Cubing the Square in Illustrator

Although Illustrator may never go out and mow your lawn or do your taxes, you can get it to do some of your work for you. For example, you can begin creating a graphic image by using the basic shapes created with the Circle tool, the Rectangle tool, the Star tool, and so on. These simple shapes may not be the final form of what you want, but a little manipulation (using only the Transform tools) can turn them into an astonishing variety of shapes. In the following steps, for example, you use rectangles and the Transform tools to create a cube:

1. Use the rectangle tool to draw a square.
If you want a perfect square, hold down the Shift key while you draw.

2. Select the square with the Selection tool. Click the square again and drag it. When you start dragging, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac).
Holding down the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac) while you drag makes a copy of whatever you currently have selected. This maneuver is one of the primary ways that Illustrator power-users avoid making extra work for themselves. The trick is to press the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac) after you start dragging and to keep holding it down until you release the mouse.

3. With the second box still selected, choose Object➪Transform➪Transform Again.
As if summoned from another dimension, a third box appears. The Transform Again command is another way that Illustrator powerusers avoid extra work. This command repeats the last transformation made on the currently selected object. Transformations don’t have to be made by using the Transform tools. Copying by using the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac) is considered a transformation, as is simply moving by dragging.

4. With the Direct Selection tool, click the right side of the first square and drag it up and to the left.
This action creates the shape.

5. Click the right side of the second square. Choose Object➪Transform➪Transform Again.
The side moves the same way that the first square moved. Now you have two sides of the cube, but one is facing the wrong way.

6. Click the left side of the second square with the Selection tool.

7. Choose the Reflect tool from the Toolbox. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac) and click the selected side.
The Reflect dialog box opens.

8. Choose the Vertical axis option and click OK.
This flips the second side of the cube so that it’s the mirror image of the first.

9. Move the second side so that it touches the right side.

10. Select the third square with the Selection tool; then choose the Rotate tool, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option (Mac), and click the center of the square.

11. In the Rotate dialog box that appears, rotate the square 45 degrees by typing 45 into the Angle field and then click OK.

12. Position the square over the first two sides.

13. With the square still selected, click the Scale tool; then click in the center of the square to set the origin point.

14. Click and drag outside the square until it lines up with the tops of the other two sides of the cube.
There you have it! A stunning three-dimensional object that looks like it will pop right off the page.

Fill the three sides with appropriate colors, and you have a toy chest, a building block, or a really simple cube-puzzle in less time than it takes to tell about it.