problems with blend-tool 1

[gulbro]

Whenever I try and use this tool, I get a black area an no decent gradient (like it is shown in various books and the Illustrator help!). Checked various options.
Would really appreciate any advise!!! tanks
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[askIllustrator]

This is a tricky tool to say the least. I failed me as recently as today. It's never really discussed in illustrator manuals but there is such a thing as "point ordering". This simply means that a shape numbers its points in the order they are created starting with 0. So a clean shape would have its points all in order going clockwise or counter clockwise(0,1,2,3..). One problem with the blend tool is that it uses the number of points and their order to create blends, not the contour of the shape as it should. In later versions AI has been pretty good about reording shapes while it blends but you can always select the shape by itself and hit "unite" in the pathfinder to "re-build" the shape with its points in order (you wonts see anything happen, it just reorders the points).

The biggest roadblock however is the number of points and their relation to each other. If you make a copy of a square and paste it in front, then shrink it and apply a blend it does so very smoothly. The reason for this is that both sets of points had exactly the same number and order.

Luckily the blend tool is now 'live' meaning that you can play with the starting and ending shapes till you get what you want. Try adding points with pen tool till the weird shards start to disappear.

Also, when two shapes are blended a line segment is created between them. You can add points and edit this segment like any path and the blend will follow it so have fun. BEHOLD! As Steve Jobs introduces us the latest in desk-lamp technology!

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