Artists often use blends to create highlights and shadows in vector drawings that provide the illusion of roundness and lighting. In addi- tion, you can use blends to copy and evenly distribute objects around shapes to create borders. Canvas can blend solid color inks only. If you blend objects with hatches, symbols, textures, or gradients, Canvas generates the blend objects but doesn’t fill them with an ink. Using blends for dimensional effects By specifying a high number of blend objects, you can create gradual transitions between shapes and colors. With the appropriate settings, colors seem to fade and mix into each other, and the blend objects do not appear as distinct objects. This effect is often used to add realistic highlights and shadows to objects so they appear three-dimensional. To blend objects Select two or more vector objects. If necessary, choose Blend in the Effects menu to open the palette. Configure the settings and click Apply. # of shapes. The number of objects Canvas creates for the blend. Higher numbers result in smoother blends. Rainbow colors. Creates a rainbow-like blend of colors between objects. This intro- duces more color variations than a standard blend, which uses only combinations of the original colors. When you turn on this option, two buttons appear; choose a clockwise or counter-clockwise path around the color wheel. Bind to a path. Turn on to use the path of an object (not in the current selection) to arrange blend objects. When you click Apply, Canvas prompts you to Choose Path; click the object to which you want to bind the blend objects. Point to point. Available when blending two objects. This option lets you rotate blend objects, creating the illusion that one object is twisting into another. When you click Apply, Canvas prompts you to Choose 1st Point; click an anchor point on one object. Canvas then prompts you to Choose 2nd Point; click an anchor point on the other object. To reverse the blend direction, Option- click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Win- dows) when you choose the two points. Dynamic. Lets you use the Direct Selection tool (hollow arrow) to accelerate, deceler- ate, expand, contract, and redirect the blend after Canvas creates it. Dynamic blends aren’t available for specialized objects, such as multigons, spi- rals, concentric circles, and grids.
Canvas 8 Help: Vector effects (11 of 27)                                                            Page #471