Import a path from Photoshop to InDesign

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to import a path from Photoshop to InDesign, so that you could create with ease silhouettes and stuff.

1.Ok. So first of all open an image in Photoshop.

I choosed Ermac from MK because he seems to have a good silhouette:

2. Choose Pen Tool (P) and in the options palette enable Path and Pen Tool. Start creating your path!

3. Double-click the Workpath from Path Palette to save the path.

You must save your image as .jpeg, .eps or .psd, otherwise your path will be deleted.

4. Open InDesign and place your image in a new document.

With the image selected go to Object-Clipping Path-Options. (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+K). Your type must be Photoshop Type, and your path name should be the one you saved. Click Ok.

5. With the image selected, go to Object-Clipping Path-Convert Clipping Path to Frame

6. Still with the image selected (not the frame), press Backspace. Now your image is deleted, and the path had becomed a frame. You may color it as you like.

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Blinking Cat Eyes Animation

In this Photoshop CS5 video tutorial, we will start by creating cats eyes and then animating them by opening and closing. No extra downloads necessary for this tutorial.

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Text transition animation

1. Open a new Photoshop document. Create a background layer, I've drew mine using the brush tool.

2. Using the Text Tool(T) draw your text. The text that you'll want to be displayed in different frames must be created in a new layer.

3. Group your text layers (select the layers and press CTRL+G). Duplicate the group by right clicking next to the group name, then clicking Duplicate Group. Name this new group "blur". Select all the layers inside the "blur" group and right click next to one's name and Rasterize Type.

4. Select the first layer in the "blur" group and apply Filter->Blur->Motion Blur.

Click the second layer and press CTRL+F to apply this filter again. Do the same for all the layers inside the blur group.

5. Open Window->Animation. This will be a bit harder then the Speaker Animation . Hide all the layer inside the groups. In the first frame should be visible only the first text-layer from the text group. In the second frame the first layer from the blur group. In the third frame the second layer from the blured group. Now, the same rule applies for the next layers, here's the rule again:
T means normal text, B means blured, the digits are the layer's number.
1T 1B 2B 2T 2B 3B 3T 3B 1B .
I've added the first blured layer on the last frame because the animation will repeat (start again from the begining).
If you've started with 3 text layers, after this step you should have 9frames:

6. To make the animation smoother we must add some Tween between the frames. This part takes some time & attention. You must apply Tween only between the 9frames created before. To apply Tween , click on one frame, then SHIFT+CLICK the frame next to it to select both frames, after that click the Tween button (the one next to the Duplicate Selected Frames button). Tween using 2 frames.

7. After you did the previous step for all the 9 frames ( that means 8 times), you only have to change the delay time for the frames 1T,2T and 3T (as noted in step 5) to 0.30sec or something like that. To save the animation go to File->Save for Web and Devices (ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+S) choose GIF and save.

You can download the .PSD from HERE .:).

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Water mark on image with asp.net

In this article I'll show you making of water mark on image with asp.net. Make two folders on server tmp and images. In default.aspx take three controls Label, Fileupload and Button as given below:

Now double click on btnSave, default.aspx.cs page will open with btn click event.

protected void btnSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}

In default.aspx.cs add following namespaces with other given namespaces.

using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

//and now make a method for water mark

protected void WaterMark(string FileName)
{
  string path =Server.MapPath( "~/tmp/"+FileName);
  string watermark = "abc.com";
  Bitmap objBmp;
  objBmp = new Bitmap(path);
  Graphics objGraphics;
          try
  {
      objGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(objBmp);
  }
  catch
  {
    objBmp = new Bitmap(objBmp.Width, objBmp.Height);
    objGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(objBmp);
    objGraphics.DrawImage(objBmp, new Rectangle(0, 0, objBmp.Width, objBmp.Height), 0, 0, objBmp.Width, objBmp.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
  }
  int size = (objBmp.Width / watermark.Length);
  System.Drawing.StringFormat Format = new System.Drawing.StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.NoWrap);
  objGraphics.DrawString(watermark, new Font("Arial", size, FontStyle.Bold), new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(60, 255, 255, 255)), 0, 0 Format);
  objBmp.Save(Server.MapPath( "~/images/"+FileName));
}

