<p>I believe the method used in Illustrator is described in the following paper:</p>
<p><a href="http://pushkarjoshi.org/pdf/JC_SBIM2008.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Repoussé: Automatic Inflation of 2D Artwork</a></p>
<p>The mesh shown in your example seems to be a fairly regular triangular grid, displaced by the method.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-11T16:04:54.660Z
2024-03-13T09:00:34.947Z
2024-03-13T09:00:34.947Z
Reynolds
<p>I'm trying to figure out how the Adobe Illustrator's Inflate effect works. Basically, it converts a vector graphics object to a 3D mesh and displaces its vertices proportionally to how far they are from the object's borders. The resulting mesh's height is also controlled by the <code>Volume</code> parameter, which ranges from 0 to 100%. If I inflate a rectangle with <code>Volume</code> set to 0%, I get the following (flat) mesh:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cMmII.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cMmII.png" alt="grid" /></a>
I wonder how can I get such a triangulation?</p>

<3d><vector-graphics>
Curvilinear triangle grid
alxpnv
# Curvilinear triangle grid

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-11)

I'm trying to figure out how the Adobe Illustrator's Inflate effect works. Basically, it converts a vector graphics object to a 3D mesh and displaces its vertices proportionally to how far they are from the object's borders. The resulting mesh's height is also controlled by the `Volume` parameter, which ranges from 0 to 100%. If I inflate a rectangle with `Volume` set to 0%, I get the following (flat) mesh:
[![grid](https://i.sstatic.net/cMmII.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/cMmII.png)
I wonder how can I get such a triangulation?

**Tags:** 3d, vector-graphics


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-03-11. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

I believe the method used in Illustrator is described in the following paper:

[Repoussé: Automatic Inflation of 2D Artwork](http://pushkarjoshi.org/pdf/JC_SBIM2008.pdf)

The mesh shown in your example seems to be a fairly regular triangular grid, displaced by the method.


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