Warp with the Liquify Tools

The Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize, and Wrinkle tools have been dubbed the liquify tools because they allow you to reshape objects with fluidity . Some professional illustrators look down their noses at these fun-loving tools because the results tend to be something of a crapshoot. On the other hand, if you re up for a bit of experimenting and seeing what happens, fire away with these tools and see if you come up with a result you can use.

The liquify tools are actually the tools on the Warp tool tearoff, as shown in Figure 15-13. Someone in marketing at Adobe thought liquify expressed the fluidity with which they affect objects, and Adobe has promoted this nickname for the Warp tools. You apply them interactively to selected objects, so first select an object using any of the selection tools. Then click on one of the liquify tools and click and drag to distort the selected object(s).

Figure 15-13: The liquify tools

Each liquify tool has a set of options. Double-click on any of the tools to open its respective options dialog box. While the options vary somewhat for different liquify tools, they all have definable brush sizes and shapes . Larger brush sizes produce more dramatic effects on objetcs, while smaller sizes produce more manageable results. Different tools have different value box options as well as different combinations of complexity, detail, and simplification sliders. In general, more detail and complexity create more anchors and paths.

Caution  

In addition to being unpredictable, the liquify tools also put quite a strain on system resources, quickly generating huge numbers of anchor points.

Figure 15-14 illustrates all seven of the liquify tools in action. Take a look and pique your imagination .

Figure 15-14: The seven liquify tools combine to create a face.