# Illustrator newb needs a lil help



## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

Hello all, 

Ive started using Illustrator (CS5) lately, just messing around. Believe it or not, I have NEVER used Illustrator or Photoshop before, no experience at all with this software. 

What I am trying to do is map an image onto a 3-D wireframe. So far Ive been using illustrator and Ive figured out how to make the wireframe with Extrude and Bevel, and I have made the image I wish to map onto it, I just cant seem to map it. 

Basically Id like to map a filmstrip onto something like this:









I know its probably some simple little thing that Ive overlooked, but my head hurts and Im starting to go blind from all the tutorials Ive been reading, so if anyone here can give me a hand or provide a simpler way to do this, Id appreciate it very much.


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

I don't have much time to really get into depth, but hopefully this will get you in the right direction:

You'll need to import the art you want to use on the film strip in your illustrator file, and then turn it into a SYMBOL (it'll ask you if you want a graphic or movie symbol—you want graphic).

Then would need to go into the MAP ART option in the Extrude and Bevel window and it'll show you a wireframe of each section of your filmstrip. This is where you place your art. Select the symbol you made in the pulldown window and you can adjust the position and size there. You'll need to play around with it because it's not overly precise.


----------



## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

Hi Manny, 

Thanks for the reply. Trouble is, this is how Ive been trying it. I made a filmstrip (12 'frames') and made that into a symbol. Then when I try and map the symbol onto the frame, it just doesnt fit, and when I click Scale To Fit, it stretches it the wrong way, and no matter what I do, I cant get it to map properly. If I was at home I could upload a pic of what I mean by stretching the wrong way. I havent tried just making one film "frame" and making that a symbol to use, mapping it one 'frame' at a time. If I was at home I could upload a pic of what I mean by stretching the wrong way.


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

RatsOnMacAttack said:


> Hi Manny,
> 
> Thanks for the reply. Trouble is, this is how Ive been trying it. I made a filmstrip (12 'frames') and made that into a symbol. Then when I try and map the symbol onto the frame, it just doesnt fit, and when I click Scale To Fit, it stretches it the wrong way, and no matter what I do, I cant get it to map properly. If I was at home I could upload a pic of what I mean by stretching the wrong way. I havent tried just making one film "frame" and making that a symbol to use, mapping it one 'frame' at a time. If I was at home I could upload a pic of what I mean by stretching the wrong way.


Yeah, it's a [email protected] that way. You could do it by hand by grabbing a corner and using shift to reduce its size proportionately. It's a pain in the arse, but an option. Sometimes the art will be too big and the corner handles will be outside the boundaries of the window; to get around it I move the artwork aside until one is visible and adjust it until I can fit the whole thing in the space I need.

The key is using the shift button during manual scaling.

On a side note, CS3 had a bug where you had to be very careful and deliberate with resizing by hand. You had to wait until it redrew the art you were scaling, and THEN let go of the mouse button (all the while trying not to move your mouse). Otherwise it would go out of whack.

General oddities like that makes it all the more interesting to work in Illustrator. :lmao:


----------



## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

Never understood why Adobe dropped the Dimensions program, or at least didn't do a better job of implementing it in to Illustrator.


----------



## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

Basically this is the only thing I want to do with Illustrator, making a logo as a favor for a friend. Just one heart made out of film. Ill mess around with it more tonight and see what I can do. Thanks for all the replies.


----------



## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

So, after many days of scratching my head and trial and error, I _kinda_ got it figured out. Its not perfect, but I think it will do. One problem though, when i made the symbol, it was black. Now when it is mapped onto the wireframe, there is no fill color. What am I missing?


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

Can you post screenshots?

Here's a couple of options:

Check your lights, it might be under advanced options in the 3D window.
Does the bezier you extruded into 3D have a stroke colour?


----------



## Gerbill (Jul 1, 2003)

Stupid question, but wouldn't this be easier in Photoshop?


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

Gerbill said:


> Stupid question, but wouldn't this be easier in Photoshop?


But then it would be a bitmap image and not vector. This may or may not matter to RatsOnMacAttack.


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

Gerbill said:


> Stupid question, but wouldn't this be easier in Photoshop?


Not necessarily.


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

Okay, so I decided to give it a shot.

It took about 10 minutes to do and most of that time is spent fighting with the extrude tool.

The thing you need to realize is that there is no perfect way to do this. It's an ugly process, and quite buggy to deal with. If you spend too much time looking at it, you'll notice the flaws.

Anyway, if you want to dissect the file, you can download it here (it's an illustrator CS3 format): FILE

Generally, here's my process:


I created the heart from scratch using two circles, and made three versions of the film strip: small, medium (2x the length), and large (3x the length).
I extruded the heart (which ONLY has a white fill—no stroke colour)
The film strips were individually made into Symbols for mapping
In the 3D EXTRUDE dialog, I mapped the art onto each of the 12 segments of the heart. This was the most frustrating part of the whole experience. I eye-balled the art so it lined up. It's not perfect and never will be due to software limitations.

Cheers!


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

One thing to note: Illustrator has a bug in it where if you try to scale the artwork AFTER it's been extruded/textured, it'll fall apart. The best thing to do is get the rotation you like, copy it, and then expand the copy's appearance, and THEN scale it.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

MannyP Design said:


> Okay, so I decided to give it a shot...
> 
> Cheers!


Good on ya MP to go to all the trouble for Rats... :clap:


----------



## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

I guess Rats just gave up…*


----------



## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

(sigh) yeah I did. A client of mine who has been doing graphic design since '89 offered to do it for me free of charge. Cant turn down an offer like that. Hes also going to sit down with me when he does it, show me what I did wrong, etc. I must say, using Illustrator for the first time ever, Ill leave it to the pros. Im happy to just fix the Macs it runs on. Thanks for all the help, especially MannyP. :clap:


----------

