Adobe Illustrator
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LAST UPDATED:
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If you have a problem with using Adobe Illustrator that seems too
in-depth or weighty for phone line technical support, Adobe publishes
Technical Guides for all of its products on its Web site. Technical
Guides give you an illustrated technical breakdown of most common
support problems. To see the Illustrator Technical Guide, visit
http://www.adobe.com/support/techguides/illustrator/main.html
If you're constantly in search of new Illustrator techniques that
are a little more in-depth and informative than what you get here,
Adobe's Web site provides more than a few tutorials free of charge.
These tutorials are excellent, covering such topics as creating a
three-dimensional cylinder or creating an animation using Illustrator
layers. These tutorials are in-depth and accompanied by easy-to-follow
illustrations. To check them out, point your Web browser to this
address:
http://www.adobe.com/products/tips/illustrator.html
Although you may be a longtime user of Adobe Illustrator, you may
not be aware that Adobe has an in-house publication known as Adobe
Magazine. Adobe Magazine publishes on a bimonthly schedule, and among
many informative articles, the magazine provides its readers with an
informative Q&A section about Illustrator. This Q&A column contains
several how-tos, tips, and tricks. If you don't receive Adobe
Magazine, Adobe provides PDF versions of Illustrator Q&A from the last
issue on its Web site--totally free. To see how informative and useful
this column is, visit
http://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/qaillu.html
ALTERING AN OBJECT'S PERSPECTIVE WITH THE FREE TRANSFORM TOOL
Illustrator's Free Transform tool does a fantastic job of combining
the features of multiple tools and menu commands, but only if you know
how to use it. Follow this tip to change an object's perspective with
the Free Transform tool. Select the object you want to alter with the
Selection tool. Then return to the Toolbox and select the Free
Transform tool. Now go to the object and click on any corner handle of
the bounding box while holding down the Command-Option-Shift keys
(Macintosh) or Ctrl-Alt-Shift keys (Windows). Drag in the direction
you want the object to flow.
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APPLYING A PATTERN AS A STROKE
If you have ever felt limited by the ways to create attributes for
objects in Illustrator, get ready for a treat. Illustrator 9 will now
let you apply a pattern as a stroke for an object. Applying a pattern
to a stroke has a look similar to applying a brush to it, but some
people might find it easier to work with. Just bring the Stroke swatch
to the forefront in the toolbox and click on a pattern swatch to apply
it. This isn't limited to closed path objects; open paths can be
affected as well.
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APPLYING INK OUTLINES TO AN OBJECT
Illustrator 8 gives you the ability to apply Photoshop filters to
objects without having to leave the Illustrator art environment.
Several filters give objects the appearance of having been hand drawn.
One such filter is the Ink Outlines filter. To use the Ink Outlines
filter on an object, follow this tip. First, draw or select the object
you wish to apply the Ink Outlines filter to. Then, select Object,
Rasterize. In the dialog box that appears, choose a resolution option;
use Screen if you're creating art for video or the Web, or choose High
if your work is going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now
rasterized object still selected, choose Filter, Brush Strokes, Ink
Outlines. When you have the settings you want, click OK.
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APPLYING TINTS TO PLACED ARTWORK
If you feel like exploring the artist within you, here's a neat tip
for tinting placed TIFF files within Illustrator. In order for this
tip to work, you need to be working with a one-bit TIFF. A one-bit
TIFF consists of bitmap artwork with either black or white pixels and
no other colors or shades of gray. After you have placed the one-bit
TIFF in your Illustrator document, select it with the Selection tool
and choose a Fill color. The black pixels in the TIFF file will be
replaced with the fill color, and the white pixels will be
transparent.
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AUTOMATICALLY OPENING A COLOR PALETTE
When you open Illustrator, a palette of color swatches opens for
you. This is fantastic if you create all of your artwork with 14
colors, but chances are you need a wider array of hues than that. This
means that you have to go up to the Window menu and choose a Swatch
Library to get more choice colors. To save yourself some time, follow
this tip to get a specific swatch palette to open each time you launch
Illustrator.
First, select Window, Swatch Libraries. From there, choose the
swatch palette that you use most often. After the swatch palette is
open, go to its context menu by clicking on the triangle in its
upper-right corner and select the Persistent option. The swatch
library will now open automatically whenever you launch Illustrator.
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BACK-ISSUE ARCHIVES OF ADOBE MAGAZINE
Although you may be a longtime user of Adobe Illustrator, you may
not be aware that Adobe has an in-house publication known as Adobe
Magazine. Adobe Magazine publishes on a bimonthly schedule, and it
provides its readers with informative articles and a Q&A section about
Illustrator. (The Q&A column contains several how-tos, tips, and
tricks.) If you don't receive Adobe Magazine, Adobe provides PDF
versions of back issues on its Web site, totally free. To see how
informative and useful this magazine is, visit
http://www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/pastissues.html
BLURRING AN OBJECT
You don't need to go to Photoshop to apply a blur to an object.
Illustrator 8 will let you apply a Gaussian blur to a rasterized
object with one of its own filters. Just follow these steps. First,
draw or select the object you wish to apply the blur to. Then, choose
Object, Rasterize. In the dialog box that appears, choose a resolution
option; use Screen if you're creating art for video or the Web, or
choose High if your work is going to appear in print. Then click OK.
With the now rasterized object still selected, select Filter, Blur,
Gaussian Blur. When you have the settings you want, click OK. This tip
is also useful for creating soft drop shadows for objects.
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BREAKING A PATTERN FILL INTO INDIVIDUAL OBJECTS
It's a fairly well-known fact among Illustrator users that patterns
can make a document difficult to print. If you find yourself in this
situation, follow this tip to turn a pattern fill into a masked
object. First, select an object that has a pattern for a fill. From
the Object menu, choose Expand. In the dialog box that appears, select
the Fill option and click OK. The pattern fill will be turned into the
original shapes that constructed the pattern tile, now residing inside
a mask. The mask can be released, modified, or deleted as you see fit.
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CHANGING TEXT SIZE WITH THE KEYBOARD
This Illustrator tip is simple but goes a long way toward saving
time and preventing carpal tunnel syndrome. If you want to increase or
decrease the point size of a line or block of text, there's no need to
go to the Character palette or Type menu. All you need to do is select
the type with the Selection tool and perform these keyboard shortcuts:
To increase the point size, press Shift-Control-> (Windows) or
Shift-Command-> (Macintosh). To decrease the point size, press
Shift-Control-< (Windows) or Shift-Command-< (Macintosh).
