18. Live Paint

The Live Paint feature provides a novel way to fill paths. To create an “armature” for a Live Paint group, you can either create some open or closed paths with a drawing tool, such as the Pencil or Blob Brush tool, then convert the whole drawing into a Live Paint group,A or you can convert a tracing into a Live Paint group and recolor it using Live Paint group features.

A We converted this pencil sketch to a Live Paint group.

With the Live Paint Bucket tool, you simply click or drag across any area that is formed by intersecting lines (called a face),B and the current paint attributes are applied. Add to or reshape the Live Paint objects at any time, and the fill color flows into the new shape; that’s what makes the whole process “live.” Another unique feature of Live Paint groups is that you can recolor (or leave unpainted) individual line segments, called edges.C This method for recoloring sketches and tracings is flexible — and fun.

B We selected a face in the group.

C We selected an edge.

In this chapter, you will learn how to convert ordinary objects to a Live Paint group, apply colors to faces and edges in the group, reshape and move parts of the group, add new faces and edges, and finally, expand or release the group into standard paths.

When drawing paths for a Live Paint group, you must allow your drawing lines to intersect, because the Live Paint Bucket tool, which you’ll use to color areas of the group, detects and fills only faces (areas that are bounded by intersecting lines).

To create a Live Paint group:

1. Draw some open or closed paths, such as with the Pencil, Blob Brush, Pen, Line Segment, or Ellipse tool, and apply stroke colors and weights. You may use the Paintbrush tool, but the Live Paint command will remove the brush stroke. As you create the sketch, be sure to let some or all of the segments intersect.A

A As you draw a picture, allow your line segments to intersect. This portrait was drawn with the Pencil tool.

2. Select all the paths.

3. Do either of the following:

Choose the Live Paint Bucket tool (K), then click one of the selected objects.B

B Click one of the selected paths or enclosed areas with the Live Paint Bucket tool to convert all of them to a Live Paint group.

Choose Object > Live Paint > Make (Cmd-Option-X/Ctrl-Alt-X).

If an alert appears regarding object features that may be discarded, click OK. On the Layers panel, the paths will be nested within a Live Paint group.

Note: If an alert illustrating the steps to create a Live Paint group appears, click OK. Make sure the objects are selected, then follow step 3 again.

To produce a Live Paint group from a symbol or a blend, you must apply Object > Expand first; to produce a Live Paint group from a clipping set, release the set first; or to produce a Live Paint group from type, convert it to outlines via Type > Create Outlines first.

Some Illustrator commands aren’t available for Live Paint groups, such as the Clipping Mask, Pathfinder, and Select > Same commands.

To choose options for the Live Paint Bucket tool:

1. Do either of the following:

Double-click the Live Paint Bucket tool (K).

Select the Live Paint Bucket tool (K), then press Return/Enter.

2. The Live Paint Bucket Options dialog opens.A In the Options area:

A Use the Live Paint Bucket Options dialog to establish default settings for the tool.

Click Paint Fills and/or Paint Strokes, depending on what parts of the group you want the tool to paint. Note: If you’re going to recolor faces as described on the next page, check only Paint Fills.

If you check just one of these options, you can Shift-click with the tool to switch its function between painting fills (faces) and applying stroke (edge) colors and weights. We actually find this to be the easiest method, because when the tool has only one function, you can’t inadvertently recolor a face when you meant to recolor an edge, or vice versa.

If you check both Paint options, you can hold down Shift to restrict the tool function to Paint Fills.

Check Cursor Swatch Preview to display, in a tiny strip above the tool pointer, the current color (when using the Color panel), or the color of the last chosen swatch on the Swatches panel and the swatch to its left and right.B–C We find this option to be useful.

B If the Cursor Swatch Preview option is on for the Live Paint Bucket tool and you mix a color via the Color panel, that color will display above the tool icon.

C If the Cursor Swatch Preview option is on for the Live Paint Bucket tool and you click a swatch on the Swatches panel, that color as well as the previous and next swatches in the Swatches panel will display above the pointer.

