1 1 UNIT 1 UNIT 1 WELCOME TO ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR WHY

-H View/Actual Size

When you see “ChooseObject/Pattern,” clickon the Menu Bar anddrag to highlight thecommand.

Double-click on theAdobe Illustratorapplication icon in theAdobe Illustrator folderon your hard drive tolaunch the program.

Double-click on anyIllustrator document iconto launch the program.

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WELCOME TO ADOBE ILLUSTRATORIf your computer drawing experience has been limited to bitmappedprograms like MacPaint, Fractal Design Painter, and AdobePhotoshop, your study of Adobe Illustrator will take you into a worldwhere lines are perfectly straight and curves are perfectly smooth-even if you move or resize them. Because Adobe Illustrator is aPostScript-based drawing program, the mathematically precisedefinitions of lines and curves are maintained in the drawing andprinting process. This allows you not only to draw precise lines andshapes, but also to draw. them in any weight, to fill them withcolour and patterns, and to use type as an illustration element.There is no limit to what you can produce with Adobe Illustratoronce you learn how to use its tools and functions.

WHY USE ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR?Adobe Illustrator is an art production tool used by graphic designers,production artists, typesetters, and service bureaus. Artwork createdin Illustrator can be imported into programs like QuarkXPress andAdobe PageMaker where it can be further manipulated. Illustratorfiles can be opened and placed in Adobe Photoshop for furthermanipulation. Because Illustrator files are Encapsulated PostScript(EPS) files, they move easily and without loss of colour or detail toand from other Postscript applications.

WHAT THIS TUTORIAL COVERSLessons in this tutorial are designed to cover the main functions andfeatures of Adobe Illustrator 5.5. The first lesson introduces you tothe terms, tools, and viewing modes available in Adobe Illustrator.Lesson 2 will teach you how to make selections and work withclosed and open paths. Lesson 3 covers the powerful Paint Stylepalette, from which all colours, fills, and line attributes are applied.Strokes, gradient fills, and more of the painting tools are discussedin Lesson 4. The pen tool, Illustrator’s primary drawing tool, iscovered in Lesson 5. You will learn how to trace templates andmeasure and move objects in Lesson 6, as well as how to work withrulers and guides. Lesson 7 covers the transformation tools forscaling, rotating, reflecting, shearing, and blending. Lessons 8 and 9cover type effects, typography, and word processing. The newlayers feature, Layers palette, and masking commands are discussedin Lesson 10. You will learn how to create and use patterns inLessons 11 and how to apply filters in Lesson 12. Although you willbe printing work throughout the tutorial, selecting options forprinting black-and-white and colour separations are covered inLesson 13. A glossary of terms appears after the last chapter.

HOW TO USE THIS TEXTThis text has been designed so you can easily lay it flat next to yourcomputer and work directly from it. Each lesson ends with a ReviewExercise which will help you to pull together the different kinds ofmaterial covered in the lesson. You will also find multiple-choicequestions at the end of each lesson which will reinforce what youlearned in the lesson.

Although different functions are presented in each lesson, youcan move sequentially from one lesson to another or skip a lesson ifyou like. For example, if you want to begin creating complexillustrations right away and leave painting objects for later, beginwith Lesson 5. Or, if you feel that Lesson 3 on most of the featuresof the Paint Style palette gives you enough information to workwith, leave Lesson 4 until later and move on to something else.

To help you keep track of the various kinds of information youare working with, the narrow columns on each page are where youwill find much helpful information on using the features in AdobeIllustrator. All of the terms which appear on the first page of eachlesson are found in the glossary at the end of the tutorial.

In this tutorial, menu commands appear followed by thekeyboard command where they appear on the menu. When, forexample, you are told to choose View/Actual Size (Command-H),either click on the View menu and drag down to select (highlight)Actual Size, or press the Command and H keys simultaneously. If akeyboard shortcut exists for a command, it will be given in the textand will also appear in the minor column. Learning to use thesekeyboard shortcuts will make your work in Illustrator faster and moreefficient.

The tutorial files which you will use to do the exercises are foundin the Illustrator tutorial file in the Adobe Illustrator folder. All thefiles are locked, so when you make changes to a file, save it under anew name. This will allow you to manipulate the file without losingthe original file. The files needed for each lesson are listed on thefirst page of each lesson.

LAUNCHING THE PROGRAMLaunch (run) Adobe Illustrator either by double-clicking on theAdobe Illustrator icon or by double-clicking on an Adobe Illustratordocument icon.

An Adobe Illustrator document can be a new document, apreviously created Illustrator file, or a template. A template is ablack-and-white bitmapped image which you trace or draw over tocreate artwork. For example, you could open a Paint file as atemplate and use Illustrator’s tracing tool to trace the image;Illustrator will replace the template’s jagged lines with smooth linesand curves.

When you launch Adobe Illustrator, a document labelled Untitledart 1 is created, the Menu Bar appears at the top of the screen, andthe Toolbox appears on the left side of the screen (Figure 1.1). TheBar is used to access all the program’s commands and functions.Click on a menu in the bar and drag down to display the commandsunder the menu. Then, without releasing the mouse button, drag

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1Introduction to

Adobe Illustrator

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Fact

When you’re told towork “on a cleandrawing page,” eitherselect everything on thescreen and delete it allor open a newdocument from the Filemenu.

The information barfor this documentindicates that arectangle is currentlyselected.

Hand tool

-Control-T View/Show Toolbox

Tip

Reset the Toolbox to itsdefault settings bypressing the Commandand Shift keyssimultaneously whiledouble-clicking on anytool.

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Figure 1.1-When you launch Adobe Illustrator, a drawing page appears.The Menu Bar (1) is displayed at the top of the screen and the Toolbox (2)appears at the left. The document’s title bar (3) indicates that you are viewingthe illustration page at 50% magnification. Click on the grey bars in the titlebar to move the whole window around the screen. The dotted lines insidethe page (4) indicate the page size; the shadow box on the outside of thepage (5) displays the limits of the printable area.

THE TOOLBOXThe Toolbox, sometimes called the Tool palette, contains 22 defaulttools (Figure 1.2). However, if you click and drag out on these toolsthat display a black triangle (like the scissors and freehand tools),other tools will be displayed. You can drag the Toolbox around thescreen and or close it by clicking on the Close button in its leftcorner. To display it again, choose Window/Show Toolbox(Command-Control-T).

SELECTING TOOLSTo select a tool, click once on the tool in the Toolbox. Then movethe cursor onto the page and the crosshair will change to theappropriate cursor for that tool. When you double-click on certaintools like the scale tool, a dialogue box appears where you can entervalues for how the tool will function.

Figure 1.2-The Adobe Illustrator Toolbox displays 22 default tools. Clickand drag on the black triangle in some of the tools to display other tools.

THE DRAWING AREAThe drawing area is the large area in the centre of the page (Figure1.1). Once you save a document, the title bar displays the name ofthe document and the view percentage. If you’re viewing a page atactual size, then the document’s name followed by <100%> appears.

The outside lines (drop shadow box) inside the drawing areamark the page size. The dotted lines indicate the margins and definethe printable or imageable area of the document.

The information bar in the lower right corner of the pagedisplays information about the tools and their current function.Clicking on the black triangle in the information bar window displaysfour categories of information you may find useful.

NAVIGATING A DOCUMENTUse the scroll bars on the right and bottom sides of the page tomove quickly through the window or click on the scroll arrow toscroll through the window a little at a time. Drag the scroll bars tomove even faster up, down, or from right to left.

You can also select the hand tool, press the mouse button, anddrag the hand around the screen to move to various areas of thedocument. If you’re using another tool, press the spacebar to changethat tool into the hand tool. Then click and drag with the mouse.

Selection, direct selection, and groupselection tools

Hand and zoom tools

Pen, scissors, add-anchor-point, delete-anchor-point, and convert-direction-pointtools

Brush, freehand, and auto trace tools

Oval, rectangle, and rounded-rectangletools

Measure, type, area-type, and path-typetools

Rotate and scale tools

Reflect and shear tools

Paint bucket and eyedropper tools

Gradient fill and blend tools

Graph and page tools

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-O File/Open -W File/Close

Hand tool

Fact

Tutorial files for eachlesson are located in theTutorial folder inside theIllustrator folder.

Pull down the Viewmenu and drag to selecta command. Here, thedocument is in Previewmode because Previewis checked. HighlightingArtwork and releasingthe mouse button willchange the view toArtwork mode.

-S File/Save -W File/Close -O File/Open -M View/Fit in Window -Y View/Preview

Use the Format menu toselect a file format forthe saved document. Ifyou plan to bring theIllustrator file into apage layout programlike PageMaker orQuarkXPress, save thedocument in EPS format.

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SAVING FILESOnce you have created a file, you can save it, then open it andmodify the artwork again. To save a file, choose File/Save(Command-S). The first time you save a file, you will be asked totype a name for the file and select a preview format for viewing thefile (Figure 1.3). You will usually choose Colour Macintosh, whichsaves not only the file but also a preview colour image of the file.Once a file has been named and saved, choosing File/Saveoverwrites the original file with the new information withoutprompting you to name it or choose a format.

CLOSING AND OPENING FILESFiles can be closed without quitting the program. When you havefinished working on a document, choose File/Close (Command-W).If you haven’t saved the file, you will be prompted to save anychanges you made since you last saved that file.

To open a file, you must be in the Adobe Illustrator application.Choose File/Open (Command-O) and scroll through the drives andfolders to locate the file. When the file appears in the scroll box,double-click on it or click once on the file and once on the Openbutton. The document will appear on the screen.

1. Double-click on the Adobe Illustrator application icon to launchthe program.

2. When the blank page and Toolbox appear on the screen,choose View/Fit in Window (Command-M). ChooseView/Preview (Command-Y) to view the fill colour.

3. Click on the rectangle tool (the fifth tool down in the rightcolumn of the Toolbox) and click and drag on the drawing areato create a rectangle. If a fill colour was designated the last timethe program was used, the rectangle will fill with, that colour.Don’t worry if it doesn’t fill.

4. Choose File/Save (Command-S) and type First File in the Save thisdocument as field. Click on the black triangle in the Format field anddrag down to highlight Illustrator 5. Make sure you are saving the fileto the appropriate drive and folder, then click on the Save button.

5. Choose File/Open (Command-O). Scroll to locate the First Filedocument on the Tutorial disk. Double-click on it or click once tohighlight First File and click on Open. The file opens anddisplays the file name and the rectangle that was saved with thefile (Figure 1.4).

6. Click on the hand tool and then click and drag around thedocument to move to different areas of the document.

7. Choose File/Close (Command-W) to close the file.

VIEWING MODESThere are several different ways to view or display your frustrationon the screen. To see how your artwork looks with all the colourand stroke attributes applied, choose Preview from the View menu.You can edit the illustration in this mode, watching your changestake place on the screen as you make them.

Selecting Artwork from the View menu displays the illustrationas a wire-frame image (Figure 1.5). You can edit the image in thismode, but until you switch to Preview mode, you won’t see theresults of many editing commands. The advantage of working inArtwork view is that editing is much faster, since Illustrator doesn’thave to generate all the fill and colour commands on screen.

To preview only a selected area of the image, make the selectionand choose View/Preview Selection. This is also a way of speedingup Illustrator, especially when you have a complicated illustrationand are working with only a part of it.

EXERCISE A

Figure 1.3-When you firstsave a f i le, this screenappears. Type a name for thedocument and select apreview format for the file.

Figure 1.4 -When youopen a f i le, i ts nameappears in the title baralong with the viewingpercent. Any artwork thatwas saved with the file isalso displayed.

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-M View/Fit in Window -W File/Close

-O File/Open -E View/Artwork -Y View/Preview

Zoom tool

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Figure 1.5-When you view an illustration in Artwork mode, a wireframeimage appears (above) and does not display any of the colour or fillcommands (below). You can edit the image in either Artwork or Previewmode.

MAGNIFYING ARTWORKThe zoom-in tool and the zoom-out tool allow you to magnify orreduce the size of the display of any part of your document.Zooming in and out does not change the size of the image (you usethe scale tool for that), but it does magnify and reduce the artworkdisplay on the screen.

To enlarge the screen display, click on the zoom tool and clickanywhere on the image. Once you move the zoom tool onto theimage, a plus sign appears in the magnifier. To reduce the imagedisplay, press the Option key before clicking with the zoom tool.Once you press the Option key, a minus sign appears in the magnifier.

1. Locate the Tutorial folder and choose File/Open (Command-O).Double-click on the Lesson l.ai file to open it.

2. Click on the hand tool to select it, then click and drag across thescreen to centre the orange barn at the right.

3. Click on the zoom tool and click on one of the yellow windows tomagnify its display. Then click in the empty area above the barnand, keeping the mouse button pressed, drag a marquee aroundthe entire barn to magnify just those elements of the image.

4. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) and notice that only thewire-frame images appear. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y)

5. Choose View/Fit in Window (Command-M) to display the entireimage on the screen.

6. Choose File/Close (Command-W) to close the file. Don’t saveyour changes.

MOVING ONAdobe Illustrator is as complex as it is intriguing. If you havedrawing and design skills, you will find that this program allows youto do almost anything you can do conventionally. If you are new tographics, especially computer graphics, you will have an enormousamount of fun teaming to create images in Illustrator. Either way,there is a great deal to learn and the best way with such a full-featured application is one step at a time. Don’t worry if it takes youa while to master curves and gradients. Keep on practicing and youwill find your illustrations improving. You can always use a scannedtemplate to create PostScript artwork by using the tracing anddrawing tools.

If you take the time to learn how the commands and functionsare used, you will quickly find steady improvement in both your workand the ease of selection of the appropriate tools and functions.Don’t be afraid to play with Illustrator, but keep in mind that thismarvellous electronic art box is filled with thousands of tools. Learnhow to choose the right ones to make your work “picture perfect.”

EXERCISE B

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-N File/New -E View/View Artwork

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will learn how Adobe Illustrator defines lines andshapes, how to recognise points, paths, and segments, and how toselect an object or part of an object. You will create objects and usethe selection tools to edit open and closed paths.

TOPICS

Anchor pointsClosed pathsDirect-selection tool to move segmentsSelection toolsDirect-selection tool to move anchor pointsCorner points and smooth pointsDrawing an open pathReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Anchor pointClosed pathDirect-selection toolDirection handlesEndpointsGroup-selection toolJoin pathsLineObjectOpen pathPathSegmentSelection toolShape

ANCHOR POINTSBefore you can manipulate shapes in Illustrator, you have tounderstand how Illustrator creates those shapes. All lines and curvesin a drawing exist between anchor points. The line or curve betweenthose two anchor points is called a segment, and all of theconnecting segments are called a path (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1-Displays two selected open paths with their anchor pointsvisible. The line and curve between the anchor points are the segments.

If the last segment is connected to the first segment, the path is aclosed path. A closed path is called a shape. If the last segment isnot connected to the first segment, the path is an open path. Anopen path is called a line (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2-The path on the left is an open path because no segmentconnects the first and last segments. The path on the right is a closed pathbecause the first and last segments are connected by another segment.

1. Choose File/New (Command-N) to create a new document.

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) to display the illustration inKeyline mode. You will not be able to see fills and strokes inArtwork mode.

3. Click on the rectangle tool to select it. Move onto the drawingarea and then click and drag to draw a rectangle. A rectanglewith 5 points appears, one at each corner and one in the centre.These points are called anchor points and the straight linesbetween these anchor points are called segments. The rectanglecomprised of the four segments joined by the four points iscalled a path (Figure 2.3).

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Pathsanchor points

segments

EXERCISE A

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-E View/Artwork -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -Z Edit/Undo

Direct-selection tool

-Shift-A Edit/Select None

Selection tool

Fact

Clicking with the direct-selection tool on thecentre point of a basicshape closed path like arectangle or circleselects the entire path,just as if you had usedthe selection tool.


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4. The solid anchor points indicate that they are selected andtherefore available for editing. Choose Edit/Select None(Command-Shift-A) to deselect the rectangle. Only the pathcomprised of the 4 segments and a centre point appears.

5. Click on the selection tool (black arrow) and click on anysegment of the rectangle. All 5 points appear solid, indicatingthat the object is selected and can be moved.

6. Click and drag on a segment to move the entire rectangle.Because every point is selected (solid), every segment moves.And since every segment is connected to form one object, therectangle (the entire object), moves.

7. Click anywhere on the empty page to deselect the rectangle orchoose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A). Click with theselection tool on another segment and drag the rectangle aroundthe screen. Repeat deselecting, selecting, and moving until youget bored.

CLOSED PATHSA path is the entire group of connected segments. In a rectangle, thefour segments form a path and, because the last segment isconnected by an anchor point to the first segment, a closed path iscreated. When you moved the rectangle with the selection tool, youmoved the whole path. In Illustrator, a closed path is also called ashape.

DIRECT-SELECTION TOOL TO MOVE SEGMENTSWhen you used the selection tool (black arrow) to select therectangle, it selected every anchor point and therefore everysegment in the object. So, when you clicked and dragged to movethe object, every segment moved simultaneously and the rectanglemoved without becoming distorted. However, you can also chooseto move only certain segments in an object. To do this, use thedirect-selection tool, the white arrow. Selecting a segment with thedirect-selection tool allows you to move only the segment orsegments attached to the anchor points of the selected segment.

1. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Use the rectangle tool todraw a rectangle, longer than it is wide.

2. When you release the mouse, the entire object is selected, asindicated by the filled anchor points. Click on any empty area ofthe page or choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) todeselect the rectangle.

3. Click on the direct-selection tool, the white arrow to the right ofthe selection tool, and click on any of the four segments of therectangle. The rectangle is selected, but notice that now theanchor points are hollow (Figure 2.4). This means that youcannot move (edit) the anchor points, although you can edit(move) the segments between the anchor points.

4. Click on the top segment of the rectangle and move it up anddown and right and left. Notice that only the segmentsconnected to the anchor points which anchor the top segmentmove. Those 3 segments are the top segment, the left segment,and the right segment. The bottom segment doesn’t movebecause its anchor points are used to anchor only the bottomsegment (Figure 2.5).

5. Choose Edit/Undo (Command-Z) to return the rectangle to itsoriginal shape.

Figure 2.3-The rectangle is a closed path. Its anchorpoints are visible and solid, indicating that it was justdrawn or that it has been selected with the selection tool.

EXERCISE B

Figure 2.4-Displays a rectangle selected with thedirect-selection tool. The anchor points arc-hollow, indicating that the object can’t be movedwithout becoming distorted.

A B

Figure 2.5-Displays a rectanglethat was reshaped when the topsegment between anchor pointsA and B was moved to the right.

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Figure 2.6-When youmove the top right pointdown toward the centrepoint, the cursor turnsinto a white arrow,indicating that both thetop point and centrepoint are touching.


None

Selection tool


Group-selection tool

Tip

Deselecting everything(Edit/Select None) isone of the mostfrequently usedcommands in Illustrator.To automate thefunction, use a macroprogram like QuicKeysfrom CE Software toassign a single keystroketo the Select Nonecommand. This allowsyou to deselect an entireillustration by pressingone key instead of the 3(Command-Shift-A), orinstead of pulling downthe Edit menu.

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6. Click on the bottom segment and move it to the right and left.Notice that only the bottom segment, the left segment, and theright segment move. The top segment doesn’t move this timebecause you didn’t drag it, and its two anchor points are notconnected to the bottom segment.

7. Click on the left segment of your distorted rectangle and move itaround. Notice that only the left, top, and bottom segmentsmove. The right segment doesn’t move because its anchor pointsare not connected to the left segment which you are moving.

8. Continue to click and drag on each of the 4 segments and noticehow the only segments that move are those whose anchorpoints are connected to the segment you are currently moving.

SELECTION TOOLSThe three selection tools in Adobe Illustrator are the selection tool(black arrow), direct-selection tool (white arrow), and group selectiontool (white arrow with plus sign). The selection tool selects an entirepath, shape, or object. Any segments connected by anchor pointsare selected with the selection tool. The direct-selection tool,however, selects individual segments on a path or in a shape.

Just because you select a tool by clicking on it does not meanthat any path is selected with that tool. For example, if you selecteda path with the selection tool (black arrow), clicking on it with thedirect-selection tool (white arrow) to select segments instead of thewhole object would not select segments. To select segments with thedirect-selection tool, first deselect the object (Command-Shift-A),then click on it with the direct-selection tool.

This is not true when a shape or path is first selected with thedirect-selection tool. When this is the case, selecting the object withthe selection tool overrides the direct selection and selects the wholepath or shape.

1. Choose View/Artwork (Command -E). Use the rectangle tool todraw a rectangle. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A)to deselect it.

2. Click on the selection tool (black arrow) and click on therectangle. Notice that the entire shape is selected. Click and dragon the selected shape to move it around the screen.

3. Keeping the rectangle selected, click on the direct-selection tool(white arrow) and click on the selected rectangle. Nothinghappens. That’s because the rectangle is still selected by theselection tool that selects the whole object.

4. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) or click on anempty area of the page to deselect everything.

5. Click on the direct-selection tool (white arrow) and click on therectangle. It appears with its segments deselected, as indicatedby the hollow anchor points. Click on any segment-not on ananchor point-and drag to reshape the rectangle.

6. With the rectangle still selected, click on the selection tool (blackarrow) and click on any segment of the rectangle. The entireshape becomes selected and can now be moved-but not reshaped.

DIRECT-SELECTION TOOL TO MOVE ANCHOR POINTSWhen you select an object with the direct-selection tool, none of theanchor points are selected, which means that unless you selectthem, you can’t move them. In the last exercise you clicked on asegment and dragged to move the segment. The segments betweenthe anchor points moved and the anchor points moved with thesegment, but only in relationship to the way the segment moved.The anchor points didn’t move independently of the segment.

When you select an anchor point with the direct-selection tool,you can move that anchor point and force the segments connectedto that anchor point to move with it. In other words, when youmove a segment, the position of the segment determines thelocation of the anchor points. When you move an anchor point, theanchor point determines the position of the segment.

1. In a new or existing document, use the rectangle tool to create arectangle. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). The rectangleappears selected with all of its anchor points solid.

2. Click on the direct-selection tool to select it. Click on an emptyarea of the page or choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A)to deselect everything. Then click on any segment of therectangle to display its anchor points.

3. The anchor points are hollow, indicating that they are notselected and that they will move only in relation to a segment.

4. Use the zoom tool to draw a marquee around the upper rightpoint to magnify it.

5. Use the direct-selection tool and click once on the upper rightpoint to select it and release the mouse button. It becomes solid,indicating that it is selected and therefore can be edited (moved).

6. Click on the selected point and move it down and to the left untilit meets the centre point of the rectangle. You’ll know you’vereached the centre point when the black cursor becomes hollow(Figure 2.6).

EXERCISE C

EXERCISE D

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-E View/Artwork -Z Edit/Undo

Selection tool


Oval tool

All gone!

If you inadvertentlydeselect the object andthe direction handlesdisappear, use thedirect-selection tool toclick on the anchorpoint and they willreappear.

-Z Edit/Undo


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7. Release the mouse button. Notice that by moving the point, you’vealso moved the segments related to that point and reshaped therectangle into a triangle. However, the four segments of theoriginal rectangle still exist. What happened is that when youmoved the anchor point which connected those two segments, youpositioned the segments so that they became tangential.

8. Choose Edit/Undo Move (Command-Z) to restore the rectangleto its original shape. Then use the direct-selection tool (whitearrow) to drag the centre point in the rectangle. Notice that onceyou clicked and dragged that centre point, all of the pointsbecame selected and the entire object moved.

CORNER POINTS AND SMOOTH POINTSPoints in Illustrator can be either corner points or smooth points.Corner points connect line segments and non-continuous curvesegments. Smooth points connect the segments of continuous curvepaths, those paths which follow a continuous wavy shape (Figure 2.7).

Figure 2.7-The path on the left is comprised of 4 corner points connectingthe 3 line segments. The path on the right is comprised of 3 curve pointsconnecting 2 curved segments.

When you click with the direct-selection tool (white arrow) on asegment connected to a smooth point, direction handles appearwhich allow you to manipulate the segments on either side of theanchor point. When you click on a corner point and move itsdirection handle, only the curve segment on the same side of thepoint as the direction handle is adjusted (Figure 2.8).

1. If necessary, double-click on the zoom tool to return the page toits actual display size. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) andpress the Delete key to delete everything on the page.

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Click on the oval tool andpress the Shift key before dragging to create a circle. It appearswith all 5 of its points selected.

3. Click on the selection tool (black arrow) and click on anysegment of the circle. Drag the entire circle around the page.

4. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselect thecircle. Click on the direct-selection tool (white arrow) and clickon the upper right segment of the circle. It appears selected,with all of its points hollow. Notice, however, that the segmentyou clicked also displays two direction handles poking out fromthe two anchor points (Figure 2.8). This is because a circle iscomprised of smooth points, whereas a rectangle is comprisedof corner points. Corner points don’t have direction handles,whereas smooth points have two direction handles. A directionhandle is used to adjust the segments on either side of theanchor point. When you move these levers, only the segmentsmove, not the anchor point (Figure 2.8).

5. With the direct-selection tool still active, click on the tip of thelower direction handle and move the handle to the right and left.Notice that the anchor point doesn’t move; only the segmentson either side of the anchor point move.

6. Choose Edit/Undo Move (Command-Z) to restore the circle toits original shape. Then click on the upper direction handle andmove it up and down and right and left. Notice again how onlythe segments connected to the anchor point move; the anchorpoint itself doesn’t move.

7. If you click on the centre anchor point, you will select the entireobject, just as if you had used the selection tool. If that happens,click on any blank area of the page, then click on a segmentwith the direct-selection tool.

DRAWING AN OPEN PATHAn open path is a segment or group of connected segments in whichthe last segment is not connected to the first segment. For example, arectangle is a closed path because the last segment, the fourthsegment in the object, shares the same anchor point as the firstsegment in the object (Figure 2.3). With an open path, however, thelast segment does not share the same anchor point as the firstsegment. A line, for example, is an open path because the first anchorpoint is not connected to the last anchor point (Figure 2.1). In fact, inIllustrator an open path is called a line, whereas a closed path is called

Figure 2.8-Movingthe direction handle ona smooth point movesboth segments (A andB) on either side of thepoint simultaneously.The anchor point doesnot move while thesegments are beingrepositioned.

The original pathis st i l l vis iblewhile it is beingrepositioned.

A

B

EXERCISE E

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-E View/Artwork -T View/Hide/Show

Toolbox -N File/New -S File/Save

Freehand tool


Fact

The first and last anchorpoints of an open pathare called endpoints.

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1. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Click on the freehand tooland click and drag to draw a line. It doesn’t have to be straight.

2. When you release the mouse button, the line (path) displays allthe anchor points between the segments as hollow (deselected)except for the last anchor point, which appears filled (selected).

3. Click on the zoom tool and drag a marquee around that lastpoint to enlarge the display of just that point. Click on the direct-selection tool and click on that last point (the endpoint). Drag thepoint to adjust the position of the last segment on the path.

4. Then click and drag on the top of the direction handle to changethe slope of the segment.

1. Create a new document (File/New). Make sure the Tool palette isdisplayed (Command-Control-T). Choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Click on the freehand tool to select it and move the cursor ontothe page, where it changes into a pencil.

3. Click and drag to draw a Heart, just as if you were drawing witha pencil. Don’t worry if your heart looks like a coronary disaster;you’ll fix it later.

4. When you release the mouse button, the heart appears with allits points deselected (hollow). Click on the direct-selection tool(white arrow) and click and drag on a segment to reposition it.Click on a hollow point to select that point and move the point.Continue to move segments and points to reshape the heartuntil it resembles an organ in the human body.

5. Choose File/Save (Command-S) and type Heart in the Saveillustration as field. Scroll to select a drive and/or folder to storethe file and click on Save.

Read the following questions and choose the answer which bestcompletes the statement.

1. To view an illustration with colours, fills, and strokes, use thea. Artwork modeb. Preview modec. Template moded. Selection mode

2. To view an illustration as a wireframe image, use thea. Artwork modeb. Preview modec. Template moded. Selection mode

3. The line or curve between any two anchor points is calleda. an endpointb. a segmentc. a direction handled. a closed path

3. Anchor pointsa. are hollow when selectedb. are solid when selectedc. can be moved with the selection toold. b and c

4. The selection tool selectsa. anchor points c. an entire pathb. segments d. all of the above

5. To select only a path segment, use thea. selection tool c. group selection toolb. direct-selection tool d. a and b

6. The direction handles on a smooth point affect onlya. the selected anchor pointb. the segment on one side of a direction handlec. a and bd. the segments on either side of each direction handle

7. To move an anchor point, firsta. select it with the direct-selection toolb. select it with the selection toolc. drag the zoom tool around itd. b and c

8. An object in which the last segment is connected to the anchor point of the first segment is called aa. line c. closed pathb. shape d. b and c

9. An object in which the last segment is not connected to theanchor point of the first segment is calleda. a path c. a lineb. an open path d. b and c

10.An object in which the last segment is not connected to theanchor point of the first segment is calleda. a path c. a lineb. an open path d. b and c

EXERCISE F

REVIEW EXERCISE

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.b; 2.a; 3.b; 4.d; 5.d; 6.b; 7.d; 8.a; 9.d; 10.d

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Locate the AdobeIllustrator Preferencesfile in the Preferencesfolder in the Systemfolder.

Figure 3.1-The PaintStyle palette: 1. Paintswatches. Click on thefirst box in the first rowto remove a fill or strokefrom a path, or click onone of the colourswatches to apply a fill orstroke colour to a pathor object. 2. Fill andStroke boxes. Selectbefore applying a fill orstroke to a path. Theselected box displays ablack line beneath it,indicating that colour willbe applied as a stroke oras a fill. 3. Noneoption for fills andstrokes. 4. White orBlack options. 5.Process Colouroption causes the Fill orStroke box (whichever isselected) to display thecomposite processcolour and adjustmentsliders. 6. CustomColour option displaysa list of the document’savailable custom colours.A custom colour can beeither a process colourmix you’ve named andsaved as a custom colouror a predefined colourfrom another colourmatching system. 7.Pattern option forcreating and usingpatterns. 8. Gradientoption for creating andapplying gradient fills.

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will learn how to create and apply colours fromthe Paint Style palette. You will fill objects with colours and patternsand create custom process colours, as well as add colours to anddelete colours from the Paint Style palette. You will also learn howto apply a painted stroke to an object.

TOPICS

Adobe Illustrator Preferences fileThe Paint Style palettePalette Display MenuApplying a fillProcess coloursStoring colours in the Paint Style paletteSelecting multiple filled objectsFilling with Black, White, and NoneThe Stroke commandApplying a custom colourDefining a custom colourPattern fillsReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Custom colourFillPaint Style paletteProcess colourStroke

TUTORIAL FILES

Stars.ai

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR PREFERENCESWhen learning Adobe Illustrator, it is best to start with theprogram’s default settings, especially as they apply to the coloursand patterns that ship with the program and appear in the PaintStyle palette. To ensure that you are working with Illustrator’sdefault settings, first quit Adobe Illustrator if you have alreadylaunched the program. Then open the System folder and scroll tolocate the Preferences folder. Open the Preferences folder and dragthe Adobe Illustrator Prefs file out of the folder and into the Trashicon. Be sure to empty the Trash icon. Now launch AdobeIllustrator, which will create a new Preferences file that includes allof the program’s default settings.

THE PAINT STYLE PALETTESo powerful is the Paint Style palette (Figure 3.1), that it is accessedfrom two menus, the Object and Window menus. This palette is the“command centre” for all colour application in Adobe Illustrator.Use it to define fill and stroke attributes for paths, to sample withthe eyedropper tool and paint with the paint bucket tool, to defineand clear a set of paint swatches, to define custom colours such asPantone colours, to create gradients, and to fill paths with patterns.

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3The

Paint StylePalette

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-Y View/Preview

WARNING!

If the Auto box isselected (checked) in thelower right panel, theobjects will fill as soonas you click on thecolour swatch. If Auto isdeselected (the box isempty), you have todouble-click to apply thefill colour, click on theApply button in thelower right panel afterclicking on one of thecolour swatches, orpress the Enter key afterclicking on the colourswatch.

When the ProcessColour icon is selected,a bar is displayedbeneath the icon andProcess appears overthe colour options strip.

Fact

To adjust coloursaturation when creatinga process colour, pressthe Shift key whilemoving any of thesliders. This adjusts allthe trianglessimultaneously andallows you to adjust theoverall colour valuewithout affecting theindividual CMYK

-I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview

The panel display menuin the Paint Style paletteallows you to determinehow much of the palettewill be displayed. Thecheck mark before thethree-part panelindicates that all three ofthe palette’s areas aredisplayed on the screen.

Fact

You can fill both openand closed paths.However, when you fillan open path, Illustratorwill draw an invisible linebetween the twoendpoints and fill in theentire object.

The check mark next tothe double panelindicates that only theleft and right panels ofthe Paint Style paletteare currently displayed.

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PALETTE DISPLAY MENUThree major areas of the Paint Style palette (Figure 3.1) are accessedfrom the panel display menu. The left side of the palette is where youselect the fill and stroke functions. You also select colours to be appliedas fills and strokes to selected objects from the swatches, all of whichare accessed by using the scroll bars to the right of the swatches.

The second area of the palette, on the right, is where you select thekind of colour you will be applying, the pattern, or the gradient fill. Ifyou are using process colours, the CMYK percentage sliders willappear. If you have imported or loaded custom colours such asPantone colours, those colours will appear in a scroll box on this sideof the palette. If you are applying a stroke to a line or path, the weightof that stroke is specified in the Stroke Weight field below the colours.

The lower area of the palette displays options for caps and joins,which affect the endpoints of lines and the way one line attaches toanother. It is also from this part of the palette that you specify solid ordashed lines.

APPLYING A FILLYou can apply a fill to both open and closed paths. The first timeyou create a path, that path automatically fills with black whether ornot you are displaying the Paint Style palette. Before a path can befilled, however, it must be selected with any of the selection tools. Ifyou’re applying a fill and nothing happens, it’s probably becauseyou’ve forgotten to select the object.

To fill more than one object with the same fill, use any selectiontool to select the first object, press the Shift key, and select the otherobjects you wish to fill. When you select a colour from the PaintStyle menu, all the selected objects will display that one fill.

1. Choose Object/Paint Style (Command-I) to display the Paint Stylepalette. It appears with the right, left, and bottom panels visible.

2. Change the display by clicking on the black triangle in the upperright corner to display the four palette display options. The firstone displays all three panels and is checked, indicating that it isthe current display. Selecting the one below it displays only theleft and right panels. Selecting the one below that displays the leftpanel. Checking the lowest icon displays only the right panel.

3. Practice changing the Paint Style palette display by selectingdifferent icons from the panel display menu.

1. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) to view the fill colours asyou apply them. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle.Choose Object/Paint Style (Command-I) to display the PaintStyle palette. Use the panel display menu to display only the leftand right panels.

2. Make sure the Auto button is selected in the lower right panel.Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) to view the fills and strokesas you apply them.

3. Select the rectangle and click on the Fill box in the upper rightpanel. A black line appears beneath the box, indicating that anycolour properties will be applied as a fill to the selected object.

4. Click on the first of the seven colour options icons, the one withthe diagonal line. This is the None selector which removes anyfill from the selected item if the Fill box is checked; otherwise, itremoves a stroke if the Stroke box is selected.

5. With the rectangle still selected, click on the second colouroptions icon, the white one. This fills (or strokes) with white.

6. Now click on the third colour options icon, the black one. Thisfills (or strokes) with black.

7. Click on the fourth colour options icon, the Process Colour icon.Four sliders appear which allow you to create a colour based onpercentages of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

8. Draw a few rectangles and ovals and fill them with different coloursby clicking on the small colour swatches in the Paint Style palette.

PROCESS COLOURSProcess colours are made up of varying percentages of cyan,magenta, yellow, and black. During the printing process, these colourswill be printed on separate pages of film before going to a four-colourprinting press. If, for example, you assign a red process colour to anobject, that object will appear on both the magenta and yellow pageswhen the colours are separated, because red is a combination ofmagenta and yellow. The press will first print the yellow ink and thenprint the magenta ink on top of it to create the specified shade of red.

When you click on the Process Colour icon at the top of thePaint Style palette-the fourth icon in the colour options strip-foursliders appear (Figure 3.2). Use these sliders to define colours inpercentages of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black by either movingthe triangles under the sliders or typing values in the % fields on theright.

As you adjust the percentages, the new colour appears in the Fillor Stroke box, depending on which one you have selected. Also, ifyou have an object or objects selected, that colour will appear as afill or stroke in the object(s).