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CHANGING THE COLORS IN A GRADIENT MESH
Illustrator 8's Gradient Mesh tool is a fantastic way to create
objects that have the appearance of being colored with an airbrush or
watercolor tray. But what if you want to change one of the colors in
the mesh after you've drawn the object? Just follow this tip. From the
Toolbox, click on the Direct Selection tool. Then, click on the anchor
point within the gradient mesh object whose color you want to change.
All you need to do now is mix a new color in the color mixer, and the
anchor point will change colors.
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CHANGING THE DOCUMENT COLOR MODE IN ILLUSTRATOR 9
By now you're probably aware that there are two modes of color to
work with in Illustrator: RGB and CMYK. RGB is used when you are
creating graphics for video and the Web, and CMYK is used for art
being created for print. Colors created in one mode don't necessarily
translate well when converted to the other, so Illustrator 9 asks you
which mode you would like to work in when you create a new document.
It then sets up all the swatches and color mixers in that mode.
If you would like to switch color modes in the middle of working in
a document, simply select File, Document Color Mode and choose the
opposite color mode. The color mixer will then switch to match the
mode you are working in, and all colors picked in the Swatches palette
will display in the color mixer in the appropriate mode.
CHECKING THE NUMBER OF UNDOS LEFT
If you've been hitting the Command/Ctrl-Z key combo for quite a
while, you may be curious as to how many Undos are left for you.
Illustrator allows for up to 200 Undos and Redos, depending on how
much of your computer's system resources are free. Use this tip to
find out how much of a comfort zone you have for your mistakes.
In the bottom-left corner of the Illustrator document window,
you'll see a pull-down menu next to the magnification view menu. Click
on this menu, and from the pop-up window that appears, choose the
Number Of Undos option. You will now see a line of information
displayed that tells you how many Undos you have left and how many
Redos are available.
COLOR MIXER SHORTCUT
Here's a handy Illustrator tip to quickly cut to the Color Mixer.
If you want to quickly bring the Color Mixer to the forefront of your
array of palettes, simply press the comma (,) key. This a valuable
keyboard shortcut--especially if you have a small monitor--but here's
something a little extra. If you select an object or several objects
before you bring the Color Mixer to the front, the selected objects
will take on the fill of the color that's selected in the Color Mixer
after you press the comma key.
COLOR-CODING MULTIPLE LAYERS
If you double-click on a layer in the Layers palette in
Illustrator, a dialog box will appear that will let you select a layer
color. Layer colors describe the color of the selection highlight that
appears when you select an object with the Selection or Direct
Selection tool. Different colors on different layers help you keep
objects on different layers easily identifiable. Illustrator also
provides a way to apply the same color to multiple layers with one
command. This comes in handy when you need to color-code several
objects that reside on different layers.
First, select a set of layers by holding down the Shift or
Command/Ctrl keys and clicking in the Layers palette. Then,
double-click on one of the selected layers to bring up the Layer
Options dialog box. Select a color from the pull-down menu, and it
will be applied to all of the selected layers.
CONTROLLING THE SMOOTH TOOL WITH MAGNIFIED VIEWS
When you draw a path with the Pencil tool in Illustrator, it
creates a path that is much more like a line or shape drawn with an
actual pencil than the paths that are created using the Pen tool. The
upside to this is artwork with a much more natural, hand-drawn look.
The downside to this is that the same artwork has a large number of
anchor points, which results in a complex and memory-intensive file.
You can use the Smooth tool to smooth out the paths created by the
Pencil tool, and if you do, here's a neat tip.
You can control the amount of smoothing the Smooth tool applies to
a path by adjusting your screen magnification. When you have a screen
magnification of less than 100 percent, the Smooth tool produces
subtle results. If your screen magnification is more than 100 percent,
the Smooth tool deletes larger numbers of anchor points.
CONVERT TO SHAPE EFFECT
Illustrator 9 has a feature that will let you convert objects to
other objects with the flick of a digital switch. It's known as the
Convert To Shape effect, and here's how it works: First, select
several objects on the page of your document. Then choose Effects,
Convert To Shape, Ellipse, Rectangle or Rounded Rectangle. A dialog
box will appear with different options available depending on which
shape you selected from the submenu. It's probably a good idea to
select the Preview box so you can see the adjustments you're making in
real time. You should also note that all the objects you are
converting will retain their fill and stroke attributes.
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CONVERTING FILLS AND STROKES INTO OBJECTS
In the search for all-new and ever-expanding features, the
programmers behind Illustrator 9 have included the ability to break
apart an object into two separate objects, one from its stroke and one
from its fill. This feature is known as expanding an object, and with
some experimenting you will probably find yourself relying on it
often. To expand an object, select an object with a stroke and a fill.
Then choose Object, Expand. In the dialog box that appears, select the
elements you want to separate from the parent object. Your choices
should be limited to fill and stroke. Click OK. The object should be
expanded into the fill and stroke objects. Note that you will have to
ungroup them before you can move either expanded object separately.
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CREATING A MULTICOLOR GRADIENT
Most people who use Illustrator are familiar with using gradients
to get nice shading and 3D effects. But did you know that gradients
can contain up to 32 colors? So many colors in one gradient can be
unwieldy, but it's nice to know that the capacity is there if you need
it.
Here's how to create a multicolor gradient. First, on the Swatches
palette, click on a gradient swatch. Next, in the Gradient palette,
click on the bottom of the slider where you want the new color to
reside. You can then use the Color Mixer to create the new color, or
you can drag an existing color swatch from a palette onto the slider.
Repeat this process until you have all the colors you need in your new
gradient. As I stated earlier, this can tend to get cumbersome, so you
might want to consider using the Blend function on two objects to
achieve similar results.
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CREATING A NEW ACTION
When you're working in Illustrator and are creating objects through
the use of similar, repetitive tasks, you should consider writing an
action. Actions are a series of commands that are automatically
carried out or performed on an object or document with the press of
one button in the Actions palette. Illustrator 8 ships with several
actions prerecorded in the Actions palette. Here's how to record your
own.
From the Actions palette, click on the arrow in the upper-right
corner of the palette. From the menu that appears, select New Action.
Give the action a name in the resulting dialog box and click the
Record button. Carry out the sequence of menu commands that you want
the new action to consist of. (Instances of tool usages are not
recordable.) When you have completed the sequence, click the button
with the small black square at the bottom of the Actions palette. To
replay the action on any object, simply select the desired object,
choose the action from the Actions palette, and click the Play button
at the bottom of the Actions palette.
