Creating 3D Transforms

Topics covered in this Adobe XD tutorial:

Adding 3D Transforms, Front to Back versus Z Position

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, you’ll learn how to use 3D transforms to add new depth and dimension to your designs.

Adding 3D Transforms

1. In Adobe XD, go to File > Open from Your Computer or hit Cmd–Shift–O (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–O (Windows).
2. Navigate into Desktop > Class Files > Adobe XD Class and double–click on 3D Transforms - Info Cards.xd to open it.
3. In the Toolbar, choose the Select tool .
4. Below Hawaii Travel Information select the 3 cards (Weather, Getting Around, and Things to Do).
5. In the Property Inspector, to the right of Transform click the 3D Transforms icon to toggle it on.

6. A 3D transform control widget will appear on the cards. It consists of 2 rotation circles and a dot in the center. Hover over the horizontal arrow (as shown below) and drag left/right to transform the shapes.

   

7. All 3 cards should transform to look something like this:

   

8. Hover over the vertical arrow (as shown below) and drag up/down to transform the shapes.

   

9. All 3 cards should transform to look something like this:

   

10. Let’s try something different. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on cards and choose Reset 3D Transforms.
11. With all 3 cards still selected, Hit Cmd–G (Mac) or Ctrl–G (Windows) to group them.
12. Drag the 2 arrows (horizontal and vertical) for the 3D transforms to see how the entire group gets transformed, rather then each card individually.
13. Let’s try more different approach. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on cards and choose Reset 3D Transforms.
14. Hit Cmd–Shift–G (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–G (Windows) to ungroup them.
15. Click somewhere outside the cards to deselect them.
16. Click on the Weather card.

17. In the 3D transform widget that appears in the card, hover over the horizontal arrow, hold Shift (to snap to 15° increments) and drag right 2 snaps so you get this:

    

18. In the Property Inspector’s Transform section, notice that Y Rotation is 30°
19. Click on the Things to Do card.

20. Hover over the 3D transform widget’s horizontal arrow, and holding Shift drag left 2 snaps so you get this:

    

21. Move the 2 outer cards in to they overlap as shown below (drag anywhere on the card except for the 3D widget).

    

22. Select only the center Getting Around card.

23. Choose Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.

Front to Back versus Z Position

Layers have a front to back ordering that is controlled by the top to bottom order in the Layers panel (or using Arrange > Send to Back/Front). 3D transformed objects have an additional layering setting called Z Position.

• X is the position from the left of the artboard.
  Y is the position from the top of the artboard.
  Z is the front to back position. 0 is the default value.

• Negative Z numbers move back (larger number = farther away from you).
  Positive Z numbers move forward (larger number = closer to you).

• Z position will override the order defined in the Layers panel. Only layers that share the same value will use the order set in the Layers panel. Unlike the Layer panel order, Z position affects the size of objects! As in real life, objects closer to you are larger, while objects farther away are smaller.

1. In Adobe XD, go to File > Open from Your Computer or hit Cmd–Shift–O (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–O (Windows).
2. Navigate into Desktop > Class Files > Adobe XD Class and double–click on 3D Transforms - Slideshow.xd to open it.
3. At the bottom of the artboard notice there are 3 overlapping photos.
4. Select the rainbow photo on the left.
5. In the Property Inspector, to the right of Transform click the 3D Transforms icon to toggle it on.
6. In the Property Inspector’s Transform section, set Y Rotation to 20°
7. Select the whale photo on the right.
8. In the Property Inspector’s Transform section, set Y Rotation to -20° and don’t miss the minus part!
9. The photos have rotated around the vertical center of the photo, so the part of the photo farther away has gotten smaller and the part closer to you has gotten larger. Overall the side photos now visually appear larger than the center photo. We’d like to make them smaller, as well as move them behind the center photo.
10. Select the rainbow photo.
11. Hold Shift and click on the whale photo so both are selected.

12. While the 3D Transform widget appears in the middle, the middle photo is not selected.

    Let’s experiment before making this look good. Hover over the dot in the middle of the 3D transform widget and drag it up, down, left, and right to see it moves the photos around within a 3D space.

13. After you let go, hit Cmd–Z (Mac) or Ctrl–Z (Windows) to undo it.

14. Now let’s do this and make sure we don’t move the photos left/right. Hold Shift, and drag the dot up until you think the side photos are a good size.

    In the Property Inspector you can see the exact amount next to Z. We think a Z position of around -175 looks good.

15. To open the Layers panel, go to the bottom left of the window and click the  icon.
16. At the bottom of the Layers list, notice that even though Maui Rainbow is on top (which normally means it should be in front), the Z position takes precedence!

17. In the Property Inspector, to the right of Transform click the 3D Transforms icon to toggle it off.

    NOTE: Think of this button as a toggle a view setting. Turning it on/off only changes whether you’re viewing the 3D settings, but does not affect any settings you’ve applied to any object. You can also hit Cmd–T (Mac) or Ctrl–T (Windows) to show/hide the 3D transforms, which is the same as using that button.

18. Save the file and close it.