Intertwine elements in Adobe Illustrator
You may have tried to alternately overlap or interlace lines or graphics in a logo or illustration in Illustrator. If so, you know that this requires a bit more effort, depending on how complex you want the representation to be ...
Previously, you had to overlay duplicates of the illustration that had been edited with clipping masks exactly where you wanted them in the foreground. The current version of Adobe Illustrator (from version 2023) simplifies this process considerably. The “Intertwine” function makes such things a piece of cake.
You can find the new command in the object menu a bit further down. You can choose between creating, transforming back and editing the Intertwine. Before you can apply the function, you must select two or more objects.
If you want to give it a try yourself, download the tutorial file via this link.
As soon as you perform the “Intertwine”, the cursor representation changes and you can apply either a freehand or rectangle selection at the point of the intertwine. The cursor icon gives you an indication of which type of selection it is. For the rectangle selection, you must also hold down the SHIFT key.
Then simply drag a selection around the areas where you want to create an intertwine. There, the lower element is now automatically brought to the foreground.
It looks like magic, but it’s exactly what you used to have to do manually. That’s because when you transform the appearance of an intertwine object, you can see in the Layers Panel that these are clipping masks.
For more information please also visit the Illustrator help files on the Adobe website. Enjoy this new feature that makes designing complex elements easier and faster.
Post image: © Afrimod Studio, Unsplash.com
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Anne Didelot
30 Jan 2023Toll ! Danke schön!