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Blend objects on the iPad

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Illustrator

Illustrator

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  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
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      1. Workspace basics
      2. Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
      3. Create documents
      4. Toolbar
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      7. Introduction to artboards
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      20. Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
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    3. Tools in Illustrator
      1. Tools at a glance
      2. Select tools
        1. Selection
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      7. Modify tools
        1. Rotate
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    4. Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
      1. Generate scenes, subjects, and icons using text prompts
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  3. Illustrator on the web (beta)
    1. Illustrator on the web (beta) overview
    2. Illustrator on the web (beta) FAQ
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    5. Create and combine shapes on the web
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    7. Apply colors and gradients on the web
    8. Draw and edit paths on the web
    9. Work with cloud documents on the web
    10. Invite collaborators to edit on the web
  4. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
      3. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad
      4. Manage your app settings
    3. Documents
      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
    4. Select and arrange objects
      1. Create repeat objects
      2. Blend objects
    5. Drawing
      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
      1. Apply colors and gradients
  5. Cloud documents
    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Share and collaborate on Illustrator cloud documents
      3. Share documents for review
      4. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      5. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  6. Add and edit content
    1. Drawing and dimensioning
      1. Drawing basics
      2. Edit paths
      3. Draw pixel-perfect art
      4. Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
      5. Draw simple lines and shapes
      6. Draw rectangular and polar grids
      7. Draw and edit flares
      8. Image Trace
      9. Simplify a path
      10. Symbolism tools and symbol sets
      11. Adjust path segments
      12. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      13. Create and edit a perspective grid
      14. Draw and modify objects on a perspective grid
      15. Use objects as symbols for repeat use
      16. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
      17. Measure and plot dimensions
    2. 3D objects and materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
      3. Map artwork over 3D objects
      4. Create 3D Text
      5. Create 3D objects
    3. Color
      1. About color
      2. Select colors
      3. Use and create swatches
      4. Adjust colors
      5. Use the Adobe Color Themes panel
      6. Color groups (harmonies)
      7. Color Themes panel
      8. Recolor your artwork
    4. Painting
      1. About painting
      2. Paint with fills and strokes
      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
      5. Brushes
      6. Transparency and blending modes
      7. Apply stroke on an object
      8. Create and edit patterns
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      10. Patterns
    5. Select and arrange objects
      1. Select objects
      2. Layers
      3. Group and expand objects
      4. Move, align, and distribute objects
      5. Snap objects to glyph
      6. Snap objects to Japanese glyph
      7. Stack objects    
      8. Lock, hide, and delete objects
      9. Copy and duplicate objects
      10. Rotate and reflect objects
      11. Intertwine objects
      12. Create realistic art mockups
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      1. Crop images
      2. Transform objects
      3. Combine objects
      4. Cut, divide, and trim objects
      5. Puppet Warp
      6. Scale, shear, and distort objects
      7. Blend objects
      8. Reshape using envelopes
      9. Reshape objects with effects
      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
      14. Live shapes
      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
    7. Type
      1. Add text and work with type objects
      2. Create bulleted and numbered lists
      3. Manage text area
      4. Fonts and typography
      5. Convert text within images into editable text
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      9. Format paragraphs
      10. Special characters
      11. Create type on a path
      12. Character and paragraph styles
      13. Tabs
      14. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      15. Arabic and Hebrew type
      16. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      17. Create 3D text effect
      18. Creative typography designs
      19. Scale and rotate type
      20. Line and character spacing
      21. Hyphenation and line breaks
      22. Spelling and language dictionaries
      23. Format Asian characters
      24. Composers for Asian scripts
      25. Create text designs with blend objects
      26. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    8. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Appearance attributes
      4. Create sketches and mosaics
      5. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      6. Summary of effects
    9. Web graphics
      1. Best practices for creating web graphics
      2. Graphs
      3. SVG
      4. Slices and image maps
  7. Import, export, and save
    1. Import
      1. Place multiple files
      2. Manage linked and embedded files
      3. Links information
      4. Unembed images
      5. Import artwork from Photoshop
      6. Import bitmap images
      7. Import Adobe PDF files
      8. Import EPS, DCS, and AutoCAD files
    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
    3. Save and export
      1. Save artwork
      2. Export artwork
      3. Create Adobe PDF files
      4. Adobe PDF options
      5. Use Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
      6. Collect assets and export in batches
      7. Package files
      8. Extract CSS | Illustrator CC
      9. Document info panel
  8. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
    2. Printing
      1. Overprint
      2. Print with color management
      3. PostScript printing
      4. Print presets
      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
      7. Trapping
      8. Print color separations
      9. Print gradients, meshes, and color blends
      10. White Overprint
  9. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  10. Troubleshooting 
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues
    3. Crash issues
    4. Recover files after crash
    5. File issues
    6. Supported file formats
    7. GPU device driver issues
    8. Wacom device issues
    9. DLL file issues
    10. Memory issues
    11. Preferences file issues
    12. Font issues
    13. Printer issues
    14. Share crash report with Adobe
    15. Improve Illustrator performance

