Ever wonder about creating Radial Mesh in Illustrator? Yes, now you can and it will reveal more possibilities to you in Illustrator. In the first part of this tutorial you'll learn how to create a Radial Mesh in Illustrator (without using any 3rd party plugin), and in second part we'll create a Vector CD using that radial mesh method. So let’s do it!
How to Create a Radial Mesh in Illustrator and Make a Vector CD
Aug 7th in Icon Design, Tools & Tips by Imran Ali DinaFinal Image Preview
Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Step 1
Make a circle in Illustrator using the Ellipse Tool, then fill that circle with simple radial gradient.

Step 2
Now keep this circle selected and click on top menu Object > Expand.

Step 3
You will see the Expand Dialogue Box, just Select Fill and Gradient Mesh and then click OK.

Step 4
Now your circle should look like this. There is a Clipping mask on it, which we have to remove.

Step 5
Keeping your Circle selected, from the top menu click Object > Clipping Mask > Release (Command + Alt + 7) to release the clipping mask.

Step 6
Now right-click on your circle and click Ungroup (Command + Shift + G) to ungroup.

Step 7
Now deselect your circle by clicking anywhere on the artboard (white area). Now again select your circle and move it a bit away from its initial position. You will see another path which was actually the path for the clipping mask, just select this path and delete it as we don't need this.

Step 8
Here you go! You have to make the radial, polar mesh in Illustrator. You can create it by adding some mesh points with the help of the Mesh Tool.
This concludes the first part of this tutorial, in which you learned the basic method of making a radial mesh. You can use this radial mesh to create many radial things like a CD, or if you put some more effort in you can create Alloy Rims for a Wheel too. For now I'm showing you how to create a CD out of this radial mesh.

Step 9
Now for making it a CD, select it with Selection Tool (black arrow) and fill it with a gray color.

Step 10
With the help of the Mesh Tool, put 4 mesh points as shown. These point should be exactly in the middle of previous points otherwise direction lines would be little bit twisted and then it will take time to straighten them.

Step 11
With the help of Mesh Tool, put some more mesh points as shown below. These points might not be straight as shown in the image, You have to straighten them with the help of the Mesh Tool. Using the Mesh Tool, click on direction lines and slightly twist them to make them straight.

Step 12
With the help of the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) select points as shown below.

Step 13
Now press the Shift Key and select lower points as shown (the Shift key helps you to select multiple points at once).

Step 14
As you have four points selected, put a light blue color with the help of the Color Sliders (please don't select some dark colors, as it will not look good).

Step 15
Now select eight points symmetrically and add a light purple color.

Step 16
I put more colors following the same procedure as above; the result will be something like that shown below.

Step 17
Now make a copy of this circle. Just select it with the Selection Tool and drag it while pressing the Alt Key.

Step 18
Now make a circle of exactly the same size and fill it with a dark gray color.

Step 19
From the Transparency palette change the mode to Multiply for that dark gray circle.

Step 20
Now select the first mesh circle and dark gray circle and align them to center (both horizontally and vertically) and Group them by pressing Command + G.

Step 21
Now rotate this group by 90 degrees and scale it a little.

Step 22
Now select this group along with that copy which we took in Step 17, while keeping that copy on the top. You can arrange it and bring it to front.

Step 23
Align them Center horizontally and vertically.

Step 24
Now draw another Circle but small in size, then make a copy of it and resize that copy as shown below.

Step 25
Now select both of these small circles and align them center. Press Command + 8 (Object > Compound Path > Make), to make a Compound path of these two small circles.

Step 26
Now make one more compound path as we made in steps 24 and 25, but this time we need a thin ring. Then make a small circle.

Step 27
Align all of these center (the two rings and small circle), then finally group them by pressing Command + G.

Step 28
Now select all and align them to center.

Step 29
Now make two circles. One should be about the size of our CD and other small one should be about the size of the hole in the CD. Select both of these circles and align them to center.

Step 30
Now press Command + 8 to make it a compound path. We will use it as a clipping mask for our CD.

Step 31
Select all and align everything to Center. Press Command + 7 (Object > Clipping Mask > Make) to make a Clipping Mask.

Step 32
There you go. Our CD is Completed!

Conclusion
Now put some Drop Shadow by going to Effects > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Also, write some text and make a simple background. And our image is complete. Have fun applying radial meshes to other objects!

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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Adam Webster August 7th
Nice tutorial, I have always been interested in learning more about Meshs in Illustrator.
( )Fabiano Coelho August 7th
Very nice indeed
( )Stanley Parrish August 7th
Very creative idea. I never thought about using the gradient mesh for that
( )Simona August 7th
Great tutorial!
( )sean steezy August 7th
that is really tight. looks realistic and not all cheesy vector style. damn good job. thanks!
( )Yamil August 7th
Thank you very much, when I was in college I remember having strugles trying to do this.
( )lyndon August 7th
word, im so gonna use this for wet jams 09
( )Bruno Gätjens González August 7th
Very good !!!! I like it so much!!
( )Collin August 7th
I agree, great job on this one. It’s a very clean, but detailed finish.
( )Kevin August 8th
Thank you It looks great!
( )Zeeshan Hikmat August 8th
Great one, now its easy to make Radial Mesh, before this tutorial its very difficult for me…..
( )Thanks IADina Sir.
Nasir August 8th
Great! and very nicely done with detailed
( )Imran Ali Dina August 8th
Thanks to all of you
( )ali August 8th
tnx
( )Nikhil August 8th
Great looking….
( )GTP Designs August 11th
I would have never thought about expanding a radial gradient to create a radial mesh. Thanks for this awesome tip!
( )Modisana August 12th
this is sweet… great one
( )Maurizio Liberato August 12th
Really cool! I’ll try that!
( )GTP Designs August 12th
One thing I have noticed while playing around with this technique is that you don’t get symmetric results when applying color to the “seam” of the mesh. I took a screenshot of an example of this at
http://www.gtpdesigns.com/images/resource/radial_mesh_symmetry.jpg
I think I understand why this is happening (due to the multiple points on the right-side that make up the “line” of the “seam”). Is there any way to get around this easily, or do you just have to adjust the handles of the points along the edge/seam until you get a good match to the left side?
( )Imran Ali Dina August 13th
Yes you are right, we have to adjust handles manually, so far I know this is the only way to get a good symmetry.
And thanks for appreciating my technique.
( )Cheryl August 13th
Excellent!
( )Lala August 16th
Nice~!
( )vijay August 17th
Hai Dina,
simply super
thanks
( )Tino Flohe August 19th
Thanks this tutorial really helped me! Keep on going like that.
Greetings from Germany.
Tino
( )CgBaran Tuts August 22nd
Very realistic work
( )John August 31st
A most excellent instructional tip, a heartfelt thanks for all your effort!
( )as September 30th
Excellent!
can you upload AI file ?
( )Bilal Ahmad November 2nd
nice tutorial sir.. m a student of NCA working in 3d animation buit i love to kno the tips and technics in 2d. sir how can i get more tips & tricks from you… kindly reply me at my email…
regards…
( )bilal
Imran Ali Dina November 13th
what’s your email address?
( )