Live Effect Building Blocks - Start Learning Now

Astute Graphics has begun to deliver a new series of "Building Block" live effects for Adobe Illustrator. As the perfect basis for creating stunning new graphic styles, these effects work harder so that you don't have to.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

It all started back in November 2022, with the release of VectorScribe v5.0. Bringing our customers the first Building Block live effects which included:

Effect > VectorScribe > AG Corners...
Effect > AG Utilities > Retract Handles
Effect > AG Utilities > Smart Remove Points…

Since then we’ve added a plethora of effects that, once stacked upon each other, work together to create amazing results.

WHAT IS A BUILDING BLOCK?

“Building Blocks” is our phrase for effects that you can use in a wide variety of scenarios, not just to create a single resultant style (unlike, say, AG Block Shadows, which has a singular purpose). From AG Corners to the Path Visualizer, you can create non-destructive graphic styles that work on closed or open paths, and even live type.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

The following effects have now been added to the Building Block family:

Effect > VectorScribe > AG Corners...
Effect > AG Utilities > Add Points…
Effect > AG Utilities > Convert to Smooth…
Effect > AG Utilities > Dashify…
Effect > AG Utilities > Extend Path…
Effect > AG Utilities > Make Compound Path
Effect > AG Utilities > Make Shape…
Effect > AG Utilities > Path Removal…
Effect > AG Utilities > Path Visualizer…
Effect > AG Utilities > Point Removal…
Effect > AG Utilities > Release Compound Path
Effect > AG Utilities > Retract Handles
Effect > AG Utilities > Reverse Path Direction
Effect > AG Utilities > Segment Removal…
Effect > AG Utilities > Smart Remove Points…
Effect > AG Utilities > Split Path to Segments…
Effect > AG Utilities > Stroke Attributes…

Each of the above is accessible through the Effects menu, as well as the native Appearance and Properties panels. There are no new Astute Graphics panels connected to these building block effects.

VIDEOS

We’ve teamed up with Laura Coyle to produce a series of insightful tutorials giving you an introduction to these effects, and ideas on how to use them in your artwork today.

Beginner - Annotation Lines

Intermediate - Geometric Effects

Advanced - Advanced Effects

AG Corners deep dive

Path Visualizer and why you need it

Click here to head to our YouTube channel and save the Live Effect Building Block Playlist to your library!

6 NEW GRAPHIC STYLE PACKS

If you are one of our active subscribers, you’ll also have access to 6 new and exclusive Graphic Style packs in your Astute Manager. Made by our very own Carlos Garro, these packs demonstrate just how creative you can get with Live Effects.

If you learn by doing, then deconstructing these Graphic Styles, finding out how the effects work with one another, and then trying to rebuild them could be a fun task to set yourself.

New Graphic Style packs available to Astute Graphics subscribers:

Map Lines
Annotation Lines
Botanicals
Geometric Borders
DIGI Lines
Live Effect Text Effects

FULL DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE

The Astute Graphics documentation website has been fully updated to describe each AG Utilities Effect allowing you to get the most from these: https://docs.astutegraphics.com/vectorscribe/ag-utilities-overview

Have you tried our new Chat Bot to help answer your Illustrator questions? The AG Chat Bot is constantly learning from our AG manuals so you don’t have to waste time manually searching. Click the Question Mark icon in the bottom right corner and start typing your questions.