Feb 18
Drawing a coil in Illustrator
2009 at 04.53 pm posted by Veerle Pieters
Today’s post is a brief one because the past week and the coming weeks are just so busy for me I can’t find the time to write a more extended article. Still, I hope some of you will find what I share is valuable.
Problem
A while ago I received an e-mail from a reader asking me if I could help him drawing a coil using a stroke. How do you create the overlapping effect?
Solution
The simple trick is to make a cut the stroke into 2 parts and move one part in fron of the other.
The you'll notice a tiny gap in the path where you made the cut.
To hide this, select the top stroke color (in my example white) in the Appearance palette and change the Cap options of the strokes to Round Cap.
Want to learn more?
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13served
1
Thanks for this! I’ve always wondered how to do that but other tutorials make it too complicated. Thanks for making learning simple!
2
A nice trick.
Thanks for sharing.
3
Simple and to the point.
4
Any tips are good, quick or not! I never thought to use the round cap for this problem. Brilliant ... thanks!
5
Everything you share is valuable! Thank you!!
6
Thanks for this,but cant it be applied in Cs3 as well.damn question?
7
Nana Yaw said:
Yes I believe it should work. I tested this myself in CS3 to be 100% sure. There are 2 things to take into account to have it work:
1) You need to make sure you have the Stroke Options shown in the Stroke palette: click the palette’s menu button (top right) and choose ‘Show Options’
2) You need to make sure you select the stroke segments using the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) and select the top level stroke color (in my example this is white) in the Appearance palette.
Hope this helps you out ;)
8
Great article.
9
Helpful tip!
Just my ten cents: many people would consider that a “loop”, not a “coil”.. A “coil” by definition doesn’t overlap, instead is a single line which winds (or coils) in on itself.
I happened across this page looking for a simple method for creating a coil in illustrator, like in an RFID tag or an electric oven range, and although it is a helpful tip you’ve published I found the title misleading.
10
That is a nice little tutorial - thanks.
11
Sorry to be a bit thick, but how do you draw a stroke that has open ends? When I use the pen tool and add a stroke, it circles it completely, so when I draw the coil and cut it, I get a thick curved end in the middle of the coil. Which looks nothing like your example. Please help me out of my ignorance!!
Many thanks
Ann
12
Nice technique. Simple, yet effective.
Ann, do you a round brush applied to the stroke, by chance? That might be causing the round ends on your stroke. Check your appearance palette. See below. (I used a little bit different stroke sizes than in Veerle’s example, but it’s still the same technique.)
13
You are a star George! And I feel a little bit stupid…! Many thanks for the enlightenment.