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Illustrator CS2

Objects following a path


Here are two ways to make an object follow a path: the first one, uses a Brush, while the second one involves the Blend Tool.

For both examples I’ll be using a circular path and a square.

Circular path and a square

The Brush method

Select the square and open the Brushes Palette. Click on the New Brush button and choose either New Scatter Brush or New Pattern Brush.

Brush Palette

Brush types

Once the brush is created, simply apply it to the path as you would with any other brush (select the path and click on the brush in the Brushes Palette).

The following image shows the resulting effect with a Scatter Brush. Settings used are shown below.

Scatter Brush result

Scatter Brush settings

Try playing with the settings to get different results.

Here’s the result after applying a Pattern Brush.

Pattern Brush result

Pattern Brush setting

Note that with the Pattern Brush the squares get distorted according to the path curvature.

The Blend Tool method

Make a copy of the square and move it away from the first one. With the Blend Tool create a blend between them.

I prefer to set the blend options after placing the objects on the final path, so that’s what I’m going to do here.

In order to create the blend, simply click on the first object, and then on the second. Notice how the mouse pointer changes when you put it over each object.

first object pointer second object pointer

Now, with the Scissors Tool click anywhere on the circular path in order to create an open path.

Select both circular path and the blend and go to Object » Blend » Replace Spine.

Replace Spine result

Don’t worry if your blend if the result you get at this point is different from mine, as we might be using different blend settings – but this will change now.

In order to change the blend settings, double-click on the Blend Tool (make sure that the “circular blend” is selected). Make the desired changes and click OK.

I haven’t tried to find out if this happens with others but I find that the preview for the blend in this case is sometimes far from being accurate, which forces me to trust my instincts more than what Illustrator is showing. If you think that you are in the same situation, simply click the OK button to view the real changes.

Blend Options

Result

{Update – March 18, 2007} If you are working with a closed path, keep in mind that since both start and end points overlap, the first and last objects from the blend will overlap as well, which will make it seem as if one object is missing. In order to overcome this, simply add one more step on the Blend Options.

Object Effects · Jan 21, 2007 ·