EXERCISE A

EXERCISE B

Figure 3.2-When the Process Colour icon isselected, the four process colour sliders appear.Type in a value or move the sliders to create aprocess colour.

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-I Object/Paint Style -S File/Save -W File/Close -O File/Open -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

The Process Colour iconis the fourth icon in thecolour options panel.

When a process colouris selected for the Fill, itsCMYK values appearbelow the colour swatcharea in the Paint Stylepalette. The stroke valuefor the currently selectedobject is None.

The close box is thesmall box in the upperleft corner of a palette.You can also close apalette by choosing theappropriate Hidecommand from theWindow menu.

-A Edit/Select All -Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style

Rectangle tool

Oval tool

Process colour iconselected in the colouroptions strip

If Auto is selected(checked) in the rightpanel, colours will beapplied to selectedobjects as soon as thecolour is selected orcreated.

Tip

You can quickly apply acolour from the Fill orStroke box to the paintswatch area by Option-clicking on one of theexisting swatches or onan empty swatch.

Use the scroll bars tofind an empty swatcharea to hold your newcolour.

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1. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and press the Delete keyto clear the screen. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and click on the Fillicon on the left panel. Make sure the Auto box on the rightpanel is selected.

3. Use the rectangle and oval tools to draw objects on the screen.Use the selection tool to select one object.

4. Click on the Process Colour icon on the right side of the PaintStyle palette, the fourth icon, to display the CMYK sliders.

5. Click on the white triangles beneath each slider and drag tocreate a deep mauve process colour. You can also create thecolour by typing the CMYK percentages in the % fields to theright of sliders (Figure 3.3). The colour appears in the Fill boxon the left panel and fills the selected object.

6. With an object still selected, click on any of the small colourswatches displayed in the left panel. The cursor changes to theeyedropper tool, and not only does the object fill, but the CMYKsliders also display the percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow,and black for that colour. Because the Auto button is checked,the object fills immediately. If the Auto button were not checked,you would have to either double-click on the swatch or click onthe swatch and then press the Enter key.

STORING COLOURS IN THE PAINT STYLE PALETTEAny colour you create using the Paint Style palette can be stored inthe palette and saved with the file. This means that the colour willalways be available whenever you open the file.

You can store a newly created colour by dragging it from the Fillor Stroke box to an empty swatch box on the left panel. If you dragthe new colour over an existing colour on the left panel, the newcolour will replace the previous colour.

Use the scroll bars in the colour swatch area to scroll down andlocate the blank swatches which you can fill with your new colours.

1. Use the rectangle and oval tools to create a few objects. Displaythe Paint Style Palette (Command-I), click on the Fill box, andclick on the Process Colour icon in the colour strip area.

2. Deselect the Auto option by clicking in the Auto box on theright panel until it is empty.

3. Type 36 in the Cyan % field and 8 in the Magenta % field. Leavethe Yellow and Black fields at 0 to create a soft blue colour.

4. Click on the Apply button next to the Auto button to apply thenew blue colour to the selected object.

5. Scroll in the paint swatch area in the left panel to display anempty swatch. Click in the Fill box and drag the blue colour downto the empty swatch. Click on the Close box on the Paint Stylepalette to close the palette, or choose Window/Hide Paint Style.

6. Choose File/Save (Command-S), type a name for the file, andselect a folder and drive. Click on Save.

7. Choose File/Close (Command-W) to close the file withoutquitting the program.

8. Choose File Open (Command-O) and choose Window/ShowPaint Style or press Command-1. Scroll through the colourswatch area to locate the blue colour you saved with the file.

9. Press the Command key ( ) and move the cursor over the bluecolour swatch. The cursor changes to a scissors, indicating thatthe colour is to be deleted. Click the mouse. An Alert boxappears. Click on Delete. The colour is removed from the palette.

SELECTING MULTIPLE FILLED OBJECTSWhen you select an object to which a fill has been applied, thecolour of the fill appears in the Fill box on the palette. But if youShift-select objects to which different fills have been applied (Figure3.4), a question mark appears in the Fill box on the palette. Sinceyou can display only one colour at a time in the Fill box, deselect themultiple selection (Command-Shift-A) and select only one object.The fill colour for that one object is displayed in the Fill box.

EXERCISE C

Figure 3.3-Displays the CMYK slidersand % fields which appear when theProcess Colour icon is selected.

EXERCISE D

Figure 3.4-if multiple objects containing differentfills are selected, a question mark appears in the Fillbox on the right panel of the Paint Style palette.

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-Y View/Preview -N File/New -E View/Artwork -K File/Preferences/

General

The Stroke box selected

Type a value in theStroke Weight field andclick on the Applybutton to apply thestroke to the selectedobject.

The unit of measure isselected in the GeneralPreferences dialoguebox.

Rectangle tool

Fact

A value other than 0 inthe Corner Radius fieldwill result in roundedcorners on the rectangle.

To create a square ofspecific dimensions,make both the Width andHeight values the same.

A diagonal line appearsin the Fill box whenNone is selected fromthe colour options.

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FILLING WITH BLACK, WHITE, AND NONEYou can fill any object with black (or a tint of black) or white. To filla selected object with black, click on the Black icon in the colouroptions area on the right panel. When you do this, a Tint sliderappears, allowing you to set the tint from 100% (black) to 0%(white). Likewise, to fill a selected object with white, click on theWhite icon in the colour options area and use the Tint slider tocreate a tint anywhere from100% (white) to 0% (black) (Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5-Clicking on the Black icon in the Colour Options strip (top)changes the fill to 100% black and displays the Tint slider where you canreduce the tint value. To fill a selected object with whiter, click on the Whiteicon in the Colour Options strip and adjust the Tint slider.

To fill a selected object with nothing, click on the None icon in thecolour options panel. A diagonal line appears in the Fill box and theobject becomes transparent (Figure 3.6).

THE STROKE COMMANDThe Stroke command applies a stroke or border to the selectedobject. You can paint this stroke any colour, just as you coloured thefills. You can also specify a weight (in points) for the stroke from thePaint Style palette.

1. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) and display the Paint Stylepalette. Use the rectangle tool to create a rectangle on thedrawing page.

2. Make sure that Auto is selected in the right panel. Click on theStroke box in the left panel of the Paint Style palette. With therectangle still selected, click on the Black icon in the colouroptions area.

3. Type 12 in the Stroke Weight field on the right panel and clickon the Apply button to apply the stroke.

4. With the rectangle still selected, click on the Process Colour iconin the colour options area. Type 85 in the Cyan % field, 76 inthe Magenta % field, and 6 in the Black % field. Leave theYellow % field at 0 to create a deep purple colour.

5. Because the rectangle is still selected and the Stroke box isactive, the stroke colour changes immediately. Type 5 in theStroke Weight field and click on Apply.

1. Create a new document (Command-N) and chooseView/Artwork (Command-E). Display the Paint Style palette(Command-I).

2. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K). In the lowerpart of the palette, use the Ruler Units pull-down menu tospecify inches as the unit of measure. Click on OK.

3. Click on the rectangle tool to select it and then click in thecentre of the drawing page. When the Rectangle dialogue boxappears, type 3 in the Width field and 5 in the Height field.Illustrator will automatically translate these values to inches. Clickon OK (Figure 3.7).

4. Click on the oval tool and click on the drawing page to displaythe Oval dialogue box. Type 2 in the Width field and 4 in theHeight field. Click on OK.

Figure 3.6-A fill of None was applied to therectangle, making it transparent so that the circlefilled with yellow shows through the rectangle.

EXERCISE E

EXERCISE F

Figure 3.7-When you click with therectangle tool on the drawing page, theRectangle dialogue box appears whereyou can specify a rectangle (or square)of specific dimensions.

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-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style

-Y View/Preview -= Arrange/Bring toFront

Oval tool

Rectangle tool

Selection tool

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5. Because you are in Artwork mode, you can see the outlines ofthe rectangle and the oval even though they have no fill orstroke. Use the selection tool to select the rectangle.

6. With the rectangle selected, click on the FILL button on the leftpanel, select the Auto button on the right panel, and then clickon the Process Colour icon in the colour options area. Use thevalues in Figure 3.8 to create a deep turquoise colour. Youwon’t see the colour because you are in Artwork mode, but ithas been applied.

7. Use the selection tool to select the oval. Make sure the Fill box isselected in the Paint Style palette and click on the None icon inthe colour options strip.

8. Click on the Stroke box and click on the Black icon in the colouroptions area. Type 10 in the Stroke Weight field and click theApply button or press the Enter key to apply the stroke weight.

9. Select the rectangle and apply a 3 point black stroke. Click on Apply.

10.Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) and use the selection toolto move the oval on top of the rectangle so that only half of theoval is on the rectangle. With the oval still selected, chooseArrange/Bring to Front (Command-=). Because the None fillwas applied to the oval, the rectangle is visible through thestroked oval. Your screen should resemble Figure 3.9.

APPLYING A CUSTOM COLOURA custom colour is a process colour you have mixed yourself thennamed and saved as a custom colour. A custom colour can also be apredefined colour from another matching system, such as thePantone Matching System. Any custom colours that you create in adocument are saved with that document.

There are two ways to access custom colours. One way is to usethe Open command to get to the Adobe Illustrator folder on yourhard drive. Double-click on the Colour Systems folder or highlightColour Systems and click on Open to select one of several coloursystems (Figure 3.10). Once the file is opened, resize it and positionit in a corner of the screen since the colours have been loaded intothe Paint Style palette.

Another way to access the different colour systems is to use theImport Styles command under the File menu. The advantage ofopening custom colours rather than importing them is that you canalways close a custom colour file after you select the colours youwant. This frees up memory for the illustration itself or for otherapplications. Any custom colours you apply to the illustration aresaved with that illustration even after you close the custom colourfile and the illustration file itself.

1. Choose View/ Preview (Command-Y). Use any of the drawingtools to create a closed shape. Unless you trashed thePreferences file before launching Illustrator, the default paintattributes will be applied. Otherwise, the object will fill withblack. Keep the object selected.

2. Choose Object/Paint Style (Command-I) to display the PaintStyle palette. To select a custom colour, first click on the Fill orStroke box to indicate which attribute you want to change.

3. Select the Custom Colour options box at the top of the palette.A list of the available custom colours appears (Figure 3.11).These are process colours which have been defined as customcolours and which ship with the Adobe Illustrator program.

Figure 3.8-Usethe ProcessColour options tocreate a deepturquoise colour.Because the Autobutton is checked,the selectedobject will fill assoon as thecolour is createdor selected.

Figure 3.9-A stroke and fill was applied to therectangle. A fill of None and a black stroke wereapplied to the oval. The None fill makes the ovaltransparent.

Figure 3.10-Use theOpen command to getto the Adobe Illustratorfolder on your harddrive where the ColourSystems folder islocated. Click on theOpen button to accessall the custom coloursystems that shippedwith Adobe Illustrator.

EXERCISE G

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-N File/New -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview

The Custom Colour iconselected in the PaintStyle palette.

Tip

You can access theCustom Colour dialoguebox by double-clickingon any custom colour inthe colour scroll box inthe Paint Style palette.

-O File/Open

The word Customappears over the ColourOptions strip when acustom colour isselected.

Selection tool

Pantone Colours forcoated paper is one ofthe colour modelsavailable that ships withAdobe Illustrator.

WARNING!

Any colour displayed onthe screen, whether it’s aprocess colour, customcolour-or any colourwhatsoever-may notresemble the printedcolour. To match coloursas precisely as possible,always select coloursfrom the swatch bookwhich is available for allthe libraries in the AdobeIllustrator program.

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4. Select the custom colour by clicking either on the name or on itsswatch. Then press either Enter or the Apply button on thepalette if Auto is not selected. The colour is applied as either astroke or a fill to the selected object.

5. Use one of the drawing tools to draw another closed path. Itautomatically fills with the current custom colour. Use theselection tool to Shift-select both objects.

6. With the Custom Colour icon still selected, scroll to selectanother custom colour. Click on either the colour swatch or thecolour’s name. Press either Enter or the Apply button in thepalette to apply the custom colour to both objects.

7. Choose File/Open (Command-O) and scroll to the AdobeIllustrator folder on your hard drive. Open that folder and locatethe Colour Systems folder (Figure 3.10). Open that folder, thenopen the Pantone Colours (coated paper) file.

8. You may get an alert dialogue box telling you that certain fontsare not available. Click on the Continue button.

9. Scroll through the colour list on the right panel and notice thatnow the Pantone library of custom colours is available (Figure3.12). You can apply these colours as a stroke or fill just as youwould apply any other custom or process colour.

DEFINING A CUSTOM COLOURYou can create colours, name them, apply them, store them, andedit them. Any custom colour you create is saved with the file andavailable every time you open the file. You can also save the coloursand then import them into another file. Whenever you makechanges to a custom colour, every object in the illustration whichhas been filled and/or stroked with that colour reflects the change.

1. Create a new document (File/New) and select Preview mode(Command-Y). Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Use the rectangle and oval drawing tools to draw three objects.Select one object and click on the Fill box in the left panel of thePaint Style palette.

3. Click on the Process Colour icon in the colours option strip onthe right panel of the Paint Style palette. A list of the availablecustom colours appears in the Colours scroll box.

4. Choose Object/Custom Colour to display the Custom Colourdialogue box (Figure 3.13).

5. Click on Aqua and in the Change name to field below the colourscroll box, type College Blue. Change the Magenta % value to44 and the Yellow % value to 39 to create a deep blue-greencolour. Click on OK and notice that College Blue appearsalphabetically in the colour scroll box of the Paint Style palette.If you have Auto selected in the Paint Style palette, the selectedobject will automatically fill with College Blue. if not, press theEnter or the Apply button to apply the colour.

6. Select another object on the drawing page. Make sure theCustom Colour icon is selected. Choose Object/Custom Colouragain and click on Gold. Change Gold to College Gold andchange the Magenta % value to 44. Click on OK and notice thatCollege Gold appears alphabetically in the colour scroll box ofthe Paint Style palette.

Figure 3.11-When you click onthe Custom Colour option, all ofthe predefined custom colours areloaded into the Paint Style palette.

Figure 3.12-The Pantone System customcolour library loads into the Paint Stylepalette and allows you to select a colour anda Tint value for that colour.

EXERCISE H

Figure 3.13-Use theCustom Colour dialoguebox to define, rename,edit, and delete customcolours.

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-I Object/Paint Style -N File/New -Y View/Preview

The Custom Colouricon selected in thePaint Style palette.

WARNING!

Patterns are pretty tolook at on the screen,but applying them tolarge areas can slowdown screen redraw andprinting. If the pattern istoo complicated and/orthe patterned area is toolarge, the illustrationmight not print at all.Paths stroked withcomplicated patterns,for example, often willnot print.

-S File/Save -W File/Close -Q File/Quit

Selection tool

When you click onSelect All Unused in theCustom Colour dialoguebox, any colour whichhas not been applied toan object isautomatically selectedand will be deleted fromthe Custom Coloursscroll box when youclick on the Deletebutton.

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7. Click on the third object with the selection tool and chooseObject/Custom Colour. Click on New and type College Purplein the Change name to field. Change the % values to reflectthose in Figure 3.14. Click on OK. If necessary, apply the newcolour to the third object on the drawing page.

8. The colours scroll box on the right panel of the Paint Stylepalette should now include the three custom colours you created,College Blue, College Gold, and College Purple (Figure 3.15).You will now create a file with just those three colours andimport them into a new file.

9. Make sure that the three college colours and only those threecolours have been applied to the three objects. ChooseObject/Custom Colour to display the Custom Colour dialogue box.

10.Click on the Select All Unused button. This selects every customcolour in the file that was not applied as a stroke or fill in theillustration. Click on the Delete key to delete an the unusedcolours. Click on OK.

11.Choose File/Save (Command-S) and save the file as CollegeColours. Choose File/Close (Command-W). Choose File/Quit(Command-Q) to quit the program. If you don’t quit, any file youopen will contain only the three College Colours colours whenyou select the Custom Colours option.

12.Launch Adobe Illustrator, display the Paint Style palette(Command-I) and click on the Custom Colours icon in the colouroptions strip.

13.Choose File/Import Styles and open the College Colours file youjust saved. Notice that the three College Colours custom coloursare now listed alphabetically in the custom colours scroll box andcan be used in the new illustration.

PATTERN FILLSAdobe Illustrator ships with predefined patterns which can be usedas fill attributes, as well as the process and custom colours alsoavailable with the program. You can also create your own designand define it as a pattern which can be loaded into a file via theImport Styles command.

1. Create a new file (File/New) and choose View/Preview(Command-Y). Use the rectangle and oval tools to create severalclosed paths.

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and click on thePattern icon in the colour options strip (Figure 3.16).

3. Click on the Fill box in the Paint Style palette and use theselection tool to select one of the objects on the drawing area.

4. Click on the Confetti pattern in the pattern scroll box on theright panel of the Paint Style palette. Notice that the patternappears in the Fill box. If you have Auto checked, the selectedobject will fill immediately. Otherwise, press Enter or click on theApply button to fill the object with the pattern.

5. Click on another object to select it and click on another patternin the Paint Style palette to apply it to the selected object.

6. Choose File/Import Styles and get to the Adobe Illustrator folderon your hard drive. Open the folder and scroll to locate theGradients and Patterns folder. Open that folder and open thePatterns folder. Scroll to select another pattern. Click on Importand notice that the pattern you selected is listed alphabetically inthe pattern scroll box on the right panel.

7. Continue to import and apply patterns until you are comfortablewith the procedure.

Figure 3.14-Create theCollege Purple colour inthe Custom Colourdialogue box by f irstcl icking on New andthen typing a name forthe new colour.

Figure 3.15-The three new colours are nowincluded in the Colours scroll box on the rightpanel of the Paint Style palette and will appearwhen the Custom Colour icon is selected.

EXERCISE I

Figure 3.16-Clicking on the Patternicon loads the various patterns that shipwith Illustrator.

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-O File/Open -I Object/Paint Style

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In this exercise you will open a file containing stars. Use the PaintStyle palette to apply colours to the stars. Create custom coloursand add them to the Paint Style palette. Then save the file under anew name, because you will make further colour adjustments to thestars in the next lesson and you will use the stars to create anillustration of a landscape.

1. Open the Stars.ai file (Command-O) on the Tutorial disk. Displaythe Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Use the selection tool to select one star at a time and apply adifferent colour to it.

3. Create at least one process colour and apply it to one of the stars.

4. Create at least one custom colour and apply it to one of the stars.

5. When you have applied colours to all the stars, save the file under anew name (File/Save As), because you will use it in a later lesson.


1. A diagonal line in the Fill or Stroke box indicates thata. a custom colour is selected in the illustrationb. a diagonal line appears in the illustrationc. the option is not selectedd. the option is selected

2. To fill or stroke an objecta. a custom colour must be createdb. the object must be selectedc. use the direct-selection toold. a and c

3. To apply a colour immediately to a selected objecta. select the Auto check box in the Paint Style paletteb. press the Enter keyc. click on the Apply button in the Paint Style paletted. click faster

4. Adjust the Paint Style palette display froma. the keyboardb. the menuc. the Tool paletted. the Paint Style palette

5. Process colours are a. a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black percentagesb. created via the Paint Style and Custom Colour palettesc. loaded automatically into the Paint Style paletted. all of the above

6. Custom colours can bea. saved with a fileb. imported into a filec. process coloursd. all of the above

7. A line weight is specifieda. in the Paint Style paletteb. from the menuc. in the Line Tool dialogue boxd. a and c

8. Patternsa. can be applied as fills and/or strokesb. are created in the Pattern dialogue boxc. are loaded into the Paint Style paletted. all of the above

9. When in Artwork modea. shapes do not fillb. shapes are not strokedc. fills and strokes are not visibled. only anchor points are visible

10.A transparent object is created bya. filling with Whiteb. filling with Nonec. filling with a tintd. none of the above

REVIEW EXERCISE

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.c; 2.b; 3.a; 4.d; 5.d; 6.d; 7.a; 8.d; 9.c; 10.b

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-N File/New -Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style

Fact

Before applying theTrap filter or manuallytrapping gradient fills,be sure to convert thecustom colours toprocess colours.

Double-clicking on therectangle tool displays aplus sign, indicating thatthe rectangle or squarewill be drawn from itscentre outward.

Double-clicking on theoval tool displays a plussign, indicating that theoval or circle will bedrawn from its centreoutward.

When the GradientColour icon is selected,the word Gradientappears over the colouroptions strip and a bar isdisplayed under theGradient icon.

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will team how to apply gradient fills from the PaintStyle palette and how to create, name, and edit custom gradient fills.You will be introduced to the pen tool, freehand tool, brush tool,eyedropper and paint bucket tools. You will also learn how tochange the appearance of a line by changing its cap and join.

TOPICS

Gradient fillsThe gradient fill toolCreating a custom gradient fillLine attributesThe freehand toolUsing the pen tool to draw dashed linesEyedropper and paint bucket toolsThe brush toolReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

CapDash/gap fieldsGradient fillJoinLine attributesMitre limitStart and stop indicators

TUTORIAL FILES

Caps & Joins.ai

GRADIENT FILLSA gradient fill is a graduated blend between colours. In the earlydays of the graphics industry (last year), you could only create ablend or gradient from one colour to another. Illustrator 5.5 nowallows you to blend up to 32 colours in one gradient fill.

Like colour systems and patterns, several gradient fills are alsoloaded into the program when you select the Gradient icon in thecolour options strip on the Paint Style palette. Select a gradient andapply it to a selected object. A Gradient palette is also used to createcustom gradient fills and the gradient tool is used to change thedirection of the gradient fill within a selected object.

1. Create a new fi le (Command-N), choose View/Preview(Command-Y) and display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).Make sure that Auto on the right panel is selected.

2. Double-click on the rectangle tool. A plus sign appears in thecentre of the tool icon, indicating that the rectangle will bedrawn from its centre point.

3. Click and drag on the drawing page to draw a rectangle from itscentre outward. Leave the rectangle selected.

4. Click on the Fill box on the Paint Style palette. Click on theGradient icon in the colour options strip on the right panel ofthe Paint Style palette. The default gradient fills are loaded intothe gradient scroll area (Figure 4.1).

5. Click on the name of a gradient and notice how it fills theselected rectangle. Change the Angle value to 45 and notice thedifferent direction the gradient fill takes.

6. Double-click on the oval tool to display the centred-oval tool.The plus sign indicates that a circle or oval will be drawn fromthe centre outward.

UNIT

4Gradients,Strokes

andPainting tools EXERCISE A

Figure 4.1 -Clicking on theGradient icon in the Paint Stylepalette loads the default gradientfills. Use the Angle field to specifyan angle for the blend.

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-Y View/Preview

Gradient fill tool

Oval tool

Fact

For the gradient fill toolto spread a fill amongseveral objects, all of theobjects must be selectedwith any selection tool.

Gradient Colour icon isselected in the colourstrip area

-A Edit/Select All -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview -K File/Preferences/

General

Gradient fill tool

Rectangle tool

Gradient Colour icon isselected in the colourstrip area.

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7. Click and drag to draw the oval, but before releasing the mousebutton, press the Shift key to constrain the oval to a circle.Release the mouse button, then the Shift key.

8. Click on one of the radial fills in the gradient colour scroll box.You cannot apply an Angle value for a radial fill but you canchange the direction of the fill with the gradient fill tool.

THE GRADIENT FILL TOOLThe gradient fill tool is used to change the direction of the blend in aselected object, to specify the starting and ending points of agradient fill, and to apply a gradient fill across a group of selectedobjects.

1. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select all the objects onthe screen and press the Delete key. Display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I). Make sure that Auto is checked and thatthe Fill box is selected on the right panel.

2. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

3. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and use theRuler Units pull-down menu to select inches. Click on OK.

4. Click once on the rectangle tool to select it and click in thecentre of the page. When the Rectangle dialogue box appears,type 5 in the Width field and 3 in the Height field. Leave theCorner Radius field at 0. Click on OK. The rectangle will fill withthe last selected fill.

5. Click on the Gradient icon in the colour options strip to load thegradient fills.

6. With the rectangle still selected, click on the fill named Purple,Red, and Yellow. Make sure the Angle value is set to 0. Therectangle fills with a linear fill starting with purple, moving to redand ending with yellow.

7. Click on the gradient fill tool to select it. Click on the upper leftcorner of the rectangle and drag to the lower right corner. Whenthe cursor changes to a white arrow, indicating that you havereached the end of the selected object, release the mousebutton. The angle of the blend has been repositioned to 45°angle (Figure 4.2).

8. Continue to click and drag with the gradient fill tool until youbecome comfortable with it.

9. Use the oval tool to draw ovals and circles (press the Shift key toconstrain the oval to a circle), and fill with the radial fills. Thenuse the gradient fill tool to change the direction of the fills.

10.Draw 3 circles and and use the selection tool to Shift-select them.

11.Select the Fill box on the left panel and click on the Red &Yellow fill on the right panel to fill all three circles with a red andyellow blend.

12.Select the gradient fill tool and click and drag from the first circlethrough the second and third circle. Instead of three separate redand yellow blends, the gradient distributes the blend among thethree selected objects and fills from red to orange to yellow.

CREATING A CUSTOM GRADIENT FILLJust as you created, named, and edited custom colours, so can youuse the Gradient palette to create, name, and edit a linear or radialgradient fill. You can specify the starting and ending colour of the fillas well as add other colours to the fill. When you create a radial fill,the starting point determines the filled object’s highlighted (lighter)areas and the ending point defines its shadows (darker areas).

1. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) and display the Paint Stylepalette. Make sure that Auto is selected on the right panel. Usethe rectangle tool to draw a large rectangle.

2. Click on the Gradient icon in the colour options strip and clickon Red & Yellow to fill the selected rectangle with a blend thatgoes from yellow to red.

3. Choose Object/Gradient to display the Gradient dialogue box

4. The Gradient palette appears with a list of the currently availablegradient fills. Click on the Red & Yellow gradient, then click onthe Duplicate button to base the new fill on the existing Red &Yellow fill. Change the duplicate name to Mixed Red & Yellowby typing the new name in the highlighted field (Figure 4.3).Click on the Apply button.

EXERCISE B

Figure 4.2 -Theoriginal blend (left)and the result ofusing the gradienttool (right).

EXERCISE C

Figure 4.3-The Gradient dialoguebox. Click on the handle on the rightto collapse the palette. Use the radiobuttons at the bottom of the paletteto select a linear or radial fill for newgradient fills.

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-Z Edit/Undo -K File/Preferences/

General

Use the full paletteoption to display the lineattributes panel.

Freehand tool

When using thefreehand tool, releasingthe mouse button leavesthe last endpointselected. Click on thispoint to continue thepath.

To close a path madewith the freehand tool,move the cursor close tothe first anchor point inthe path. A loopappears next to thecursor indicating thatthe next time you click,

The triangle on the leftis the start triangle andis currently selected.The triangle on the rightis the stop triangle andindicates where thegradient fill ends.

Fact

When you save the file,the new gradient fill issaved with the file.

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5. The new name, Mixed Red & Yellow, appears not only in thegradient scroll box, but also in the colour scroll box on the PaintStyle palette.

6. The current blend starts with yellow and blends into red. Noticethe triangular colour start and stop indicators at the beginningand end of the fade-out bar; these specify where the first colourbegins and where the second colour ends. The diamond abovethe bar is the midpoint marker and indicates where the twocolours mix in exactly the same amounts. The percentage fieldon the right displays the colour percentage of the colour at thestart, midpoint, and end of the blend.

7. Click on the left triangle beneath the start of the bar and noticethat the % field remains at 0. Click on the midpoint marker andthe % field reads 50. Click on the endpoint marker at the rightend of the bar and the % field displays 100.

8. Begin by switching the start and stop colours. Click on the starttriangle on the left and drag it to the right until it sits on top ofthe endpoint triangle. The red and yellow colours switchpositions, and when the start triangle is selected, the % box willread 100 because the highest concentration of colour has beenmoved to the beginning of the blend.

9. Switch the start and stop colours again by clicking on the endpointtriangle and moving it on top of the start triangle (Figure 4.4). Theblend now moves from yellow to red, its default position.

Figure 4.4-Clicking on the endpoint triangle selects it. When you move it tothe left over the start triangle (white triangle), the start colour in the blendbecomes yellow and the end colour becomes red.

10.To add a third colour to this gradient, first click beneath thegradient bar about halfway along the bar. Use the sliders or typein the values in Figure 4.5 to create a green colour which appearsat the point where you just clicked. Click on the name of thecolour in the Gradient dialogue box and change it to Mixed Red,Yellow, and Green. Click on the Apply button to activate thechange in both the Gradient dialogue box and the Paint Stylepalette.

LINE ATTRIBUTESWhen you stroke a path, you specify a Stroke Weight value in thePaint Style palette. However, a line can have other attributes. It canbe solid or dashed; it can have three different kinds of caps whichdetermine how the endpoints or line caps appear; and it can meetor join with another line in three different ways.

THE FREEHAND TOOLThe freehand tool thinks it’s a drawing pencil, but it really is only arough drawing crayon. It’s hard to control, does not create straightlines, and renders curves as lumpy segments on a lumpy path. Onceyou learn to use the pen tool, you’ll probably never use the freehandtool.

When you draw with the freehand tool, Illustrator creates anchorpoints automatically. The longer and more complex the path, themore anchor points. The fewer anchor points used to create a path,the fewer bumps and lumps in the path, to say nothing about howmuch more easily a path with fewer anchor points will print!However you can control the number of anchor points from theFreehand tolerance field in the General Preferences dialogue box(Figure 4.6). The Freehand tolerance value defaults to 2, which givesyou a fairly bumpy path. Increasing that value to its maximum of 10pixels will result in a much smoother path.

When you draw a freehand path, a dotted line appears behind thecursor as you are dragging. When you release the mouse button,anchor points will appear on the path with endpoints at each end ofthe path. The last endpoint is selected.

If you make a mistake while using the freehand tool, chooseEdit/Undo (Command-Z) to undo the last segment drawn.

1. Click on the freehand tool to select i t . ChooseFile/Preferences/General (Command-K) and set the Freehandtolerance value to 8.

2. Click and drag to create the letters in your name. To erase partof the path as you drag, press the Command key and drag backover the path you want to erase without releasing the mousebutton. When you release the Command key, you will be able tocontinue the path.

Click on thelever to collapsethe palette.

Figure 4.5 -The black tr iangleappears when you click below the barand indicates the start of green, thethird colour in the gradient.

EXERCISE D

Figure 4.6 -Specify a Freehandtolerance value in the GeneralPreferences dialogue box. The higherthe number of pixels, the fewer thenumber of anchor points which will becreated.

last point selected.

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-W File/Close -I Object/Paint Style

Use the panel displaymenu to select the firstitem, which will displaythe Line Attributesoptions.

Pen tool

An x by the pen toolcursor indicates that it isready to set the firstanchor point in the path.

When you click the firsttime with the pen tool,an anchor point appearsand the x disappears.

Figure 4.8-Click at 1to set the first point, at2 to create the firstsegment, at 3 to createthe second segment,and at 4 to create thethird segment of the

-O File/Open -I Object/Paint Style -2 Arrange/Unlock All -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -S File/Save

Cap 1 Cap 2 Cap 3

Join 1 Join 2 Join 3

Fact

The Mitre Limit valuedefaults to 4. Thismeans that when thepoint’s length reachesfour times its lineweight, Illustrator willswitch from a mitre jointo a bevel join.

WARNING!

Get into the habit ofsaving frequently.Anything can cause theprogram to crash, andyou will lose everythingthat was not previouslysaved. (If this happensto you, don’t cry overthe keyboard or you’llcause it to short out!)

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1. Choose File/Open (Command-0) and open the Caps & joins.aifile on the Tutorial disk. It displays nine L-shaped lines withdifferent caps and joins (Figure 4.7). Display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I).

2. The file is locked and all the objects are locked. In order to editthe objects, Choose File/Save As and type a new name for thefile. Select Illustrator 5 from the Format pull-down menu andclick on Save.

3. To unlock the objects, select them all and choose Arrange/UnlockAll (Command-2). The objects appear selected. ChooseEdit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselect all the items.

4. Choose File/Save (Command-S) to save the file again under itsnew name with all the items unlocked.

5. Make sure the lower panel of the Paint Style palette is visible.Use the selection tool to select the first item, Cap 1, join 1. Cap1 is called a butt cap and produces squared ends. Join 1 is amitre join and creates paths that meet with pointed corners.When this join is selected, you can enter a value between 1 and500 in the Mitre Limit field.

6. Click on the other items and notice the cap and join they use.

7. Be sure that Auto is selected in the Paint Style palette so thatchanges will appear immediately. Then select each cap and joinexample and click on another cap and join in the Paint Stylepalette to see how they change.

8. Close the file (Command-W). Don’t save your changes.

USING THE PEN TOOL TO DRAW DASHED LINESThe pen tool is the most powerful drawing tool in Adobe Illustrator.Unlike the freehand tool, you don’t click and drag to draw straightlines with the pen tool. Rather, you click to create anchor points,and Illustrator does the work of placing lines (segments) betweenthose anchor points. If you press the Shift key while setting twoanchor points, Illustrator will draw a perfectly straight line betweenthose two anchor points.

1. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I). Select a fill of Noneand a stroke of 10 points. Select black as the colour for the stroke.

2. Click on the pen tool to select it. Move onto the drawing page andnotice that a small x appears next to the pen cursor. This tells youthat your first click will set the first anchor point in the path.

3. Click anywhere on the drawing page and release the mousebutton. An anchor point appears on the page and the xdisappears.

4. Move about two inches away from that first anchor point andpress the Shift key. Then click again and release the mousebutton. Another anchor point appears and a straight line isdrawn between the two anchor points.

5. Move down a few inches, press the Shift key, and click to setanother anchor point. Release the mouse button. A third anchorpoint appears and a second segment is created.

6. To complete the open path, move the cursor to the right a fewinches and click to complete the path (Figure 4.8). Because thisis an open path, anchor points 1 and 4 are called endpoints.

EXERCISE E

Figure 4.7-Thevarious caps(end-points) and joinsfor lines, all ofwhich areapplied throughthe Paint Stylepalette.

Cap 1, Join 1Butt cap, Mitre join

Cap 2, Join 1Round cap, Mitre join

Cap 3, Join 1Projecting cap; Mitre join

Cap 1, Join 2Butt cap, Round join

Cap 1, Join 3Butt cap, Bevel join

Cap 2, Join 2Round cap, Round join

Cap 2, Join 3Round cap, Bevel join

Cap 3, Join 2Projecting cap, Round join

Cap 3, Join 3Projecting cap, Bevel join

EXERCISE F

1 2

3 4

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-K File/Preferences/General

Tip

Using the eyedroppertool to update the PaintStyle palette is a loteasier than trying tofigure out what colourswere used, what the lineweight is, what the Capsand Joins options are,and what the dash andgap values are for adashed line.

Another tip

Select the filledrectangle in the Artworkmode window byclicking on its centrepoint. This is easier thanclicking all over the filledrectangle to find itscentre point.

You can also selectthe Area Select optionin the GeneralPreferences dialoguebox, which allows you toselect a filled object byclicking anywhere insidethe object.

Eyedropper tool

Selection tool

-} View/Zoom In -N File/New -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork -Y View/Preview

Fact

The Caps options applyonly to endpoints; theJoins options apply onlyto anchor points thatmeet at a corner.

Eyedropper tool

Paint bucket tool

More info

Double-click on theeyedropper tool or onthe paint bucket tool toaccess their dialogueboxes where you canselect which fill andstroke attributes the toolwill select and apply.

Now you see it...

Using the New Windowcommand allows you tosee the changes made toobjects in Artworkmode. It’s easier toselect objects andsegments in Artworkmode because thestroked paths are easierto select and anchorpoints are more visiblethan in Preview mode,where the colour andStroke Weight valuesfrequently make

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7. With the line still selected, click on Dashed in the lower panel ofthe Paint Style palette. Type 3 in the dash field and press theTab key. Type 5 in the Gap field and click on Apply to changethe solid line into a dashed line (Figure 4.9). Change the StrokeWeight value to 2, and click on the Apply button.

8. Use the zoom tool or press Command-} to enlarge the display.Increase the Stroke Weight to 10 points and select different Capsand Joins options. Notice how the endpoints change when youselect different Caps options and how the points at which thesegments meet change when you select the different Joinsoptions.

EYEDROPPER AND PAINT BUCKET TOOLSThus far you have been applying paint and stroke characteristics tolines and paths directly from the Paint Style palette. You can alsouse the eyedropper tool to copy the fill and stroke attributes from anobject to the Paint Style palette or use the paint bucket tool to copythe fill and stroke attributes from the Paint Style palette to an object.

