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Sunrays in Illustrator
Posted 17/03/07 by Elvin Category: Illustrator | Level: Moderate | Hits: 3294 | Favourites: 0 |
This is a tutorial that will teach you how to make perfect sunrays in Adobe Illustrator. You can use the result either in Illustrator itself or as a smart object in Photoshop.
Make a new document, standard A4.
Create a new layer.

Select the ellipse tool. Or press “L” on the keyboard.

Make a circle, while holding shift down.

Make sure the circle doesn’t have any fill. Press “None(/)” if it has.

Lock Layer 2.

Select Layer 1 again.

To make perfect sun-rays we need a perfect line. That’s what we’re using the circle for. And to make sure we’re doing it the right way, we need guides. “Smart-guides” to be honest.
Activate the guides either by going through the menu or press “Ctrl+U”.

Select the line tool and hover the circle till a light blue “x anchor“ pops up.

Drag a line across to the anchor on the other side.

Now that the line has been created, we’re going to copy a rotation of it. To do this we find Transform > Rotate in the menu.

10 degrees is more than enough, make sure preview is checked and then click copy.

Two separate lines won’t do us much good. So we need to join them into one shape. We do this by selecting the anchors..

.. and joining them either by going through the menu or pressing “Ctrl+J”.
Do this on both sides.

Select our new-made shape, and change colour from outline to filled.

We could rotate every ray manually but that is labouring and time consuming. Instead we’re making an action. If the actions window isn’t open, find it in the window tab. Unless you already have a folder for custom actions, make one.

Now start a new action.

After you’ve pressed record it’s vital that you do exactly as described. Go to the rotate menu (the same as earlier). Increase the rotation from 10 degrees to 15.
Then press copy.

That’s all we need, stop recording.

Now press play..

..all the way till the rays form a circle, like this:

Now select all, either by going through the menu or pressing “Ctrl+A”.

To group our selection, either go through the menu or press “Ctrl+G”.

We’re nearly done, but since we don’t need the circle we made in the begging we’re going to delete the layer.

And that's pretty much it. Use your sunrays to create beautifull art work and post it on photoshopaid.net so we can admire it.
Create a new layer.

Select the ellipse tool. Or press “L” on the keyboard.

Make a circle, while holding shift down.

Make sure the circle doesn’t have any fill. Press “None(/)” if it has.

Lock Layer 2.

Select Layer 1 again.

To make perfect sun-rays we need a perfect line. That’s what we’re using the circle for. And to make sure we’re doing it the right way, we need guides. “Smart-guides” to be honest.
Activate the guides either by going through the menu or press “Ctrl+U”.

Select the line tool and hover the circle till a light blue “x anchor“ pops up.

Drag a line across to the anchor on the other side.

Now that the line has been created, we’re going to copy a rotation of it. To do this we find Transform > Rotate in the menu.

10 degrees is more than enough, make sure preview is checked and then click copy.

Two separate lines won’t do us much good. So we need to join them into one shape. We do this by selecting the anchors..

.. and joining them either by going through the menu or pressing “Ctrl+J”.
Do this on both sides.

Select our new-made shape, and change colour from outline to filled.

We could rotate every ray manually but that is labouring and time consuming. Instead we’re making an action. If the actions window isn’t open, find it in the window tab. Unless you already have a folder for custom actions, make one.

Now start a new action.

After you’ve pressed record it’s vital that you do exactly as described. Go to the rotate menu (the same as earlier). Increase the rotation from 10 degrees to 15.
Then press copy.

That’s all we need, stop recording.

Now press play..

..all the way till the rays form a circle, like this:

Now select all, either by going through the menu or pressing “Ctrl+A”.

To group our selection, either go through the menu or press “Ctrl+G”.

We’re nearly done, but since we don’t need the circle we made in the begging we’re going to delete the layer.

And that's pretty much it. Use your sunrays to create beautifull art work and post it on photoshopaid.net so we can admire it.
Comments

Elvin (38 years ago)
I'd like a edit tutorial button btw :/ I wan't to put in a image that describes warclowns problem :(
I'd like a edit tutorial button btw :/ I wan't to put in a image that describes warclowns problem :(

warclown (38 years ago)
I figured it out. Just a mistake about filling the circle =o =D StianB: Should try to make a delete/edit comment function.
I figured it out. Just a mistake about filling the circle =o =D StianB: Should try to make a delete/edit comment function.

warclown (38 years ago)
Nice tutorial. But at the step where you join the anchorpoints, I get the same shape as you - its just not filled with anything. How do I fill it with black? Sounds like a stupid question, but ive tried the obvious shit.
Nice tutorial. But at the step where you join the anchorpoints, I get the same shape as you - its just not filled with anything. How do I fill it with black? Sounds like a stupid question, but ive tried the obvious shit.


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Elvin, warclown: Working on it guys ;)