Isometric or what - scale, rotate, shear settings
I'm trying to draw a set of simple maps in 3D in Illustrator. It's a remake of a drawing done years ago and I want to keep the basic feel, so it is based on a run of 2 and a rise of 1 on a regular grid.
I need help with the settings for the top/bottom plane action.
With isometric, I have 4 actions set up:
Left Face
> scale 86.602% horizontal, 100% vertical
> shear horizontal axis -30°
> rotate -30°
Right Face
> scale 86.602% horizontal, 100% vertical
> shear horizontal +30°
> rotate +30°
Top/Bottom Clockwise
> scale 86.602% horizontal, 100% vertical
> shear horizontal +30°
>rotate -30°
Top/Bottom Counterclockwise
> scale 86.602% horizontal, 100% vertical
> shear horizontal -30°
> rotate +30°
These work very well, no problem. This, however, is not the look of the original and so I want to work at 1 by 2 or however it might be explained.
The problem: how to make the top/bottom planes for a 1 by 2 image (again, I don't know what it should be called; I am not a pro artist).
For the 1 to 2 version, I have left and right actions:
Left face
> scale horizontal 75%, vertical 100%
> shear 26.57° vertical
Right Face
> scale horizontal 75%, vertical 100%
> shear -26.57
This works well enough for the vision look I'm seeking and gives a slight lower angle view than true isometric. However, I can't seem to get the top/bottom plane to work and end up making them by hand (1:2 is pretty simple after all) but would like to set an action for it as I have quite a few buildings to put together.
Anybody know what settings to do for 1 by 2? What do I even call this?
PS: Mods, if this should go elsewhere, such as the Mac Apps section, please move it. Sorry.
Comments
Still working on this.
Looked back at the iso settings and gave the 1:2 another try.
Came up with
Scale= H=100% V=89.55%
Shear Horizontal 26.57
Rotate 26.57
This is closer and still likely not correct, but can be ironed out.
However, I am still unable to get the top/bottom planes to work right.
Any ideas?
Left and right plane, scale horizontally by 1/sqrt(2) = 70.71%
Shear left plane vertically by atan(1/2) = 26.565, right plane by -26.565
You might need to scale the side planes vertically before shearing but it depends on the image you are matching. You will also have to watch the stroke outlines, turn off align to pixel grid and round the stroke caps and corners. Create a vertical guide and snap all 3 to it. Then when you overlap the edges, it'll look ok.
Thanks, Marvin. It works!
The project is just a remake of a map I made years ago for my EFL classes. It's just a fictional town, so no worries about matching images. It was originally done in AppleWorks (yep, that was fun) and it was high time for it to be improved. It also has been a good chance to learn more about Illustrator.
Are there any 3D apps for Mac that can work in the 1 by 2 format? Lots of games are in this style (Virtual City, for example) and their graphics are amazing. Not that I want anything near the same level of detail (my original is nothing more than slightly elaborate cube-like buildings). It would be fun to play around, though.
Someone suggested Xara, but it is Windows only.
Sketchup is one:
http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/download/
There is a plugin to let you jump to a particular axonometric projection or you can just pan around to get the right look:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=29018
I had a question,
How the process of convert isometric <> orthogonal?
Quote:
The top plane, you'd rotate 45 and then scale 50% vertically.
Reverse this one?
However, Extrude and Bevel effects can convert 2d view to isometric and how to reverse the process, direct using opposite value of Extrude and Bevel effects does not work too. (Sorry, not much math and geometry knowledge, and newbie to image)