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DougKatz
Engaged
DougKatz
Engaged
Activity
‎Jul 12, 2019
10:29 AM
Thanks for this, Ray. There are several ornery processes (in your 2015 version and my 2017 version) that can only be brought into line by temporarily changing tools, selections, visibility, and so forth. This looks like one of them.
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‎Jul 12, 2019
06:57 AM
Ray, after making the Live Paint object, I add a stroke and assign a profile. As you say, it becomes a single object—no need for copies—which is convenient. But I can't seem to edit the Live Paint object's colors after adding the profiled stroke. Am I out of sequence? What am I missing? I'm on Sierra and AICC 2017. Thanks.
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‎Apr 22, 2019
05:54 PM
1 Upvote
And here we see a (perfect) parallelism in mathematics and religion. Whodathunk such profundity would emerge in an Adobe Illustrator User to User Forum. Leave it to the inimitable Dr. Gold.
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‎Mar 23, 2019
11:51 AM
How very smart you are, Ms. Gause. In the old days of medicine, before the surgeons rose to celebrity status, the most revered professionals were the gifted diagnosticians… the ones who could examine a patient and determine what was wrong. Generally speaking, the diagnosticians didn't perform medical miracles; they made them possible. Thanks for the expert diagnosis.
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‎Mar 23, 2019
06:53 AM
1 Upvote
Monika, a truly embarrassing question. I draw the same path that you have (I think): A stairstep silhouette with 8 points. No stroke, white fill. I round the relevant 4 corners (with AG's Dynamic Corners). I remove the Dynamic Status. With the simple closed path selected, I apply the 3D effect. When I go to map the text, however, I have 14 surfaces! You have 6! How is this possible? Does it have something to do with my construction of the object? Or maybe the exact angles and perspectives set by the fields in the 3D dialogue produce different numbers of surfaces? (Stroke added for visibility)
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‎Jan 30, 2019
02:12 PM
Peter. I should have realized that you were applying Transform Each only to the blend's origin objects. Once you explained, it makes perfect sense. Thanks much.
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‎Jan 29, 2019
11:29 AM
Peter, how did you use Transform Each to properly align the blend to its new, egg-shaped spine? I ran into the same problem. Did you expand the blend first? What exactly did you select?
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‎Jan 27, 2019
10:30 AM
After testing my own question, I have to assume the answer is 'yes'! Doing it that way replicated your example. Tell me if in fact you did it this way. And can you also tell me: Where in the WORLD did you learn about "helper objects"?! How and where can I read about their purposes, their operations, and what they do that straight, "unhelped" blends do? Thanks as always.
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‎Jan 27, 2019
10:14 AM
Thanks, Monika. Still not making it happen so I returned to your version for a more critical look. Are EACH OF YOUR FIVE visible rectangles grouped with invisible helper objects behind them? And are all the helper objects the height of the tallest rectangle in the center?
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‎Jan 27, 2019
07:09 AM
Definitely (and comically) doing something very wrong here, Moika! I've built five objects. Between Object 1 and 3 is grouped Object 2 (short, black rectangle in front of tall, invisible rectangle). Grouped Object 4 is identical to grouped Object 2. Why have I made such a mess?
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‎Jan 26, 2019
02:13 PM
Monika, I've never seen the use of invisible helper objects in a blend! Based on the image you've posted, I assume they're no-stroke/no-fill objects. But I can tell neither what they're doing nor how exactly you use them. Are they included in the blend? Which objects are being blended exactly? And to the real point, I can see they're forcing some sort of curvature in the blend (without which there would be a "straight edge" ramping from the end objects to the middle one). But why and how? Can you enlighten me? Either with a brief explanation or a link somewhere? Thank you.
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‎Dec 17, 2018
08:01 AM
Yes. Brilliant.
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‎Dec 07, 2018
01:58 PM
…snuggle in a custom glyph…" What a wonderful expression.
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‎Aug 04, 2018
06:41 PM
That is just remarkable, Kurt Gold. How one thinks to even explore this as an outsmarting strategy is inconceivable to me. Brilliance strikes again.
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‎Jun 19, 2018
01:19 PM
Yes, Kurt! I did actually discover this after posting about the fixed Z-order of split blends. Dragging the spine paths in the Layers Panel above or below each other actually moves the blend objects themselves from spine to spine! Other astounding behaviors.