Now write write coding on btnSave click event

protected void btnSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

  string extension=Path.GetExtension(fileUpload.FileName);

  switch (extension.ToLower())
  {case ".jpg":
   case ".jpeg":
   case ".png":
   case ".gif":
   fileUpload.SaveAs(Server.MapPath("~/tmp/"+fileUpload.FileName));
   WaterMark(fileUpload.FileName);
   lbl.Text = "File is saved with water mark.";
   break;
   default:
   lbl.Text = "Given file is not an image file";
   break;
  }
}

Now try it.

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Making thumbnail dynamically with ashx file in asp.net

In this article I am going to show how to resize image dynamically or making thumbnail dynamically with ashx file.Start new website project give name thumbnail.In menu go to Webite > Add new item and select Generic Handler. Name it Handler.ashx, You will get auto generated code in it like given below:

<%@ WebHandler Language="C#" Class="Handler" %>

using System;
using System.Web;

public class Handler : IHttpHandler {

public void ProcessRequest (HttpContext context) {
context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
context.Response.Write("Hello World");
}

public bool IsReusable {
get {
 return false;
}
}

}


Now add given namespace to handle the image files
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;

Make a new folder for images files, name it images. Put some images in this folder.

Now our next step is getting the height , width , image name and changing image size.
To do these things, here query string is used. In ProcessRequest method write follwing lines.

public class Handler : IHttpHandler {

public void ProcessRequest (HttpContext context) {
// for new height of image
int h=int.Parse(context.Request.QueryString["h"].ToString());
// for new width of image
int w = int.Parse(context.Request.QueryString["w"].ToString());
// for  image file name
string file = context.Request.QueryString["file"].ToString();

// Path of image folder where images files are placed
string  filePath = context.Server.MapPath("~/images/" + file);

// Resize proccess
using(System.Drawing.Image img=System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(filePath))
{
Bitmap objBmp = new Bitmap(img,w, h);
string extension = Path.GetExtension(filePath);
MemoryStream ms;
byte[] bmpBytes;
switch (extension.ToLower())
{
  case ".jpg":
  case ".jpeg":
      ms = new MemoryStream();
      objBmp.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
      bmpBytes = ms.GetBuffer();
      context.Response.ContentType = "image/jpeg";
      context.Response.BinaryWrite(bmpBytes);
      objBmp.Dispose();
      ms.Close();
      context.Response.End();
      break;
  case ".png":
        ms = new MemoryStream();
        objBmp.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Png);
        bmpBytes = ms.GetBuffer();
       context.Response.ContentType = "image/png";
       context.Response.BinaryWrite(bmpBytes);
       objBmp.Dispose();
       ms.Close();
       context.Response.End();
  break;
 case ".gif":
      ms = new MemoryStream();
      objBmp.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Gif);
      bmpBytes = ms.GetBuffer();
      context.Response.ContentType = "image/png";
      context.Response.BinaryWrite(bmpBytes);
      objBmp.Dispose();
      ms.Close();
      context.Response.End();
      break;

}
img.Dispose();
}

}

Now we move to Default.aspx page, drag here  Image tool from tool box :

For retriving the image set ImageUrl as given below with height width and image name.

And now finally run the default.aspx and see the result.

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Sending email using Oracle procedures.

This is a post to share that how to sending out email by using oracle procedures. Some of the time. As a developer, I would like this receive some notification email from my procedures, so that I could know that the procedures is running & how many records had been update/inserted.

Below is the same procedures coding.

