Space Molecules

Create these spheres with a simple blend and a few highlights, add some connectors and them some cool effects to make it look like data using the 3D effect. Futuristic cool.

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Start with a circle, add a fill and a darker stroke. 

Draw an oval and fill it with a lighter fill color. Select both shapes.

Choose Object > Blend >Blend Options. Set the Spacing to Smooth Color. Click OK.

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Choose Object > Blend > Make to blend the colors. 

Create another oval and fill it with white. 

With the Direct Selection Tool click on the bottom handle and move it up to round the bottom.

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Fill the shape with a gradient. Make on color stop white, the other color stop set the opacity to 0%. Apply the gradient to the upper shape with the white at the top, fading to nothing at the bottom.

Draw another oval.

Apply the same white to transparent gradient but change the gradient type from linear to radial, having it go from white to transparent. 

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Create 2 circles, overlap then with a slight offset. 

Select the shapes and use the Pathfinder Minus Front Mode. 

Fill the shape with white and place it on the shape. 

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Choose Effect > Blur> Gaussian Blur.

Set the Opacity of the shape to 45% to lighten the shape. 

To create the connectors, create 2 rectangles one with a light fill, one with a dark fill. 

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Use the Direct Selection Tool to select the four outer corners to activate the corner widgets. 

Pull the corner widgets in toward the center.

Select both shapes and choose Object > Blend > Make.

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Choose the Free Transform Tool and select the Perspective Distort Mode.

Select the top part of the connector and pull the connector wider. 

Put the connectors on the sphere, add other spheres and scale them to size. 

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To change the color of the spheres, select the spheres and choose Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork. Click the EDIT tab and lock the colors together with the link in the lower right corner. 

Move the paddles around the color wheel to change the colors of the spheres. 

Add more spheres and connectors, change the colors as you see fit.

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Create an oval, fill it with black. 

Add a Gaussian Blur effect to the oval.

This will be the shadow under the connectors. 

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In the opacity window, set the Blend Mode to Multiply

Move the shadows under the connectors onto the sphere for the anchor shadows. 

To create the look of data on the sphere, create some lines and shapes. 

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Choose Window > Symbols and open the Symbol Panel. Select the data shapes and drag them into the Symbols Panel. Name the symbol. 

Draw a circle, stroke with not fill color. 

With the Direct Selection Tool, select one side point and delete it, removing half the circle. 

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Select the shape and choose Effect > 3D > Revolve. Click the Preview Button. This will make a sphere. 

Click the Map Art button. Choose the newly added Symbol from the drop down menu.

Scale and rotate the data set symbol to have it map to the sphere. Click the INVISIBLE GEOMETRY button to make the sphere transparent. 

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The artwork will map to the sphere but the sphere will be invisible. 

The data bits will now look like a sphere. 

Go into outline mode by choosing View > Outline. This will show the sphere and the data bits. Choose Object > Expand Appearance, the choose Object > Expand. 

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Use the Group Selection Tool (nested in the with the Direct Selection Tool) and select the outer rings of the sphere and delete them.

This will leave just the data. Choose View > Preview to go back to the normal view.

Scale the data to fit it to the sphere. 

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Select the data bits and apply the white to transparent gradient with a radial gradient. This will give the data a glow look. 

Rotate the data bits for each sphere. You are done!