Pattern Test Version 1

In this week’s Behance Adobe Illustrator challenge, I learned a lot about pattern making. How to edit patterns, resize them, create symbols out of them, and even apply them to 3d objects in Adobe Illustrator. It’s all a little overwhelming, but very exciting!

The first step is to design something. Anything will work! I tried creating a few different shapes to start with. It’s as easy as creating a few rectangles. With the rectangles selected, drag them into the swatches window, and a pattern will automatically be created. From there you can apply the pattern to anything you like, by selecting the object and then clicking on the new pattern swatch. 

If the pattern isn’t quite right, double-clicking on the swatch will open up the pattern editor. You can change the spacing, edit the object, add objects, and it will update the pattern instantly. 

If the pattern is too big or too small in the object you applied it to, it can be scaled in a couple of different ways. One is to double click on the scale tool and set the percentage you want the pattern scaled. To make sure it only scales the pattern, uncheck the object scale option. You can also manually scale the pattern by selecting the patterned object and holding the tilde button and dragging. These same concepts can be applied to rotation as well.

The next thing I learned about was applying these patterns to 3d objects. I first created the letter B. With the letter selected, go to the 3d menu under effects. From there I transformed the letter into a 3d object. In order to apply the pattern to the surface of the 3d object, I had to turn the pattern into a symbol by clicking on the plus button in the symbol menu. Jumping back into the 3d menu there is an option to texture your 3d object with symbols. There are quite a few options to play with. It’s not as robust as a real 3d program, but it gets the job done for quick tests.

I put a pattern on the 3d letter and then put that letter into another pattern to create a kind of kitschy wallpaper. I’ve always been a fan of repeating patterns, and now I finally have a sense of how to control them slightly better.