- This chapter covers two great topics
that work great together, object blends and clipping masks.
And despite the fact that Adobe introduced
both features in 1988,
the same year I wrote my first book on Illustrator,
object blends and clipping masks
continue to rank among this program's most powerful
and flexible capabilities.
An object blend is a kind of connective tissue
that Illustrator draws between two or more path outlines.
Illustrator what it calls steps to create
sequential intervals that blend both color and contour.
The upshot is that you can use object blends
to create all together custom gradients,
great for expressing reflective highlights
as well as rough color transitions
as we're seeing here in this cartoon grass.
You can also incrementally morph one path into another,
allowing you to create transitional patterns
and other dazzling visual effects.
Clipping masks are conceptually simpler
but no more powerful.
A clipping mask lets you take a bunch of objects,
including one or more object blends if you like
and place them inside another path.
In other words clipping masks permits you to create
paths inside paths which is essential
for creating something as elaborate
as our friend the frankly absurd NecroWalrus.
As with all of Illustrator's best features,
you can edit object blends and clipping masks
any time you like.
Change the color or shape of a blended path
and the entire shape sequence updates immediately.
Edit the outline of a mask, edit the stuff inside the mask,
set one mask inside another, really anything is possible.
Truly it warms my heart to see these 28 year old features
hold up better than many half their age.
Here's hoping I'm still relevant when I turn 28.