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CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT IN ILLUSTRATOR 9
If you were annoyed by the limitation and hassles of setting up a
new document in versions of Illustrator previous to Illustrator 9,
your prayers have been answered. Follow this tip to get the most out
of creating a new document.
First, open the Preferences dialog box and go to the Units And Undo
section. Under the General pull-down menu, select the unit of
measurement that will have the most relevance to you. For most people,
this will be Inches, Picas, or Pixels. Click OK. Now choose File, New.
Instead of a cookie-cutter document appearing, you will see a dialog
box that will let you choose the specific size, color mode, and name
for your document.
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CREATING A PATTERN
Solid colors and gradients aren't the only ways you can fill
objects in Illustrator. You also have the option of using patterns.
Patterns are objects that are defined as fills for other objects. If
an object that's filled with a pattern is larger than the colored area
of a pattern, the pattern will tile in order to fill the object.
Illustrator comes with four patterns: Bricks, Confetti, Leaves, and
Horizontal Stripes. If you use patterns, you're obviously going to
need more than these in your toolbox.
To define an object or objects as a pattern, select an object or
objects with the Selection tool. Then, select Edit, Define Pattern. In
the dialog box that appears, enter a name for the new pattern and
click OK. The new pattern should be available as a swatch in the
Swatches palette. You should try to keep the patterns you create
relatively simple. Illustrator has problems printing complex patterns.
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CREATING CROP MARKS
Many times when working in Illustrator, you'll be creating a final
piece that is smaller than the Letter or Tabloid-sized document you're
working in. Here's a quick and easy way to create crop marks. Crop
marks remain visible while you're working in Illustrator, but they'll
disappear when you place your art into another program, such as
QuarkXPress or InDesign. To create crop marks, draw a rectangle with
the Rectangle tool. Select the rectangle with the Selection tool. Then
select Object, Crop Marks, Make. You should note that you cannot have
more than one set of crop marks within an Illustrator document at one
time. To remove crop marks, you can select Object, Crop Marks,
Release, or you can simply make a new set of crop marks.
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CREATING EMBOSSED TYPE
Vector-based drawing programs such as Illustrator are a boon to
technical artists. The tools that Illustrator provides give you the
ability to render beautiful two-dimensional pieces with large areas of
flat and gradated color. But what if you desire a more 3D-like effect
in some of your work? Here's a tip that will help you create
3D-friendly type.
First, draw a rectangle or ellipse with a 50 percent to 25 percent
fill of a solid color. Then, using the Type tool, create a single word
or short line of type, preferably in a font with a thick body and a
small serif. Turn the type into path objects and fill them with same
color as the rectangle or ellipse you just created. Now, place the
type objects on top of the rectangle or ellipse. While the type
outline is selected, select Edit, Copy, Paste In Back. While this new
copy of the type outline is selected, fill it with 100 percent white
and move the type two points up and to the left. Next, repeat the
Paste In Back command and fill this new type with 100 percent black.
Move the black type two points down and to the right. Your type should
now have an embossed effect.
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CREATING TRIM MARKS
Illustrator allows you to create trim marks within a document
through a filter. Trim marks are much more flexible than crop marks.
They can be moved after they've been created, and multiple trim marks
can exist within the same document. To create trim marks, select a
rectangle or any other object with the Selection tool. Then select
Filter, Create, Trim Marks. A set of trim marks will appear around the
boundary of the selected object. The trim marks can then be selected
and moved around like any other object.
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DISPLAYING THE AMOUNT OF RAM LEFT FOR ILLUSTRATOR
If you're using Illustrator on a machine with limited resources, it
can slow down performance quickly. Here's a tip that will let you keep
an eye on how much RAM is available to use in Illustrator.
In the bottom-left corner of the Illustrator document window,
you'll see a pull-down menu next to the magnification view menu. Click
on this menu, and from the pop-up window that appears, choose the Free
Memory option. You will now see a line of information displayed that
tells you how much RAM is free in your system.
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DISTORTING AN OBJECT
Versions of Illustrator prior to 8.0 featured a Distort tool. This
tool basically allowed you to warp an object without directly altering
the anchor points. Illustrator 8 disposed of the tool, but you can
still distort an object in the same manner by following this tip.
Select the object you want to distort with the Selection tool. Then
return to the Toolbox and select the Free Transform tool. Now go to
the object and click on any corner handle while holding down the
Command (Macintosh) or Ctrl (Windows) key. Drag in the direction you
want the object to flow.
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DRAGGING MULTIPLE SLIDERS IN THE COLOR MIXER
When you're working in Illustrator, it can be time consuming to mix
the proper color that your document requires. Depending on the color
model (RGB or CMYK), you can spend a good deal of time dragging three
or four sliders, trying to find a specific color and its tint or
shade. If you're looking for a tint or shade of a color, try this tip
to speed up the process. While you hold down the Shift key, grab one
color slider and drag it; the rest of the sliders in the mixer will
also move while remaining in a position relative to the slider you're
manipulating. The result will be a color that's more or less saturated
than the selected color. (If you drag the rightmost slider, you will
get results that are more dramatic.)
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DRAWING AN OBJECT WITH CHARCOAL STROKES
If you ever find that Illustrator's vector-generated objects are
becoming too sterile for you, there are several filters that will lend
you the look and feel of an artist's sketchbook. One such filter is
the Charcoal Strokes filter. To use the Charcoal Strokes filter on an
object, follow this tip. First, draw or select the object you wish to
apply the Charcoal Strokes filter to. Then, choose Object, Rasterize.
In the dialog box that appears, choose a resolution option; use Screen
if you're creating art for video or the Web, or choose High if your
work is going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now
rasterized object still selected, choose Filter, Sketch, Charcoal
Strokes. When you have the settings you want, click OK.
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DRAWING WITH THE AUTOTRACE TOOL
While placed images in an Illustrator document tend to add to the
file size and create printing complications, there are times when you
can't do without them. But you might want to consider an alternative:
the Autotrace tool. Illustrator's Autotrace tool will let you
automatically create vector art from placed bitmapped images. It can
be a tedious process, but the end result can be pretty interesting.
Follow this tip to get started using this tool.
Place a bitmap graphic in an Illustrator document. Select the
Autotrace tool from the toolbox and click on an area that has a large
amount of similar colors. Click the mouse once. A path will appear,
filled with whatever color and stroke was in the toolbar selection, so
you will probably need to adjust those attributes. You will need to
repeat this process until the image in the placed file begins to take
shape in the form of the vector paths.
