Use Illustrator and Photoshop to Create a 3D String of Pills – Screencast
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Estimated Completion Time: 1 Hour
Download Source Files
Designers often use both Illustrator and Photoshop to create a scene or graphic. Today we will combine both of these powerful applications to create a 3-dimensional pill and then create a composite image using these elements. Let’s get started!
Resources Used
The following resources were used during the production of this tutorial.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Tags: Videos


Hi. Nice tut but just 1 small problems. I just can’t move those smart object in to photoshop and scale them. i am able to move them in to PS but not able to scale them. So wondering what i did wrong?
Thanks.
Hi Jenn,
I don’t know why you have the problem. Do you have Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 or higher?
Regards,
Tom
Hi tom. Thanks men but i think i found why.
I am able to scale it after the smart object was placed and set. But question now is i am not able to multi copy and paste more then 1 smart object. I can only copy paste and then i have to set dead before i can copy a other 1. Is that normal? Cus in the video i can see that he is able to copy and paste a lot of smart object same time with out setting down anything.
Wow what a great tutorial!! I loved it.
Question: is there a way to make a scatter brush out of the pill instead of placing each down separately or no?
thanks
When creating a scatter brush you can’t choose 6 different graphics for photoshop to choose from. So you could create a scatter brush made of only 2 pills (dual brush setting added). Plus you wouldn’t have that much control over the placement, which is in my opinion crucial for the final effect.
Regards,
Tom
All I have to say is: Tomasz Biskup, you’re truly my inspiration. I decided to give up 3-4 hours of of time to do this tutorial. And, boy what an awesome tutorial! Please do more! Here is my take on it: http://franklinlam.com/pills.png
amazing tut!
thank you:)
Wow, nice tutorial, really learns one to use illustrators 3D.
I love how some of the pills are blurred and meets in a flare by the logo.
Keep up the good work!
Hey, you are great.
Perfect english, perfect tutorial, nice explanations.
My version is pretty much like yours, because yours is sooo great ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klafkid/4924099507/
Nice Tuts!!!
love this tutorial, especially the illustration technique that present in this tutorial.
Really Good!! Thanks to share!
Please excuse the OMG… :)
A very well put together simple tutorial, I’m going to have a tinker at this myself, something to keep my busy on a Bank Holiday Monday…
:)
Hello Tomasz
First of all I want to say this is a really interesting tutorial. I like the combination of Illustrator and Photoshop to achieve a 3-dimensional look like this. You really explained some nice and usefull techniques that I never used myself before.
I was so impressed by your artwork that I decided to realize it as an animation in After Effects and with CInema4D
This is the result of my work: http://vimeo.com/14559395
It deviates a bit from your result since the pills don’t flow the same way.
Keep on going with cool artworks.
Best regards
Sandro
Hi Tomasz
thanks for the super tut, I’ve became great stuff with it!
Best regards, Alex
Wow,,,, THANKS a lot,,,!
Thank you Tom!
This tutorial is one of the best i have ever seen. Keep that amazing job on, an show us more of that cool stuff.
Best Greets!
Brilliant tutorial of a string of 3D pills, and the additional video is fantastic! Brilliant work!
One of the best tuts I’ve ever seen thanks for sharing it!
Awesome tutorial, learned a couple of things as well. Keep up the good work :)
Dude, that thing looks awesome!
I learned some things…. or better, i learned how to use some functions nicely and thanks for that.
But… Im sure it wasnt much fun to create =)
Almost every step of it looks like it was a bunch of annoying work =).
Keep it up, bye!
Hey, here is my version – very close to yours, with some minor changes.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/5149202134_ef14c16c6c_b.jpg
Great work!
It is very useful tutorial. Good use of shortcuts in illustrator and Photoshop
-What would happen if you just make a smart object of all those pills, press CTRL+P to select the pills only and then paint with brush tool the shadows? And i would make a mask on that shadow layer and correct some mistakes afterwards…
-the scattering is good idea too. the point is in making 6 different brush presets and scattering them one by one…i suppose it would save an hour or two :D
-overall PERFECT TUT man!
hello there
Tomasz Biskup your english is enough suitable at least it’s better than mine
your tutorial is awesome
i home we will see you again in action.
you’re an artist
thank you very mutch
Seriously Awesome Tutorial! Thanks a lot…
(B)