In this tutorial you will learn how to make a realistic vector bucket icon. You will learn to use the 3D Revolve function, how to add realistic light effects and how to draw different objects to form a composition.

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Step 1

First thing you have to do is open a new document at 500×500 px. Using the the Pen Tool (P) make a shape like the one in the next image and fill it with a color (I chose blue).

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Step 2

Now, go to Effect > 3D-Revolve and press OK. Leave the settings as default.

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Step 3

Select the object after revolving and go to Object > Expand. Ungroup the shapes (Shift+Control+G) and select each side. Fill the shapes with a single color and Merge them.

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Step 4

Select the hidden shapes behind the ones that can be seen and delete them.

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Step 5

Draw a shape, like the one in the image, using the Pen Tool (P). Select the ones that I selected and Trim (in the Pathfinder menu). Ungroup and delete the shape you created with the Pen Tool.

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Step 6

Duplicate the bucket body and make this copy smaller.

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Step 7

In this step we will apply gradients to each part of the bucket. I made a stroke around each part of the bucket and a gradient style to see which ones fits. You don`t have to do this, you can use the same gradients I’ve applied to each part.

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Step 8

Draw a handle using the Pen Tool (P) and apply a gradient that’s the same as the image below.

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Step 9

In the next few steps we will make the screw. Make a circle and fill it with a gradient that’s the same as the image below. Make sure the circle is slightly distorted on the sides, this will keep with the perspective of the bucket.

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Step 10

Duplicate the last circle created and make it smaller, fill it with black and reduce the opacity to 40%.

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Step 11

Duplicate the white layer again, send it forward and make it smaller than the black one. Apply a gradient that’s the same as the image below.

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Step 12

Now let`s make the screw holes. Using the Pen Tool (P) draw an X shape like the one in the next image. Fill it with black.

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Step 13

In this step we will make the screw 3D. Using Pen Tool (P) make an arrow shape. You need to make 3 shapes like that. Apply radial gradient to each arrow (white inside the radial and black outside).

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Step 14

In this step we will make the handle more realistic and give it the 3D feeling. Draw a shape that’s the same as the image below using the Pen Tool (P) and add the same gradient to it.

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Step 15

In this step, we will make a lighting effect for the handle. Using the Pen Tool (P) draw a shape that’s the same as the image below, and make it white. Then duplicate it. Select the shape resulted from duplicating and add a black and white gradient to it.
Select both shapes – the white one and the one with gradient – and go to Transparency > Make Opacity Mask.

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Step 16

Take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a shape that’s the same as the image below, send it backward, fill it with black and reduce the opacity to 40%. This will be the shadow on the bucket crown.

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Step 17

Now we will make the handle shadow on the bucket. using Pen Tool (P) make a shape that’s the same as the image below, fill it with black and reduce the opacity to 40%. The shadow will come from the left side, so the shadow will be above the first half of the handle
and under the second half of the handle.

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Step 18

To make the bucket more realistic we will make 2 shapes on the bucket crown. Draw the shapes using the Pen Tool (P) that are the same as the image below. Fill the left one with a dark gray and the right one with a light gray.

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Step 19

Use the Pen Tool (P) to make a shape that’s the same as the image below, and make a layer mask. Set a black to white radial gradient, with white inside and black outside.

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Step 20

Using the Pen Tool (P) make a shape that’s the same as the image below, send it backward until it appears under the crown and in front of the bucket. Fill it with black and reduce the opacity to 20-30%

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Step 21

Duplicate the body of the bucket, distort it a little and move it to left. Add layer mask and make the gradient linear with white in the left side, black in the right side. Drag the gradient from left to right.

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Step 22

Draw a circle under the bucket, slightly distort it to make it look more realistic. In this case distort it selecting the upper path with the Direct Select Tool (A) and drag it upwards like you can see in the next image. Go to Effect > Stylize > Feather and change the number to 13. Press OK. If the shadow is to dark, fill the circle with gray.

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Step 23

Useing the Pen Tool (P), draw some files.

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Step 24

Now we will apply a gradient to the file. I’ve applied a stroke to the file to see it better, you don`t have to do this. Apply a gradient that’s the same as the image below.

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Step 25

Select the Pencil Tool (N) and draw some lines. This will make the writing on the file.

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Step 26

Duplicate the file and send it backward. Rotate the copy and move it to the left. Then using the Pen Tool draw a folded page and apply the same gradient.

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Step 27

In this step we will make file’s shadows. Using the Pen Tool (P) draw shapes that are the same as the image below, fill them with black and reduce the opacity to 30%. Send the shadows backward to be behind each file.

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Step 28

Set the stroke and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a paperclip.

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Step 29

With the Pen Tool (P) draw some abstract shapes, this will represent the paperclip shadows. Move them away from the paperclip.

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Step 30

Now let`s make the DVD and it’s cover. Start with a circle, fill it with dark gray and the stroke with a lighter gray. Go to Object > Expand and Ungroup.

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Step 31

Duplicate the stroke and make it smaller, fill it with a darker gray.

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Step 32

Duplicate the dark gray circle, make it smaller than the duplicated stroke and fill it with the same gradient that’s in the image below.

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Step 33

Now select the dark gray circle and fill it with the gradient in the following image. After you’ve set the colors of the gradient, drag the gradient sliders from the top right to bottom left.

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Step 34

Draw a white circle in the middle of the DVD circle.

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Step 35

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the cover of the DVD and apply the same gradient that’s the same as the image below.

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Step 36

Duplicate the cover, send it behind the DVD. Fill it with the same color as the image below.

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Step 37

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the corners of the cover in a darker colour to the previous shape. To make it look more realistic add the 3D effect.

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Step 38

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the shape that will form the shadow from the crown of the bucket. Draw a shape that’s the same as the image below, fill it with black and reduce the opacity to 20-30%

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Step 39

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the shadows of the DVD, fill them with black, reduce the opacity to 20-30% and send them behind the cover.

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Step 40

Draw the shadow cast by the DVD and its cover ontop of the files. Fill it with black, reduce the opacity to 20-30% and send it behind the cover and the DVD.

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Conclusion

So there you have it, your very own bucket icon. You can apply these techniques to other objects and create an icon set or customise the contents of the bucket for different applications. Think about the items you see around the office and try and replicate them using the same techniques you’ve learnt in this Tut. Have fun!

In this tut, we’ll create a quick sketch similar to the style made famous by the ridiculously gifted guys at Mulheres Barbadas. We’ll scan our sketch in, ink it up in Flash, move it over to Illustrator for coloring, add some nice typography and finish in Photoshop for some subtle grunge. A graphics tablet of some description will make this tut (and probably your life in general) 90% more satisfying, but isn’t essential – if you’re nifty with a mouse you’ll have no troubles inking up your sketch tablet-less-ly. Let’s get started!

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Step 1

The most involved part of this otherwise simple tutorial is the sketch. Everyone has a different style, so we won’t be telling you what to draw or how to draw it, that’s up to you! That said, there are some things to bear in mind that will help make your project great! To begin this tutorial, have a think about what purpose you want this artwork to serve. If it is for a client, what will your design promote/advertise/represent? What kind of people will be seeing it? Does it compliment the product or service it is associated with? In our case, this work was done for Sticks Clothing, a music/skating clothing label in Australia. So our drawing needed to appeal to young skaters.

Once you’re clear on the answers to these questions, it’s time to start brainstorming what’s going to fill your page. What elements are you going to include? We chose to use some pop culture elements (chucks, tv, spray can etc), unusual looking characters, recognizable objects (playing cards, toothbrush, trees, tentacles etc), and some patterns, which make for great white-space fillers! (bubbles, noodles, swirls etc).

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Step 2

Equipped with a solid idea of what elements to use, all that’s left is layout! This just involves arranging your elements in an interesting/clever manner. This is where you can get really inventive with your use of patterns; use them carefully around your larger characters and objects to eliminate awkward white space (note: not all white space is awkward, but that’s for another tut!), and fill in shapes. This is our finished sketch below. As is apparent, it really doesn’t have to be perfect – as long as you are happy with the form and layout, linework and finer details can be added in the following steps.

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Step 3

Now we need to get your sketch from paper to screen. As you would expect, the most efficient way to do this is simply to scan your art onto your computer. Scan your artwork at A4 (Letter) size and about 150dpi. Bring your scanned document into Photoshop. This is where we’ll prepare your linework for inking. At the moment, you’ll find that after the scan your white paper has become an ugly grey and your lines could be clearer and more distinct. This is easy fixed. First of all, save your image as a PSD file. Next, desaturate your image by pressing Command+Alt+U. We are eliminating the color from the image so we can just work with tones. Create a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast) with the Use Legacy option ticked, and increase both the brightness and the contrast until your image looks like the one below- the paper should disappear into white and your lines should be nice and clear. Play with the levels until you are satisfied.

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Step 4

Once your linework is crisp and clear, we are ready to start inking! We chose to do this part of the process in Flash, as the brush engine is relaxed and fun to work with. That said, Illustrator or Photoshop can be used to achieve much the same results. It’s up to you! The principles remain the same regardless of which program you choose. Let’s keep moving- open up Flash, create a new Flash File (note it doesn’t matter which version of Actionscript you choose) and import your image (Command+R). In the dialogue that appears, ensure that the layer containing your artwork is ticked, and also tick the option at the bottom that says "Set stage size to same size as Photoshop canvas". Hit OK. Your sketch should appear on the stage. Name your layer "sketch", and ensure you save your Flash file before continuing.

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Step 5

At the moment, our sketch is too bold to easily ink over, so we will convert our image to a Symbol and adjust it’s Alpha level. Do this by selecting your sketch with the Move Tool (V) and hitting F8 to convert it to a Symbol. Name it "sketch" and choose Graphic as the Type. Press OK.

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Step 6

Again, ensure that your new symbol is selected (V) and bring up the Properties panel (Command+F3). Open up the Color Effect section and from the Style dropdown, select Alpha. Set this slider to about 20 – 30%. Now your sketch is completely ready for inking!

