On the Digital Design of Product Packaging

I. Introduction

The diversity of product shapes and features determines the ever-changing shapes and structures of product packaging. The design of the product is completed by reciprocating back and forth between two-dimensional and three-dimensional adjustments. Therefore, the formation of packaging is quite complicated. At the same time, when the secondary element is converted into a three-dimensional element, the three-dimensional shape after molding is often unexpected due to changes in the unfolding and fixed viewpoints. In this era of rapid technological development and increasingly fierce market competition, how can package design adapt to the development of the times, achieve design goals quickly, accurately, and economically; how to find a reasonable, effective, and efficient method and technology to meet the development of the times? The development of packaging itself has become particularly important.

Second, the digital design of product packaging

With the support of digital technology, the general procedure for the design of product packaging can be represented by the following diagram. At the beginning, the basic method and the traditional design are no different. Only the digital technology was introduced in the design process, and the visual communication of the packaging was The morphological structure and overall effect are assisted in the design and production, and the planar design draft is automatically converted into a three-dimensional visualized three-dimensional model in the computer. This three-dimensional visual model is basically the same as the folding sample we used in the past. The difference is that one is real. The sample, the other is a three-dimensional solid model of the virtual space, but their functions are exactly the same, that is, after the graphic design draft is transformed into three-dimensional, whether its visual effect reaches the initial requirements of the design, and provides designers and customers with A need for further processing and modification of information. The entire design process is completed inside the computer and does not require any other tools and materials. The process is simple, convenient, economical and effective.

1, graphic design

The overall graphic design is the process of overall layout of the content involved in the packaging interface in the graphic design software. It involves text design, graphic design, color design, graphic layout and so on. At present, the most commonly used software in this area is CorelDraw, Freehand, and Adobe Illustrator. The common features of these types of software are easy to operate and powerful; it has strong capabilities for graphics generation, text design, graphic layout, etc.; and generated graphics. The accuracy of the file output is not affected by the size of the zoom. We can choose a piece of software for the graphic design of product packaging. It is worth noting that the default file format of this type of software is the vector graphics format. This format file cannot be used by the following 3D software, and it must also perform certain processing on its storage format to facilitate subsequent operations. Different softwares have different processing methods. For example, CorelDraw uses the “Export” option to convert graphic vector format into a bitmap format; Freehand uses “File/Export” to convert graphic files to a bitmap format, etc. .

2, plane graphics processing

The flat design draft of the product packaging completed in the graphic design software is a whole plane graphic. This kind of graphic file cannot be directly used for the generation of the subsequent three-dimensional visualization, and further processing and modification are required.

Photoshop is currently the most widely used plane graphics processing software in PC and Mac. It is very powerful. It can perform arbitrary copy, cut, delete, collage, synthesis and a variety of wonderful artistic processing. Now Photoshop is an important guarantee for high-quality color desktop printing systems, pre-printing, multimedia, animation, digital photography and coloring. Here we will use it to segment the designed packaging flat graphics. The principle of segmentation is the shape and structure of each structural surface in the product packaging structure design. Each structural surface must be divided into an independent figure and named according to the features of the structural face in order to prevent confusion.

On the other hand, photographs or pictures are often used in graphic design. The acquisition of these materials is currently mainly the use of digital cameras and scanners. After they are acquired by computers, they are often not directly used. They must be processed and processed as necessary. In addition, after three-dimensional visualization graphics are basically completed, they often need to be processed to obtain a beautiful rendering. This is only PhotoShop. Software is competent. Therefore, in the digital design of product packaging, photoShop is an indispensable application software.

3, real-time implementation of three-dimensional visualization

The three-dimensional visualization technology uses computer-based three-dimensional graphics software to create a completely virtual three-dimensional space on the computer screen. In this virtual space, designers can directly perform various types of three-dimensional designs in three-dimensional fashion, such as interior design, product design, sculpture design, three-dimensional animation design, and so on. The two-dimensional CAD system can only help designers reduce the workload of manual design and drawing. The three-dimensional visualization technology can not only reflect people's rich creative results, but also can grasp the random chance results generated in the process of shape creation. Designers are particularly precious, and they can inspire people in the design of creative inspiration. Three-dimensional visualization technology can also be very simple to complete the real-time graphical editing and modification, operation is particularly convenient, can most directly reflect the designer's creative intentions.

The packaging itself is a spatial three-dimensional structure. The use of three-dimensional visualization technology to assist in design is the best choice. There are many three-dimensional software on the market, but the most frequently used is 3D studio MAX software. This software has many advantages. First, it has strong modeling capabilities, basic modeling and advanced modeling, which can provide technical support for the digital generation of product packaging structure design. Secondly, it has a superb material editing function. Users can build their own materials according to their needs. This is a rare application of technical support for product packaging visualization. We can make the graphics of the graphic design divided into corresponding files. After the 3D texture material is completed, the texture material is assigned to the corresponding structure surface according to the structural plane, and a virtual model of the 3D visualization of the product packaging is obtained after rendering. Certainly, after the material is specified, some parameter adjustments are necessary. This is because when the 3D studio MAX software generates the spatial structure plane, the “face” is positively and negatively controlled, and is controlled by the normal direction of the “face”; On the one hand, each structural plane has its own three-dimensional coordinate system. The three-dimensional coordinates of the material must be consistent with the coordinates of the "plane." If you do not make the corresponding parameter adjustment, some texture faces will not see the texture effect when rendering. Third, 3D Studio MAX software has good animation capabilities. If necessary, the product packaging design scene can be animated to dynamically display its three-dimensional effect.

The general steps for the 3D visualization of the digital design of the product packaging are: first use the 3D Studio MAX software to design and model the packaging structure; then, the 3D Studio MAX mapping material is used to divide the graphic image of the partitioned graphic image into each segmented graphic file. Third, use the minor object texture edit command to assign the texture materials of each structural surface to the corresponding structural surface, and adjust the parameters so that the visual effects are consistent with the design concept; fourth, adjust the output perspective of the effect image. , render output. Finally, the design of the output is evaluated. If it is not satisfied, it will be returned to the modification.

Third, the conclusion

The digital design of product packaging has many outstanding advantages compared to the traditional manual design, and is embodied in:

* The design and creative space is more flexible and open;

* Designed materials and equipment are more simplified;

* Design changes and modifications Simple and convenient express series design generation is more convenient;

* Design expression is easier and performance quality is higher; drawing generation is simpler and more accurate;

* It is easy and convenient to design and build files; information transmission is faster;

* More efficient design;

The essence of design is, in a sense, an iterative process of continuous improvement. Digital technology undoubtedly provides the most effective technology and method for designing quickly, easily, and accurately. It also enables companies to take advantage of competition. status. At the same time, it also freed the designer from the complicated manual labor, reduced the designer's design work intensity, and provided the most advanced technology for designing to adapt to the development of the times.