Creating a blend to a path

[steve_skelton13]

NOT Photodraw (yecch!), but mighty Illustrator or Freehand.... <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>
I came up with an idea last night (thanks to insomnia) and am trying to do it, but I can't figure out how to do the following: create a blend between two objects on a path of my choosing. Using the blend tool 'out of the box' allows the app to assign a boring straight line between two shapes. how do i tell the progs 'use THIS nifty squiggle'? everything I try gets the squiggle chosen as a target for the blend, which is innaresting but not wut i want.

I don't know of a decent forum for these products, and have always had good luck on WOW before, so fingers crossed i post here... <img src=/S/artist.gif border=0 alt=artist width=34 height=29>

[jolas]

Not an answer to your question but maybe worth considering. XaraX also a capable illustrator program for about half the price and probably twice or more the speed could easily do this type on a blending on a curved path. Free to try and see the demos for some impressive features here .

[Jezza]

<P ID="edit" class=small>(Edited by Jezza on 03-Sep-05 17:17. To add link to tutorial at macromedia site)</P>Steve

When I animate sometimes in Macromedia Fireworks I use Symbols. When creating an animation, say, a bird flying, you can break up the various parts of the the wings to move up and down...these seperate parts are called symbols....I imagime Freehand has something similar, sadly I cannot check as my old Freehand software is on an old PC under my desk...an idea that you may want to investigate.

Try this link Freehand tutorial

[steve_skelton13]

actually the goal initially was to do all this in Flash (BTW this is a project dreamed up in a fit of insomnia so it's a bit complex). I know you can do the 'distribute to layers' command and actually have a flash file that does a move tween on the nautilus curve, so it's kinda there already in one sense. I haven't experiemented with the ditribute command just yet...

However, I feel that doing this in some more intensive graphics package will give me lots more nifty options for building the image. OTOH, the other aspect of getting this to work is to make the blend images 'step' appropriately as well. out-of-the-box blends in Illustrator don't seem to give a whole lot of control on the distribution of the blend. Freehand's even worse in this regard (AFAIK).

Hmmm.... <img src=/S/hmmn.gif border=0 alt=hmmn width=15 height=15> You know, Flash might give me a lot of control in this area.... Let me try the distribute to layers and see just how it works.

The math involved is interesting. You build the blend path, fine. In order to set up the 'growth' of the nautilus you'd have to do something logarithmic-al. I haven't worked with logs in AGES. Something tells me Action scripting will give me what I need. Sheesh! Watta project. I will certainly learn alot, and if it works well, hey! a Flash Tutorial! <img src=/S/evilgrin.gif border=0 alt=evilgrin width=15 height=15>

<img src=/S/compute.gif border=0 alt=compute width=40 height=20>

[Jezza]

Steve

may have read this one wrong...when you say nautilus curve are you talking about a spiral similar to a nautilus shell...If so i can give you some ideas on how to build one...just confirm before I go rattling off on a tangent <img src=/S/pun.gif border=0 alt=pun width=22 height=18>

[steve_skelton13]

thanks but creating the curve I can do already. it was fun and why not go forward?? hence this thread, which is, at the time, not in a helpless spiral <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[Jezza]

Weeeelll as it is your thread and you invited, we shall take a journey into one of my favourite subjects Phi and the Fibonacci sequence

Phi approximates to 1.618

Fibonacci Sequence is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987...

As you progress through the series and divide a number in the series by the previous number it creates Phi or 1.618. The number is found throughout art and nature and I will leave this to your own investigation as this post could get veeerrryy loooong. It work out the distance between each arc of the curve in a nautilus shell at any point is the ratio of 1:1.618 <img src=/S/yep.gif border=0 alt=yep width=15 height=15>

This link takes you toThe golden rectangle and nautilus shells and gives you an indicator on how to build a spiral using ruler and compass and may give you some ideas on how to build your nautilus using centroids at the cross section of each point in the golden rectangle.

Even if you don't do this it is great reading if you are a closet <img src=/S/nerd.gif border=0 alt=nerd width=20 height=21> like me <img src=/S/evilgrin.gif border=0 alt=evilgrin width=15 height=15>

PS BTW the ratio of the sides of a golden rectangle is 1 :1.618 see addendum #3 for more details on how to draw it

[steve_skelton13]

heh heh heh.... my inner propellerhead already knows that page. <img src=/S/nerd.gif border=0 alt=nerd width=20 height=21> <img src=/S/nerd.gif border=0 alt=nerd width=20 height=21>

that's where I went to figure out how to draw the curve!
<img src=/S/coffeetime.gif border=0 alt=coffeetime width=32 height=48>
BUT, to forestall much mathima-nerdosity, riddle me this:

given a constructed curve of this type, how do you assign nodes and object growth on said curve?

for example, you have a sprite or something at point 0 and call that the Unit shape (make it a circle of course). where to next draw it and how big will it be at that point?

FWIW, the secret is in there already in my Flash animation, I ween, but when I did the distribute to layers bit on my motion tween, nada. I got a blank layer. User error? you bet. But with the mathematics, I feel an innaresting Action Script beginning to germ somewhere in the forebrain.

[MarkJ]

>>As you progress through the series and divide a number in the series by the previous number it creates Phi or 1.618

Also, each number is the sum of the previous two numbers. (I always remembered it that way rather than the division by Phi.)

[HansV]

> each number is the sum of the previous two numbers

That is the definition of the Fibonacci series.

[officespacer]

DaVinci code anyone?

[Jezza]

OK another moment has passed and i thought I would pass this on to you.

phi= (3- sqrt(5))/2

phi(c-a)=a+(1-phi)(c-a) reduced down

a=(2c -c/phi)/2

where the function lies in the interval [a,c]

I used excel and was able to plot the coordinates and get the graph below:


PS I was bored at lunchtime and it was a little challenge for me <img src=/S/nerd.gif border=0 alt=nerd width=20 height=21>

[steve_skelton13]

thanks for the graphic! I have another way of generating the curve, using geometry only. Set up a grid, make sure 'snap to grid' is on, and draw two unit squares next to each other. Then draw another larger square ON TOP of the smaller ones whose side is that of the two squares drawn before. Then draw another square to the RIGHT (if you want <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>) of the stacked squares with its' side the sum of the stacked squares. Continue with new squares in a spiral....

To create the spiral, take the pen tool and create a curve inside each drawn square that runs from one corner to the next (this is harder to describe than to show). You end up with something like the attached pic.

What I am trying to do, now that I have a nice path to do things with, is to (ideally) use this as a blend path so I can create a nice seashell pattern. I have converted this arc to a motion path in Flash and have a circle that traces it, but the intervening steps are what I am interested in, not the animation. So far I have avoided formulations but I can envision some kind of scripting algo that would give me what I want, maybe. The next step is to (either geometrically or analytically) determine how to specify an interval on the curve such that (say, for the green ball here) you draw another, larger image.... I suppose you can just draw a circle from the 'center' and knock out rays based on the focus but the curve doesn't fit a circle, so that solution is really not good enough.

hmmm <img src=/S/hmmn.gif border=0 alt=hmmn width=15 height=15>... geez, and i am trying to actually get some work done today!

[Jezza]

Steve

I know this is an old post, but do you know off the top of your head if you can import coordinates from an external file into Flash...I have an idea I want to put past you <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[steve_skelton13]

yes, this is an old one! BTW, I haven't made any progress as the whole thing is probably not going to end up being used any time soon.

but what do you mean by 'import coordinates from an external file into Flash'? I'm sure you know about Import to Stage...used to bring in graphics to Flash.