Illustrator - Scale and Bend Shapes along a Path - Get them to Point in the Right Direction

[@tessellatiaartilery8197]

Thank you very much Helen. Your video tutorials are the best out there. You are simply our queen of Illustrator!

[@HelenBradley]

Wow, thank you!

[@gregangwin4714]

This is great. The conversion to a brush is an ideal solution and much more versatile.

[@HelenBradley]

I am so happy you liked that technique.

[@gregangwin4714]

@@HelenBradley Yes, I used it for a text logo design.

[@HelenBradley]

That's cool!

[@lumaraephotography3737]

Wasn't what I was looking for but you are great at explaining simply and effectively. Learned something new! Thanks!

[@HelenBradley]

Great to hear!

[@mitamarcus1916]

Thank you Helen! What a smart solution!

[@HelenBradley]

Glad you like it!

[@weepingwillow_]

thank you so much, honestly did learn this at school but thanks to you i relearnt it with amazing instructions!

[@HelenBradley]

Glad it helped!

[@VintageArcader]

wow that was pretty straight-forward other youtubers need to understand we need videos to be straight-forward like this, we haven't got all day to watch videos. thank you so much Helen this video saved me alot of time :)

[@HelenBradley]

I appreciate your comment Meer. I try to get to the point and not waffle too much. I am glad the video saved you time.

[@johngobelinus3840]

Wow, amazing! I banged my head on this problem for so long, and you solved it in five minutes. Thank you so much!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome John! I'm glad I could help. Thanks for stopping by my channel.

[@MrSmith_]

Thank you so much Helen, your tutorials are golden. I truly appreciate you taking the time and effort to show us these amazing tutorials.

[@HelenBradley]

Thank you so much. I am glad you liked the video.

[@thisisstupid7805]

Woman you are a lifesaver!!!!

[@HelenBradley]

Ha! Thanks Jacob :)

[@ellieleydsman8833]

Great tutorial. Just the solution I was looking for. Thank you.

[@HelenBradley]

Glad it helped

[@siporfavor]

Thanks Helen!

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasure!

[@siporfavor]

@@HelenBradley quick question. Is there a way to scale down the shapes with its fixed proportion along the path? Tried it for some star shapes and it keeps giving me distorted star shapes 🫤

[@HelenBradley]

This is a really good question. I suggest you take a look at this video as it explains a possible solution to the problem of shapes distorting along a path. While it is not exactly on point, you could probably adapt this solution to your blend - but use lines for the blend and then apply the brush to the lines once they are expanded: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6q6g41vibmJkNk

[@Rockac]

Awesome, it helped me a lot ! Thank you so much !

[@HelenBradley]

Really happy to hear this.

[@mycottageheart]

I love making brushes and this is better than some other options I have come up with for this sort of marking.

[@HelenBradley]

I'm glad the tutorial helped, Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@mycottageheart]

I stop by your channel all the time! Glad its available

[@joart6885]

Thanks Helen, it helped my job a lots

[@HelenBradley]

So good to hear.

[@TickleMeCthulhu]

This just helped me a LOT on a freelance job. Thank you so much for posting!

[@HelenBradley]

I'm so glad! Thanks for letting me know.

[@therenegade1680]

Just what i needed. Great tutorial. Thank you so much!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome!

[@hananochikai]

thank you so much. ♥

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome 😊

[@hammadshams]

Wow, superb, That is very a clever way to achieving the desired results. Thank you.

[@HelenBradley]

Glad it was helpful!

[@مرتضىصبري-ب4ج]

very useful tutorial thank you so much I learn to much from you I wish to go forawrd in success

[@HelenBradley]

Great to hear.

[@catherinepolak]

Wow, thank you so much!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome!

[@macrumpton]

Excellent tip! I have wrestled with this many times, and usually end up just tediously positioning things manually. This is a better way.

[@HelenBradley]

Great news Michael. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I used to find this a bit cumbersome to do, but once you've done it a few times it really becomes second nature and it saves so much time when working with curved lines. I wish you all the best with your new Illustrator skills.

[@deantdire]

that literally saved me hours, thank you so much Helen..

[@HelenBradley]

I am so happy to hear this.

[@kosaladissanayake8055]

Thank You

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome

[@trottrot100]

Thank yoh su muchh ladyy

[@HelenBradley]

I am happy to be of help.

[@iamstucky]

'Spectacularly unsuccessful' LOL! Loving your tuts. I prefer indeed when there is no music, for I consider it distracting. You are also straight to the point and such clearness in your voice... I wonder which accent is it? Keep the good job! Best from Rio!

[@HelenBradley]

Hola Rio! I am Australian so that's where the accent is from although I live in the US. I am so glad that you enjoy the videos and thank you for taking the time to tell me :) I hate music on videos when I watch them so not including them in my videos is a choice I make to spare you from the same annoyance! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.

[@iamstucky]

@@HelenBradley ✨⭐️⭐️

[@coriineo]

Thanks a lot!