1. Create a new file (File/New), display the Paint Style palette(Command-I), and choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw three rectangles on the page.Because you are in Artwork mode, none of the default fills andstrokes will appear. Only the outline and centre points of theobjects are displayed.

3. Use the Paint Style palette to assign one rectangle a green filland a purple stroke with a Stroke Weight of 8 points. Press theApply button if necessary to apply the attributes.

4. Choose Window/New Window to create another window of thesame file. With the new window selected, choose View/Preview(Command-Y). Resize both windows so that they appear on yourscreen. The filled rectangle appears with its fill and strokeattributes displayed in the new window (Figure 4.10).

5. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) and change theFill and Stroke colours in the Paint Style palette to anything youdid not use for the rectangle. Change the Stroke Weight value to1. This will let you better see what happens when you use theeyedropper tool.

6. Use the selection tool to select the filled rectangle. Click on theeyedropper tool and notice that now the Fill and Stroke coloursin the Paint Style palette change to reflect the fill and strokevalues of the selected object and that the Stroke Weight valuechanges from 1 to 8.

7. Click anywhere on the page to deselect the filled rectangle. Usethe selection tool and move to the window in Artwork mode.Shift-select only the two unfilled rectangles.

8. Click on the eyedropper tool and then double-click on thecentre point of the filled rectangle. Both of the selectedrectangles now display the fill and stroke attributes of the firstrectangle.

9. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything. Click on the Fill box in the Paint Style palette andclick on the Pattern icon in the colour options strip. Click on theBricks pattern to designate it as the current fill. Click on anycolour to designate it as the current stroke. Because nothing isselected, these new fill and stroke attributes are not reflected inany of the objects in the illustration.

10.Click on the paint bucket tool to select it. The paint bucket toolautomatically “fills” with the current fill and stroke attributes andbecomes a selection tool. Click on one of the rectangles andnotice that it fills with the current fill and stroke attributes.

11.Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A) and change the fill andstroke attributes, including the Stroke Weight value, in the PaintStyle palette. Use the paint bucket tool to apply those newattributes to objects in the illustration.

Figure 4.9 -The dash valuespecifies the length of the dash inpoints. The gap value specifiesthe distance (in points) from onedash to another.

EXERCISE G

Figure 4.10-The NewWindow command allowsyou to view the colour andstroke changes made inArtwork mode. You can, ofcourse, make changes inboth windows, and anychanges you make in onewindow are updated in theother. Both windows belongto the same document.

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-N File/New -K File/Preferences/

General -I Object/Paint Style

True confessions

The Calligraphic optionis frequently difficult touse. Sometimes it’seasier to draw the objectwith the Calligraphicpen and then use thepen tool to draw aneater object over theoriginal stroke—as inFigure 4.13.

Gradient Colour icon isselected in the colourstrip area.

-I Object/Paint Style

Brush tool

Fact

You cannot apply adifferent cap and joinstyle to a path after ithas been drawn with thebrush tool. You mustmake the changes in theStyle field of the Brushdialogue box beforedrawing the path.

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THE BRUSH TOOLThe brush tool is very much like the freehand tool, in that you use itto draw freeform lines. However, where the freehand tool requiresyou to close the path by clicking on the first anchor point, pathscreated with the brush tool are automatically closed when yourelease the mouse button.

Paths drawn with the brush tool simulate those drawn with apaintbrush in that they display variable-width lines. You can specifythe width of the brush stroke, or, if you have a pressure-sensitivetablet, vary the width of the brush stroke’s lines by varying thepressure on the pen tip.

1. Double-click on the brush tool to display the Brush dialogue box.If you are using a pressure-sensitive tablet, click in the Variablebox. If not, type 4 in the Width field (Figure 4.11). Click on thefirst option in the Caps and joins fields. Do not selectCalligraphic. Click on OK.

2. Use the brush tool to draw something resembling a flower.Notice that when you release the mouse button, a filled pathappears and the end caps and joins reflect the selections madein the Brush dialogue box. Use the Paint Style palette(Command-I) to apply a fill and stroke to the path.

3. Double-click on the brush tool again and select the butt cap andbevel join in the Style field. Click on OK.

4. Draw another shape and see the difference in the end of the brushstroke (endpoints) and in the way the corners meet (Figure 4.12).

5. Double-click on the brush tool once more and click in theCalligraphic box in the Style field. Type 45 in the Calligraphicangle field. Click on OK. Use the brush to draw a letter. Thentry drawing ribbons (Figure 4.13). Double-click on the brush tooland change the Calligraphic angle value to 120°. Click on OK.Notice how the change in angle creates a flatter stroke.

In this exercise you will create a few more objects to be used in thefinal illustration of a mountain village.

1. Create a new file (Command-N). Choose File/Preferences/General(Command-K) and use the Ruler Units pull-down menu to selectinches. Click on OK. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Click on the rectangle tool to select it and click once on thedrawing page to display the Rectangle dialogue box. Type 7.25in the Width field and 2 in the Length field. Click on OK.

3. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and click on the Fillbox on the left panel and on the Auto button on the right panel.Keep the rectangle selected. Click on the Gradient icon in thecolour strip area. Choose Object/Gradient to display theGradient dialogue box.

4. Click on New and type Oxford Sky for the name of the newgradient fill. Press the Enter key to add the name to the scrollboxes in the Gradient and Paint Style palettes.

5. Click on the Process Colour icon to display the CMYK sliders. Clickon the white triangle at the start of the gradient bar (Figure 4.14).

6. Type 17 in the Cyan field and press the Enter key. A 17% cyancolour appears as the first colour in the gradient.

EXERCISE H

Figure 4.11-Type a value in the Widthfield to specify the width of the brushstroke as well as a cap style for theendpoints and a join for the points wherea corner is created.

Figure 4.12-Change the Capsand Joins options in the Brushdialogue box to create differenteffects with the brush tool.

Round cap,round join

Butt cap,bevel join

Figure 4.13-When the Calligraphic option isselected in the Brush dialogue box, treat thecursor as if it were a pen with an angled nib.

REVIEW EXERCISE

Figure 4.14-Clickingon the f irst whitetriangle selects it andchanges it to black.

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-S File/Save

Check that strip!

When selecting triangleson the gradient bar,make sure that theProcess Colour icon isalso selected above theCMYK sliders.

Selection tool


Start at 1 and move to2, continuing arounduntil you come back to1 again. As you movethe cursor onto the firstpoint, a loop appearson the pen cursor,indicating that the nextclick (6) will close thepath. The last point (6)remains selected.

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7. Click below the bar to set another triangle. Type 45 in the Cyanfield; press the Tab key, and type 65 in the Magenta field. Pressthe Enter key. A purple colour flows from the original cyancolour in the gradient box (Figure 4.15).

8. Click on the last triangle under the gradient strip, the endingtriangle, which will display 100% in the ending percentage field.Type 89 in the Cyan field and 69 in the Magenta field. Press theEnter button to create a deep blue colour, the last of the threecolours in the gradient fill.

9. Make sure the new gradient fill, Oxford Sky, is applied to therectangle at a 90° angle. Choose File/Save As and save the fileas Sky & House. You will need it for a later exercise.

10.In the Paint Style palette, choose None for the fill and red for thestroke. Click on the pen tool and click once on the drawing page.Release the mouse button. Press the Shift key and click about twoinches away from the first anchor point. Release the mousebutton and then the Shift key to create a horizontal straight line.

11.Move about two inches above the second anchor point, press theShift key, and click to create a vertical straight line. Continue topress the Shift key while clicking to draw the house (see sidebar).

12.When you close the path, the last anchor point will remainselected. Click on the direct-selection tool and click on thatselected anchor point to move it and reposition the last segmentof the path.

13.Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything. Click on the selection tool and click on the house.Drag it a few inches to the right and left, but before you releasethe mouse button, press the Option key to create a duplicate ofthe selected object.

14.Choose File/Save (Command-S) to save the file under its currentname.


1. A gradient fill is edited in thea. Paint Style palette c. Menu Bar b. Gradient palette d. b and c

2. A gradient fill is repositioned in the object via thea. Paint Style palette c. gradient fill tool b. Menu Bar d. a and c

3. Which commands allow you to access custom gradient fills?a. View and Place c. View and Open b. Open and Import Styles d. View and Object

4. Start and stop triangles a. are triangles at the beginning and ending of a gradient fillb. appear in the Paint Style palettec. are drawn with the pen toold. are green and red lights on the information highway

5. Line attributes includea. fill and stroke c. shade and angle b. caps and joins d. a and b

6. Freeform paths are created witha. the brush and paint bucket tools c. gradient fins b. the freehand and brush tools d. a and b

7. Endpoints are edited with the __option.a. joins c. Mitre Limitb. Caps d. selection tool

8. Joins affect the waya. lines curve c. corners meetb. lines end d. all of the above

9. Paths drawn with the__can be transformed into dashed lines.a. pen tool c. freehand toolb. brush tool d. all of the above

10.The eyedropper and paint bucket toolsa. copy attributes from the Paint Style palette to objectsb. cannot be editedc. must be used togetherd. affect only paint attributes

Figure 4.15-Click below the gradient bar tocreate a selected triangle which indicates thestart of another colour in the gradient fill.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.b; 2.c; 3.b; 4.a; 5.d; 6.b; 7.b; 8.c; 9.d; 10.a

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-N File/New -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork

When you first click toselect the pen tool andmove onto the drawingpage, a small x appearsnext to the cursor. Thistells you that your firstclick will set the firstanchor point in the path.

Fact

Illustrator automaticallyfills an open path withthe default fill and strokecolours unless you selectNone for the Fill andStroke before drawing.

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will learn how to use the pen tool to draw straightand curved segments and open and closed paths. You willmanipulate direction handles to reshape a curve and add and deleteanchor points from a path. You will also learn how to split and joinpaths.

TOPICS

The pen toolDrawing straight fines with the pen toolDrawing an open pathDrawing curved segmentsEditing pathsChanging the direction of a curveAdding and deleting anchor pointsSplitting pathsJoining endpointsConverting anchor pointsReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Coincident pointsCorner pointsDirection handlesDirection pointsNon-coincident pointsNoncontinuous curvesOpen pathOption-draggingSmooth points

TUTORIAL FILES

Mixed TemplateCurve TemplateMouse Template

THE PEN TOOLThe pen tool is the most powerful drawing tool in Adobe Illustrator.With it, you can draw straight lines in any direction and curved lineswith any scope. You can resize, reposition, and reshape any straightor curved segment drawn with the pen tool by adjusting either itsanchor points or the segments between the anchor points.

There’s good news and great news about the pen tool. The goodnews is that it takes a little practice to learn how to use it skillfully;the great news is that once you learn-it’s like riding a bike-you neverforget, and you don’t have to think about what you’re doing. Youclick a little, drag a little, and bingo! It’s art!

DRAWING STRAIGHT LINES WITH THE PEN TOOLIn the last lesson you used the pen tool to draw dashed lines. In thislesson you will continue use the pen tool to draw straight lines. Theimportant thing to remember about drawing lines is that you do notdrag to create the line. You click to set the anchor points andIllustrator connects them for you. If you ever played “Connect theDots,” this is your tool!

1. Create a new file (Command-N), choose View/Artwork(Command-E), and display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).Make sure that both Fill and Stroke are set to None.

2. Click once on the pen tool to select it. Move onto the drawingpage and notice the x next to the cursor. This tells you that yourfirst click will create the first anchor point in the path.

3. Click once in the middle of the page and release the mouse button.Do not drag. Move up or down a few inches and click again.Notice the line (segment) which appears between the first andsecond anchor points.

4. Move the cursor close to the second anchor point and noticethat an arrowhead appears to the right of the cursor. This tellsyou that the next segment will be connected to the selectedanchor point (Figure 5.1).

5. Click again to set another anchor point and create another segment.

6. Press the Shift key before clicking again to constrain the line to a45° angle. You are now ready to deactivate the pen tool.

UNIT

5Drawingwith thePen Tool

EXERCISE A

The next segment youcreate will be attached tothis anchor point.

Figure 5.1-An arrowheadappears next to the cursorwhen it is near a selectedanchor point, indicatingthat the next time youclick, the new segment willbe anchored to theselected anchor point.

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Fact

Remember: closing apath is one way todeactivate the pen tool,even though it remainsselected.

Closed means shut!

You cannot addsegments to a closedpath in the same way asyou continued to drawand add segments to anopen path. The only wayto reshape a closed pathis to add anchor pointsalong the segments.


-A Edit/Select All -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview

Fact

There are four ways todeactivate the pen tool:close the path with theloop-pen cursor; clickonce on the pen tool inthe tool palette; pressthe Command key whileclicking anywhere onthe page; or chooseEdit/Select None.

Pen tool

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7. Click once on the pen tool in the Tool palette to deactivate thepen tool and create an open path. All of the anchor points onthe path are hollow except for the last one, which remainsselected. The pen tool is still selected, and it will begin a newpath the next time you click.

8. With the path still active and the pen tool selected, move thecursor onto the last, selected anchor point. Because you aregoing to add a segment to a completed, open path, the cursordisplays a slant line to its right (Figure 5.2). This symbol tells youthat when you click on the selected anchor point, you willcontinue to draw the original path.

9. Continue to click and add a few more straight line segments tothis path. When you have finished, click once on the pen tool.

10.Move the cursor around the drawing page, away from theselected endpoint of the path you just drew, and notice that thex is displayed next to the cursor. This tells you that you areready to draw another path.

11.Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselect the path.

DRAWING AN OPEN PATHA path with two endpoints (anchor points on each end of the path) iscalled an open path. This is the kind of path you created in Exercise A.You can also use the pen tool to create a closed path, a path in whichyou cannot see where one segment begins and another one ends.

1. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select all the objects onthe screen. Press the Delete key. Display the Paint Style palette(Command-I). Make sure that None is selected for the Fill andStroke options.

2. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

3. Click on the pen tool to select it and move onto the drawingpage. You will draw a triangle. Click once to set the first anchorpoint. Release the mouse button. Move up and to the right andclick to set the second anchor point and create the first segment.Release the mouse button. Move down and to the right and clickto set the third anchor point and create the second segment.Release the mouse button.

4. Move to the left, onto the first anchor point. As you come ontoit, the cursor displays a loop which tells you that the next timeyou click, you will be clicking on the first anchor point and youwill close the path (Figure 5.3). Click on that first anchor point toclose the path.

5. Not only have you closed the path, but you have returned thepen tool to its “start position.” Notice that as soon as you click,the cursor displays the x, indicating that if you click again, youwill start a new path (Figure 5.4). The completed, closed path,however, displays the selected last anchor point until you click tostart another path.

6. Continue to draw closed paths until you are comfortable withdrawing the straight lines and finding the first anchor pointneeded to close the path.

DRAWING CURVED SEGMENTSYou don’t drag when drawing straight lines because dragging withthe pen tool produces curved segments. These segments areconnected by anchor points which display direction handles anddirection points. Use these handles to change the shape of a curve.

There are two ways to draw curves in Illustrator: the right wayand the easy way. The right way is to click with the pen tool anddrag in the direction of the curve; then click to complete the curve(Figure 5.5).

The other way is to click and release the mouse button, thenclick at the high point of the curve and drag to the right; and finallyclick at the endpoint to complete the curve (Figure 5.6).

Figure 5.2-Clicking with the pen tool on theselected anchor point of a completed pathdisplays a slant line to the right of the cursor,indicating that the next segment wil l beconnected to the selected anchor point.

EXERCISE B

Click on thefirst anchorpoint to closethe path.

Figure 5.3-When you move thecursor onto the first anchorpoint, a loop is displayed next tothe cursor, indicating that thenext time you click, you’ll closethe path.

Figure 5.4-The cursor displays an x when itis ready to begin a new path.

A

B

C

D

1. Click at A anddrag up to B.

2. Click at C anddrag down to D.

Direction handlewith direction point Figure 5.5-Direction

handles appear when youdrag to create a curvesegment. Because thiscurve is an open path, Aand C are endpoints.

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-O File/Open -E View/Artwork

The cursor becomeshollow when it touchesthe ruler guide.

Corner points do notdisplay directionhandles.


-E View/Artwork -R View/Show Rulers -I Object/Paint Style

The cursor changes toan arrowhead whendrawing curve segments.

horizontal ruler

Click inside thehorizontal ruler and draga ruler guide up. Clickinside the vertical rulerand drag a ruler guideout.

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The other way is to click and release the mouse button, then click atthe high point of the curve and drag to the right; and finally click atthe endpoint to complete the curve (Figure 5.6).

The first way produces a more elegant curve (from a technicalviewpoint) because it utilises only two anchor points. The secondway requires three anchor points, but many users find this a mucheasier and quicker way to create curves.

1. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) and display the Paint Stylepalette. Make sure that neither the Fill nor Stroke options areselected.

2. Choose View/Show Rulers (Command-R). Rulers will appear onthe bottom and at the right side of the screen. Click in thehorizontal ruler and drag a ruler guide up to the middle of the page.Drag another ruler guide up about two inches above the first guide.

3. Click on the pen tool to select it. Click on the bottom guide (A) anddrag straight up to the top guide. Release the mouse button, theanchor point will appear selected (filled), and the direction handlewill extend from the anchor point (A) to the top guide (Figure 5.7).

4. Notice the direction handle which appears when you release themouse button. You’ll use this handle later to adjust the slope ofthe curve.

5. Click on the bottom guide about two inches away from theselected anchor point and drag down to complete the curve.Always drag away from the “hump” to complete the curve.

6. When you release the mouse button, the selected anchor pointdisplays two direction handles, one going up and one goingdown. You’ll use these also to adjust the curve (Figure 5.7).

7. Repeat steps 3-5 until you are comfortable making “picket fence”curves. Don’t worry if they’re crooked, you’ll fix them later.

8. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A). Save the file(File/Save As) as Practice Curves. You will need it for the nextexercise.

EDITING PATHSAny path, whether it’s a line or curve segment, may need editing.You may want to shorten or lengthen it, extend or compress acurve, or even remove part of it. All editing (except for duplicating)is best done with the direct-selection tool, as it leaves the anchorpoints hollow and allows you to select only the ones you want towork with.

A path can be edited by moving an anchor point or by adjustingthe direction handles by dragging on the direction points. When youadjust a corner point, you have only the anchor point to work with,because corner points don’t have direction handles.

1. If necessary, open the Practice Curves file (Command-O) anddisplay the Paint Style palette. Make sure that the Fill and Strokeoptions are set to None and that nothing is selected. ChooseView/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Click on the direct-selection tool to select it and click once onthe first curve. It displays a direction handle on either side of thetwo anchor points. The endpoints are hollow because only thecurve segment is selected, not the anchor points (Figure 5-8).

3. With the direct-selection tool, click on the direction point of anydirection handle. You move the handle by clicking and draggingthis point. Notice that you can move the slope of the curve tothe right and left as well as up and down (Figure 5.9). Noticealso that only the curve segment moves; the anchor pointremains stationary.

A D

CB

1. Click at A andrelease themouse button.

2. Click at B anddrag to C.

3. Click at D tocomplete thecurve.

Figure 5.6-Draggingat B outward insteadof dragging from Aupward also sets theslope (arc) of thecurve. The lastendpoint remainsselected.

EXERCISE C

AB Figure 5.7-Click and drag up at A—always in

the direction of the curve or the “hump”-andrelease the mouse button when the directionhandle is about one third the size of the curve.Click and drag down at B to complete the curve.

vertical ruler

EXERCISE D

Figure 5.8-When you click on a curvepath with the direct-selection tool, directionhandles appear on each side of the curve.

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-N File/New Object/Paint Style -R View/Show Rulers -Z Edit/Undo

When you click on thesmooth point, the cursordisplays an arrowhead,indicating that you canOption-click on thisanchor point to create acorner point. The InfoBar in the lower leftcorner of the screen alsodisplays Pen: MakeCorner.

Fact

Option-clicking with thepen tool creates acorner point. Ordinarily,corner points don’tdisplay directionhandles, but when theyare set in conjunctionwith a smooth point,they will display thesmooth point’s firstdirection handle. It is thecorner point’s directionhandle which appearswhen you Option-clickand drag up.

-Z Edit/Undo


Now you see it...

If you click away fromthe segment when thedirect-selection tool isactive, the segmentbecomes deselected andthe anchor points withtheir direction handlesare no longer visible. Ifthat happens, just clickon the segment againwith the direct-selection tool to makethe anchor points anddirection handles visible.

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4. Choose Edit/Undo (Command-Z) to return the curve to itsoriginal shape.

5. Click on the direction point extending from the other anchorpoint on the curve segment. Move it up and down and back andforth. Notice how the curve segment moves in the direction ofthe moving handle.

6. Choose Edit/Undo (Command-Z) to restore the curve to its originalshape.

7. With the direct-selection tool, click on the left anchor point todisplay another direction handle from the anchor point (Figure5.10). Click on its direction point and drag to the right and left.You cannot use this handle to move the curve up and down.

8. Click on the right anchor point to display its second directionhandle. Use all four handles to adjust the shape of the curve.

9. Select the other curves and use their direction handles to adjusttheir arc and shape.

CHANGING THE DIRECTION OF A CURVEThus far, the curves you have been drawing are continuous curves-curves connected by smooth points. You drew the first segment,then placed the pointer where you wanted the next segment to end,and dragged in the opposite direction of the curve’s hump. Tocreate a noncontinuous curve- curves connected by corner points-like a series of curves in a picket fence, position the pointer on thelast anchor point, press the Option key, and drag in the oppositedirection to complete the curve.

1. Create a new file (Command-N). Choose View/Artwork(Command-E) and display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).Select None for the fill and any colour for the stroke.

2. Choose View/Show Rulers (Command-R). Drag two horizontalrulers up onto the drawing page, about one inch apart. You will usethese ruler guides as start and stop positions when creating curves.

3. Click on the pen tool to select it. Move onto the drawing page andnotice that a small x appears next to the pen cursor. This tells youthat your first click will create the first anchor point in the path.

4. Click on the lower ruler and drag up to begin the curve. Releasethe mouse button. You always drag in the direction of the curvewhen you set the first anchor point in the curve. Althoughnothing appears to happen, the next time you click, you will beable to complete the curve.

5. Click on the lower ruler and drag down to complete the curve.Always draw away from the “hump” when completing a curve.

6. Click and drag in the last anchor point you just created and dragup to start the next curve. Notice that when you click and dragin the same point, instead of moving to another position as youdid when drawing continuous curves, the segment moves downand the curve becomes distorted (Figure 5.11). ChooseEdit/Undo (Command-Z) to return to the original curve.

7. Press the Option key, then click and drag up to set a corneranchor point and direction handle for the next curve. Move tothe right and click and drag down to complete the curve.

8. Continue to create more sets of non-continuous curves. Whenyou’re finished, click on the pen tool to deactivate it. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 5.12.

direction point

Figure 5.9-Click on thedirection point and drag thedirection handle to changethe slope and height of thecurve segment.

Figure 5.10-Click on the anchor pointto display a second direction handle fromthe anchor point.

EXERCISE E

Figure 5.11-Clicking and dragging in the last placedanchor point causes the segment to flip. Option-click inthe anchor point before dragging to set a corner anchorpoint and establish the direction (up) of the next curve.

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Fact

The centre point of anobject created with therectangle and oval toolsis not an anchor point.

Delete-anchor point tool

Scissors tool

Figure 5.15-Clickingon the figure at the leftwith the scissors toolresults in splitting thepath and creating twonew endpoints, one ontop of the other (centre),which can be movedindependently (right).

-O File/Open -E View/Artwork -N File/New -I Object/Paint Style


Add-anchor point tool(centre) is accessed byclicking on the triangleon the scissors tool.

Add-anchor point tool

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1. Choose File/Open (Command-O) and open the Mixed Templatefile in the Templates folder on the Tutorial disk. Display thePaint Style palette and select None for the fill and a red colourfor the stroke. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Use the pen tool to draw each of the straight and curvedsegments. Don’t forget to click on the pen tool to select it whenyou have finished drawing each object.

3. Use the direct-selection tool to select a path and use thedirection handles to adjust the curves.

4. Save the file (File/Save As) as Mixed Templates.ai. The ai suffixtells you that the file contains the actual Illustrator artwork, notjust the template. You will use this file later.

ADDING AND DELETING ANCHOR POINTSNo path is ever set in stone. You can always add and delete anchorpoints for reshaping a path. illustrator provides you with an add-anchor point tool and a delete-anchor point tool. These tools areaccessed from the Tool palette by clicking and dragging out on theblack triangle on the scissors tool icon.

The delete-anchor point tool removes anchor points from a path.Deleting an anchor point simplifies the path and reshapes the object.

Adding anchor points is frequently an easy way to adjust asegment, since it gives you extra direction handles (smooth point) orjust another corner point to manipulate. To add an anchor point,you must first select a path with either of the selection tools.

1. Create a new file (File/New). Display the Paint Style palette(Command-I) and select a light fill colour. Leave the stroke atNone. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Reset the Toolbox by pressing the Command and Shift keyssimultaneously and double-clicking on any tool.

3. Select the rectangle tool. Drag to draw a rectangle. Click anddrag on the black triangle on the scissors tool to select the add-anchor point tool.

4. With the rectangle still selected, click with the add-anchor pointtool on the top segment of the rectangle. A selected anchorpoint appears, and the other four anchor points on the rectanglebecome deselected (hollow) (Figure 5.13).

5. Click on the direct-selection tool (hollow arrow) and click on thenewly created selected point. Drag that point up to change theappearance of the rectangle to a roofed building (Figure 5.14).

6. Click with the add-anchor point tool on the other threesegments. Use the direct-selection tool to drag all four pointsoutward to create a star similar to the one shown in Figure 5.14.The object now has a total of eight anchor points.

7. Use the direct-selection tool to select the star. Press theCommand and Shift keys simultaneously and double-click on anytool to reset the Tool palette. Drag out the scissors tool andselect the delete-anchor point tool.

8. Click on any of the anchor points with the delete-anchor pointtool. Notice how the shape of the star changes as you deleteanchor points.

SPLITTING PATHSThe scissors tool is used to split an open path into two separatepaths or to split a closed path like a circle or rectangle so that itbecomes an open path. If you split a path in the centre of asegment, Illustrator creates two new endpoints, one on top of theother, and selects both endpoints (Figure 5.15).

Direction handles appears when youOption-click in the last anchor point.

Figure 5.12-Aseries of non-continuous curvesconnected by cornerpoints and createdby Option-clicking inthe last anchor pointof the previouslycompleted curve.

EXERCISE G

EXERCISE FFigure 5.13-When you click with the add-anchorpoint tool, a selected anchor point appears on thepath and the path becomes deselected.

Figure 5.14-Use the direct-selection tool to drag the newlycreated anchor point up toreshape the rectangle. Addinganother three anchor points,for a total of eight anchorpoints, lets you reshape therectangle into a star.

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-Option-N File/Open Template


-W File/Close -I Object/Paint Style

Fact

Templates arebitmapped imageswhich exist on abackground layer inIllustrator. You can’t editthem, but you canchoose to hide ordisplay them from theView menu. Templatesare used as guides fordrawing with (mostoften) the pen tool ortracing with the autotrace tool.

-N File/New -A Edit/Select All -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -J Object/Join

Pen tool

Selection tool


Do a two-step

After using the scissorstool to cut an anchorpoint or several anchorpoints, deselecteverything before usingthe selection tool toselect and remove thesevered segment.

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JOINING ENDPOINTSJust as you can split a path and create two endpoints, so you can jointwo endpoints of an open path. This creates a closed path. You canalso join the endpoints of two open paths to create one open path.

There are two kinds of endpoints, coincident and non-coincident. Coincident endpoints are placed one on top of the otherso that it appears that there is only one endpoint (see the centrecircle in Figure 5.15). When you join two coincident endpoints, bothpoints are replaced by one endpoint. When you join two non-coincident endpoints, Illustrator draws a path between the twopoints.

1. Either create a new document (File/New) or choose Edit/SelectAll (Command-A) and press the Delete key to clear the screen.

2. Select the pen tool and click (don’t drag) to create threesegments (Figure 5.16). Click on the pen tool to deactivate it.

3. Use the selection tool to select the path. Press the Option keyand drag the path a little to the right. Release the mouse button,then the Option key. Option-dragging creates a copy of theselected item. Choose Edit-Select None (Command-Shift-A) todeselect everything.

4. Using the direct-selection tool, drag a selection marquee aroundthe two bottom points of the paths (Figure 5.16) to select thoseendpoints. The other anchor points on the two paths willappear, but they will be hollow (deselected).

5. Choose Object/Join (Command-J). Notice that Illustrator joined(connected) the two paths by drawing a segment from one non-coincident endpoint to the other.

6. Choose the selection tool and and click to select what is nowone path. Drag it around the screen.

7. Click on the scissors tool and click on one of the anchor pointsconnecting the new path. Then click on the other anchor point(Figure 5.17).

8. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) or click on an empty areaof the page to deselect everything. Use the direct-selection tool to selectthat small segment connecting the two paths, the one you just cut withthe scissors tool, and drag it away from the paths. With the smallsegment still selected, press the Delete key to delete it.

9. Notice that when you cut the segment, you split the joined pathinto two separate paths. Close this file (Command-W). Don’tsave your changes.

CONVERTING ANCHOR POINTSThe third tool which appears when you drag the scissors tool out isthe convert-direction point tool. Use this tool to convert a cornerpoint (which has been selected with the direct-selection tool) to asmooth point by clicking on the corner point and dragging. Clickingon a smooth point with this tool converts the smooth point with itstwo direction handles to a corner point with no direction handles.

In this exercise you will open two templates and use them topractice drawing curves with the pen tool and joining paths with theadd-anchor point tool.

1. Open the Curve Template file in the Templates folder in theTutorial folder (Command-Option-N). Display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I) and select None for the fill and a red colourfor the stroke. Set the Weight value at 2 points.

2. Use the pen tool to practice drawing the different kinds of curvesby drawing over the lines in the template. Remember, whendrawing non-continuous curves (second set of curves), that youmust Option-click in the last created anchor point of the curvejust completed (smooth point) to create a corner point so youcan change the direction of the curve.

3. Open the Mouse Template file in the Templates folder on theTutorial folder (Command-Option-N) to display a happy rodent.

EXERCISE H

Figure 5.16-The twopoints being selected arenon-coincident anchorpoints because they arenot on top of each other.Illustrator will draw a pathto join them.

Figure 5.17-Click onboth anchor points withthe scissors tool to cutthe newly createdsegment from the path.

Click here withthe scissors tool.

REVIEW EXERCISE

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-–Arrange/Send to Back

Oval tool

Freehand tool

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4. The base of the mouse’s body is a circle drawn from the centre.Click on the oval tool and press the Option key before clickingand dragging from the centre of the body. When the oval is aclose approximation of the template, release the mouse button.

5. Use the add-anchor point tool to add an anchor point to thefront segment. Use the direct-selection tool to drag this anchorpoint out to create the head (Figure 5.18).

6. Then move the direction handles and anchor points to adjust thecurve of the body (Figure 5.19).

Figure 5.19-Select an anchor point on the body of the mouse and drag thedirection handles out to make the curve conform to the line in the template.

7. Use the oval tool to create eyes and the freehand tool to createthe tail and mouth.

8. When you’ve drawn the tail, make sure it’s selected, and chooseArrange/Send to back (Command- – (hyphen)), so any part ofthe tail drawn over the mouse’s body will appear behind it.Listen hard and you’ll hear him squeak!


1. The pen toola. draws straight linesb. draws curved segmentsc. sets anchor pointsd. all of the above

2. Straight line segments are drawna. by clicking and draggingb. by clickingc. by draggingd. with a ruler

3. Curved segments are drawn bya. clicking and draggingb. by clickingc. by draggingd. with a compass

4. To adjust the slope of a curvea. move the anchor pointb. drag a direction handlec. move the curve segmentd. a and b

5. Edit paths with thea. pen toolb. direct-selection toolc. add-and delete-anchor point toolsd. b and c

6. Before drawing a noncontinuous curvea. draw a continuous curveb. Option-click in the previous anchor pointc. create a smooth point with the pen toold. use the direct-selection tool

7. In order to split a patha. use the delete-anchor point toolb. select the path with the direct-selection toolc. use the scissors toold. b and c

8. The add-anchor point and delete-anchor point toolsa. are accessed from the scissors toolb. appear when you press the Command keyc. corners meetd. all of the above

9. In order to join two paths,a. both paths must be selectedb. both paths must be closed pathsc. the endpoints of both paths must be selectedd. use the selection tool

10.It’s important to remembera. to use the direct-selection toolb. to deactivate the pen tool when completing a pathc. to select a path before adding or deleting anchor pointsd. b and c

Figure 5.18-Use the add-anchor point tool to addanother anchor point to the oval. Then use thedirect-selection tool to select this new anchor pointand drag it out. This reshapes the oval into themouse’s body.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.d; 2.b; 3.a; 4.d; 5.b; 6.b; 7.d; 8.a; 9.c; 10.d

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The auto trace tool isaccessed by dragging onthe triangle in thefreehand tool icon.

Fact

There really isn’tanything like a “whitepixel,” but it’s helpful tothink of the white areasbetween black pixels aswhite pixels.

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will learn how to use the auto trace tool to createAdobe Illustrator art from bitmapped templates. You will also learnhow to use the ruler and ruler guides, how to measure and moveobjects, and how to hide and lock objects.

TOPICS

The auto trace toolSetting Tolerance and Gap preferencesTemplatesTracing part of a shapeDisplaying rulersRuler originRuler guidesCreating guide objectsMeasuring and moving objectsMoving objectsGrouping objectsHiding and locking objectsReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Auto Trace gapFreehand toleranceGroupGuideGuide objectRuler originTemplate

TUTORIAL FILES

Mushroom.PICTCake.PaintGrouped Objects.aiCactus.Paint

THE AUTO TRACE TOOLThe auto trace tool is accessed from the tool palette by clicking anddragging out on the freehand tool. It is used to trace templates, thuscreating PostScript art from bitmapped images. These templatesexist on a background layer, cannot be edited in Illustrator, and willnot print.

There’s bad news and good news about the auto trace tool. Thegood news is that if the template you want to trace is big enoughand simple enough-that is, if it contains hard edges which define thetracing area-the auto tracing works very well. The bad news is that ifthere are any open areas in the image-that is, if the image issomewhat complex, or if it is too small-the auto trace tool is useless.You’re better off tracing the template with the pen tool or using adedicated tracing program like Adobe Streamline.

SETTING TOLERANCE AND GAP PREFERENCESThe accuracy of the auto trace tool is affected by the values set inthe Tool behaviour field in the General Preferences dialogue box(Figure 6.1). Both the Freehand tolerance and Auto Trace gapvalues determine what the auto trace tool does with the pixels itencounters on the template.

The Freehand tolerance value can be set from 0 to 10. A valueof 0 tells Illustrator to skip zero pixels on the template. A value of10 tells Illustrator to skip large jagged areas of the template andsmooth out the line.

The Auto Trace gap value can be set from 0 to 2. A value of 1tells Illustrator to trace the template by moving from one black pixelto the next, ignoring gaps created by one or less than 1 white pixel.A value of 2 specifies that the auto trace tool will ignore gapsexisting between the black pixels of two or less than two whitepixels.

TEMPLATESIllustrator will import as a template files saved in a bitmapped formatsuch as PICT files and Paint files. When scanning images, save themin either of these formats. Much of the clip art on the market is inPaint or PICT format and can be imported into Illustrator and tracedto create PostScript art. You cannot import TIFF files into Illustratorto use as templates.

UNIT

6Tracing,

Measuring,and

Moving Objects

Figure 6.1 -Thehigher the number inthe Freehand tolerancefield, the smoother thedrawn l ine wil l be.Likewise, the higherthe Auto Trace gapvalue, the smootherthe line will be.

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-Option-N/File/Open/Template

-I Object/Paint Style -K File/Preferences/

General

Tip

It’s frequently easier tosee the differencebetween the pathcreated with the autotrace tool and the greytemplate line if you usea coloured stroke.

-Option-N/File/Open/Template

-I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork -K File/Preferences/

General -Y View/Preview -P File/Print

Auto trace tool

Fact

You must position theauto trace cursor withinsix pixels of the areayou want to trace.

Double your view

Choose Window/NewWindow to display aduplicate of the currentdrawing page. This letsyou work in Artworkmode while viewing theillustration in Previewmode. Any changesmade in one window areautomatically applied tothe second window.

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1. Press Command-Option-N to display the Open templatedialogue box. Locate the Templates folder in the Tutorial folderand open the Mushroom.PICT file. It appears on your screen asa grey image.

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and choose Nonefor the fill and black for the stroke. Choose View/Artwork(Command-E).

