Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
041315 - Revolve Lecture (slapping a label on your bottle in Illustrator)
1. Copy and paste your bottle into an Illustrator document.
2. Go to View -> Rulers -> Show Rulers to show your guides.
3. To help set up your layout, create a Guide. Once your Rulers are up, you can do this by hovering your cursor over either the horizontal (x-axis; on the top) ruler or the vertical (y-axis; on the left) ruler, and then clicking and dragging it into the document itself. Keep in mind that the Guide line that you create will run parallel to the Ruler you started in; that is, a click-and-drag starting in the x-axis will be a horizontal line, running across the x-axis as well. You aren't just making a line the way you would with the Line tool.
3a. Your first Guide should be a vertical (y-axis) line running straight down the middle of your bottle / document, so you would start from the left Ruler and drag it dead-center of your image. If your bottle isn't lined up with the center of your document, you can use the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center tools to put it there.
4. You want your starting point and ending point (of the outline you're about to create) to be parallel - i.e. on the same axis, which is where the middle Guide line comes in. Your starting point and ending point will both be on it, because you're only outlining one half of your bottle, or splitting it down the middle.
5. Using the Pen Tool, outline the silhouette of your bottle. Make sure that you have a transparent fill color; the stroke color can be any color you want, but it will not show up in the final version - what you're doing right now is setting the "bounding," meaning you won't end up "coloring outside the lines" on accident when you apply the label in the end.
5a. Don't forget that the Pen Tool has a sub-menu with helpful extra tools such as Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point if you need more or less flexibility in your outline.
5b. You can periodically disable the visibility of your actual background image to see how accurately your outline stands on its own.
6. Generate a three-dimensional revolving model of your bottle by going to Effect -> 3D -> Revolve.
WARNING: This is very technically-intensive; make sure you aren't using any other programs so you have as much processing power as possible.
7. Copy and paste your label into the same Illustrator document as your 3D model.
8. Select everything associated with your label: vector shapes, texts, background fill colors, etc.
9. Open up Symbols by going to Window -> Symbols.
10. Hit the top-right button (the options menu) on the Symbols tab and hit Create Symbol, and then press OK. This will create a Symbol of the label you've made.
11. Select your original outline and then activate the Appearance tab by going to Window -> Appearance. The Appearance tab will show a "status report" of whatever you have selected; in this case, it will show that your outline has the 3D Revolve function activated, and so on. Click the "3D Revolve" option to re-open that window.
12. Hit "Map Art..."
13. This new Map Art window will have various Surfaces, which are the 3D "sides" of your outline. We're going to keep scrolling through these Surfaces (it will say "14 of 18..." etc.) until we find the surface that we're putting our label on. More often than not, it's one of the surfaces at the very end - it will show a "wireframe model" of sorts of your bottle when you get to the right Surface. The Surface that's specifically selected will be highlighted in a red wireframe model.
14. When you're finally to the right Surface, click the Symbol drop-down menu and all of the Symbols you have on your system will show up: your custom label Symbol included, provided you created it correctly in Step 10. Click your Symbol.
15. This will cause your Symbol (label) to appear on top of the bottle "surface" in the Map Art window. In addition, it will appear on your 3D bottle in your Document's main window; it functions just as any other Illustrator shape would, meaning you can click and drag it to move it around, Transform it by dragging its corners to enlarge or shorten it, and so on. You can continue to modify this Symbol in relation to the surface until you find a placement that you're happy with. If you select your Symbol and it still doesn't show up on your bottle, you can troubleshoot it by doing two things: make sure the Preview option is checked on (which will fill the 3D model in with a color), and make sure you've selected the correct surfaces. Because of how Surfaces are divided, it's possible for the "front side" and the "back side" of the bottle to look almost identical in the Surfaces menu, so you may have to try one or two different surfaces before you find the one that's facing you.
ADDENDUM FROM THE BLOG: Prof. Ruddick clarified that if you go to the principalsofgraphicart.blogspot.com blog and check Page 11 / Step 11 of the final project, it says you can either show the 3D bottle or only use the silhouette. It boils down to personal preference, and you aren't required to use the 3D bottle fully visible in your final draft. Prof. Ruddick says that some of her favorite projects have only used the silhouette, so feel free to experiment!
2. Go to View -> Rulers -> Show Rulers to show your guides.
3. To help set up your layout, create a Guide. Once your Rulers are up, you can do this by hovering your cursor over either the horizontal (x-axis; on the top) ruler or the vertical (y-axis; on the left) ruler, and then clicking and dragging it into the document itself. Keep in mind that the Guide line that you create will run parallel to the Ruler you started in; that is, a click-and-drag starting in the x-axis will be a horizontal line, running across the x-axis as well. You aren't just making a line the way you would with the Line tool.
3a. Your first Guide should be a vertical (y-axis) line running straight down the middle of your bottle / document, so you would start from the left Ruler and drag it dead-center of your image. If your bottle isn't lined up with the center of your document, you can use the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center tools to put it there.
4. You want your starting point and ending point (of the outline you're about to create) to be parallel - i.e. on the same axis, which is where the middle Guide line comes in. Your starting point and ending point will both be on it, because you're only outlining one half of your bottle, or splitting it down the middle.
5. Using the Pen Tool, outline the silhouette of your bottle. Make sure that you have a transparent fill color; the stroke color can be any color you want, but it will not show up in the final version - what you're doing right now is setting the "bounding," meaning you won't end up "coloring outside the lines" on accident when you apply the label in the end.
5a. Don't forget that the Pen Tool has a sub-menu with helpful extra tools such as Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point if you need more or less flexibility in your outline.
5b. You can periodically disable the visibility of your actual background image to see how accurately your outline stands on its own.
