Chapter 10 Creating 3D Objects

Extruding Objects The Extrude & Bevel effect makes two- dimensional objects three-dimensional. A two-dimensional object has two axes, which are the: –X axis representing the width –Y axis representing the height

Extruding Objects When you extrude an object, you add depth to an object by extending it on its Z axis. An object’s Z axis is always perpendicular to the object’s front surface.

Extruding Objects Determine the degree of extrusion by changing the Extrude Depth value in 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box. Use the Caps buttons in 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box to make objects appear solid or hollow.

Extruding Objects The following figure shows four 2D objects before and after being extruded. *Note the changes to each object’s fill color on the front surface and the light and dark shadings on the other surfaces. These shadings create the 3D effect and are applied automatically when the Extrude & Bevel effect is applied.

Extruding Objects Four objects before and after being extruded Before being extruded After being extruded

Extruding Objects You determine the degree of extrusion by changing the Extrude Depth value in the 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box.

Extruding Objects 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box Click to expose the Extrude Depth slider

Extruding Objects Extrusion depth is measured in points. The greater the value, the more the object is extended on its Z axis. Use the Cap buttons in the 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box to make extruded objects appear solid or hollow.

Extruding Objects The Solid cap button is the default setting. It produces an object in which the front and back faces (surfaces) are solid. The Hollow cap button makes the front and back faces invisible, producing an object that appears hollow.

Extruding Objects The 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box offers controls for rotating extruded objects. You can rotate the object manually by dragging the rotation cube. Once an object has been extruded, you can use the rotation cube to view any surface of the object, such as the front, back, left, or right. The surface shading will update whenever you rotate an object.

Extruding Objects Applying the Extrude & Bevel effect to a compound path can yield results that are visually interesting.

Extruding Objects Simple compound path

Extruding Objects Simple compound path, extruded Extrusion occurs on all surfaces

Extruding Objects Complex compound path

Extruding Objects Complex compound path, extruded

Extruding Objects A bevel is the angle that one surface makes with another when they are not at right angles. The Bevel menu offers ten pre-defined bevel shapes that you can apply to the edges of extruded objects. The width of the bevel edge is controlled by the Height slider.

Extruding Objects Viewing the Bevel menu Choose from 1 of 10 bevel shapes

Extruding Objects The following slide show six objects, each with a different bevel shape applied to its edge. Each bevel has a width of 4 points.

Extruding Objects Cove Rolling Jaggy Classic Complex 2 Rounded Six objects with bevel shapes applied to edges

Extruding Objects Text can be extruded without first having to convert it to outlines. Once extruded, you can add a bevel edge to text.

Extruding Objects Extruding text

Extruding Objects Because many letters are complex shapes, applying a bevel to extruded text often causes problems. Whenever Illustrator is having difficulty rendering an object with a bevel edge, a warning appears in the 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box. Your best bet is to reduce the width of the bevel.

Extruding Objects Warning Warning regarding a beveled edge

Extruding Objects When you apply a bevel shape to an object’s edge, you can decide how the bevel will be applied to the object using the Bevel Extent In and Bevel Extent Out buttons in the 3D Extrude & Bevel Options dialog box. The Bevel Extent In button produces a bevel edge that carves away from the edge of the existing object.

Extruding Objects The Bevel Extent Out button adds the bevel edge to the object. Generally speaking, the Bevel Extent In option is the better choice, because it stays within the already-established boundaries of the object.

Revolving Objects Revolving is another method that Illustrator provides for applying a 3D effect to a 2D object. Revolving an object “sweeps” a path in a circular direction around the Y axis. By default, an object is revolved around a vertical axis that represents its leftmost point.

Revolving Objects Object is revolved around this point Revolving an object around its left edge

Revolving Objects Revolving the object from its right edge yields an entirely different result.

Revolving Objects Object is revolved around this point Revolving an object around its right edge

Revolving Objects Because a revolution occurs around a vertical axis, in most cases, the starting path will depict half of the object you want to revolve. The following figure shows the original path and the result of applying the Revolve effect to that path. *Note how the original path is a two-dimensional half of the revolved three-dimensional object.

