What is a construction clipart?
Construction Clipart is what I like to call an image designed for use in construction blueprints. The majority of these images are drawn by hand, but the computer can be used as well. The exact number of construction clipart images created is hard to know because they are not required to be submitted or published and most are not copyrighted.
Construction clipart is generally drawn with basic shapes and pinks, blues and greens which make them easy to color on top of a blueprint but also makes it difficult for them to be identified using other color-based drawing programs such as CorelDraw or Illustrator. However, some artists have gone so far as to create their own unique building symbols ensuring that other symbols remain easily identifiable.
Use:
Construction clipart is best used in construction, architecture, engineering or drafting environments. It can also be used in graphic design. Construction clipart images are often saved to the hard drive in their original file format (JPG) and are often saved as links from other graphics in a document to make them more obvious when browsing via links, as image maps and even with HTML code to make them possible for use on webpages.
Computer programs can be used to create construction clipart. Some software includes vector graphics capabilities known as ‘vector-based’, meaning that the lines of the drawing do not need to be drawn by hand, but can instead be drawn using computer programming rather than drawing by hand.
Features:
Construction clipart is typically hand drawn and it is more difficult to create a building shape that is easily identifiable. However, some artists have tried to make their own set of symbols. Most construction clipart includes both buildings, tools, and other items that are seen in architecture.
Examples:
The example shown here is a very simple construction clipart of a house with simple lines and shapes. It is hard to tell what the building looks like but it could easily be placed on any blueprint with ease. The second example is not only one image but rather a series of images that each show different views of the same building (in this case a castle). The individual drawings show the basic construction line and shapes, though it is hard to tell how many sides the building has or where any doors or windows are located.
Where can It be found?
While a basic set of construction clipart images can be found on the Internet, most are of poor quality and have not been copyrighted and should not be used for any commercial purposes without permission from their creator. Additionally, there is a great amount of construction clipart that has been copyrighted and is used by professionals and architects to create drawings.
History:
In the early days of computers, many builders were using CAD (Computer-aided drafting) programs to draw designs on their computers and even print the designs out. These drawings were generally simple lines without any actual design of buildings or other natural elements. While these drawings could be made into blueprints, it was difficult for the printer to actually place the blueprint from CAD technology onto a blank piece of paper without crashing the computer or even cutting off some of the lines from being too long for the small amount of screen space.
To make this technology more usable, software programs began to come onto the market that made it easier for users to draw images directly onto their drawings. These images were simple shapes and lines but they were easily identifiable on top of a blueprint. This allowed for construction and engineering drawings to be created faster and more easily.
The first company to create construction clipart was an Italian firm called ASD computer graphics which was a company in Bologna, Italy. It is believed that this company held the original patent on using graphics in CAD software but did not actually create any of the images itself. They simply had them created by other artists and then sold the images under their own brand name.
Advantages:
As mentioned earlier, the quality of construction clipart is not affected by technology. The fact that the images are simple shapes and lines makes it easy to create and easier for users to use in their own drawings.
Disadvantages:
Construction clipart was never designed to be used far beyond the confines of a blueprint. Because it is so simple, there are no special features that could make it stand out from other types of images in a drawing or even from just having text on top of it. This can lead to people using construction clipart without the need for it, which can lead to building related jobs and projects being completed incorrectly because they do not have any special features in them.