3. Optional: If the current highlight color is too similar to colors in your artwork (or colors you’re likely to apply), check Highlight, then, from the Color menu, choose a preset color for the faces and edges the tool will pass over, or click the color swatch and choose a color from the Colors dialog. You can also change the Width for the highlight.

4. Click OK. Now you’re ready to use the tool, which we give instructions for on the next page.

Choose a different highlight color for the Live Paint Bucket than for the Live Paint Selection tool (by default, they’re different).

When you apply fill or stroke attributes to a Live Paint group, faces or edges are recolored, but not the actual paths. If you reshape a Live Paint group in any way, such as by editing the paths, colors in the group will reflow instantly into any new or reshaped faces. In the steps below, you will recolor faces with the Live Paint Bucket tool. This technique reminds us of a drawing method we used as kids: We would draw a big swirly doodle on a piece of paper, then color in the shapes. It’s so much faster in Illustrator!

Note: You can apply a solid color, pattern, or gradient to faces and edges in a Live Paint group. The term “color” in this chapter is a generic reference to all three kinds of swatches.

To recolor faces with the Live Paint Bucket tool:

1. Have a Live Paint group at the ready (you don’t need to select it).A Double-click the Live Paint Bucket tool to open the Live Paint Bucket Options dialog. Check Paint Fills, uncheck Paint Strokes, then click OK.

A This Live Paint group was created from lines that were drawn with the Pencil tool.

2. Organize some colors on the Swatches panel to be used for recoloring, preferably in color groups. You can use the Recolor Artwork, Color Guide, or Kuler panel to create color groups.

3. Click the Fill color square on the Tools or Color panel, then click a swatch or color group icon on the Swatches panel. If the Cursor Swatch Preview option is checked in the tool options dialog, as we recommended, the currently selected swatch will display as the middle color above the pointer.

Press the left or right arrow key to cycle through the previous or next swatches on the Swatches panel.

4. Do either of the following:

Move the pointer over a face that you want to recolor (an area where two or more paths intersect), then click in the highlighted face.B

B When the Live Paint Bucket tool is clicked on a face (an area where paths intersect) in a Live Paint group, the current fill color is applied (B, shows this face filled in).

Drag across multiple faces.

Hold down Option/Alt to turn the Live Paint Bucket tool into a temporary Eyedropper tool, and use it to sample (by clicking) a fill color anywhere in your document.

You can also use the Live Paint Bucket tool to apply stroke colors and/or stroke settings. Each edge can have a different color, weight, and other stroke attributes, or a color of None. A unique feature of Live Paint groups is that only the edges you click are modified — not the whole path.

To modify edges with the Live Paint Bucket tool:

1. Choose the Live Paint Bucket tool, and establish the same default settings as in step 1 on the preceding page.

2. Click the Stroke color square on the Tools or Color panel, then choose a stroke color. Also choose a stroke weight and other attributes via the Stroke panel, which you can access via the link on the Control or Appearance panel. Or choose a color of None if you want the edges you click to be “hidden.”

3. Do either or both of the following:

Hold down Shift to toggle the tool function to Paint Strokes (it becomes a brush icon), then click the tip of the brush on an edge.A–C

A We are applying stroke attributes to an edge with the Live Paint Bucket tool.

B To create more fillable faces, we drew additional paths on the neck, lips, and face.

C We used the Live Paint Bucket tool to fill the new faces, and also applied a stroke of None to some edges on the neck, cheeks, and forehead.

Starting with the tip of the brush positioned over an edge, Shift-drag across or along multiple edges.

Note that the highlight on edges is thinner than the highlight on faces.

You can also recolor a Live Paint group by using the Recolor Artwork dialog (see Chapter 29).

You can apply transparency settings, brush strokes, and effects to an entire Live Paint group, but not to individual faces or edges. To apply a brush, drag it from the Brushes panel over a Live Paint group.

