All 2 entries tagged Illustrator

More on Illustrator for beginners.

Workspace

1. Illustrator contains various default templates, which can be useful for say creating a CD Booklet or Letterhead. To find them do File > New Template.
2. From the Welcome screen there are also options to start new types of documents, selecting Web Document sets the units to pixels and allows the size of the workspace to change, and mode to RGB.
3. Mobile and Web Devices allows you to view designs as from a mobile device, there are a selection to choose from and there is a bit of information about devices.
4. Perspective grids – View Outline is a wireframe grid. Page View Tiling will show the printable area for the default printer.
5. Bridge (top right – black icon) is a file navigation system that shows images.
6. On panels there are general more optionals than displayed, though panels and options are repeated in the application so there appears to be more than there actually is, due to repetition.
7. Window > Workspace will allow you to reset your panel display you can set up your own preferred set of open panels.
8. Hitting Ctrl-0 fits the file to the window size, useful if you have zoomed. Hitting spacebar will give a grabber handle this is helpful for moving around the workspace quickly.

Drawing Tools

1. With any of the drawing tools, like the rectangle tool onc eyou have drawn something with it, clicking on the page will allow you to see the set dimensions or for other shapes add points or radius.
2. Shift Alt g allows any shape to grow from the centre instead of the top left corner.
3. Toolbox > Pencils the middle pencil the ‘smooth pencil’ will straighten out wonky curves.
4. Selected grouped shapes (Object > Group) can be easily copied using Alt.
5. Smartguides are useful to line up and draw shapes that need to be exact.

Colours

1. Swatches > Open Swatch Library – will open up collections of colour palettes.
2. If you’ve used a colour a lot in your work and you might want to change it in every place at the same time you can. Double click the colour tick the Global checkbox button before using the colour then if you need to change it just open the colour and change it, all instances of that colour will change.
3. If you’ve set up a particular swatch of colours that you want to use over and over again you can do so by saving the file with the colours in (somewhere you’ll remember). Then on a new file go to Swatches > open swatch library > Other libraries navigate to your file and open it. Your colour swatches will open. You can apply to same trick to save or reuse gradients and symbols.

Pen tool.

1. Pencil or pen drawn lines can be easily turned to brush strokes, just select the brush stroke to apply.
2. To draw a straight line click the start point and click the end point with shift held down.
3. To stop the line drawing click the direct selection tool.
4. When drawing with the pen and you want to convert an anchor point whilst still drawing hit Alt.

Symbols

1. Any grouped object can be added to the symbol library for reuse.
2. Symbols selected from the symbol libraries can be broken apart for editing (right click).

Tracing

1. To create a vector shape from a scan you can import the scan as a template and draw over it, if saved as a template the scan will not appear on the final artwork, though visible on the screen. On a new file, do File > Place make sure to tick the template checkbox. The artwork will appear as a locked greyed out image. That you can draw over, this will give fine-grain control but be slow to do. You can also try using live trace.

Live Trace / Live Paint

1. File > Place choose your method of live trace, from the drop down menu, then click expand. Live paint can then be used to infil with colour any clear areas. If there are gaps between areas, show live paint gaps will reveal them.

Save to Flash

1. Saving a graphic as .svg or .svg compressed will preserve vector qualities but allow for import to flash.

Fonts

1. If you put a shape onto the workspace and using the text tool type text into it, your text will fit within the outline of the shape. You can alter the shape the text will move with it.
2. Text can be imported from Word (most variants), RTF, plain text (ascii), using File > Place.
3. Type in an area box can be sorted into rows and columns using the Type > Area Type Options.
4. Type can be wrapped around a graphic, choose Object > Text Wrap > Make you can increase the distance away from the object in the Text Wrap Options dialog
5. Ctrl+Shift+> is a useful shortcut to increasing text size.
6. To reuse font styles, highlight the area to be the same, and use the eyedropper to select the font you want to borrow the style of.
7. Once you change type to create outlines it is no longer editable.
8. Wrapping text around shapes. Create a path (any line or shape without a fill or stroke). Select the type tool move to where you want to start typing on your shape you should get a cursor insertion point, or a crossed wavy line the text will now follow the path. If you need to move the text along the path, select with the selection tool, the beginning, end and mid-point will be marked, the easiest to grab is the midpoint, when selected a black arrow next to an upside down capital T appears.

Working with photoshop

If you are creating say a photo montage in photoshop for use within Illustrator, you can work on both in tandem. Place the piece of work your creating as a file in Illustrator and keep editing in Photoshop, when you reopen Illustrator it will have spotted that a change has been made and prompt you to update the placed image. This is pretty handy if your likely to be iteratively modifying. Dont forget to embed at the end. Best to embed as if you move files around links will be broken.

Create a new layer before importing the work, will allow you to control where it ends up in your layers heirarchy.

Sara Lever : 26 Feb 2008 17:02 |  Tags: Illustrator |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Illustrator 101 (if your used to Photoshop!)

Illustrator 101

Drawing area
The canvas has a scratch area around the outside of the black main drawing screen. You can change the unit and size of your document when you open it and once created through File > Document Setup

Viewing your work
Unlike photoshop if you want to zoom in to an image you have to hold down the alt key. There is also a View option from which you can choose View > Fit In Window or Actual Size. The
For large pieces of work you can choose to view only a wireframe of the image, quicker for moving around. View > Artwork.

