Vectors to follow a path.

[Pixelcrazee]

Hi there...
okay I cannot explain this very well...but what I want to do is
have an elipse or other vector shape copy and follow the path of another path, shape, an elipse, rectangle etc., I can do it on a circle but I dont know
how or if its possible on a different shape.
Here is a screenshot of what I mean....is it possible without doing it manually?
thaks.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/Pixelcrazee/ss.jpg

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

I too have wanted to do this on non-ellipses. I thought one way might be via Effect>Distort and Transform>Transform but it just cannot be tweaked to get thie effect. Though Transform is very powerful- check it out for other work.


Some kind of step and repeat should work but it is setting that centre point that is the issue for this one. Lets see what others can come up with.

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

Here is a way to do this. Though would need some tweaking if you needed/wanted the circles to touch.

Create a small circle and shift/alt drag a copy a fair distance away but in a line. Select both. Select the Blend tool (Double click to set specified steps - I chose about 30 then 60). Click on the exact centre point of each of the two circles to create the blend with identical sized copies (do not worry if they overlap).

Draw out your shape to apply the circles to. Select all (the blend and the new path/shape - no fill!). Then go Object>Blend>Blend Options and Replace Spine.

Objects now distributed around the shape but with a gap. Take the scissors tool and cut any at one anchor point. Now you should have an even distribution of the objects. As I said though you will have to play with blend steps etc., to see if you can get the right number of objects so that they touch if that is what you need.

Anyhow this will work, though likely other forum members with more experience than I can suggest better ways to do this. [If you have InDesign though you can use Type on a path with selected objects (instead of text) and do the job this way - much better in my opinion. But that is another story.]

Further thoughts:. You can Expand appearance after to be able to fill and stroke the separate objects and also scale up the size etc. Before expanding you can pull out the path to force distribute the objects - then expand and scale back down to required size. There might be a way to select and distribute the objects though I tried the Align panel commands (you can get some neat effects - eye shapes etc this way) but it did not give me exactly what I was after.

[Pixelcrazee]

Thanks for your reply :)
well, I had a go at what you suggested but it needs an awful lot
of tweaking..and I still dont have it aligned properly.The time it takes to do that I can do it manually by placing a quarter of them and copying and pasting the rest.
The other story interests me. <g>...I have never really used Indesign
but I have a copy of CS2 ...I had a look inside and I cannot find how
to type on a path with an object?
thanks for you help.

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

Great - you are gonna love this in InDesign (I tested it in CS2 to see if it works and it does). I use CS3 now. You cannot do this in Illustrator - Amazingly!

Make your object (to repeat) and select and copy it (Edit copy).

Draw the object you want to place the other repeats on and select the type on a path tool. Click on the path and Ctrl V to paste - keep pasting until you have almost closed the path (Set Para Style to Justify all lines to evenly space. This tip courtesy of Jeff Witchel - Thanks Jeff!).

You can apply any text on a path options, flip to inside, add rainbow, skew etc.,afterwards. In InDesign you can add strokes (dashed etc and add a separate color to gap spaces which is cool in and of itself)on direct selected objects etc., to create some amazing stuff. In some areas InDesign reigns supreme over even Illustrator! Try it ya gonna love it.

Let me know if you try it and like it. Post an example so others can see what can be done.

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

This is what you cannot do in Illustrator with Type on A Path Tool.

A nice simple example to show the power here. One object is stroked with dotted format to show that you can fill the dot with a color and a separate color for the gaps. Also InDesign does better at filling strokes with gradients than Illu.

See what you think. I copied the first and did a text flip on the copy and then alliged to make it look like each is a pair. Just a simple example.

[Pixelcrazee]

Ha!....excellent!...love it!....thanks muchly :)
Wont quite work for me in this case.....as it needs to be perfectly aligned
and in ID on the smaller sides of the main elipse there appears to be more
space than on the longers sides between the objects...even after justifying.
It will still give me hours of play doing other things though...lol
Will play some more tomorrow oh what fun :)
thanks again :)

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

Play with Kerning/Leading etc as well as the align options in the Type on a path options to see if that helps. I bet you can do this really well on ellipses and ovals. Not quoite as well on rectangles of course because of the edges.

The only thing I do not like about InDesign here is that you have to manually select each object to apply different effects. You cannot do any shift selecting to grab more than one.

[Scott Weichert]

Pattern brush.

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

Right......!

BUT... they are still not absolutely evenly spaced on ovals. Only (presumably) on perfect ellipses. There is always that odd fellow out of place with these things (and unlike with blends and replaced spines) cutting with the scissors does nothing to resolve it.

IGNORE that last silly remark. I realize you can set the parameters for the brush to get even spacing.

[Pixelcrazee]

Pattern brush.

Like doh!.....staring at me in the face...
talk about can't see the wood for the tree s
Thanks

[Scott Weichert]

........

:)