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Step 7

Zoom in one or two levels using the Magnify Tool (Z), select the Brush Tool (B) and choose a nice thick brush size. We’ve used a zoom level of 200% and the brush size fourth from the top. Click on the button labeled "Use Pressure" (marked below) if you have your tablet handy. Now it’s a matter of drawing over your sketch to create lovely strong black linework. Use the tablet to create tapering lines as shown below; this gives your linework more body, and makes it far more visually interesting. Begin by outlining your main areas of detail.

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Step 8

Use the Eraser Tool (E) to refine your lines. Give nice sharp points to the ends of your tapering lines, and clean any haggard areas, as shown below. The light blue represents erased areas.

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Step 9

Once you’ve laid your basic, thicker lines, start filling in smaller areas. It’s a good idea in Flash to zoom in (400 – 600%) and use a slightly smaller brush size for finer details, but always remember to refer back to 100% to ensure your lines are not too thin.

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Step 10

When you’ve finished all your linework, hide the sketch layer, sit back, and take a good look at the masterpiece you’ve created! The hard stuff is over, now we are going to prepare for coloring…

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Step 11

Head up to File>Export>Export Image… choose your save location and select Adobe Illustrator (*.ai) as your file type. Save and close your Flash file. Start Illustrator and open up your newly saved *.ai file. You’ll see a mess of linework, as the original sketch has been brought over along with the linework. Simply delete your sketch and you should be left with nice, clean, vector linework. Save the file. Now we are going to add color. We have a choice between using Live Paint (K), or the Pen Tool (P). We opted for the Pen Tool to save fiddling around, because of the large areas of color we’ll be creating. We picked two bold colors and selected specific areas of our artwork that best suited those colors (we used Magenta: R=255, G=0, B=120 & Green: R=220, G=255, B=0). See the result below.

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Step 12

Lets ease the stark contrast between the black lines and white background. Create a shape using the Pen Tool (P) around the entirety of the artwork. Give this a nice beige color (we used R=247, G=243, B=220). Next give your lines a fill color of (R=50, G=50, B=50). The result is much easier on the eyes.

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Step 13

That’s the color all done! Now we will add some nice typography, using a great font called ChunkFive. This font can be found at a brilliant website called The League of Moveable Type. Think of something witty you want to say in 3 – 6 words. We used the phrase "Why We Do What We Do" for Sticks’ Why? page on their site. Type out your words and position them roughly how you want them to appear.

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Step 14

Press Command+Shift+O to turn your text into outlines. This will make the words easier to resize and position. Adjust your phrase until it is uniform and balanced, as below.

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Step 15

Next use the colors from your artwork to color your text. Be inventive with which colors you choose for which words. Experiment until you’re happy with how it looks! You can also position the letters closer to each other to eliminate the annoying gap between letters (See W+H & W+E).

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Step 16

Your text is done! It’s time to move over to Photoshop for the finishing touches. First create a new document in Photoshop. You can create any size you like, but we made ours 1500×1070px and 150dpi. Head back to Illustrator, select and group (Command+G) your text, copy (Command+C) it and move back to Photoshop to paste (Command+V) it. Select Paste as Smart Object. Do the same for your linework. Position your two smart objects on the canvas. Feel free to use the below image as a guide.

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Step 17

We are very near completion, be strong! Now we need to prepare a nice, subtle grungy background. We used a concrete texture from vertx.ca – another fantastic resource for such images is CG Textures. Take your chosen texture, bring it in to Photoshop, desaturate it, tweak the Brightness and Contrast until you have something akin to the image below…

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Step 18

Save your background texture and import it into your artwork file (File>Place). Decrease its opacity to about 30%, or to taste. Set the Blending Mode of your text and artwork layers to Multiply. Add, using the Shape Tool (U), a period at the end of your phrase. Finally, create a new layer above your background and below the artwork and text. Set its Blending Mode to Overlay and, using a large soft brush (about 10% opacity), lightly paint some black around the edges to bring out the texture more. Here’s the final result!

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Conclusion

This is a very versatile way of presenting your sketched creations. Below are some more examples from the Sticks Clothing site… visit the site for wallpapers of the artwork displayed here. Thanks so much for reading this tut, hope you enjoyed the process!

Hello, my name is Adam Clark and I am a product designer for the gift and home décor market. For the past six years, I have designed and developed products that have been sold nationwide in many well-known retail stores. Many of my friends and fellow designers always ask me what exactly do I design and how do I do it? So follow me as I explain what is involved in the product development and design process.

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The Product

In this article, the products I will be designing and developing will make a complete bath line. My target market will be youth boys. The products that make up a complete bath set are:

• Wall Border
• Shower Curtain
• Lotion Pump
• Tooth Brush Holder
• Soap Dish
• Shower Hooks

Remember that most retail buyers will only accept presentations with complete lines and not select odd ball items. They do this because it is much easier to market and sell a complete set rather than mix and match products. It also makes your presentation look more professional, and shows your product line is well thought out.

