Finally we have found time to get started on filling up the tutorial section of Melbourneid! This is our very first tutorial. Hopefully it is of some use to people. We would be interested in some feedback on it and also on what you would like to see tutorials on. Enjoy.
Cheers
The Melbourneid Team.
One method of creating a quick 3D representation of a concept that we believe has gone quite unnoticed in the design world is the Extrude & Bevel, Revolve, and Rotate 3D Effects in Adobe Illustrators CS 3.
Using these tools you can effectively create some nice wire frames or shaded views of simple concepts. So far I have only used these tools for simple objects, but I am sure with a bit more messing around they could be utilised for more complex shapes.
In this tutorial we are going to look at how to quickly produce a quick and dirty set of drawings of a basic cup using the revolve 3D effect. We will put in an off-axis front, Top, Bottom, Right and a Isometric-left with perspective.
Final Image Preview
First up lets take a look at what we’ll be creating in this tutorial. Click on the screen shot below to view a full size image.
Step 1
Fire up Illustrator CS 3 and create a new document. Select the Pen tool from the tools window. Create one side of a basic cup outline. In this tutorial we have gone for a Wineglass type glass.
Step 2
Select the path you have just created with the Pen tool and go to the Effect menu, select 3D and then Revolve
Step 3
Select Off-Axis Front in the position drop down
make sure the angle is set to 360.
Now select wireframe from the surface drop down
Select Right Edge and check the preview check box
you should now have a 3D wire frame glass like on the left.
Click OK
Step 4
Select your cup and make a copy. Paste the copy into a new layer.
Select your copy on the new layer, open the window menu and bring up your appearance pane.
In the appearance pane double click on the 3D revolve, which will bring up the 3D Revolve options panel.
Then set the position to front.
Step 5
Repeat step 4 as many times as needed to create the required amount of views , each time set position to a different setting. In this tutorial we have repeated step 4 four times and used top, bottom, right and Isometric-left with 5º of perspective.
You could also create a cut away section by changing the angle from 360º to lower value – eg: 160º.
Step 6
When you are happy with the views you have, select all your views, go to the Object menu and select Expand Appearance
Step 7
Now arrange your views as you want them (resize if needed). Label each view, add in some basic dimensions etc
Conclusion
There you have it. A quick and dirty set of drawings of a wineglass, done in Illustrator CS3, that easily communicates the form of the glass in 3D. All without having to leave the Illustrator environment to fire up CAD software.
Filed under: Tutorials | 1 Comment
Tags: 3D drawings illustrator, CS3, Illustrator CS3, Illustrator CS3 tutorial, illustrator tutorial, industrial design tutorial, melbourneid tutorial, revolve 3D
I didn’t know you could do that