How can I design a twisting label that wound around a cylindrical container from a square image, just like the pringles chips paper container label??

Question

Hi,
    I am going to make a new packaging for a product my company is going to launch next month. The packaging is cylindrical in shape and made of paper twisted and wound around a cylinder.
    I have completed the label in Adobe Illustrator and it is a square image. Now I want to design the label in a twisting shape that wounds the cylindrical container just like the pringles chips paper container label.
    Please give me some tips or instructions that can help me design the label in my desired form. Thank you...

Answer 1

shawon,
You may, based on the cut version showing a cut that starts and ends at the corners (Smart Guides are your friends):
1) Create the full label going all the way round, as the basic rectangular/square shape (works with both a rectangle and a square, the latter just having the same width and height), with all the artwork;
2) Decide the number of cuts;
3) Create a straight slanting path from the top left corner (you may use the Line Segment Tool) to somewhere further right at the bottom, then with the Reference Point in the Transform palette set to top left change the W value to the total width of the rectangle divided by the number of cuts, this will give you the right angle;
4) Move a copy of the straight path from 2) to the right by its W value;
5) Select both straight paths from 3) and 4) and Ctrl/Cmd+J to join them thereby creating a parallellogram with twice the W value from 3)/4);
6) Move copies of the parallellogram to the left and right by the W value from 3)/4), repeating until you have more than covered the original rectangle;
7) Leave the leftmost parallellogram where it is (covering the top left of the original rectangle) and move the others down by the height (of the original rectangle/the parallellograms), leave one where it is and continue with the remaining one(s) until they are all placed below one another;
8) Move copies of the original rectangle from 1) down by its height until you have rectangles behind all the parallellograms;
9) For each set of parallellogram and rectangle, select both and Object>Clipping Mask>Make;
10) Select all and Group them;
Now you should have the final shape and look of the cut rectangle as a group of clipping masks, made digitally; you may use that as it is to cut a single label, or you may:
11) Move copies to the right by the W value from 3)/4) to have multiple labels to cut.
This obviously requires a rather accurate cutting, but it may be less critical than usual, given the nature of the twisted label.