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‎Jun 15, 2018
02:41 PM
Interesting limitation on this capability: Once the spine is cut, I can't alter the stacking order of the separate segments. So while X and Y movements of an individual blend "segment" are remarkably modifiable, Z movements are fixed. This may be entirely logical since – despite appearances – splitting the spine doesn't seem to change the blend's unity. (But now I'm off in areas about which I know nothing.)
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‎Jun 14, 2018
04:47 PM
The discovery itself was a little disconcerting. But the prospect that I was the only one who didn't know about it made it worse. So I thank you two experienced artists for assuaging my embarrassment! Like Peter, I'm now wondering how this mysterious capability can be put to use.
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‎Jun 14, 2018
03:39 PM
Thank you, John. I'm so damn parochial.
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‎Jun 14, 2018
12:26 PM
After so many years with Illustrator, I'm shocked by an accidental discovery. I've drawn two ellipses with different color fills, no strokes, then blended them. I've taken the scissors tool to the no-fill, no-stroke spine. After making a cut, the blend remains intact! I can reposition the "separate looking" blends, move individual end points of each spine freely, add curvature to each spine, add points, make additional cuts to the spine(s), change the fills and strokes of the blend objects, add objects to the blend (from within the Layers panel), use the Reverse Spine and Reverse Front to Back commands, move separate bits of the spine to different artboards (when I direct select the bit's spine). Nothing seems to "break" the blend! How in the world does a chopped up, mangled and mutilated blend+spine retain integrity like this?! Has this always been possible? Am I pathetically late to a party that everyone else has been at for years and years? Jeez.
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‎Jun 14, 2018
11:27 AM
What is the rubber tool anyway?
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‎Jun 03, 2018
04:37 PM
That makes eminent sense, Ton. Now I understand your wondering how and why one would "mess up" the alignment of a single artboard. Thanks for the clarification. I'm now ready to tackle the web.
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‎Jun 03, 2018
04:19 PM
Ton, are you saying you don't think a misalignment of the artboard in fact adversely affects the crispness of artwork on the web? Or are you wondering why someone would deliberately not align the artboard to the pixel grid? In my case, I've never aligned the artboard because I've never given the pixel grid a thought. This is because my work is almost exclusively in print.
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‎Jun 03, 2018
03:58 PM
Whoops. Think I may have misunderstood you. I'm now guessing you meant the Artboard Options panel or even the Control panel, not the Transform panel that we use with objects on the artboard. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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‎Jun 03, 2018
02:50 PM
Thank you, Monika. I’m so stupid about web and mobile graphics… surprised I had it right. I also didn’t know the transform panel was even available with the artboard tool active. So an Illustrator artboard really is just another vector object in many ways, eh?
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‎Jun 03, 2018
10:21 AM
Very helpful. Can I ask, how does one align the artboard to the pixel grid? Is it a matter of enabling the artboard tool, setting alignment to the top left corner of the board, then clicking the snap to pixel toggle on the Control Panel? In other words, does one snap an artboard in the same way one snaps objects to the grid?
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‎May 23, 2018
06:35 PM
1 Upvote
Has a free distortion on a linked or embedded image ever been possible in AI? In AICC 2017 (and all prior versions), I'm able to move, resize, reshape, rotate and skew a raster image. But I don't recall a version that allowed distort or perspective distort. Envelopes have always been the only way to do that I thought. Am I wrong?
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‎May 12, 2018
06:52 AM
1 Upvote
Hah! Well, interesting point you raise about credit and responsibility. Most every idea is "picked up elsewhere." But I picked this one up from you. So I know who I'm grateful to.
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‎May 11, 2018
02:33 PM
Thanks. Of course you did it only as an example and not as finished work – this I understood and it really isn't the point. The point is that this is a very clever way to approximate a displacement map. So thanks.
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‎May 11, 2018
12:41 PM
Monika, in your example, have you set the gradient mesh on top to Multiply mode? Or another blending mode? Or did you use another way to overlay the gradient mesh shading on the enveloped flag?
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‎Feb 13, 2018
12:36 PM
2 Upvotes
Absolutely right, Ton.
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