Working with 3D Objects and Transparencies to Make a Vector Cola Bottle Design

VECTORTUTS has covered Illustrator’s 3D effects a few times, so the basics should already be familiar to you. In this tutorial, we’ll be taking those skills up a notch and discussing how Illustrator deals with transparency in 3D objects. In just a few steps you’ll have created a plastic cola bottle, which is ideally suited for those of you involved in product marketing.

Step 1

We need two symbols for mapping to our final 3D object; a bottle label and some texture for the screw top. Make yours with similar proportions to those shown below and use whatever designs you wish. Group the label components (Objects > Group) to make a label group and also group the top texture components.
One thing to bear in mind is the use of gradients within these symbols. Illustrator will rasterize gradients when applying the symbols to 3D surfaces. This is fine and may well give you the desired effect, but in doing so you’ll limit the scaleability of your final object.

Step 2

Open the symbols panel (Window > Symbols) and drag each of the two groups into the window. Depending upon which version of Illustrator you’re using, you’ll either be presented with the Symbol Options dialogue automatically, or you may have to double-click the symbols once they’re in the panel.
Either way, enter a name for each of your two symbols within the Symbol Options dialogue and click OK. You may also find it useful to display the Symbols panel as a list (as shown in the image below), which allows you to see the symbol icons plus their assigned names. Existing instances of the symbols on your artboard may now be deleted.

Step 3

I’m now in Outline mode (Command + Y to switch between Preview and Outline) while working with simple vectors, but you can choose which view mode you prefer.
Use the various drawing tools to form the shapes needed for a silhouette of a cola bottle. Align them all centrally, but don’t worry if the whole thing isn’t perfectly symmetrical, we’re going to slice it down the middle anyway. There are many approaches to preparing shapes for revolving, this way gives you a reasonable impression of the final form before you applied the 3D effect.

Step 4

Use the Pathfinder tools to join the shapes. Then expand your shapes so you then have one complete object.

Step 5

Draw a line vertically down the middle of your bottle object. Then align the two together centrally. Now click the Pathfinder’s Divide tool and Expand the result. Your object will have been split neatly in two.
Ungroup the two halves (Objects > Ungroup) and delete one of them. It makes little difference which of the two halves you delete; more on this later.

Step 6

We’re going to continue splitting our object up, this time with a series of horizontal lines. What we’re aiming for is a collection of pieces so each area of the bottle can have it’s own color and transparency properties.
Start with a line to separate the bottle top from the rest, then one which will begin the label, and another for the plastic underneath the label. Continue with this method until your design matches the image shown below.

Step 7

Once again we turn to our Pathfinder Tools. You’ve no need to group the horizontal lines together, just select everything on the page and click Divide. Expand your object as you’ve done before. Then ungroup (Object > Ungroup) to release your bottle sections from each other.

Step 8

Use the Direct Selection Tool to select four of the nodes along the edge of your object (as highlighted below). Then press Delete to remove them. This should leave you with a segmented vector defining the outer edge of half of your bottle.

Step 9

If you’re currently working in Outline mode, switch to Preview (Command + Y) so we can determine some colors. Give each of the five bottle sections a color and leave the stroke width at it’s default of 1px (the stroke width will effectively determine the thickness of your bottle’s plastic, you may want to play around with this).

Step 10

Select all your bottle sections and group them together (Object > Group). This is a simple but crucial stage in the 3D revolving process. We want all the sections to be treated as one unit and for the effects to be applied to the group as a whole. Without grouping them, the revolve effect would be applied to each section individually, creating five random 3D objects. Try it for yourself!

Step 11

Select your now grouped bottle vectors. Go to Effect > 3D > Revolve and click Preview in the Options dialogue that appears. You’ll be presented with a revolved 3D rendering of your vector, turned 360° around the left edge by default.
This brings us back to Step 5 when I mentioned "more on this later." Well later is here now. When I split the whole bottle object into two halves I chose to delete the right hand side, leaving me with the left. If you did the same, your bottle will have rendered as below.
You’ll need to alter the settings so that the object is revolved around the right hand side, as shown in the second image below.