Revolving Objects Identifying the path used to produce the revolved 3D graphic

Revolving Objects Once revolved, an object can be rotated by manipulating the rotation cube in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box. You can use the rotation cube to present all surfaces of the graphic. The following figure shows four sides of the bottle graphic, all of them created by manipulating the rotation cube.

Revolving Objects A revolved graphic rotated four ways

Revolving Objects You can apply the Revolve effect to multiple paths simultaneously, and you can revolve open or closed paths. When you select multiple paths and apply the Revolve effect, each path is revolved around its own axis. For this reason, it is often best to align the left edges of multiple paths on the same Y axis.

Revolving Objects Aligning separate paths on the same Y axis can be useful when revolving. However, unwanted results can occur when rotating those paths, even when they are aligned on the same Y axis. This problem can be resolved by grouping the paths.

Revolving Objects When grouped, multiple paths are revolved around a single axis. This can yield unexpected results. When multiple paths are grouped and revolved, they will also rotate together. The following figure show four versions of two grouped and revolved paths after they have been rotated in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box.

Revolving Objects Four grouped paths after being revolved and rotated

Revolving Objects In every case, the two paths rotate together because they are grouped.

Revolving Objects By default, an object is revolved around a vertical axis that represents its leftmost point. Increasing the Offset value in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box increases how far from the Y axis the object is resolved.

Revolving Objects Offset slider in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box Offset value

Revolving Objects The following figure shows a revolved object with a 90-point offset value. The path revolves around the same Y axis, but it does so at a distance of 90 points.

Revolving Objects Object revolved with a 90-point offset from its Y-axis

Revolving Objects The following figure, in which the object has been rotated, shows the offset more clearly. Try to visualize that the object is a series of half circles rotated around a single vertical axis—90 points from that vertical axis.

Revolving Objects Rotated object shows 90-point offset more clearly

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting When the Extrude & Bevel effect or the Revolve effect is applied to an object, surface shading and lighting are applied automatically. However, you can manipulate these effects.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Surface shading controls how the object’s surface appears. When an object is revolved, four surface shadings are available: –Wireframe –No Shading –Diffuse Shading –Plastic Shading

WireframeNo Shading Diffuse ShadingPlastic Shading Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting

Plastic shading is the default surface shading. With plastic shading, the object reflects light as though it were made of a shiny plastic material. Distinct highlight areas appear on the surface of an object.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Diffuse shading offers a surface that reflects light in a soft, diffuse pattern. With Diffuse shading, no distinct highlights appear on the surface of the object.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting The Wireframe option makes all surfaces transparent and shows the object’s geometry.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting The No Shading option, as its name suggests, applies no new shading to the object. Its surface is identical to that of the 2D object.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting When you choose Diffuse Shading or Plastic Shading, a number of lighting controls are available for you to manipulate the lighting effects that are applied to the object automatically. Lighting Intensity controls the strength of the light on the object. The range for lighting intensity is 0-100, with 100 being the default.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Ambient Light determines how the object is lit globally. The range for Ambient Light is Any changes that you make with the Ambient Light slider affect the brightness of the object uniformly, though the effect is much more pronounced in the shadow areas than in the highlights.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Decreasing the ambient light noticeably makes the shadow areas darker, which increases the overall contrast of the object, from shadow to highlight. The following figure show two objects, one with 60% ambient light and one with 20% ambient light.

20% Ambient light60% Ambient light Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Comparing ambient lighting

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Highlight Intensity controls how intense a highlight appears. The more intense the highlight, the more white it appears. Highlight Size controls how large the highlights appear on the object.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Blend Steps controls how smoothly the shading appears on the object’s surface and is most visible in the transition from the highlight areas to the diffusely lit areas. The range for blend steps is 1-256, with higher numbers producing more paths and therefore smoother transitions.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting In addition to manipulating lighting controls, you can manipulate the light itself. When you choose Diffuse Shading or Plastic Shading as the surface shading, a default light source is applied.

Default light source Viewing default light source settings Default light source settings Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting

You can drag the light source to a new location to light the object from a different angle.

Drag to relocate Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting Relocating a light source

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting In addition to relocating the default light source, you can add additional light sources by clicking the New Light button. By default, the new light source appears at the center of the lighting key, but you can relocate it as well.

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting You can apply different light intensity values to individual light sources. It is often a good idea for one light source to be more dominant than the other(s).

