[Vincent Rosati]

I can’t say for sure, but it looks like the examples you’re showing were probably created in a 3D app. That would probably be the best route to creating something like that.

The next option might be, presuming that you’re working with rasters, to create the effect in Photoshop. Isolate each panel and Edit / Transform / Distort.

If you’re working with vectors in AI, I guess there would be a number of approaches.
One might be, again to isolate the panels. Create a ‘top object’ in the appropriate shape, then Object / Envelope Distort / Make With Top Object.
Or maybe you could rotate each of the panels with a 3D Effect.
You might even be able to use the Free Transform tool to help with creating something like this.

Those are just some ideas.
You can do this in AI, but I think this task would be better suited for a raster-dedicated app like Photoshop or Cinema 4D. Especially if your source materials are raster.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

When you’re on your own, it’s good to develop systems that work for you, as you are doing. It seems like a good idea to nest your components into their own layers.
But, your teacher might have some other reason for not nesting components. Maybe it’s easier to see all of the parts of your file. I’d ask them, to see if that is the reason.
Maybe, for now, you should just do it the way that they want. Or ask them specifically if they think that their system seems appropriate in your situation.

Something that might help a little bit might be to go into the Layers panel drop-down menu and select Panel Options/Row Size: Small.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

The joke that I often like to use is:
Sure just Effect/Stylize/Awesome Fill Pattern.
It’s right between Awesome Billboard and Awesome Vehicle Wrap.

Kidding aside…

In those examples, it looks like all of the elements were carefully placed.

Another approach might be to start by creating clipping masks for the primary forms – the house, the shoe, etc.
Then taking your various fill components, the flowers and whatever, and creating scatter brushes. Edit the settings, whatever.
Then use your primary forms as clipping masks.
You would likely still have to manually place some elements, and the clipping masks would likely hide parts of some of the brushes, soyou’d have to play around with it a bit.

Illustrator has a ton of built-in symbols and patterns that you might find useful. Although, I used to operate under the idea that I had to create everything from scratch, everyone gets custom work.
I don’t operate that way anymore. If I can buy a vector for $6 or $120, and it’s pretty close to what I need, I buy it.
So, you might draw all of the fill components, or maybe buy a vector pack that has components that you like.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

My approach would be to start in Illustrator – from creating logos, to creating components for use in 3D apps, to creating shapes and Smart Objects for Photoshop.

Since you’re starting with a raster, you might want to redraw it in Illustrator so you have a nice and clean vector as your base resource.

Illustrator’s 3D effects can be processor intensive, so you’d ideally want a very clean vector, as opposed to a traced vector. A traced vector can have a lot of unnecessary data in it, making the 3D stuff more difficult.

So…
1 – Skip this, don’t start in Photoshop. Unless you have vector paths that you can export.
2 – Yes.
3 – Yes.
4 – Yes.

Texture mapping isn’t exactly the same in Illustrator, as it is in a 3D app. You won’t be able to do any bump mapping or anything, but you will be able to apply a raster and manipulate it in a 3D space.

Les has a good example of using mapping, here:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/245/860988#860990

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

I couldn’t explain the nuts and bolts of it, but Illustrator doesn’t continually rasterize for on-screen display the way that Photoshop does.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

Generally, it’s not so much about what it looks like on screen, but how it prints or exports. Just make sure you’re in the correct color mode – RGB or CMYK.
I’m pretty sure Illustrator’s not imposing any quality loss. 99% Of the time it’s not a problem with Illustrator, it’s the process.

Are you resizing the raster image inside Illustrator, or adding any effects or anything?
Is the raster image of sufficient resolution, to print as large as you intend it be?
Are your PDF settings downsampling your images?

Try a print or export, and let us know if there are still any issues.

I opened the PDF, and I’m not sure that I see what the issue is.
If it’s the screenshots, it looks like you’re using 72ppi images. I’d try changing the image size in PS to 150ppi or 300ppi WITHOUT resampling, then replace them in the IA project file. They will be much smaller in the AI project, but they are low resolution images.

So you can either scale down your page sizes to better match the resolution of your images, or you can use low resolution images like you have been.
Otherwise you might want to keep your Illustrator project in a project folder. Then create a ‘source’ or ‘res’ folder inside that, a nested resource folder. Then keep all of your raster images in the ‘res’ folder. Save all of your raster images as TIF/LZW or PSD.
Then you File/Place the raster images into the AI project, instead of pasting them.
This way, you can experiment by editing the linked images in Photoshop, upscaling the images with different sampling techniques until you find something that meets your requirements.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

You’re trying to reverse a typical workflow.
Maybe you could Acrobat: Document/Extract Pages as Separate Files. Then if you’re on a Mac you could likely set up a job with Automator to batch all of the files to AI.
I haven’t done this for PDF to AI, but I have done batch DOC to PDF.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

I realize this is an old post, but I’d try saving the component that you want to duplicate as a Symbol by dragging it into the Symbol palette.
Symbols can be simple, or complex, or pretty much anything that can open in Illustrator.

If there are any elements, like serial numbers or whatever that need to be different, you wouldn’t include them in the symbol. You would just group them with the symbol on the artboard.

Then you just duplicate the symbol as many times as you need to, on the artboard.

If you ever need to make any adjustments to the symbol, you just double-click on it, make the edit, then double-click off it, and the edit will propagate throughout every instance of that symbol.

So, if you’re making a map and you have 40 instances of a tent symbol, you just edit one of them and all of the other ones will update.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

I’m afraid I can’t see anything in the file, as I’m in CS4, the artboard is empty. I think that any artwork needs to be inside the artboard for older versions to see the art.
If it is in the artboard, try saving down to CS2 or something.

Regarding the Appearance. Open the Appearance palette, Window/Appearance. Now when you select an object you can see any effects that might be applied to the object.
However based on your last post I’d say that probably wouldn’t matter, since you’re using them for paths in AE. Though, I can’t be totally sure about that.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

Hard to say. Almost sounds like you’re using a brush or drawing with an appearance.

Try selecting the object then press ‘D’, or click the Default Fill and Stroke button in the tool palette, the two big overlapped squares at the bottom.

Vince

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