Tell me more ×
Graphic Design Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional graphic designers and non-designers trying to do their own graphic design. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

I'm trying to create a 'chain' like pattern that arcs round using the blend tool in Illustrator cs5.

enter image description here

This is what I get (the straight chain is the one I would like to replicate). The blend tool insists on 'warping' the chain links if I put them on a curved spine. I'm not really sure how else I could achieve this effect. Can someone point me in the right direction?

share|improve this question
Have you tried creating an art brush and adjusting the properties? – danferth May 1 '12 at 16:16
I can get close with a scatter brush but it doesn't handle the corners too well and looks somewhat jagged - img824.imageshack.us/img824/9751/image2yk.jpg – boz May 1 '12 at 16:35
Scatter brushes "scatter" so they are meant to look a bit "jagged". You want a pattern brush. – Scott May 1 '12 at 17:21

1 Answer

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I would be using a pattern brush for this. Yes the corners can be tricky. But corners are always tricky for pattern brushes. It merely takes some time to construct the proper corners. These corners aren't perfect, but give an idea about the corner construction.

This image shows a pattern brush. The images at the top show the pattern tiles. The areas in yellow show the defining rectangles used in the pieces. This brush is obviously larger in nature. That was done to show it clearly. It can easily be scaled to a smaller size with only three clicks of a mouse.

enter image description here

share|improve this answer
awesome - this is just what I was after. thanks a lot! – boz May 1 '12 at 19:07

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.