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasure!

[@adobecow]

excellent video, super informative, and provides a solution to a problem lots of other videos don't.

[@HelenBradley]

Thank you for the kind words and for stopping by my channel.

[@shirakdankha5030]

THANK YOU

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasure!

[@idmimagineeringCOUK]

Wonderful! :-) √ Thank you.

[@HelenBradley]

Happy to help

[@freckspecks]

Another fantastic tutorial, Helen. Thank you!!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome. Thank you for the kind words and for stopping by my channel.

[@wearefitarmy9327]

Beautiful video.. very concise and helpful.

[@HelenBradley]

I'm glad it was helpful! Thanks for visiting my channel.

[@nacefsofiene4828]

thank you helen...so useful and smart way to do...

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, I am glad this video helped. Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@shadostorm8375]

This helped me. Thanks Helen.

[@HelenBradley]

You are welcome! Thank you for checking out my channel.

[@Pankaj-Verma-]

Great help! Thank you very much!

[@HelenBradley]

You are welcome! I am glad to hear that the tutorial was useful! Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@saranyabhoopathi3663]

Thanku so much....

[@HelenBradley]

Most welcome 😊

[@morgantyree]

Another brilliant tutorial Ms. B!

[@HelenBradley]

Thank you for your kind words and for stopping by my channel.

[@ninaj84]

How do you do this without a blended shape, though? I have an expanded shape that isn't made from a blend and I need to bend it around an S Curve..can't find a solution to this yet and I've been looking everywhere. thanks!

[@HelenBradley]

The only thing I can think of is to make it into an Art Brush and try that. It will distort around the S curve but that might work for you? Check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5qYXn1rnKqAh68

[@ninaj84]

Excellent, I'll check that out! Thank you so much!@@HelenBradley

[@kenwin916]

Hi is there a way to apply this to a fill? but bending with direction of the shape like this tutorial? If so, how? Many thanks

[@장용익-c6u]

Thank you for a great tutorial.

[@HelenBradley]

You are welcome, thank you for stopping by my channel!

[@luketurner6015]

Brilliant ! Just what I needed. Thanks

[@HelenBradley]

So glad the video was helpful! Thank you for checking out my channel.

[@babilonios]

What if the line is, let’s say a stem and the pattern are the leaves, they are perpendicular to the stem and decreasing size. Thanks very much for the tutorial, it is gold.

[@damascuscode]

Thank you soooo much Helen! I’ve been trying to figure this out for awhile now. It was easy to do in Freehand, but not so in Illustrator.

[@HelenBradley]

You're very welcome! I'm happy to hear I could help out. Thanks for visiting my channel.

[@riyanciemathews3190]

Thank you for a great tutorial

[@HelenBradley]

Thanks for stopping by my channel and taking the time to comment Riyancie.

[@qw261]

Really helpful tutorial! Thanks a lot!

[@HelenBradley]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SharynAlice]

Excellent Tutorial. This was EXACTLY what I needed to create circus flags.

[@HelenBradley]

That's awesome news Sharyn. It will help you with exactly your issue. Glad you found the video.

[@abinogaming5541]

nice work helpful

[@HelenBradley]

Thanks

[@dylandray8]

Thanks for this great lesson. I'm not even doing the shapes along a bent path but I wanted to blend 8 triangles from large to small. I did the blend with 8 triangles but they aren't spaced out how I would like, they either overlap or have gaps. I wanted each triangle touching but not overlapping. I tried moving an individual triangle but it is grouped together as a path I guess. I tried ungrouping it so I could manually move it but It says in object that it is isn't grouped so no ungroup option

[@HelenBradley]

So, here's what you do. Make your 8 triangles and arrange them in the order you want them to be in. Then select them all and click on one to make it the key object - it should have a darker color around it. Open the align panel and set it to Align to key object. Then use the Distribute Spacing option set to 0 (vertical or horizontal as appropriate) to position them so they have 0 spacing between them. Let me know if you still have problems? I think it's a great question so I will soon make a video for you for this channel to answer this.

[@dylandray8]

@@HelenBradley Thank you so much for your quick response. I will let you know how it goes ;)

[@dylandray8]

Success!

[@annafromm6]

This was super useful! Thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

Awesome news Anna, I am so glad this was of help to you.

[@claidheamdanns]

Great tutorial Helen! One video and I subscribed!

[@HelenBradley]

I am so glad Gavin. Hope you find some more Illustrator videos that you like here.

[@kejlonix5357]

that's exactly what I searching for!

[@HelenBradley]

Great to hear.

[@nizamuddinshaikh3185]

Excellent tutorial, I learnt a new topic. Thanks.

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, I'm glad I could help. Thanks for visiting my channel.

[@xlixlixli1]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, Thanks for stopping by my channel.

[@pat4005]

Wow! I don’t know what to say, but thank you for another great tutorial. I know I would never have thought of that. Could that be applied to a circle?

[@HelenBradley]

Pat you can apply this effect to any shape including a circle. Let me know if you run into problems. Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@JohnGilbertmoore]

Tight.

