I use Illustrator CS5 and can not blend variable width strokes in Illustrator. I can not do that even with the same width profiles unless they are expanded. I could not find any questions similar on the net regarding this, but wanted to double check before I just made the necessary changes. I'm a bit confused because Adobe 'help' shows how powerful the blends of objects are, but we can't do them as strokes?
I want to keep the blend as strokes not expand them. What is the best way to view how the blend will look with variable widths without expanding and then 'undoing' a bunch of times.
but is there a hot key for expanding the blend without going into object-blend-expand?
How is width and height calculated in the transform panel for an object? Does it use an average? An example can be seen in the first image. The lines are not a uniformed width.
Also, how are strokes converted from pts to pxls? For instance, if I make a stroke that is 2.3 pt, when I expand the object the width in the transform panel will say 2.3px ; however, I thought the point to pixel conversion (even for a 72 dpi screen resolution) was different. An example can be seen in the last two images, where a line was made with a specified stroke width and then expanded.
I have a pre-existing graphic uses a stroke with variable with profile (I think) or a special brush to make it look like it's hand drawn. I'd like to apply the same effect to a few new illustrations to keep the style consistent. For whatever reason when I ungroup the graphic and select one of the paths, the stroke weight and variable width profile remain disabled (see pasted toolbar graphic below). The brush still says "Basic" despite the fact that visually it is certainly not the basic brush.
Selected Path
Toolbar (I realize that it says Group instead of Path, but even if I ungroup again and select the path the same options are disabled).
Ive been messing around with the variable width tool, Im not sure I i changed something, I did try to restore defaults but when I make a change it changes the opposite side of the image. For example In screen shot I changed the width on the left and the effect showed up on the right.
I would like the width to change where I change it.
I'm working on a reflective drawing and using gradients on strokes. I've been using pressure sensitive calligraphic brushes I made. Now I'm trying to use variable width preset profile brushes. It works fine for the first stroke, but every time I make a new stroke, it reverts back to a calligraphic pressure brush. How can I keep my brushes the same profile until I manually select it to be different? I've gone back and forth between the brush tool and pencil tool and neither will keep any basic variable width profile past the first stroke. I have to select every brush stroke and change it again and again after drawing it.
I’m using Adobe Illustrator CS6 with a mouse rather than a pressure graphics tablet.
When I create a stroke using the Paint brush tool I would like the stroke to contain a variable width profile. For example narrower at the beginning and end of the stroke but thicker in the middle. Now I can do this by selecting the line after I have made the stroke and choosing the Basic Brush Definition from the drop down list. But if i try to draw a new line the settings are reset again. I cannot create a variable stroke while creating the stroke. The brush definition keeps resetting to 5 pt Round and stroke width 1 pt. It would be much quicker if the stroke remained as a varying width profile as I created the strokes.
I noticed the same problem with the blob brush tool except it's even worse. With the blob brush tool the stroke weight always resets regardless of whether or not I try to set a Variable width profile.
I tried deselecting "New Art has Basic Appearance" mentioned on another forum but that didn't work.
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Notice the variable width profile is maintained as the artists draws. It doesn’t keep resetting.
I want it to be a variable stroke, so I loaded up “Width Profile 2” in the profiles. The trouble I am having, is that Illustrator defaults to start the larger dots in the bottom right hand corner, and I would like the “starting point” to be in the middle of the line if you know what I mean. I'm still happy for the dots to start big, then gradually decrease in size, but I want to control where the “beginning” is.
In Illustrator CS6 and CC, when the stroke width tool is used on a curve, the curve is actually made up of a series of straight lines instead of smooth vector curves:
whereas in CS5 it looks perfect.These images may be too small to see the details, but the difference is there. Is there a workaround for this? Or is it recognized as a bug?
Is it possible to create a wall in AutoCAD Architecture that will change in size along its length. At one end of the concrete wall the wall thickness is 12", at the other end the wall thickness is 24" thick. The wall will grow in size from one length to the other.
how to make the line smaller in the start, and wider at the end. With a brush, I can only figure out how to draw with the same thickness all the time..
I have an area that needs batt insulation show in it that starts at 6" wide and go to 12" wide. Is there a lisp or hatch that auto scales batt insulation in the same manor a poly can do so?