Step 12

Within the 3D Revolve Options dialogue click on Map Art, which opens the Mapping dialogue. Select the surfaces you need using the surface navigation arrows and map the appropriate symbols to them from the symbols dropdown. There will be a lot of surfaces to choose from with a complex object like this, so it may take a while to find the ones you’re after. This is particularly true when revolving a vector, as surfaces on the inside of your object can also be mapped.
Click Shade Artwork then click on OK. Once back in the 3D Options dialogue, play around with the angle, perspective, and lighting (under More Options) until you’re happy with the result. Then click OK.

Step 13

We now have a nice 3D bottle with a label and a bit of lid texture, but the plastic and the cola is opaque; we need to resolve the issue of transparency (here comes the most important part of the tutorial). There are several ways in which you may think to approach this, so I’ll first cross off the incorrect ways, and then demonstrate how it should be done.
1. By selecting the 3D bottle and reducing the opacity in the transparency panel the whole object will fade. Furthermore, you won’t even be able to see the reverse side of the object, it will have been treated as a 2D image. This is because when Illustrator renders an object in 3D it first flattens the transparency of that object (see the first image below).
2. Instead we could expand the group in the Layers panel or double click the object to reveal the group elements. By selecting just those we need and altering their opacity we can give our bottle a transparent look (see the second image below). The correct approach! Right? Wrong!

Step 14

Technically we’ve just achieved the look we wanted, but in terms of best practices this method isn’t going to win a gold star. Illustrator has flattened the transparency of the main object (in this case the group of vectors) though now we’ve altered the properties of an object within our group. This transparency isn’t flattened and the effect works.
However, imagine that we didn’t have a group. Imagine instead that we’d built a single vector to make a green glass bottle and we also wanted to apply a transparency. We wouldn’t have a group to expand, yet we’d still need to alter the transparency of an element within our vector, so this is where the third correct method comes into play.
3. Open your Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and use the Direct Selection tool to click on a vector whose transparency you wish to alter. In the Appearance panel you can now isolate this object’s stroke transparency properties. You do this by clicking on the Stroke attribute and changing the value in the transparency panel. You aren’t altering the properties of the object, but the properties of it’s stroke, which is as far down the properties hierarchy as possible! Guaranteed transparency!
Give the strokes of the plastic sections a Multiply Transparency of 40% and the stroke of the cola section a Multiply transparency of 60%.

Step 15

If you feel the bottle needs to be standing on something, make an ellipse, give it a radial gradient from 50% black to white and scale it vertically, as in the image below. Position it underneath the base of the bottle. Make another (larger) ellipse, give it a radial gradient from 20% black to white. Then Mask (Command + 7) the top half with a rectangle. Position it behind the bottle as a horizon.
Unfortunately, Illustrator doesn’t (yet) cater for ambience such as dedicated 3D programs, so you’ll have to fake your own shadow.

Conclusion

There we have it! A transparent 3D plastic cola bottle! Duplicate your final bottle if you want to really demonstrate it’s transparency. Scale it to allow for distance. Bear in mind that when altering the scale of 3D rendered objects (or the stroke width, etc.) your image mapping may need to be reapplied. It’s likely that your surfaces will have been assigned different numbers and that your symbols are attached in different places.

3D prototype mock up in Adobe Illustrator

Welcome to this tutorial which will show you how to use Adobe Illustrators 3D feature to mock up prototypes. For this example we will be mocking up a label for a pill container but the techniques used can work for many things including box packaging.

Step 1 / The Label

Firstly you need to produce your label design. Here is ours below:

To prepare this artwork to be able to be wrapped around a 3D object we need to make it a Symbol. First select the label and outline all the text (hot keys command + shift + O). Then select the artwork using the selection tool (hot key V). Get the Symbols pallet up (Window > Symbols). Drag the artwork into the pallet. A dialog box will appear allowing you to save the artwork as a symbol.

