To create an Illustrator starburst, the paths can be varied by changing the settings of the radial setting of the polar grid tool. You can create basic designs by setting the tool settings to 10 and 20 and setting the concentric divider to 0.
Goto the Polar tool in the toolbar. Double click to display the settings. Set the concentric to 0. Set the radial to 30. Object menu. Ungroup. Delete the bounding circle path. If you set the concentric dividers to zero (you still get a backing circle which can be deleted by ungroup the path and deleting the circle) and setting the radial dividers to say 30. Once you have the design, you can then add other effects etc to the artwork
You don't need to stop there and you can apply live effects to the lines as well as variable width profiles (option bar) or brush strokes.
select all the generated lines (though you can select alternate lines or perhaps the top set of lines).set the color of the stroke. Go to the variable with profiles. Select one such as width profile 4.Expand appearance via the object menu. Select all paths and go to the pathfinder tool panel and unite.
You can then add other paths to the design such as a circle to the center of the artwork and then select that along with a circle and then select the minus front in the pathfinder panel
Select the lines, go to the width profiles at the top of the screen and select the width profile 4. Set the color of the strokes and then go to the effects menu and twist effect and set the radius to 45 and click OK. Goto the object menu and expand appearance and then the pathfinder panel and unite.
As brushes can be any kind of design, many different artworks can be created. As with above, you can create a very basic stroke starburst but instead of adding a width profile, you can add a brush. You can use your own brushes or the supplied ones. Create a red circle and create another red circle but make it smaller and place a distance away from the first circle. Select both and align horizontally. Go to the blend tool and double click and set the spacing to steps (say 5.. click the first circle and then the next with the blend tool and object menu and expand. Display the brushes panel. Drag the paths into the brushes panel Set to artistic. Click OK. Go back to the lines and select them and apply a brush stroke. Go to the object menu and expand appearance and then to the pathfinder panel and unite. Or just create a path using the curvature tool such as a wavy / curved design and then add that to the brushes panel. Apply the wavy / curved brush to the artwork. You can also then add variable width profiles.
You can now use the easy to use repeat feature via the object menu. Create a quick triangle via the polygon tool (set the sides to 3). With your triangle, go to the object menu and repeat and radial. Change the radius of your design via the circle. If you want to change the triangle and the end result, double click on one of the triangles and modify that and that will be reflected in the entire design.