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The Research

Before I begin any product design I always do my research. Since I will be designing products for the youth boy market I need to narrow down the age group so I can develop the most age appropriate product. The best selling age group for youth boys is the ages from six to twelve years old. I want to target this age group because it will give me the best chance for my products to fly off the shelf. Next, I need to decide if I want to pick a theme for my product line or do I want to design a pattern?

In this article I will be developing a themed bath line because, well, it’s a lot more intriguing and I usually will only develop a patterned line if I know that’s what the buyer is looking for. Now, I will do some cruising on the net looking for different ideas for my target theme. I will look at different retailer’s websites that sell similar products and try to get inspired by the products they currently sell.

Sometimes I will also check out the clothing department to see what my target audience is wearing. Don’t worry if this doesn’t come to you right away, take your time and pick a theme that you feel is best. It has taken me anywhere from one day to two weeks to decide on a theme. Remember that you want to have a fresh idea, but you also want to develop a product that mom and dad have no problem buying!

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Sketching it Out

After doing some research I have decided my theme will be “Comic Books.” After choosing my theme, then it’s time to make some quick rough sketches to get some ideas of how to portray my theme into the product. I sketch out each product in many different views, angles, and layouts. Remember that the product has to be functional as well. I always sketch the image to be portrayed in 3D because you want your image to pop off the page and get your buyer excited. Plus, 3D images look more professional and give your buyer a better feel for the design than a flat 2D image.

After I have quickly sketched out some rough ideas to my liking, then I will make a clean and final sketch of each product. These sketches will be the exact images I will bring in to Illustrator to start bringing the product to life. Here are some of my final sketches!

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From Sketch to Vector

After I complete all of my final sketches, it’s time to bring each individual image into Illustrator and begin to create outlines. First, I make a quick outline of each design to see if it proportioned correctly. Remember that these are actual functional products, so you need to be precise with your ideas. Here are some of my outlines:

Here you can see in my sketches that I have called out the dimensions and different functionalities of the product. The dimensions and functionalities are not only for my satisfaction, but it reinforces the goal of the project, which is to turn these designs into actual working products and not just concept designs.

Also when presenting to the buyer he or she may ask you what the dimensions and the functionalities are. Many times, the buyer already knows how much retail space they have available. So, it is helpful to know the dimensions of the product you are presenting. However, be flexible. Let the buyer know that you will be happy to modify your design and dimensions to fit into the space they have available.

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Fill’er Up!

The next stage of the development process is to pick out the colors or pantones I want to use. Here in our studio we have a variety of pantone books, but when developing bath products we tend to use the textile pantone book, but it’s not necessary. After I have chosen the colors I want to use, I then begin to fill in the outlines like so:

These will be the base colors of the designs so they need to complement each other, and be an actual color that your manufacturer can match to or re-produce. As you can see, I have chosen some basic primary colors to give it that overall comic book feel.

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Illustrator to Photoshop

Now this is one of my favorite parts in the product development process. We are now going to bring our products to life with Photoshop! Bring each individual color filled product into Photoshop. Since we sketched our designs in a 3D view, now we need to add the shadows, highlights, glares, and what I like to call Bling to help portray our 3D image. Like so:

I picked one to two light sources for each design. The material I want my products to be made out of is polyresin. Polyresin is a high gloss material that is commonly used for bath products. It is low in cost which will help in the overall price to produce the products.

Since polyresin can have a glossy look, I need to apply that glossy shine to my designs as well. Another benefit to polyresin is it can be easily molded, which gives you more flexibility in your design. So, if you have designed very detailed concepts, when it comes time make your products the manufacturer will be able to capture all that detail during production. Here is another example of products that were designed to be made out of polyresin and the concepts I created before production.

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Presentation

At last, my designs are fully completed and brought to life. So, now I need to bring them all together in an awesome presentation so that they can be presented to the buyer.

First I will need to make a slick. A slick is a presentation background designed especially for product design presentations. The slick should have your logo or name on it as well as the product’s name. Whenever possible, I will make a logo for my product line. It makes for a more complete product line presentation and the buyer can get some advertisement ideas while viewing the design. Plus it’s just the cherry on top for a good design.

As you can see, I used a black to light gray gradient for my background, if you have used any 3D programs you have probably seen this background in the program’s standard working screen. I also kept my personal logo small and out of the way in the bottom left hand corner so that it doesn’t distract any attention away from the product design. When laying out your products on the slick you want to be careful not to have any weird empty spaces or products in areas that don’t make sense.

As you can see the border is along the top while all the accessories are at the bottom. I put some drop shadows and some reflective shine on the accessories giving them some depth and overall visual appeal. This also makes the accessories pop giving you a more 3D look to it. Finally, I added a tooth brush to the tooth brush holder to show the functionality and some soap bubbles to the soap dish for a little extra flare.

And there you go, a full bath line design ready for presentation!

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At the End

There is so much more that goes into developing and designing a full product line, but hopefully you were able to get the logistics of it. A lot of designers don’t take advantage of product designing as a lucrative income or don’t know that they could develop products as easily as this.