CREATE OR REPLACE
PROCEDURE TEST
AS
l_mailhost VARCHAR2(64) := ‘‘;
l_from VARCHAR2(64) := ‘XXXXX’;
l_to VARCHAR2(64) := ‘XXXXX’;
l_mail_conn UTL_SMTP.connection;

BEGIN
l_mail_conn := UTL_SMTP.open_connection(l_mailhost, 25);
UTL_SMTP.helo(l_mail_conn, l_mailhost);

– For Authenication
UTL_SMTP.command(l_mail_conn,’AUTH LOGIN’);
UTL_SMTP.command(l_mail_conn, UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2(
UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_ENCODE(
UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(‘USERNAME’)
)
));
UTL_SMTP.command(l_mail_conn, UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2(
UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_ENCODE(
UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(‘PASSWORD‘)
)
));
– For Authenication

UTL_SMTP.mail(l_mail_conn, l_from);
UTL_SMTP.rcpt(l_mail_conn, l_to);

UTL_SMTP.open_data(l_mail_conn);

UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ‘Date: ‘ || TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, ‘DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS’) || utl_tcp.CRLF);
UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ‘From: ‘ || l_from || utl_tcp.CRLF);
UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ‘Subject: ‘ || ‘test’ || utl_tcp.CRLF);
UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ‘To: ‘ || l_to || utl_tcp.CRLF);
UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ” || utl_tcp.CRLF);

UTL_SMTP.write_data(l_mail_conn, ‘test’);

UTL_SMTP.close_data(l_mail_conn);

UTL_SMTP.quit(l_mail_conn);
END TEST;

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Introduction to Customizing AutoCAD

Concept:
One of the great things about AutoCAD is that it can be easily customized to suit the individual user. By now, you have seen how you can change the osnaps for example, but you can change a lot more than that. This lesson will introduce you to some of the customization options you have.

Keyboard Shortcuts (you will need to have the express tools installed)

So far you have been using AutoCAD's default shortcuts. This section will show you how you can create your own to help your productivity. All shortcuts are stored in the acad.pgp file. This file is loaded into AutoCAD every time you start the program. It is now easy to edit thanks to an express tool names ALIASEDIT.

Type in this command and you'll see a dialog box pop up. Press the Add button.

In this example, I have created a shortcut for MATCHPROP which is usually MA (I find that two keys on opposite sides of the keyboard slow me down). Since N is not used for anything, I find that one letter is more than twice as fast as two. Type in what you see and press OK.

Now press Apply so that the changes take effect. You'll see this dialog box warning you that you are about to overwrite your acad.pgp file. Press yes, ONLY if you are sure you did the correct changes.

Press Yes and you will see a message pop up that you have saved your changes and that your current AutoCAD session has been updated. That means that you can now use the shortcut you just added.

CUSTOMIZING THE INTERFACE

Quick Access Toolbar

The quick access toolbar is the row of icons at the top of the screen. You'll find Save, Print and other common commands there. One that you won't find is Save as. This is a pet peeve of mine, so I added it. It's easy and you can do it to. Use this method for adding any commands to this toolbar.

Navigate the Ribbon to Management > Customization > User Interface. You'll see this dialog box come up.

In the top left section, look for the Quick Access Toolbar 1 folder. Then look for the Save as command in the list in the bottom left. Drag the command up to it's desired position on the toolbar. Press Apply. Your toolbar should now look like this.

If you have read all the tutorials, you'll know that I don't recommend using icons. Still there are sometimes you may want to. Perhaps the command isn't used much, but you want easy access to it. Perhaps you can't create a shortcut for the command. There could be a few reasons, but here is how to create a new toolbar with the icons you want.

With the CUI dialog box open, right click on Toolbars and select New Toolbar.

Once you have your toolbar added to the list, drag a command up to it. I've decided that I want to have a toolbar with an Update Dimensions on it to save me some typing. Once you have some commands on your toolbar, press Apply to see your new toolbar.

