Barry Meyer

I'm not sure how to answer "basic" vs. "advanced". Blending along a path came along after the blend feature first originated. I think the original blend first appeared in early versions of Illustrator. Then Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDRAW started having feature wars. That's my recollection anyway. Soon after, Xara introduced transparency, which added an additional complexity to blending 2 objects. But Blend along a path has been around a long time as well. I would consider it a basic feature that would be easy to implement nowadays. I'm not a programmer though.

I understand that "back in the day" this was a very easy feature to program. Objects had fills and strokes, and that was about it. It was simple math to find the in between positions of the nodes and colors. Then objects started having gradients, transparency, special effects, and so on. How do you blend an object that has a radial gradient with one that has a linear gradient? You don't, it doesn't even make sense. So my suggestion is that objects need to have similar "attributes" to be blend candidates. I'm not a programmer, but if seems to me that if you limit blend candidates in this way, it would be an easy feature to add. Also, as I said in a response above, a gradient mesh would be a substitute in some situations.

It is possible with a few objects and a different workflow in AD. But object blend has been a standard in vector software for realistic shading and highlights for forever. When the object's shape doesn't fit one of the gradient styles available (IOW it's not a simple shape like a cylinder or a sphere) you need more flexibility in the shapes you blend to and from. A gradient mesh feature (which is also common in other software) would have been a workaround and is sometimes easier. Designer should have both, IMO. As it is, one is left resorting to raster "painting" to simulate these missing tools. But I should take a clue from the name of the software - "Designer". It's a program that is more design oriented than illustration oriented.

On a quick look, Designer V2 has some impressive new features, and to be honest ones that I had never thought of and may prove extremely useful. But, unless I'm missing it, still no object blend. This is a much requested feature and a standard in vector software for about 30 years. I imagine I'll still get the upgrade, but this is extremely disappointing and forces me to use other software at times because this one feature is missing.