Make a blend between two objects, set how many steps you want in the Blend Options. With the Direct Selection Tool, or in the Layers panel, select the spine of the blend. With the Anchor Point Tool drag a handle from one end of the blend toward the other end until you get the kind of separation you want. If you want to make a brush out of it, expand the blend. I know of at least one other way to do this, but it's way past my bedtime. Peter ... View more

Not exactly sure what you're asking. You get out of the Mesh Tool by selecting another tool. If you don't want to see the mesh lines, deselect the object, or lock it. You can turn off Smart Guides if you don't want to see the lines when you drag the cursor across the object; you can Hide Edges if you don't want to see them when you select the mesh object. Both of these are available in the View menu. ... View more

Hi, Robin, Open the Appearance Panel (Window menu > Appearance) and click to open the flyout menu (horizontal lines icon in upper right). If there is a check (tick) mark beside New Art Has Basic Appearance, click on it to de-select. Then you may select the brush and the Pencil Tool, and the brush will remain selected. Peter ... View more

Click the rocket in the Application Bar to open Preferences > Performance and deactivate GPU Performance. In InDesign, go to Preferences > GPU Performance to deactivate. The actual why is not within my grasp. ... View more

Brushes are only center-aligned.  Try Effect > Path > Offset Path to achieve the alignment you want. ... View more

You are doing the inverse of what you want. A Clipping Mask hides what is outside it, not inside. So what you are doing wrong is putting the mask around the wrong thing. Instead of one mask showing the middle, you need two masks (and two logos) to create a middle. You must either have two instances of your design, one of which has the top masked (revealing the top) and the other the bottom (revealing the bottom), or you must cut one logo into two pieces, which would involve, perhaps, selecting the 2, going to Type > Create Outlines, expanding the stroke on the rectangle, and using, the Knife Tool. I'm sure there are other ways. If you look at the screenshot of the Layers panel and artwork in post 1, you can see that there are two items labeled "box-design" and two rectangles, each of which is paired with one of the other, in which the rectangle reveals, not hides, half the "box-design". Apologies. This is far simpler than my attempted explanation makes it seem. ... View more

Instead of Object > Path > Offset Path you could use Effect > Path > Offset Path, then use a custom keyboard shortcut for Expand Appearance. It's not instantaneous, but would remove the selection step. ... View more

This doesn't begin to match the style of your artwork, but it's a quick and crude example of making and using a scatter brush, made from the arc in the red circle, plus feather effect and opacity adjustment, to at least suggest the highlights. ... View more

Assuming that a) every stroke in the layer is to have the same stroke color and weight, and b) every object will have a stroke, you can apply the stroke attributes to the layer. Further assuming that there are no object stroke attributes which will mask the layer attributes, then all objects in the layer will appear with the same stroke color and weight. Create a layer, or go to an existing one, in the Layers panel and target the layer; that is, click the circle (or "meatball") corresponding with the layer at the right of the panel (clicking to the right of the circie selects but does not target the layer). In the Appearance panel, click Add New Stroke icon at the bottom (or select Add New Stroke from the flyout menu in the upper right corner) and set the stroke color and weight that you want. All objects that are in the layer or that are added to it will henceforth have the stroke color and weight that you set. I would suggest that you then select the layer (click to the right of the circle in the Layers panel), which targets the objects individually, and remove any stroke attributes which may be applied to them at the object level. Repeat for other layers with whatever stroke colors or weights, or fills, or other attributes, that you need. There are other ways and variations, such as using Graphic Styles at the object or Layer level, but this should work for you. Peter ... View more

Unless I misunderstand the question, if you start with a single shape, as Ton shows, is there any reason you can't just add line segments with gradient stroke applied across the gaps? ... View more