3. Click and drag on the freehand tool to select the auto trace tool.

4. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and type 6 inthe Freehand tolerance field. Press the Tab key and type 0 inthe Auto Trace gap field. Click on OK.

5. Click once with the crosshair cursor on the lower corner of themushroom cap and release the mouse button.

6. Move the cursor to the bottom of the mushroom stem and clickagain. Both the cap and stem are outlined by a path (Figure 6.2).

7. Choose View/Hide Template to display just the two paths.

8. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y). Use the selection tool toShift-select both the cap and stem and change the fill to black(Figure 6.3).

9. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) again, and use the direct-selection tool to adjust the curves on the mushroom so that itlooks like something you would want to eat.

10.Choose File/Print (Command-P) and print the file. Then go backto the file and use the direct-selection tool to make anycorrections in the mushroom’s shape.

TRACING PART OF A SHAPESometimes you may want to trace only part of a path or trace thetemplate one path at a time. This allows you to control the fill andstroke options for different parts of an image. To trace part of atemplate, drag the auto trace crosshair cursor from the point whereyou want the path to start to the position where the path should end.You must start and stop dragging within two pixels of the shape’sedge.

1. Press Command-Option-N to open a template. Locate theTemplates folder in the Tutorial folder and open the Cake.Painttemplate.

2. Press Command-} a few times to zoom in on the image. Althoughit appears to be a simple drawing, notice that there are lines at thetop separating the top from the sides of the cake and that thereare circles (probably big chocolate chip chunks!) inside the cake.This image lends itself to auto tracing one part at a time.

3. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and select None forthe fill and red for the stroke.

4. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and set theFreehand tolerance value to 10 and the Auto Trace gap value to 0.Click on OK.

5. Click at A on the left side of the cake and drag to B. Then releasethe mouse button (Figure 6.4). The top part of the cake is traced.

6. To trace the bottom part of the cake and connect the secondtraced path to the first, click with the crosshair on the anchor pointcreated at A. Release the mouse button without dragging. This timethe auto trace tool traced the available outline of the image, thelower part of the template, in a counterclockwise movement.

7. Now use the pen tool to complete the illustration. Draw one pathof four segments to outline the centre slice in the cake, pressingthe Shift key to keep the vertical lines straight (Figure 6.5).

EXERCISE A

Figure 6.2-Click once on the outside edge of atemplate to begin tracing.

AB

Figure 6.3-The traced mushroom after correctionswere made to the paths and it was filled with black.

EXERCISE B

Figure 6.4-Click and dragfrom A to B to trace theupper part of the cake.

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-7 Object/Guides/Unlock/Lock

-R View/Show Rulers -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview -K File/Preferences/

General

Fact

Pressing the Option keywhile dragging ahorizontal ruler guideswitches it to a verticalruler guide. The sameswitch occurs when youpress the Option keywhile dragging a verticalruler guide.

More info

The Snap to pointoption allows you tosnap an anchor point toa ruler guide. When thisoption is selected,dragging an object by itsanchor points ratherthan by a segmentcauses it to snap to theguide whenever thecursor is within twopixels of the guide.

-E View/Artwork -R View/Show Rulers

Fact

The auto trace toolwon’t work on the restof the template becausethere are no hard edges(black pixels) for it tolatch onto. That’s whyyou have to finishtracing the cake with thepen tool.


The ruler origin or zeropoint (dotted lines) is atthe intersection of thehorizontal and verticalrulers.

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8. Then draw two curves to outline the curves to the left and rightof the sliced area. Complete the illustration by using one of thedrawing tools to outline the circles inside the cake.

9. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) and use the direct-selectiontool to correct the curves on the outside of the cake. Use theadd-anchor point, delete-anchor point, and convert-anchor pointtools to shape the paths so that they conform to the outline ofthe template.

DISPLAYING RULERSWhen you first launch Illustrator, the rulers are not visible on thedrawing page in the new document. To display the rulers, chooseView/Show Rulers (Command-R). This command toggles betweenshowing and hiding the rulers.

When you choose View/Show Rulers, a horizontal ruler displayingthe unit of measure specified in the General Preferences dialogue boxappears along the bottom of the page. A vertical ruler appears on theright side of the page. The ruler origin, intersecting dotted lines, isdisplayed in the corner where the two rulers meet (Figure 6.6).

RULER ORIGINThe ruler origin or zero point on the ruler is useful in establishingprecise measurements in the illustration. For example, to positionan object a certain distance from another object, you could use theMove command after drawing the object, or you could use a rulerguide and move the ruler origin so that the ruler guide would be atthe 0 position for the x axis (horizontal) and 0 position for the y axis(vertical). This allows you to place a ruler guide at the precise pointon the ruler.

RULER GUIDESRuler guides are non-printing guidelines which are “stored” in therulers. Click on the horizontal ruler and drag a ruler guide up; clickon the vertical ruler and draw a ruler guide out.

The Guides option under the Object menu determines whether aguide is locked in place or unlocked. To unlock a guide so that youcan reposition it or drag it off the page, choose Object/Guides/Lock(Command-7). This command toggles the Lock function on (default)and off.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Show Rulers(Command-R). Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) andchoose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle and fill it with anycolour.

3. Click on the ruler origin and drag the intersecting lines up andout of the rulers onto the drawing page so that they fit over theright and bottom segments of the rectangle (Figure 6.7). Noticethat the zero points on the ruler are at the bottom and rightsides of the rectangle.

4. Click inside the vertical ruler and drag a ruler guide out to theone inch mark on the horizontal ruler.

5. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and click in theSnap to point box to display an X. Click on OK.

6. Draw another rectangle and fill it. While it is still selected, clickon one of its anchor points and drag it to the ruler guide. Therectangle snaps to the guide and is positioned exactly one inchfrom the first rectangle (Figure 6.8). Remember that the centrepoint is not an anchor point.

Figure 6.5-Use the pen tool todraw the four segments of theinside slice on the cake.

ruler origin

Figure 6.6-When rulersare displayed, theyappear along the bottomand right edges of thedrawing page.

EXERCISE C

Figure 6.7-Click on the rulerorigin and drag the intersection tothe lower corner of the rectangleto set the zero points on thehorizontal and vertical rulers at thepoint of the rectangle.

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-6 Objects/Guides/Release


-I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork -Control-I Show/Hide

Info palette

Fact

When pressing theOption key to duplicatean object, keep itdepressed until you havereleased the mouseand/or any othermodifier keys (like theShift key). The Optionkey is the last key to bereleased.

-7 Object/Guides/Unlock/Lock


-D Arrange/Repeat Transform

-5 Object/Guides/Make

The cursor changes to awhite pointer when theanchor point locks tothe ruler guide.

Fact

You can override theLock command andmove a locked guide bypressing the Control-Shift keyssimultaneously whilemoving the ruler guide.

More info

Pressing the Shift keyconstrains themovement to ahorizontal or verticalmove-depending onwhich way you movedfirst.

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7. Choose Object/Guides/Lock (Command-7). This toggles theLock command (default) to Unlock and allows you to move theruler guide.

8. Move the ruler guide to the two inch position on the horizontalruler, and then select the second rectangle and move it againstthe guide at its new position.

CREATING GUIDE OBJECTSA guide object is a ruler guide that started life as a path of anyshape. When an object is changed into an guide, its path outlinebecomes a dashed line. Guide objects are useful when you want toalign several objects.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the oval tool to draw a circle.

2. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and make surethat the Snap to Point option is checked. This allows you to dragan object by an anchor point and have it snap to a guide-whether it’s a ruler guide or guide object.

3. Press the Option key and use the selection tool to drag the circleto the left. Before releasing any keys, press the Shift key. Thiscreates a duplicate circle (Option-drag) and constrains itsmovement to the horizontal axis (Shift-drag). When the secondcircle is directly alongside the first, release the mouse button,then release the Option key.

4. Shift-select both circles and choose Arrange/Repeat Transform(Command-D) twice. This, command repeats the last drawingaction; in this case, it duplicates the first circle and moves itdirectly alongside the second circle.

5. Use the selection tool to drag a marquee around all four circlesto select them. Choose Object/Guides/Make (Command-5). Theoutline of the circles changes from any stroke to a dashed line(Figure 6.9).

6. Use the pen tool to draw a straight line about two inches long.Select the line and drag it by its anchor point to the intersectionof the first two circles. Make sure it snaps to the guide.

7. Drag the line and press the Option key to create a duplicate line anddrag it by the anchor point to the centre line of the centre circle

8. Continue to duplicate and place lines, creating a design similarto that in Figure 6.10.

9. When you have finished aligning the lines, use the selection toolto Shift-select the four circles. Choose Object/Guides/Release(Command-6). The selected circles return to being art objects andare no longer guides. You can now keep them or delete them.

MEASURING AND MOVING OBJECTSUse the measure tool to calculate the distance between any twoanchor points in an illustration. This value appears on the Infopalette and is used as the default value in the Move dialogue box.Always move an object immediately after measuring it, because anyoperation performed between measuring and moving changes thevalues in the Info palette and in the Move dialogue box.

1. Begin with a clean drawing page and choose the Snap to Pointoption in the General Preferences dialogue box (Command-K).This will force the measure tool to snap to anchor points andguide objects. Choose inches as the unit of measure from theRuler Units pull-down menu.

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and choose None forthe fill and stroke options. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

3. Choose Window/Show Info (Command-Control-I) to display theInfo palette (Figure 6.11). When you display the Info palette in adocument where nothing is selected, the X and Y values displaythe horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) position of the cursor.

4. Choose Window/Hide Info palette (Command-Control-I) or clickin the Close box of the Info palette to close it.

Figure 6.8-Drag by the anchor point to snap theobject to the guide.

EXERCISE D

Figure 6.9 -The fourcircles appear as dashedlines when you use theMake Guides command.

Figure 6.10-Drag a lineby its anchor point to snapit to the guide.

EXERCISE E

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-Z Edit/Undo -K File/Preferences/

General -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

When you draw an openpath, the last pointremains selected.


-Shift-M Arrange/Move

Measure tool

Fact

In both the Info paletteand the Move dialoguebox, a positive numberindicates that an objectis moved up or to theright. A negativenumber indicates that anobject is moved down orto the left.

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5. Click on the rectangle tool and click on the drawing page todisplay the Rectangle dialogue box. Type 3 in the Width fieldand 4 in the Height field. Click on OK.

6. Use the selection tool and Option-drag the rectangle to createanother rectangle. Move the second rectangle away from theoriginal rectangle.

7. Click on the measure tool and click on the first rectangle. Thenclick on the second rectangle. The Info palette appearsautomatically and the distance between the rectangles isdisplayed in the W field on the Info palette (Figure 6.11).

8. The X and Y values indicate the right rectangle’s horizontal (X)and vertical (Y) position from the x and y axes, or the zero pointon the rulers. The W and H values indicate the absolutehorizontal (W) and absolute vertical (H) distances measured.

MOVING OBJECTSAs helpful as the Info palette is, it’s often much easier to use theMove command to specify the distance an object should be movedon the drawing page. You can also use the arrow keys to move anobject the distance specified in the General Preferences dialoguebox. This is an excellent way of making lines straight, since youcan’t constrain a line segment to a 45 degree angle once it is drawn.

1. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and selectInches from the Ruler Units pull-down menu.

2. Use the two rectangles you drew in the last exercise or draw twonew objects with any of the drawing tools.

3. Click on one of the objects and choose Arrange/Move (Command-Shift-M) to display the Move dialogue box (Figure 6.12)

4. Type 3 in the Horizontal and -1 in the Vertical field to move therectangle 3 inches to the right and 1 inch down. Click on OK.Notice that the rectangle has moved 3 inches to the right and 1inch down.

5. Choose Edit/Undo Move (Command-Z), and with the rectangleselected, choose Arrange/Move (Command-Shift-M) again. Typein a negative value in the Horizontal field and a positive value inthe Vertical field. Click on Copy. Notice that a copy of theselected rectangle moves to the left and up on the drawing page.

6. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and type 0.001in the Cursor key field under Keyboard increments (Figure 6.13).This specifies the distance the cursor will move when you pressthe arrow keys. The value of .001 means that the selected objector segment will move very little, giving you a great deal of controlover its positioning.

7. Use the pen tool to draw a line with several segments. Don’t pressthe Shift key before clicking; you don’t want a perfectly straight line.

8. Zoom in on the last segment of the line. With the line’s endpointstill selected, press the right arrow key and notice how the linemoves almost imperceptibly. Press the arrow key again a fewmore times or until you have straightened out the line.

9. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselect theline. Use the direct-selection tool to select the line again andShift-click on two anchor points connecting a segment to selectthem. Use the arrow keys to move the segment right and left, upand down to change its position.

Figure 6.11-The W fieldindicates that the rightrectangle is 0.5521 inches tothe right of the left rectangle.If you had clicked the righttriangle first, then the lefttriangle, the W value would berepresented as -0.5521inches.

EXERCISE F

Figure 6.12-The positivenumber in the Horizontalfield indicates that the objectwill be moved to the right;the negative number in theVertical field indicates thatthe object will be moveddown. The Distance andAngle fields are fi l ledautomatically once you inputvalues in the upper panel ofthe dialogue box.

Figure 6.13-Set the Cursorkey value for a fraction of aninch to limit the movementof the arrow keys.

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-U Arrange/Ungroup -N File/New -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview -1 Arrange/Lock -2 Arrange/Unlock -3 Arrange/Hide -4 Arrange/Show All


Fact

When you select andungroup, you mustdeselect everythingbefore you can begin towork with the individualelements that weregrouped. Alwaysdeselect everythingbefore issuing anothercommand or beforeselecting another object.


None -Z Edit/Undo


Drag on the triangle onthe direct-selection toolicon to access thegroup-selection tool.The group-selection tooldisplays a + sign.

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GROUPING OBJECTSWhen you want to keep objects connected so they will move as aunit, group them. You can group one group with another, thusensuring that many objects wil l move or be transformedsimultaneously. Direct-selection tool

When you use the selection tool to select any object in a group,the entire group is selected, and any changes made will affect theentire group. Use the direct-selection tool to select a single path orsingle object in a group. If you have nested groups (a group within agroup), select the next group up in the grouping order with the group-selection tool. Each time you click with the group-selection tool, youadd another set of grouped objects to the selection (Figure 6.14).

In Figure 6.14, Group 1 and Group 2 (the arcs and balls) aregrouped together and that new group is grouped to Group 3 (line).

1. Open the Grouped Objects.ai file in the Tutorial folder. ChooseFile/Save As and save it under a different name. ChooseView/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Click on the group-selection tool and click on one of the upperarcs. One arc is selected. Don't move the cursor. Click a secondtime and the other two arcs in the first group of arcs areselected. Click a third time and the entire group of lower arcs isselected. Both the upper and lower arcs are now selected.

3. Click a fourth time to select the four balls. Click a fifth time toselect the bars. You have selected the three groups in theillustration, one group at a time.

4. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything.

5. Use the group-selection tool and click on one of the balls. Click asecond time to select all four of the balls. Use the selection tool todrag the four balls away from the illustration. Choose Edit/UndoMove (Command-Z) to restore the illustration. Deselect everything(Command-Shift-A).

6. Use the direct-selection tool to select one of the arcs and movethe direction handles to reshape the curve.

7. Choose Edit/Select None to deselect everything. Use the group-selection tool to select one of the balls. Click on the selectiontool and drag the selected ball away from the illustration.

8. Deselect everything. Click anywhere on the arcs with theselection tool. Choose Arrange/Ungroup (Command-U). Youhave ungrouped only the arcs from the larger illustration.

9. Click anywhere on the page to deselect everything. Click on theballs with the selection tool, and choose Arrange/Ungroup(Command-U) again. You have ungrouped the four balls.Deselect everything. Click with the selection tool on one of theballs and move it away from the group. Deselect everything.

10.Click with the selection tool on one of the bars. PressCommand-U to ungroup the bars. Deselect everything.

HIDING AND LOCKING OBJECTSWhen you're working with a complex illustration, it's frequentlyeasier to see what you're doing when only the part of the illustrationyou're working with is visible. You can choose to hide objects whileworking with other illustration elements and then display them. Youcan also lock objects, which prevents you from accidentally selectingand editing them.

1. Create a new file (File/New). Choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Reset the Toolbox by pressing the Command and Shift keyssimultaneously while double-clicking on any tool.

3. Select the rectangle tool and draw two rectangles. Fill each witha different colour.

4. Use the selection tool to select one rectangle. ChooseArrange/Hide (Command-3) to make the selected rectangledisappear.

5. Choose Arrange/Show All (Command-4) to make the hiddenrectangle visible on the screen.

6. Select the other rectangle. Choose Arrange/Lock (Command-1).Now try selecting it—you can't. Although the locked object isvisible, it is not available for editing.

7. Choose Arrange/Unlock All (Command-2) to unlock the objectand make it available for editing.

Group 1: arcs

Group 2: balls

Group 3: lines

Figure 6.14-Three groups ofobjects. Use thegroup-selectiontool to selecteach nestedgroup in theillustration.

EXERCISE GEXERCISE H

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-O File/Open -1 Object/Paint Style -K File/Preferences/

General -D Arrange/Repeat

Transform -G Arrange/Group -2 Arrange/Unlock

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In this exercise you will trace a template, then use the various toolsto create an illustration from one object.

1. Press the Option key and choose File/Open. Locate theCactus.Paint file in the Tutorial folder and click on Open. Thecactus appears as a greyed-out image in the background of theillustration page.

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and choose nonefor the fill and a red colour for the stroke.

3. Click on the auto trace tool and click at the top of the cactus totrace it. If you're not happy with the resulting artwork, makechanges in the Auto Trace gap and Freehand tolerance fields inthe General Preferences dialogue box (Command-K).

4. Use the direct-selection tool to select the cactus and then use theadd-anchor point, delete-anchor point, and convert-anchor pointtools to edit the drawing.

5. Select the cactus with the selection tool, press the Option key,and drag to duplicate it.

6. Use the Arrange/Repeat Transform again (Command-D) to"grow" a whole field of cacti.

7. Shift-select three cacti and group them (Command-G). Selectanother cactus and hide it (Arrange/Hide). Select another cactusand lock it (Arrange/Lock).

8. While the cacti are hidden and locked, edit other cacti. Use thebrush tool and freehand tool to draw desert objects.

9. Choose Arrange/Show All (Command-4) and Arrange/UnlockAll (Command-2).

10.Choose File/Save (Command-S) and save this file as DesertScene. You will use it in a later lesson.


1. A templatea. appears as a grey imageb. is loaded into the background of the illustrationc. cannot be editedd. all of the above

2. Templates must bea. Paint Files c. PICT filesb. TIFF files d. a and c

3. The auto trace tool is affected by thea. Freehand tolerance preference c. speed of draggingb. Auto Trace gap preference d. a and b

4. The ruler origin isa. the zero point oil the horizontal rulerb. the zero point on the vertical rulerc. the intersection of the horizontal and vertical rulersd. displayed as a single line

5. Ruler guides cannot bea. printedb. hiddenc. lockedd. all of the above

6. A guide object is madea. with the rectangle toolb. with the oval toolc. with the freehand toold. from any path

7. Objects that are hiddena. cannot be selectedb. cannot be seenc. appear as grey objectsd. a and b

8. Objects that are lockeda. cannot be selectedb. cannot be seenc. appear as grey objectsd. a and b

9. The group-selection toola. selects every group automaticallyb. selects one group at a timec. creates groupsd. a and c.

10.The Move dialogue box is used toa. move objects from one document to anotherb. repeat the duplicate functionc. move objects a specific distanced. b and c

REVIEW EXERCISE

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.d; 2.d; 3.d; 4.c; 5.a; 6.d; 7.d; 8.a; 9.b; 10.d

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-N File/New -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork

Scale tool

Fact

If you released themouse button more thanonce while scaling,choose Edit/Undo a fewtimes to restore theoriginal shape. You’llknow you undid thecorrect number of timeswhen Undo Filterappears in the Editmenu.

Make a point

Objects drawn with thedrawing tools like thepen and brush tools donot display centrepoints. To create acentre point, chooseObject/Attributes(Command-Control-A)and select the Showcentre point option inthe Attributes dialoguebox.

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OVERVIEW

This lesson will show you how to transform objects. You will learnhow to use the scale, rotate, reflect, and shear tools to change theappearance of objects. You will also learn how to create blendsbetween objects.

TOPICS

Scaling objectsRotating objectsThe reflect toolThe shear toolThe blend toolBlending dissimilar objectsBlending similar closed pathsCreating guide objectsReview ExercisesReview Questions

TERMS

BlendPoint of originReflectRotateScaleShear

TUTORIAL FILES

Face.aiHalf Heart.aiMushroom.aiPlanes.aiDesert Scene.aiHouse.ai

SCALING OBJECTSYou can reduce or enlarge an object by scaling it either horizontally,vertically, or both horizontally and vertically. Unless you specify a pointof origin, all scaling takes place from the centre point of an object.

To specify exact scaling dimensions, use the Scale dialogue box.To scale visually, click and drag an object with the scale tool.

1. Choose File/New (Command-N) and display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I). Choose fill and stroke colours. ChooseView/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Choose Filter/Create/Star to display the Create Star dialoguebox. Create a five-pointed star and click on OK. A star appearsselected on the drawing page.

3. With the star still selected, click on the scale tool. Then click onone of the points of the star and drag away from the object toenlarge it; drag toward the object to reduce it. Notice that indragging this way, the star is becoming distorted. ChooseEdit/Undo (Command-Z) to restore the star to its original shape.

4. This time you will set a point of origin for the scale. Select thescale tool and click in the centre of the star. The cursor changesto an arrowhead (Figure 7.1).

5. Click on one of the star points and drag away from the centre.The original star is displayed as the object is enlarged (Figure7.2). Release the mouse button.

UNIT

7Transforming

Objects

EXERCISE A

Figure 7.1-One click with the scale tool setsthe point of origin for the scale. The object willbe enlarged or reduced from this point.

Figure 7.2-When you drag with thescaling cursor, the original object(inside star) remains displayed as it isreduced or enlarged.

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Rotate tool

-Z Edit/Undo

Option-click on theobject with the scale toolto set the point of originand display the Scaledialogue box.

Fact

When dragging with thescale tool, press theShift key to scale theobject uniformly.Release the mousebutton before releasingthe Shift key.

More info

If you click in the Scaleline weight box, thestroke of any strokedpath will be scaled alongwith the scaled object.

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6. Choose Edit/Undo Scale (Command-Z) to restore the original image.

7. Click with the scaling cursor on any star point and drag awayfrom the star. Notice that dragging away from the objectenlarges it; dragging toward the object reduces it. Likewise,depending on the direction in which you drag, the star canbecome distorted.

8. Choose Undo Scale (Command-Z) until you return to the originalstar. Double-click on the scale tool to display the Scale dialoguebox. Click the Uniform button to select it and type 50 in thepercent field to reduce the object to half its current size. Click onthe Copy button to create a copy of the selected object withoutchanging the original object (Figure 7.3).

Figure 7.3-Double-clicking on the scale tool displays the Scale dialogue box(left). Click on Copy to exit the dialogue box and display a copy of theselected object, now scaled to the specified size (right).

9. Use the selection tool to move the small star onto a blank areaof the drawing page. Double-click on the scale tool again todisplay the Scale dialogue box.

10.Click on the Non-uniform button and type 150 in the Horizontalfield to enlarge the object 50% beyond its current size in ahorizontal (wide) direction. Type 25 in the Vertical field toreduce the object 25% of its current size in a vertical (high)direction. Click on OK. Your screen should resemble Figure 7.4.

Figure 7.4-When you select the Non-uniform option, you can scale an objecthorizontally and/or vertically to different percentages of the object’s current size.

ROTATING OBJECTSAs with the scale function, there are several ways to rotate an objectin Illustrator. You can rotate by dragging a selected object aroundthe object’s midpoint with the rotate tool or by specifying an angleof rotation in the Rotate dialogue box.

1. Choose File/Preferences/General and select inches from theRuler units pull-down menu.

2. On a clean drawing page, click on the oval tool to select it, andclick once on the drawing page to display the Oval dialogue box.

3. Type 1 in the Width field; press the Tab key and type 2 in theHeight field. Click on OK.

4. Click once on the rotate tool and click on the lower point of theoval. This sets the point around which the oval will rotate.

5. Move the arrowhead cursor away from the oval, press theOption key, and click and drag to rotate the oval about 30degrees to the left. Release the mouse button (Figure 7.5).

6. Choose Arrange/Repeat Transform (Command-D) to repeat thecopy/rotate action. Continue to press Command-D until therotated ovals create a flower (Figure 7-6).

EXERCISE B

Figure 7.5-To rotate an object from a specific point,first click that point with the rotate tool, then move awayfrom the object and drag. Pressing the Option key whiledragging creates a rotated copy of the original object.

Figure 7.6-The first oval wasOption-rotated, Then the RepeatTransform command created therest of the flower’s petals.

Last oval drawn

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-O File/Open -E View/Artwork -W File/Close

Fact

Option-clicking with thescale, rotate, reflect, andshear tools displays theirrespective dialogueboxes and sets the pointof origin for thatfunction at the pointwhere you clicked.

-A Edit/Select All -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -G Arrange/Group


Fact

Before selecting with thedirect-selection tool,always deselect first.You cannot selectindividual paths while anobject is still selectedwith the selection tool.

Rotate tool

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1. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and press the Delete key.

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw a square (Shift-drag). Deselect it(Command-Shift-A).

3. Use the direct-selection tool to select the square and click on oneof the corner anchor points to select it. Drag that anchor pointout so that the square becomes reshaped into a kite (Figure 7.7).Use the freehand tool to draw a tail on the kite.

4. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and group all the objects(Command-G). Leave the group selected.

5. Click on the rotate tool to select it. Click anywhere on the pageand drag to rotate the kite from its centre point. Release themouse button.

6. Now click with the rotate tool on one of the selected anchorpoints of the kite. This sets the point of origin around which thekite (object) will rotate.

7. Move the arrowhead away from the point you just clicked anddrag in a circular motion to rotate the kite.

8. Press the Shift key while rotating to constrain the rotation to 45degrees.

1. Use any of the drawing tools to create an object. Keep theobject selected.

2. Double-click on the rotate tool to display the Rotate dialogue box.

3. Type 35 in the Angle field. Click on the Copy button to rotate acopy of the original object 35 degrees from its centre point tothe left.

4. With the copy still selected, double-click on the rotate tool again.Type -75 in the Angle field and click on OK to rotate theselection 75 degrees to the right.

THE REFLECT TOOLUse the Reflect command to create a mirror image of an object.Illustrator reflects across the axis which runs through the selectedanchor point. Press the Option key or click on the Copy button inthe Reflect dialogue box to create the mirror image.

Since the Reflect command flips only what is selected, you canselect part of a path with the direct-selection tool and flip only thatsection. Or you could Shift-select several objects in a drawing andflip (reflect) only them.

1. Open (Command-O) the Face.ai file in the Tutorial folder.Choose View/ Artwork (Command-E). Select the object with theselection tool.

2. Click once on the reflect tool. Click with the crosshair cursor onthe top of the head (Figure 7-8).

3. Position the arrowhead on the chin and click. The object isreflected (flipped) horizontally across an invisible axis.

4. With the object still active, click with the reflect tool on the topof the head again.

5. Move the arrowhead pointer away from the object and drag toreflect (reposition) the object. As you drag, the axis of rotationyou set in step 4 rotates around the point you clicked in step 3.

6. Continue to click and flip on other areas of the path with thereflect tool until you are comfortable with it.

7. Close this file (Command-W). Don’t save your changes.

1. Open (Command-O) the Half Heart.ai file in the Tutorial folder.Choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Select the half heart with the selection tool. Click once on thereflect tool.

3. Press the Option key and click with the crosshair pointer on thecentre point of the heart to display the Reflect dialogue box.

EXERCISE C

Figure 7.7-Select the square with the direct-selection tool. Then select one anchor pointand drag it to reshape the square into a kite.

EXERCISE D

Click here with the reflect tool to set the flippingpoint of origin.

Figure 7.8-Click at a point to set the axis aroundwhich the object will flip.

EXERCISE E

EXERCISE F

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-Y View/Preview -– (hyphen) Arrange/

Send to Back -W File/Close

Use the Tint slider onthe Paint Style palette toreduce the 100% blackto 50% for the shadow.

Blend tool

Fact

Version 5.5 contains aCustom to Process filterthat converts customcolours to the equivalentCMYK process colours.

To convert customcolours to processcolours, chooseFilter/Colours/Customto Process.

-A Edit/Select All -G Arrange/Group -W File/Close -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork

Another way

You could also connectthe two pieces of theheart by first deselectingeverything and using thedirect-selection tool todraw a selectionmarquee around the twotop endpoints. Thenchoose Object/Join. Dothe same with thebottom endpoints tocomplete theconnection.

Fact

The further away fromthe point of origin thatyou start dragging withthe shear tool, the morecontrol you have over it.

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Figure 7.9-Option-clicking with the reflect tool on the centre point of theobject (left) displays the Reflect dialogue box (centre). Choosing Vertical andclicking on Copy produces a mirror image of the original path (right).

5. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and group the two pathsinto a single object (Command-G).

6. Close this file (Command-W). Don’t save your changes.

THE SHEAR TOOLThe shear tool is used to slant an object along a specified axis. It is mostuseful for creating shadows when the Option-skew command is used.

The shear tool is tricky to use, especially when you are skewing apath with many segments. It’s sometimes easier to access the Sheardialogue box, plug in a small angle like 10 degrees and then repeatthe transformation until the object is slanted properly.

Another way to control the skewing is to shear along an angle thatis a multiple of 45 degrees in relation to the current x axis by pressingthe Shift key while dragging with the shear tool. Pressing the Shift andOption keys while dragging with the shear tool will create a copy ofthe original object (Option) and constrain the shearing (Shift).

Unlike the other transformational tools, which calculate thetransformation (scale, rotate, and reflect) counterclockwise from theselected axis, the shear tool calculates the skew angle clockwisefrom the current axis.

1. Open the Mushroom.ai file (Command-O). Display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I) and select Artwork mode (Command-E).

2. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and choose Arrange/Group(Command-G) to group the mushroom stem with the cap.

3. Click on the shear tool and click on the lower left corner of themushroom stem. This sets the point of origin from which theobject will slant.

4. Move the cursor away from the object and press the Option key.Click and Option-drag very slowly down and to the left. You cansee the copy slanting up and to the left. When it is slantedenough to look like a shadow cast by the mushroom, release themouse button, then the Option key.

5. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y). The skewed copy iscurrently selected.

6. On the Paint Style palette, move the Tint slider to 50%. This willmake the shadow lighter than the original mushroom.

7. Choose Arrange/Send to Back (Command- –) to place theshadow behind the mushroom (Figure 7.10).

Figure 7.10-Click with the shear tool on a path to create the shearingpoint of origin (left). Pressing the Option key while dragging the cursorcreates a sheared copy of the mushroom (centre). Send the sheared copy tothe back to create the shadow effect (right).

THE BLEND TOOLBlending objects creates a series of intermediate objects and coloursbetween two selected objects. Two open paths like lines can beblended to create different graphic effects. You can also blendoverlapping shapes to create a smooth blend between two differentcolours. Blending dissimilar shapes creates multiple objects withdifferent shapes and colours.

There are a few rules to observe when blending:

1. Blend only two objects at a time. You cannot use the blend tool ongroups of objects, although you can use the direct-selection tool toselect parts of a group and blend between those two paths.

2. You cannot blend between an open and a closed path or betweencompound paths. Both paths must be either open or closed.

3. When blending objects to which colour has been applied, thecolours in both objects must be either process colours or customcolours. If you use the blend tool on differently coloured objects,Illustrator will paint the blended shapes with a process colour. Ifyou blend between two different custom colours, Illustrator willsubstitute a process colour for the intermediate objects. Blendingbetween tints of the same custom colour results in the stepsbeing painted with the custom colour.

4. When preparing illustrations containing blends to be colourseparated, use tints to reduce the number of separations. Whenblending a custom colour with white, do not use process white.Instead, use a zero percent tint of the same custom colour.

5. If you blend between patterns, both patterns must be the same.

EXERCISE G

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-O File/Open -A Edit/Select All

Blend tool

Endpoint Alert!

Sometimes it’s hard tosee the selectedendpoint when you’retrying to click with theblend tool. If you get anAlert message, click OK,switch to Artwork modewhere you can moreeasily see selectedanchor points, and clickon the first endpointagain. The Alertmessage cancels the firstclick.

The blend tool cursordisplays a smallhorizontal dotted linewhen you click on anendpoint.

When creating a blend,it’s sometimes easier toselect both objects” thiswill display all of theiranchor points. Then youcan just click on oneanchor point with theblend tool.

-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-M Arrange/

Move -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

Sneaky info

Illustrator defaults totranslating values in theDistance field to theHorizontal field in theMove dialogue box.When you want to movean object vertically aspecific distance, typethat value in thedistance, then cut andpaste the displayedtranslated value (inchesto points) from theHorizontal field to theVertical field

When the ProcessColour icon is selected,the CMYK sliders aredisplayed.


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1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Preview (Command-Y)and display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Use the pen tool to draw a horizontal line about 3 inches long.

3. With the line still selected, choose Arrange/Move (Command-Shift-M) to display the Move dialogue box (Figure 7.11). Type -3(inches) in the Vertical field. This displays 216 pt in the Distancefield. Since you want to move a copy of the selected line 3inches down—a negative number in the Vertical field moves anobject down.

4. Click on Copy to move a copy of the selected line 3 inchesdown on the page (Figure 7.11).

5. Click on the Process Colour icon on the Paint Style palette todisplay the CMYK sliders. Choose None for fill, but click on theStroke icon.

6. Use the selection tool to select the top line. Move the Magentaslider to the 100% position to stroke the line with 4pt 100%magenta; leave the CYK values at 0%.

7. Click on the second line and stroke it with 4pt 100% yellow.

8. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A). Use the direct-selectiontool to drag a selection marquee around the right endpoints ofboth lines (Figure 7.12).

9. Click on the blend tool. Click once on the right endpoint of thetop line and release the mouse button.

10.Click once on the right endpoint of the bottom line and release themouse button. When the second of the two necessary endpoints isselected, the Blend dialogue box is displayed. Type 10 in the Stepsfield to override Illustrator’s recommended number. Illustratorcalculates the percentage of change in the first and last steps on thebasis of the two colours you are blending. Click on OK.

11.Illustrator draws 10 lines between the two selected lines, with thecolours gradually blending from solid to pale magenta and paleto solid yellow (Figure 7.13).

12.Save this file (File/Save As) with the name of Blend.ai as anAdobe Illustrator 5 file.

Figure 7.13-Specifying 10 in the Steps field causes 10 lines, graduatingfrom magenta to yellow, to appear between the selected lines.

BLENDING DISSIMILAR OBJECTSWhen you blend two dissimilar objects, Illustrator transforms the firstselected object into the second. The subtlety or obviousness of thistransformation depends on the number of steps specified for the blend.The greater the number of steps, the more subtle the transformation.

Remember, however, that because the blend command creates aseries of intermediate objects, these steps take time, memory, andprocessing power to create. If, for example, you accept Illustrator’ssuggestion of 260 steps for a blend, you have to wait for it to draw eachof those 260 objects. You may be just as happy with significantly fewersteps. That’s where the Undo command (Command-Z) comes in handy.

1. Open the Planes.ai file (Command-O) in the Tutorial folder.Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to display both planes.

2. Click on the blend tool and click on one of the selected points onthe wing tip of the top plane. Click on a selected endpoint on thewing tip of the bottom plane to display the Blend dialogue box.

Figure 7.11-Usethe Movecommand to createa copy of theselected line andposition it 3 inchesbelow it.

Figure 7.12-The blend tool must beapplied to the endpoint of each openpath. Dragging a selection marquee is aneasy way to select both endpoints.

EXERCISE I

EXERCISE H

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-A Edit/Select All -O File/Open -Z Edit/Undo -Y View/Preview


Fact

You can change theeffect of the blend byclicking on dissimilarpoints. For example,clicking with the blendtool on a selected lowerpoint in one object andclicking on a selectedhigher point in thesecond object creates anentirely different effect.

-I Object/Paint Style -Shift-M Arrange/

Move

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3. Type 5 in the Steps field to create a blend of five intermediateplanes (objects), which transform from a piston-engine plane to afighter plane (Figure 7.14).

BLENDING SIMILAR CLOSED PATHSBlending similar closed paths creates interesting three-dimensionaleffects. Because the blend creates a series of intermediate objects,any of these objects can be selected and manipulated individually.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose Filter/Create/Star to displaythe Create Star dialogue box. Type 5 in the Points field and clickon OK.