If you are interested in developing products of your own contact a licensing agent who can give you more information in getting your presentations in front of actual buyers. Product development is very rewarding because you get a sense of satisfaction seeing the product you designed show up on the shelves of big name retailers and it’s also good for your wallet!

Most people turn to Photoshop if the project they’re working on needs high-level editing on details such as facial features, lighting and shadows. However, if you’re looking to create detailed, scalable illustrations, Adobe Illustrator offers a superb selection of vector-based tools, such as the Pen and Pathfinder. For this reason, many fashion artists and illustrators are turning to vector to create their work. This compilation showcases a selection of thirty incredible, intricate and high-quality vector images with a strong focus on fashion. They have been produced by various artists and illustrators from all around the world, most of which work in the fashion industry. Take a look, this set is sure to inspire.

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Arthur Mount

Arthur Mount is an award-winning illustrator based in beautiful Portland, Oregon. He received a BFA in Drawing from CCA in 1995 and has been working as an illustrator ever since. His work has appeared in various publications from all around the world, including US, Canada, Japan, South Korea and a large portion of Europe. He received the D&AD Silver Pencil in 2005.

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Nina Edwards

Nina Edwards is an illustrator and specializes in advertising, fashion artwork, editorial design and publishing. As well as using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for her digital artwork, she can be found working with watercolor paint.

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Christophe Lardot

Christophe Lardot is a fashion illustrator who tends to make use of thin stroked lines and simple, bright color schemes. The quality in some of the linework is wonderful, especially in the flowy dress in the above example of work.

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Kun-Sung Chung

Kun-Sung Chung studied illustration at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and graduated in 2001. He was inspired by many subjects during this period. Since then, the fashion industry caught his attention, and after studying Graphic Design in Korea for 4 years, has been able to combine his skills in digital media, photography and painting to create colorful fashion illustrations with a clean yet sexy look.

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Irene Maria Jacobs

Irene Maria Jacobs is a very successful graphic designer and illustrator, and has a huge list of well-known companies in her client list, such as Vancouver 2010, Vodafone, Vibe Magazine, ESPN NY, Toyota, MTV, Hedkandi and Mens Health NY. The list is growing, and you can quite clearly see why from the elegant and detailed illustratation above.

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Jens Rotzsche

Jens Rotzsche is an experienced illustrator and specializes in contemporary vector graphics and lifestyle/pop illustrations. Born in 1965, Jens skipped studying art at college or university and jumped right in at the deep end to take on an apprenticeship as a theatre painter in the Staatstheater of Kassel, Germany, in 1983. He was working independently by 1992, and began to explore graphic design, computer animation and commercial illustration in the following years.

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Herman Yap

Herman Yap (aka Heage) started his career as a Graphic Designer in 1998. His keen interest in illustration did not stop at work, and many of his pieces have been featured in newspapers, magazines, and various other publications. A lot of his work elaborates on memories of people and places he has seen.

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Lucy Truman

Lucy Truman is an illustrator who epitomizes chic stylish glamour and idealistic living, drawing inspiration from several sources such as modern architecture, retro interiors and 1950’s-60’s popular culture. Some of her clients include Marie Claire, You Magazine, Independent on Sunday and The Daily Mail. She is typically known to produce illustrations for pretty and feminine products with a fashionable twist.

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Jacquie O’Neill

Jacquie O’Neill has a large and varied client base from both the UK and US and it’s easy to see why with her extensive experience in packaging illustration as well as editorial, publishing and advertising design. She is a freelance illustration and works from her own studio on the beautiful Cornish Coast.

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Zed

Zed was that guy in school who was always drawing. At the age of 21, he used his illustration skills to create artwork for a local newspaper whilst he was living in London. Back in Brazil, his work appeared in award-winning comics; he also worked on movie animations, clothing, book illustrations and album artwork. His main focus, however, is editorial and advertising illustration. He has worked for various clients such as Playboy, Red Bull and MTV.

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Amy De Wolfe

Amy De Wolfe has been a freelance illustration and graphic designer for over four years. She is inspired by the people and sights of the city, and uses that inspiration to capture the look and feel of all that is vibrant about life in the modern world. She has worked for a range of clients, including Woman, We Go Eco and Storieboards.

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Mats Bergen

Mats Bergen seems like a very secretive individual and doesn’t share much about his life on his web portfolio. We do know, however, that he lives in Vienna, Berlin, and uses bold, vivid colors in his illustrations to bring them to life.

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Morgan Jones

Morgon Jones (aka Phunky Venom) is a 22 year old Graphic Designer from Wolverhampton. He recently graduated from University with a First Class with Honours and is now venturing into the big bad world of design and illustration.

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Svetlana Makarova

Svetlana Makarova has a very clean but elegant feel to her work, making use of subtle gradients and fine, detailed lines to make her illustrations incredibly detailed.

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Becky Coyle

Becky Coyle is a designer who is currently working in the cut-throat world of web design. She also works as a freelancer on a whole range of projects from illustration (as seen above) to brochure design.