When using the blend tool to blend colour between two objects is there a way to see the anchor points so I know where to click the blend tool. I realise the cursor changes when over one but its seems very cumbersome to have to move it around until it changes rather than click directly on one which I could do if I could see it.
I'm using Illustrator CC (on a Win7 Pro machine) at a beginner level, probably halfway to intermediate. I'm trying to learn how to blend colors together for highlights of various types (skin tones, clothing, light on objects, etc.) so that when I'm making a graphic for a project I'll have a decent idea of which tool/technique is best for the specific effect I need.
I'm trying to use the Smooth Color option in the blend tool. Late yesterday afternoon I recall creating two ellipses (one of which was a solid fill and one of which was a gradient going from black to transparent) and getting a smooth color transition between the two. It was a much harsher effect than I was looking for so I didn't keep it. This morning, while trying to replicate the same thing, I seem to be unable to use smooth color between two objects if one or more of them has a gradient applied. I only get what you see below, which is a step between the two objects.
I've done searches and found multiple references to blending gradients in this way and have followed those instructions (create the shapes, fill with the gradients, then either click on the Blend tool and click on the center of each shape, or click on Object -> Blend -> Make) but I can't seem to get a Smooth Color blend if either object has a gradient applied. Am I missing an important step somewhere? I'm 95% sure I accomplished it yesterday and nothing has been changed since then.
I am trying to blend two different art brushes with different colors using the blend tool. I'm trying to use two fixed-size line segments of the same length and then applying the two different brushes to those segments ( each art brush is a different color). Then I want to blend them the regular way so their colors transition. However, when I do this, the first shape is a different color, but all subsequent blend steps are the color of the second blended shape. Why is this? It doesn't blend the colors for some reason.
I am trying to create a custom message box with variable width and height by passing width height title and list of text. I can get the routine to work if I use preset width and height, but would like to make the box adjustable.
Trying to use the width tool, I ran into the following problem. I would like to have a smooth transition of the stroke width between two width points while keeping the original stroke width unchanged outside of that line segment.
There are four width points here: two end points and two in between. The original stroke width is 200. The two on the left have one side set to 100 while the two on the right have one side set to 50. I would like to eliminate the distortion of the line width occuring in the first and third line segments. The only solution that I have come up with so far is to place two additional width points very close to the two middle width points: one with a 100-unit side to the left of the second point in the picture and one with a 50-unit side to the right of the third point in the picture. Yet there will be a small distirtion in between.
I scanned an image that I want to trace, but it won't let me use different strokes with the pen tool? I don't have any layers locked and the strokes are all loaded, it just won't let me use them on that image.
For the life of me I just can't duplicate this look where their is three strokes happening to this text. Is there an easy way to do this in Illustrator? It's not something that I like, but it's the client.
I have a ready drawing but I just noticed that it is a bit to small: is there a way to scale everything (objects, grid, artboard) except the thickness of the strocks and arrowhead if any?
I can do all this separately (objects, then grid, then artboard) but it would be nicer to scale everything at once.
I have no problem dividing objects using the "divide" tool in the Pathfinder palette, but I was wondering if there was a way to divide brush strokes?
For example, let's say you wanted to paint three brush strokes right next to each other, but not overlapping. Is there a way to select all three strokes and then divide them so no one stroke resides over another, they would be completely separate of each other.
I have a problem that consistently occurs in Illustrator CS4 on Leopard that only presents itself when I try to outline paths in dxf files opened in Illustrator that I think have been supplied from and Autocad type software.
I get the unknown Error: OSEG and only some paths outline.
The only way I have found to fix it is to outline paths individually till I find the culprit path or paths and and either find the point in the path that is causing the error and remove it (which can be time consuming), or just delete the path all together and re-create a replacement. It seems to me there is a problem with Illustrator being able to handle certain path information it encounters that is causing the error.
I have been doing the same thing in all versions of Illustrator since the very first version that supported opening dxf files (so quite a few generations of Illustrator, pre CS I think) and this is the first time Illustrator has presented the problem with these types of files specifically.
I drew some strokes and then I was busy on another part of my image then when I looked back at the other part half of my strokes were not visible. Im not sure why. They are still there because I can select them and I can see them in outline mode but they are invisible in preview for some unknown reason. The stroke hasnt changed and the layers are all visible. I restarted and they came back.
Is there a way to draw a single line so that it appears to overlap like in the example below (right), instead of appearing to merge like it is doing as circled in red (left)?