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DRAWING WITH WHITE SPACE
If you've ever taken an introductory drawing or painting class,
there's a fair chance you've come across the book "Drawing on the
Right Side of the Brain," by Betty Edwards. "Drawing on the Right Side
of the Brain" is dedicated to getting non-artists to pick up a pencil
as well as getting artists-to-be to look at the world in different
ways. One of Ms. Edwards' key techniques is getting art students to
draw negative space (that is, the space around an object) in order to
render an object. Illustrator offers a variation on this technique
using the Exclude Pathfinder feature. If you follow this tip, you
might find it much easier to create complex objects that contain
compound paths.
First, draw the outline of your object and fill it with a dark
solid color. Then using filled white objects, draw the negative areas
that you want to knock out of the outline and position them on top of
the first object in the proper position. Finally, select both the
inner and outer objects, and from the Pathfinder palette, click the
Exclude button.
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EXPANDING A BRUSHSTROKE
In Illustrator, expanding a brushstroke converts a brushstroke into
a separate object. This tip will come in handy if you use an artistic
object as a brush and want to turn it into an object after it has been
warped along a path. You should note that if you expand a brushstroke
and then change the original brush, it won't update the expanded
object.
To expand a brushstroke, first select a brushstroked object. Choose
Object, Expand. In the dialog box that appears, check the Object or
Stroke option and deselect the Fill option. When you click OK, the
brushstroke and path will become separate objects. They will be
grouped, however, so be sure and ungroup them if you need to.
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EXPLORING THE PENCIL TOOL'S OPTIONS
It's difficult to use your mouse to draw in any graphics program,
but Illustrator's Pencil tool makes it fairly easy to create freehand
lines and shapes. Use this tip when you need the Pencil tool to
produce precise results. First, double-click the Pencil tool in the
Toolbox. In the dialog box that appears, slide the Fidelity slider all
the way to the left, until the display reads 0.5 pixels. If it isn't
already reading "0," drag the Smoothness slider all the way to the
left as well. These settings will result in rough, but accurate,
lines.
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FLOWING TYPE ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF A PATH
When you place type along a path in Illustrator, the Text tool will
place the text I-beam on one side of the path. Use this tip to quickly
create the illusion that type is running on both sides of the path.
After you type the copy you need, click on the Selection tool and hold
down the Option key. Click on the I-beam and drag it to flip the type.
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GENERATING A CHROME OBJECT IN ILLUSTRATOR
If you've ever admired the sheen and color of a freshly washed car,
or if you've seen the movie "Terminator 2," you know how difficult
chrome can be to illustrate. Fortunately, Illustrator 8 provides a
filter that can render an object with the characteristics of chrome.
This tip works best with an object that's filled with a black to white
gradient. First, draw or select the object you wish to apply the
Chrome filter to. Then, select Object, Rasterize. In the dialog box
that appears, choose a resolution option; use Screen if you're
creating art for video or the Web, or choose High if your work is
going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now rasterized
object still selected, choose Filter, Sketch, Chrome. When you have
the settings you want, click OK.
GRADIENT PALETTE SHORTCUT
Here's a handy Illustrator tip to quickly cut to the Gradient
palette. If you want to quickly bring the Gradient palette to the
forefront of your array of palettes, simply press the period (.) key.
This a valuable keyboard shortcut--especially if you have a small
monitor--but here's something a little extra. If you select an object
or several objects before you bring the Gradient palette to the front,
the selected objects will take on the fill of the gradient that's
selected in the Gradient palette after you press the period key.
HIDING ALL BUT ONE OBJECT
If you want to hide every object on a page except one, or even a
select few, here's a handy tip. First, select with the Selection tool
the object or objects you want to remain visible. Then hold down the
Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) and choose Object,
Hide Selection. The unselected objects and paths will now be hidden.
To perform this tip with one keyboard shortcut, press
Command-Shift-Option-3 (Macintosh) or Ctrl-Shift-Alt-3 (Windows).
JOINING TWO OPEN PATHS
In Illustrator, drawing with the Pen tool is a technique that
requires a great deal of practice. Even after you've mastered it,
you'll probably use a number of tips and tricks to get your hand-drawn
Pen tool paths into the shape you want. Here's one more technique for
your bag of tricks: joining endpoints on two open paths. Joining
endpoints either creates a straight line between two non-overlapping
endpoints, or it combines two overlapping endpoints into one point. To
join two endpoints, use the Direct Selection tool to select both
endpoints. Then, choose Object, Path, Join.
LAYER CLIPPING MASKS
Masking was awkward in previous versions of Illustrator because
masking objects disappeared once they were active. And in order to
move them, you had to unlock them before you could do so through
clumsy menu commands. Illustrator 9 has taken much of that hassle away
and provided a much better way to make masks using layers. These are
called layer clipping masks. Here's how it works. On a layer, place
the object you want to use as a mask as well as the object you want to
be masked. Use the Bring To Front command to move the masking object
to the top of the stack. Select the masking shape and the object to be
masked, and click the Make/Release Clipping Mask button at the bottom
of the Layers palette. Your mask setup is now complete. Click the
Make/Release Clipping Mask button again to release the mask and
objects.
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LAYER NAMES IN ITALICS
>From time to time, you may find yourself working on an Illustrator
document that has been passed on from another artist or designer. If
you look in the Layers palette, you may occasionally see that some of
the layer names are in italics. This denotes that artwork that's on
these layers is set not to print from within Illustrator. (If this art
is exported and/or placed in another program, it should print.) Here's
an additional tip: If the layer name is in italics and it has a
Template icon, then it will definitely not print. To make a
nonprinting layer printable, double-click the layer name, and in the
dialog box that appears, select the Print check box.
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LINKING PLACED IMAGES
Adobe Illustrator comes with the ability to place bitmapped
graphics in a document. Placed bitmaps are great for adding detail or
images that simply aren't available in a vector drawing program. The
caveat is that the relatively light file size of Illustrator files is
compromised by the presence of a placed bitmap graphic since its file
size is added to the file size of the overall document. One way to
eliminate this is to link your placed bitmaps to the document instead
of saving them embedded in the Illustrator file.
To do this, choose File, Place. In the resulting dialog box, choose
the bitmap graphic that you want and select the Link option. You can
now work with the placed bitmap graphic, and it won't be embedded in
your Illustrator file. You should take great care not to move the
placed image from its original directory or folder, since Illustrator
wouldn't be able to find it if you did.
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LOCKING ALL BUT ONE OBJECT
If you want to lock every object on a page except one, or even a
select few, here's a handy tip: First, select with the Selection tool
the object or objects you want to remain unlocked. Then hold down the
Option key (Macintosh) or Alt key (Windows) and choose Object, Lock.