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Juan Camilo

Juan Camilo is a very talented individual, and can be found taking part in various projects making use of a handful of great skills such as Graphic Design, Illustration and Three-Dimensional Artworking. He is a student at Universidad de Bellas Artes.

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Helen Huang

Helen Huang started showing her passion for art before she could remember her life. She was born and raised in China before she moved to US to explore the other side of the world. By day the is a full time designer at an interactive advertisement agency in Los Angeles, and at night she wanders in her fantasy art world, trying to capture every inspiration she has to help share her vision with the world.

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Merwe

Merwe is a superb illustrator and makes use of various vector elements in all of her work. She tends to stick to the fantasy side of the world, using flowly lines and strong colors.

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Natalie Walsh

From her youngest days (age 10) selling knitted cat toys on consignment and earrings at the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco native Natalie Walsh has shown an inclination towards the artisanal and creative. After exploring textiles, stained glass, jewelry and photography, she graduated from the Textiles and Apparel Design program at Cornell University. She is now working as an Art Director having won awards for her fantastic illustrations which have appeared on everything from iPod covers to snowboard skins.

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Yana Moskaluk

Yana Moskaluk is a Russian illustrator currently living in Moscow and has a very unique and interesting style to her work.

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We want to know what your favorite illustration in this showcase is, and why – let us know in the comments section at the bottom of this showcase!

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The Graphic Styles Panel in Illustrator CS4 is more powerful than it’s ever been. Quickly add, create and save appearance attributes to make your work stylin’.

In this Quick Tip we’re going to set up a quick preset using expressions that will allow us to copy and paste color schemes from Adobe Kuler right into After Effects for easy reference. Also check out this tut for another option.

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Tutorial

You have been CHALLENGED! AEtuts+ and Zaxwerks wanna give you the opportunity to both learn and create. For the whole month of May you will be able to use ProAnimator free of charge and teach yourself how to use it. Additionally, you can take what you learn and show off your skills by entering our animation contest. See the details below about specifications and prizes!

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The Challenge

Along with our own tutorials: “Workflow In Zaxwerks ProAnimator” Part 1 and Part 2, You can also download these quick tuts to help you get started:

ProAnimator Intro Video 1

ProAnimator Intro Video 2

ProAnimator Intro Video 3

ProAnimator Intro Video 4

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The Rules

Please read the following carefully *before* submitting your content.

• You can send as many animations as you like, but if you just send a bunch of different versions of the exact same thing… we won’t be posting ever single altered color scheme… so save your bandwidth.
• The name and the e-mail address must be valid, and they are the ones that will be credited. We will contact you before announcing the winners with that e-mail address (in case you win).
• All the animations must be released under a free license. By submitting you agree that the content will become public domain.
• We welcome any type of animation, Logo Reveals, Looping Bugs, Transitional Wipes, Vanity Slates…. Note though that because this is a contest that we’ll be voting on, we do need at least 5 seconds of video to judge.
  
• The free license of ProAnimator will expire June 1st… don’t let time slip by without getting in there and learning it.
• We ask that you send us a direct URL to your video preferably Youtube or Vimeo.
• All entries must be submitted before midnight 12am EST May 31st. We will then open them for voting in the beginning of June.
• You must use Zaxwerks ProAnimator with no additional help from other 3d software (After Effects isn’t considered 3d in this case). Finally, you must include either the AEtuts+ logo or the Zaxwerks logo in your animation in order to qualify!

  Download the AEtuts+ Logo

Download the Zaxwerks Logo

• If you have any questions email me at [email protected].

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The Prizes

The winners will be chosen by votes. Once we receive the final entries, we’ll post them all up gallery-style then you and ALL of your friends will be able to vote. Your goal should be Creativity.

• First Place will have proved they can use it so will be given the complete ProAnimator Bundle (OSX or Windows) retail value: $1,669.00
  
• Second Place will be given a full license for ProAnimator (OSX or Windows) retail value: $695
  
• Third Place will be given a full license for 3D Serpentine (OSX or Windows) retail value: $199
  
• Honorable Mention 1 will get a 3 Month Premium Membership
• Honorable Mention 2 will get a 3 Month Premium Membership

• Have lots of fun! =))

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In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use the Zaxwerks ProAnimator After Effects plug in to open an existing Zaxwerks project inside After Effects and use the Layer Maps feature to add animated texture maps and filter effects to a 3D model. To view Part 1 Click Here.

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End Result

Want access to the full Project Files and assets for every tutorial on Aetuts+, including this one? Join Ae Premium for just $9/month. You can view the final effect preview video below.

Tutorial Overview

Tutorial

3D movies, 3D televisions, 3D on the desktop. Everything cool these days is in 3D! For an animator, there is no faster way to create professional 3D animation than with the Zaxwerks ProAnimator. Everyone’s heard of it, and in this 32 minute tutorial Rob Birnholz will teach the basics of how it works. This is not a sales pitch, but an actual workflow. For the basics, After Effects is not required, but the tutorial steps are same for both the standalone ProAnimator application and the AE plug-in version. A trial version of ProAnimator can be downloaded from www.zaxwerks.com.

