One of the most popular tutorials I’ve ever done on this site was a look at 2D shoe design renderings in Adobe Illustrator (here). I’m finally updating it, and this time it’s in video form.
There are many ways to skin this cat, but I prefer a hybrid solution using Illustrator smart objects within Photoshop. This tutorial will focus on doing line and graphic work in Illustrator, and shading/texturing in Photoshop.
More videos after the break:
- Illustrator brush tool basics
- Illustrator clipping masks vs. live paint
- Illustrator: working in isolation mode
- gradient mesh drop-shadow trick
- Illustrator: brushes for stitching
- Illustrator: appearance palette for stitch offsets
- Illustrator: Graphic Styles
- Photoshop: “Place” to import smart objects
- Photoshop: making selections with magic wand
- Photoshop: adding real-world textures
|
Adam O'Hern is an industrial design consultant specializing in visual brand languages, and has designed products ranging from laptops to power tools, classroom toys to bathroom fixtures, and robots to lint rollers. He has published with 3DWorld Magazine, CGTuts+, and Luxology, and works with Josh Mings of SolidSmack.com on EngineerVsDesigner.com. |
Hi,
Just sent you an email with my progress attached in the hope of perhaps receiving some feedback. Also, did you fill your original clipping mask at any stage throughout your rendering?
Thanks Adam,
Hi Adam,
Great tutorial. Thank you very much for taking the time to help people such as myself. I was wondering, what is the size (dimensions) of the canvas used in this tutorial?
The image of your finished render at the top of the page (the top lateral view) looks a little rough around the edges of the laces. I have not said this to criticize you (as i love your work), but to use it as the basis for my next question.
If i was to triple the value of the resolution (whereas you doubled it in the tutorial), would this make the outer edges less rough around the laces etc? Or would this backfire in a way? perhaps there is not a way to achieve completely smooth outlines around all of the shoes individual parts? I hope i have explained my question well. I would like to thank you for your time, help and patience in advance!!
Dann
Hi Dann!
The fuzzy edges you mention are the result of tolerances associated with the magic wand tool in Photoshop. There are ways of fixing this, and while increasing the document resolution will make a difference, it will also make the file much more difficult to work with. I highly recommend keeping the document res as low as the output medium will allow (I find 1920×1080 to be sufficient for almost any presentation sketch).
Rather than increasing the resolution, consider (a) doing most of your fills and gradients in Illustrator rather than PS, or (b) simply use a nice clean pencil-like brush to manually clean up the edges in Photoshop.
Best of luck, and be sure to show us what you’re working on in the comments!
Adam
Hi Adam,
Thank you, your feedback is so valuable. I hope you don’t mind, I emailed an attachment of my current progress to you for this tutorial, for feedback purposes.
I was wondering, when creating path’s that will be filled in and then “moved to the back”, is it best to to create path’s and fill them in in any particular order? For example, clipping the shoe sole first and then working upwards towards the tongue? Or can I fill and clip any any shape at any time?
I am sorry if the question is unclear, having a hard time trying to explain it to you.
Furthermore, can you please tell me how you would and what you meant by “using a nice clean pencil-like brush to manually clean up the edges in Photoshop”?
I am very grateful for your guidance, you are a great help!
Dann Forrester
(This question relates to the shoe design tutorial in Illustrator.)
Ah, my apologies, Dann. I had assumed you were working in Photoshop and the ‘fuzzy edges’ were coming from there.
I’m not seeing any ‘fuzzy edges’ in your illustrator file, so maybe I’m just blind? I think way you may be referring to might be the anti-aliasing fuzz very faintly showing up around the edges. This is a common issue with masking in Illustrator. The best way around it is to change the color of the clipping mask item. I believe yours is currently black. Try changing it to white and see if that fixes your problem.
Looks like you’re off to a strong start with the shoe! Keep up the good work, and don’t hesitate to upload your work to the comment boards so others can benefit from your experience!
Cheers,
Adam
Hi Adam,
Thanks for your reply. I was wondering how you did the laces so neat on the “top view” of your shoe? Did you use clipping masks to do this? Also, where would I enter the number value (regrding the resolution) you gave me in your last reply, onto phootoshop or illustrator?