To choose options for the Live Paint Selection tool:

1. Choose the Live Paint Selection tool (Shift-L), then press Return/Enter (or double-click the tool).

2. In the Live Paint Selection Options dialog, check Select Fills and/or Select Strokes.A For example, if you want to select only faces, uncheck Select Strokes to prevent any edges from becoming selected. You can also choose a different Highlight Color and/or Width for the selections (it should be a different highlight color than for the Live Paint Bucket tool). Click OK.

A Use this dialog to control what parts of a Live Paint group the tool may select or to change the highlight color for its selections.

To recolor or delete faces or edges with the Live Paint Selection tool:

1. Choose the Live Paint Selection tool (Shift-L), and choose options for the tool (see the steps above).

2. Click an edge or face in a Live Paint group (depending on the current tool setting), then Shift-click additional edges and/or faces.B The selection displays as a gray pattern. If you need to deselect an individual edge or face, Shift-click it.

B We selected three sections of the woman’s hair with the Live Paint Selection tool.

3. Do any of the following:

For faces, click the Fill color square on the Tools or Color panel, then choose a solid color,C gradient, or pattern. You can modify a gradient fill with the Gradient tool (see pages 351–352).

C We applied a new fill color to the selected faces.

For edges, click the Stroke color square on the Tools or Color panel, then choose a color. You can also change the stroke weight and other stroke attributes. Apply a stroke of None to any edges that you want to hide.

To delete the currently selected edges or faces, press Delete/Backspace.

Press Cmd-H/Ctrl-H to hide or show the gray selection overlay.

4. Click outside the Live Paint group to deselect it.

Select a face and/or an edge with the Live Paint Selection tool, then choose Select > Same > Fill Color, Stroke Color, or Stroke Weight to quickly select all the other faces and/or edges in the group that have matching attributes.

B With the Live Paint Bucket tool, we applied fill colors to the faces and stroke colors to individual edges. The fact that we were able to apply a different stroke color to each separate former Pencil tool path proves that those paths became separate edges when they were converted to a Live Paint group.

When drawing Pencil or Blob Brush artwork for a Live Paint group, avoid drawing lines that may be hidden behind other shapes, which could produce extraneous faces in the resulting group.

D With the Live Paint Bucket tool, we applied fill colors to faces, including one fill color to the entire former Blob Brush stroke outline. Because the Blob Brush drawing converted to just faces, we were able to apply stroke colors only to the entire perimeter of a face (orange to the outer edge of the stroke outline and yellow to the edge of the blue-green face). There are no separate edges to recolor or delete, as there are in figure B, above.

To reshape or move areas in a Live Paint group:

1. Choose the Selection tool (V), and make sure the Bounding Box feature is on (View menu).

2. Isolate a Live Paint group by double-clicking a face or edge in the group.

3. Do either or both of the following:

With the Selection tool (V), either click a face that contains a fill color or click an edge. A bounding box displays, with star-filled selection handles. Drag the face or edge to move it, or drag a handle on an edge to transform it (see page 147).A–B If you want to delete the current selection, press Delete/Backspace.

A We selected an edge in a Live Paint group with the Selection tool, then lengthened it to make it intersect with another edge; this produced a new face.

B With the Live Paint Bucket tool, we applied a fill color to the new face.

With the Direct Selection tool (A), click an edge to display its anchor points and direction handles, then reshape it by manipulating the points and handles or by using the Anchor Point tool (see Chapter 12).

Fill colors will reflow automatically into any areas you reshape or transform (unless the Live Paint group was created exclusively from Blob Brush strokes).

4. To exit isolation mode, press Esc.

To switch quickly between the Direct Selection tool for reshaping and the Live Paint Bucket tool for recoloring, press A for the former or K for the latter.

Method 1 (via the Layers or Control panel)

1. Draw a new path on top of or next to a Live Paint group, or select an existing path.

2. Do either of the following:

On the Layers panel, drag the new path listing into the Live Paint Group listing.

Choose the Selection tool (V), marquee both the new path and the Live Paint group, then click Merge Live Paint on the Control panel. Click OK if an alert dialog appears.

