Mixing It Up With The Blend Tool

A fun class project uses the Blend Tool. Blending gives you a series of intermediate objects and colors between two or more objects. You determine how many intermediate objects will be created and the path they will follow. Basically, you have one object morphing into another, and it works in much the same way as tweening does in Flash and other programs.

You can make blends with either the Blend Tool or through the Object>Blend menu. Below is a very simple blend that uses two squares that differ in color. After you draw your objects, double-click on the Blend Tool and set the number of steps you want. (or choose Object>Blend>Blend Options.) After you have set the number of steps, you can click on each object with the Blend Tool to create the blend. The top blend was made using Smooth Color Spacing and the 2nd one uses 3 Specified Steps. It's not much different from using gradients is it?

Actually, it is quite a bit more useful than using regular gradients. Let's say you want to add depth to a line. If you draw your line and apply a gradient to it, the blending of the gradients have to follow linear or radial lines. If instead, you draw your line and then create a smaller, lighter colored line within it and apply a blend between them, you get a nice even gradient that follows the curves of the lines.

You aren't limited to only blending colors. Shapes can also take part in the blending process. Draw any objects that you like (even use cheesy clip art if you insist.) You don't have a lot of control over what the intermediate steps will look like, but you can often inadvertently get some very interesting effects.

A blend is a single object. Once you have created it, the original images are no longer stand-alone independent objects. But, like all married couples, they can get a divorce. If you select the blend and choose Object>Blend>Release you can break up the bonding--no attorneys required. However, in doing this, their offspring (the intermediate objects) disappear. If instead, you choose to Expand the blend, each object and offspring remain, but are no longer members of the blend. If you choose to keep your happy blend together, you can adjust it by using Reverse Spine, Reverse front to back and Replace spine. The spine is the line that runs through the center of your blend. It is by nature a straight line. You have the option, though, of drawing a nice curved line on your page, selecting both the new line and the blend, then choosing Object>Blend>Replace spine. Your blend will then follow the same curves as the line you drew.

After a little practice with the basics, you are ready for our fun little project. The challenge is to create a poster blending two images to make a sequential metamorphosis. Use words (caption) that match the artwork to better illustrate the message. My classes do this project every year and very rarely have I seen a compound word used more than once.

For my examples, I cheated and used built in images from the symbol palette, but you can make much more interesting blends by drawing objects from scratch.

The flowers at the top of this page were also made with the Blend Tool. You can follow a tutorial to create these vector flowers at NDESIGN STUDIO.