Trying to make a knitted cable stitch using blends or brushes

[Document Geek]

I am trying to make a twisted effect, where two obejcts rotate around each other. The efect that I am trying to acheive is a realistic knitted cable stitch.

I have tried using the blend tool, with two separate blends, but the objects from one blend cannot wrap around the objects of another blend.

I have also tried using the brush tool, but when I cut the path and move the various parts to the front or the back, the edge is harsh and doesn't look correct.

Can anyone assist?

[Doug A Roberts]

Please show an example of what you want to achieve. This sort of thing with a pattern brush?

[Document Geek]

I can show you an example of what I tried that doesn't work. I made this using brushes, but when I cut each object to make it sit on top, the edge is wrong and is not realistic.

Here is an exmaple of something I found onle to show how it should look.

[Doug A Roberts]

If that's all you want, you just need to cut the path somewhere away from the crossing point rather than right on it.

[Document Geek]

I tried that, but since I need the peice to intertwine, the same issue remains. If I just needed one of the strands to wevae back and forth on top of the other, it wouldn't be a problem. But since I need them to intertwive, that's where I'm getting stuck.

[Doug A Roberts]

I'm not entirely sure what you need to intertwine here, but each 'strand' you need to intertwine needs to be a separate path. You have three 'strands' on the same path there; perhaps they all need to be separate.

[Document Geek]

It's still not working quite right. I don't know if brushes are the way to go. If there was a way that blends could rotate around each other, like a helix, that would do the trick.

[Doug A Roberts]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding. Is this what you're after, or something else?

[Document Geek]

YES!! How did you do that?

[Doug A Roberts]

As I said in my second reply; cut the path somewhere away from the overlap:

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Very cool!

[Document Geek]

How did you make those orange and blues lines? Because I made mine using brushes, and when I cut the path in the place you specifiy. my brushes get messed up.

[Jacob Bugge]

Geek,

What happens if you simply cut the path with the Scissors Tool?

You seem to have somehow converted the resulting end Anchor Points, losing the Handles/curvature.

[Document Geek]

 I stil get the weird empty triangles. I even made brand new paths with curves.

[Jacob Bugge]

Geek,

My suggestion was based upon the (wrong) assumption that the yellow brush thingie consists of a triple brush applied to a single curved path.

Whichever way it is created, I believe you can, maybe as the simplest solution, or at least as a temporary way until other ways can be established:

1) Copy the hindmost brush thingie (whether it is the yellow or the blue one) in front of itself;

2) For each crossing where you want it on top (one or multiple) create a stroke/nofill rectangle that covers at least the whole part of the brush thingie that is hidden at the crossing (avoid the parts covered at the other crossings);

3) Is you have created multiple rectangles  in 2), select them both/all and Ctrl/Cmd+8 to turn them into one Compound Path;

4) ShiftClick the copy brush thingie from 1) to also select that, then Ctrl/Cmd+7.

This will give you a Clipping Mask where the clipped parts get in front of the other brush thingie, all in one go.

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you share an example file? Mine are made with a pattern brush:

[Document Geek]

Here is the file I'm working with: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mggck118dslj80q/Stitches.ai.zip?dl=0

[Doug A Roberts]

You need smooth curves rather than corner points for this to work well. I had a go at tidying up your brush too; it had protruding end caps which would create an imperfect join anyway.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uPMVC0COcFUffa1a1Dz17xvsMGd57KHn/view?usp=sharing

[Document Geek]

THANK YOU!!!

[renél80416020]

Salut!

Moi je fais dans la dentelle...

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

This is the old problem of "how can something be both in front and behind another object at the same time?

Well, as you know Brushes present a huge problem, in that, you can't cut the path without screwing up everything.

Well maybe the answer is a Mask with a Compound Path as the Mask.

1. Select the Brushed object that's in back.
2. Copy and Paste in front of everything.
3. Draw objects with the Pen tool where the overlaps of Brushes need to be.
4. With all of these objects selected, go to Object > Compound Path > Make.
5. Select the Compound Path and top Brushed path.
6. Go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

Hope this helps!

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Very interested in Doug's response.

[kphotopage · Accepted solution]

Document Greek, Hi.

In addition to Doug’s reply, I once created a single KnitStitch single row Pattern brush if anyone is interested.

Actually, I created 4 different versions as you can see.

To intertwine, I used all 4.

I random colored so you can see the scissor cut and Layer order.

No Masking.

K