Thank you very much for your time and help, Adam.
Dann
(This question relates to the shoe design tutorial in Illustrator.)
Hi Dann,
Illustrator is a ‘vector’ program, meaning it’s not resolution-dependent. There are no ‘pixels’ (generally speaking) in vector-land, so resolution doesn’t matter.
Photoshop is a ‘raster’ program, meaning it’s pixel-based. The more pixels, the higher the resolution, the crisper the image, the bigger the file, etc. 1920×1080 is a reasonable size for a presentation sketch in Photoshop.
The laces were achieved with clipping masks in Illustrator, and then airbrushed in Photoshop.
Cheers,
Adam
Much appreciated. I did attempt to create a clipping mask for the laces but there are so many parts of lace overlapping and going beneath eachother that I became confused with regards to creating a path that would work for all individual parts of lace.
Cheers,
Dann
Adam, this is another great tutorial. I’m an aspiring shoe designer so this is right up my alley – most of the techniques I’m already familiar with but it’s always nice to see how someone approaches the same problem. You mentioned at the end that you would consider a Modo shoe tutorial; I hope you haven’t shelved those plans because it would be nice to have an alternative to Andy Browns’ shoe tutorial. Those guys are great but I’ve always preferred your approach. Keep up the good work my friend ;)
Cheers, mate! (getting my Brit on today)
I am not a shoe designer by trade, but it would certainly be a fun challenge! I’ll keep this in mind!
Adam
This is simply awesome! I am very new to Illustrator and Photoshop and your tutorial is a Godsend.Thanks.
Hi Adam,
I do not believe that you are watching your blog on a Sunday. Cheers for that.
Well, the 3D World tutorial looked complicated to me. Must be my noobieness. But I take it from you that it is very basic, and give it a shot with the 30 day Modo evaluation. I hope “kind of long” is shorter than 30 days. :p
But with me you can’t be too sure about that.
Which 3D program is the new tutorial for ?
I might hold out with starting the 30 day evaluation if it’s also for Modo, and try both tutorials.
I’m going to read your blog post about choosing a 3D package after this.
I’m mainly interested in 3D modeling, posing and lighting and bringing the 3D models into Illustrator or Photoshop to enhance.
I actually want to model lots of stock/generic 3D spare parts, which I can easily remodel and reuse to create new full models from. (Dr. Frankentein style.)
But that might be actually counter productive in 3D, and it might be better that 3D models consist of one “blob of clay”. I just don’t know.
I’m also somewhat interested in 3D animation. But not significant enough to have it available in a 3D package or make it influence my decision. But knowing myself, when something is included I’ll try it out.
And Happy Easter to you and everyone else who may be with you.
I always forget stuff like that. But not this time.
Hi Robert:
The 3D car model is actually pretty basic, and starts at the very beginning. It’s kind of long, but quite do-able I think. I’m working on another tutorial at the moment that should be good for beginners as well.
The 3D package you choose to learn depends entirely on what you want to do with it. Check out this post:
http://adam.theoherns.com/2010/03/08/choosing-a-3d-package/
Adam
Although I’m 3D illiterate : +1 for the Modo tutorial.
Especially if you can make it possible for a 3D noob to follow along, so that I can complete the tutorial within the 30 day evaluation.
I was also eying your “Build a sports car model in Modo” tutorial for 3D World, but I assumed it is not for a beginner. So I put it back on the shelf. (Yes, I chickened out.)
For some time I’ve been glancing at Blender, C4D + S&T, Rhino, and Modo. But each time I discard the idea of getting into 3D because it looks way too complex and time consuming. Although Modo seems to come with a decent set of beginner tutorials.
Bloody Hell, I did it again. A Mark Twain sized comment.
Haha, comment as much as you like, Robert. It’s good to hear that you’re finding the content useful.
Adam
Hi Adam,
I’m not trying to spam your comments.
But I just discovered this one. It’s probably even more detailed than version 1.
Thanks again.
Thank You so much ! awesome stuff, really needed this one :)
You’re welcome!