The Illustrator blend tool allows you to object color or to create repeated shapes. There is flexibility with this tool to blend two open paths to create a smooth transition between objects, or you can combine blends of colors and objects to create color transitions in the object’s shape.
Once you create a blend, the blended objects are treated as one object. If you move one of the original objects, or edit the original object’s anchor points, the blend changes accordingly. In addition, the new objects blended between the original objects don’t have their own anchor points.
To divide the blend, you will need to both expand an object and ungroup it.
Create a blend with the Blend tool
Select the Blend tool.
- To blend in sequential order, click anywhere on each object, but avoid anchor points.
- To blend to a specific anchor point on an object, click the anchor point with the Blend tool. When the pointer is over an anchor point, the pointer changes from a white square to transparent with a black dot in its center.
- To blend open paths, select an endpoint on each path.
When you are finished adding objects to the blend, click the Blend tool again.
Create a blend using the menu
This allows you to specify the ‘steps’ of a blend. Select the objects you want to blend.
Choose Object > Blend > Blend Options. Set the specified steps. Then Object >Blend > Make.
Again, you can ungroup and expand to individually select each shape.
Table of Contents:
00:17 – Reasons to use blend
01:09 – Blend tool with shape
02:02 – Blending strokes
03:11 – Creating blend steps
