- Starting the lesson
- Working with gradients
- Working with blended objects
- Creating patterns
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Working with blended objects
You can blend two distinct objects to create and distribute shapes evenly between two objects. The two shapes you blend can be the same or different. You can also blend between two open paths to create a smooth transition of color between objects, or you can combine blends of colors and objects to create color transitions in the shape of a particular object.
The following are examples of different types of blended objects you can create:
Blend between two of the same shape.
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Blend between two of the same shapes, each with a different color fill.
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Blend between two different shapes with different fill colors.
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Blend between two of the same shape along a path.
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Smooth color blend between two stroked lines (original lines on left, blend on right).
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When you create a blend, the blended objects are treated as one object, called a blend object. If you move one of the original objects or edit the anchor points of the original object, the blend changes accordingly. You can also expand the blend to divide it into distinct objects.
Creating a blend with specified steps
Next you’ll use the Blend tool (
) to blend two shapes that you will use to create a pattern for the jellyfish.
In the Layers panel (Window > Layers), click the visibility column for the layer named Blends to show the layer content. You should now see three smaller circles on top of the freeform gradient object.
TIPYou can add more than two objects to a blend.
Select the Blend tool (
) in the Tools panel. Move the little box part of the pointer (
) over the center of the leftmost circle, and click.By clicking, you are telling Illustrator that this will be the starting point of the blend. Nothing will appear to happen.
NOTEIf you wanted to end the current path and blend other objects, you would first click the Blend tool in the Tools panel and then click the other objects, one at a time, to blend them.
Move the pointer over the center of the small circle at the top of the freeform gradient shape. When the pointer looks like this:
, click to create a blend between these two objects.With the blended object still selected, choose Object > Blend > Blend Options. In the Blend Options dialog box, choose Specified Steps from the Spacing menu, change Specified Steps to 10. Select Preview, and then click OK.
TIPTo edit the blend options for an object, you can also select the blend object and then double-click the Blend tool. You can also double-click the Blend tool (
) in the Tools panel to set tool options before you create the blend object.
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Modifying a blend
Now you’ll edit one of the shapes in the blend as well as the spine of the blend you just created so the shapes blend along a curve.
Select the Selection tool (
) in the Tools panel, and double-click anywhere right on the blend object to enter Isolation mode.This temporarily ungroups the blended objects and lets you edit each original shape, as well as the spine. The spine is a path along which the steps in a blended object are aligned. By default, the spine is a straight line.
Choose View > Outline.
In Outline mode, you can see the outlines of the two original shapes and a straight path (spine) between them. These three objects are what a blend object is composed of, by default. It can be easier to edit the path between the original objects in Outline mode.
Click the edge of the top circle to select it. Pressing the Shift key, drag a corner of the bounding box to make it about half the size. Release the mouse button and then the key.
TIPIt’s a small circle to begin with, so you may want to zoom in for this step, and then zoom back out.
Choose Select > Deselect, and remain in Isolation mode.
Select the Pen tool (
) in the Tools panel. Press the Option key (macOS) or Alt key (Windows), and position the pointer over the path between the shapes. When the pointer changes (
), drag the path up and to the left a little, like in the figure. TIPAnother way to reshape the spine of a blend is to blend the shapes along another path. You can draw another path, select the blend as well, and then choose Object > Blend > Replace Spine.
Choose View > Preview (or GPU Preview).
Press the Escape key to exit Isolation mode.
Now you’ll continue the blend to include the last circle.
Select the Blend tool, and click the top circle. Click in the circle on the lower-right to continue the blend path.
NOTEThe circles are pretty small. You may want to zoom in to complete this step, and then zoom out when finished.
Select the Pen tool (
) in the Tools panel. Press the Option key (macOS) or Alt key (Windows), and position the pointer over the path between the shapes. When the pointer changes (
), drag the path up and to the right a little, as in the figure.Choose Select > Deselect, and then choose File > Save.
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Creating and editing a smooth color blend
You can choose several options for blending the shapes and colors of objects to create a new object. When you choose the Smooth Color blend option in the Blend Options dialog box, Illustrator combines the shapes and colors of the objects into many intermediate steps, creating a smooth, graduated blend between the original objects, as you see in the figure above.
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If objects are filled or stroked with different colors, the steps are calculated to provide the optimal number of steps for a smooth color transition. If the objects contain identical colors or if they contain gradients or patterns, the number of steps is based on the longest distance between the bounding box edges of the two objects. Now you’ll combine two shapes into a smooth color blend to make seaweed.
Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.
If you look off the right edge of the artboard, you’ll see a wavy pink path and a wavy purple path. You will blend them together do they look like the shape just to the left of them. The pink and purple paths have a stroke color and no fill. Objects that have strokes blend differently than those that have no stroke.
Select the Selection tool (
), and click the pink path off the right edge of the artboard. Press the Shift key and click the purple path on the right to select both.Choose Object > Blend > Make.
This is another way to create a blend and can be useful if creating a blend using the Blend tool proves challenging. The blend you created is using the last settings from the Blend Options dialog box (Smooth Color).
NOTEYour blend object may look different to start, and that’s okay. You’ll adjust it next.
TIPYou can also click the Blend Options button in the Properties panel to edit the options for a selected blend object.
With the blend object still selected, double-click the Blend tool (
) in the Tools panel. In the Blend Options dialog box, make sure that Smooth Color is chosen from the Spacing menu. Select Preview and then click OK. NOTECreating smooth color blends between paths can be difficult in certain situations. For instance, if the lines intersect or the lines are too curved, unexpected results may occur.
Choose Select > Deselect.
Next you’ll edit the paths that make up the blend.
Select the Selection tool (
), and double-click within the color blend to enter Isolation mode. Click the path on the right to select it. Drag it to the left until it looks like the figure. Notice how the colors are now blended.Double-click away from the blend object to exit Isolation mode. Drag across both seaweed objects to select them, then drag them onto the artboard.
Drag the transparent gradient shape onto the jellyfish.
Click the Arrange button in the Properties panel, and choose Bring To Front to bring the selected shape on top of the freeform gradient artwork.
In the Layers panel, make all of the layers visible by clicking the visibility column for each layer that is currently hidden.
Choose File > Save and then choose File > Close.
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