Now you will add icons to your new toolbar. Right-click a toolbar and select Customize again. You'll see all the commands listed. You can now drag and drop an icon from that list to your custom toolbar. For this exercise, look at the list for commands you don't recognize and add them to your toolbar so you can try them out.

Right-Click Customization

You can also control how your mouse works. By default AutoCAD displays a menu when you right click outside of a command. To do this, type OP for options and go to the user preferences tab. Select the "Right-Click Customization" button. You'll see this dialog box.

For example, you should find that using right-click as and 'enter' will speed things up. Unless you frequently use the menus, you should switch to this.

These are just a few ways that AutoCAD can be customized. You can create custom hatch patterns and linetypes - even fonts. Other options include programming to automate tedious tasks in VisualLisp, VBA or C++(ARX). As you get more familiar with AutoCAD, look into these options.

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Character Rigging

Step 1 What is Character Rigging?

In 3d animation, character rigging means the process of preparing the character for animation. The idea is to use special helper objects and modifiers to prepare a set of tools that make the animating process as easy as possible. We’re going to rig the character by using the Morpher modifier for the facial animation and the Skin modifier (in conjunction with bones) for the rest of the body. In the picture below you see a character pose you can be easily do after completing this tutorial.

Step 2 Facial Animation and Morpher

The Morpher modifier is commonly used for lip sync and facial animation. The Morpher modifier deforms the original object according to predefined target objects. The biggest task is the creation of the target objects ( morph targets ). The modifier itself is really simple to use.

Step 3 Creating Morph Targets

Let’s create the morph targets for our character:

1. Go to the front viewport and clone the monster ( Press and hold SHIFT in keyboard and move the monster ). Make sure you make a normal copy ( not instance or reference). From now on we work on the copy.
2. Remove Turbosmooth and both Unwrap UVW modifiers from the copy.
3. Go to the Editable Poly or Edit Poly modifier ( Make a selection > Modify panel ) below the Symmetry modifier and activate the vertex sub-object level.
4. Create a new facial expression like in picture below by moving vertices. You can freely move vertices around but make sure the vertex count stays the same at all times. If you add or remove even one vertex, it won’t work with the Morpher modifier ( Tip: Consider activating the polygon sub-object level and hiding part of the model to make it easier to select vertices around the mouth. If you hide the back of the model you don’t have to worry about accidentally selecting vertices there. )
5. Give appropriate name for your morph target such as ‘mouth afraid’.

Now we have one morph target and that’s enough for the sake of this tutorial. If you are about to create some serious facial animation, you need more morph targets. Just create more copies from the original and create expressions like smile, amazement, blinking eyes and so on. It’s often a good idea to create separate targets for eyes and mouth and separate targets for the left and right side (like wink) as well to have maximum control over the expressions. The Morpher modifier lets you combine the expressions of several different morph targets.

Step 4 Using the Morpher Modifier to Animate Facial Expressions

Now select the original monster model and try the Morpher modifier:

1. Apply the Morpher modifier ( Make a selection > Modify panel > Modifier List > Object-Space Modifiers > Morpher ) and move it just below the Turbosmooth modifier.
2. Go to the ‘Channel List’ rollout and right-click on the first ‘- empty -’ slot.
3. Click on ‘Pick from Scene’ and then on the morph target (mouth afraid). Now the first morph channel is activated. Just use the spinner to morph between the original model and the morph target. If you modify the morph target, remember to reload it by clicking on ‘Reload All Morph Targets’ button.

Tip: Turn ‘Use Limits’ off in the ‘Global Parameters’ rollout to go beyond the 0-100 range. Try for example negative values to get some interesting ( and maybe even useful ) results. Remember also that channel percentages can be mixed when you have multiple morph targets.

Step 5 Creating Bones for the Character Rig

While the Morpher modifier controls the facial expressions, the bones control the rest of the body. Let’s create the skeleton:

• Turn the Turbosmooth modifier off ( to see the bones better )
• Go to the front viewport and create three bones from top to bottom like in picture below ( Create panel > Systems > Bones ). When you have created three bones, just right-click to end the bone creation. Exiting the bone creation mode creates a small nub bone at the end of the chain, which will be used later with IK ( inverse kinematics ).

