Exploring the Inset, Outset, and Dynamic Offset Path operations
Thus far, we’ve been learning ways to combine and break apart paths, but what if we want to expand a path outward some distance? We can do this easily with a circle just by holding Ctrl + Shift while scaling. For more complex geometry, we quickly get overlapping portions, since the shape is scaled relative to the center of the shape, and not evenly on all sides. Figure 6.22 shows the result of duplicating and scaling operations on a circle versus more complex shapes:
Figure 6.22 – The result of duplicating and scaling shapes
As you can see, the circle works reasonably well, but as soon as there’s any variation in the shape, we run into problems. Take the rectangle, for example – it’s also a simple shape, but as we scale it down uniformly, the top and bottom scale down faster than the sides.
Finally, in the case of the mushroom-like shape on the far right...
