Starting a project and have two que

[JustWakinUp]

Starting a project and have two questions that may help the appearnce of this particular image.
I have a 1/2 of a ball and I need the ball to appear
as if im looking into the open half. I've tried using
a gradient but it really looks like the ball is outwardly
round and i need it to look concave as a half of ball would look. I've tried using the gradient mesh but that mesh always takes teh shape of the object and you can never really get a 45° with that gradient mesh, ( Probably just something im not skilled at so some tips would be great) So if there is a way that you think will help me create this concaved look using a tool in illustrator please help....

Ok now the second part is a screw. Im trying to design a screw with threads and such. Any and all ideas on how to do this are welcome. I've not been able to find any tutorials of this nature...Thank You So Much guys

 

[Triska]

The gradient mesh tool initially creates a grid of mesh points based on the settings for the tool, but you can add as many as you want. It will be difficult to create spherical looking gradient meshes, because the default grid is rectangular. The gradients are created out 'along' the control handles from each mesh intersection.

Modify the number, postions, angles and lengths of the control handles untill you have enough areas to create the crescent moon shape grads you are looking for. Study a hollow shaded ball for good measure, the light is much more complicated than out side, because their are internal reflections.

Make circular guides to assist you in positioning the control handles on another layer.

Make guides that radiate out from the highlight pt. inside the ball...

Make a Radar grid set of guides... experiment with all things circular o assist you in positioning the control handles of the mesh, modifying the mesh alone without measurements would take incredible amounts of time and probably still not look right.

You've got to approach this somewhat mathematically...

See. p.223 of the manual for manipulating gradient meshes, it is possible to get the effect you want... not without work and patience though.


Best of luck.. I'm interested to see what you can do.!
p.s. as you may know, the tools for meshes are just your standard selection/ pt./ handle manipulation tools, learn to use those like a pro first !
Sef.

It is alright to decorate construction, but never construct decoration. - Pugin, on Arch.

http://www.elucidesign.com

 

[JustWakinUp]

Triska

Thanks for your answer and I decided to go about the illustration in a different manner.....

I really do need some help with the second part of my question about the screws and some ideas on how to go about designing a screw.

As for what I am doing, here is an image of the WIP of my project....

http://geocities.com/grafxdezignz/currentWIP.jpg

The image has a long way to go and im struggling like a madman with perspective and my resource material is an X-ray...Ho Hummm

 

[Triska]

The page with currentWIP.jpg didn't seem to be 'up' when I clicked the link (8/28) but as for the screw design...

As a furniture designer, I've drawn a few screws in profile and plan, but not in 3D (I use Rhino 3D for that).

You should be able to create a very realistic design within Illustrator, and go beyond what I've done, the trick is going to be specifying appropriately shaped and shaded gradients (IMO), as well as adding some blur and noise and lighting in Photoshop, since AI will certainly create an extremely precise profile.

If this screw will be in perspective (and you will see top/front or bottom/front, it would be good to create a vanishing pt. for the sides of the shaft for realism, place it FAR away from the screw (Make a giant artboard, use the Navigator)
These measurements may be useful:

http://www.osteomedcorp.com/articles/journal2.html

A few pointers:
1. The ZigZag filter can be used to create the profile of the threads
2. Create a centerline and work from it to keep things symetrical, set your constrain angle (Prefs) to this angle to assist you in creating shapes along the axis of the screw.
3. Make one thread and copy it up! scale a few for the tip.

Here are some examples I threw together, and thanks for posing tthis question, since it was something I was intending to work on for my own purposes anyway, but you provided the motivation.
For viewing:

http://www.elucidesign.com/TEK_examples/Screw.svgz

For inspecting in AI. (Use it if you want!)

http://www.elucidesign.com/TEK_examples/Screw.ai

Sef.



It is alright to decorate construction, but never construct decoration. - Pugin, on Arch.

http://www.elucidesign.com