The unselected objects and paths will now be locked. To perform this
tip with one keyboard shortcut, press Command-Shift-Option-2
(Macintosh) or Ctrl-Shift-Alt-2 (Windows).
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MASKING A GRADIENT MESH
You can turn any solid or gradient-filled object into a mesh object
by using the Gradient Mesh tool. However, it's easy to get carried
away with the Gradient Mesh tool. Since it simulates colors blended in
natural media, you must often find the results you want through a
hit-and-miss experimentation process. If the shape of the object
you're turning into a gradient mesh is complex, you should consider
what will happen if you alter the object in a way you don't like. Once
it's turned into a mesh, you can't turn it back. Consider this method.
First, copy and paste a duplicate of the complex object so you have
it in case you need a backup. Then, create a rectangle or ellipse
that's larger than the first object. Turn this square or circular
object into your mesh object. Once your mesh has the colors and
composition you want, select the complex object and position it over
the mesh. Select both objects, then choose Object, Masks, Make. This
offers a much easier and modular solution than turning a complex shape
into a gradient mesh.
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MODIFYING A PATTERN
Since patterns are basically objects that are defined as fills for
other objects, you can alter any pattern, even patterns that have been
shipped with Illustrator. To make changes to an existing pattern,
first drag its swatch from the Swatches palette into the document. The
pattern will be displayed as a selected group of objects within a
rectangle. Ungroup these objects and make whatever changes you wish to
coloring or positioning, but DO NOT place any objects outside the
bounding rectangle. Now, regroup the objects and drag them back into
the Swatches palette. If you want to save over the original pattern,
hold down the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) as you
drag the group back to the Swatches palette.
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MOVING AND DELETING GUIDES
Illustrator, like most drawing programs, has a function that lets
you place guides on a document. Guides are used to measure and align
objects and to help with your art's overall composition. However,
unlike most drawing programs, Illustrator treats guides as locked
objects--that is, once you create them, they aren't selectable.
To unlock your guides and make them editable, follow this tip:
Choose View and deselect Lock Guides. You'll now be able to select
your guides and move them with the Selection tool or delete them by
pressing the Backspace key.
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OFFSETTING OUTLINED TYPE
Illustrator is a fantastic tool for creating simple, elegant type
effects. Follow this tip to generate nicely offset type.
First, draw a rectangle and fill it with a solid color. Then, using
the Type tool, create a single character, preferably in a font with a
thick body and a small serif. Select the type with the Selection tool
and fill it with a color that's distinctly different from the fill of
the rectangle. Place the type on top of the rectangle.
While the type is selected, choose Edit, Copy, Paste In Front.
While this new copy of the type outline is selected, fill it with the
same color as the background rectangle. Move the type one point up and
to the left with the arrow keys. While the copy is still selected,
repeat the Copy and Paste In Front commands, and fill this new type
with a third color. Move the new type one point up and to the left.
Your type should now have an offset effect.
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OPENING TWO WINDOWS FOR ONE DOCUMENT
This Illustrator tip is simple, but if you have the memory to
spare, it will save you tons of time. First, open the document you
need to work on. Then, select Window, New Window. Your document is now
visible in two separate windows, and changes you make in one window
will be instantly made in the other. From here, you have several
options available. You can magnify the view in one window and reduce
the view in another; you can view one window in Preview mode and the
other in Artwork mode; and so on.
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PLACING A TEXTURE UNDERNEATH AN OBJECT
Illustrator 8 offers several artistic filters that give objects the
appearance of having been created on a natural texture. One such
filter is the Craquelure filter. Craquelure gives the illusion of an
object being painted on cracked plaster, and Illustrator renders it
quite well. To use the Craquelure filter on an object, follow this
tip. First, draw or select the object you wish to apply the Craquelure
filter to. Then, select Object, Rasterize. In the dialog box that
appears, choose a resolution option; use Screen if you're creating art
for video or the Web, or choose High if your work is going to appear
in print. Then click OK. With the now rasterized object still
selected, choose Filter, Texture, Craquelure. When you have the
settings you want, click OK.
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PREVIEWING INDIVIDUAL OBJECTS
The first time you boot up Illustrator, the document you work with
is in a viewing mode called Preview mode. Preview mode is exactly what
its name implies: It is a preview of the final work with all of its
colors, patterns, and brush strokes visible. Preview mode is easy to
work in and nice to look at, but it places a good deal of strain on
Illustrator's resources if your artwork is complex. If you're working
in a complicated document, follow this tip.
First, select View, Artwork. All of the objects in your document
will take on a paint style of no fill and a black outline. Any fill or
stroke attributes you apply to these objects won't be visible unless
you switch back to Preview mode using the View menu. But again, if
your art is complex, it could take a while to render. If you want to
preview a single object, simply select the object with the Selection
tool and choose View, Preview Selection.
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RASTERIZING AN ILLUSTRATOR OBJECT
When you create art objects in Adobe Illustrator, you're creating
vector art. Vector art is defined by mathematical objects such as
lines and curves. There may be times, however, when you need an
Illustrator object to be defined as bitmap within Illustrator. To
achieve this, you need to use the Rasterize feature.
First, use the Selection tool to select the object or objects you
want to rasterize. Then, choose Object, Rasterize. In the resulting
dialog box, choose the options you want: RGB and 72 dpi if your art is
going to be for onscreen viewing, or CMYK and 300dpi if your work is
going to be seen in print. A bonus: You can also apply Photoshop
filters to rasterized objects from within Illustrator.
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REDUCING ILLUSTRATOR'S LAUNCH TIME
If you have used a computer for any length of time, you have
undoubtedly noticed by now that it's just not as fast as it used to
be. The exponential rate at which processors evolve is partly to
blame, but there's also another factor to consider: application bloat.
Application bloat occurs after you've used a program for a while.
Various third-party plug-ins and utilities for your program add to its
RAM requirements, resulting in a program that's a memory hog and that
takes a long time to load. Here's a tip that will help you reduce
Illustrator's load time when you start it up. Simply go to the
Illustrator folder on your hard drive and open the Plug-Ins folder.
From here, you can remove any plug-ins you don't use, which will speed
up the time you wait for Illustrator to boot up. Another way to put
Illustrator on a diet is to reduce the number of active fonts you're
using, or use a font-management program such as Suitcase or Adobe Type
Manager.
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REDUCING YOUR PRINTING TIME
Because Illustrator creates paths and objects using mathematical
instructions, there are many factors that can affect the time it takes
for documents to print from within the program. If you're printing a
piece of art that's a simple logo or illustration with a few
gradients, you shouldn't notice that it takes a great deal of time to
get your work outputted to the printer. But if your page is taking too
long to print, look at the list below and see if you can spot a
culprit or two.
