This example uses PowerClips to create the illusion of interlocking 3D rings.

Before PowerClips were introduced in version 5 of Draw, this would have been a very tough effect to create. With PowerClips, its easy, once you create the first 3D ring.

To create the first ring, you must first combine two concentric circles to form the ring face. Then, simply extrude it and turn on an extrusion light source to create shading. The other two rings can be created by duplicating the original and changing the color. The problem is they won’t appear to interlock. So, what to do?

First, draw a rectangle surrounding the area where the blue 3D ring should overlap the yellow ring. Then simply duplicate the blue 3D ring and PowerClip it into the rectangle. (To do this, you should turn off the Auto-Centering option for PowerClips.) Do the same thing for the yellow and red rings, and the result will look something like this:

The final step is to apply no fill and no outline to the rectangles (the PowerClip containers), so they are invisible. Their contents will still be visible, and the result will be the interlocking rings shown at the top.