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JANUARY 14, 2004 3D in Illustrator CS, Part 3
Now I have my basic object. I'm also going to have to import two images that I'll be mapping onto my sphere's surface(s). One will represent the outside of the "planet," while the other will represent a stratified core. In order to use images as texture maps, you must convert them to Symbols. So, after importing them, I'll simply drag them into the Symbols palette and name them "Outside" and "Inside." The images are actually 512 x 512 pixels each, which will hopefully give me some pretty decent quality after they're applied to my object.  [an error occurred while processing this directive]So now we're ready to do this thing.Select your semi-circle, and choose Effect > 3D > Revolve. WHen the effect dialog opens, hit the Preview checkbox, set the Angle value to 270 degrees and then adjust the position of your object to your liking.  When you're ready, click the "Map Art" button. If you're following along and doing it right, you should have three total surfaces--the outside and two inner wedges. Apply your images, adjusting them so that they fit to the grids represented in the preview. For my outer surface, I'll apply the symbol I named "outer," and I'll hit the "Scale to Fit" button to force it to conform to the dimensions of surface. (The outside of my object happens to be Surface 3 in this case, but it may not be in your case. You can tell which surface you're dealing with because Illustrator provides you with a wireframe preview on the currently selected surface.)  And then I'll just apply half of my "Inside" texture map to each semi-circle.  And there you have it. Now all that's left is a little cleanup work in the lighting and shading department. So first, before you close your "Map Art" dialog, choose the option listed there called "Shade Artwork (Slower)." This does indeed make your artwork render more slowly, but it also makes it look an awful lot better than no shading. Finally, we'll make some quick adjustments to lighting. I'm going to turn the Ambient Lighting all the way down to zero, and I'm also going to take the Highlight Intensity down to zero. (This will eliminate the little circle of light that creates a spotlight effect on your image.) I'll also throw in a few additional lights and crank up the blending steps for the heck of it.  And then I'll just place my object on a little starfield I picked up from NASA's Web site (http://maps.jpl.nasa.gov), and voila!  Next time around we'll take a look at more complex effects using the Revolve function in Illustrator CS. If you have any further questions in the meantime, be sure to 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. Prev 1 2 3 Related sites: • Creative Mac • Digital Media Designer • Digital Producer • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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