2. The star appears, displaying the last selected fill and strokeoptions. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I) and clickon the Process Colour icon to display the CMYK sliders. Use thesliders to create fill and stroke colours for the star.

3. With the star still selected, choose Arrange/Move (Command-Shift-M) to display the Move dialogue box. Type 1 (inch) in theHorizontal field and 1 (inch) in the Vertical field and click onCopy. Another star appears, 1 inch to the right and 1 inchabove the original star.

4. With the second star selected, click on the Process Colour iconin the Paint Style palette and create another fill and anotherstroke colour for that star.

5. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select both stars.

6. Select the blend tool and click on the right tip point of the lowerstar. Then click on the right tip point of the star above it todisplay the Blend dialogue box.

7. Type 10 in the Steps field and click on OK. Your screen shouldresemble Figure 7.15.

In this exercise you will use the Desert Scene file created in Lesson 6and apply the various transformation tools to the cacti and other objects.

1. Choose File/Open (Command-O) and open the file you saved asDesert Scene. If you wish, open the Desert Scene.ai file in theTutorial folder. Save the file under a new name (File/Save As).

2. Use the various transformation tools to resize, rotate, reflect,and shear the individual cactus plants.

3. Select two objects and use the blend tool to create a differenteffect. Remember to use the Undo command (Command-Z)when you’re not happy with the way an object looks.

1. Open the House.ai file (Command-O) in the Tutorial folder.Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I ) . ChooseView/Preview (Command-Y).

EXERCISE J

Figure 7.14 -Specifying 5 in theSteps field of theBlend dialogue boxcreates f iveintermediate shapesbetween the topand bottom objects.

Figure 7.15 -A blendbetween two strokedobjects creates a 3Deffect. Try this blendwithout stroking the starsfor a very different effect.

REVIEW EXERCISE #1

REVIEW EXERCISE #2

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2. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle about 2 inches wideand 1 inch high. Click on the Fill icon in the Paint Style paletteand click on the Patterns icon in the colour strip. Select theTransparent Waves pattern.

3. Use the direct-selection tool to select just the brown house.

4. Click on the reflect tool and Option-click on the bottom of thehouse, its base, to display the Reflect dialogue box.

5. Click on Horizontal and click on Copy to create a mirror imageof the house. It appears beneath the waves and is selected.

6. Use the Tint slider on the Paint Style palette to reduce the tint to30%. Your screen should resemble Figure 7.16.


1. To scale an objecta. resize it from a dialogue boxb. use the Object menuc. enlarge or reduce it with a cursord. a and c

2. The Repeat Transform commanda. repeats a drawing commandb. repeats a resizing commandc. repeats a move commandd. all of the above

3. Objects can be rotateda. at any angleb. at constrained anglesc. with the Arrange commandd. a and b

4. To create a mirror image, use thea. scale toolb. reflect toolc. shear toold. b and c

5. To slant the sides of an object, use thea. rotate toolb. reflect toolc. shear toold. scale tool

6. To blend two open pathsa. two endpoints must be selectedb. the entire object must be selectedc. all the anchor points must be joinedd. none of the above

7. When blending two dissimilar paths,a. one object becomes transformed into the otherb. only one path must be selected with the blend toolc. both paths must be selected with the selection toold. the paths appear as grey objects

8. When blending objects to which colour has been applieda. both colours must be the same tintb. both colours must be either process colours or custom coloursc. at least one colour must be a process colourd. a and c

9. Blending createsa. a graduated fillb. a series of intermediate objectsc. a patternd. harmony

10.You cannot blenda. two closed pathsb. an open and closed pathc. by clicking on anchor pointsd. b and c

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Figure 7.16-Use the reflect toolto create a mirror image of aselected object. You could alsoreflect the tree and apply someskewing to the reflected objectsto make the image more realistic.

Answers: 1.d; 2.d; 3.d; 4.b; 5.c; 6.a; 7.a; 8.b; 9.b; 10.b.

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-Y View/preview

The type tool (left) is thedefault tool. Drag on theblack triangle on theicon to access the area-type tool (centre) or thepath-type tool (right).

Type tool cursordisplays a horizontal barand is surrounded by adotted box when it isnot on or near any path.

Selection tool

Fact

When you click on theselection tool aftercreating point type, allthe type becomesselected and can beedited.

Oops!

If you shouldinadvertently deselectthe text object, use theselection tool to click onits baseline or on thealignment point. Youcan see the alignmentpoint in Artwork mode.

Alignment point visiblein

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OVERVIEW

Because type manipulation in Adobe Illustrator is so powerful, thislesson will concentrate on showing you how to use the three typetools to create and edit type without reference to any of thetypographical and word processing commands in the program. Youwill learn how to create and edit point type, rectangle type, and areatype. Creating type on open and closed paths and converting textcharacters to outlines is also covered.

TOPICS

The type toolEditing typeRectangle typeLinking text boxesThe area-type toolEditing path areasThe path-type toolResizing/reshaping an open path text objectMoving and flipping type on a pathCreating type around circular pathsCopyfitting textImporting text filesText wrapConverting text to pathsReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Area typeBlendOverflow indicatorPath typePoint typeRectangle typeText object

TUTORIAL FILES

Path Type Practice.aiLesson 8.Text

THE TYPE TOOLThere are four kinds of type which can be created with three type tools:

1. Point type is type you create with the type tool anywhere onthe drawing page. Click with the type tool and type the text,which appears with its baseline visible. Point type does not existin relation to any path.

2. Rectangle type is created with either the type tool or thearea-type tool. Use the type tool to draw an imaginary rectangleinto which the text fits, or draw a rectangle first with therectangle tool and type with the type tool inside that rectangle.

3. Area type turns any path into a text path. This allows you toenter text inside an open or closed path of any shape. The area-type tool (as well as the type tool) creates area type.

4. Path type is type placed along an open or closed path witheither the type tool or the path-type tool.

The type tool is the default tool. Drag on the black triangle in theType tool icon to access the area-type and path-type tools.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Click once on the type tool, move onto the drawing page andnotice that the cursor is an I-beam which displays a dotted boxaround it, indicating that it will create point type.

3. Click at any point on the page and the I-beam changes to a flashingcursor. Type your name using upper and lower case letters.

4. Click once on the selection tool. This deselects the type tool andselects the text, which is now a text object. Notice that thebaseline is displayed and an alignment point appears to the leftof the first character (Figure 8.1).

5. With the selection tool active, click on the alignment point at theleft end of the baseline and move the text around the page.

6. Pull down the Font menu and select another typeface. Becausethe text object is selected, as opposed to selected characters andwords, the entire text object reflects the new typeface.

7. Pull down the Type menu and select a larger size. Again, the entiretext object reflects the size change.

UNIT

8Type Effects

EXERCISE A

Figure 8.1-Use the alignmentpoint to move the text objectaround the page.

Alignment point Baseline

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None

Type tool

Area-type tool


-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-S-Type/Size/

Other -E View/Artwork

Type tool

Use the Size pull-downmenu to select a size ortype the new size in theSize field and pressReturn or Enter.

Fact

When creating pointtype, the text will movealong a straight lineright off the page. Tocontrol its placement,press the Return orEnter keys. This causesthe text to drop to thenext line.

Tip

Press the Command keyto change the currenttool into the mostrecently used selectiontool.

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EDITING TYPEEdit point type just as you would any type in a word processor.Double-click with the type tool to select a word, drag to select text,or position the I-beam and press the delete key.

Once text is selected, you can change its typeface and size as wellas add other paint characteristics. And because type in Illustrator is atext object, it can be manipulated with the transformation tools.

1. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) and display the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I). Use the selection tool to select the typeyou just created, or use the type tool to type your name again.

2. Click on the type tool and place the I-beam after the last letter inyour name. Click-once. The baseline and alignment pointdisappear and a flashing cursor appears. Press the spacebar toleave a space between the last word in the text object and thenext character. Type another word or two.

3. Double-click on one word in the text object. Click on the Fill boxin the Paint Style palette and click on a colour. If the Autobutton is checked, the colour is automatically applied to theselected text. Other-wise, press the Enter key.

4. Drag to select the first letter in the text object. ChooseType/Size/Other (Command-Shift-S) to display the Characterpalette. Type 90 in the Size field and press Return. You must pressReturn or Enter to accept any changes typed in any of the palettes.

5. Change the fill colour and apply a stroke to the capital lettersfrom the Paint Style palette.

6. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Click with the selectiontool on the alignment point to select the text object.

7. Double-click on the reflect tool to display the Reflect dialoguebox. Click on Horizontal and click on Copy. The reflected textobject appears selected.

8. Use the selection tool to grab its alignment point and move itdown below the original text.

9. Apply a fill of black and use the Tint slider to make it 50% black.Click on the Stroke box and select None. Your screen shouldresemble Figure 8.2.

RECTANGLE TYPEUse either the type tool or the area-type tool to create type in arectangle. The text automatically wraps to fit the boundary of therectangular path, and if the text overflows, you can either duplicateand link the rectangles or create another rectangle into which the textwill flow.

1. On an empty drawing page, choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

2. Select the type tool. Click and drag with the type tool to create asmall rectangle. When you release the mouse button, theflashing cursor appears in the upper left corner.

3. Choose a font (Font menu) and small type size (Type menu) andtype a few words inside the rectangle. Notice how the textautomatically wraps within the confines of the rectangular path.Click on the type tool again to indicate an end to typing and toselect both the text and the rectangle (Figure 8.3).

4. Choose Edit/Select/None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything. Click on the direct-selection tool.

5. Because you are in Artwork mode, the outline of the rectangle isvisible even though it has not been stroked. Drag a selectionmarquee around the two bottom comers to select them. Then clickon the bottom line of the rectangle, press the Shift key, and drag itup or down to resize the rectangle (Figure 8.4). Release the mousebutton.

EXERCISE B

Figure 8.2-A text object whereindividual characters and wordswere edited before the object wasreflected.

Figure 8.3-When you create rectangletype, both the type and the rectangle canbe filled and stroked.

Figure 8.4-First drag a selectionmarquee around the two bottomcorners (left) to select just those twoanchor points (right). Pressing theShift key before releasing the mousebutton constrains the path to arectangle.

EXERCISE C

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-Shift-G Type/Link Blocks

-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-J Type/

Alignment/Justify -A Edit/Select All

Area-type tool

The area-type cursordisplays a round dottedline when it is not on apath.

Tip

To select all of the textautomatically when thearea-type tool isselected, click on theselection tool. Anychanges you now makewill be applied to all thetext inside the path.

-Y View/Preview -E View/Artwork -Z Edit/Undo -E View/Artwork

Overflow indicatorappears when a path istoo small for theamount of text inside oraround it.


Fact

If one additional path isnot enough to display allthe text, a plus sign willappear on the secondrectangle. You caneither repeat theOption-drag with thegroup-selection tool orchoose Arrange/RepeatTransform until all thetext is displayed.

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6. Click on the bottom bar of the rectangle again, press the Shift key,and drag up with the direct-selection tool, making the rectangletoo small to contain the text. A box with a plus sign appears abovethe lower right point of the rectangle, indicating text overflow.

7. With only the rectangle selected-not the text-apply a stroke andfil l from the Paint Style palette. Choose View/Preview(Command-Y) and click on an empty area of the page to deselecteverything and view the effects of the fill and stroke (Figure 8.5).

8. Save this file as Rectangle Text. You'll need it for the next exercise.

LINKING TEXT BOXESWhen the overflow indicator appears on a path which has beenfilled with text, link the text boxes so that the text will flow from onetext box to another. You create new text boxes (paths) by using thegroup-selection tool and Option-dragging to copy the original textbox, which creates an automatic link. You can also create anothertext box (path) and link the two boxes manually.

1. If necessary, open the Rectangle Text file. Choose View/Artwork(Command-E).

2. Use the group-selection tool to select the rectangle with theoverflow indicator. Press the Option key and drag to the right tocreate a copy of that rectangle, which fills with the overflow text(Figure 8.6). Using the group-selection tool selects the path, notthe text.

3. Choose Edit/Undo (Command-Z) to return to the original pathdisplaying the overflow indicator. Choose View /Artwork(Command-E).

4. Click on the text tool and draw another small rectangle next to

the original rectangle. Its outline appears in Artwork mode.5. Use the selection tool to select the first rectangle. Both the path

and the text are selected, as indicated by the visible baselines. Pressthe Shift key and click on the second rectangle to Shift-select it.

6. Choose Type/Link Blocks (Command-Shift-G). The overflowtext flows from the original to the second rectangle.

7. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) and use the Paint Stylepalette to apply fill and stroke attributes to the text and to therectangular paths. Use the type tool to select the individualtext characters and change their fill and stroke attributes. Usethe selection tool to select all the text before applying globalfill and stroke attributes. Use the direct-selection tool to selectjust each path (rectangle).

THE AREA-TYPE TOOLUse the area-type tool to enter type in any closed path or along anopen path. If you use this tool on an open path, Illustrator createsan imaginary line between the endpoints of the path to define thepath for type to follow.

To edit the path, use the direct-selection tool. To edit the text,use the type tool (selected text) or the selection tool (all of the text).

1. On a clean drawing page, use the oval tool to draw a circle bypressing the Shift key while dragging.

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Use the Paint Style palette(Command-I) to assign the circle a fill and stroke of None.

3. Click on the area-type tool to select it. Click on the circular pathto begin entering type inside the path (Figure 8.7). After typing afew words, choose Type/Alignment/Justify (Command-Shift-J)to justify the type.

4. With the area-type tool still selected, choose Edit/Select All toselect all of the text. Format the text from the Font and Typemenus.

5. Save this file as Circular Path. You will use it in the next lesson.

Overflow Indicator

Figure 8.5-Apply filland stroke attributes tothe rectangle in Artworkmode; view them bydeselecting everything inPreview mode.

EXERCISE D

Figure 8.6 -Use thegroup-selection tool toOption-drag the firstbox and create a secondbox which displays theoverflow text.

EXERCISE E

Figure 8.7-Usethe area-typecursor to entertext inside aclosed path.

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-E View/Artwork -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -Shift-L Type/

Alignment/Left

Freehand tool

Path-type tool

The path-type cursordisplays a slant linewhen it is not on a path.

Fact

When you select a textobject like an open pathwith type running alongit with the selection tool,the path appears to beselected, but it is not.Only the text is selected.

Tip

You can also resize typeand/or use the Letterspacing and Wordspacing fields in theParagraph palette tocopyfit type on a path.

-O File/Open -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork -Y View/Preview -Shift-A Edit/Select

None



Tip

Don’t use the selectiontool to select a textobject unless you wantto select all of the text.You cannot use theselection tool to selectjust a path into which oron which type has beenentered.

Path-type tool

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EDITING PATH AREASIn the last exercise, once the circle was drawn and the type enteredinside the path, only the type was edited using the type tool, area-type tool, or the selection tool. To edit the path, use either thedirect-selection tool or the group-selection tool to select the path.

When working with type in or along paths, it’s a good idea to useArtwork mode, at least until you have the path selected. This allowsyou to see the path’s outline even though it has not been stroked.Once the path is selected, you can always switch to Preview mode.

1. If necessary, open (Command-O) the Circular Path file youcreated in the last exercise or create text inside a circular path.Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Click on the group-selection tool and click on the path to select it. Then chooseView/Preview (Command-Y).

3. Apply a radial fill to the background of the circle. Apply a stroketo the outside of the path.

4. Choose Edit/Select/None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything. Use the selection tool to select the text object. All ofthe text is selected.

5. Choose Type/Leading and drag to select a leading value greaterthan the type size. This will help to vertically justify the text inthe circle. Your screen should resemble Figure 8.8.

THE PATH-TYPE TOOLUse the path-type tool to place type along an open or closed path.Once you click with this tool on a path, that path becomes a textpath, allowing you to individually manipulate the text and its path.

To use this tool, first create the path. If you paint and/or strokethe path before entering the text, those paint and stroke attributes willbe reset to None once you enter the text. You can always use thedirect-selection or group-selection tool to select and edit the path later.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Artwork (Command-E).Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Use the freehand tool to draw a curvy path about six incheslong. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A).

3. Click on the triangle in the Type tool icon and drag to select thepath-type tool.

4. Choose Type/Alignment/Left (Command-Shift-L) and click at thebeginning of the path. The cursor changes from an I-beam with aslant line to a flashing cursor. Type a few words on the path.

5. Click on the selection tool to indicate that the typing hasstopped and to select all of the text.

6.Use the Font and Type menus to select a typeface and type size.

7. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A). Click on the path-typetool and double-click to select one word on the path. Use theFont and Type menus to change its typeface and type size.

8. Deselect everything. Click on the group-selection tool and clickon the path to select only the path. Apply a stroke from thePaint Style palette. Your screen should resemble Figure 8.9.

Figure 8.9-Text created with the path-type tool running along a pathcreated with the freehand tool. Once the text was created, the path wasselected with the group-selection tool and stroked.

RESIZING/RESHAPING AN OPEN PATH TEXT OBJECTOnce you have added text to an open path, you can resize it andreshape the path. Reshape the path and thereby change the shape ofthe text path by first using the direct-selection tool to select the pathand then selecting and moving anchor points and direction handles.

Resizing the text object is a little more complicated. If the path istoo long and is not stroked, it really doesn’t matter how long it is,because it won’t display or print. But if the path is to be stroked,then length is an issue.

To shorten the text path, you must add an anchor point and thendelete it and all the subsequent anchor points. To lengthen thepath, simply drag one of the endpoints out until the text fits the path.

EXERCISE F

Figure 8.8-Use either the direct-selection tool or the group-selectiontool to select only the path of a textobject (a path in which or on whichyou have entered text).

EXERCISE G

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Tip

You can always use theUndo command(Edit/Undo) and tryagain.

Selection tool

-O File/Open -E View/Artwork -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

Zoom tool


When a path is tooshort to display all of thetext, an overflowindicator (plus sign)appears at the end ofthe path.

Drag on the scissors toolto access the add-anchorpoint tool.

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1. Open the Path Type Practice-ai file in the Tutorial folder(Command-O).

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Notice that the path is tooshort to fit the text, “Lend a helping hand.” Click on the rightend-point with the zoom tool to magnify it.

3. Use the direct-selection tool to select the path. Then click on theright endpoint. Drag the endpoint to the right until the overflowindicator disappears and all the text is displayed (Figure 8.10).Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A).

4. Once all the text is displayed, use the direct-selection tool againto select the path. Click on the right endpoint again and drag itout a few inches so that it is longer than necessary (Figure 8.11).

5. To cut the excess path, drag out on the scissors tool and selectthe add-anchor point tool.

6. With the add-anchor point tool selected, click once on the path afterthe full stop in the text. An anchor point appears (Figure 8.12).

7. Use the direct-selection tool to draw a selection marquee aroundthe new anchor point and all subsequent anchor points in thepath. Or use the direct-selection tool to Shift-select each of theanchor points individually. Be sure to leave one anchor pointdeselected, because it’s the endpoint of the path, and everyopen path must have an endpoint (Figure 8.13).

8. Press the Delete key to delete the selected anchor points and thesegments they connect, thereby shortening the path.

9. Use the direct-selection tool to select anchor points and directionhandles and move them to reshape the path. Remember, usingthe direct-selection tool selects the path, not the text.

10.You can now use the type tool to select the text and apply font,size, and paint attributes to the text. You can also use theselection tool to select the entire text object so that font, style,and size changes will apply to all the text in the text object.

11.Use the direct-selection tool or the group-selection tool to selectthe path (use Artwork mode) and apply paint attributes.

12.When you have the path and text formatted, save the file asPath Practice.Finished. You will use it in the next exercise.

MOVING AND FLIPPING TYPE ON A PATHIn the last exercise you worked with type positioned on top of thepath. You can also move the type along the path and flip the typeso that it runs along the bottom of the path. Flipping is a usefulmanoeuvre when you want to create text above and below a circle.

When moving and flipping type, be careful not to drag the typeacross the path. If you find that the type is getting out of control,release the mouse button, then click with the selection tool again onthe I-beam and move the type into position on the path. All movingand flipping is done with the selection tool on the I-beam.

If you click and drag and are dissatisfied with the way the type looks,use the Edit/Undo command (Command-Z) to undo the last command.

1. If necessary, open the Path Practice.Finished file (Command-O)or create text on an open path.

2. Use the selection tool and click on the path to select it. Click onthe I-beam. Drag it to the right across the path and release themouse button (Figure 8.14).

Figure 8.10 -Use the direct-selection tool tostretch a pathobject (left) untilit can display allof the text (right).

Figure 8.11-Use the direct-selection tool to stretch thepath beyond the last textcharacter, the full stop.

Figure 8.12-Use the add-anchorpoint tool to add an anchor point tothe path you want to shorten. You canthen use the direct-selection tool todelete the new anchor point and allsubsequent anchor points to shortenthe path.

Figure 8.13-Selectal l but the lastanchor point on thepath and press theDelete key to shortenthe path.

EXERCISE I

Do not select the lastanchor point in the path;it’s the endpoint.

EXERCISE H

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Path-type tool

When using the path-type tool, make sure thedotted line on the cursorcrosses the path beforeyou click.

-O File/Open -E View/Artwork -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-C Type/

Alignment/Centre -A Edit/Select All

Selection tool

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3. Double-click with the selection tool on the I-beam. The type flipsto the bottom of the path and the overflow indicator appears.

4. Click on the I-beam and drag it to the right (or left) until the textis fully displayed.

CREATING TYPE AROUND CIRCULAR PATHSTo create type above or below a circle, you need only one circle.However, to create type both above and below the circle, you mustuse two circles as paths and then position one circle on top of theother to create the illusion of type above and below one circle.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Artwork (Command-E).Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Use the oval tool to draw an oval or circle about two incheswide. While it is selected, click on the path-type tool to select it.

3. Choose Type/Alignment/Centre (Command-Shift-C) to centrethe type along the path.

4. Click on the top anchor point and type a few words. If the Alertmessage is displayed, try again, making sure that the dotted lineon the path-type tool crosses the oval's path.

5. With the path-type tool still active and the insertion bar flashingin the text (click with the path-type tool to make it flash), chooseEdit/Select All (Command-A) to select all the text. Format itfrom the Font and Type menus.

6. Use the direct-selection or group-selection tool to select thepath-not the text.

7. Use the Paint Style palette to apply fill and stroke attributes. Tryfilling the oval with a pattern by clicking on the Pattern icon inthe Paint Style palette to display Illustrator's default patterns.

8. To move the text above the path, use the Baseline shiftcommand. First, use the magnifier to zoom in on the text.

9. Select the path-type tool, click on the text, and chooseEdit/Select All (Command-A).

10.With the text selected, press the Option and Shift keyssimultaneously, then press the up arrow key on the keyboard. Thetext moves up two points. Press Option-Shift-Up Arrow again andthe baseline of the text shifts another two points.

11.Press Option-Shift-Down Arrow to shift the text down twopoints.

12.Choose Window/Show Character to display the Character palette.Click on the lever in the lower right corner to expand the paletteand display the Baseline shift field (Figure 8.15). It reflects thechanges you made with the Command-Option-Arrow keystroke.

Figure 8.15-The Character palette controls the Baseline shift command.

13.Type positive values in the Baseline shift field to move text upfrom the path. Type negative numbers in the Baseline shift fieldto move text down from the path. Continue to adjust theBaseline shift values until you are satisfied. Your screen shouldresemble Figure 8.16.

COPYFITTING TEXTThe Fit Headline command is used to fit type across the width of atext path in a text object. The command is available only when typeis entered into a text rectangle or into a text area. You cannot usethis command for text on an open path.

IMPORTING TEXT FILESTo import a text file from another application like a word processor,create an insertion point with any of the three type tools, and usethe Import Text command. If the Import Text command isunavailable (dimmed), make sure you have clicked on a point or pathwith one of the type tools.

EXERCISE J

Figure 8.14-Use theselection toolto cl ick anddrag the typealong thepath.

Figure 8.16-The type on this circular pathhas been shifted four points above the baseline.

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-A Edit/Select All -Shift-J Type/

Alignment/Justify

Fact

You should format theheadline before applyingthe Fit Headlinecommand, because thiscommand applies aspecific tracking value tothe type, and changesyou make to the typewill affect the width ofthe headline.

The icon for Adobe'sType 1 (PostScript) font.The outline font(sometimes called theprinter font) must beinstalled in your system.

-E View/Artwork -I Object/Paint Style -Shift-L Type/

Alignment/Left -A Edit/Select All

Tip

Type can be offset fromthe graphic object byselecting the text andinputting values in theLeft and RightIndentation fields on theParagraph palette.

Another way toachieve type offset is towrap the type around apath to which you haveapplied a fill and strokeof none. The graphicobject is then positionedon top of the "dummy"path.

The area-type cursordisplays a circular dottedline when placed on apath.

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TEXT WRAPThe text wrap or text runaround function in Illustrator works in a

manner similar to the way it works in a page layout program. TheMake Wrap command allows you to wrap text around a rectangle oraround area type. When wrapping text, the object must be in frontof the type in the stacking order on the drawing page. If you findthe Make Wrap command not available (dimmed), select the objectand choose Arrange/Bring to Front.

Once text has been wrapped around an object, it can beunwrapped by selecting the entire object (text object and graphicobject) and choosing Release Wrap from the Type menu.

1. On a new drawing page, choose View/Artwork (Command-E).Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I).

2. Select the rectangle tool and click once on the page to displaythe Rectangle dialogue box.

3. Type 3 in the Width field. Press the Tab key and type 4 in theHeight field. Click on OK.

4. Use the Paint Style palette to assign it a fill of None and any stroke.

5. Choose Type/Alignment/Left (Command-Shift-L).

6. Select the area-type tool and click on the top of the rectangle.You must click on the path with this tool (Figure 8.17).

7. Choose File/Import Text. Locate the Lesson 8.Text file in theTutorial folder and click on Open. The text is displayed insidethe rectangle.

8. With the area-type tool still active, choose Edit/Select All(Command-A) to select all the text and format it in 10 point(Type/Size/10pt) Helvetica (Font/Helvetica).

9. Click with the area-type cursor just before the L in Let's. Pressthe Return key to move down one line. Then click in the emptyline above the first line of text.

10.Type MACINTOSH in capital letters. Double-click on the wordto select it. Choose Type/Fit Headline to stretch the word acrossthe width of the text block. Double-click on the headline withany type tool and press the Delete key.

11.Use the selection tool to select the rectangle (text object).

12.Choose Filter/Text/Rows & Columns to display the Rows &Columns dialogue box. Type 2 in the Columns field. Click on OK.

13.Click with any type tool just before the L in Let's again. Press theDelete key to delete the extra line at the top of the text object.

14.Choose Edit/Select All(Command-A) and change the type size to14 points. Change the alignment to justified (Command-Shift-J).

15.Use the rectangle tool to draw a small rectangle in the middle ofthe large rectangle between the two columns. Fill it with a pattern.

16.Use the selection tool to Shift-select the small rectangle and thelarger text object (rectangle). Choose Type/Make Wrap. Thetype in the larger rectangle (text object) wraps around the smallerrectangle (graphic object), which it treats as a graphic element.Your screen should resemble Figure 8.18.

CONVERTING TEXT TO PATHSOne of the most versatile functions in Illustrator is the CreateOutlines command, which transforms type into editable artwork. Forthis command to be available, however, the Type 1 or TrueTypefont outline for that typeface must be installed in your system.

Once type has been converted to an outllne, it is no longer text.Rather, it becomes an Adobe Illustrator graphic object, just as if youhad drawn it with any of the tools, and any of the commands-paint,transform, etc.- that are applied to artwork can now be applied tothe converted type.

EXERCISE K

Figure 8.17-Click with the area-type cursor on thepath, not inside the path.

Figure 8.18-Use the Make Wrapcommand to wrap text around agraphic. Drawing a rectangle (nostroke/no fill) around the graphic willset the text off from the graphicobject. Obviously, this text objectneeds letter spacing and/or wordspacing adjustments.

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-Shift-C Type/Alignment/Centre

-A Edit/Select All

Selection tool

Path-type tool

The dotted line on thepath-type tool mustcross the line of thepath.

-Y View/Preview -E View/Artwork -I Object/Paint Style -K File/Preferences/

General

Fact

Most computers haveTimes and Helveticaprinter fonts installed inthe system.

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1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Preview (Command-Y).

2. Select the type tool and click anywhere on the page. TypePLOP. Click on the selection tool to select the text.

3. Format it in a large-point typeface. Be sure to choose a typefacewith the outline font installed in your System.

4. With the type still selected by the selection tool (the baseline andalignment point are visible), choose Type/Create Outlines. Thetype appears as four selected paths.

5. Click on an empty area of the page to deselect everything.

6. Use the selection tool to select the second P. Apply a fill andstroke to just that object (it isn't a text character anymore!).

7. Click on the rotate tool and click on the upper left corner of the P.Move the cursor away from the object and drag to rotate it to theright. Press the Shift key to constrain the rotation to 45 degrees.

8. Use the selection tool to move the rotated object a little belowthe other objects. Your screen should resemble Figure 8.19.

In this exercise you will place type above one circle and below anothercircle, and then join the circles to create the illusion of a single path.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose View/Artwork (Command-E).Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I ) . ChooseFile/Preferences/General (Command-K) and select inches fromthe Ruler units pull-down men. Click on OK.

2. Click on the oval tool and click on the page to display the Ovaldialogue box. Type 2 in the Width field. Press the Tab key andtype 2 in the Height field. Click on OK to create a circle with a 2inch diameter. The circle appears selected.

3. Use the Paint Style palette to assign it a fill of None and a strokeof black.

4. Press the Option and Shift keys, click on the circle with theselection tool, and drag down to create a copy of the circle(Option) which is placed directly below the original (Shift) (Figure8.20).

5. Choose Type/Alignment/Centre (Command-Shift-C) to centrethe type along the top of one circle and along the bottom of thesecond circle.

6. Choose Font/Helvetica and Type/Size 14.

7. Use the selection tool to select the first circle. Its anchor pointsand centre point should be displayed.

8. Select the path-type tool and click on the top anchor point ofthe first circle.

9. Type TYPE ABOVE A CIRCLE.

10.Click on the lower circle with the selection tool or press theCommand key to temporarily change the path-type tool to theselection tool.

11.Use the path-type tool to click on the bottom anchor point ofthe lower circle. If you get an Alert message, make sure thedotted line on the path-type tool crosses the circle's path.

12.Type TYPE BELOW A CIRCLE. The type appears on thebottom of the circle. Double-click on the I-beam to flip it to thetop of the circle. Your screen should resemble Figure 8.21.

13.Use the type tool to select all the text on the lower circle byclicking on the text and choosing Edit/Select All (Command-A)

Figure 8.19 -The fourletters were converted tooutlines, and the last objectwas painted andtransformed.

REVIEW EXERCISE

EXERCISE L

Figure 8.20-Option-Shift-drag with the selectiontool to create a copy of the circle directly beneath it.

Figure 8.21 -The path-type toolcreates type at the insertion point.For the bottom circle, the insertionpoint was the lower anchor point.Double-cl icking on the I-beam(above) flips the type above the path.

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-Y View/Preview -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

The white arrowheadappears when thecentres of the twocircles are on top ofeach other.

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14.Choose Window/Show Character to display the Characterpalette. Click on the lever in the lower right corner of the paletteto expand it. Type -14 in the Baseline shift field and pressReturn. This negative number drops the baseline of the text 14points below the path.

15.Triple-click with the type tool on the text over the upper circle.Use the Character palette to change the Baseline shift value to6. The positive number moves the text 6 points above the path.

16.Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything.

17.Be sure you are in Artwork mode. Use the selection tool andclick on the centre point of the lower circle. Press the Shift keyand drag the lower circle by the centre point up until it matchesthe centre circle of the upper circle. The cursor will turn to awhite arrowhead when it does.

18.Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) to view the illustration.Your screen should resemble Figure 8.22.


1. The tool which sets type inside a rectangle is thea. path-type toolb. area-type toolc. type toold. b and c

2. To edit type, usea. any type toolb. only the type toolc. only the area-type toold. only the path-type tool

3. To flip type on a path, use thea. type toolb. selection toolc. direct-selection toold. rotate tool

4. To create type around a circle, use thea. path-type toolb. type toolc. area-type toold. all of the above

5. In order to wrap text around an objecta. the object must be inside a pathb. the text must be formattedc. the object must be first in the stacking orderd. you need a ribbon

6. Before type can be converted to outlinesa. the outline font must be installed in the systemb. it must be formattedc. the paint attributes must be removedd. a and c

7. When text is selected with the selection toola. the baseline is displayedb. the alignment point is displayedc. the entire text block can be formattedd. all of the above

8. Use the_____tool to edit the path of a text objecta. selectionb. typec. direct-selectiond. group-selection

9. Text objects can bea. manipulated with the transformation toolsb. editedc. paintedd. all of the above

10.The only way to shorten a text path is toa. use the scissors toolb. add an anchor point and then delete anchor pointsc. paint it whited. a and b

Figure 8.22-The lower circle is movedon top of the upper circle to display asingle circle with text running aboveand below it.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers: 1.d; 2.a; 3.b; 4.a; 5.c; 6.a; 7.d; 8.c; 9.d; 10.b.

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-I Object/Paint Style -T Type/Character -K File/Preferences/

General

Fact

A font family is thecomplete set ofcharacters in one stylefor a specific typeface.Palatino, for example, isa font family. PalatinoBold is a style ofPalatino.

Tip

To quickly select a fontname from the Fontmenu, type the firstletter of the font familyto display the fontfamily's name. Thedefault font family inIllustrator is Helvetica.Type P and Palatino willbe displayed. Type Tand Times will bedisplayed- if these fontsare installed in yoursystem.

Fact

If a line of type or asingle paragraphcontains text characterswith different leadingvalues, Illustrator takesthe highest leading valueand applies it to the lineor paragraph.

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OVERVIEW

This lesson concentrates on Illustrator's typographic and wordprocessing functions. You will learn how to set type from theCharacter, Paragraph, and Tabs palettes and how to use the manytext editing functions like the spell checker from the Text filter.

TOPICS

The Character paletteKerning and trackingBaseline shiftHorizontal scaleParagraph formattingHyphenating textHyphenation optionsWord spacing and letter spacingHanging punctuationSpace before a paragraphSetting tabsThe Text filterFinding and replacing textSpecifying rows and columnsSmart punctuationReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

BaselineFont familyKerningLeadingLetter spacingTrackingWord spacing

TUTORIAL FILES

Lesson 9.TextLesson 9.Tabs

THE CHARACTER PALETTEMany of the text attributes accessed from the menu are alsoavailable from the Character palette. Like all palettes in Illustrator,when you type a value in any field, you must press the Return orEnter key to execute the value.

The top panel of the Character palette contains fields for font,font style, font size, and leading (Figure 9.1).

Figure 9.1-The Character palette is accessed from the Type menu.

Any font installed in your system will appear in the Font menu alongthe Menu Bar at the top of the drawing page and from the Fontpull-down menu on the Character palette. The left Font fielddisplays the name of the font family, like Helvetica or Times. Thefield next to it displays the style of that font family-regular, bold,italic, etc. Use the pull-down menu on the right to select a differentfont family and font style.

The Size pull-down menu is used to choose a type size for theselected type. If the size you want is not displayed, choose Other.This highlights the Size box where you can type the size you need.Size is always measured in points, but you don't have to type theabbreviation (pt) in the Size box; Illustrator does it for you.

The Leading and Auto leading fields affect the amount of verticalspace between the lines of type. Like type size, leading is alwaysmeasured in points. A common leading value is 120 percent of thetype size. For example, if the type size is 10 points, the automaticleading value would be 12 points (10 X 120 = 12).

1. Select inches as the Ruler units (Command-K). Click once withthe rectangle tool on the drawing page to display the Rectangledialogue box. Type 2 in the Width field; press the Tab key andtype 3 in the Height field. Click on OK.

2. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to assign it a fill ofNone and a black stroke. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E).

3. Click on the area-type tool to select it and click on the top bar ofthe rectangle to display the flashing cursor. Type If you seesomeone without a smile, give him one of yours. Click on theselection tool to select the entire text block.

4. Display the Character palette (Command-T). Click on the titlebar and drag it out of your way.

UNIT

9Typography

andWord

Processing

EXERCISE A

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-T Type/Character

Type tool

Selection tool

The baseline andalignment point appearwhen type is selectedwith the selection tool.

Use the Size pull-downmenu to select a size, ortype the new size in theSize field and pressReturn or Enter.

Both the Character andParagraph palettes canbe accessed from theWindow menu.

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5. Use the Font pull-down menu to select Helvetica. Use the Sizepull-down menu to select 24.

6. Click in the Auto leading field to select it. An X indicates that itis selected. The Leading field displays 29 points.

