How to Make a Spiral in Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a great program, used to create different shapes, using a number of tools available in the program. You can create free hand shapes using Pen Tool and use Line Segment tool to create straight-edged shapes.
However, if you plan to create a spiral curl in Adobe Illustrator, then you will have to use a more complex tool, called “Spiral Tool”. It is a great tool to create perfectly rounded loops and swirls. At first, you will find it really difficult and confusing to use the Spiral Tool. However, you will become an expert of it with the passage of time.
Instructions
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1
Double click the Adobe Illustrator program execution icon to run the program. Click “File” and then “Open” to select the file which you want to use, when you create the spiral curls.
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2
In the tools panel, find the "Line Segment Tool" and click on it. Make sure you keep hold on the left click button, when you press it on the "Line Segment Tool". It will make the program to show you some additional list of tools under that particular section.
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3
Now click anywhere at your document, where you want to create the spiral curl. Click only once and the Spiral configuration panel window will appear on your screen.
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4
Now specify a value in the “Radius” field, which will be a value of the distance between the central point of the spiral and the outer edge.
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5
Now, choose the number of segments that you want to create in the spiral. You can do it by specifying the numbers in the “Segments” field. One segment will create a 90-degree section in the spiral curl. Therefore, if you want to create one complete loop, you will have to enter value as “4”. Similarly, you will have to write “8” if you want to create two complete loops in the spiral and so on.
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6
Now, enter a value in “Decay” field, which will represent the percentage difference between the radius of the first loop and the radius of the second loop. You will have to specify the value from 1 to 100. For instance, if you set the value as 50, and the radius of the first loop is 10 cm, then the radius of the second loop will automatically become 5 cm and the third loop will have the radius of 2.5 cm.
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7
To set the direction of the spiral clockwise or anticlockwise, click the radio button. Click “OK” and the spiral will be added to your document.
