a detailed layer and object hierarchy. Canvas X 2018 also packs in commenting and markup tools so you can collaborate with ease.

Canvas X gives users the ability to import 3D models, but there’s a catch: it only accepts DWG and DFX files, meaning you might have to do some file conversion to get your models ready for the software. It would be nice if Canvas X took in some neutral formats like STEP or IGES, but it does offer an easy-to-use 3D editor to get the right view of your imported model.

Canvas X 2018’s built-in 3D View Editor lets you easily pick what view you want to display. (Image courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

The software also comes with thousands of specialized symbols from a variety of industries, including everything from electrical symbols to flowcharts to traffic signs. New to Canvas X 2018 is the ability to add dynamic effects, including shadow, glow, reflection, and soft edge to your objects.

Screenshot of Canvas X 2018 with some library symbols (a water molecule and solar panel) and effects (shadow and reflection). The document layout tab (right) gives a detailed breakdown of every object in the document. (Image courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

Canvas X GIS 2018

The user interface for Canvas X GIS 2018 is almost identical to Canvas X 2018 (notice a new menu option ‘GIS’ at the top of the ribbon). The symbol library is shown on the right. (Image courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

Canvas X GIS 2018 looks nearly identical to Canvas X 2018, and still allows the user to choose from the four types of documents mentioned earlier. However, Canvas X GIS includes a new menu option with specific GIS tools as well as import/export support for a wide variety of geospatial data formats like TIFF, SHP, GML, GPX, and many more.

The extra GIS features in Canvas X GIS 2018 allow users to add geo-referencing information to their document, move objects according to longitude and latitude, measure real-world distance, create graticules, define geo-graphic coordinate systems, obtain statistics, and more.

Canvas X GIS 2018 allows you to define a geographic coordinate system, measure real world distance, and create graticules. (Images courtesy of Canvas GFX, Inc.)

The Canvas Product Line

With both Canvas X 2018 and Canvas X GIS 2018, users will get what Canvas GFX calls “micro-precision” with up to 12 decimal points of accuracy. It’s this level of fine-grain precision that has earned Canvas X users in industries including aerospace, energy, engineering, and more.

Canvas X 2018 and Canvas X GIS 2018 are both on the lower end of the price spectrum for technical illustration software, selling for USD $599 and $799, respectively. They’re also available on subscription for $239/year and $299/year respectively.

There are two more variants in the Canvas lineup: Canvas Viewer 2018, a $99 program that lets you view and print Canvas files without needing the full software, and Canvas DRAW 4 for Mac, a lighter version of Canvas that runs on Mac and sells for $199.

With any of these tools you’ll find an illustration package offering fine-grain control over your technical documents. Canvas can be used to communicate engineering information, create technical marketing material, develop slides for a presentation, or any other application where you want total control over every pixel.

For a review of Canvas X 2018 from a professional technical illustrator, check out Phillip Keane’s review: High Functionality, Low-Price Technical Illustration: A Review of Canvas X 2018.

Canvas GFX, Inc. has sponsored this post. They have no editorial input to this post. Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are mine. —Michael Alba