Blend tool for Adobe Illustrator guide

Blend tool Illustrator

Rapidly change the design by selecting the inner circle of the blend by using the direct selection tool in Illustrator

Change the colour of the blend ‘live’ by using the direct selection tool and changing the fill colour of the first or second blended object

Change the shape of the blend by using the direct selection # tool - again, all totally live so any number of point changes can be made

Using the blend tool and the selected objects, the two objects (or more) do not need to contain the same number of points etc

You don’t have to use two objects, you can use three or more. Click on the first and then second and then third

You can reverse the spine so the the first object becomes the last and so on - find the reverse spine command in the object menu for the blends

The number of steps as well as the method for the blend is not fixed, it is still live. Select the blend and double click the blend tool to display the options and increase or decrease the steps etc

You can modify the spine of the blend by using the direct selection tool to create all kinds of variant designs from the same selection of objects

You can also select another path and then replace the current spine using the blend menu replace spine command - though sometimes it does mean that the design does require an update of steps etc

text can be used Text can also be used in the blend so select two or more strings and use the blend tool. Does not have to be the same text string but that probably works best

text can be used

text can be used The text strings don’t have to be the same font or font size etc

text can be used

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All number of type effects can be created using combinations of strings and different font sizes and more than two objects

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The edit menu and adjust color can be used to modify the blend colors ‘live’

You can also change the colors using the color guide feature in Illustrator

Live effects can be added to blend and changed at any point

Gradients can be used with blend tool and blended from one color set of stops to another as well as rotated and scaled etc

Strokes can be used and blended (again, live) and you can use 30pt blended to 0.5pt etc or the other way around

All number of combinations of strokes can be blended - this one is a four object blend with different stroke widths and color

The blend tool can also blend strokes with variable width profiles and the blend is still live and can be tweaked using the width tool

You can expand the blend very quickly via the object menu expand command

The results of blends can be modified in many ways, especially after being expanded

You can create interesting pencil designs using blends of the pencil tool

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You can blend text with just plain objects, the results are not often that great

Great for interesting frame blends using two rectangles

Blend two paths and then use the direct selection tool to select the inner object and then add points using object menu and paths ‘add points’ and then use the direct selection tool to select those new points to create a more interesting frame

Use the direct selection tool to select the inner object of the frame and then use with live effects to create an interesting border / frame roughen effect

Use the blend tools with a couple of abstract paths and blend and then use the expand path command and ungroup and rotate and scale to create abstract backgrounds and textures in seconds

You can create all kinds of interesting designs by using the blend tool with the effect menu transform command and copies and change the angle and scale as well as the shape of the two blend objects (with direct selection tool)

The blend tool can be found in the toolbar. This document has only scraped the surface of the possible ways of using the blend tool in Illustrator. You can also use the blend tool with third party tools such as Mirrorme.

The results of the blend tool can be exported to Photoshop etc. Adobe and Illustrator are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Document is by graphicxtras.com / Andrew Buckle December 2017

Even symbols can be combined with the blend tool and the result can be used as a new symbol and used with the symbol sprayer etc as well as with the blend tool again

Many different blends can be applied such as steps and distance and smooth

You can also use the blend tool with objects created using the blob brush

You c an use the blend tool with objects created by third party plugins such as the wave tool

Use the result of the blend tool with clipping masks

All kinds of colourful artworks can be generated using the blend tool and results of the blends

You can blend gradients in all kinds of ways with the blend tool