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complexity
Known Participant
November 14, 2011
Question

creating a ball/globe and showing a grid line in 3d in illustrator

  • November 14, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 32200 views

Hi all,

Just wondering how I would create a 3d ball/globe and show a grid around the ball?

Without mapping the gridlines as artwork to the ball, is there a way?

So I can see the lines that are on the otherside of the ball?

Something like this.

http://mattschloss.com/media/globe/imgs/globelo.jpg

I see the wireframe options under, 3d/revolve, but I guess you cant apply strokes/color to the lines etc?

Any help would be great

(PS. Please Adobe fix this forums wysiwyg editor, it is shockingly bad in Google Chrome), so, so buggy.

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    3 replies

    Silkrooster
    Silkrooster
    Legend
    November 18, 2011

    Did you try my example: Extremely simple...

    _scott__
    _scott__
    Legend
    November 18, 2011

    3D sphere.. set shading to Wireframe.

      JETalmage
      JETalmage
      Inspiring
      November 15, 2011

      This .zip archive contains a script which draws a sphere with user-specified number of latitude and longitude lines.

      This PDF describes its use.

      Be aware, this was written about 6 years ago, long before AI acquired multiple pages. The sphere is drawn at the center of the pasteboard, not necessarily at the location of the current Artboard. After running the script, zoom out to find it.

      JET

      C
      complexityAuthor
      Known Participant
      November 17, 2011

      Thanks for sending that through JET, got it working.

      When I select all the lines and a fill color it only shows the horizontal lines, I'm hoping to also show the vertical ones.

      How do I do that?

      Or is it a matter of breaking the lines apart and carfeully selecting each one to suit?

      Steve Fairbairn
      Steve Fairbairn
      Inspiring
      November 17, 2011

      Here's another way. It has the advantage of being simple to create and the disadvantage that the lines are of unequal thickness.

      Start off by drawing a grid with as many lines as you need.

      (Note that I left out the top and bottom ones and the vertical line at one end. I also drew the equator line thicker than the rest.)

      Make a symbol of it.

      Now draw a circle and delete the left hand anchor point. Now you've got a half circle. Colour it white with no stroke.

      Now go to Effects > 3D > Revolve... . Revolve by 360°.

      Map Art... Select the symbol and Scale to Fit.

      Now you're just about done. Play around with rotation angles and shading.

      Check Draw Hidden Faces and No Shading if you want to see the just the lines without the sphere.

      You will notice that the lines of longitude taper towards the poles.

      When/if you expand the sphere (object) the lines will be filled areas just as they appear here.

      Maybe that's what you want, maybe not. That's Illie for you.

      _____

      Edit: I notice afterwards that I counted the number of latitude lines wrong, so the equator isn't in the middle. Sorry 'bout that :-)

      Silkrooster
      Silkrooster
      Legend
      November 14, 2011

      Yes there is. But it is a bit of a work around.

      Create your sphere and make the surface a wireframe in the 3d revolve property panel.

      Object>expand appearence.

      Open the appearence panel and apply new stroke to the group.

      you can now change the thickness and color of the wireframe

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