Jason Hoppe Adobe Certified Expert & Adobe Certified Trainer
  • Home
  • Contact
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Blog Index
  • Portfolio
  • Max 2022

Design Points n PixelS


The Blend Tool has a Spine!

6/23/2019

1 Comment

 
If you have ever used the blend tool to blend objects or create a slip shadow, did you know you can control the spine along which it blends? You can even replace the spine with another line or object! Check it out, it's quite interesting. 
Picture

Picture
Start with text or any shape. I used a letter to show this example. 
Picture
Outline the type. Choose Type>Create Outlines. Fill it with a color and set this one aside for use a few steps later.
Picture
Duplicate the shape and add a fill color. Duplicate the shape again and add a different fill color. 

Picture
Select both shapes and choose Object>Blend>Blend Options. From the Spacing options menu, choose Smooth Color. This just sets the options. 
Picture
To make the objects blend together, choose Object> Blend> Make. This will blend the shapes/colors together. Notice how the darker color is behind and blends to the front, lighter color.
Picture
Select the shapes and you will see a connector line (a spine) that connects the two shapes and creates the blend. 

Picture
Choose Object>Blend Options and choose Reverse Spine Front to Back to control the start and stop order. 
Picture
This reverses the Front to Back order making the Blend look like it is going from dark to light. 
Picture
Go to Outline mode under the View menu to see the two object that blend together and the spine connecting them together. 

Picture
To edit the spine, use the Curvature Tool to click on a point of the Spine and move the point. 
Picture
Go to View>Preview to switch from Outline mode to Preview mode and see the Blend results. (The original shape I copied and set aside I moved on top of the start of the blend to see the shape better, it is not part of the blend.) 
Picture
Use the Curvature Tool to change the spine curve or change the start and stop points. 

Picture
Any editing of the spin will be reflected in the blend of the objects
Picture
If you want to change out the spine, draw a new line of or closed shape. The spine will be invisible so no need to make it a color. 
Picture
Select the new line or shape and select the blended object and choose Object>Blend> Replace Spine and the new blend will blend along the new spine.
1 Comment

Halftones in Illustrator, with a twist

6/16/2019

0 Comments

 
Creating a halftone in Illustrator takes a few steps and the effects are quite cool. This takes a halftone effect, the Image Trace panel and the 3D effect to create these super cool looking vector creations. 
Picture
Picture

Picture
Start with a circle. 
Picture
Open the Gradient panel under the Window Menu. 
Picture
Click on the fill icon and select the radial fill from the 3 gradient options. ​

Picture
Double click on the black dot on the gradient slider and set the black to 80% black. 
Picture
Radial gradient from white on the edge to 80% black in the middle. 
Picture
Under the Effect Menu, choose Pixelate, Color Halftone. Set the Max radius to a higher number to get larger dots. Set each channel to the same angle, here I set it at 45°. 

Picture
This is the result. 
Picture
To edit the halftone dot size, double click on the Color Halftone Effect in the Appearance Panel. 
Picture
Select the halftone pattern and choose Object>Expand to turn the effect into an image. 

Picture
Open the Image Trace panel from the Window Menu. Set the mode to Black and White, threshold to the middle, Paths at HIGH, Corners at LESS, Noise at 1, Uncheck Snap Curves to Lines, Check Ignore White. 
Picture
To turn the image into actual shapes after the Image Trace you have to Expand the shape. Choose Expand from the Control bar or Expand from the Properties Panel. 
Picture
Picture
Select the newly expanded shape and drag it into the Symbols Panel and add it as a Dynamic Symbol for later use.

Picture
Create a circle to make it into a sphere. 
Picture
Use the Direct Selection Tool to click on the left side and delete it, leaving a half circle 
Picture
Choose Effect, 3D, Revolve. This will take the half circle and revolve it into a sphere. Click on the Map Art… Button.

Picture
To map the halftone to the sphere, choose from the Symbol dropdown menu and choose the Sphere symbol that we just added. The only type of artwork that can be mapped has to be a Symbol. 
Picture
Move the symbol to the area in white which is the area you see on the sphere. Gray areas are the ones we don't see on the sphere. Scale the symbol up or down to fit. Click on the Invisible geometry button to make the sphere invisible.  Click OK
Picture
This is how the symbol of the halftone looks when mapped to the invisible sphere. 

Picture
To make a line into a halftone, create a line. 
Picture
In the gradient panel, click on the stroke icon the click on the linear gradient. 
Picture
There are 3 types of gradient strokes, the first one sets the stroke from one end to another. ​

Picture
The 3rd option sets the stroke to on the width of the stroke. To create a side to side gradient, add a color stop to the gradient bar, then double click on the color to set it to white. 
Picture
Shown here is a stroke gradient from side to side with the colors going from white to black to white.
Picture
Add a color halftone to the line to create the halftone effect. The darker the colors, the larger the dots will be. Where the gradient fades to white it will create smaller dots. 
0 Comments

Curled banner

6/2/2019

3 Comments

 
Creating a curled banner is easy, but it creates several open paths. The Join Tool works great for joining shapes but trying to create complex closed shapes is not as easy. Here is a quick trick with the Shape Builder Tool can create closed shapes from complex open paths. 
Picture

Picture
Start with a circle, no fill, heavy stroke.
Picture
Duplicate the circle so the edges touch. 
Picture
Move the one circle down while keeping it in line. 

Picture
Select the bottom of the top circle with the Direct Selection Tool and delete it. Do the same with the top half of the bottom circle. 
Picture
With the Direct Selection Tool select the inner open ends of the circles.
Picture
Join the ends together by choosing Object>Path>Join.

Picture
Duplicate the lines. 
Picture
Join the ends together by choosing Object>Path>Join. Do this twice to join both open ends. 
Picture
Use the Direct Selection tool to remove the 1/4 circle from the top and the 1/4 circle and line from the bottom. 

Picture
This is what it will look like. 
Picture
Draw lines to close the shape in the 3 indicated areas. 
Picture
Use the Direct Selection tool and select each intersection and join them together. Do each one of the three steps. 

Picture
Select the shape and make it narrower to create a banner
Picture
Rotate the banner. Add circles filled with the same green color as the stroke, add a white stroke around the circles, place them along the line. 

Picture
If you move the parts of the banner, you will see that they are not closed paths. Even the top section looks like it is closed (on the left side) but it is not! The open ends are hiding behind the lines (shown by the red circles).
Picture
If you try to fill the areas with color, the paths are not closed. Filling open shapes creates weird tangents.

Picture
What you want to create, are 3 closed shapes. Each one being independent of the other shapes.
Picture
To make closed shapes out of each object, select the banner, then choose the Shape Builder Tool (SHIFT + M) from the Tool Bar. Click on each shape you want to create (the mesh will appear on each shape you click on),

Picture
Each section you click on with the Shape Builder Tool will make it into a closed shape. Now each object is a closed shape. (I took it apart to show each shape).
Picture
Add color to any of the closed shapes. Done!
3 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Contact
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Blog Index
  • Portfolio
  • Max 2022