Why Illustrator
- Illustrator is vector graphics application
- illustrator creates graphics that are infinitely scalable
- vector or object based graphics
- vectors are based on math, you are plotting anchor points and program creates path
- vector graphics are smaller in file size
- illustrator only remembers coordinates and stroke/fill colors
- referred to as object based because you aren’t dealing with pixels, but objects created by paths
- Photoshop is pixel or raster based
- raster is a given width or height
- each pixel can and must only contain one color
- resolution refers to how many pixels are on frame that can be filled in with a color
- photoshop files are huge because they remember each pixel individually and records the data
- megapixels are millions of pixels
- raster is a given width or height
- illustrator creates graphics that are infinitely scalable
Paths
- Two types of paths
- open
- closed
- straight line is path with one point (beginning) and one point (end)
- there are different types of anchor points
- corner – has straight line coming from it
- smooth – has curved line coming from it
- rectangle is made of four corner points
- oval have for smooth points
- control handle determines path of smooth point
- on a bezier curve
- control handles get coordinates as well
- must put appearance on path, paths alone are considered naked
- fills – enclosed area of path
- when adjusting fills, hold down shift and click on swatch to alter colors, not swatches
- strokes – appearance of physical path
- fills – enclosed area of path
Selection
- Black arrow is selection tool
- grabs entire groups of objects
- white arrow is subselection tool
- grabs direct object under arrow
- direct selection tool can also edit individual anchor points
- ctrl key allows you to toggle between the arrows very quickly and efficiently
- shift key allows you to add/remove items to a selection
Stacking Order
- determines which objects sit on top of eachother, objects are always above or beneath each other, never on some level
- bring to front is used to take object and place it on top level of stacking order
- send to back does the opposite
Isolation Mode
- way to more easily work with object in illustration
- double-click on object to isolate group
- can also isolate parts of groups
Document Profiles
- can use different workflows, from video to web
- CMYK is for print
- is document is going to monitor, use RGB
Multiple Artboards
- Illustrator allows you to use multiple artboards in one document
- used to hold multiple files of different sizes all in one document
- great of campaigns
- can select assignment of canvas’
- only one artboard can be active at one time
- can move through artboard with arrows at bottom left
- use artboard edit tool to select/add/work with artboards
- in artboard edit mode
- alt + drag over artboard copies it and the graphics inside
- shift + change dimensions holds the aspect ratio
- in artboard edit mode
- can edit artboard properties with artboard options button
- used to hold multiple files of different sizes all in one document
Libraries
- additional content in the form of libraries can be loaded
- click on library menu
- one library is exposed, can drag into current document library. This will show for current doc, but not for others
Template
- New > From Template
- adds artboards that can be helpful with preset dimensions
Hotkeys
- Spacebar instantiates hand tool
- spacebar + ctrl instantiates zoom
- + alt to zoom out
Windows
- Can have multiple windows arranged in different ways
- also able to show document in different views in two different windows
Rulers and Guides
- when creating guides, hold down shift to snap guide to ruler
- alt key changes between horizontal and vertical guide
- use contextual menu (right click) to lock/unlock guides
- Guides act like magnets and are great for placement
- to create guides which are specific for artboard
- with artboard edit mode selected, draw guides to place guides on artboards
Bounding Box
- allows for transformations to be performed more accessibly
- only shows up when bounding box option is turned on
- and only when using the selection tool (black arrow)
Drawing Graphics
- Closed Primitives
- closed refers to the closed path
- primitive refers to stock shape
- when drawing, use these hotkeys
- shift key constrains proportions
- alt key draws shape from center point
- spacebar drags shape to new location
- when drawing rounded rectangle, up and down keys alter the corner radius
- when drawing polygons, up and down keys add more sides
- they are all going to be equal side
- when drawing starts, alt key aligns the shoulders
- use ctrl key to change pointiness of star
- Open Primitives
- uses very similar hotkeys
- shift constrains to 45 degree increments
- for arcs
- f key will switch arc from concave or convex
- up and down adjust curve
- spiral
- up and down puts more winds in spiral
- ctrl key adjusts how tightly wound
- rectangle grid
- up increase row
- right increase column
- down remove row
- left remove column
- f, v, c, x all control skew of rectangles
- polar grid acts much in the same way
- uses very similar hotkeys
- While drawings primitives, hold the ` (tilde) key down to create exact copies for interesting effect
- Pen Tool
- the defining vector graphics creation tool
- found in multiple applications
- Pen tool is not used for drawing, it creates shapes by plotting anchor points