7. Now deselect the Auto leading box and use the Leading pull-down menu to select 36. The increased leading (vertical whitespace between the lines of type) fits the type in the rectangle(Figure 9.2).

KERNING AND TRACKINGKerning is adding or deleting space between two characters. Forexample, in the word To, there might be too much space betweenthe T and the o. It's frequently necessary to kern type at sizes largerthan 14 points.

Tracking applies uniform spacing between more than twocharacters in selected text. Tracking is used to adjust the spacingbetween all the characters in a word or between all the charactersand the space between them in an entire text object.

When you use a positive number to kern or track, you addspace; using a negative number removes space. Kerning andtracking values are measured in very tiny units-1/1000 of an em space.An em space is the width of the letter M in the current font. The emdash after the word units in this paragraph is the width of the letterM in the Souvenir typeface used for this text. If tracking and kerningunits are 1/1000 of an em space, then applying a kerning value of 100adds 1 point of space between two characters in 10pt type.

Kerning and tracking values are applied from the lower panel ofthe Character palette. Click on the lever in the lower right corner ofthe upper panel to display the lower panel (Figure 9.3).

1. Use the magnifier tool to draw a marquee around the word youin the first line of the text object you created in the last exercise.

2. Click on the type tool to select it and click between the o and theu in the word you in the first line.

3. Display the Character palette (Command-T) and click on thelever in the lower right corner to expand the palette.

4. Type -80 in the Kerning field to remove space from between thetwo letters on either side of the flashing cursor. Notice how theymove closer together.

5. Drag to select the fifth line, "him one of." Because you haveselected more than two characters, the Kerning field changes tothe Tracking field in the Character palette. Type 130 in theTracking field to add space uniformly between all the charactersand words in the selected text. Your screen should resembleFigure 9.4.

If you see someone without a smile, give him one of yours.

BASELINE SHIFTWhen you first create type and click on the selection tool, thebaseline appears under the type. Using the Baseline Shift command,you can raise or lower the type above or below this imaginarybaseline to create superscripts or subscripts, or move type around apath for infinite graphic effects.

When inputting values in the Baseline shift dialogue box, apositive number raises the selected type above the baseline; anegative number moves the type below the baseline. To restore thetype to its default baseline, type 0 in the Baseline shift field.

Figure 9.2-A Leading value of 36 points addsenough space between the lines of type to fit it inthe rectangle.

Figure 9.3-Click on thelever to displaythe lower panelof the Characterpalette.

EXERCISE B

Figure 9.4-Notice the difference in thekerned letters o and u in the first line and inthe unkerned o and u in without in the thirdline. Adding space between the charactersand words in the fifth line spread the line outto the margin.

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-T Type/Character

Oops!

When you first entertext in a file where youhave made changes inthe Character palette,the new text reflectsthose changes. Ifnecessary, type 0 [zero]in the Baseline shift fieldto restore the type to itsoriginal baseline or clickon the field name tohighlight the field.

Type tool

-Y View/Preview -T Type/Character -Shift-C Type/

Alignment/Centre

Path-type tool

Selection tool

Tip

Click three times withany type tool to selectan entire text object.

Another tip

As soon as you finishtyping the text, clickonce on the type toolyou used to create thetext and the entire textobject becomes selected.

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1. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y). Use the oval tool andOption-drag to draw three circles. Use the Paint Style palette(Command-I) to apply a fill of None and a black stroke. Leavethe last circle selected.

2. Select the path-type tool and choose Type/Alignment/Centre(Command-Shift-C).

3. Click on the top of the circle and type a few words. Use the Fontand Type menus to format the selected type with a font and typesize. This is the original circle without any Baseline shiftcommands applied.

4. Use the selection tool to select the second circle. Select the path-type tool, click on the top anchor point, and type the samewords. Drag to select the words. Choose Type/Character(Command-T) to display the Character palette. Click on the leverto expand the palette.

5. With the type still selected, type 10 in the Baseline shift field.Press Return or Enter. The type moves up 10 points above thebaseline because you typed a positive number in the Baselineshift field.

6. Use the selection tool to select the third circle. Then use thepath type tool to click on the bottom anchor point and type thesame words again. Select them with any of the type tools. Usethe Character palette to select a typeface and apply a type sizeto the selected type.

7. Type -20 in the Baseline shift field. Press Return or Enter. Thetype moves 20 points below the baseline because you typed anegative number. Your screen should resemble Figure 9.5.

Figure 9.5-The third circle displays the type as it was entered on the path.The centre circle displays a Baseline shift value of 10 points. The circle onthe left displays a Baseline shift value of -20 points, which causes the type todrop below the baseline.

HORIZONTAL SCALEWhen you apply kerning, tracking, or baseline shift values to type,you only affect the space between characters and words and thespace between type and the baseline. Changing the horizontal scaleof type, however, changes the actual letterforms themselves bychanging the specified proportion between the height and width ofcharacters-not the height of the character.

When you first type a character, its horizontal scale value is100%, that is, it is horizontally and vertically proportioned the waythe fontographer designed it. Typing a number greater than 100%in the Horizontal scale field on the Character palette expands theselected text; typing a value less than 100% compresses the text. Torestore selected type to its original shape, type 0 [zero] in theHorizontal scale field.

1. Use the type tool to type a short word, then click on theselection tool to select the type and display its baseline.

2. Click on the baseline or on the alignment point and drag thetype down, pressing the Option key before releasing the mousebutton to create a duplicate of the type.

3. Choose Arrange/Repeat Transform (Command-D to create asecond copy of the original type. You now have three lines oftype on the screen.

4. Choose Type/Character (Command-T) to display the Characterpalette. Click on the lever to expand it.

5. Use the type tool to select one character in the second line oftype. Type 200 in the Horizontal scale field of the Characterpalette. Press Return or Enter to expand the type to twice itsnormal width.

6. Use the type tool to select any one character in the third line oftype. Type 75 in the Horizontal scale field. Press Return orEnter to compress the character to half its original width. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 9.6.

EXERCISE C

EXERCISE D

Figure 9.6-The top line of type isthe original type (100% horizontalscale). The second Win the secondline has been scaled to 200% ortwice its original width. The 0 in thethird l ine of type has beencompressed to 75% of its originalwidth.

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General

Back to square zero

Click on any field in theParagraph palette toreset its value to 0; or,in the case of letter andword spacing values, totheir default values.

Fact

You can manuallyhyphenate a word byentering a discretionaryhyphen. Press theControl- - keys (Control+ minus sign) andIllustrator will overridethe hyphenation settingsand break the word atthat point. But becareful! Discretionaryhyphens always print, soif you change the typeflow, you may have tomanually delete thediscretionary hyphens.

-Q File/Quit -K File/Preferences/

General -T Type/Character -Shift-P Type/

Paragraph -Shift-A Edit/Select

None

Locate the AdobeIllustrator preferencesfile in the Preferencesfolder in the Systemfolder.

Area-type tool

Justify Last Line icon

Fact

Avoid using the JustifyLast Line option,because this tracks thelast line of text to makeit fit between the leftand right margins. It isfrequently an uglyf o r m a t - l i k ethis.

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PARAGRAPH FORMATTINGThe upper panel of the Paragraph palette (Figure 9.7) allows you toapply alignment, indentation, leading, hanging punctuation, andhyphenation values to an entire paragraph. Because all thesecommands are paragraph-specific, you don't have to select the entireparagraph to apply them; just click anywhere in the paragraph to selectthe entire paragraph.

1. To restore Illustrator's default values, quit the program (File/Quit)and trash the Adobe Illustrator preferences file located in theSystem folder. Then launch Illustrator again. Select inches as theRuler units (Command-K).

2. Click on the rectangle tool and click once on the drawing page todisplay the Rectangle dialogue box. Type 3 in the Width field. Pressthe Tab key and type 4 in the Height field. Click on OK.

3. Select the area-type tool and type the following sentence (noquotes): "During a boring meeting, Charles Dickens once suggestedthat everyone around the table join hands and try to commune withthe living." Click on the selection tool to select the entire text block.

4. Display the Character palette (Command-T) and notice that the textappears in the default 12 point Helvetica.

5. Display the Paragraph palette (Command-Shift-P). With the textblock selected, click on each of the Alignment icons at the top ofthe palette. Notice how the entire paragraph changes from left, tocentre, to right, to justified, to last line justified alignment. Click onthe left aligned icon (first icon) to align the paragraph from the leftmargin.

6. Choose Edit/Select None (Command-Shift-A) to deselecteverything. Use the type tool or the area-type tool to clickanywhere in the paragraph. Type 12 in the Left field underIndentation and press Return or Enter to place 12 points of spacebetween the left side of the rectangle and the left margin of thetext.

7. Press the Tab key and type 12 in the Right field and press Returnor Enter to indent the text 12 points (one pica) from the right sideof the rectangle.

8. Now type 0 [zero] in both the Right and Left Indentation fields torestore the text block to its original values.

9. Type 6 in the First line Indentation field and press Return or Enterto indent only the first line, not the entire paragraph, 6 points.

HYPHENATING TEXTUnless you select the Auto hyphenate check box in the Paragraphpalette, Illustrator will not hyphenate the text, and text will drop tothe next line in the text block. If you do select Auto hyphenate byclicking in the Auto hyphenate check box until an X appears,Illustrator will hyphenate any text that would extend beyond theright edge of the text block (Figure 9.8).

Figure 9.8-The first paragraph is formatted without Auto hyphenation,causing Dickens to move to the second line. The second paragraph isformatted with Auto hyphenation checked, which caused Dickens to behyphenated.

HYPHENATION OPTIONSUnless you specify controls for Auto hyphenation Illustrator willAutohyphenate words whenever it can and wherever it can. Sincethis is frequently unacceptable (editors don't like to see more thantwo hyphens in a row, and, they want at least two, if not threecharacters before and after a hyphen), use the lower panel of theParagraph palette to select hyphenation options.

Click on the lever in the upper panel of the Paragraph palette todisplay the Hyphenation field. Hyphenation options default to twoletters at the beginning of a word before a hyphen will be insertedand to two letters at the end of a word after the hyphen. Forexample, with these values, Illustrator would hyphenate ab-solutebecause there are at least two characters before and after thehyphen. It would not, however, hyphenate apex because only onecharacter, the a, would appear before the hyphen.

1. Select inches as the Ruler units (Command-K). Click with therectangle tool on the drawing page to display the Rectangledialogue box. Type 2 in the Width field; press the Tab key andtype 4 in the Height field. Click on OK.

EXERCISE E

Figure 9.7-The upper panel of theParagraph palette can be expandedby clicking on the lever in the lowerright corner.

EXERCISE F

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-E View/Artwork -Shift-0 Type/

Spacing/Other

Fact

Spacing options are alsoavailable from the Typemenu. ChoosingType/Spacing displaysthe lowest panel of theParagraph palette.

More info

Selecting a paragraph ofunjustified type makesonly the Desired fieldavailable.

Selection tool

Space cadet

The Desired valuedetermines how tight orloose the paragraphshould be. Increasing ordecreasing a 100%Desired value adds orremoves space betweenletters and/or words. ADesired letter spacingvalue of 20% inserts20% of the width of aspace created bypressing the Spacebarbetween each pair ofletters in the paragraph.A negative value reducesthe space betweencharacters and movesthem closer together.

-Shift-P Type/Paragraph

Area-type tool

Tip

It's easier to work withtype if you magnify thetext object.

Justify icon

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2. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to select a fill of Noneand a black stroke.

3. Click on the area-type tool to select it and click on the upper lineof the rectangle. The flashing insertion point appears.

4. Choose File/Import Text. Highlight the Lesson 9.Text file on theTutorial disk and click on Import. The text appears in the rectangle.Click on the selection tool to select the entire text object.

5. Choose Type/Paragraph (Command-Shift-P) to display theParagraph palette. Click on the lever in the lower right corner toexpand it so that the Hyphenation options are visible.

6. With the text still selected (the baselines are visible), click on thejustify icon in the Paragraph palette to justify the text.

7. Click on the Auto hyphenation check box. Make sure that in theHyphenation field, the number 2 appears in the letters after... andletters before... check boxes. Press Return or Enter.

8. Notice how the paragraph is hyphenated (Figure 9.9).

9. Now change both values in the Hyphenation field from 2 to 3. Clickin the Limit check box to select it and change the value to 2(consecutive hyphenated lines). Press Return or Enter (Figure 9.10).

10.Because the number of letters at the beginning and end of aword was specified at 3, several words jumped to the next line.

11.Choose File/Preferences/Hyphenation options to display theHyphenation Options dialogue box. The flashing cursor appearsin the entry field. Type a word and click on the Add button.Click on Done. Because the word was added to theHyphenation dictionary without any hyphens, Illustrator willnever hyphenate it. If you add words with hyphens, thenIllustrator will override the resident Hyphenation dictionary andhyphenate the word where you specified.

12.Save this file as Hyphens.ai. You will use it in the next exercise.

WORD SPACING AND LETTER SPACINGYou probably noticed that the spacing between the words (wordspacing) and the spacing between the individual characters (letterspacing) in the paragraph for Exercise F need some attention. Thespacing options in the lowest panel of the Paragraph palette allowyou to add and delete space between words, between the spacebetween words, and between characters. These spacing options aremost helpful when working with justified type.

The word spacing and letter spacing values are measured aspercentages of the width of the current type size. Each option allowsfor minimum, desired, and maximum spacing.

1. If necessary, open the Hyphens.ai file and choose View/Artwork(Command-E). Use the selection tool to select the text block.Make sure it is 12-point Helvetica. Choose Type/Spacing(Command-Shift-0) to display the lowest panel of the Paragraphpalette. Change the number of hyphens to 2 letters after thebeginning of a word and 2 letters before the end of a word.

2. To tighten the space between words, type the values under theWord spacing option in Figure 9.11. To tighten the spacebetween the individual letters in a word, type the values in theLetter spacing fields in Figure 9.11. Experiment with thesevalues to change the word and letter spacing options.

Figure 9.9-The last line hyphenates becausethe value in the first Hyphenation field allowsat least two characters before the hyphen.

Figure 9.10-Changing the values in theHyphenation field forced instead to jump tothe next line, because it needs at least threecharacters before the hyphen.

EXERCISE G

Figure 9.11-Decrease theword spacing values (they don'thave to be the same) to tightenthe space between words.Increase the Maximum Letterspacing value to decreasespace between characters.

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-Control-I Window/Show Info

-T Type/Character -A Edit/Select All -Shift-T Window/

Show Tab Ruler

Type tool

This tab symbol doesnot appear when youpress the Tab key inIllustrator, as it does inword processing andpage layout programs.

-Shift-P Type/Paragraph

-E View/Artwork

Type tool

Type a value in theLeading before field toadd space before aparagraph. Click toselect the Hangpunctuation option.

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HANGING PUNCTUATIONOrdinarily, the first and last punctuation marks in a paragraph, likequotation marks and periods, appear at the edge of the text block.Using the Hang punctuation option in the Paragraph palette willcause them to hang outside the edge of the text block. The edge ofthe text block is defined by the left margin of the text, not by anystroke applied to the block itself.

SPACE BEFORE A PARAGRAPHWhen adding extra space between paragraphs, it's always better toavoid using a paragraph return, because paragraph returns carry textinformation that can frequently be applied to subsequent paragraphs.To avoid this problem, select the Leading before command in theParagraph palette to apply space between the selected paragraphand the paragraph above it.

1. Use the type tool to draw a text block about 2 inches wide and 3inches high. Display the Paragraph palette (Command-Shift-P).

2. When the flashing cursor appears, type (include the quotes) "Thisis an example of hanging punctuation." Press the Return key tobegin new paragraph.

3. Type This paragraph has space before it.

4. Click with the type tool anywhere in the first paragraph and clickon the Hang Punctuation check box to select it (an X appears inthe box).

5. Click anywhere in the second paragraph and type 8 in theLeading before ¶ field on the Paragraph palette. Press Return orEnter to add points of space above the second paragraph. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 9.12.

SETTING TABSThe Tab Ruler palette allows you to set left, right, centre, and decimaltabs. A visual guide appears in the selected text, so you can tell wherethe text is flowing even if the text path is rotated or wrapped aroundanother object. Tab positions are measured using the selected RulerUnits measurement in the General Preferences dialogue box.

Should you find text disappearing when you press the Tab key,because the text block is too small, deselect everything and select the

text block with the direct-selection tool. Then use that tool to Shift-select the two bottom anchor points and drag the bottom line downto enlarge the rectangle. Press the Shift key before releasing themouse button to keep the sides straight.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose Window/Show Info(Command-Control-I) to display the Info palette.

2. Click on the type tool and drag to draw a rectangle about 7inches wide and 4 inches high. Use the Info palette to keep trackof the size of the text object you're drawing. When you releasethe mouse button, the flashing cursor appears.

3. Choose File/Import Text. Go to the Tutorial folder and locate theLesson 9.Tabs file. Click on Open. When the text appears, clickon the selection tool to select it (its baselines appear).

4. Display the Character palette (Command-T) and change theselected type to 24-point Helvetica. Assign a Leading value of 36points in the Leading field. Press Return or Enter.

5. Use the zoom tool to magnify the text area so you can see thespaces between the words. Press the Tab key where indicated bythe tab symbols in Figure 9.13. Depending on the size of the textblock, text will move down and possibly out of sight. If theoverflow indicator appears (plus sign in a box), use the direct-selection tool to select the bottom anchor points and drag themdown to enlarge the text block.

6. Use the type tool and drag to select the entire text block orchoose Edit/Select All (Command-A).

7. Choose Window/Show Tab Ruler (Command-Shift-T) to displaythe Tabs palette (Figure 9.14). If necessary, click on theAlignment box in the upper right corner to align the Tab Rulerwith the left margin.

Tab style buttons Alignment box

Figure 9.14-The Tabs palette.

EXERCISE H

Figure 9.12 -The openingquotation marks in the f irstparagraph hang to the left of thetext block, and eight points ofspace have been added above thesecond paragraph. You can use theSmart Punctuation filter to changethe inch marks to curly quotes.

EXERCISE I

Figure 9.13 -Press the Tab keybetween theseitems beforespecifying the tabpositions fromthe Tabs palette.

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-A Edit/Select All

Select an option tochange the case ofselected text. Selectingthe Mixed Case optionwill set every selectedword with a capital letter.

Use the Export File pull-down menu to select aformat for the exportedfile.

Left-justified, centre-justified, right-justified,and Decimal-justified tabicons appear on theTabs ruler.

Fact

To remove a tabmarker, click on it anddrag it up and off thetop of the ruler or to theleft and off the ruler.

Text Filter options

Type tool

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8. If necessary, click on the Extend Tab Ruler button in the lowerright corner of the palette to extend the ruler.

9. Click in the Snap check box above the ruler to snap the tabs tothe ruler units as you drag them.

10.Since you have already placed the tab markers, all you have to donow is position them. With the entire text block selected and theTabs palette displayed, click on the Left tab icon (the first icon) andclick at the 2 inch mark on the Tabs Ruler. Then click on the 6inch marker on the ruler. As you move a tab marker along theruler, its position is displayed to the right of the Snap box. Clickon the Decimal tab icon and your screen should resemble Figure9.15.

THE TEXT FILTERThe Text filter under the Filter menu allows you to change the case ofselected characters, check the spelling of all the words in a document,export text in a variety of Macintosh and DOS formats, find andreplace fonts in a document, find and replace text in a document, setrows and columns, and specify typographic punctuation.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the type tool to type your name. Besure to capitalise the first letters in each name. Click on theselection tool to select the text block.

2. Choose Font/Helvetica and Type/Size 14.

3. Use the type tool to select the first letter in your first name.

4. Choose Filter/Text/Change Case to display the Change Casedialogue box. Click the Lower case radio button and click on OK.The letter is now a lower-case character.

5. Use the type tool and click after your name to continue typing inthat text block. Leave a space and type (no quotes) "is wonderfull."Be sure to misspell wonderfull as wonderfull.

6. Choose Filter/Text/Check Spelling to display the Check Spellingdialogue box (Figure 9.16).

7. Click on Change to change wonderfull to wonderful (the firstchoice) and click on Done to close the dialogue box and apply thechanges.

8. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select the entire text block.Choose Filter/Text/Export to display the Export dialogue box.

9. Use the Export pull-down menu to select a format for the file. Clickto get to the Desktop and click on the Export button. The selectedtext now appears in the specified file format on the Desktop.

10.Deselect everything. Choose Filter/Text/Find Font to display theFind Font dialogue box (Figure 9.17).

EXERCISE J

Figure 9.15 -Type moves tothe posit ionsestabl ished bythe tab markers.Because the thirdcolumn was setunder a decimaltab, the typealigns under thedecimal point.

Figure 9.16-If Illustrator finds misspelledwords, it displays them in the MisspelledWords window and l ists the number ofmisspelled words in the document. Select ordeselect the Case Sensitive option to specifywhat Illustrator should consider a misspelledword. If you want to add the word to thedictionary, click on Learn. You can alwaysdelete it by clicking on Edit List. A list ofsuggested words appears in the SuggestedCorrections window and the first one appearshighlighted below the window. Click onChange or Change All to accept the changeor on either of the Skip options to move onto the next word. Click Done when you havefinished to apply the changes to thedocument.

Figure 9.17-The top scroll boxdisplays all the fonts in the currentdocument; the lower scroll box lists allthe fonts installed in the system. Thecheck boxes list the kinds of fontswhich can be available in any givendocument. Use the buttons on thebottom to change a font, find the nextfont, skip changing a font, and so on.

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General

Fact

To display the Rows &Columns dialogue box,the text block must firstbe selected with theselection tool.

Selection tool

Type tool

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11.Click the check boxes of the kinds of fonts currently present inyour system and that might appear in the document. In mostcases, clicking Standard and Type 1 Fonts will be enough.

12.Click the Document List button to limit the display to the fontsyou have used in the document. Click the Document List buttonto list all the fonts currently installed in your system.

13.Click on a font name in the upper window. In this example, onlyHelvetica is used in the document. Illustrator locates the nextinstance of text formatted in that font in the document. ClickFind Next to find the next instance of the font, or click the Skipbutton to go to the next instance of the font. To change all thetext in that font, click on one of the available fonts in theReplace Fonts window and click the Change All button. Toreplace the font of the selected text, highlight the replacementfont in the lower scroll box and click Change.

14.To save a list of all the fonts used in the document, click theSave button. You will then be prompted to type a file name forthe font list and a location for that file.

15.When you have finished finding and replacing fonts, click theDone button to exit the dialogue box and return to the document.

FINDING AND REPLACING TEXTYou can use the Find function the Text filter to find and replace textanywhere in the document. The replaced text will contain all theformatting commands of the original text.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the type tool to type Let us nowpraise famous men.

2. Choose Filter/Text/Find to display the Text Find dialogue box(Figure 9.18).

Figure 9.18-The Text Find dialogue box.

3. Type men in the Find what box. Press the tab key and typewomen in the Replace with box.

4. Click on the Whole Word check box so that Illustrator will findonly the word men and not words like mention or mentor.

5. If you check Case Sensitive, it will match the case of the text inthe Find what box. Selecting Search Backward will search thedocument from the location of the text cursor.

6. Select the Wrap Around check box so that Illustrator will checknot only from the cursor to the end of the document, but willalso check from the beginning of the document to the positionof the cursor.

7. Click on the Find Next button.

8. When Illustrator locates the first instance of men, the middlethree buttons in the dialogue box become available, and youhave several options: Click Replace, then Find to replace theselected instance of men and locate the next instance; or clickthe Replace button just to replace the word and do nothing else;or click Replace All to replace every instance of the word.

9. Click on Replace, then Find. Illustrator replaces the one instance ofmen with women and beeps to indicate that the search is complete.

10.Click on Done to return to the document.

SPECIFYING ROWS AND COLUMNSThe Text filter contains a command which changes single-column textblocks and rectangles into blocks of rows and columns. Use thevarious fields in the Rows & Columns dialogue box (Figure 9.19) tochange the flow of text within the rows and columns as well as toadjust the height, width, and gutter space between rows and columns.

1. On a clean drawing page, with inches as the Ruler units(Command-K), select the rectangle tool and click once on thepage to display the Rectangle dialogue box.

2. Type 4 in the Width field; press the Tab key and type 6 in theHeight field. Click on OK.

3. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to apply a fill of Noneand a stroke of black.

4. Select the area-type tool and click on the upper line of therectangle. Choose File/Import Text and go to the Tutorialfolder. Locate the Lesson 9.Text file and click on Import.

5. Use the selection tool to select the text block.

6. Choose Filter/Text/Rows & Columns to display the Rows &Columns dialogue box. Make sure the Preview check box isselected so you can see the changes applied without exiting thedialogue box (Figure 9.19).

EXERCISE K EXERCISE L

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-N File/New

Type tool

Fact

To replace punctuationmarks in selected text,first select the text withthe type tool beforedisplaying the SmartPunctuation dialoguebox.

A report on the changesmade to the selectedtext appears if youselect the Report Resultsoption. The "6 quoteschanged" report includesthe two apostrophes.

Click on the left arrowto decrease the fieldvalue by 1; click on theright arrow to increasethe value.

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7. Type 2 in the Columns field or click once on the right arrownext to the Columns field. The text block splits in half with0.167 inches between the columns. The total width of bothcolumns and the gutter space is still 4 inches.

8. Type 4 in the Rows field or click three times on the right arrownext to the Rows field to divide the text block into four equalrows (Figure 9.20). Click on OK.

9. To change the direction of the text flow from left to right to upand down, make sure the text block is still selected. Then chooseFilter/Text/Rows & Columns again. Click on the lower right boxin the Text Flow field. The type flows from the first row in thefirst column to the second row in the first column (Figure 9.21).Click on OK.

10.With the text box still selected, choose Filter/Text/Rows &Columns again. Use the control arrows to change the dimensionsof the rows and columns. Click on the Add Guides check box todisplay the guides between the rows and columns. Click on OK.

SMART PUNCTUATIONThe Smart Punctuation filter allows you to create type that istypographically correct. You can also use this filter to search forkeyboard text symbols and replace them with publishing textsymbols.

1. Choose File/ New (Command-N). Use the type tool to type(including the quotes), "Don't flip--listen,' I said. "It's... well,something like that." Be sure to type three periods after the wordIt's and two hyphens (dashes) after flip.

2. Use the type tool to select the entire text block.

3. Choose Filter/Text/Smart Punctuation to display the SmartPunctuation dialogue box (Figure 9.22).

4. Click to select the options selected in Figure 9.22. Click theEntire Document button in the Replace In field to replacepunctuation marks in the entire document. Click to select theReport Results option. Click on OK.

5. Illustrator will do the following: change the fl in flip to a ligature,a single text character that combines the f and 1; change the inchmarks into printer's curly quotation marks; change the twohyphens into an em dash and change the three periods after flipinto a true ellipse (Figure 9.23). If you have the expert fractionfont installed in your system, check Expert Fractions andIllustrator will adjust the size and kerning of any fractions in yourtext to create typographic fractions.

Figure 9.19-TheRows & Columnsdialogue box.

Figure 9.20-A single text block divided intofour rows and two columns.

Click on the arrows or type the number inthe Columns field to increase or decrease thenumber of columns in the text block.

Click on this box to change the textflow from vertical to horizontal.

Figure 9.21-Click on the appropriate box inthe Text Flow field to change the direction ofthe text flow.

EXERCISE M

Figure 9.22-The SmartPunctuation dialogue boxallows you to make texttypographically correct.

Figure 9.23-The report (side-bar)l ists the changes made to thepunctuation in the original file (top).The same file (bottom) displays thetypographically correct punctuation.

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-T Type/Character -Shift-P Type/

Paragraph

Type tool


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In this exercise you will create a text block and apply values from theCharacter palette, Paragraph palette, and Text filter.

1. Use the type tool and drag to create a rectangular text block.Type a few paragraphs in the block, pressing the Return keybetween each paragraph. If necessary, use the direct-selectiontool to enlarge the text block.

2. Use the type tool to select a few lines in the first paragraph.Choose Type/Character (Command-T) to display the Characterpalette. Use the Character palette to change the typeface, typesize, and leading in the paragraph.

3. Click between two characters and apply kerning values (positiveand negative) to a few pairs of letters. Triple-click to select a lineand apply a positive tracking value to increase the spacebetween all of the selected characters and words.

4. Select a few characters and type positive and negative numbersto move them above and below the baseline.

5. Select the first character in a paragraph and apply a Horizontalscale value of 200% to create an initial cap.

6. Choose Type/Paragraph (Command-Shift-P) and change theindents, alignment, and hyphenation options. Use the Wordspacing and Letter spacing options to change those values.

7. Type some columnar material and set left, centre, decimal, andright tabs to create columns.

8. Use the options in the Text filter to check the spelling in thedocument, find and replace text, and change the case of selectedcharacters.

9. Figure 9.24 displays some of these type options. The type wasset in Times Roman, 24/50 (24-point type on 35 points ofleading). The initial character and the open and close quotemarks were enlarged to 36 points and set in Times Bold Italic;their Horizontal scale value was enlarged to 200%. Thequotation marks were positioned using the Baseline shiftcommand. Mae West was set in 14-point Times Italic, rightaligned and moved up using the Baseline shift command. TheHang punctuation option was selected and kerning was appliedto make the type visually correct.


1. Type options can be accessed froma. the Menu Bar c. the Character palette b. the keyboard d. a and c

2. Adding space between more than two selected characters is calleda. kerning c. tracking b. leading d. scaling

3. Adjusting the height-to-width proportion of characters affects the____ of characters.a. baseline shift c. leading b. horizontal scale d. a and c

4. To restore Adobe Illustrator to its default valuesa. relaunch the program c. trash the Preferences fileb. use the Revert command d. buy a new program

5. Hyphenation values are entereda. from the keyboard c. from the Format menub. in the Character palette d. in the Paragraph palette

6. Word spacing and letter spacing applies primarily toa. justified text c. large type b. paragraph-based text d. tracking and kerning

7. Before setting a tab marker,a. select the lines of text to be tabbedb. display the Tabs palettec. click on the appropriate Tab icond. all of the above

8. Punctuation that extends beyond the left margin of the text block isa. created with the Baseline shift commandb. typographically incorrectc. specified in the Paragraph paletted. b and c

9. Rows and columns are set up via thea. Text filter c. Character palette b. Paragraph palette d. Tabs palette

10.To find and replace text and fonts in a documenta. use the Character palette c. use the Text filterb. use the Format menu d. hunt and peck

REVIEW EXERCISE

Figure 9.24-Many of thecommands on the Characterand Paragraph palette wereapplied to this text block.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers; 1. d; 2. a; 3. b; 4. c. 5. d; 6. a; 7. d; 8. c; 9. a; 10. c.

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-N File/New -Control-L Window/

Show Layers

Tip

The three icons on theLayers palette (one eye,two pencils) can getconfusing unless youremember that the Eyeicon refers to what isvisible on the layer, andthe Pencil icons refer towhat can be edited onthat layer.

Rectangle tool

Oval tool

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OVERVIEW

How objects are arranged in stacks and layers is covered in thislesson. You will learn how to create and edit layers on whichartwork is placed, create masks to protect work from editing, andcreate compound paths to achieve graphic effects.

TOPICS

Stacking orderLayersThe Layers paletteCreating new layersNew layer optionsMoving objects from layer to layerLayer options from the layers paletteLayers and groupsMasking objectsEditing masksModifying masksMoving masked objectsReleasing masksCreating compound pathsSelecting and releasing compound pathsReversing the fill in a compound pathReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Compound pathLayerMask (masking object)Masked objectStacking order

TUTORIAL FILES

Desert Scene.aiLayers.aiMasked Stars-aiA la Matisse.ai

STACKING ORDEREach overlapping object created in a document is stacked in front ofthe one previously created. For example, if you draw a circle, then arectangle over that circle, and then a star on top of the rectangle,the circle is the backmost object in the stacking order and the star isthe first object. This arrangement of objects is called the stackingorder or painting order.

Objects can be arranged in a file in two ways: they can bestacked on a single layer (like the circle, rectangle, and star in theexample above), or they can be placed individually or stacked ondifferent layers in the same document.

LAYERSA layer is a specific level on which artwork is placed and edited. Alayer can be hidden so that the artwork on that level cannot beviewed or edited. A layer can be locked so that the artwork on thatlayer can be viewed but not edited. Artwork on any layer can beprinted or not printed with the rest of the document.

When you first launch Adobe Illustrator, the drawing page appearsand Layer 1 is automatically created. To access the layers, use theLayers palette from the Window menu (Command-Control-L).

THE LAYERS PALETTEUse the Layers palette (Figure 10.1) to create, hide, lock, and deletelayers. Each layer has its own menu, which allows you to specify theprinting and display options for that layer.

When you display the Layers palette for a new document, two iconsappear to the left of the Layer 1 name: an Eye icon and a Pencilicon. The black dot under the Eye icon tells you that the artwork onthat layer is visible (or will be when you draw it). The black dot underthe Pencil icon tells you some or all of the artwork on that layer isunlocked and can be edited.

1. Create a new document (File/New) and choose Window/ShowLayers (Command-Control-L) to display the Layers palette. Itappears displaying Layer 1 as visible (black dot under the Eyeicon) and editable (black dot under the Pencil icon).

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle. Then use the ovaltool to draw an oval.

UNIT

10Layers,

Masks, andCompound

Paths

Figure 10.1 -The Layers palette as itappears in a new document displaysonly Layer 1, which is both visible andavailable for editing.

EXERCISE A

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-X Edit/Cut -B Edit/Paste in Back -F Edit/Paste in Front

Selection tool

Layer those stacks!

Stacking and layeringare two different ways ofarranging objects. Youcan have several stackedobjects on one layer orthink of it as anindividual layer havingone or more stacks ofobjects.

Click on this triangleand the pull-out menuwill display some of theoptions for the Layerspalette.


Fact

Icons and dots on theleft side of the Layerspalette displayinformation related tothe entire layer. ThePencil icon and squareson the right side of theLayers palette displayinformation aboutselected objects on thatlayer.

When any object on alayer is locked, thesquare on the right sideof the Layers palettenext to the Pencil icondisappears.

Selection tool

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3. With the oval still selected, notice that a black square appearsnext to the pencil on the right side of the Layers palette (Figure10.2). This tells you that the selected object can be edited.Deselect the oval (Command-Shift-A) and the square disappears.

4. Use the selection tool to select the rectangle. ChooseArrange/Lock (Command-I). Notice that the black square next tothe pencil (editing icon) disappears, indicating that there is alocked (uneditable) object on that layer. The black dot under thePencil icon on the left side of the palette remains, because thereis at least one unlocked, and therefore editable, object on thatlayer (the oval).

5. Continue to select and deselect, lock and unlock single andmultiple objects on Layer 1, while watching the three icons onthe Layers palette, until you are familiar with what the dots andsquares mean.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the rectangle tool to draw arectangle, the pen tool to draw a slightly smaller triangle, andthe oval tool to draw a circle slightly smaller than the triangle.Use the Paint Style palette to fil l and stroke them withcontrasting colours (Figure 10.3).

2. Use the selection tool to drag the triangle on top of the rectangleso that half of the triangle extends beyond the right edge of therectangle. Drag the oval over the triangle so that it extendsbeyond the edge of the triangle (Figure 10.3).

3. Use the selection tool to select the triangle. Choose Edit/Cut(Command-X) to remove the triangle and place it on the Clipboard.

4. Select the rectangle and choose Edit/Paste in Back (Command-B) to place the cut triangle behind the selected rectangle. If youhad chosen Edit/Paste, the triangle would have been pasted inthe centre of the drawing page. By pasting the triangle behindthe rectangle, the triangle becomes the backmost object in thestacking order.

5. With the triangle selected, choose Edit/Paste in Front (Command-F). Thetriangle is pasted in front of the oval, making it the frontmost object in thestacking order. The Layers palette displays circles and a square under theEye and Pencil icons, indicating that all the objects on Layer 1 are currentlyvisible and unlocked (Figure 10.4). Save this file as Layers.ai. You will needit for the next exercise.

CREATING NEW LAYERSEvery new Illustrator document is created with one layer, Layer 1.To add new layers to the document, use the pull-out menu on theLayers palette and drag to select New Layer (Figure 10.5). Onceyou select New Layer, that layer is created, is named Layer 2, andthe New Layer dialogue box is displayed.

NEW LAYER OPTIONSOnce you select New Layer from the Layers palette, the New Layerdialogue box is displayed. It is here that you name the layer andspecify display and printing options for only that layer or level ofartwork.

Whenever you create a new layer by clicking on OK in the NewLayer dialogue box, that new layer becomes the active layer in thedocument and, until you specify otherwise, any objects you createwill be placed on that layer.