Now we have four bones that are linked to each other. The first bone is the parent of the second, the second is the parent of the third, and so on. If you move the first bone the whole chain follows. You can also double click on the parent to select it and all its children.

Next we’re going to create bones for the spine and the head:

• Create two new bones like in picture below. We’re not going to assign IK to the head and spine so delete the nub bone. Leave a little gap between the spine bone and first bone of the leg. ( We leave the gap to avoid linking the two bones in question. If we started creating the bones by clicking on an existing bone, they would be automatically linked.)

Open Bone Tools ( Animation > Bone Tools… ), activate the ‘Bone Edit Mode’ and move the spine bone to meet the first bone of the leg like in picture below. Close the Bone Tools.

Next we’ll create the arm bones. This time we want to link the arm bones to the spine so start creating the bones by clicking on the spine bone. Create four bones ( plus the nub bone) for the left arm like in picture below.

Now we have all the bones we need and we just have to fit them inside the character. Go to the left viewport, select all the bones and move them to the center of the character. Rotate the bones like in picture below. Notice how the knee bends. We bend the bones now to make them work better with IK.

I wasn’t really sure how I should rig this weird monster character so I did the leg bones pretty much like I would for a human-like character (except for the fact that there is only one leg). You can also create two “legs” inside the monster if you want to make it “walk”. It all depends on how you want your character to move. Does it move by flying, jumping, crawling, walking, or by all these means?

Go to the top viewport and rotate the arm bones so that they fit inside the character. Make sure the arm bends a little.

Select the whole arm by double clicking on the clavicle bone (the bone between the spine and the arm). Use the mirror tool ( The main toolbar > Mirror ) to make a mirrored copy of the arm ( make sure to make a standard copy, not instance or reference ). Position the new bones like in picture below.

We still have to link the right arm to the spine:

1. Go to the front viewport
2. Activate ‘Select and Link’ ( The main toolbar > Select and Link )
3. Click and hold on right clavicle bone. Drag and release on top of the spine bone. ( To check that the linking was successful, select only the spine bone and try moving it. Both arms should follow. Undo the move. )

Now the skeleton is complete, but let’s create one more helper object to serve as a master that is used to move the whole skeleton. Create a dummy ( Create panel > Helpers > Dummy ) and position it exactly where the spine bone and the first leg bone meets. Check the position in both the left and front viewports.

Use the ‘Select and Link’ tool ( The main toolbar > Select and Link ) to link the spine bone and the first leg bone to the dummy. Now if you move the dummy, the whole skeleton should follow. Try this to make sure everything is ok and finally undo the move.

As a final step, link the eyes ( if you have them ) to the head bone. Now the eyes stay in place whenever the character moves.

Step 6 Inverse Kinematics (IK)

Now the skeleton is complete and we go on with inverse kinematics. Inverse kinematics if often assigned in the character rigging process, especially for the legs. Let’s assign inverse kinematics to enhance our rig:

1. Select the character, right-click on it, and click ‘Hide Selection’ in the menu. ( we hide the character to see the bones better )
2. Go to the left viewport, select the first leg bone, activate HI solver ( Animation > IK Solvers> HI Solver ), and click on the nub bone of the leg. Now IK has been assigned to the leg and there is a new blue helper object in the end of the IK chain. The helper object is often called IK handle and is used to control the movement of the whole chain. Try to move it to see how it works ( undo the move afterwards ).

Next go to the front viewport and assign IK also for both arms. Make the IK chain from the first bone of the arm to the nub bone ( Don’t touch the clavicle bone ). Test how the arms work. They should work well in the top viewport.