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End Result

Want access to the full Project Files and assets for every tutorial on Aetuts+, including this one? Join Ae Premium for just $9/month. You can view the final effect preview video below.

Tutorial Overview

Tutorial

In this Quick Tip we’re going to look at the difference you can make to your footage by converting it to 32BPC with a little help from “Glow”. For even more information on this subject, check out this Quick Tip: Understanding Bit Depth.

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QuickTip

In this tutorial we are going to make a distortion effect, similar to the intro titles in ‘Gamer’. We start of by creating a stylized text in Photoshop, and making some cool distortions with Photoshop filters. After that we go into After Effects to animate the photoshop layers into a sequence, and stylize the sequence to make it look even cooler.

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Preview

Want access to the full AE project files and assets for every tutorial on Aetuts+, including this one? Join Ae Premium for just $9/month. You can view the final effect preview video below.

Tutorial

Whether we like it or not, non-linear editors (NLE’s) are a part of our daily lives. A lot of you might be stuck on one app (like me) but it is always good to explore what other possibilities out there. I am not trying to sway you or anything, but you never know if the grass may be greener on the other side.

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  Adobe Premiere Pro

  So, if you are using After Effects, chances are you know what Premiere Pro is and the big news that got announced about it a couple weeks ago. If you HAVE been living under a rock or in a cave… well the news is Premiere Pro CS5 is a 64 bit application in the new CS5 line of products. Along with being 64 bit they now have a pretty awesome feature called the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine which lets you accelerate your previews and overall workflow if you have certain GPU accelerated graphics cards. Overall, Premiere is a very strong application in the Adobe line, and with news of CS5 is going to give a lot of the other apps a run for their money.

  View Website

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  Avid

  Avid is one of the more popular apps when it comes to professionalism. When I say that, I don’t mean that the other apps in this list aren’t professional (although some aren’t), but Avid is considered by many industry professionals one of the best solutions for film editing, and news editing solutions. Avid has been around forever, one of the earliest non linear editing systems, now it is on the front lines when it comes to a streamlined environment when you need to route video in and out of different edit bays, into switchers, betamax decks, different displays or whatnot.

  View Website

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  Final Cut Pro

  Everyone knows Final Cut Pro, and how it has become the de facto editing system on Macintosh. Final Cut comes with Final Cut Studio which includes, Color, Motion, Soundtrack, and DVD Studio Pro, which gives you a fantastic arsenal of tools for all your post production needs. Final Cut is another one of the three top apps (included are Avid and Premiere) in the world that are most widely used, and if you are looking to work professionally, would be a great asset to learn and have in your freelancing toolbox.

  View Website

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  Sony Vegas Pro

  Vegas is another one of those consumer/prosumer apps that I have always been kind of on the fence about. I mean, it has everything you really need in an NLE app, 64 bit support, support of RED and other new media formats, ability to capture HDV tape, and a lot of the other features of the other big names, but for some reason it just doesn’t stand up to the other big dogs. Probably because Apple, Adobe and Avid have dominated the market for a long time, and Vegas holds it’s ground to this day, it just has yet actually broken through the barrier as a professional piece of software.

  View Website

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  Grass Valley Edius

  Edius has been around a while, but has never gained mainstream status, despite its robust intuitive interface, and ability to run AVCHD and the new, highly popular Canon EOS movie formats. Grass Valley (Canopus) are the company behind Edius, and actually at NAB they had one of the largest booths in the South Hall (if you were there). They have a lot of products, and this NLE didn’t seem too high on the list, but it nevertheless gets the job done if that is what you are choosing to use.

  View Website

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  Apple iMovie

  Oh, iMovie, how I despise thee. Being a trained professional editor, applications like iMovie, just seem pointless. But, for those that are just looking to make some cheesy fun movies with their friends, this is a great app. There are some very simple transitions that you can stick in, and it makes it really easy to load footage off of a tape based camera or files from the computer, but if you are looking to edit something that you have a paying client for, highly consider the above choices.

  View Website

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  Windows Movie Maker

  This is an app that I pretty much consider worthless aside from the user that wants to make quick shorts of their family. Windows Movie Maker wasn’t designed for much more than that. Basic transitions, a blah interface, and some reasonable compression makes this app good for that one niche market, the person that really doesn’t care if the edits are awesome, or the titles look generic. There is a reason why this and iMovie come bundled with their propreitary operating systems.

  View Website

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  Adobe Premiere Elements

  Premiere Elements is a dumbed down version of Premiere, geared towards the consumer base of customers, since a lot of those people won’t use extensive effects or multi-cam editing… or the other features that are included with the full version of Premiere. Think of Premiere Pro as the professional version and Elements as the consumer version. Elements just has the core features to create enough edits to get by and make a basic movie without having to worry about the perfections and fine tunes that you would with Premiere Pro.

  View Website

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  Debug Mode’s WAX

  Wax is a free app, with a very blah interface, but also works as a plugin into Motion and Premiere. It doesn’t really hold its ground and an NLE, but free apps are just that, free. This app has some interesting features like the ability to load 3D models, a particle engine, and the ability to extrude text in 3D, but it is still very limited into what it can do as an NLE.