The artwork is now ready to be mapped onto a 3D object.

Step 2 / Preparing your 3D object

Now we need to create the packaging object upon which the label will sit. Use the “Rounded rectangle tool” from the tools pallet (note: by default the rectangle tool will be highlighted – click and hold on this and a menu will expand which will allow you to select the rounded rectangle tool). If you click (don’t click and drag) on your art-board with this tool selected you will find a window will appear giving you the option to define the radius of the rounded corners. You can also select the dimensions you wish to use. Alternatively click and drag on the art-board to create your shapes.

Using this tool create your pill container by drawing the relevant shapes. One you have them use the tools in the “Align” pallet (hotkeys shift + F7) to center, or ‘horizontally align’ them.

We are now going to group these separate shapes and make them one single shape. You do this by using the tools in the “Pathfinder” palette (hotkeys Shift + Command + F9). Select the shapes using the selection tool (hot key V) and then in the “Pathfinder Palette” select the first icon on the left “add to shape area” then click “expand”.

Now we have our basic shape but we need to get this ready for being made “3D”. To do this we need half of this shape. To create this draw a rectangle using the rectangle tool which can be found in the main tool pallet (hot key M). Click and drag on your artboard to produce a shape and position it over half of the pill container shape we have just created. Then select both shapes using the selection tool (hot key V), go back to the “Pathfinder Palette” and select the 2nd option on the left (Subtract from shape area).

We now have a shape, ready to be made “3D”. But before we go onto that step there is one last task to do – we now need to divide our shape to allow us to colour the lid, the label and the main body of the pill box. To do this use the pen tool (hot key P) and draw horizontal lines across the pill container where the label and lid will sit. To use the pen tool click to the left of your shape, on the artboard where you wish to make your first segment – this will create your first “node” – then hold shift and click on the right hand side, this will create your second node. Now hold command and click onto the artboard to deselect the line you have just drawn and repeat the process. By holding down shift you will keep the line exactly at 90 degrees. See the example below:

Now select the lines and the shape using using the selection tool (hot key V) and hit the “divide” option on the “Pathfinder Pallet”. This will divide the shape into sections.

Use the “Direct selection tool” (hot key A) and click and drag over the inner vertical lines. Press the delete or backspace key on your keyboard. You can then go in an colour the different segments as you desire (it is also possible to make them partly transparent if you want – so as to create the illusion of glass). This tidies up the shape and makes it ready to be taken into the third dimension!

3. Bringing it all together into your 3D prototype

Select your shapes using the selection tool (hot key V) and group them (hot keys Command + G). Now go to “Effect > 3D > Revolve”. This will open a window giving you options to make your object 3d. If you press “Preview” you will be able to see what your object looks like in 3D. (If the revolve seems to be inside out ensure that that you select “Right edge”).

When you have obtained the angle of the shape you desire click on the “Map Art” button. This will bring up another window. You will need to find the relevant surface you want your label artwork to be mapped onto. Once you find it select the label symbol from the drop down and position into place (ensure you select the “Shade Artwork” option for a realistic effect). Press ok., then make any rotation amends as may be required and then press ok again.

And there you have it – your own prototype. If you can master this technique you will be able to do it in around 15 minuets – something which might have taken an hour if you were to have printed it, cropped it and stuck onto a real pill container. You can also duplicate the shape and develop examples of how multiple pieces would look together! Enjoy!

How to Create Funky 3D Springs in Illustrator

 

Many of us have done this before in Auto CAD, 3D Max or Maya. In this tutorial, we will learn how to create 3D springs in Illustrator. We’ll be using the 3D Revolve Tool and some manual effort to obtain this quality vector result. Hope you find it interesting!

Step 1

Create a new document. With the Ellipse Tool (L), make a circle 25px by 25px. Fill it with red and no Stroke.

Step 2

Select the circle and go to Effect > 3D > Revolve. Enter the values as shown in the figure below. A Revolve angle of 180 degree is to make a semi-ring. An offset of 100pt from the right edge adds a distance between the revolve axis and the path on which the object will revolve.