Now all the IK solvers have been created. At the moment you can’t rotate individual bones in the IK chain. To be able to do that, select the IK handle, go to the motion panel, and click ‘Enabled’ in the IK Solver rollout. This is the on/off switch for inverse kinematics for the selected IK chain. This button can also be animated so the animator can easily switch between inverse kinematics and forward kinematics ( just rotating the bones in the chain) while animating the character. Leave it on for now.

As a final thing, try to move the green dummy to see how the character responds when inverse kinematics is in use ( undo afterwards ).

Step 7 Rotational Joint Limits

Next we’re going to enhance the rig even further to limit the rotational movement of the bones:

1. Go to the left viewport and select the first leg bone
2. Go to the Hierarchy panel and activate the ‘IK’ tab
3. Go to the ‘Rotational Joint’ rollout.
4. Deactivate the X Axis
5. Deactivate the Z Axis
6. Y Axis > To: 240
7. Y Axis > From: 140( If these values don’t work in your case, try something different. Just click and hold on top of a spinner and move the mouse to easily try different values. The idea is to limit the bone’s movement without forcing it away from its original position. ‘Preferred’ should be between ‘From’ and ‘To’.)
8. Y Axis > Limited: Yes
9. Repeat steps 4-8 for the second leg bone, but use values: From: 0 To: 90
10. Repeat steps 4-8 for the third leg bone, but use values: From: -140 To: -70

Now the leg bones can rotate only along Y axis and within limited range. Try to move the leg with the IK handle to see the difference. Now It’s up to you whether you want to set the limits for the arms as well or not. You might want to come back to this step after the skinning process to see the movement of the character while trying out different values.

Step 8 Character Skinning / Vertex Weighting in 3ds Max

Character skinning is the process where we define how the model responds to the movement of the bones. We’ll use the Skin modifier for that purpose. Let’s unhide the character ( Right-click on the viewport and select ‘Unhide all’ from the menu ) and go on with the skinning process:

1. Apply the Skin modifier on top the Morpher modifier ( Make a selection > Modify panel > Modifier List > Object-Space Modifiers > Skin )
2. In the Skin modifier in the Parameters rollout, click ‘Add’, Select all the bones except for the nub bones, and click ‘Select’. Now the bones deform the character but it’s not pretty.
3. Now is a good time to turn the Turbosmooth modifier back on to see how the final surface deforms.( Sometimes Turbosmooth gets messed up while working on the Skin. If this happens, just remove it and apply it again. )
4. Activate the Envelope sub-object level.
5. Select the head bone in either the viewport or in the bones list.( on envelope sub-object level we deal with envelopes. Each bone has a capsule-shaped envelope and each envelope has an inner and an outer bound. The shape and size of the envelope determines which and how vertices are affected when the bone moves. The influence of the bone is strongest inside the inner bound and it falls of as it approaches the outer bound. )
6. Select the outer bound of the envelope at the top of the bone.
7. Change the radius of the envelope bound to 85 either by moving it or by inserting the value with keyboard( This is not exact value. The suitable value depends on the size of your character. Just look at the picture below to size the envelope correctly ).
8. Select the outer bound of the bottom of the bone and give it the same radius. ( The idea is to make the outer bounds of the envelopes so big that the whole width of the character falls inside of it ).

Let’s repeat the process and apply appropriate radius values for the rest of the bones ( Keep in mind that these are not exact values. Suitable values depend on the size of your character. Just look at the picture below to size the envelopes correctly ). Make sure you change only the radius values of the outer bounds. ( In my experience you can often get good results by adjusting only the outer bounds ):

• All the leg bones, the spine bone, and the head bone: Radius: 85
• Clavicle bones ( the bone between the spine and arm): Radius: 19
• All arm bones except for the armpit/shoulder area: Radius: 40
• Armpit/shoulder area: Radius: 19

Now the skinning/vertex weighting process is done. Deactivate the envelope sub-object level and try to rotate each bone to see how the character deforms. Try also the IK handles and the master dummy. I recommend undoing all the rotations afterwards to keep the neutral pose.