Selecting stuff
This is a lot different from photoshop the ‘Selection’ tool (black arrow left) is used to select, (and resize) entire objects, the ‘Direct Selection’ tool (white arrow right) is used to select segments of objects, specifically areas between anchor points. If you have created groups of objects then the ‘Group selection tool’ (white arrow with plus) allows you to select your group. NB If it’s not blue it ain’t selected!

Moving stuff around
The Selection tool can be used to move objects in conjunction with the arrow keys. Within Illustrator you have to be on a line or within a shape to move it, it seemed to me that you have to be a lot more accurate to select stuff within Illustrator.

Joining or compounding shapes
Select Window > Pathfinder
Create the shapes, select them, then in the pathfinder window click ‘add to shape area’ mode > expand. You can do lots of other fancy stuff like getting intersections from this menu.

Paths
A major difference between photoshop and illustrator, is that each line or shape in illustrator is/has a path and can be manipulated as such. Imported bitmaps can be converted to paths. Anchor points along paths can be manipulated, paths can be open (lines) with endpoints or closed (circles). NB when drawing any shape make sure you have either fill or stroke selected as a colour, as stuff will be drawn and become layers even with out these set and you could end up with a load of invisible objects on your canvas!

Changing Shapes – Anchor points along a line or shape

To add more points choose the Pen+ icon
To remove points choose the Pen- icon
To join any anchor points of a shape use the pen tool, hover over your anchor point and the pen tool will change, when you get a slash symbol move the pen to the anchor point to join to when you get a o click, the two points are now joined.
Repositioning points (and lines between points) can be done by first selecting them with the direct selection tool. You should then see extra ‘direction lines’ reaching out from your anchor point. Moving the direction lines will reshape. Direction lines are always tangent to (touching), the curve at the anchor points. The slope of each curve, and the length or each direction point determine the height, or depth, of the curve.

Convert a curve point on a shape to a pointy point
Convert anchor point tool – on the same menu as the pen tool, third down on the left. To use (for example to turn a circle into a heart shape) create a shape and then click on any guide points around the shape a sharp point will be created. Reshape using the direction lines (choice ‘direct selection tool’ to reselect).
To stretch the shape out from the direction lines you can use the alt key.

Importing Graphics
File > Place > Your File
Select down arrow to the right of Live Trace for import options, chose photo low fidelity or other option.
Select expand to get the vector paths of coloured regions

Link to files
As well as importing graphics you can ‘link’ to them via a tick box on the place menu.

Save for Web
Use the rectangle tool to select the area you want to saveforweb, select Object > Crop Area > Make If it’s worked you’ll get some photo style corner markers. The save for web interface is as per photoshop.

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In CS4 to save just the workarea, once in ‘safe for web’ you need to go to the image size tab and tick the box clip to artboard and hit the apply button (if you’ve managed to get multiple artboards best to delete any you dont need first).
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Moving stuff between photoshop and illustrator and back (stuff being paths or bitmaps)

.psd to .ai
Paths (your basic shapes) can be easily moved from photoshop to illustrator by drag and drop or File >
Export > Paths
Use the right arrow button in pathfinder to find merging shapes options
.ai to .psd
Copy your shape, then paste into photoshop. At which point you should get 3 options:
pixels, path, shape layer. Keep as shape or path to retain vector qualities.

Gradients
To change the colours within a gradient you have to drag the colour from the swatch to the gradient not the other way around. You can save your gradient back to the swatch pallet which is very handy. If you copy a gradient the angle isn’t necessarily preserved so watch out for this bug.
Use the pipette tool if you want to select a gradient fill on one object and add to another. I found choosing it from my swatch didn’t necessarily have a consistent result.

Blends a different kind of gradient.
As well as creating a gradient within an object you can use a blend to create a gradient that links to separate objects of different colours, 4th icon up from the bottom right (icon pict and circle).

Duplicate a Layer Set
In the layers panel select the layer you want to copy then click on the icon of a black arrow in a circle top right of the layers window and ‘Duplicate’ is an option.

Layer Effects like Drop Shadow
Aren’t available from the layers menu go to Effects drop shadow is under > Stylize.

Overlay and Pathfinder > intersect shape areas.

To overlay a shape onto another but take an intersection with the lower shape:

Put one shape partly over another.
Make a copy of the lower shape.
Select both shapes
Pathfinder Crop, gets you the intersection.
Move the copy lower shape back into position
Send to the back if necessary.

Or more simply make the two shapes overlap, select both and Pathfinder, divide.

History or Undo
Doesn’t appear to be the levels of undo that there are within Photoshop or an option to go back via the History. Though revert is there

Transformations Flip Horizontal / Vertical
To get these you need to use the ‘Reflect Tool’ from the Toolbox hold down the Rotate icon 6th icon down on the left and the Reflect tool is the second icon. Select reflect and then click on and move the shape.

Aligning objects
Aligning (distribute, vertical align etc) menu is hidden under the windows views (about 7 down from the top).

Clipping Masks
Are the opposite to Photoshop in that the layer to clip to, has to be on top not underneath. You can pull the option down from the menu, click control 7 or right click on the shapes to choosing clipping masks.

Sara Lever : 15 Jan 2008 17:21 |  Tags: Adobe Illustrator Photoshop |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem