Live Trail, like its counterpart Trail Tool, creates a series of copies of an object. By controlling the size, tint, location, and color of the copies, you can convey changes in the appearance or location of the object. The copies created by the Live Trail will be grouped. The Live Trail can be used with one of more objects. If multiple objects are selected, the Live Trail will copy them individually, whether grouped or not.
Original object can be edited, and the effect will automatically update.
Example:
From sample file live_trail_01.ai
- Create new document (set Units as Points) from “Illustrator > File > New…” menu.
- Select “Illustrator > Window > FILTERiT5 > Live Trail” menu. “FILTERiT5: Live Trail” panel will open.
- Create a rectangle on document’s artboard. Use Illustrator’s “Rectangle Tool” and draw a rectangle. Set Width to 100 pt, Height to 50 pt, and match color mode to the document’s setting.
- Select the rectangle.
- From the panel menu (located on the upper right corner), select “Default Settings.”
- Click “Apply” button on the panel.
- In “To…” group, change “Angle(°)” to 360, “Size H(%)” and “Size V(%)” to 20.
- In “Center of Transform” group, change “Distance” to 100 pt. If “Show Center Mark” is checked, cross-hair guide appears on the document as the center of the transform. If it is not visible, try to uncheck and check again.
- In “Trail” group, move “Length” slider from left to right and see how object changes.
- Change the shape or color of the rectangle on the document.
- Change settings on the panel by referring to the following paragraph.
Setting items:
Stacking
The first option in the Live Trail palette determine whether the copies will be created above or below the original.Beginning
Beginning determines the fill and stroke tint of the first copy. Remember that the original is not included. If the intent is to create a smooth blend from the original with a tint of 100% to a final copy with a lower tint value, the first copy should be at a tint slightly less than 100%.Steps
Steps determines the number of copies that will be created.Space
The three Space options allow you to specify the relative positions of the copies.Dec: The Deceleration option groups the copies closer together toward the end of the drag.
Uni: With Uniform selected, the copies will be evenly spaced throughout the drag.
Acc: The Acceleration option results in copies that are grouped farther apart toward the end of the drag.To.... (Group Box)
The options in the To.... box determine the characteristics of the final copy. The Live Trail will uniformly blend over distance the characteristics from the original to the final copy. Remember that the blend is created over distance, rather than by the number of copies created, so the Decelerate and Accelerate options may affect the appearance of the copies.Color
The two swatches represent the fill color (left) and the stroke color (right) of the final copy. There are several ways to change the fill or stroke color in the palette.・ You can click on the swatches to change them to the color of the currently-selected object. (You should choose a different color-selection option if multiple objects are selected on the Artboard.)
・ You can hold down the Alt key to sample colors from any object on the Artboard, selected or not.
・ With no object selected on the Artboard, you can click the swatches in the Live Trail palette to select the current foreground and background colors in the Colors palette.
・ You can also use any of the four buttons below the swatches. The rectangular button labeled "OBJECT" will apply the fill or stroke color of the currently-selected object. When multiple objects are selected on the Artboard, the Live Trail will produce copies for each in the original object's colors. For example, if an object with a red stroke and an object with a blue stroke are both selected on the Artboard and the Object option is chosen for the stroke color, the copies of the red-stroked object will have red strokes; the copies of the blue-stroked object will have blue strokes. The three square buttons below the Object button represent, from left, white, black, and None. If any of these are selected for either the fill or stroke, the final copy will have that attribute.
・ You can also select a color by Option (Alt for Windows) clicking on the swatches and the Color Picker will appear on your desktop.The two-headed arrow between the color swatches in the Live Trail palette will swap the colors between fill and stroke.
Note: Because Illustrator allows only one color mode per document, the To: fill and stroke colors must be of the same color mode as the document, either CMYK or RGB. (Grayscale will be converted to the document's color mode.)
Tint
Tint determines the tint of the final copy as a percentage of the To.... fill and stroke. Note that Tint will be over-ridden by "Object" as a selection for the fill or the stroke.Opacity
Opacity determines the opacity of the final copy as a percentage of the To.... fill and stroke.
Angle
The final copy will be created at the angle specified in relation to the orientation of the original object. Positive values will rotate the copies counterclockwise; negative values rotate the copies clockwise. Intermediary copies will be rotated to produce a smooth progression from the original object to the final copy.Size H
Size H determines the horizontal size of the final copy, measured as a percentage of the original object's horizontal size.Size V
Size V determines the Vertical size of the final copy, measured as a percentage of the original object's Vertical size.TIP: By holding down the shift key and specify “Size H(%)” or “Size V(%), the same value will be entered in both fields.
Center of Transform (Group Box)
Specify the center of the transform by “Direction” and “Offset” from the center of the original object.
If “Show Center Mark” is checked, the position will be displayed by cross-hair guide. If the guide is not visible, try to uncheck and check again.Tail End (Group Box)
Specify the tail end of Trail by “Direction” and “Offset” from the center of the transform.Live Update
Updating the Artboard while you work can result in slow screen redraw times, especially when Live Trail is creating a high number of steps. Unchecking this option leaves the selected object unchanged until you click the Apply button. When checked, Live Update will automatically apply the Live Trail settings as you make changes.Expand/Release/Apply
The Expand button creates individual objects from each of the intermediary steps created by Live Trail. The objects will be grouped. The Release button removes the Live Trail effect. The Apply button applies the current settings to selected objects.Panel Menu
The Panel menu is accessed by clicking the icon in the upper right corner of the panel.
You can reset the panel setting to 'Default Settings' or name the current settings and save as the preset menu.
For how to use the preset menu, please refer to 'Preset Menu.’