Quick Tip: How to Create a 3D Folded Map with Adobe Illustrator
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Quick Tip: How to Create a 3D Folded Map with Adobe Illustrator

on May 30th 2011 with 8 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Program: Illustrator CS2
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Length: 3:36 min

Turn a simple path into a folded surface, then "map" some artwork to it, using Adobe Illustrator’s 3D Effect.

 
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Cheryl Graham trained as a traditional artist in drawing and painting. These days she spends more time in front of the computer than the easel. She's been using Adobe Illustrator for over 15 years. Her Illustrator work has been featured in the "The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Book" and "Real World Illustrator."  

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  • http://humblebunny.com Nathan Hoernig

    Can you not just skip clipping out the original map image, create a symbol out of the whole thing and map it to the first surface (the zig zag)? Or is that just the original line and not the surface (depth that you’ve extruded)?

    I’ve only used mapping on a few projects and they’ve both been spheres so excuse me if I’m misguided.

    Thanks for the tut!

    • Cheryl

      The zig-zag surface is what would be the edge of the paper. If you imagine that your object is a piece of 1/4″ cardboard, that surface would represent the 1/4″ edge that’s facing you (hope that makes sense).

      You can, however, just use the entire map as the symbol, without the clipping mask. You would just choose that same symbol for each of the three surfaces and position it accordingly. I used the clipping mask method in the tutorial because it’s easier to see the edges of the preview that way, but either way works :)

  • http://craftycurate.blogs.com Richard Lyall

    Hi Cheryl

    I always enjoy your concise and easy to follow Quick Tips – the EyeDropper one and this one stick out as being particularly useful.

    I didn’t quite get the connection between the size of the map graphic and the size of the 3D object though – maybe I misunderstood. The 3 parts were the right height (my map graphic was 600px and so was the extrusion depth – is that why) but the wrong width, so I had to scale my 3 bits horizontally. Is that to do with the length of the line that has the Extrude applied?

    Cheers
    Richard

    • Cheryl

      Richard – Thanks for the kind words.Yes, I believe the width of each line segment (the zigs and the zags) will affect the width of each “fold.” I just eyeballed it, and got pretty close. Illustrator’s 3D isn’t an exact science, unfortunately. I noticed, even with the graphic’s height and the Extrude Depth being the same, there was some fudging to be done. I suspect this has to do with the Perspective that’s applied. Lots of people have been complaining about “3D” in Illustrator for a long time (myself included), but Adobe hasn’t changed it much since it was introduced. Best to realize it’s not true 3D, and set your expectations accordingly :)

  • L Daniel Swakman

    Could you explain how the end drop shadow effect is achieved? It seems to follow the geometry of the extruded 3D object. If I try to apply a regular Drop Shadow effect to the extruded object, it gives a ‘linear’ drop shadow that just offsets the 2D projection of the 3D with equal drop off. But in the end product in the tutorial there is significantly more shadow where the map makes an upward fold…

    • Cheryl

      Ah, sorry. I just added that for visual flair. What I did was this: Make a copy of the 3D object. Remove the mapped artwork if necessary. Expand Appearance. Pathfinder> Merge. Fill with dark gray, then apply a Gaussian Blur. Position below the 3D object. Hope this helps!

  • Christopher

    Hi,

    Your tutorial seemed simple enough, however when I try to map my symbols to the surfaces, they don’t show up. Any idea why?

    Thanks,
    C

    • http://bucketothought.com/loungekat/blog/ LoungeKat

      Sometimes they map to the back facing part of the 3D object, put the preview on and flick through the map settings to find the side you’re looking at :)