Blend tool distance problem

[welcome bienvenue]

when I go to the blend tool and ask for my circles to be 8" apart using specified distance, it just give me what ever it want..8,1/4" ...9" 

then I do it manually so I have the circle at the 8" apart but when I select the circles and the path I want to replace the spin..it wont let me replace the spin..it is grayed out...

[Jacob Bugge]

welcome,

The overall (centre to centre) distance between the basic objects is divided equally, as closely as possible when you use Specified Distance, but to get a specific distance between steps, the overall distance must be divisible by it (a whole number times the distance between steps).

[PamShoulder]

So, I tried Blend > Specified Distance when the values were perfectly divisible. In the case of concentric circles as well as a simple blend between 2 circles. In neither instance was the distance correct.

Sorry that the image is so messy - but the guides and shapes I added afterwards to try and ascertain what distance was actually being used.

[Egor Chistyakov]

The manual says "the distance specified is measured from the edge of one object to the corresponding edge on the next object (for example, from the rightmost edge of one object to the rightmost edge of the next)" — not centers.

But in your example with concentric circles the distance between edges of the blended circles is indeed 8 mm... I’d expect to get one step between them, not two. It seems that it this case the preffered value is a number between 2 and 3... do not know what affects it here. But if you move blended shapes apart — AI will honestly try to keep the value close to the one specified. Again — between edges from mathing sides, not centers.

[PamShoulder]

Thanks for the response Egor - in the first example all the shapes are the same size, so it would be the same if I moved my guides to one of the edges. But - a dash of stupidity on my side.. the numbers did not resolve properly because of the positioning of the last object. So - this one does work.

I continued my specified distance test following your suggestion of more steps - reduced the distance to 2 and [nope] still not correct - and just to test my logic tried it using offset path - where it resolves perfectly. 

      

[pixxxelschubser]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/welcome+bienvenue  schrieb

… but when I select the circles and the path I want to replace the spin..it wont let me replace the spin..it is grayed out...

Do you have a circle as spin (for replace spin)?

Open the circle with the scissor on an anchor point and try to replace again.