Instructions to create a nice 3D calendar, to print and edit, with Illustrator: step by step lesson for an original gadget to give away.
On the occasion of the upcoming Christmas holidays , it may be an original idea to give their loved ones a nice gadget, with which to cheer the entire course of the coming year. In this tutorial, therefore, we will create a very nice calendar in the form of a twelve-sided parallelepiped with a pentagonal base. To do this Adobe Illustrator will work , so you will test yourself with scissors and glue.
Preparation of facades
We open a new file in Adobe Illustrator and set the measurements of the sheet on A3 horizontally.
The calendar structure is essentially a pentagonal dodecahedron 3D , more simply twelve pentagon-shaped sides. So, first of all, we will have to draw twelve pentagons. Using the Polygon tool and clicking on the sheet, you will see a dialog box that allows us to decide how many sides, and what size per side, will have our polygon. We set the side measurement to 500 mm and the number of sides to 5.
At this point we will have to overturn it and, to do so, select the object and click with the right mouse button to display its options. Among the many, we choose the Horizontal Reflect option of the Transform menu.
So let’s set a fill color. For this test, we used a rose with code #e83b8d. Using the Text tool , we set up an area in which to type the month, choosing a font to our liking.
Then we will insert seven columns for the days of the week and the numbering, obviously making use of a smaller body of text.
Once the first months have been defined, on the next page we will see how to group them all twelve, then how to place them in the space for printing and final assembly.
Grouping, printing and assembly
Now that we have set at least one of the twelve pentagons useful to compose the calendar, we replicate the object for each of the twelve months, obviously making sure to change the days for each façade. For convenience, in duplicating the elements it is advisable to group them: to do this select the pentagon, the text area corresponding to the month and the seven text areas corresponding to the days, then click CTRL+Gor right click, choosing Group option . By concentrating everything in a single object, and in a single level, we will have the security of not omitting any detail by mistake.
Grouped the elements, we can proceed with the duplication and then the production of all twelve months.
Using the Drawing Tool , we now insert a couple of new white sheets, in which to arrange the dodecahedron structure.
The structure is formed by two groups of six pentagons, identical in all except in the position of the tabs for gluing. Therefore, once the first structure has been created, it will suffice to duplicate it on another sheet.
To finish the aforementioned structure, we must necessarily insert the gluing tabs: they are nothing more than triangles protruding from some sides of the pentagons.
Once the structure of the structure has been set, nothing remains to overlap the pentagons of the calendar. To do this, one must drag each pink pentagon within that of the corresponding trace. After that we will use the Rotate tool for rotation , positioning the center of rotation on one of the corners of the track.
Once the months positioning phase has been completed within the track, a file ready for printing.
We are now ready to send our work to the press: once the process has been completed, it will be necessary to cut and paste the different parts.
The result will be the same shown in the previous Figure 1: a nice three-dimensional gadget, to be placed on a different side for each month of the year. A fast and cheap gift, to be distributed to friends and relatives on the occasion of this Christmas .
