DECEMBER 11, 2003
3D Effects in Illustrator CS
Part 1: Extrusion & Bevel basics
 by David Nagel
Page 4 of 4

Fine-tuning options
Now we're going to go in and make a few more changes to our 3D object. The first thing we're going to do is add some perspective to make our image a little more dramatic. This option is located up in the top section of the 3D effect dialog just beneath the positioning cube. For my example, I'm going to set the perspective to 137 degrees, which is about the most I can do without expanding the object off the screen. I'm also going to rotate my object a little more to show off the bevel.[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Note that applying perspective may cause one or more of your mapped surfaces to disappear. If this happens, simply reopen your Map Art dialog, go to the affected surface, and reposition the artwork a little bit. This will force Illustrator to redraw the mapped art.

And, finally, we can go in and tweak around with the lighting and colors. In order to do this, you need to click on the More Options button. This will expand the 3D effect dialog, giving you all of your lighting options. By default, there will be only one light, so you can go ahead and adjust that light's settings now. I'm going to turn down the ambient lighting, resulting in a darker all-around image; and I'm going to turn down the Highlight Intensity because I don't want bright highlights. I will also adjust the position of the lighting by interactively dragging around my light's icon (the little dot on the lighting sphere).



I can also add more lights simply by clicking on the New Light button beneath the lighting sphere.



And I can move my new light (or any light) behind my object to create a backlighting effect simply by clicking the Move Light button. (Clicking this button again will bring the light back to the front.



And voila, our frame is done.



Now, there are some parameters we didn't use here. Just to let you know what they do, here's an explanation:

  • Light Intensity is the brightness of an individual light. The intensity of each light can be adjusted independently for precise control.
  • Highlight SIze is, literally, the physical size of your highlights.
  • Blend Steps affects the resolution of your 3D object. Moving the amount higher results in much smoother curves, but also longer redraw times.
  • Shading Color affects the color of the darker portions of your object. You can set the color to Custom to cast a color onto your object other than black.
  • Preserve Spot Colors allows you to retain the spot colors of your object, important in certain cases when working with trademarked logos for clients. This option, of course, limits the shading and light cast in your 3D object.
  • And Draw Hidden Faces is an option that forces Illustrator to draw the faces that are not visible to the camera, something that may be important when expanding the appearance of your 3D object for the purpose of animation. (Or so I'd imagine. I haven't actually found a use for it yet, except to waste time with onscreen redraw.)

Next time around we'll take a look at creating custom bevels for our 3D extrusions, including the basics of bevel creation, applications for bevels and limitations.

If you have any further questions, drop me a line or visit me in one of the forums listed below.

Contact the author: Dave Nagel is the editor and producer of Creative Mac and Digital Media Designer; host of several World Wide User Groups, including Synthetik Studio Artist, Adobe Photoshop, Apple DVD Studio Pro, Mac OS, Adobe InDesign, Adobe LiveMotion, Creative Mac and Digital Media Designer; and executive producer of the Digital Media Net family of publications. You can reach him at dnagel@digitalmedianet.com.

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