- we just draw anchor points, Illustrator draws the paths
- shift key makes lines straight
- pen tool with x means it is about to start new path
- pen tool with nothing means it is in middle of drawing
- pen tool with o means it is about to close path
- pen tool with upside down v means control handles are being pulled out of particular anchor point
- these are basically combination points, because you only have one side of the control handle, meaning path changes direction as it moves through point
- control handles are basically magnets, and draw the line toward
- if you click and drag while using pen tool, you will create curve handles and define a smooth anchor point
- illustrator will create curve line between anchor points
- when drawing, need to think anchor points first, then paths will follow
- the defining vector graphics creation tool
- Pencil Tool
- pencil tool and pen tool are polar opposites
- pencil tool draws paths and illustrator creates anchor points
- it is tough to draw shapes
- can redraw lines by hovering over selecting line until x disappears
- to drag new path, just deselect
- Pencil Tool Options
- fidelity is smoothness
- stabilization makes lines look less jittery
Editing Points
- Illustrator allows us to convert anchor points between smooth and corner
- as one of pen tools, there is the convert anchor point tool
- just click on anchor point which you would like to alter
- drag a corner point out to make it smooth
- with convert anchor tool selected, drag one side of the control handle to create a combination point
- hotkeys
- with pen tool selected, alt to change to convert anchor
- just click on anchor point which you would like to alter
- pen tool is great for creating new graphics, not for working with them
- new preference allows you to add anchor point to path by hovering over with pen tool, you’ll get a + next to mouse
- if you mouse over anchor point, you get a minus sign to remove the anchor point
- there is a remove selected anchor points command in the command bar
- as one of pen tools, there is the convert anchor point tool
Pathfinder Panel
- allows you to take two paths and perform some operation to create new paths
- must enable panel from window menu
- tools in Pathfinder Panel
- unite allows you to take two shapes and combine them into one
- subtract removes topmost layer from bottom layers
- exclude combines them except for the parts that overlap
- intersect only keeps part of graphics that are overlapping
- divide chops up graphics into parts that overlap and parts that don’t
- trim removes all overlapping areas completely and gets rid of stroke
- merge puts them into one shape but trashes stroke comment
- crop creates a mask of the topmost layer, only showing what would appear through layer
- Outline chops everything up as individual paths
- minus back removes bottom layer from front
Joining Anchor Points
- Shift click on two anchor points, then click on options menu and path > join
- can only join anchor points
- creates straight line to join points
- if points overlap, can choose between smooth and corner points
- ctrl + J is keyboard shortcut
Averaging Anchor Points
- Takes points that are separate and recreates them on top of each other
- then the points must be joined
- can join by different dimensions
Outlining Strokes
- select line with stroke > object > path > outline stroke
- changes stroke attributes to outlines so they can be worked with individually
Simplify Paths
- more anchor points = more detailed artwork and higher file size
- not always better to have more anchor points, want to use minimum anchor points to accomplish desired goal
- click on complex path > object > path > simplify
- use curve to control how many points are created (go with around 95% for highest quality with good reduction in file size)
- set angle to somewhere in the middle of the bar
Offset Path
- creates copy of path with different dimensions
- scaling keeps proportions constant, so you can’t always scale it in desirable fashion
- click on path > object > path > offset path
- be sure to use preview so you can see what you are doing
- positive numbers make path larger, negative make path smaller
Split Into Grid
- to split path into grid, select path, object > path > split into grid
- have controls for display
- be sure to use preview
- have controls for display
Path Cleanup
- to see all paths on artboard, use ctrl + Y to view outlines
- Object > Path > Cleanup
- removes extraneous stuff that clutters up your artboard
Text
- Point Text
- has no bounding box
- text is aligned to the anchor point
- created when you add text by clicking somewhere and not dragging
- Area Text
- created when drawing a bounding box for your text
- benefits include
- free resizing
- can fit text into any path using Area Text tool
- just click on outline of path to place text inside of said path
- can place columns in text area using Area Type Options
- Type > Area Type Options
- Character Settings
- Kerning is the space between letters
- alt + left/right keys to change kerning when working with text
- optical is better kerning algorithm, looks great compared to auto kerning
- Illustrator allows for the rotation of any characters
- Kerning is the space between letters
- Paragraph Settings
- Roman Hanging Justification makes left justification look more proper
- Adobe Single Line Composer is used to when creating text, but use Adobe Every Line Composer when going to render