vector-ram

Illustrator Tutorial: Draw a Vector RAM

vector ram

This Illustrator tutorial will teach you how to draw a nice looking vector RAM (memory chip) in Illustrator. You will discover how to draw circuit board, memory chips, circuit lines easily in this tutorial.

1. Drawing the RAM’s Circuit Board

1. Lets start by creating the circuit board. Grab the Rectangle Tool. Draw the base of circuit board of the RAM. Use the transform values. I will call it “Base” for the sake of simplicity.

vector ram

2. Draw another rectangle on top of the base. Align it horizontally with the base layer. Select both layers and in the Align Panel choose Horizontal Align Center button.

vector ram

2. Punching Holes to the RAM

3. Select the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle shape that we are going to use to punch a hole in the circuit board.

vector ram

4. Press Ctrl+U to turn on the Smart Guides. Smart Guides help us to align and move thing easily. Place it above the edge of the circuit board. Select the shape and align the center of the circle to the left edge of the board.

vector ram

5. Select the shape, press “Alt” and drag to make a copy of the shape. Place it on the other edge of the circuit board.

vector ram

6. We will cut out the edge using the circle shape. Select the circle and Choose Object > Path > Divide Objects Below.

vector ram

7. Select and hit delete the cut portion.

vector ram

8. Cut out the other side as well. See the result.

vector ram

9. Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Click on the canvas to load the settings box. Enter values and Ok it.

vector ram

10. Duplicate by Alt+Dragging.

vector ram

11. Select the and choose Divide Objects Below under Object > Path.

vector ram

12. Cut a hole by deleting it.

vector ram

13. We are going punch a 2 more holes in the board. Select the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle above the corner of the inner edge of the board.

vector ram

14. We need to make a hole on the other corner as well. Duplicate the original shape by Alt+dragging. Here is a simple trick to place the circle on the exact position on the other side of the board. Draw a rectangle that touches the edges of the circle and the board.

vector ram

15. Select both shapes and duplicate. Right click and choose Transform > Reflect > Vertical. Align it with the right edge of the board. After it is aligned delete the rectangle. And the is in perfect location to punch a hole.

vector ram

vector ram

16. Both circles are perfectly set up. Use them to cut a hole just like we did earlier.

vector ram

3. Creating the Outer Edge

17. Let’s add some depth to the board. Select the outer shape of the board and duplicate. Hold “Alt” and drag downward slightly.

vector ram

18. Choose a dark color.

vector ram

19. Erase the edge with the Eraser Tool. Press Shift+E to select the Eraser Tool and run along the edge to delete.

vector ram

20. Here is the result.

vector ram

4. Creating the Memory Chip

21. We are going to create a chip with beveled edges. It is quite easy to do using the basic drawing tools. Let’s start by drawing a square shape with the below dimensions. Choose a light gray color. We will recolor it later.

vector ram

22. With the shape selected go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter the value and Ok.

vector ram

23. Change the offset path color to a medium gray and lock down the object by pressing Ctrl+Alt+2.

vector ram

24. Pick the Line Segment Tool and draw a horizontal line that runs through the mid point of the square below.

vector ram

25. Press “R” key to select the Rotate Tool. Select the path, hold Shift key and rotate it by 45 degrees.

vector ram

26. Rotate again. Hold the Alt key before you release the mouse to make a copy.

vector ram

27. Select the path and choose Divide Object Below in the Path sub menu.

vector ram

vector ram

28. After completion, the object is divided into four pieces. The object we locked is not affected by this operation.

vector ram

29. Now release the shape layer that we locked earlier. Press Ctrl+Alt+2. Select the shape and copy it by pressing Ctrl+C. Now select the shape and choose Divide Objects Below. This will cut out the pieces underlying pieces. Keep the four sides of the bevel and delete remaining pieces.

vector ram

vector ram

30. Now Press Ctrl+F to paste the shape we copied earlier. Now the shape of our chip is defined. We need to resize it.

vector ram

31. Select the Direct Selection Tool by pressing “A”. Select the upper corners of the chip and extend upwards. And the chip is ready.

vector ram

vector ram

32. Place the chip above the circuit board.

vector ram

33. At this point we will recolor the chip.

vector ram

34. Select and recolor each side of the bevel.

vector ram

35. Select the chip and press Ctrl+G to group the chip. Duplicate the chip by Alt+ dragging. After the first copy is created press Ctrl+D to repeat the duplication. Crete 4 copies of the chip.

vector ram

vector ram

36. Select all the chips and duplicate.

vector ram

5. The Chipset

37. Create some more chips. I have created different variations of the initial chip. We will fix these on to the circuit board. Don’t rotate the chips this will alter the lighting. To resize the chip select the edges with Direct Selection tool and increase or decrease the size.

vector ram

38. Start Adding chips to the board. Follow the steps.

vector ram

vector ram

vector ram

vector ram

vector ram

39. Completed look.

vector ram

6. Creating the Chip’s Head

40. Create this shape using the Rectangle Tool. Select the shape and Alt+Drag to make a copy. Press Ctrl+D to repeat the process.

vector ram

41. Finished result.

vector ram

42. Select and delete the slots above the cut.

vector ram

43. Select the all the slots and group them by pressing Ctrl+G. Reduce the opacity slightly.

vector ram

7. Drawing the Circuits

44. We are going to draw the circuits themselves. Circuits in a real PCB looks crazy with hundreds of connections. We will just mimic the pattern. We don’t need to create crazily weird circuits for this one! We can simply create them with the Pen Tool and by some observation. Let’s start drawing. First I put down some little circles and connected them using the Pen Tool

vector ram

vector ram

45. Continue to draw. Working from left to right.

vector ram

vector ram

46. You aren’t required to create the circuits exactly like this! Follow your intuition and ideas to draw even better.

vector ram

vector ram

vector ram

47. Finish the remaining.

vector ram

48. Here it is so far.

vector ram

7. Adding Board info

49. Let’s add some simple dummy info about the board. Name, Serial No etc. Simply typea name and rotate it with the Rotate Tool(R). Place It above the chip.

vector ram

50. Duplicate the name on other chips. Use Align Panel to align each name correctly with the chip.

vector ram

51. Add some more information to it.

vector ram

vector ram

8. Finishing Off the Memory Chip

52. Select the outer edge of the board. Go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow.

vector ram

vector ram

53. Draw a rectangle shape behind the RAM.

vector ram

54. Grab the Ellipse Tool and draw an oval shape.

vector ram

55. Apply Feather to the oval. Go to Effect > Stylize > Feather.

vector ram

56. Apply some Gaussian Blur to blend it smoothly. And that concludes our design. We just finished it!

vector ram

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9 thoughts on “Illustrator Tutorial: Draw a Vector RAM”

  1. whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading your articles.
    Keep up the great work! You know, a lot of persons are looking around for this info, you can aid them greatly.

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