Check out our podcast to celebrate World Industrial Design Day! Hope you had a good one…I sure did, more to follow hot on the heels of this next week, stay tuned Melbourne.

http://www.archive.org/download/MelbourneIdPodcast09/melbourneid_epp09.m4a

First up apologies to our listeners & readers for not continuing with the podcasts throughout the uni assessment period. As you will be very aware, tis a hectic time where you have to prioritise – which means some things get left behind. But not to worry we will be rocking out more awesome podcasts for your listening pleasure very soon.

We have also updated the resources & calender sections of the site with several juicy gems of info – check them out asap!

So keep an eye and an ear out cause we’ll be back with more podcasts really soon. Don’t forget to let us know what you want to hear on the podcasts or see tutorials about.

The Melbourneid Team

PS. Remember you can share the Melbourneid love with all your friends by getting them to subscribe to the Melbid RSS Feed or the Melbid facebook group.

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.

Podcast Seven has arrived, with a big helping of open source design information. For those at uni, heads down and keep on rock’n the next few weeks. Almost time to party!

http://www.archive.org/download/MelbourneIdPodcast07/melbourneid_epp07.m4a

The Melbourneid resources page has been updated! There are now an extra 10 resources that have been added to our ever growing list. So rock on over to http://melbourneid.wordpress.com/resources/
and expand your mind!

Also for those hanging out for the latest podcast – don’t fret its on its way, its just a little late, we’ll let you know as soon as it goes online.

Cheers

The Melbourneid Team

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Thats right the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) is launching the inaugrual “World Industrial Design Day” (WIDD) which is to be held on the 29th of June this year!

Heres a quote that pretty much says what its all about – “Established on the occasion of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) 50th anniversary, the observance is an occasion to explore the development and evolution of industrial design, specifically focusing on its significant merits and impact on quality of life.”

Check out the full story here

Thats right Melbourneid now has a Facebook group – yet another way to keep up with whats happening on Melbourneid and let us know what you want.

Cheers

The Melbourneid Team

This weeks is a mixed bag…open and find out whats inside.

http://www.archive.org/download/MelbourneIdPodcast06/melbourneid_epp06.m4a

Woooho, podcast number five is finally here. It’s a big one – attempting to take on the topic of design complexity. Let us know where you stand on the issue.

 http://www.archive.org/download/MelbIdPodcast05/melbourneid_epp05.m4a

So your lazy? Can’t be bothered listening through all our podcasts to get the juicy info?

Well to help you get at least a tiny bit of the juciyness from our podcasts, without having to listen! Although we can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to!

Here is a Links roundup from the first four episodes of the Melbourne iD podcasts.

Karim Rashid
Design Sojourn
Melbourne Design Guide
Sleepless in Seattle
Wicked Problems
Design Council UK
Fast Company
Carl Jones
Knog
The National Design Centre – The Fink Jug
Furnitex
Dusko Furniture
Juicy Salif
Torre Agbar
Posca
Rubik’s Cube
De Bono Six Hats
Anthill Magazine
Ambiguous Horse

Don’t forget to check back next week for our podcast on Design Complexity

- The Melbourneid Team -