6. Generate a three-dimensional revolving model of your bottle by going to Effect -> 3D -> Revolve.
WARNING: This is very technically-intensive; make sure you aren't using any other programs so you have as much processing power as possible.
7. Copy and paste your label into the same Illustrator document as your 3D model.
8. Select everything associated with your label: vector shapes, texts, background fill colors, etc.
9. Open up Symbols by going to Window -> Symbols.
10. Hit the top-right button (the options menu) on the Symbols tab and hit Create Symbol, and then press OK. This will create a Symbol of the label you've made.
11. Select your original outline and then activate the Appearance tab by going to Window -> Appearance. The Appearance tab will show a "status report" of whatever you have selected; in this case, it will show that your outline has the 3D Revolve function activated, and so on. Click the "3D Revolve" option to re-open that window.
12. Hit "Map Art..."
13. This new Map Art window will have various Surfaces, which are the 3D "sides" of your outline. We're going to keep scrolling through these Surfaces (it will say "14 of 18..." etc.) until we find the surface that we're putting our label on. More often than not, it's one of the surfaces at the very end - it will show a "wireframe model" of sorts of your bottle when you get to the right Surface. The Surface that's specifically selected will be highlighted in a red wireframe model.
14. When you're finally to the right Surface, click the Symbol drop-down menu and all of the Symbols you have on your system will show up: your custom label Symbol included, provided you created it correctly in Step 10. Click your Symbol.
15. This will cause your Symbol (label) to appear on top of the bottle "surface" in the Map Art window. In addition, it will appear on your 3D bottle in your Document's main window; it functions just as any other Illustrator shape would, meaning you can click and drag it to move it around, Transform it by dragging its corners to enlarge or shorten it, and so on. You can continue to modify this Symbol in relation to the surface until you find a placement that you're happy with. If you select your Symbol and it still doesn't show up on your bottle, you can troubleshoot it by doing two things: make sure the Preview option is checked on (which will fill the 3D model in with a color), and make sure you've selected the correct surfaces. Because of how Surfaces are divided, it's possible for the "front side" and the "back side" of the bottle to look almost identical in the Surfaces menu, so you may have to try one or two different surfaces before you find the one that's facing you.
ADDENDUM FROM THE BLOG: Prof. Ruddick clarified that if you go to the principalsofgraphicart.blogspot.com blog and check Page 11 / Step 11 of the final project, it says you can either show the 3D bottle or only use the silhouette. It boils down to personal preference, and you aren't required to use the 3D bottle fully visible in your final draft. Prof. Ruddick says that some of her favorite projects have only used the silhouette, so feel free to experiment!
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
040815 - Product Design Musings
What is the name? Sweetmeat Latte by Redsoil Roasting Co.
What does it taste like? The bean used for the coffee has a earthy, almost velvety taste, which is further compounded by a "silver-liner" whipped topping with a slightly salty taste. The latte gives off an almost nutty aroma, and the brew itself looks almost visceral - it's reddish-brown and pulpy before blending because it's very high in protein, hence the name. Rather than have a staining, lingering aftertaste, a few minutes after consumption the beverage has a short-lived, "removable-feeling" aftertaste of something resembling marzipan.
For whom is it designed? The latte has a well-rounded composition with relatively low natural caffeine, so it has a similar feel to eating a protein or energy bar. It's also highly nutritious and filling for a beverage, and as a result has seen application in educational environments to aid in study. Surprisingly, it has also seen use as a replacement for pre-workout and post-workout supplements.
What sort of mood or feeling does it convey? The whole package has a highly natural "earthy and hearthy" feel while hot, but iced its thickness almost feels like a protein shake.
Whom do you get to pretend you are and how do you feel when you drink it? Anyone in a collegiate, white-collar or gym setting has heard of Sweetmeat. The drink has become extremely well-known due to its status as a lasting solution to early afternoon crashes in favor of short-term alternatives like energy drinks or pills. The effects it has are mild and organic enough to be used as a mid-day preservation of natural highs, rather than spiking your endorphins with loads of sugar and caffeine in the mornings. Athletes get the extra gains they need without having to worry about crashing later, and users addled by workload or curricula can catch up on missed meals without getting their metabolisms shot.
What does it taste like? The bean used for the coffee has a earthy, almost velvety taste, which is further compounded by a "silver-liner" whipped topping with a slightly salty taste. The latte gives off an almost nutty aroma, and the brew itself looks almost visceral - it's reddish-brown and pulpy before blending because it's very high in protein, hence the name. Rather than have a staining, lingering aftertaste, a few minutes after consumption the beverage has a short-lived, "removable-feeling" aftertaste of something resembling marzipan.
For whom is it designed? The latte has a well-rounded composition with relatively low natural caffeine, so it has a similar feel to eating a protein or energy bar. It's also highly nutritious and filling for a beverage, and as a result has seen application in educational environments to aid in study. Surprisingly, it has also seen use as a replacement for pre-workout and post-workout supplements.
What sort of mood or feeling does it convey? The whole package has a highly natural "earthy and hearthy" feel while hot, but iced its thickness almost feels like a protein shake.
Whom do you get to pretend you are and how do you feel when you drink it? Anyone in a collegiate, white-collar or gym setting has heard of Sweetmeat. The drink has become extremely well-known due to its status as a lasting solution to early afternoon crashes in favor of short-term alternatives like energy drinks or pills. The effects it has are mild and organic enough to be used as a mid-day preservation of natural highs, rather than spiking your endorphins with loads of sugar and caffeine in the mornings. Athletes get the extra gains they need without having to worry about crashing later, and users addled by workload or curricula can catch up on missed meals without getting their metabolisms shot.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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