Any of these factors can cause your printer to choke on an
Illustrator document:
Placed (bitmapped) images that have been masked or transformed (for
example, scaled)
Objects filled with complex patterns or gradients
Objects with path patterns or ink pen effects
Placed images that are at a resolution higher than 300 dpi
Happy printing!
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RENDERING AN OBJECT IN POINTILLISM
Illustrator 8 gives you the ability to apply Photoshop filters to
objects without having to leave the Illustrator art environment. One
of these filters mimics the technique of Georges Seurat: Pointillism.
To use the Pointillism filter on an object, follow this tip. First,
draw or select the object you wish to apply the Pointillism filter to.
Then, select Object, Rasterize. In the dialog box that appears, choose
a resolution option; use Screen if you're creating art for video or
the Web, or choose High if your work is going to appear in print. Then
click OK. With the now rasterized object still selected, choose
Filter, Pixellate, Pointillize. When you have the settings you want,
click OK.
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RENDERING AN OBJECT WITH SPATTERED PAINT
Do you yearn for the days of pre-school? I'm not talking about
eating glue or crayons, but about painting with big, sloppy, spattered
brushes? Illustrator has many filters that can bring spontaneity to
your art. One such filter is the Spatter filter. To use the Spatter
filter on an object, follow this tip. First, draw or select the object
you wish to apply the Spatter filter to. Then, select Object,
Rasterize. In the dialog box that appears, choose a resolution option;
use Screen if you're creating art for video or the Web, or choose High
if your work is going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now
rasterized object still selected, choose Filter, Brush Strokes,
Spatter. When you have the settings you want, click OK.
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ROTATING AN OBJECT WITH THE FREE TRANSFORM TOOL
Illustrator's Free Transform tool does a fantastic job of combining
the features of multiple tools and menu commands, but only if you know
how to use it. Follow this tip to rotate an object with the Free
Transform tool. Select the object you want to alter with the Selection
tool. Then return to the Toolbox and select the Free Transform tool.
Now go to the object, click outside the bounding box, and drag in the
direction you want the object to rotate. Holding down the Shift key
while you rotate will force the object to rotate in 45-degree
increments.
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SAMPLING COLORS FROM A PLACED FILE WITH THE EYEDROPPER TOOL
The Eyedropper tool comes in handy for sampling colors and
attributes from various objects. Many artists rely solely on the
Eyedropper to build their palettes for entire documents. But if you
are trying to pull colors from a placed bitmap graphic, or even if you
are trying to grab an intermediate color from an object with a
gradient, you may discover a wee problem with Illustrator 9. As of
this upgrade, the Eyedropper won't pick colors from a blend or bitmap
graphic unless you hold down the Shift key as you click the mouse
button. It might be hard to remember, but follow this tip from when
you first install your upgrade, and it should sink in quick.
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SAVING FOR THE WEB
Since the Web displays primarily GIF and JPEG files, it wasn't all
that long ago that if you created graphics in Illustrator you had to
open them in or export them to an image-editing program like Photoshop
to convert them to the format you needed. Illustrator 9 changes all of
that by borrowing a feature from Photoshop 5.5 called Save For Web.
This feature lets you export your art under a different filename,
ready for display in a Web browser. It also lets you see the
compression changes you make to your art in real time.
To export your Illustrator art in GIF or JPEG format, choose File,
Save For Web. A large dialog box will appear with a preview of what
your art will look like in the exported format settings. You can play
with the file format pull-down menus and compression settings to gauge
the trade-off of file size for graphic quality. You should note that
unless your art contains a good deal of gradients, almost all art
exported in this manner from Illustrator will be in the form of GIFs.
When you're working on an Illustrator document with many objects,
it can be difficult to select the objects you want without
inadvertently selecting others. This is especially true if you're
using the Selection tool to choose your objects and paths.
Fortunately, Adobe had the foresight to predict this problem and
programmed Illustrator with several selection alternatives.
Many times, you will draw complex objects and apply complex masks
to them. This can result in masks that are difficult to select since
they have an odd shape and are invisible to boot. If you do have masks
in your document, here's how to quickly select them and call them out.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Then, choose Edit, Select, Masks. All the
masks will now be highlighted, and you can delete them by pressing the
Backspace key.
When you're working on an Illustrator document with many objects,
it can be difficult to select the objects you want without
inadvertently selecting others. This is especially true if you're
using the Selection tool to choose your objects and paths.
Fortunately, Adobe had the foresight to predict this problem and
programmed Illustrator with several selection alternatives. If you
have an object or several objects that have brush strokes applied to
them, here's how to quickly select them and single them out.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Then, choose Edit, Select, Brush Strokes.
All objects with brush strokes applied to them in your document will
now be highlighted.
In Illustrator, many times you will draw several objects with
varying fill colors. If for some reason you need to universally change
the color of a fill on multiple objects with the same fill color,
here's a quick way to select them all.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Next, use the Selection tool to select
one object that has the fill color you wish to alter. Then, choose
Edit, Select, Select Same Fill Color. All the objects with matching
fill colors will now be highlighted, and you can alter them from the
Swatch palette or Toolbox.
When you're working on an Illustrator document with many objects,
it can be difficult to select the objects you want without
inadvertently selecting others. This is especially true if you're
using the Selection tool to choose your objects and paths.
Fortunately, Adobe had the foresight to predict this problem and
programmed Illustrator with several selection alternatives.
Many times, you will draw complex objects and apply identical fill
colors and stroke characteristics to them. If for some reason you need
to universally change the color of a fill or a stroke characteristic
on multiple objects with the same paint style, here's a quick way to
select them all.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Next, use the Selection tool to select
one object that has the fill color you wish to alter. Then, choose
Edit, Select, Select Same Paint Style. All the objects with matching
paint styles will now be highlighted, and you can alter them from the
Swatch palette, Stroke palette, or Toolbox.
In Illustrator, many times you will draw several objects with
varying stroke colors. If for some reason you need to universally
change the color of a stroke on multiple objects with the same stroke
color, here's a quick way to select them all.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Next, use the Selection tool to select
one object that has the stroke color you wish to alter. Then, choose
Edit, Select, Select Same Stroke Color. All the objects with matching
stroke colors will now be highlighted, and you can alter them from the
Stroke or Swatch palette.