Manipulating Surface Shading and Lighting The Move selected light to back of object button moves the light source to the back of the object. This is most effective when there’s a background object that allows the back light to be more apparent.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Once you have created a three-dimensional object, you can “map” two-dimensional artwork to the three-dimensional object. The process of mapping a 2D object to a 3D object first includes converting the 2D object to a symbol. The following figure shows a revolved 3D object and 2D artwork that will be mapped to it.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Viewing 3D object and 2D artwork to be mapped 2D Illustrator artwork 3D object

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects To map the artwork, you first select the 3D object, then click Map Art in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box. In the Map Art dialog box, you must first choose the surface to which you intend to map the art.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Map Art dialog box

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects To map the artwork, you first select the 3D object, then click Map Art in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box. In the Map Art dialog box, you must first choose the surface to which you intend to map the art. When you click the surface buttons, the active surface is shown in red wireframe on the 3D object.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects The grid pattern represents the complete surface of surface 1 of 4. This means not only the front surface that you see, but the entire surface, all the way around. the front surface that we can see. That area is defined by the curved lines.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Artwork that you want to map to an object must first be converted into a symbol in the Symbols panel. Once you have chosen the surface, you then choose the symbol to be mapped by clicking the Symbol list arrow in the Map Art dialog box and selecting the appropriate symbol.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects When you do so, the symbol artwork is centered on the grid. Then drag the artwork so that it completely covers the curved lines that represent the front face.

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Positioning the symbol artwork Wrapping Paper symbol selected

Mapping Artwork to 3D Objects Once the artwork is mapped, it reshapes itself to the three-dimensional object.

Mapping Artwork to 3D objects Viewing the mapped art

Working with a Perspective Grid Illustrator features a powerful perspective grid feature that you can use to draw and create objects in perspective. The perspective grid is more than just a visual guide—it’s a drawing tool. When you’re working with the perspective grid, it’s like you’re working in “perspective mode.”

Working with a Perspective Grid The grid allows you to draw, copy and transform objects in perspective. It even adjusts the shape of the object to keep it in perspective as you move it around the artboard. There are three types of grids: –1-Point Perspective –2-Point Perspective –3-Point Perspective

Working with a Perspective Grid 1-point perspective grid2-point perspective grid 3-point perspective grid 1,2, & 3-Point perspective grids

Working with a Perspective Grid The term “point” refers to vanishing points. –For example, a 2-Point Perspective grid has two vanishing points. Of the three types of grids, 2-Point Perspective is most applicable for most types of Illustrator artwork and is therefore the default grid.

Working with a Perspective Grid You access the Perspective Grid using the View menu or by clicking the Perspective Grid tool in the Tools panel. You can resize and reshape the grid by clicking and dragging the handles, known as widgets. When you’ve resized and reshaped the grid to your liking, you can save the modified grid as a Perspective Grid Preset.

Working with a Perspective Grid When you click the Perspective Grid tool, the grid becomes visible. The basic shape tools function differently, allowing you to draw objects in perspective. When drawing in perspective, you should first specify on which perspective plane you want to draw by clicking one of the faces on the Plane Switching Widget that appears with the perspective grid.

Working with a Perspective Grid The following figure shows three views of the widget for a 2-Point perspective grid.

Working with a Perspective Grid Plane Switching Widget in three modes

Working with a Perspective Grid The following figure shows a rectangle drawn in perspective on the left plane.

Working with a Perspective Grid Drawing on the left plane

Working with a Perspective Grid Once you’ve drawn objects in perspective, the Perspective Selection tool allows you to move and modify the objects in perspective. The following figure shows three copies of the ellipse dragged and dropped with the Perspective Selection tool.

Working with a Perspective Grid Three copies of the ellipse dragged and dropped with the Perspective Selection tool

Working with a Perspective Grid You can also use the Perspective Selection tool to move an object or multiple objects between different planes on the grid. While dragging an object, type the number of the plane to which you want to move it.

Working with a Perspective Grid When working with the perspective grid, any text you create will be created in the normal fashion, not in perspective. You can use the Perspective Selection tool to bring “flat” text and objects onto the perspective grid. This technique is also useful when putting complex artwork into perspective.