Method 2 (in isolation mode)

1. Choose the Selection tool (V), then double-click the Live Paint group to put it in isolation mode.

2. With a drawing tool, such as the Pencil or Blob Brush, or a geometric tool, such as the Rectangle or Ellipse, draw the path to be added.A It will automatically become part of the Live Paint group.

A With the Live Paint group in isolation mode, we drew paths with the Pencil tool to create some new faces (then we exited isolation mode).

3. To exit isolation mode, press Esc.B–C

B We used the Live Paint Bucket tool to apply fill colors to the new faces.

C This is the final artwork.

With a Live Paint group in isolation mode, if you create a new closed face then drag it over filled faces in the group, release the mouse, and then move the new face away from the group, any of the following may happen: Some faces may adopt the fill color of another face in the group, some faces may adopt the color of the new face, or the new face may be filled with an existing color from the group. If you don’t like a result, undo it immediately.

To choose gap options for a Live Paint group:

1. Choose the Selection tool (V), then click the Live Paint group that you want to choose options for.

2. Click the Gap Options button on the Control panel. The Gap Options dialog opens.A

A Choose gap options to control color leakage in a Live Paint group.

3. Check Preview, then do any of the following:

Check Gap Detection, then to specify a gap size up to which the fill colors won’t leak or disappear, from the Paint Stops At menu, choose Small Gaps, Medium Gaps, or Large Gaps, or choose Custom and an exact gap size.B The dialog lists the current number of Gaps Found in the artwork, based on the Paint Stops At setting.

B We chose the Paint Stops At: Large Gaps option. The gaps are previewing in the current Gap Preview Color.

From the Gap Preview Color menu, choose a preview color for the invisible (and nonprinting) lines that Illustrator uses to bridge the gaps and prevent paint leakage (or click the color swatch and choose a color via the Colors dialog).

The gap lines display in a selected Live Paint group when View > Show Live Paint Gaps is on or while the Gap Options dialog is open.

Click the Close Gaps with Paths button to have Illustrator close up any existing gaps with edge segments (click Yes if an alert dialog appears). This may improve the processing time for further edits you make to the group.

4. Click OK. If you increased the gap size, try using the Live Paint Bucket tool to fill areas that couldn’t be filled before.C Fill colors will still leak or disappear from open faces that have gaps larger than the current Paint Stops At value.

C With the Large Gaps option chosen, we were able to fill faces that had small to medium-sized gaps.

The more you allow lines to intersect in the original objects, the fewer gaps will result when the objects are converted to a Live Paint group. If you want to eliminate any overhanging edges, select them with the Live Paint Selection tool and delete them (or apply a stroke of None to hide them).

To expand or release a Live Paint group:

1. Using the Selection tool or the Layers panel, select a Live Paint group. Optional: To preserve a copy of the group for future edits, Option-drag/Alt-drag its selection square to a new layer, then hide the copy.

2. Do either of the following:

On the Control panel, click Expand to convert the Live Paint group into two groups of standard paths nested together within a group.A One group will contain filled paths made from the former faces;B the other group will contain paths with stroke colors made from the former edges.

A The Expand command produced two nested groups.

Choose Object > Live Paint > Release to convert the Live Paint group to separate paths, each with a .5-pt. black stroke and a fill of None, within one group. Use this option if, say, you want to start your sketch over with just line work, and you want to remove all the fill colors first.

After applying the Expand or Release command, you can apply stroke or fill attributes, such as a brush stroke or an effect, to the resulting paths.C

B After expanding the Live Paint group, we hid the <Group> layer containing the stroked paths. Now only the filled paths are visible.

C Finally, we applied a .3-pt. brush stroke to the group of stroked paths to make the line work look more hand drawn.

When we applied the Expand command to a Live Paint group that we created from Blob Brush tool strokes, the result was also two nested groups: one containing the former faces, now filled paths, and the other containing only two stroked paths (because we had applied a color to only two edges in the Live Paint group).