How do I get this effect?

[Bobbigirl]

From Adobe Illustrator, how do I get this effect. I saw an example, and trying to work backwards, I couldn't figure it out. It seems to be some sort of effect directly from a single curved path.

[hewligan]

1) Create curved path
2) Copy & paste path, and position it at below the original path
3) Object -> Blend -> Make
4) Adjust Object -> Blend -> options , set Spacing to "Specified Steps," and set the number of steps to 10 or so.

[Bobbigirl]

Thank You!

[fredrich]

But what about the "3d" effect on the image, where the lines "curl over"?

[hewligan]

There is no 3D effect, really - that's an optical illusion. Since the lines are all the same colour, it doesn't even matter which parts are on top of one another in illustrator. Your brain just assumes that's how the lines must work and you see it as 3D.

[fredrich]

Yeah, but there is no shortcut method for making the lines cross like that to make the illusion of 3d? I think it looks neat.

[hewligan]

The illusion's just an effect of the shapes of the lines. Anything similar will get you much the same result. There are a lot of fairly good 3D effects you can produce with the blend tool. Mess around blending different shapes together using different blend options and you'll see. It's quite cool.