- #31 Selecting Path Segments and Paths
- #32 Defining, Selecting, and Isolating Groups
- #33 Selecting, Editing, and Aligning Anchors
- #34 Selecting Similar Objects
- #35 Editing with the Bounding Box
- #36 Duplicating
- #37 Scaling
- #38 Rotating
- #39 Shearing (Skewing)
- #40 Distorting with Envelopes
- #41 Using Pathfinders
#40 Distorting with Envelopes
A quick, easy, and fun way to edit paths is to place an object in an envelope. Visualize an elephant stuffed into a trapezoid. Ouch! It may be better to visualize something more humane and less painful. The point is you can distort any object to fit into an outline created by a second object. That second object is the envelope.
Choose Object > Envelope Distort to access three types of distortion. Use Make with Warp to apply preset warps. Meshes are grids with editable anchors that define how colors merge and blend within the mesh.
To use your own, custom-designed envelope, select two objects with the object that will be the envelope on top of the object to be distorted. Then choose Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Top Object (Figure 40).
Figure 40 An envelope and an enveloped object.