3D Puzzle pieces - Need Help please or pointers.

[X-Newbie]

I have been trying to make 3 puzzles pieces look 3D - like attached image. I need to make them a solid color - they should be able to seperate - however go back together easily. This would be for screen printing and web. I have tried several things in Xtreme. I really wish they had an eraser tool to delete areas more easily.. Maybe they will on the next version.

Any ideas?

[DGehman]

OK - newbie-ish author here, so take with a grain of salt and watch for others with better ideas -
A few steps.
1 - create your basic puzzle shape. A few points, a little pushing/pulling.
2 - duplicate the original shape (blue)

2A duplicate THAT shape, enlarge it about 10-15% (orange)
2B subtract the slightly larger shape from the original

3 - duplicate the original shape again, change it to red

4. Duplicate the red shape, enlarge it about 10-15% (teal)

4A subtract the larger from the original

5. Duplicate the red shape, change it to green

6. Create a blend of each shape by duplicating the "top" to make a "bottom," sending it behind the "top" and offsetting it down and to the left.

6A duplicate the "top" again and set it aside for use in Step 7
6B change the "bottom" to black
6C for the blend, select from the bottom to the top - my blend below is 50 steps
6D tweak the blend attributes to make the "sides" considerably darker

7. For each shape, create a "topper" from the dupe you set aside in Step 6A.
8. Create an inner bevel on the topper and place it on top of the blend.

The topper makes it possible to create an assembled puzzle (2nd thumbnail). Otherwise, you get a strange puzzle because the blends won't simulate 3D. (3rd thumbnail)

[raynerj1]

Hmmm... I would try the following steps.

1. slice your puzzle pieces...

2. Separate pieces

3. Duplicate the pieces (It would be more realistic to have the bottom of the 3d piece slighly darker

4. Move the duplicated pieces down

5. Create a blend from each original piece to the duplicate piece.

6. Create a shadow...

[Albacore]

If the puzzle is going to be large I would not use the blend tool as it will slow the re-draw down a lot. As always Gary has made up a tut on the subject have a look at this tutorial from years back: http://www.xaraxone.com/tutorials/nov00/html/1.htm

The other way to do it is start of the way Gary has shown and then copy one piece of the puzzle into c/board, then clone the selected piece and nudge around to get the desired thickness. Then select both and ctrl+1 (add shapes). Select the Editor Tool and delete the points to create a straight line to give the sense of thickness. Change the fill to a slightly darker colour and the paste the copied part back on to the top of the combine shapes (ctrl+shift+V) and there you go with part of your puzzle. I have got to go and do some work now but will come very soon with illustration of how to do it. In the meantime have a look at Gary's tut.

[Albacore]

Sorry sometimes i have to do work in this place. Quickly put this together so I just duplicated the same shape not as you have got in the photo and there are no highlights. I hope the screen capture is easy to follow but all is as described above and I am just using the Shaped Editor Tool to delete points and then when you put them together to hide area which you don't want to show. Remember to put the extra shapes to the back (ctrl+B).

[jclements]

Albacore beat me to it. :}

Here is my mini-tute. Shading is not very realistic, but should give you some ideas.

[jclements]

And another way is to "extrude" a shape. Similiar to Albacore's method.

[remi]

Another idea is, to use a 3D editor. Within a 3D editor you're able to change the view angle as much as you like.



Regards,
Remi

[Egg Bramhill]

I like that effect Remi.

Here's my attempt using X3D and XXP combined.

[X-Newbie]

The last one was EXACTLY what I am looking for. I have X3D 6.. Did you make the puzzle pieces in this program as well?