In Illustrator, many times you will draw several objects with
varying stoke weights. If for some reason you need to universally
raise or lower the stroke weight of multiple objects, here's a quick
way to select them all.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Next, use the Selection tool to select
one object that has the stroke weight you wish to alter. Then, choose
Edit, Select, Select Same Stroke Weight. All the objects with matching
stroke weights will now be highlighted, and you can alter them from
the Stroke palette.
When you're working on an Illustrator document with many objects,
it can be difficult to select the objects you want without
inadvertently selecting others. This is especially true if you're
using the Selection tool to choose your objects and paths.
Fortunately, Adobe had the foresight to predict this problem and
programmed Illustrator with several selection alternatives.
Many times, you will draw complex objects and find yourself adding
and deleting points to them many times. This can result in solitary,
stray points that are part of no object on the page. If you do have
several stray points in your document, here's how to quickly select
them and delete them.
First, make sure that nothing in your document is selected by
choosing Edit, Deselect All. Then, choose Edit, Select, Stray Points.
All stray points will now be highlighted, and you can delete them by
pressing the Backspace key.
Illustrator's Free Transform tool does a fantastic job of combining
the features of multiple tools and menu commands, but only if you know
how to use it. Follow this tip to shear an object with the Free
Transform tool. Select the object you want to shear with the Selection
tool. Then return to the Toolbox and select the Free Transform tool.
Now go to the object and click on any side handle of the bounding box
while holding down the Command (Macintosh) or Ctrl (Windows) key. Drag
in the direction you want the object to flow.
Here's a tip that will let you render a neat shadow effect in
Illustrator. This will work with any object with a solid fill, but it
looks best if it is used on type, and that's what we'll use in this
example.
Start by creating a line of type with the Text tool and fill it
with a light color (if you use a dark color, it will lessen the impact
of the shadows). Then, use the Selection tool to select the type at
the baseline. Go to the Toolbox and select the Shear tool, then hold
down the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) while
clicking the alignment point. In the dialog box that appears, enter a
low negative angle value (anywhere from -7 to -10), select the
Horizontal option, and click the Copy button. While the sheared copy
is still selected, fill it with a dark color and select
Object/Arrange, Send To Back. You should now have a line of type with
a dramatic shadow effect.
All of the new features included in Illustrator 9 allow you to
create some fantastic artwork. They also can be responsible for some
incredibly complex objects and paths. Complex objects are no problem
if you have a fast computer and you are creating art for video or the
Web. But if you need to create art for printing, they can bring down a
lot of printers. If you do have detailed paths or objects with many
points in your document, consider this tip.
Select Object, Path, Simplify. In the pop-up window that appears,
select the Show Original and Preview options. This way, you can see
the before and after results of your simplification as you move the
sliders. When you have the results you want, click OK.
When you want to bisect a path or an object, Illustrator gives you
two handy tools: the Knife and the Scissors. But how do you know when
to use which tool? Keep these factors in mind when you need to cut up
a path. Scissors need to begin and end on specific points of an
object. Therefore, you cannot use Scissors to cut an open path, just
closed path objects. Scissors also splits those objects into two open
paths. The Knife tool is a bit more lax. The Knife can be used on
either open or closed paths, and the user can create the cut in a
freehand fashion. Any objects cut from other objects consist of closed
paths. In other words, play with the Knife, but get the job done with
the Scissors.
With so many palettes and windows open in Illustrator, it can be
difficult to keep track of multiple windows, especially if you have
several documents open. Rather than clicking all over the work area
until you get the appropriate document to come to the fore, follow
this simple tip. Click the Window menu; in the box that appears, you
will see a list of open documents at the bottom. Select one of these
to bring the document you need to the front. This is also a good
reminder to save and name your documents as soon as you create them;
otherwise, you will have to select from a good deal of Untitled
documents from the Window menu.
One of the best features of Illustrator is the ability to fill an
object with a pattern, which is really other Illustrator objects that
tile repeatedly for the volume of the object. Illustrator 9 throws in
a new twist. This latest upgrade will let you scale or rotate a
pattern within an object without scaling or rotating the object
itself. To transform a pattern within an object, first select the
object with the Selection tool. Then choose the Scale or Rotate tool
from the toolbox. Hold down the tilde (~) key, and then click and drag
to perform the transformation. Note: It will appear that while you are
dragging to perform the transformation, you are affecting the object.
But when you release the mouse, only the pattern will be altered.
When you select an object or objects with the Selection tool,
you'll see a bounding box appear around them. The bounding box is good
to have, because it allows you to scale or resize an object without
using the Scale tool--you simply drag one of the six handles on the
box. You can also use the bounding box as a border to precisely align
the outer edges of an oddly shaped object with guides in your
document. But if you are one of the many users who prefer not to use
the bounding box, follow this tip.
Begin by choosing File, Preferences, General. In the resulting
dialog box, deselect the Use Bounding Box item and click OK. The
bounding box is no more.
If you were a user of FreeHand or Illustrator in the very early
days and had to draw a spiral before the existence of the Spiral tool,
you might want to apply for sainthood due to your immeasurable
patience. The Spiral tool comes in handy, especially when you are in a
whimsical mood. But if you use the Spiral tool infrequently, you might
not be aware of the ways you can tweak and play with it. Here are a
couple of tips to help you out.
Select the Spiral tool in the toolbox and click once in your
Illustrator document. A pop-up menu will appear. You will see several
options for modifying your Spiral objects. The first item lets you set
the radius of your spiral. The second option, Decay, sets the amount
by which each wind of the spiral will decrease. The next option lets
you select how many full winds will make the spiral. And the final
option lets you draw the spiral rotating clockwise or
counterclockwise.
Although vector art is resolution independent, the applications
that create these point- and path-based objects often display a
low-res version of them in their authoring environments. Illustrator 9
is no different, but with this latest upgrade it has given you the
option to view the art you create as it would appear if it were pixel
based at a screen resolution of 72 pixels per inch. Many users find
this pixelized view of their art preferable if they want to see what
their work will look like on the Web. To view your work in Pixel
Preview mode, choose View, Pixel Preview.
If you have ever used Photoshop (and chances are if you use
Illustrator you have), you are probably familiar with the Lasso tool.
Photoshop's Lasso is basically a free form selection tool that lets
you draw a selection around a group of pixels in a freehand fashion.
Illustrator 9 now has a version of the Lasso tool called the Direct
Select Lasso tool. It functions like the Photoshop Lasso, with one
exception: Whereas the Photoshop Lasso selects pixels, Illustrator's
Direct Select Lasso selects whatever individual anchor points it
encloses. This is much more effective than the Direct Selection tool,
which selects only one anchor point at a time.
To use the Direct Select Lasso tool, click on it in the toolbox and
draw an area around the anchor points you need to select.
