I was racking my 2-D brain trying to figure out how to make a 3-D basketball, lines and all. I just couldn’t get it right, so I turned to the Adobe Illustrator (Macintosh) forum. Just a few hours after I posted my my query, a couple of the regulars chimed in with the solution. Many thanks to Scott, JET and Wade.
This assumes you have some familiarity with the 3-D Effect and mapping artwork. If not, this will be a good introduction. Download the AI file to follow along.
First the lines. We’re going to use this object as a Symbol:

It’s simply two ellipses and some paths. I’ve duplicated it and changed the color of one set, then offset it slightly to give it some depth. Drag this into the Symbols panel, check Graphic (this always seems to default to “Movie Clip” — it bugs me) and click OK
Now, draw a half-circle. It should be oriented so that it is shaped like a “D.” Otherwise, it will most certainly not look like a basketball when you revolve it!
Go to Effects> 3D >Revolve. 360° is the default, so click the Preview box and you should be good to go. Now click “Map Art …”
Find the symbol in the pull-down menu. Since the sphere only has one surface, the artwork will map to it. Resize and position the symbol as shown. Click Preview to see the changes, and when it looks right, click OK. 
If you want to tweak the settings, double-click in the Appearance panel to bring up the 3D dialog box again:
I added a second light and sent it behind the object to give the ball a little extra oomph:
No comments:
Post a Comment