  View Website

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  Zwei-Stein Video Editor

  Another free editor with not too much punch. We would like to think of free NLEs like Blender is to 3D, but that is just not what we are getting. With this piece of software you get some basic effects, keying techniques and stuff like that, basically, if you are just looking to put clips together with rough cuts or cross dissolves this might work for you, other than that, probably not.

  View Website

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  Jahshaka

  This isn’t really an NLE, but since we are on the subject of free apps, I figured it was probably worth mentioning. Jahshaka is a film and video compositing app that uses OpenGL and OpenML to give you close to realtime interactivity in your projects. Jahshaka was recently acquired by Cinefex and is in the process of reinvented to work better with today’s workflows.

  View Website

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  Pinnacle/Avid Free DV

  Avid DV is actually no longer offered, but there is an alternative with a 14 day trial… Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. Pinnacle has been another one of the consumer products that has never really been used professionally. Pinnacle is another one of those great applications for home movies or cheap skate videos with your friends, nothing professional.

  View Website

Now if you lot have some contrbutions of some of the apps that I have missed, I am sure there are many more, and all of you will have some very strong opinions on them, I encourage you to post your ideas, apps, rebuttals, thoughts and whatever else may come to mind after reading this. I like to hear what the readers say, and seeing it come straight from your mouths (or fingers for that matter) is more than I could hope for. So leave a comment and express your thoughts!

If you enjoyed this post, please give it a vote on Digg or a stumble to say thanks!

Learn how to composite a multi-purpose short scene using still pictures and .vpe files. We will be using the 3d resources in AE to make the pictures blend together. In addition, a new technique to achieve a different neon text effect and more compositing tips. Lets hit the road!

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Preview

Want access to the full AE project files and assets for every tutorial on Aetuts+, including this one? Join Ae Premium for just $9/month. You can view the final effect preview video below.

Tutorial

Assets:
Original footage and pictures by Openfootage.net, Gamillos and Zboula.

It’s time for another Exclusive Freebie; this time AerisT offers a flavor of summer to Activetuts+ readers. Add your own custom beach party logo to this 3D interactive beach ball! The file uses the open-source Papervision3D engine and loads images via XML.

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Interactive Demo

Check out the beach ball with an example logo:

If you take a look at the demo, you can click and drag the ball to rotate it. You can replace the logo with any image you like! It’s controlled by an external XML file, so you don’t even need to have the Flash authoring environment.

Baseball Origins

Recently, a client of mine, who was in the process of designing a website for a kid’s baseball team, asked me to help him spice up the site with some Flash elements. I proposed the idea of incorporating a 3D interactive baseball showcasing the team’s logo. At the time, I did not have the slightest idea how I would accomplish the task, but it was an interesting idea so I decided to pursue it.

After stumbling around with various implementation concepts to create a 3D sphere effect and browsing through ActiveDen’s stock Flash offerings without much success, I finally landed on using the open-source Papervision3D engine. Although I was new to PV3D, my early tests gave me some really promising results and I quickly realized that it was the correct technology for the task at hand.

I dug in to PV3D and after a lot of experimentation and some excellent advice from other authors on ActiveDen, I was able to create a 3D sphere to which a detailed texture could be applied, was interactive with the mouse, and featured a custom logo driven by an XML text file. It was the perfect solution for my 3D interactive baseball (and this beach ball).

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The Challenge: Getting the Texture to Wrap

The next challenge was to create a realistic bitmap texture that could be applied to the 3D sphere. This turned out to be a bit tricky due to the way PV3D wraps textures around sphere primitives. In designing my texture, I had to take into consideration the fact that the top and bottom edges of the bitmap would be compressed when mapped to the sphere. Visual elements in my bitmap texture that were near the top or bottom edge of the bitmap needed to be stretched wide in order to compensate. (For example, on the beach ball, the top and bottom red circles are actually red rectangles that stretch all the way across the bitmap texture’s width – see figure. When wrapped onto the sphere, they appear as circles.)

As a result of PV3D’s texture wrapping method, I spent some time perfecting textures in a graphic design program.

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Final Result

As you can see from this 3D beach ball, the result of my efforts turned out quite nicely. This beach ball is a stripped-down version of the ActionScript 3.0 code I used for the original baseball. The beach ball is contained entirely within its own movieclip – so it is easy to drag-and-drop into a Flash project. All of the ActionScript code for the beach ball is contained on the beach ball’s own timeline, so there are no external class files to manage. I’ll admit that external class files are a great way to code, but in this case, I preferred the simplicity of keeping everything in one place.

The beach ball is a great way to announce an upcoming beach-themed event or summer trip. Add your own custom logo easily by modifying the included XML text file and link to another site by specifying a URL link on double click. Your viewers will appreciate having something they can interact with.

So what’s next? Perhaps in the future I’ll consider building a game using one of these 3D balls. (Let me know if you have any great game concepts.)

If you like this beach ball, go and check out my 3D Sports Balls on ActiveDen and see the baseball that started it all!