5 Replies Latest reply: May 5, 2013 1:40 AM by Jacob Bugge RSS

    Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush

    VidNoob Community Member

      So you know when a video buffers, it is typically a round path with circles or lines and such that go from dark to light? Well, I need something like that for a logo design. I am trying to create a custom art brush, but its not happening. I created the shape Id like for all of the things to be along the path, but I don;t know which method of creating a brush to use. Anyone know?

       

      Also, anyone know how to make each part around the circle get lighter?

        • 1. Re: Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush
          Jacob Bugge CommunityMVP

          VidNoob,

           

          You may:

           

          1) Create a fill/nostroke circle with the darkest colour;

          2) Move a copy horizontally and change its colour to the lightest colour;

          3) Object>Blend>Blend Options, set Specified Steps to the number of circles in between;

          4) Object>Blend>Make; you may Object>Blend>Expand;

           

          You may set the suitable distance between the outermost circles in 2), 3), or 4);

           

          5) Select the (expanded) blend and in the Brushes palette flyout Make New Brush, set it as and Art Brush and choose Proportional to keep the circular shapes;

          6) Apply the Art Brush to part of a circle as desired.

          • 2. Re: Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush
            VidNoob Community Member

            Well, all was good with this method except even though I set the art brush to "proportion", the circles will still warp and never remain round.

            • 3. Re: Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush
              Jacob Bugge CommunityMVP

              Ah, VidNoob.

               

              You may:

               

              1) Create a fill/nostroke circle with the darkest colour;

              2) Move a copy horizontally and change its colour to the lightest colour;

              3) Object>Blend>Blend Options, set Specified Steps to the number of circles in between;

              4) Create the desired part of the circle;

              5) Select both and Object>Blend>Replace Spine.

               

              With this, you distribute the blend itself round the circular path. Obviously, the size of the circles need to fit.

              • 4. Re: Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush
                VidNoob Community Member

                This got me almost there. The problem was that when replacing spine, the ciircles would only fill in 3/4 of the path. I found a video explaining this was because the beginning and end of the spine has to be on anchor points and they cant start and stop on the same anchor points.

                 

                A video showed thatif you uyse the scissor tool to delete the anchor at the top of the circle path, it creates a non closed path with 2 anchor poitns on top of one another, so then if you replace the spine now, one circle will end up being on top of another at the top BUT at least it works for the visual effect

                • 5. Re: Trying to make a "video buffering" icon brush
                  Jacob Bugge CommunityMVP

                  VidNoob,

                   

                  As you can see from (step 4)/6)), I though you only wanted it to go some of the way round the circle, and it seems to be true.

                   

                  I wrongly assumed that would be too easy to mention (it would be if you wanted to go 3/4).

                   

                  To have the desired number of circles showing the full blend colour range, you may (Smart Guides are your friends):

                   

                  A) Create the circle (you may rotate it if desired, see below);

                  B) Drag with the Line Tool from the Anchor Point where you want the split and to the opposite one and rotate it the desired way by 360/total number of circles in blend (number of steps + 2);

                  C) Select the circle and with the Scissors Tool click where the line intersects the circle (Smart Guides say intersect);

                  D) DirectSelect the segment to go and press Delete (only once, or the whole circle will go poof);

                   

                  Now the circle is cut to match the blend.

                   

                  You do need to cut the path to get a full circle. With a full circle, you may just add one more Step to make up for the double. But this will hide one end of the blend so you only see the first blended colour at that end.

                   

                  If you need to adjust the size of the circles, you may (repeating and continuing from post #3):

                   

                  1) Create a fill/nostroke circle with the darkest colour;

                  2) Move a copy horizontally and change its colour to the lightest colour;

                  3) Object>Blend>Blend Options, set Specified Steps to the number of circles in between;

                  4) Create the desired part of the circle;

                  5) Select both and Object>Blend>Replace Spine.

                   

                  6) Object>Blend>Release;

                  7) Select each circle scale up, or select both and Object>Transform>Transform Each and scale up;

                  8) Select both circles and the partial circle and Object>Blend>Make.

                   

                  You may also Object>Blend>Expand (and use Transform Each), but that leaves you with an uneditable artwork. You may do that to a copy.