Illustrator help for a noobie - Join circles to create artwork around buttons

[nordemoniac]

Hi!
I'm very new to Illustrator, and I need some help. I imported a Sega template, and created some circles over the buttons, and then I copied the circles around them to make a shape which could be used to create some artwork around the buttons.
The problem - Shape Builder Tool won't connect them together because they're not overlapping!

How can I create shapes between them that can be connected with Shape Builder Tool?

I tried the Live Paint Bucket, and it automatically finds the intersections, allowing me to color it. But that doesn't solve my problem with the Shape Tool.

Sorry for my noobie-ness.

Btw, can someone maybe point me to any tutorials on creating CPO artwork?

[nordemoniac]

Is making them overlap the only option?
I'm used to software like SketchUp etc, this seems to have a different approach.

[nordemoniac]

Overlapping seems to be the solution, so I scaled each circle up by 110%, and recreated the tool-circles around.
I then found DOUBLE-CLICKING the Shape Builder Tool to get tool options, and enabled "Gap Detection". This made it possible to select the space between circles, and create a new shape.

This doesn't seem to be the best way to do this though (see errors on last picture), so I'd love some input from you guys creating CPO art.

[Martijn]

i use photoshop

- select the circles
- then select blending options
- then select stroke and chooce your width and color
- then select rasterize layer
then select circles again and start with your second border

[nordemoniac]

Aha, but with "rasterize", it's no longer vector art?

I selected two points, right-clicked and selected "Arrange" and "Both". This united the two anchors.
I now have a clean shape, although not a very pretty one.

Another issue was creating another offset line. When choosing Effect -> Path -> Offset, it offsets both inwards and outwards! A bit strange in my opinion, but it works...


So I created copied two more layers, one with 5mm offset and one with 10mm offset. But when I tried coloring them (Live Paint Bucket), it removed the offset, so I had to redo the offset after setting a color for some reason... Am I using the wrong tool for coloring...?

Still, while it now looks "OK", there is a super tiny white line between the different layers, but this seems to be in Illustrator only:


It is not showing on files after "Export for Web":


I'm not creating anything specific here, I'm just trying to learn some Illustrator to make simple CPO "artwork".

[nordemoniac]

Did some art for the joystick, as well as changing the width of the two offsets to 2.5mm and 5mm, and changing stroke weight to "0" removing the black lines.
1. I created a triangle at the top with three lines
2. I then selected the blue circle and triangle together, clicked rotate tool
3. Held alt while clicking "Center" of joystick circle
4. Rotated 45 degrees with "copy"
5. Moved second triangle (top left) down and right by 5mm with "transform"
6. Repeated step 2-4, except rotating 90 degrees
7. Clicked Cmd + D two times (repeat last command), now I had a total of 8 arrows.

Not sure if my methods are the correct ones, I'd love some inputs on how you guys would create something similar, both the buttons and joystick artwork 

The second image (Bubble) is made just of circles, making a more Cartoon-like style, but I think I like it more, but maybe not very original.
It also has an extra thinner outline with left to right yellow/red fade (one of the standard color templates). Not sure how good that would look on the control panel

[nordemoniac]

Anyone how some input on how they makes art like this of things in Illustrator / similar vector software?

[opt2not]

There is no right way to create art. All that matters is the outcome. If it looks good, what does it matter exactly how it was achieved?

[nordemoniac]

True, but maybe there's at least an easier way to achieve a similar result that someone might know?
Like copying object around a certain point, or the offset, is it supposed to offset inwards and outwards? It makes it hard to choose objects without hiding layers.

I just wanted some input from people who really knows Illustrator. I've been trying to get some resources for learning arcade graphics. I was also looking for some templates or ready vector art for player buttons etc, but failed so far.

[opt2not]

I used Illustrator for many years, and decided to drop it because it wasn't worth the pain and unintuitive workflow in creating vector graphics.

Photoshop's vector tools are easier to use, and in fact you don't even need to worry printing arcade artwork with vector graphics. There's no point!  Unless you're doing large-scale graphics like a highway billboard sign, you are better off working with raster images at a higher dpi. More control, better tools and for a Control Panel image 200dpi is high enough. I go to 300 dpi for side-art.

If you are set on using vectors, which a lot of newbies to creating digital art are, then I suggest using Photoshop's vector tools using shapes and paths. It's a hellava lot easier.  You can use PS's Style Strokes on a vector shape to get the "rings" you're looking for.   There is a good tutorial post made by Malenko and I on talking about using Strokes and Clipping Masks.  There is info in there that is pertinent to what you want:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147749.0.html
and
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,145378.0.html

But what do I know, it's not like I'm an artist or something.    oh wait...

[nordemoniac]

I had no idea Photoshop had vector possibilities! I've always been told that Photoshop are for editing photos and drawing, and Illustrator should be used for all design and print purposes. I've only used photoshop for editing/merging existing pictures, not any drawing from scratch.

Thanks for your in-depth reply, I'll check out those posts!   

[nordemoniac]

I found the reason of "offset" going both ways in Illustrator. I've been using "Effect -> Path -> Offset Path" when I should've used "Object -> Path -> Offset Path"

[Malenko]

i use photoshop

- select the circles
- then select blending options
- then select stroke and chooce your width and color
- then select rasterize layer
then select circles again and start with your second border

In newer version of photoshop you can add multiple strokes. If you have an older version and cannot do multiple strokes, your best bet it to duplicate the layer and stroke the duplicate layer. For each additional stroke you want, you'd just need to duplicate the layer again. No need to rasterize.
Outer most color would have to be on the bottom, most inside stroke on top.

As for vectors in Photoshop, they call them "smart objects" but they function exactly the same. They do take some getting used to, but they are much easier to manage than illustrator, for me at least.