[@musakazimargun]

thanks a lot!

[@HelenBradley]

You are welcome! Thank you for checking out my channel.

[@aliciajoohee]

great teacher!!!!! well explained tutorial. thank youuuu so much

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, Thank you for the kind words and for stopping by my channel.

[@StoneGnome]

How would you align a single object to a path? So it tilts according to the path?

[@HelenBradley]

In illustrator it is possible to make a path into a guide. What I would do is make a duplicate of the path itself and then go to the View menu and create a guide from that path. Then you should be able to align objects to the path so you’d be aligning the bottom of an object presumably to the path which is now a guide. If you still have questions let me know what isn’t working for you and I’ll have a look at it.

[@pomade34]

Super vidéo! Merci

[@HelenBradley]

Vous êtes les bienvenus, merci de visiter ma chaîne!

[@JTgatoring]

Awesome! This has helped so much, thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, I'm happy to help. Thanks for visiting my channel.

[@zizaart1199]

Thank you! You've helped me a lot.

[@HelenBradley]

Great news!

[@muratz1]

Smart. 👍

[@HelenBradley]

I am glad you think so! Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@riyanciemathews3190]

Hello Helen, could you please do a video on how to space objects evenly on a spine with an open path using the blend tool? Many thanks.

[@HelenBradley]

Great question Riyancie. Unfortunately it isn't that easy to do - especially if the shapes are different sizes. Is that what you are trying to do? Are your blended shapes different sizes?

[@riyanciemathews3190]

@@HelenBradley I've been experimenting on both, even sized and differently sized. ( I must tell you that I am not a designer but a beginner at AI). I found if the shapes are say progressing or diminishing in size, the "appearance" of uneven distribution is more. But actually its not that they are uneven. If you take the midpoints of shapes they ARE evenly distributed. So I guess there should be a workaround to distribute shapes based on the outer edges, while keeping the path intact. It seems not possible in AI. But I am on the lookout for a plugin or any other workaround. Any advice Helen?

[@HelenBradley]

You are exactly right - the spacing is calculated with reference to midpoints and not the edges so, if the shapes change in size along the spine, they are spread out further or squashed up. Right now I have no solution to this issue but I know a lot of people are looking for one so if I find one or work it out, I'll let you know.

[@riyanciemathews3190]

Thank you Helen your time to help. Appreciate very much.

[@ruchabodas1777]

@@riyanciemathews3190 I had the same problem. I ended up doing that manually. :( Now I'm wondering if the distribute spacing option in the align panel would've worked

[@tuccifml]

Absolutely brilliant....O_O

[@HelenBradley]

I am so glad you liked this Fernando.

[@tuccifml]

@@HelenBradley I'm glad that you do this beautiful work...Your lessons are pretty clear and easy to follow...thanks...I'll watch every single one of them...

[@HelenBradley]

That is so nice of you to say Fernando.

[@felicitree]

what is the typeface you used in your thumbnail?

[@HelenBradley]

Isn't it awesome Felicity? It is called Crushed. Best of all it is a free font - here's the link to download it for PC and Mac: www.1001freefonts.com/crushed.font Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by my channel

[@hossamemam5299]

I couldn't apply for photos

[@HelenBradley]

No, it won't generally work for photos, sorry. Photos aren't typically something that Illustrator can handle. You can do it in Photoshop however, if you have a recent version which includes the new Pattern Scripting tool.

[@barefacedquestions]

Hi Helen. Can you help me solve a problem regarding patterns along path? I want to create a globe icon like this: ibb.co/jgKFv8 But I used the blend tool with "replace spine" and the result was terrible like this: ibb.co/iXB9oT. In particular, the marks along the round curve looks nothing like it's supposed to be. I was able to do that with pattern brush, but I remember someone using the blend tool and it works just like the first image. Wonder if you can see what the problem is?

[@HelenBradley]

You are half way there - so keep what you have. Open your Layers palette and select the blend. Double click the Blend tool and locate the icon for 'Align to Path' - there are two choices - align to path and align to page - you want align to path. Then, in the Layers palette, inside the blend group will be your two lines and the path you are using as your spine. Click to select only one of the lines and now use the Selection tool to slowly rotate it - by rotating each line - 180 degrees you will find a point at which all your lines are facing the right direction - just test it out! I just did it while checking my instructions for you and it worked just perfectly. Check out the 'before' in the top left and the 'after' in the bottom right: ibb.co/exbrso I hope this helps you?

[@barefacedquestions]

Helen, thank you so much for taking your time out to help a stranger. I finally get it, and I'm very touched by your generosity.

[@HelenBradley]

I am so glad it worked Trang. That is fantastic, thank you for letting me know.

[@blainemurphy1351]

THIS DID NOT WORK FOR ME

[@HelenBradley]

I am sorry to hear that Blaine. If you can tell me what did not work I will try and assist.

[@BANGLATUTORIALTV]

thank you

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome