7 Replies Latest reply: Dec 24, 2010 12:21 PM by Wade_Zimmerman RSS

    Help with 3D object

    mhossey Community Member

      Hello all, im in cs3

       

      I created a shape and extrude/beveled that bad boy. After that I hit "expand appearance". Basicall what I need to do now is make the top side of the object one peice, the bottom side one piece, front one piece etc... I tried using the direct select tool and "shift click" each segment and then uss the "add shapes" on the pathfinder, but when I do this it leaves a white chunk missing sometimes?

       

      Ive done this before and it worked fine when Using text, but for some reason I cant get it right this time, do I need to ungroup or group or something? A good explanation of what I need to do and why I need to do them would be awesome, sometimes I'm just hittin buttons not knowing the full function and purpose of the tool i'm using. Thanks!

      3d object help.jpg

        • 1. Re: Help with 3D object
          Mylenium CommunityMVP

          Pathfinder operations only work on areas that have a logical overlap, whihc, I'm afraid, expanded effects do not always provide since they cheat by simply stacking differntly colored or semi-transparent objects. This may never work. Aside from that I'm wondering why even bother in the first place? Since merging will lose the gradations ofd the faux shading, you could have drawn this much more efficiently manualyl and applying the shading with gradient meshes or simple basic gradients...

           

          Mylenium

          • 2. Re: Help with 3D object
            JETalmage Community Member

            In the 3D Effect dialog, click the More...button. Set the shading to Diffuse, set Blend Steps to 1, set Ambient Light to zero, set Light Intensity to 100. Expand Appearance, completely Ungroup. More than likely (depending on specific shape), you'll now have pretty much one closed path for each visible side, without having to do all that tedious unioning.

             

            JET

            • 3. Re: Help with 3D object
              [scott] CommunityMVP

              JETalmage wrote:

               

              In the 3D Effect dialog, click the More...button. Set the shading to Diffuse, set Blend Steps to 1, set Ambient Light to zero, set Light Intensity to 100. Expand Appearance, completely Ungroup. More than likely (depending on specific shape), you'll now have pretty much one closed path for each visible side, without having to do all that tedious unioning.

               

              JET

              You can simply set Shading to none then expand. The expand will give you the shapes of the 3D architecture without any gradients or blends. No need to adjust all the lighting and blend steps.

              • 4. Re: Help with 3D object
                JETalmage Community Member

                Except that No Shading results in all visible sides filled with the same color. It makes the preview difficult to discern. If you want flat-shaded surfaces of related colors, setting the options as I described will often yield just what you want, with little or no further modification.

                 

                 

                JET

                • 5. Re: Help with 3D object
                  Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

                  Well if all else fails simply trace it withe pen tool!

                  • 6. Re: Help with 3D object
                    mhossey Community Member

                    Thanks JET that did seem to work better although when I followed your steps I still had to

                    shift click maybe 4 segments together and then click add shapes on the pathfinder. Only problem is when I do this It know makes the entire 4 segments I was adding together dissapear....

                     

                    1 question..Since I had already closed Illustrator I didnt have my history when I opened the file back up, so I couldnt go back to the original shape I had created before...so since all I had was the 3d object I clicked it and hit divide, which gave me my basic shape back and after getting it back I then followed your instructions...would this affect any of the instructions you had given me? Is their a better way to get my original shape back? I wasnt sure if their was a way to edit the 3d objects settings without adding another extrude & bevel? That seems like it would make more sense then trying to go back and get the original shape and doing it from scratch. But im not sure if their is a way to access the current settings of the 3d object and change them...i'm sure their is

                    • 7. Re: Help with 3D object
                      Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

                      Once you expanded it it was gone. Next time make a copy turn of the visibility of the original and do the expansion of the copy.

                       

                      If you have the original unexpanded 3D object then all is well go to the Appearance Panel select the 3D object then in the appearance panel click on the 3D effect and it will open the 3D dialog and you can update the art.