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DECEMBER 11, 2003 3D Effects in Illustrator CS
If you simply want the artwork to fill up the entire surface, you can click on the "Scale to Fit" button at the bottom of the preview.  [an error occurred while processing this directive]Similarly, you can map artwork to other areas of the frame as well simply by choosing the particular surface you want to map. In this particular tutorial, the process is a little bit of a pain because we have 24 surfaces to work with, and each one has to be mapped individually. The results aren't always spectacular, and it takes much longer for the object to redraw itself onscreen, owing to the extra complexity, and it also requires that you choose to shade the artwork in order to to be able to see shadows and highlights, which not only adds exponentially to the onscreen redraw time, but can also affect the appearance of the object you've mapped to the picture area of your frame.So, you can either go through the laborious process of mapping every surface of your object, or you could map just the surfaces that are facing the "camera." Or, as with me, you could simply map the from face of the frame, a one-step process. If you do wish to do this, again, create a symbol from your artwork that you wish to map by dragging it over to your Symbols palette. Then go back into your 3D effect dialog, click the Map Art button, and place the symbol onto the surface or surfaces of your choice. If you wish to map the front face of the object and have been following along with this tutorial, the front face is surface No. 8. If you haven't been following along, you'll have to locate the surface yourself by scrolling through the list of available surfaces and locating the appropriate one.  And that, essentially, is the process of mapping surfaces on 3D objects in Illustrator CS. Please note that it is not always that difficult to locate surfaces. In our particular case, we're using both a stroke and a fill on our object, which results in far more surfaces than if you were using just a stroke or just a fill. You should remember this for the times when you're creating 3D objects that don't necessarily require both. One important point about mapping art: When things get complex, Illustrator CS can sometimes start producing geometric anomalies with your object. This is especially true with art mapping. So make sure that you save often. Save before you apply any mapping, and save before you go back in and edit your 3D effect later on. Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Related sites: • Creative Mac • Digital Media Designer • Digital Producer • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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