One of the most popular graphic effects these days consists of
applying a drop shadow to a shape. It's so popular, in fact, that
nearly every graphics creation program available today includes a tool
that has automated the process of creating drop shadows. Here's how
you create one in Illustrator 9.
First, select the object you want to apply a drop shadow to. With
Illustrator 9, it is no longer necessary to rasterize the object
before you apply the filter. Select Filter, Stylize, Drop Shadow. A
dialog box will appear with various options, but just click OK to see
the default setting results; they're fine for this example and
probably will fit most of your needs.
Illustrator 8 provides several ways of adding painterly effects to
sterile vector art. One of the spiffier special effects filters is the
Glass filter. This filter makes objects look as if they're being
viewed underneath a textured pane of glass. To use the Glass filter on
an object, follow this tip. First, draw or select the object you wish
to apply the Glass filter to. Then, select Object, Rasterize. In the
dialog box that appears, choose a resolution option; use Screen if
you're creating art for video or the Web, or choose High if your work
is going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now rasterized
object still selected, select Filter, Distort, Glass. When you have
the settings you want, click OK.
When Adobe created the Navigator palette for Illustrator, it took a
great leap toward reducing carpal tunnel syndrome. The Navigator
palette basically eliminates any need for the magnifying tool or
scroll bars in the document window. There are several tips that can
help you make good use of the Navigator, and here's just one:
In the Navigator palette, clicking on the small Mountains icon will
reduce the picture's magnification in 100-percent increments (i.e., if
your picture is at 300 percent, clicking the small Mountains button
will bring it down to 200 percent). The inverse holds true for
clicking the big Mountains button: The picture's magnification
increases by 100-percent increments. If you double-click these
buttons, the magnification increments rise to 200 percent. You can
then move the red box in the Navigator's thumbnail area to move the
viewing area in the main document.
Illustrator 8 takes away a good deal of going to and from Photoshop
with its inclusion of Photoshop filters. One of the spiffier special
effects filters is the Ocean Ripple filter. This filter makes objects
look as if they're being viewed underwater. To use the Ocean Ripple
filter on an object, follow this tip. First, draw or select the object
you wish to apply the Ocean Ripple effect to. Then choose Object,
Rasterize. In the dialog box that appears, choose a resolution option;
use Screen if you're creating art for video or the Web, or choose High
if your work is going to appear in print. Then click OK. With the now
rasterized object still selected, choose Filter, Distort, then choose
the Ocean Ripple option. When you have the settings you want, click
OK.
The Reshape tool is basically a kinder, gentler version of the
Direct Select tool. Illustrator's Reshape tool lets you multiply
anchor points and path sections and alter them in a more clay-like
manner. If you don't use it that often, it would be well worth your
R&D time to play with it for a few minutes. But here's a little tip
that you may not know. When you want to add anchor points to a path,
it can be a bit of a bother to go to the toolbox and drill down the
Pen tool options to get to the Add Anchor Points tool. The next time
you need to add anchor points to a path or object, speed up your
workflow by adding them with the Reshape tool. Anchor points added
with the Reshape tool can be modified or deleted like any other anchor
points.
Rather than searching through multiple color swatches and mixing
incredibly complex color variations in the color mixer, you can let
Illustrator saturate or desaturate a color. Select the object that has
the Fill color you wish to alter. If the color you want to adjust is
the outline of a path or object, you'll need to convert the path to a
shape, since the Saturation filter doesn't work on outlines. Then
select Filter, Colors, Saturate. You'll see a dialog box that will let
you adjust the intensity of the color of the selected object. Be sure
and select the Preview check box so you can see the color changes you
are making in real time.
Illustrator's Navigator palette basically eliminates any need for
the magnifying tool or scroll bars in the document window. This tip
will let you focus on an area without using the Magnifying Glass tool
in the main document and allows for greater magnification accuracy.
In the Navigator palette, hold down the Command key (Macintosh) or
the Ctrl key (Windows). Then click and drag within the thumbnail area
in the Navigator palette to define the area you want to zoom in on in
the main document. You can then move the red box in the Navigator's
thumbnail area to move the viewing area in the main document.
Adobe Illustrator comes with the ability to place bitmapped
graphics in a document. Placed bitmaps are great for adding detail or
images that simply aren't available in a vector drawing program. One
of the drawbacks of placed images is that many of Illustrator's
features don't work on them. You can certainly rotate, shear, scale,
or crop a placed graphic, but be smart and follow today's tip:
Manipulate and/or edit the bitmap graphic you want to place in
Illustrator in a photo-editing program such as Adobe Photoshop BEFORE
you import it into Illustrator. Illustrator takes a great deal of
memory to handle placed bitmap images, and the less it has to alter
them, the easier it will be to work with them.
In a pinch, Illustrator can perform some very handy type tricks. It
doesn't rival QuarkXPress or InDesign, but for documents containing
little body copy or few pages it does quite well. Today we'll tell you
how to wrap body copy around an object. First, using the Type tool,
create a rectangle and place some copy inside it. With the Selection
tool, select an object that you want the type to wrap around. Choose
Object, Arrange, Bring To Front. Now, using the Selection tool, select
both the type block and the object. Then, choose Type, Wrap, Make.
Your type should now wrap around the object.
When you first set out to configure your
own shortcuts using Illustrator's Keyboard Shortcuts window (select
Edit, Keyboard Shortcuts), you may find yourself opening this window
many times per session. If this is the case, why not streamline the
shortcut used to access the Keyboard Shortcuts window?
The default shortcut for Keyboard Shortcuts is Ctrl-Alt-Shift-K
(Command-Option-Shift-K), and can be quite a handful if you use the
command often. You might shorten the shortcut to something more
manageable, like: Ctrl-Comma (that's the Control key plus the Comma
key, just so we understand each other). Mac users might try
Command-Comma.
To open the Keyboard Shortcuts window, select Edit, Keyboard
Shortcuts. In the drop-down list labeled Tools, select Menu Commands,
then click the arrowhead just to the left of Edit in the Menu Commands
list. The Edit menu will expand, allowing you to scroll down until you
can select Keyboard Shortcuts from the list. (As you've probably
figured out by now, the Menu Commands list imitates the Menu Bar in
structure.) Click under the Shortcut column in the Keyboard Shortcuts
entry, and then type Ctrl-Comma, or a custom key command of your
choice. Click Save, enter a filename for your new keyset file in the
resulting dialog box, and click OK. Click OK again to close the
Keyboard Shortcuts window, and now you can call this window up with
your new Ctrl-Comma shortcut.
