Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
To distort the image and position it along with the bevel onto the iPad body, Burke
selected the bevel and page objects and chose Object> Envelope Distort> Make
with Mesh. He chose one row and one column, turning the mesh into a transform
bounding box that he could continue to modify, and even un-trans-form (rare in
Illustrator!). To edit or replace elements within the envelope, in the Layers panel he
could move an object above “Envelope” to remove the effect (moving all at once
deletes the mesh), or drag elements into the Envelope group to apply (or reapply)
the effect. Using Isolation mode made it even easier for him to focus on just the
envelope objects. He made the topic cover with equal attention to detail and again
selected all the objects that would be placed onto the topic's cover, distorting them
using Envelope Mesh with the same method. To make the pages, Burke made
individual, gradient-filled polygons, and added thin, white-filled shapes to represent
the page edges. With the book-to-iPad constructed, he made a custom drop
shadow by drawing two paths (one white and one dark gray), choosing Object>
Blend> Make, and then applying a Multiply blending mode to the blend. Before the
project was finished, he had to make several alterations to accommodate his
publisher, a relatively easy task thanks to envelope mesh.