Figure 10.2-Thesquare on the rightside of the paletteindicates that theselected object iseditable.

EXERCISE B

The rectanglebecomes thebackmostobject in thestackingorder.

Figure 10.3-Even though therectangle was the first object drawn,once the triangle and oval are placedin front of it, it becomes thebackmost object in the stackingorder.

Figure 10.4-The Paste inBack command pastes acut or copied object behindthe last object in the stack,making it (the triangle) thelast object in the stackingorder (top). When the sametriangle is cut and pasted infront, it is pasted in front ofthe current top object inthe stacking order (bottom).

Figure 10.5-Select theNew Layer commandfrom the Layers palette.

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-X Edit/Cut -P File/Print

Selection tool

Too much of a good

thing?

If you find all these dots,squares, triangles, andfingers too many iconsto deal with, use the Cutand Paste commands tomove items from onelayer to another. It’s notuncommon to confusethese icons. You’re notdumb; the icons areexcessive.

-O File/Open -Control-L View/

Show Layers

Fact

The Layers palette issaved with thedocument.

More info

You can select the PasteRemembers Layersoption in the GeneralPreferences dialoguebox or the Layerspalette pull-out menu tocut an object on onelayer and paste it at thetop of the stack on thesame layer. If youdeselect this option, theobject is pasted onto thecurrent layer regardlessof what layer fromwhich you cut or copiedthe object.

Selection tool

Colour code

The Selection colourspecified in the layer’sdialogue box determinesthe colour of the squareson the Layers palette.

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MOVING OBJECTS FROM LAYER TO LAYERAlthough it’s good practice to define the layers in a piece of artworkbefore you begin drawing, many times we get so carried away bythe fact that the drawing is actually looking like it’s supposed to lookthat we end up with many objects on one layer. This makes itdifficult to edit and sometimes print the document. Even though theLayers palette is not displayed, objects are being drawn on thecurrently selected layer (usually Layer 1), so it is frequently necessaryto move objects to new layers in the artwork.

To move objects from one layer to another, cut them, select thenew layer, and paste the objects on that new layer. Another way tomove objects from layer to layer is to use the Layers palette. Selectthe object to be moved and drag the dot next to the Pencil icon onthe right side of the Layers palette up or down to the new layer.

1. If necessary, open the Layers.ai file you created in the last lesson(File/Open) or create a new file with three objects on one layer.Choose Window/Show Layers (Command-Control-L) to displaythe Layers palette. Layer 1 is highlighted, indicating that it is theactive layer; any objects you draw will be placed on that layer.

2. Use the selection tool to select the triangle. Layer 1 remainshighlighted, indicating that the object is on that layer.

3. Click on the triangle in the right corner of the Layers palette todisplay the pull-down menu. Drag to select New Layer. The NewLayer dialogue box appears, displaying Layer 2 as thehighlighted name of the new layer (Figure 10.6).

4. Type (no quotes) “Triangle” in the Name field. Change theSelection colour if you like, and make sure that Show, Print, andPreview are checked. Click on OK. The Triangle layer appearsas the topmost layer in the Layers palette. However, it does notdisplay any icon on the right side of the palette, because thereare no objects on the Triangle layer.

5. Use the selection tool to select the triangle. Layer 1 on theLayers palette becomes highlighted, because an object on thatlayer has been selected. And because the triangle is available forediting, a square appears next to the Pencil icon on the rightside of the Layers palette.

6. Choose Edit/Cut (Command-X). Click once on the Triangle layerto get to that layer and choose Edit/Paste (Command-V). Thetriangle is pasted on the Triangle layer and, because it is selectedand available for editing, a black square appears next to thePencil icon on the right side of the palette (Figure 10.7).

7. Because you selected Show in the New Layer dialogue box, allobjects on the Triangle layer are displayed. The triangle isdisplayed with all of its fill and stroke attributes because Preview(viewing mode) was selected, and all the objects on this layer willprint when you print the file because Print was selected in theNew Layer dialogue box.

8. Use the pull-out menu on the Layers palette to create a newlayer. Type (no quotes) “Circle” in the name field of the NewLayer dialogue box. Make sure that only Show is selected. Clickto deselect Print and Preview. Click on OK. The Circle layer,now the first layer in the Layers palette, is highlighted, indicatingthat it is the active layer and that anything you draw will appearon that layer. Notice also the white dot under the Eye icon onthe left side of the Layers palette. This tells you that all theobjects on this layer are displayed in Artwork mode.

9. Click on the circle, which deselects the Circle layer and highlightsLayer 1 because the selected object (the circle) is on Layer 1.

10.Click with the selection tool on the square next to the Pencilicon on the right side of the palette and drag it up to the Circlelayer. A hand appears as you drag, and once the object is placedon the new layer, a black triangle appears where the finger ispointing (Figure 10.8), indicating that the selected object hasovercome all transportation hazards and been safely movedthrough all the layers onto the designated layer.

11.Because Artwork mode was designated in the New Layerdialogue box, the circle appears on the Circle layer in Artworkmode, even though the objects on the other two layers aredisplayed in Preview mode.

EXERCISE C

Figure 10.6-Make display andprinting choices in the NewLayer dialogue box.

Figure 10.7 -Thesquare next to thePencil icon indicatesthat the selectedtriangle on the currentlayer, Triangle, isavailable for editing.

Figure 10.8-Dragging thesquare on the right side ofthe Layers palette to anotherlayer moves the selectedobject to that layer.

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-O File/Open -Control-L Window

Show Layers

All objects are on thesame layer. Whenobjects 1 and 3 (above)were grouped, object 2was moved behind thegroup.

Objects 1, 2, and 3 areon three different layers.When objects 1 and 3are grouped, the groupwill be placed on Layer3 behind any non-grouped object on thatlayer.

Selection tool

-X Edit/Cut -V Edit/Paste -S File/Save

Selection tool

When Show is selected,the items on the layerwill be displayed. IfPreview is selected,those objects will bedisplayed in Previewmode.

Clicking on the dotunder the Eye icondeselects the Showcheck box in the layer’sdialogue box and makesthe objects on that layer

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12.Choose File/Print (Command-P) to display the Print dialogue box.Click on OK. Because the Print check box was not selected in theCircle layer’s dialogue box, only the rectangle and triangle print.

13.Choose New Layer from the Layers palette. Type Rectangle in theName field, click to select Show, Preview, Print, and Lock. Clickon OK. The Layers palette now displays four layers, the Rectanglelayer as the topmost layer, the Circle and Triangle layers, andLayer 1. Notice that there is no black dot under the Pencil icon onthe left side of the Layers palette. Since the Rectangle layer islocked, no items placed on that layer can be edited (Figure 10.9).

14.Click with the selection tool on the rectangle and notice thatLayer 1 is highlighted, because that is where the rectangle is.Choose Edit/Cut (Command-X). Click once on the Rectanglelayer to access it, and choose Edit/Paste (Command-V). An Alertdialogue box appears telling you that this is a hidden or lockedlayer. Click on OK to paste the rectangle on the Rectangle layerand to simultaneously unlock the layer.

15.Save this file (Command-S). You will use it in the next exercise.

LAYER OPTIONS FROM THE LAYERS PALETTEYou can view and hide layers, lock and unlock layers, and change anylayer’s display mode from the Layers palette. Remember: the Eye iconrefers to what is visible; the Pencil icon refers to what can be edited.

1. If necessary, open the Layers.ai file you worked on in the last exerciseor open (Command-O) the Layers.ai file in the Tutorial folder.

2. Display the Layers palette (Figure 10.10). As the file is now, theRectangle, Triangle, and Layer 1 layers can all be viewed andedited. Those layers are also displayed in Preview mode. The Circlelayer can be viewed in Artwork mode and can be edited.

3. Click once on the dot under the Eye icon for the Rectanglelayer. Three things happen: the black dot disappears, indicatingthat the Show check box in the Rectangle layer’s dialogue boxhas been deselected; the black dot under the Pencil iconbecomes dimmed (grey), indicating that the objects on theRectangle layer cannot be edited; and a slashed line appearsover the Pencil icon on the right side of the palette.

4. Double-click on the Rectangle layer’s name to display its Optionsdialogue box, and notice that the Show check box is empty. Clickto select it and click on OK. Notice that the dot reappears underthe Eye icon because the layer is now visible, and the slash line isremoved from the Pencil icon on the right side of the Layerspalette, because items on that layer can now be edited.

5. Click once on the dot under the Pencil icon for the Triangle layer.Two things happen: the dot disappears, indicating that althoughthe objects on that layer are visible, they are locked and notavailable for editing; and a slashed line appears over the Pencilicon on the right side of the palette as another indication that theobjects on that layer cannot be edited.

6. Double-click on the Triangle layer’s name to display its Optionsdialogue box. Notice that the Lock check box is selected, indicatingthat all the objects on that layer are locked and cannot be edited.

7. Try clicking on the triangle itself, and notice that you cannotselect it because it is locked.

8. Click where the dot should be under the Pencil icon for theTriangle layer to restore the black dot and unlock the layer.

LAYERS AND GROUPSThus far you have worked with single objects on single layers. Therules change when you are grouping individual objects on differentlayers. When objects on one layer are arranged in a stacking order,grouping two or more objects results in the non-grouped objectsbeing moved behind the group.

Since all grouped objects must exist on a single layer, if you groupobjects drawn on different layers, that group of objects is placed on thefrontmost (top) layer of the group directly behind the frontmost objecton that layer. In other words, the group takes a back seat on the layer.

1. Open the Layers.ai file on the Tutorial disk (Command-O).Display the Layers palette (Command-Control-L).

2. Double-click on the name of the Circle layer in the Layerspalette to display the Layer Options dialogue box. Click in thePreview check box to display any artwork on that layer inPreview mode. Click on OK.

Figure 10.9-The Rectanglelayer is the topmost layerbecause it was created last.

EXERCISE D

Figure 10.10-The Layers palettefor the Layers.ai file indicates thatonly the Circle layer is displayed inArtwork mode.

12

3

EXERCISE E

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-O File/Open -A Edit/Select All

Fact

Masks are not limited torectangles and circles.Any path can be used asa mask. Try selectingone of the cacti andusing it to mask anotherobject in the image.

Selection tool

-G Arrange/Group -Shift-A Edit/Select All


What is that

masked object?

The terms mask andmasking object aresynonymous. A mask ormasking object covers(masks) artwork under itand protects it fromdisappearing when theMask command isapplied. The artworkthat is covered by themask is called themasked object.

Tip

If you can, keep all theobjects to be masked onone layer.

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3. Use the selection tool to Shift-select both the circle and the triangle(Figure 10.11).

4. Notice the squares which appear on the right side of the Layerspalette next to the Rectangle and Circle layers. These squaresindicate that objects on those layers are selected.

5. With both the rectangle and circle selected, choose Arrange/Group(Command-G). Both objects are grouped and placed on theRectangle layer because it is the frontmost layer in the document.

6. Click once on the dots under the Eye icon for the Circle, Triangle,and Layer 1 layers. Notice that now only the selected circle andrectangle group are visible, because the other three layers are nowhidden (Figure 10.12).

7. Select None (Command-Shift-A) and choose the group-selectiontool. Click once on the rectangle and click again to select the seconditem in the group, the circle. Drag the group around the page.

MASKING OBJECTSA mask or masking object is an art object placed on top of otherartwork which allows only the artwork within its confines to bedisplayed and printed. When you cover a piece of artwork with amasking object, only the selected artwork within the boundaries of thatmasking object will be previewed and printed.

When you create a mask, two things happen: any fill and strokeattributes which the masking object displayed are switched to None,and any part of the illustration which appears outside the boundaries ofthe masking object disappear. Although this sounds like an elegant wayto crop an image, you have to be careful. Using complex shapes asmasks or creating several masks in a single file can cause problems withprinting the file.

Masks pay attention to layers. The masking object must be thefrontmost object in the stacking order and must appear on the topmostlayer in the frustration. If you create a mask which covers objects ondifferent layers, any objects on the intermediate layers becomemasked.For example, you might have a four-layer file with a house onLayer 1, shrubbery on Layer 2, cars on Layer 3, and sky on Layer 4. Ifyou draw the masking object over the house on Layer 1, Shift-selectthe masking object, the house on Layer 1, and the cars on Layer 3,then the shrubbery on Layer 2 will also become part of the mask.

1. Choose File/Open (Command-O) and open the Desert Scene.aifile in the Tutorial folder.

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw a long narrow rectangle over theillustration (Figure 10.13). This rectangle is the mask or maskingobject. It doesn’t matter what fill and stroke character it has,because they will be stripped from the mask once you choosethe Mask command.

3. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select the mask(rectangle) and the underlying artwork.

4. Choose Object/Masks/Make. Notice that the mask lost its fill andstroke values and that the only visible parts of the illustration arethose within the confines of the rectangular mask (Figure 10.13).

Figure 10.13-The black mask is placed over the artwork (left). The entireimage and the mask are selected and the rectangle is defined as a mask fromthe Object menu. Only the selected artwork beneath the mask is nowdisplayed and printed.

5. Choose File/Print (Command-P). Click on Print to print themasked image. Your printout should resemble Figure 10.14.Save this file as Mask. You will use it in the next exercise.

Figure 10.11-Shift-selectingthe rectangle and circledisplays black boxes on theLayers palette.

Figure 10.12-The dimmedcircles under the Eye iconindicates that those layers arehidden.

Figure 10.14-Only the selected artwork under therectangular mask prints.

EXERCISE F

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-I Object/Paint Style -O File/Open -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -E View/Artwork -C Edit/Copy -V Edit/Cut -I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview

Selection tool

Fact

Before applying a filland stroke to a maskfrom the Filter menu,the fill and/or strokehave to be specified inthe Paint Style palette.

More info

If anything in theillustration is selectedbefore you choose theSelect Masks filter, thefilter deselects any of theobjects which are notmasking objects. If noobjects are selectedwhen you choose theSelect Masks filter, thenthe filter selects any andall of the masks in theillustration.

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EDITING MASKSOnce an art object has been converted to a mask, it loses its stroke andfill attributes. Look at Figure 10.13 and notice that the black rectanglelost its black fill. That mask, however, can be copied and pasted andthen stroked and filled again. It can also be modified and removed

1. If necessary, open the Mask file (Command-O) that you createdin the last exercise. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A).

2. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Use the selection tool toselect the rectangular mask. Choose Edit/Copy (Command-C).Then choose Edit/Paste (Command-V). The rectangle appearsin the centre of the drawing.

3. Using the selection tool, click on the centre point of the copyand drag it to the centre point of the original mask. The cursorwill become white when the two points meet (Figure 10.15).

4. The copy is still selected. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) toselect a fill of None and a red stroke. Assign it a weight of 6 points.

5. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y) to display the stroked mask.

6. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Use the selection tool toselect the stroked copy of the mask. Choose Object/Masks.Only the Make command is available, because you have selecteda copy of the mask, not the original mask.

7. Press the Delete key to delete only the copy, not the original mask.

8. Select the mask itself. Choose Object/Masks/Release. The entireimage is restored and the masking object (the rectangle) appears asan unfilled and unstroked art object. You can fill, stroke, or delete it.

9. Choose File/Revert to Saved and click on the Revert button torevert to the original file. You can also use the Filter menu toselect as well as fill and stroke the mask.

10.Choose View/Artwork (Command-E). Chose Filter/Select/SelectMasks. The rectangular mask appears selected. ChooseFilter/Create/Fill & Stroke for Mask to paint the mask with thecurrently selected colours.

11.Choose Filter/Create/Fill & Stroke for Mask. An Alert dialoguebox appears, telling you that the fill and stroke will be based onthe currently defined colours in the Paint Style palette. Click onOK. Your screen should resemble Figure 10.16.

MODIFYING MASKSA mask can be modified by changing its fill and stroke characteristicsas you did in the last exercise. You can also add and delete objectsfrom a mask, thus modifying it even further.

When selecting a mask with its masked objects, use the group-selection tool. When selecting one or more masked objects, use theselection tool. To reshape the mask itself, use the direct-selection tool.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose Filter/Create/Star to display theCreate Star dialogue box. Type 6 in the Points field. Click on OK.

2. Use the selection tool to select the star and use the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I) to assign it a fill of None and a black stroke.

3. With the star still selected, Option-drag it slightly to the right.Release the mouse button, then the Option key to create a copyof the original star.

4. Select another star and Option-drag it to create another copy.Do this until you have a cluster of stars (Figure 10-17).

Figure 10.15-The black selection cursor changes to white whenthe two centre points meet.

EXERCISE G

EXERCISE H

Figure 10.16-The fill and stroke attributes applied tothe mask are two separate objects which can be selectedand modified.

Figure 10.17-Option-drag the original star tocreate a cluster of stars.

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-F Edit/Paste in Front -X Edit/Cut -B Edit/Paste in Back

Selection tool


-E View/Artwork -Y View/Preview

Fact

Unless the mask is thelast object you created,select it and chooseArrange/Bring to Frontbefore choosing theMake Mask command.The mask must alwaysbe the topmost object inthe stacking order.

Easy viewing

Use the New Windowcommand (View/NewWindow) and choosePreview mode for thenew window while youwork in Artwork modein the original window.This allows you to selectobjects easily and seewhat is happening at thesame time.

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5. Make sure the Ruler units is inches (Command-K). Click on theoval tool and click in the centre of the cluster. Type 1.75 in theHeight field. Tab to the Width field and type 1.75. Click on OK.The circle has the same stroke as the stars.

6. Use the selection tool to move the circle to the centre of thecluster of stars, making sure that some of the star points extendbeyond the circle. The circle will become the mask (Figure 10.18).

7. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select all the stars andthe circle. Choose Object/Masks/Make. Choose View/Preview(Command-Y) and click on an empty area of the page todeselect everything. Your screen should resemble Figure 10.19.

8. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) or use the New Windowcommand. In Artwork mode, use the direct-selection tool to selectthe mask (circle). Click on the right anchor point and stretch itout. Do the same with the left anchor point to create an oval.

9. Now that the mask has been modified, use the Filter/Selectmenu to select the mask, the Paint Style palette to specify a filland stroke colour, and the Filter/Create menu to paint themask. The fill and stroke attributes are applied. Your screenshould resemble Figure 10.20. Save this file as Masked Stars.You will use it in the next exercise.

MODIFYING MASKED OBJECTSYou can add and delete masked objects to and from the mask byusing the Cut and Paste commands. An object can be pasted infront of or in back of the mask. If you select an object already insidethe mask, the object you cut and paste will be stacked in front of orbehind the selected object.

1. If necessary, open the Masked Stars file you created in the lastlesson or choose File/Open (Command-O) and open the MaskedStars file on the Tutorial folder.

2. Use the selection tools to select one of the stars. ChooseEdit/Cut (Command-X). Choose Edit/Paste (Command-V). Thestar is pasted on the page and is no longer part of the mask. Usethe selection tool to move it to an empty area of the page andapply a different fill and stroke to it (Figure 10.21).

3. Use the selection tool to select the single star you just painted.Move it directly over the mask so that part of the star extendsoutside of the mask (Figure 10.22).

4. Choose Edit/Cut (Command-X).

5. Click on one of the other stars to select it. Choose Edit/Paste inFront (Command-F) or Edit/Paste in Back (Command-B). Thepainted star is stacked in front of or behind the selected star.Your screen should resemble (Figure 10-23).

Figure 10.18-The circle is the frontmost object inthe stacking order and will mask the cluster of stars.

Figure 10.19-Only the star parts covered by themask (circle) appear. The circle’s stroke disappearedwhen it became a mask.

Figure 10.20-The stroked andfilled mask.

EXERCISE I

Figure 10.21 -One of the starswas cut from the mask, pastedonto the page, and then paintedwith a patterned fill.

Figure 10.22-Move the selected objectover the mask.

Figure 10.23-The cut star is pasted in frontof a selected star and now becomes part ofthe mask.

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-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork -= Arrange/Bring to

Front -A Edit/Select All -8 Object/Compound

Paths/Make

Type tool

Selection tool

-O File/Open -A Edit/Select All -K File/Preferences/

General -9 Object/Compound

Paths/Release

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RELEASING MASKSObjects which are made into masked objects can be unmasked.Once the Release command is applied, all the objects, including themask, revert to their original status as independent art objects. Theiroriginal fill and stroke values are not restored.

1. Open the Masked Stars.ai file on the Tutorial folder (Command-O). Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A).

2. Choose Object/Masks/Release (Command-9). Nothing appearsto happen, but actually all the stars, as well as the fill object andthe stroke object which formed the mask, have been releasedfrom the Masking command.

3. Deselect everything by clicking on an empty area of the page.Then use the selection tool to select each star and move it out ofthe oval.

4. Choose File/Preferences/General (Command-K) and make surethe Area Select option on the left side of the dialogue box isdeselected. This will require you to select a filled object byclicking on its outside edge, not on its area fill.

5. Select the oval by clicking on its stroked edge and move it down.Notice that only the stroke object moves; the fill object remains.

6. Click on the edge of the fill object and move the oval outline outof the way. The oval fill is not moved, because it is a filled mask(Figure 10.24).

Figure 10.24-if you view in Artwork mode, you will see three oval outlines.One is the original oval, another is the stroke object applied to the mask, andanother is the filled oval or painted mask.

CREATING COMPOUND PATHSA compound path is a group of at least two paths which overlap sothat, in spite of any painting characteristics, the overlapping pathsappear transparent. This allows the backmost object to “pokethrough” stacks of artwork and be displayed.

1. On a clean drawing page, with Ruler units set to inches(Command-K), click on the rectangle tool. Click once on thepage and type 2 in the Width field; tab to the Height field andtype 2. Click on OK.

2. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y). Use the Paint Stylepalette (Command-I) to paint the selected square a dark colour.

3. Choose Window/New Window and move the second window sothat both windows are visible. Choose View/Artwork (Command-E) for the second window. This allows you to work in Artworkmode and see the effects of the commands in Preview mode.

4. Click on the type tool, click on the page, and type an asterisk(Shift-8). Click on the selection tool to select the type. Formatthe type in 120 point Times from either the Font and Typemenus or from the Character palette (Command-T).

5. With the type still selected, choose Type/Create Outlines. Theasterisk becomes a path. Fill the new path with a light colour.Then use the selection tool to drag the path to the top of thesquare so that half of the object overlaps the square (Figure 10.25).

6. The overlapping object to become transparent (the asterisk) mustbe the topmost object in the stacking order. With the asterisk stillselected, choose Arrange/Bring to Front (Command- =).

7. The overlapping object and the background object must beselected. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A). ChooseObject/Compound Paths/Make (Command-8). Look at Figure10.26 and notice what two things happened: the part of theobject that overlapped the rectangle cut through the rectangle tothe white background and the non-overlapping part of the objectassumed the fill attribute of the rectangle. In other words, theCompound Paths command cut a hole in the rectangle, makingit transparent, so that the background object (white drawingpage) peeks through those “holes.”

EXERCISE J EXERCISE K

Figure 10.25-Move the type character whichwas converted to a path to the top of the square.

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Tip

When working withcompound paths andmasks, it’s usually easierto create a new window(Window/New Window).Use one window topreview the illustration,but work in the otherwindow in Artworkmode.


Rectangle tool

-= Arrange/Bring to Front

Oval tool

Rectangle tool

Tip

To make both outsiderectangles the exactsame size, draw the firstone, then Option-dragto create a copy of theoriginal rectangle.

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1. On a clean drawing page, use the oval tool to draw a 2 inchcircle. Fill and stroke it with any colour combination.

2. Use the rectangle tool to draw three rectangles vertically throughthe circle. The centre rectangle should be longer than theoutside ones, and both of the outside rectangles should be thesame size. Fill and stroke the three rectangles with anothercolour combination (Figure 10.27).

3. Use the selection tool to select the circle and Option-drag itaway from the artwork to create a copy of the original circle.You will use this circle as a mask later in the exercise.

4. Shift-select the three rectangles and choose Arrange/Bring toFront (Command- =).

5. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around thethree rectangles and the background object (the circle). ChooseObject/Compound Paths/Make (Command-8). Any part of therectangles (foreground objects) that overlapped the circleappears as white, because the overlapping parts of the rectanglecut “holes” in the circle and reveal the white layer beneath thecircle. Your screen should resemble Figure 10.28.

6. Use the selection tool to select the circle you dragged out of theway earlier. Drag it by its centre over the circle in the compoundpath until it is centred over the circle. The selection cursor willbecome white when it is directly on top of the lower circle.

7. Switch to the direct-selection tool and, keeping the circle selected,Shift-select the three rectangles (Figure 10-29).

8. Choose Object/Masks/Make. The Mask command displays onlythe objects covered by the mask (circle). Your screen shouldresemble Figure 10.30.

SELECTING AND RELEASING COMPOUND PATHSCompound paths are grouped objects. To select the entirecompound object, use the selection tool or the group-selection tool.To select part of a compound path, use the direct-selection tool.

1. On a clean drawing page, draw a rectangle. Fill it with a pattern.Draw a smaller rectangle on top of that one and fill it with acolour. Draw a circle on top of the smaller rectangle and fill it witha different colour. Your screen should resemble Figure 10-31.

Figure 10.26-Any part of the foreground object(asterisk) that overlaps the background object(square) is made transparent by the MakeCompound Paths command.

EXERCISE L

Figure 10.27-The parts of the rectangles thatoverlap the circle will become transparent whenthe Compound Paths command is applied.

Figure 10-28-The parts of the rectangles thatoverlap the circle become transparent when theCompound Paths command is applied.

Figure 10.29-Shift-select the mask (circle) andthe three rectangles which will be masked.

Figure 10.30 -The Maskcommand masks ( left ) anddisplays (right) only those partsof the illustration beneath it.

EXERCISE M

Figure 10.31-With this stacking order, thepatterned rectangle is the background and thecircle is the frontmost object.

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-= Arrange/Bring to Front

-8 Object/Compound Paths/Make

-Control-A Object/Attributes

Even when objectsoverlap each other, thestacking order ismaintained. The triangleis still the first object inthe stacking order eventhough it overlaps thecircle.

When the Reverse pathdirection option isselected in the Attributesdialogue box, theselected path fills withthe compound path fill.

-8 Object/Compound Paths/Make

-Z Edit/Undo -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -9 Object/Compound

Paths/Release

Selection tool


Clicking once with thegroup-selection tool onone path in a compoundpath selects just thatpath and allows you toreposition it. Clickingtwice with the group-selection tool selects allthe other paths in thecompound path.

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2. Use the selection tool to Shift-select the circle and the smallrectangle behind it. Choose Object/Compound Paths/Make(Command-8). The hole created by the circle reveals thebackmost object, the patterned rectangle (Figure 10.32). Thecircle and small rectangle are the compound path.

3. Use the selection tool to select the compound path and drag itoff the patterned rectangle.

4. Choose Edit/Undo (Command-Z) to return the compound pathto its original position. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A).

5. Use the group-selection tool to select the smaller rectangle anddrag it to the left. When you do this, only the part of the circlethat overlaps the rectangle displays the patterned background.The other part of the circle displays the fill colour of the smallrectangle (Figure 10.33).

6. Use the selection tool to drag the patterned rectangle away fromthe compound path. Since the hole created by the compoundpath displays the backmost object, it currently displays whitebecause the backmost object was removed.

7. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A). Click on the group-selection tool and click once on the circle in the compound pathto select just the circle. Move it halfway over the rectangle.

8. Click twice on the compound path with the group-selection tool toselect the entire compound path. Drag it over the patternedrectangle to make the pattern visible through the half circle.

9. Make sure that the compound path is selected with either theselection tool or the group-selection tool. Choose Object/CompoundPaths/Release (Command-9). The circle is released from the smallrectangle and displays the fill colour assigned to the rectangle.

REVERSING THE FILL IN A COMPOUND PATHOrdinarily, when a compound path is created, the object behind thecompound path is displayed through the hole and becomes the fill forthe hole. For example, in the last lesson, when the compound pathwas created with the small rectangle and the circle, the patternedrectangle became the fill for the circle. When the asterisk was joinedto the rectangle as a compound path, the overlapping part of theasterisk displayed the white background of the drawing page. Youcan, however, reverse this order so that the selected path displaysnot the background colour but the colour of the compound path.

1. On a clean drawing page, use any of the drawing tools to draw arectangle, a triangle, and a circle. Fill the rectangle with apattern and fill the triangle and circle with different colours.Stroke all the objects.

2. Place the circle on top of the rectangle. Place the triangle on topof the circle. The objects can overlap. With the circle selected,choose Arrange/Bring to Front (Command-=). The circle shouldbe the first object in the stacking order, the triangle the second,and the patterned rectangle the third.

3. Since the triangle and circle will be made into a compound path,the colour of the circle becomes the “official colour” of thecompound path.

4. Use the selection tool to Shift-select the circle and the triangle.Choose Object/Compound Paths/Make (Command-8). Yourscreen should resemble Figure 10.34, where the hole cutthrough the overlapping paths displays the object behind them(the rectangle).

5. Use the direct-selection tool to select either the circle or thetriangle. Choose Object/Attributes (Command-Control-A) andselect or deselect-depending on the status of the check box-theReverse path direction check box. Click on OK. The selectedpath now assumes the fill colour of the compound path.Remember: All the paths in a compound path must have thesame fill and stroke attributes.

Figure 10.32-The patterned background appearsthrough the compound path.

Figure 10.33-With this stacking order, thepatterned rectangle is the background andthe circle is the frontmost object.

EXERCISE N

Figure 10.34 -The compound pathreveals the patterned background.

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-T Window/Show Character

-G Arrange/Group -I Object/Paint Style -X Edit/Cut -V Edit/Paste -8 object/Compound

Paths/Make -D Arrange/Repeat

Transform -A Edit/Select All

Type tool

-Control-L Window/Show Layers

Click and drag aselection to anotherlayer.

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In this exercise you will work with a completed illustration by placingindividual paths on different layers, specifying view and print optionsfor those layers, creating a new layer, and combining paths into acompound path. Finally, you will mask several paths in the illustration.

1. Open the a la Matisse.ai file on the Tutorial folder (Command-O).Choose Window/Show Layers (Command-Control-L) to displaythe Layers palette. The illustration displays five dancers, one oneach layer. There is also a background layer.

2. Choose File/Save As and name the file Dancers. Click on theblonde dancer on the left to highlight the dancer 5 layer. Double-click on the layer's name to display the Layers dialogue box. TypePhil in the Name field. Click on OK. Repeat this process torename the other four dancer fields.

3. Click on the left boot of the third dancer, the boy in the rightcorner of the illustration. Notice that it is not on the same layer asthe dancer (Figure 10.35). Click and drag the dot next to the Pencilicon on the right side of the Layers palette up to the boy's layer.

4. Click once on the dot under the Pencil icon next to thebackground layer. Notice that you cannot edit the background.

5. Click once on the black dot under the Eye icon for thebackground layer. The black background disappears and thewhite drawing page is displayed. Click under both the Eye andPencil icons for the background layer to restore the display andmake it available for editing.

6. Double-click on the layers for the girl dancers and deselect theShow check boxes to display only the boy dancers.

7. Double-click on those same layers again and deselect the Printcheck boxes. Double-click on the background layer and deselectthe Print check box.

8. Choose File/ Print (Command-P) to print only the boy dancers.

9. Drag on the Layers palette pull-out menu and highlight Show Allto display all the dancers and the background.

10.Select the type tool and click in the lower centre area of thebackground. Type (no quotes) "DANCE!" and click on the selectiontool.

11.Use the Character palette (Command-T) to format the selected typein 72-point Times. Choose Type/Create Outlines to change thetype into individual paths. Since all the paths are selected, chooseArrange/Group (Command-G) to group all the characters together.

12.Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to assign the type a yellow filland no stroke.

13.Choose Edit/Cut (Command-X) to cut the type from the illustrationand place it on the Clipboard.

14.Choose New Layer from the Layers palette pull-out menu. Type Textin the Name field. Click on OK. The Text layer appears as the first orfrontmost layer in the illustration and is selected. Choose Edit/PasteCommand-V) to paste the type on the Text layer.

15.Use the selection tool to drag the yellow type over the blue skirt ofthe dancer. Your screen should resemble Figure 10.36.

16.Use the selection tool to Shift-select the type and the blue skirt.Choose Object/Compound Paths/Make (Command-8). The typewhich overlaps the skirt displays the black background colour.

17.Use the group-selection tool to select each text path and move it upor down to create a staggered effect with the type. Because the Dand A have cutouts, you will have to move those paths in two steps.

18.Use the group-selection tool to select all the type paths andassign them a 2-point white stroke.

19.To mask several paths in the illustration, first place all the objectson one layer. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A). ChooseEdit/Cut (Command-X).

REVIEW EXERCISE

Figure 10.35-All the selectedpaths of dancer2 appear on thedancer 2 layer.Only the rightboot is on adifferent layer.

10.36-The type isconverted to outlinesand dragged over theblue skirt.

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-V Edit/Paste -S File/Save -= Arrange/Bring to

Front -A Edit/Select All -C Edit/Copy -F Edit/Paste in Front -P File/Print

Tip

When working withmasks, it's often easierto work in Artworkmode or to open a newwindow (Window/NewWindow) and assignArtwork mode to one ofthe windows.

Oval tool

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20.Use the pull-out menu on the Layers palette to highlight NewLayer. Type Mask in the Name field. Click on OK. ChooseEdit/Paste (Command-V) to paste all the paths in the illustrationon the Mask layer. Save the File (Command-S).

21.Use the Oval tool to draw an oval around part of the illustration.Choose Arrange/Bring to Front (Command- =) to make themask the topmost object in the stacking order.

22.Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select all the objectsand the oval mask.

23.Choose Object/Masks/Make. Only those objects covered by themask (oval) are displayed.

24.Since a mask loses its stroke and fill attributes, apply a newstroke to the mask. On the Mask layer, chooseFilter/Select/Select Masks. The oval mask appears selected.Choose Edit/Copy (Command-C) to copy the mask.

25.Deselect the mask (Command-Shift-A). Then choose Edit/Pastein Front (Command-F) to paste the mask from the Clipboardback in its original position. Apply a stroke to the mask.

26.Double-click on the Mask layer. Make sure that the Print checkbox is selected. Choose File/Print (Command-P). Your screenand printout should resemble Figure 10.37.


1. The stacking order of an object in an illustration is determined bya. the layer it is onb. objects created before and after itc. its fill and paint attributesd. primogeniture

2. The Layers palette is used toa. lock and hide objectsb. create and delete layersc. print and display objectsd. all of the above

3. An art object which specifies what part of the illustration will be displayed and printed is called aa. layer c. stackb. mask d. a and b

4. Which terms are synonymous?a. mask and masked objectb. masking object and masked objectc. mask and masking objectd. mask and Lone Ranger

5. Hidden layersa. cannot be viewed c. cannot be previewedb. cannot be edited d. a and b

6. Before type can become part of a compound path, it must first bea. stroked c. filledb. converted to outlines d. selected

7. To move an object from one layer to anothera. cut and paste from one layer to anotherb. delete itc. select it and drag the dot on the right side of the Layers paletted. a and c

8. Grouped objectsa. can come from different layersb. must exist as a group on the same layerc. can come from a single laverd. all of the above

9. To edit a maska. copy and paste it before filling and strokingb. select it and paint itc. use the appropriate filtersd. a and c

10.To work in two viewing modesa. use layer optionsb. use the New Window commandc. buy two copies of Adobe Illustratord. a and b

Figure 10.37 -Themasked objects appearinside the oval maskwhich has been stroked.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers; 1. b; 2. d; 3. b; 4. c. 5. d; 6. b; 7. d; 8. d; 9. d; 10. d.

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-I Object/Paint Style - - (hyphen) Arrange/

Send to Back

Rectangle tool

Selection tool

Pen tool

Tip

Creating a complexpattern requires that thebounding rectangle berelatively small. The bestdimension for abounding rectangle isone inch square. Thisallows for faster

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OVERVIEW

This lesson deals with creating, modifying, and using patterns in anillustration. You will learn how to create custom patterns and applythem as fill and stroke attributes in a document. Printing andtroubleshooting when printing patterns are also covered.

TOPICS

Creating patternsCreating geometric designs from patternsRepositioning patternsEditing patternsDeleting patternsTransforming patternsReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Bounding rectanglePatternPattern tile

CREATING PATTERNSPatterns are designs created from Adobe Illustrator artwork which,when used as fill and stroke attributes, repeat in an illustration.Patterns are constructed from tiles, pattern objects (the artwork)surrounded by a rectangle called the bounding rectangle. Boundingrectangles cannot be rotated and must be the backmost object in thepattern's stacking order.

Once you create a pattern and add it to the list of defaultpatterns which come with Adobe Illustrator, you can apply thatpattern from the Paint Style palette just as you would apply any ofthe default patterns.

