llustrator Pucker and Bloat Effect and more

  by Veerle Pieters

There are lots of hidden secrets in Illustrator. Even I have the feeling I only use only a part of the application. That’s probably because I’m sometimes stuck in my old habit of doing things. If you’ve been working with the application since version 3 like I do, then you know what I’m talking about. It’s good to explore new and better ways. Ways to do things faster and in a more flexible way. Today I’ll show you how to use the Pucker & Bloat Effect. It’s another cool Distort & Transform Effect.

Use your creativity and imagination

First of all, this is not one of my typical tutorials where I explain things from A till Z. Instead, I'll give you some hints on how I created the illustration above and along the way I give you some tips on how to keep your effects flexible. Let me start with some basic information...

Create rings using the Pathfinder

If you've followed my previous article, the above image doesn't need much of an explanation since you had some practice already. Just to refresh your memory, here is how you create a ring:

• Select the Circle Tool and craw a circle (holding down shift key)
• Draw another smaller circle on top
• Select both circles using the Selection Tool (black arrow)
• Click Horizontal Align Center and then Vertical Align Center from the Align palette or Toolbar at the top
• Click the Subtract from shape area option from the Pathfinder palette and click the Expand button

Add Pucker & Bloat Effect

With the ring still selected go to Object > Path and select Add Anchor Points. Now go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Pucker & Bloat.

Move the slider to the left.

Move the slider to the right.

Experiment with the shape of the object. Try a circle, a square or a hexagon etc., add (more) anchor points, then apply the effect.

Good to know tips!

Advantages of Effects versus Filters

Remember when you apply an effect, the Effect can be modified at all time after it has been applied. You can double click the effect in the Appearance palette. If you apply a Filter however, this isn't possible. The path is permanently modified. Make sure to choose Effect > Distort & Transform > Pucker & Bloat. This way you remain this flexibility.

Only if you are 100% you won't change the result of the effect, you can choose to expand it via Object > Expand. This way the path will be adapted to its new shape. Here is what I did to achieve the effect shown in the image: