Illustrator: Using Swift as a powerful 3D Illustration Tool
If you don’t know what Swift is, it’s a relatively new software by Electric Rain that specializes in rendering 3D vector animations. For the most part, Swift3D is intended to be used in conjunction with Flash, to allow you to model and animate in 3d, and import your Swift animations into the Flash environment. It works fine for that, but I think it’s even better for Illustrating in 3D. Bear with me on the lingo here. . . If you are an illustrator, and you use Illustrator, Swift3D (Currently USD $229) could be a nice investment for you to look into. A year ago this time, it was about $129, so I think the sooner you buy, the better. I’m predicting some major improvements in the next release. Swift is very versatile and supports most platforms, including Intel Macs, and they provide free updates for registered accounts.
This tutorial requires that you have a basic knowledge of Swift3D and Adobe Illustrator.
Download the Files I used for this Tutorial (692K)
Here we go:
Open Swift3D and create a simple design using some primitives. Here is what I threw together:
Once you have your design in Swift, go to the “Preview and Export Editor” within Swift and make sure you export setting is set to “vector.”
Note: In Swift it only renders the left viewport, so whichever view you want to export, you have to set it up in the left viewport. Under “General” options, select Adobe Illustrator as your output format.
I like the outline setting in Swift, because it gives you another object in Illustrator to manipulate. I usually set the outline width to 0.01. If you want all of the outlines to be visible, even the ones hidden behind the 3D shapes, select “Include Hidden Edges.” If your object is extremely complicated, and you find that it takes forever to render in Swift, you can always render the color without outlines, and render a second with outlines only and no fill. Then combine them once you get into Illustrator.
Select your fill options. For this tutorial, I chose “Cartoon 4 Color Fill.” Experiment with these settings, as well as shadows and highlights. Swift divides every-single color value into a shape when it’s exported as an AI. So the result is a very complex conglomerate of shapes for you to manipulate. Truly amazing.
Ok. Now that we have our settings in order, render your frame (should only be 1 frame since we didn’t animate anything). Here is what my frame looked like after it was rendered:
Once you have your frame rendered in Swift3d, You need to export it. This setting has to be selected before you render the image. If you’ve been following this tutorial, we selected “Illustrator (AI)” as our output setting. Now Export your rendered file and save it to your desktop, or a place where you can find it easily.
Now we have an Illustrator file of our Swift3D rendering! Great, now open the file you saved in Illustrator and see what you have to work with. I guarantee, the results will surprise you.
When you first open your Illustrator file, everything will be grouped together. First, you need to Right Click (Control Click) and select “Ungroup.”
Even though you “Ungrouped” everything, there will still be compound paths generated by Swift3D. This will be different for everyone depending on each render setting, so you will have to experiment with releasing compound paths, and ungrouping objects to get to the objects you want to manipulate.
Now that you have complete control over your Illustrator file, you can duplicate, manipulate, add strokes, change transparency, fill objects with a gradient, etc. The possibilities are endless. Here is what I threw together very quickly as an example.
As a very casual illustrator, would you recommend Swift 3D as a substitute for Illustrator?
There are .ai files I would like to be able to open and change. However, I don’t want to spend the $$$ Illustrator just so I can resize a vector graphic. I’ve taken a look at Inkscape but it doesn’t want to open .ai files natively.
What would you recommend? Thanks.
Scott, I’ll try my hand on a response:
Swift3D isn’t really a software that you would directly compare to Illustrator, as it deals primarily in 3 dimensional modeling and animation, whereas Illustrator is more of a 2 dimensional ‘design’ package. As for you .ai file dilemma, you can definitely download the Illustrator try out and open up your files, swap em to .eps and use them in any number of programs!
Good work! Thanks for this information!
wow..! amazing, keren banget! sugoi!
its more productive to use cinema 4d than swift, it has .ai and .swf output formats, more capable for using 3d and powerful library…
[...] might be more interested in the Flash side of the program, I don’t know. In fact, I wrote a tutorial a long time ago about using Swift3D as a powerful 3D Illustration tool, if you’re interested [...]
[...] might be more interested in the Flash side of the program, I don’t know. In fact, I wrote a tutorial a long time ago about using Swift3D as a powerful 3D Illustration tool, if you’re interested [...]
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[...] 40. Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool [...]
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[...] 40. Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool [...]
[...] Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool Learn how to create 3D illustrations using Adobe illustrator and Swift 3D . [...]
[...] Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool Learn how to create 3D illustrations using Adobe illustrator and Swift 3D . [...]
[...] Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool Learn how to create 3D illustrations using Adobe illustrator and Swift 3D . [...]
[...] Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool [...]
how nice…how i wish i could
b a good illustrator>>>@
aja…hhhh
how i wish i could b a better illustrator>>>@
[...] Using Swift as a Powerful 3D Illustration Tool Learn how to create 3D illustrations using Adobe illustrator and Swift 3D . [...]
I’m not so sure SWIFT is really worth it. All this can be done in illustrator. The end result has way to many anchor points. If a project sprung up where I needed 3d objects, and I wanted to use a vector based output… I wouldn’t rely on SWIFT to produce consistent output.
Thank for shared !