Learn how to blend objects and shapes to create impressive illustrations, logos, and designs.

Illustrator on the iPad lets you evenly blend and distribute one or more objects of various shapes, patterns, and colors. When creating designs, you can add blended objects to a path using blend options.

Blend objects

Follow the steps below to blend objects:
  1. Draw an object using shape or drawing tools.
  2. Use fill and stroke tools to add colors to the object.
  3. Tap the Selection tool  , select an object or drag to select multiple objects. 
  4. Tap the Repeat panel   on the taskbar and select Blend tool   to blend objects.
  5. Modify blended objects using on-canvas controls.

Blend objects

 If you try blending objects that are not supported, the following message displays on the iPad: Can only make blends with paths and group of paths.

Modify blended objects

Change the instances of blended objects

  • To change the blend instances, tap the blended object and drag the Instances control on the canvas.
  • To move the blended object, tap the blended object and drag.
  • To increase or decrease the size of the blended object, tap the blended object and drag the bounding box.
  • To change the path of a blended object, select the object, tap the Direct selection tool     , and drag the anchor points of the path.
  • To use Blend options, select the blended object and tap the Properties panel   on the taskbar.

Customize blend options

Now that you have blended objects, you can set the following properties:

A) Tap the drop-down, select one of the following options:

Smooth: Auto-calculates and applies the number of steps between the blends.

Steps: Controls the number of steps between the start and end of the blend.

Distance: Controls the distance between the steps in the blend.

B) Value: Modify the value to  control the steps and distance between blends.

C) Align to canvas: Orients the blend perpendicular to the x-axis of the canvas.

D) Align to path: Orients the blend perpendicular to the path.

blend options
Blend options

E) Reverse front to back: Reverses the stacking order of the blended objects.

F) Reverse spine: Reverses the order of blend on its spine.

G) Replace spine: Replaces the spine with a blended object, see Replace spine.

Replace the spine with a blended object

A spine is a path along which the steps in a blended object are aligned. When creating logos, patterns, illustrations, or banners, the Replace Spine option lets you add blend along the path of the object.

Replace spine

Follow the steps below to swap the spine with a blended object:

  1. Create a spine using shape or drawing tools.
  2. Tap the Selection tool   and select the spine object and the blended object.
  3. In the Blend options, tap Replace spine   . 
  4. Tap Reverse spine   to reverse the order of blend on its spine. 

Tips and tricks

  • To select multiple objects, tap and hold the center of the touch shortcut icon and select each object one at a time.
  • When you select a blended object, a widget with controls display on the canvas. Use the controls to duplicate, ungroup, lock, move, or expand blended objects.
  • To replace the spine with blended objects, slide to the outer edge of the touch shortcut icon and hold. Drag the blended object to the spine.

To learn how to create and release blended objects using keyboard shortcuts, see keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad.

What's next

Now you can create unique blends to give an artistic look to your logos, posters, banners, and more. You can save your artwork as a Creative Cloud document, learn how to blend objects in Illustrator desktop, and continue your design journey.

Got a question or an idea?

Ask the Community

If you have a question or an idea, please share it with the Adobe Illustrator Community. 

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