Alter shape paths with path operations
Path operations are live, which means that you can modify or remove them at any time. Path operations apply to all paths above them in the same group; as with all shape attributes, you can reorder path operations by dragging, cutting, copying, and pasting in the Timeline panel.
- Choose a path operation from the Add menu in the Tools
panel or the Timeline panel:
- Merge Paths
- Combines paths into a compound path. (See Merge Paths options.)
- Offset Paths
- Expands or contracts a shape by offsetting the path from the original path. For a closed path, a positive Amount value expands the shape; a negative Amount value contracts it. The Line Join property specifies the appearance of the path where offset path segments come together. A bevel join is a squared-off connection. A miter join is a pointed connection. The miter limit determines the conditions under which a beveled join is used instead of a miter join. If the miter limit is 4, then when the length of the point reaches four times the stroke weight, a bevel join is used instead. A miter limit of 1 causes a bevel join.
- Pucker & Bloat
- Pulls a path’s vertices outward while curving the segments inward (Pucker), or pulls a path’s vertices inward while curving the segments outward (Bloat).
- Repeater
- Creates multiple copies of a shape, applying a specified transformation to each copy. (See Using the Repeater to replicate shapes.)
- Round Corners
- Rounds corners of paths. Higher Radius values cause greater roundness.
- Trim Paths
- Animate the Start, End, and Offset properties to trim a path to create results similar to those achieved with the Write-on effect and the Write On setting for paint strokes. If the Trim Paths path operation is below multiple paths in a group, then you can choose to have the paths trimmed simultaneously or treated as a compound path and trimmed individually.
- Twist
- Rotates a path more sharply in the center than at the edges. Entering a positive value twists clockwise; entering a negative value twists counterclockwise.
- Wiggle Paths
-
Turns a path into a series of jagged peaks and valleys of
various sizes. The distortion is auto-animated, meaning that it
changes over time without the need to set any keyframes or add expressions.
Several properties for this path operation behave the same as properties
of the same name for the Wiggly selector for text animation. The
Correlation property specifies the amount of correlation between
a vertex’s movement and that of its neighbors; smaller values create
more jagged results, as the position of a vertex depends less on
the position of its neighbors. The Correlation property is similar
to Correlation for the Wiggly selector, except that the Wiggle Paths
version specifies the correlation between neighboring vertices instead
of neighboring characters. Set the maximum length for segment paths
using an absolute or relative size. Set the density of jagged edges
(Detail) and choose between soft edges (Smooth) or sharp edges (Corner).
Animate the Size property to fade the wiggling
up or down. To smoothly accelerate or decelerate the wiggling, set
Wiggles/Second to a constant value of 0, and animate the Temporal
Phase property. - Zig Zag
- Turns a path into a series of jagged peaks and valleys of uniform size. Set the length between peaks and valleys using an absolute or relative size. Set the number of ridges per path segment, and choose between wavy edges (Smooth) or jagged edges (Corner).