It turns out that it is difficult to trace existing shapes in Illustrator, especially when you don’t have exact measurements to go on. All I had for reference was a layout of parts on a grid of ½ inch squares (Figure 1).

This grid occasionally provided me the information I needed. For example, I was able to tell that the inner diameter of a part (Part A, Figure 1) was inches and its outer diameter was 9 inches. Most of the time, however, I was guessing at the sizes. I did end up scaling up the grid to full size and then doing my best to accurately trace the shapes, but that was not nearly as precise. The ideal would have been to have all the precise measurements given.

For example, when tracing the piece above (Figure 2), I would have liked to know the exact diameters of the inner holes and the distance between the centers of the two circles. I would also have liked to know the radius of circumference of the various curves.

For tracing this other piece (Figure 3), I would have liked to know more information about the curvature of the line. It does not appear to have a single radius of curvature, but maybe just the coordinates of some points that the line hits could make for a better approximation. If precise measurements would have been too difficult, it would have been nice to have a minor grid with smaller squares overlaid over the grid I was given.

Other difficulties arose from the fact that the shapes were not perfect. Shapes that were almost certainly meant to be—and from a distance appeared to be—symmetrical were not actually symmetrical upon close inspection (Figure 3). I had to decide, if I should make the shapes symmetrical or if I should trace them as they are drawn. Although I did occasionally make a shape symmetrical, I usually just traced what I saw. Also, if you look at Figures 4 and 5, you will notice both red and blue lines. The red lines indicate normal cuts. The blue lines indicate scoring.

The main challenge probably just came from my lack of skill with Adobe Illustrator. There are lots of tools that I don’t even know exist, much less how to use them. Making things more difficult, I often didn’t even know the terminology to describe what I wanted to do, making it much harder to Google for help.

Adobe Illustrator is a skill I have yet to master, but I’m definitely better at it than I was just a week ago. If you want to view the final Adobe Illustrator file (Figure 4), click here. If you want to view the Adobe Illustrator file with the grid (Figure 5), click here.