There are different techniques for creating three-dimensional renderings of art work in Illustrator. This is particularly useful for packaging and environmental designers. In this tutorial, the Extrude & Bevel effect will be used. While mapping art to the Bevel & Extrude effect is possible in previous versions, the technique detailed here for creating the symbols is specific to Illustrator CC 2017. Article courtesy Designorati.com In Adobe Illustrator, you can map textures and artwork onto 3D objects you create and get results such as you see in Figure 1. Figure 1. This impressive-looking globe wasn’t hard to make. To create a globe, I’ll use a blue sphere I made. (To make your own, see “3D Filter How-To.”) I need a map, so I downloaded one from NASA Reusable Images. I used “World Map with Solid Red Continents.” I actually wanted my continents green, but the green one available on this page would not open for me, so I just recolored the red map green. Figure 2. Paste a copy of the map directly on top of the original. Change the color of the top copy to bright green. The top copy will already be selected, so just click on the bright green swatch in the Swatches palette. Now use the arrow keys to nudge the top copy up and to the left three pixels. Figure 3. Now the map has dimension. Converting the Map to a SymbolAny artwork used for mapping to 3D objects in the 3D filters has to be a symbol. To convert the maps group to a symbol, drag it to the Symbols palette and drop it in. You can also open the Symbol palette options menu and choose New Symbol, which gives you an opportunity to name it, but it isn’t necessary. Figure 4. Edit the instance in Illustrator’s Appearance palette. TIP: To completely get rid of an instance of the 3D Effects, drag the effect icon in the Appearance palette to the palette trash. Figure 5. The Map Art dialog box. Open the Symbol menu. The symbol you saved will be at the bottom of the list (Figure 6). Double-click on it to add it to the diagram. Figure 6. Double-click on the symbol you saved to add it to the diagram. It’s too large for the diagram. You can resize by dragging corner handles the same as any object, or you can resize it instantly to fit by clicking the Scale to Fit button. Click the button now to resize the map (Figure 7). Figure 7. It’s easy to resize the map — just click the Scale to Fit button. Click the Preview button so you can preview the map on the sphere. It might take a while to render. Notice how the maps of North and South America show up, but the maps of Asia, Africa, and Australia are hidden on the other side of the globe (Figure 8). Figure 8. The entire map is on the globe, but you can see only part of it in this view. Shaded artwork takes longer to render and takes more computing power, but it usually looks more realistic. Try checking the Shade Artwork box and letting it render to see which version you prefer. On some images it will make a big difference, and on others it won’t, and if there is transparency in the artwork it might even look strange. As you use the Effects, you’ll have to decide which way to proceed on an image-by-image basis. Figure 9. The globe with shading applied. You can rotate the globe in the 3D Revolve dialog if you want a different part of the globe showing (Figure 10). When you’re done rotating by dragging the globe in the preview window, click OK in the 3D Revolve dialog to apply the mapped art to the sphere, and you now have a globe. Save the file, and you’ve got the whole world in your hands! |