I am finding this question particular hard to word, so please bear with me. I have a particular vector object that is irregularly shaped (in this case, it is an "r" that I traced with the pen tool), and I want to create another object that is a certain radius out from the original object... Here's an image to illustrate:
The solid-stroke "R" is the original object, and the dotted-stroke "R" is my desired object. Any way in Illustrator to derive this?
If you want a seperate object that you can then do other things with without needing to expand the original, rather than another stroke that is tied to the same object, you can use Offset Path ( Object menu > Path > Offset Path ).
Note how in the example it's adding a new separate object with its own seperate fill.
The new object will usually be grouped with the original - you can either ungroup, or drag the new stuff out from the group in the layers palette, or double-click into isolation mode then cut and paste it out.
Add a new stroke via the Appearance Panel.
Highlight the new stroke in the Appearance panel and choose Effect > Path > Offset Path
Tick "preview" and insert a number for the offset you want.