Step 3

Now we’ll duplicate and Send to Back. Alt-drag the ring to make a duplicate copy as shown. Use Command + Shift + Left Bracket to send it back.

Step 4

With the duplicate copy still selected, open the Appearance palette (Shift + F6). Double-click the 3D Revolve effect, as shown below.

Step 5

In the 3D Revolve dialog box, change the z-axis value to 10 and offset to Left Edge. Keep rest of the values as it is. The two basic elements for the spring are now created.

Step 6

Now we’ll match the faces. Hold the duplicate copy and place it exactly behind the right face of the original one. Use the keyboard arrow keys to do so. See in the image below how this is done.

Tip: Go to Edit > Preferences > General (Command + K). In the dialog box, reduce the Keyboard increment to 0.05px or even less. This is helpful in achieving more accuracy when you are shifting the objects with the keyboard arrow keys.

Step 7

Select the rings and Alt-drag to duplicate. Send “ring 4″ to back (Command + Shift + Left Bracket key).

Step 8

Now select “ring3″ and “ring 4,” then match the left face of “ring 4″ exactly behind the left face of “ring1.”
Tip: Use Shift + Arrow key for larger increments and simply push the Arrow key for normal increments. As we know, there is no way to join 3D faces in illustrator; the overall quality of the final result will depend upon your hand’s precision. So, try your best to match the faces.

Step 9

Follow Steps 7 and 8 to extend the spring. This can be done either by duplicating one ring at a time, or duplicating the entire set of rings. Let’s do it with an entire set. Select everything and Alt-drag to duplicate. Send “ring 6″ to back (Command + Shift + Left Bracket).

Step 10

Now we have two sets and we have to connect them. Key logic: Match the bottom-most face of “set 2″ with top-most face of “set 1″.

Step 11

Now we want a stretch in the spring. For this, duplicate “ring 8″ by Alt-dragging, and connect it with “ring 7.” Assume this as “ring 10,” as we will make “ring 9″ in the next step.

Step 12

Duplicate “ring 7″ by Alt-dragging and open its 3D properties from the Appearance Palette (Shift + F6). Change the z-axis rotation to -4, as shown in the image below.

Step 13

Connect “ring 9″ to the right face of “ring 10,” as shown below.

Step 14

Duplicate “ring 10″ and change its z-axis rotation to 14. Do this by clicking on the 3D Revolve properties from the Appearance palette. Next, connect it with the left face of “ring 9,” as shown below.

Step 15

Following the same procedure, duplicate “ring 9,” change its z-axis value to -8 and connect its right face to “ring 12.”

Step 16

Similarly, duplicate “ring 12,” change its z-axis to 18, and connect its left face to “ring 11.”

Step 17

Now duplicate “ring 11″ and connect its right face to “ring 14,” without changing anything.

Step 18

Select “rings 13″ and “ring 14″ together and duplicate them. Send “ring 16″ to back (Command + Shift + Left Bracket). Now join the resulting rings at the left face of “ring 13.”

Step 19

Now duplicate “ring 16″ by Alt-dragging and connect it to the left face of “ring 15.”

Step 20

Carefully select the rings 1, 3, 4, and 6, then duplicate them. You may need to lock some rings (Command + 2) to select the desired ones.

Step 21

The final step is to connect the resultant set of Step 20 to the right face of “ring 18.” The final result after successful placement shall be like this.

Conclusion and Scope

With this basic technique of spring formation, we can obtain creative results by simply experimenting with the rotation values in the 3D Revolve option. The only drawback with this technique is that we can not join the 3D faces. This affects the overall quality of the desired result. However, at 800px sizes, these errors are not legible and we can easily use the results in icon designing. You can try this technique in creating shock-absorbers and Spiral CFL (Bulbs).
The image below shows some experiments done with this procedure. You can find the rotation values for each result in the source file. Thanks everybody for your patience and valuable time. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!