Step 9 Character Rigging Tip: Weighting Vertices Manually

This is an optional step. Just some theory and tips. If you are lucky you can get pretty good results just by adjusting the envelopes sizes, but there is often a need to fine tune the behavior of individual vertices as well. To weight vertices manually:

1. Turn Turbosmooth off ( to make selecting vertices easier )
2. Turn ‘Vertices’ on ( Skin > Parameters > Vertices )
3. Now you can select vertices on your character so select the vertices you would like to adjust ( selected vertices are indicated by white small surrounding boxes )
4. Select the bone ( either in the viewport or in the bones list ) for which you want to change the vertex weights
5. Adjust the the ‘Abs. Effect’ value ( Skin > Weight Properties ) to set the new vertex weight

( The weight value of a vertex (Abs. Effect) always amounts to 1.0. This value can be divided between several bones. For example, vertex’s weight could be 0.7 for bone-1 and 0.3 for bone-2. In that case the bone-1 would have much higher influence on the vertex. In other words, the vertex would follow the movement of bone-1 much more than it would the movement of bone-2. )

Tip: The weighting/skinning process can be made easier by animating the bones. Just animate some natural bone movements. At first, the character will look ugly and distorted but keep in mind that as long as you keep the neutral pose in keyframe 0, nothing will break. You can always reverse everything by going to frame 0 and removing all the keyframes. The benefit of the animations is remarkable. You can see the deforming character while working on envelopes just by moving back and forth on the timeline.

That’s my take on character rigging. Let’s continue in the comments! In case you’re wondering, I made the light and glow effects in Photoshop.

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Create a 3D Can in Illustrator Using the Revolve Effect

With Pen Tool, Draw a Left Line Profile of Shape of Can. Draw Your Lines to the Right to where Center would be in fully drawn can

Take Scissors Tool and Cut Points where you might want Can to take on different Colors (I split mine twice, which ends up giving you three separate lines. One for top part of can, one for where label will be placed and one for bottom, slightly below label).

You Can then change the stroke colors of these separate lines. I chose different shades of Gray from dark to light. You can select these with Direct Selection Tool.

Now Select all Three Lines at Same Time and Group Together (Accessible from Object drop-down menu)

With Object Selected, Choose the Revolve 3D effect for Effect drop-down menu.

Use the Above Settings or Your Own to Determine the Look of Your 3D object. (Make Sure Right Edge is Selected from Offset Option) You can change the Rotations of the 3D Object using the free-form square at top.

The 3D Can will fill in with whatever colors you chose for the stroke lines Step 3. You can always come back and Access the 3D Effect from Appearance Panel by Double-Clicking.

Now Create Your Label. Make sure to make it large enough to wrap around the object you created. You could add barcode and nutrition label if desired.

Group Your Label into One Object and drag Object into Symbols Panel on Right of Workspace. This will save label as a symbol and allow you to access in next step.

Now Go Back into 3D effect (access on Appearance Panel) and choose the Map Art option. This will open up all of the layers of your object and allow you to choose where you want to place label. Scroll through the various surfaces and choose the one that appears as the outer middle surface (this is represented in red on document view). Note: There will be two surfaces that look alike, one is the outside and one is the inside.

Once surface is correctly selected, Choose the Label Symbol from the drop-down menu that you created. There are options on bottom that you can also select, Scale to Fit will size your Label to the Object (This can distort the shape of the Label). You can also choose Shade Artwork which will apply the same lighting effects given to your Object.

Finishing Touches: You can put a Tab on your Can by creating the outer shape and filling with color. Then create the hole (fill w/ white) and overlay it on the larger shape. Select both shapes and Choose Minus Front from Pathfinder Panel. You can Access the Pathfinder from the Window drop-down menu.

Now Apply a 3D effect "Extrude & Bevel" from the Effect drop-down to the Tab Object. Then rotate to coincide with your can.

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