1. Select the rectangle tool and click on the drawing page todisplay the Rectangle dialogue box.

2. Type 1 in the Width field; press the Tab key and type 1.5 in theHeight field. Click on OK.

3. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to fill and stroke therectangle.

4. Use the pen tool to draw a closed shape inside the boundingrectangle (Figure 11-1).

5. Click with the selection tool on the rectangle. ChooseArrange/Send to Back (Command- -). This makes the boundingrectangle the backmost object.

6. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around boththe bounding rectangle and the artwork.

7. Choose Object/Pattern to display the Pattern dialogue box.Click on New and the pattern appears in the preview box in theupper right corner of the dialogue box (Figure 11-2).

UNIT

11Working

withPatterns

EXERCISE A

Figure 11.1-Create a drawing in a bounding rectangle. Thensend that rectangle to the back. The bounding rectangle canalso be filled and stroked, as it is in this figure.

Figure 11.2 -Clicking on Newdisplays the selected tile in the Patterndialogue box.

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-I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview -A Edit/Select All -G Arrange/Group - - Arrange/Send to

Back

Selection tool

Tip

Select the Snap to pointoption in the GeneralPreferences dialoguebox and use ruler guidesto position the objects.Drag the objects by theanchor point closest tothe guide and the pointwill snap to the guide.This makes it mucheasier to align objects.

Rectangle tool

Scale tool

Pattern icon selected inthe colour strip area

-I Object/Paint Style -Y View/Preview

Pattern appears abovethe colour strip areawhen the pattern icon isselected.

Selection tool

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8. Type a name for the pattern. Click on OK. The artwork andbounding box have now become a pattern which can be appliedas a fill to any path.

1. Use the rectangle or oval tool to draw a large closed path. Keepit selected.

2. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I). Click on the Fillicon. Click on the Pattern icon in the colour strip area.

3. The pattern you created appears in the pattern scroll list. Clickon it to select it as the pattern fill. It tiles inside the rectangle oroval you drew (Figure 11.3).

Figure 11.3-When a drawing and its bounding rectangle have been definedas a pattern and named in the Pattern dialogue box, that pattern can beaccessed from the pattern scroll list in the Paint Style palette. Here, theTriangle pattern is used to fill the selected rectangle.

CREATING GEOMETRIC DESIGNS FROM PATTERNSOnce a pattern tile is created, it can be duplicated to create anotherpattern. This will fill more of the area and allow for more interestinggraphic effects.

1. Use Filter/Create/Polygon to create a triangle, Rotate it 180°with the rotation tool and give it a dark fill and no stroke.

2. Use the selection tool and Option-drag the object to the right so thatthe left corner of the copy touches the right corner of the original.

3. Drag-copy another object below the two objects (Figure 11-4).

Figure 11.4-Option-drag to create the other units in the geometric design.

4. Choose Edit/Select All (Command A) and choose Arrange/Group(Command-G).

5. Use the selection tool to Option-drag the group to the right ofthe original group. Option-drag again to drag a copy below thetwo groups. Select all and group (Figure 11.5).

6. Option-Shift-drag downwards to create a copy of the group anduse Repeat Transform to place a third copy.

7. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle around the three unitsand choose Arrange/Send to Back (Command-–) to completethe pattern tile (Figure 11.6).

8. Use the selection tool to select both the grouped triangles andthe bounding rectangle. Choose Arrange/Group (Command-G).

9. Double-click on the scale tool to display the Scale dialogue box.Type 50 in the Uniform % field and click on OK. The smallerthe pattern, the more times it will repeat.

10.With the entire unit (group) of three sets of triangles andbounding rectangle still selected, choose Object/Pattern. Clickon New. The pattern tile appears in the Preview box. Type aname for the pattern and click on OK.

EXERCISE B

EXERCISE C

Figure 11.5-Option-drag to copythe single units (groups) and positionthem to create another element in thegeometric design.

Figure 11.6-The three units aresurrounded by a bounding rectangleto complete the pattern tile.

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-I Object/Paint Style -G Arrange/Group

Fact

Because redefinedpatterns replace existingpatterns in opendocuments, close anydocuments containingpatterns you don't wantupdated with the newpattern. You could alsosave the redefinedpattern under anothername by clicking onNew in the Patternpalette.

Rectangle tool

Selection tool


Scale tool

-S File/Save -O File/Open -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -I Object/Paint Style

Important info

Before a pattern can berepositioned, it mustfirst be selected with theselection tool. Select itfirst, then press the Pkey.

Selection tool


Warning

Make sure the TransformPattern Tiles check box isselected in the GeneralPreferences dialogue box.

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11.Use the rectangle tool to draw a long narrow rectangle. Displaythe Paint Style palette (Command-I) and select the Fill icon. Clickon the pattern icon in the colour strip area. When the patternsload, click on the name of the pattern you just created. If theAuto box is not selected, click on the Apply button. Therectangle fills with the geometric pattern.

12.Save this file (File/Save) as "Patterns.ai" in the Illustrator 5format. You will use it in the next exercise.

REPOSITIONING PATTERNSOnce you apply a pattern as a fill or stroke, you can then repositionthe pattern within the object without moving the object itself. Beforethe pattern can be moved, however, the filled object must first beselected with the selection tool.

1. If necessary, open (Command-O) the "Patterns.ai" file you createdin the last exercise.

2. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around theentire object.

3. Move the cursor into the object, but before clicking, press the Pkey while moving the pattern around within the object.

4. If you don't like the way the pattern fits the object, deselecteverything (Command-Shift-A) and use the direct-selection toolto select the object.

5. Shift-select two of the rectangle's anchor points and drag thesegment between the selected anchor points to enlarge orreduce the size of the rectangle. Be sure to press the Shift keybefore releasing the mouse button, so the sides of the rectanglewill still be straight when they are resized.

EDITING PATTERNSAny pattern tile that has been added to the Patterns list in the PaintStyle palette can be retrieved and edited. You can leave the modifiedpattern under its old name or rename the modified pattern, thuscreating a second pattern based on the original.

If you redefine a pattern that has been used in any opendocuments, the newly defined pattern replaces the existing patternwherever it was applied in the artwork of any currently open files.

1. Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle. Display the PaintStyle palette (Command-I) and click on the Fill icon. Click on thePattern icon in the colour strip area.

2. Use the scroll bars to locate the Three Petals pattern. Click on OK.

3. Deselect everything on the drawing page (Command-Shift-A).

4. Choose Object/Pattern to display the Pattern dialogue box.

5. Click to select the Three Petals pattern. Click on the Pastebutton and click on OK. The pattern is pasted into the documentand is available for editing. If necessary, use the selection tool todrag it by an anchor point to an empty area of the page.

6. Zoom in on one of the three-petal clusters. Use the direct-selection tool to select the top petal and group all the anchorpoints (Command-G).

7. Click on the scale tool and click with the scale pointer on thetopmost anchor point of the centre petal. Move the cursor awayfrom the point and drag up to enlarge the petal (Figure 11.7).

8. Use the scale tool to enlarge another petal in another cluster.Modify the petals to create a different pattern.

9. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around theedited pattern tile.

10.Choose Object/Pattern and click on Three Petals in the scroll boxto redefine the pattern. Click on OK. The rectangle is filled withthe newly defined Three Petals pattern. You can now delete thepattern tile, which is still selected, by pressing the Delete key.

DELETING PATTERNSIf you have created patterns and want to delete them, use the Patterndialogue box to select and delete any unwanted patterns. Once youdelete a pattern that has been used in an open document, all objectspainted with that pattern will be filled with black, and the pattern willbe deleted from the scroll list in the Pattern dialogue box.

1. If necessary, draw a rectangle and fill it with a pattern, or use therectangle filled with the modified Three Petals pattern which youcreated in the last exercise.

2. Choose Object/Pattern and click on Three Petals in the scroll box.An Alert dialogue box appears, warning you that deleting thispattern will result in all objects in any open document painted withthat pattern being painted black. Click on OK. Click on OK again toreturn to the document where the rectangle is now filled with black.

EXERCISE D

EXERCISE E

Figure 11.7-The centre petal in the cluster has beenenlarged.

EXERCISE F

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-Q File/Quit -K File/Preferences/

General -D Arrange/Repeat

Transform -I Object/Paint Style -E View/Artwork

Trash the Preferencesfile to launch Adobeillustrator's defaultpatterns.

Type tool

Tip

Don't press the Optionor the Shift key until youhave started dragging anobject.

Oval tool


Scale tool

-I Object/Paint Style

Rectangle tool

Rotate tool

Pattern icon selected inthe colour strip area.

Shear tool

Selection tool

Scale tool

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TRANSFORMING PATTERNSYou can use the rotate, scale, reflect, shear, and blend tools totransform pattern tiles. When you display any of the transformationdialogue boxes, you can specify whether only the object (rectangle)transforms while the pattern remains stationary; whether the objectremains stationary while the pattern transforms; or whether both theobject and the pattern transform.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the rectangle tool to create arectangle. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I). Click onthe Fill icon.

2. Click on the Pattern icon in the colour strip area and select theParquet Floor pattern.

3. With the rectangle still selected, double-click on the rotate tool todisplay the Rotate dialogue box.

4. Type 45 in the Angle field. Click on the Objects check box toselect it. Deselect the Pattern Tiles check box. Click on Copy. Arotated copy appears on top of the original. Use the selectiontool to move it to the right.

5. With the original selected, double-click on the shear tool. Type 45in the Angle field. Click on Horizontal. Deselect the Objects checkbox (click until the X disappears), and click to select the Patterntiles check box. Click on Copy. A sheared copy appears on top ofthe original. Use the selection tool to move it to the right.

6. Click to select the first rectangle again. Double-click on the scaletool to display the Scale dialogue box. Type 50 in the Uniform% field. Click to select both the Objects and Pattern tiles checkboxes. Click on Copy. Your screen should resemble Figure 11.8.

Figure 11.8-The same pattern has been rotated, sheared, and scaled. Thebounding rectangles for these patterns have not been stroked.

In this exercise you will create, modify, and edit patterns to create alogo. Since you modified the default patterns in Adobe Illustratorduring this lesson, you must first restore those default patterns.

1. Choose File/Quit (Command-Q). Go to the System folder, then tothe Preferences folder, and drag the Adobe Illustrator Preferencesfile to the trash. Empty the Trash (Special/Empty Trash).

2. Launch I l lustrator to display a new fi le. ChooseFile/Preferences/General (Command-K) and select inches fromthe Ruler units pull-down menu.

3. Use the type tool and click in the centre of the page. Type Joy'sFabric Studio. Click on the selection tool.

4. Use the Font and Type menus to format the text in 18-pointTimes Roman.

5. Select the rectangle tool and click on the drawing page to displaythe Rectangle dialogue box. Type 1 in the Width and Height fields.Click on OK to create a 1 inch square.

6. Use the selection tool to drag the square to the right whilepressing the Option and Shift keys. Release the mouse button,then the Option and Shift keys to create a copy of the rectangle,which aligns next to the original.

7. Choose Arrange/Repeat Transform (Command-D) to create athird square next to the second square.

8. Use the selection tool to select the first square. Display the PaintStyle palette (Command-I) and click on the Fill icon. Click on None.

9. Choose View /Artwork (Command-E).

10.Use the oval tool and drag inside the square to create a circle.Once you start drawing, press the Option and Shift keys tocreate a circle drawn from the centre outward. Release themouse button, then the Option and Shift keys.

11.With the circle still selected, click on the Stroke icon and strokethe circle with a 1 point stroke in any colour.

12.With the stroked circle still selected, double-click on the scale toolto display the Scale dialogue box. Type 50 in the Uniform % fieldand click on Copy to create a smaller circle inside the larger one.

13.With the smaller circle still selected, click on the Fill icon in thePaint Style palette and click on anything but a gradient fill. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 11.9.

EXERCISE G

Originalrectangle

Object onlyrotated

Pattern tileonly sheared

Object andpattern tile

scaled

REVIEW EXERCISE

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Selection tool

Shear tool

-E View/Artwork -G Arrange/Group - - (hyphen) Arrange/

Send to Back

Scale tool

Selection tool

More info

You can't create apattern from an objectfilled with a pattern orwith a gradient fill.


Rectangle tool

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14.In Artwork mode (Command-E), use the selection tool to draw aselection marquee around the square and two circles. ChooseArrange/Group (Command-G).

15.Use the selection tool to click on the group and drag it down,pressing the Option and Shift keys once you start dragging tocreate a copy directly beneath the original. Align the lowersquare directly under the upper square.

16.Draw another selection marquee around both the original andthe copy. Choose Arrange/Group (Command-G) again.

17.Option-Shift-drag the larger group to the right to create anothergroup whose left sides align with the right sides of the originalgroup. Use Arrange/Repeat Transform. You should have sixtiles (Figure 11.10).

18.Use the direct-selection tool to Shift-select the six boundingboxes (squares). Press the Delete key twice to delete them.

19.Click on the rectangle tool and drag to draw one boundingrectangle around the six sets of circles. With only the rectangleselected, choose Arrange/Send to Back (Command - -).

20.Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around theentire object-the bounding rectangle and the six circles.

21.Choose Object/Pattern to display the Pattern dialogue box.

22.Click on New. The pattern tile appears in the preview box. TypeCircles in the Change name to field (Figure 11.11).

23.Select the first square. Click on the Pattern icon in the Paint Stylepalette, and click on the Circles pattern in the patterns scroll box.

24.Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A). Select the secondsquare and use the Paint Style palette to fill it with the YellowStripes pattern. Then deselect everything again by clicking on anempty area of the page.

25.Choose Object/Pattern to display the Pattern dialogue box. Clickon the Yellow Stripe pattern and click on Paste. Click on OK.

26.The Yellow Stripe pattern appears in the centre of the drawingpage. Use the selection tool to move it to a blank area of the page.

27.Deselect the pattern tile (Command-Shift-A) and use the direct-selection tool to select alternate stripes and change their colour.

28.Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around thepattern tile and choose Object/Pattern. Click on the YellowStripe pattern. Click on OK. The pattern in the second square isredefined to match the edited pattern.

29.Click in the third square. Use the Paint Style palette to fill it withthe Table Cloth pattern.

30.Double-click on the shear tool to display the Shear dialogue box.Type 10 in the Angle field. Click on Horizontal. Click on PatternTiles to shear only the pattern. Click to deselect Objects so onlythe pattern and not the bounding rectangle (object) will shear.Click on OK.

31.Use the selection tool to arrange the three one-inch squaresunder the text. If you wish, enlarge the type and rearrange thesquares. Your screen should resemble Figure 11.13.

Figure 11.9-The drawnand stroked circle (left) andthe scaled, f i l led copy(right).

Figure 11.10-Option-Shift-dragging createsthe six tiles more easilythan drawing each onefrom scratch.

Figure 11.11-The design is namedand designated a pattern in thePattern dialogue box.

Figure 11.12-Use the direct-selection tool to modifyelements in a pattern. Here, the alternate yellowstripes were painted black.

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Figure 11.13-The modified and transformed patterns.


1. The key element in a pattern isa. its designb. the Adobe Illustrator artworkc. its positiond. all of the above

2. Patterns are defined in thea. Paint Style paletteb. Pattern dialogue boxc. Preferences dialogue boxd. a and b

3. Before a design can be defined as a pattern, it must bea. surrounded by a bounding rectangleb. named in the Pattern dialogue boxc. scaledd. geometric in design

4. Patterns can bea. renamedb. repositionedc. editedd. all of the above

5. To edit a pattern, use thea. transformation toolsb. direct-selection toolc. selection toold. a and b

6. The last step in defining a pattern is toa. paste it into the illustrationb. edit it with the transformation toolsc. select it and the bounding rectangle with the selection toold. admire it

7. Pattern transformation can includea. the objectb. the object and patternc. the patternd. all of the above

8. Use the ____ command to display and edit an existing pattern.a. Newb. Pastec. Send to Backd. Bring to Front

9. Use the ____ command to define a pattern.a. Newb. Pastec. Send to Backd. Bring to Front

10.The bounding rectangle must bea. longer than it is wideb. no more than one inch widec. the backmost item in the pattern's stacking orderd. filled and stroked

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers; 1. b; 2. b; 3. a; 4. d. 5. d; 6. c; 7. d; 8. b; 9. a; 10. c.

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-Y View/Preview -I Object/Paint Style

Any filters present in thePlug-Ins folder will beactivated when AdobeIllustrator is launched.

No filters?

If your Filter menu isempty, chooseFile/Preferences/Plug-Ins and scroll to locatethe Plug-Ins folder,which should be in theAdobe Illustrator 5.5folder. Click on Open toactivate the filters.

The Process colouroption selected in thecolour strip area of thePaint Style palette.

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OVERVIEW

This lesson will explore many of Adobe Illustrator’s filters whichmake exciting graphics options possible. You will learn how to applyfilters and how to specify values to change the effect of a filter.

TOPICS

What are filters?Colours filterDistort filtersAlign filtersOther Objects filtersPathfinder filtersDivide and Merge filtersMix filtersSelect filtersStylise filtersReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Backmost objectFilterFrontmost object

WHAT ARE FILTERS?Filters are modules which, when accessed by Adobe Illustrator andapplied to an illustration, allow you to adjust colour and create andapply special effects to an illustration, as well as select, reshape, andreposition objects.

Several filters come with Adobe Illustrator and are automaticallyplaced in the Plug-Ins folder in”the Adobe Illustrator folder when theprogram is installed. Other filters are placed in the Optional Plug-Insfolder, also in the Adobe Illustrator program on the hard drive. Toactivate the optional plug-ins, drag them from the Optional Plug-Insfolder into the Plug-Ins folder before launching Adobe Illustrator.

Many of the filters will create different effects depending on thekind of object they are applied to. The only way to get comfortablewith what a filter can do is to apply it to different kinds of paintedand stroked objects and then print the illustration at its eventualresolution. Filters printed at 300 or 600 dpi on a laser printer willlook different when printed at 1240 dpi to an imagesetter or film.

COLOURS FILTERSThere are nine filters under the Colours submenu (Filter/Colours)which affect the way colours are applied and modified (Figure 12.1).Some of them, like the Blend filters, create a series of intermediatecolours based on the stacking order or alignment of selected objects.Others saturate and desaturate (increase or decrease CMYK valuesof) colours, while the Invert Colours filter creates a negative of aselected object.

1. On a clean drawing page, use the rectangle tool to draw arectangle. Choose View/Preview (Command-Y). Display thePaint Style palette (Command-I) and click on the Process Colouricon in the colour strip area to display the process colour sliders.

2. Fi l l the selected rectangle with a process colour, anycombination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Make surethat the Magenta value is at least 10%.

3. Choose Filter/Colours/Adjust Colours to display the AdjustColours dialogue box (Figure 12.2).

UNIT

12Filters

Figure 12.1 -TheColours sub-menuunder the Filter menudisplays nine filtersfor adjusting colour.

EXERCISE A

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-D Arrange/TransformAgain

Tip

Use the New Windowcommand(Window/New Window)to make viewing andselection simultaneousand easier.

Type tool

-I Object/Paint Style -Shift-A Edit/Select

None -Shift-E Filter/Reapply

Filter

Nothing changes

Using Command-Shift-Eto reapply the mostrecently applied filterapplies that filter withthe same values asbefore. This commanddoes not give you accessto the filter’s dialoguebox.

Rectangle tool

Fact

The Blend Horizontallyand Blend Verticallyfilters blend the coloursof the left and right orthe top and bottomobjects in a group ofselected objects.

Selection tool

More info

Saturate and SaturateMore filters increase theCMYK values for the filland stroke of a selectedobject.

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4. Type 10 in the Magenta field and click on the Decrease bybutton to decrease the percentage of magenta in the selectedobject by 10%. Click on Apply.

5. Type 15 in the Cyan field and click on the Increase by button toincrease the Cyan percentage by 15%. Click on OK to apply thecolour adjustments.

1. Use the rectangle tool to create three overlapping rectangles.

2. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to select the ProcessColour icon. Select the first rectangle and fill it with 66% Cyanand 10% Yellow, Magenta, and Black.

3. Use the selection tool to select the second rectangle and fill itwith 10% Cyan, 66% Magenta, and 10% Yellow and Black.

4. Select the third rectangle and fill it with 10% Cyan and Magenta,66% Yellow, and 10% black.

5. Shift-select all three items and choose Filter/Colours/BlendFront to Back to fill the middle object with a colour which is ablend of the first and third objects’ fill colours. Deselecteverything (Command-Shift-A).

6. Select the first rectangle, the one with 66% Cyan and 10%Yellow, Magenta, and Black. Choose Filter/Colours/Desaturate.The Cyan value changes to 56% and the other values change to8%, thereby reducing the intensity of the process colour.

7. With the rectangle still selected, choose Filter/Colours/DesaturateMore to further reduce the colour’s intensity.

8. Use the keyboard shortcut to reapply the most recently appliedfilter by pressing Command-Shift-E. The colour intensity isfurther reduced. Press Command-Shift-E a few times to changeall the CMYK values to 0 and create a fill of None.

DISTORT FILTERSThe Distort filters do just that—distort the shape of an object bychanging the direction of an object’s path.

1. Choose Filter/Create/Star to display the Star dialogue box.Type 0.2 in the 1st Radius field; press Tab and type 0.5 in the2nd Radius field. Click on OK. Assign the star a fill of None anda black stroke.

2. Use the selection tool and Option-drag the star to create asecond star. Choose Arrange/Repeat Transform (Command-D)five times to create a total of seven stroked stars.

3. Select the first star. Choose Filter/Distort/Free Distort. Make surethe Show Me button is selected so you can view the distortion.

4. Move the top right anchor point toward the centre. Move thelower left point toward the centre to distort the star (Figure12.3). To revert to the original star, click on the Reset button.Move the points again. Click on OK.

5. Select the type tool, click under the distorted star, and type FreeDistort. Click on the selection tool to select the type, and formatit in 10-point Helvetica. Use the selection tool to drag the typeby the alignment point directly under the star.

6. Select the second star. Choose Filter/Distort/Roughen to displaythe Roughen dialogue box. Type 10 in the Size field; press Taband type 5 in the Detail field to specify how many anchor pointswill be added to each inch of the path segments. Click to selectthe Jagged option, which will move the anchor points in ajagged direction from the original path by the specifiedpercentage (Figure 12.4). Click on OK.

Figure 12.2-Type a value inany of theprocess colourp e r c e n t a g efields and clickon Increase byor Decrease byto adjust thecolours in anobject.

EXERCISE B

EXERCISE C

Figure 12.3-Use the four points in theDistort dialogue box to distort the object.

Figure 12.4-The Roughen dialogue box.

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-O File/Open -A Edit/Select All -U Arrange/Ungroup

Landscape icon selectedin the Page Setupdialogue box.

Specify a printer

To specify a printer,select Chooser from the menu. Click theprinter icon for theprinter attached to yoursystem. Click tohighlight its name in thepreview box on the rightside of the screen. Thenclick on the Closebutton (upper left cornerof the dialogue box) toexit the Chooser.

Selection tool

Type tool

Fact

The Scribble filter doesnot add anchor points tothe object; it only movesexisting points inrandom directions.

Selection tool

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7. Use the type tool to type Roughen/jagged and move the textobject under the star.

8. Select the third star and apply the Roughen fi l ter(Filter/Distort/Roughen) again, but this time choose theRounded option. Click on OK. Use the type tool to create aDistort/Rounded label for the star.

9. Select the fourth star. Choose Filter/Distort/Scribble to displaythe Scribble dialogue box, where you specify how the anchorpoints move in a random direction away from the original path.

10.Type 10 in the Horizontal field; tab to the Vertical field and type10 again (Figure 12.5). These values calculate the the horizontaland vertical percentage of the longest segment of the object, andspecify the distance an anchor point or segment will be moved.

11.Click to select the Anchor Points check box to move the anchorpoints of the selected object. Click to select the “In” ControlPoints check box to move all the Bezier direction handlesassociated with path segments going into the anchor point. Clickto select the “Out” Control Points check box to move the Bezierdirection handles associated with path segments going out froman anchor point. Click on OK.

12.Type a label for this star and move it under the star.

13.Select the fifth star and choose Filter/Distort/Tweak. TheTweak filter moves anchor points by a specific amount. Type0.5 in the Horizontal and Vertical fields to move all the anchorpoints 0.5 inch. Click to select all of the check boxes, which willmove the control points that lead into and out of the anchorpoints on the path. Click on OK.

14.Type a label for the star and move it under the star.

15.Select the sixth star and choose Filter/Distort/Twirl. Type 50 inthe Angle field to to rotate the selected object more sharply fromits centre than at its edges. Click on OK.

16.Type a label for the star and move it under the star.

17.Select the seventh star and double-click on the Rotate tool. Type50 in the Angle field and click on OK. Notice the differencebetween rotating an object and applying the Twirl filter.

18.Type a Rotate label for this star and move it under the rotated star.

19.Your screen should resemble Figure 12.6.

ALIGN FILTERSThe Objects filters include filters for aligning objects horizontally andvertically. Selected objects can be aligned vertically using therightmost, centre, or leftmost anchor points of the selected objects.They can also be aligned horizontally using the topmost, centre, andlowest anchor points.

1. If necessary, open the Star Filters.ai file (Command-O) whichyou created in the last exercise. If you don’t have the file, use theCreate filter to create a star, duplicate it six times, and apply adifferent filter to each star. Use the type tool to create labels forthe stars as in Figure 12.6.

2. You will align the seven stars and their labels in two rows acrossthe width of the page. Choose File/Page Setup to display the PageSetup dialogue box for the printer you specified in the Chooser.

3. Your page is currently set for Portrait mode, that is, the page isplaced with the shorter side of the page (drawing area) at thetop. Click the Landscape Orientation icon to switch the shorterside of the page to the side. This will give you more room toarrange the stars.

4. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and Edit/Ungroup(Command-U) to ungroup any objects you might have groupedtogether.

Figure 12.5-Scribble dialogue box.

EXERCISE D

Figure 12.6 -Thestars with variousDistort filters applied.

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-Shift-E Filter/ReapplyFilter

Fact

The DistributeHorizontally andDistribute Verticallyfilters do exactly whatselecting Distribute fromthe Horizontal field andNone from the Verticalfield in the Align Objectsdialogue box does. Withthe Distribute optionselected, objects areevenly distributedbetween the position ofthe leftmost andrightmost objects(horizontal distribution)and between the topand bottom objects(vertical distribution).

Selection tool



It doesnÕt have to

make sense!

Objects are lined uphorizontally (across) atthe same position onthe Y (vertical) axis.That’s why you selectthe Vertical optionswhen you want to stringobjects across the page.The three balls beloware at the same point onthe vertical axis, that is,they are all, forexample, six inchesdown from the top

margin.

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5. Use the selection toot to Shift-select the top row of stars. Do notselect the labels.

6. Choose Filter/Objects/Align Objects to display the Align Objectsdialogue box (Figure (12.7).

7. Since you are not aligning objects above and/or below eachother, click to select None in the Horizontal field.

8. To align all the selected objects from their centres, click the Centrebutton in the Vertical field. The preview box displays the selectedalignment. Click on OK. Your screen should resemble Figure 12.8.

9. Shift-select the labels under the stars in the top row. Choose Filter/Objects/Align Objects to display the Align Objects dialogue box.

10.Click to select None in the Horizontal field. Click to selectBottom in the Vertical field so that the selected labels will alignfrom their bottom points, in this case, the baseline or alignmentpoint. Click on OK.

11.Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A).

12.Use the selection tool to Shift-select the stars in the bottom row.Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the last filter, in which youaligned the selected objects from their lowest anchor points. Youcould also choose Filter/Align Objects, which would apply to thecurrently selected objects the last alignment filter you applied.

13.Deselect everything by clicking on an empty area of the page orchoosing Command-Shift-A.

14.Use the selection tool to Shift-select the two labels under thetwo stars in the bottom row. Press Command-Shift-E again toalign the labels vertically from their lowest anchor points, thealignment points.

15.Shift-Select the first star in the first row, its label, the first star inthe second row, and its label (Figure 12.9).

16.Choose Filter/Objects/Align Objects to display the Align Objectsdialogue box. Click to select Left in the Horizontal field. This willalign the selected objects from their leftmost anchor points. ClickNone in the Vertical field (Figure 12.10).

17.Click on OK. The four objects (two stars and two labels) arealigned vertically from their leftmost anchor points.

18.Use the selection tool to Shift-select the second star in the toprow, its label, the second star in the bottom row, and its label.Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the horizontal alignmentvalues. Your screen should resemble Figure 12.11.

Figure 12.7-TheAlign Objectsdialogue box.

Figure 12.8-Thestars in the toprow are alignedvertically acrossthe centre points.

Figure 12.9-Shift-select only the first star andlabel in each row.

Figure 12.10-TheAlign Objectsdialogue box forh o r i z o n t a lalignment from theleftmost anchorpoints.

Figure 12.11 -Stars and labelsaligned verticallyfrom their centrepoints andhorizontally fromtheir leftmostpoints.

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-E View/Artwork -Shift-E Filter/Reapply

Filter

Fact

You must select thestroke pattern beforeapplying the OutlinePath filter if you want tofill that new path with apattern.

Use it and lose it!

Before applying theOutline Path filter, therewas only one object, apolygon with a strokeand fill applied. Onceyou apply the OutlinePath filter, that polygonbecomes a groupedobject, because the newpath and the centrepath are now twoseparate paths, andmust be moved with thegroup-selection tool.

Selection tool

Pen tool Rectangletool

More info

Typing a negativenumber in the Offsetfield of the Offset Pathdialogue box will offsetthe new line the specifieddistance below theoriginal line.

Fact

Multiple-selected objectsdo not have to begrouped before applyingthe Rotate Each orScale Each filter.

The Add Anchor Pointsfilter doubled the 7-points in the polygon to14 points


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OTHER OBJECTS FILTERSThe Add Anchor Points filter doubles the number of anchor pointsin a selected path by adding a point between each pair of points onthe path.

The Move Each filter is similar to the Move dialogue box exceptthat the Move dialogue box is used to move only selected points,while the Move Each filter moves all the anchor points in aselection. The Move Each dialogue box also includes a Randomcheck box. Selecting this option tells Illustrator to move the selectedobjects randomly based on the horizontal and vertical values in thedialogue box.

The Offset Path filter traces a second path around the selectedpath. The Outline Path filter, sometimes called Outline Stroke,strokes a closed path with another path, thus permitting you toapply a pattern to the stroke. Both of these filters require that thecomputer be equipped with a math co-processor or floating-pointunit (FPU).

The Rotate Each filter works with several selected objects androtates each selected object independently around its centre. TheScale Each filter works in much the same way. It scales each selectedobject in a group of selected objects independently around its centre.

1. On a clean drawing page, choose Filter/Create/Polygon to displaythe Create Polygon dialogue box. Type 7 in the Sides field andclick on OK (Figure 12.12). The 7-point polygon is displayed.

2. Choose Filter/Objects/Add Anchor Points. The 7-point polygonnow displays 14 anchor points.

3. With the polygon still selected, apply any fill and a 20-pointblack stroke.

4. Click on the Patterns icon in the colour strip area of the PaintStyle palette. Choose File/Import Styles and highlight thePatterns folder in the Adobe Illustrator 5.5 folder on your harddrive. Click on Open. Double-click on Native American to openthe Native American patterns. The file containing the patterns isdisplayed on the screen and the Patterns scroll box now includesall of the Native American patterns.

5. With the polygon still selected, click on the Stroke icon in thePaint Style palette and click on the Pomo pattern in the Patternsscroll box.

6. Choose Filter/Object/Outline path. The polygon’s stroke isreplaced with a path. And since, unlike strokes, paths can be filledwith a pattern, the new path is filled with the Pomo pattern. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 12-13.

7. On a clean drawing page, use the pen tool to draw a straight line.Assign it a stroke of 10 points. Then select it with the selection tool.

8. Choose Filter/Objects/Offset Path to display the Offset Pathdialogue box. Type 20 in the Offset field to offset the new line20 points from the original. Click on OK.

9. Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the filter. Do this two moretimes until you have about four lines on top of each other. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 12.14.

10.On a clean drawing page, use the rectangle tool to draw arectangle. Assign it a fill of None and a 10-point stroke. Keep itselected.

11.Choose Filter/Objects/Offset Path. Type 20 in the Offset field.Click on OK. Press Command-Shift-E (Filter/Reapply Filter) afew times. Your screen should resemble Figure 12.15.

EXERCISE E

Figure 12.12-The CreatePolygon dialogue box.

Figure 12.13-The polygon is no longerstroked. Instead, its outline is a pathwhich can be filled with a pattern.

Figure 12.14 -Using the OffsetPath f i l ter andreapplying it resultsin duplicates of theoriginal line.

Figure 12.15-A closed path offset 20 points.

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Fact

Some Pathfinder filtersrequire a math co-processor installed inthe computer. Unlessinstalled separately, theMacintosh LC, Ilsi,Centris, and 610models do not have therequired co-processor.Neither do thePowerbook 500 seriescomputers.


Rectangle tool

Selection tool

Fact

Use the GeneralPreferences dialogue box(File/Preferences/General) to select a unit ofmeasure for the filterdialogue boxes. You canalso override the currentunit of measure bytyping in or pt in thedialogue box.

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1. On a clean page drag with the rectangle tool to create a rectangleabout 4 inches wide and 6 inches high. Fill it with purple.

2. Choose Filter/Create/Spiral. Type 5 in the Winds dialogue boxand click on the Clockwise option. Click on OK (Figure 12.16).

3. The spiral is displayed as a selected path. Assign it a yellow stroke.

4. Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the filter. A second spiral isplaced on top of the original spiral. Use the selection tool tomove it away.

5. Continue to use the Spiral filter to create clockwise andanticlockwise spirals with different winds and space between thewinds. Then select only the spirals and chooseFilter/Objects/Move Each to display the Move Each dialogue box(Figure 12.17).

6. Type 12 (points) in the Horizontal field; tab to the Vertical fieldand type 12. Click on the Random check box to move each spiralrandomly within the 12-point horizontal and vertical specification.Click on Copy to create more spirals.

7. Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the filter. Do this a few timesuntil you are satisfied with the way the spirals are arranged.

8. Choose Filter/Create/Polygon to create a three-sided object, atriangle.

9. Choose Filter/Objects/Rotate Each. Type 15 in the Angle field.Do not select the Random option. Click on the Copy button tocreate a rotated copy of the original triangle.

10.Press Command-Shift-E to reapply the filter a few times. Thenselect the whole group and Option-drag it to create a copy of thegroup, Do this a few times to create a design similar to the one inFigure 12.18.

11.Create another triangle (Filter/Create/Polygon). ChooseFilter/Objects/Scale Each and type 150 in the Horizontal andVertical fields. Do not select the Random check box. Click onCopy, Send to the back and Shift select the original triangle.

12.Choose Filter/Objects/Scale Each again. Type 50 in the Verticalfield and click on Copy.

13.Press Command-Shift-E a few times to reapply the filter. Yourscreen should resemble Figure 12.19.

Figure 12.19-The Scale Each filter creates different effects depending on thespecifications in the Scale Each dialogue box.

PATHFINDER FILTERSUse the Pathfinder filters to join, separate, and subdivide paths as wellas to create new paths from the intersection of objects. Many of thePathfinder filters create compound paths, which create a see-througheffect with the overlapping objects.

The first five Pathfinder filters, called the Combine filters, createtheir effects by tracing the outline of overlapping or non-overlappingshapes. Some, like the Back Minus Front and Front Minus Backfilters, are useful in creating knockout areas of the illustration byadjusting the stacking order of the selected objects. Others, like theMix Hard and Mix Soft filters, are used to create a transparent effectby combining overlapping colours.

Figure 12.16-Specify thenumber of winds, the distancebetween winds, and thedirection of the spiral in theSpiral dialogue box.

Figure 12.17 -Type values for amove’s horizontal and vertical distancein this dialogue box.

EXERCISE F

Figure 12.18-Reapply the Rotate Eachfilter to create a new design.

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-Z Edit/Undo -A Edit/Select All

Rectangle tool

-T Window/Show Character

-A Edit/Select All -Z Edit/Undo

Rectangle tool

Type tool

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1. On a clean drawing page, use the rectangle tool to draw a 6-inchsquare. Fill and stroke the the square.

2. Select the type tool and type an ampersand (Shift-7) in the centreof the square. Click on the selection tool and use either theCharacter palette (Command-T) or the Font and Type menus toformat that single character in 700-point Palatino italic—thetypeface isn’t that important.

3. Drag the character in the square so that it extends beyond thesquare. While it is still selected, choose Type/Create Outlines toconvert the text character to a path (Figure 12.20).

4. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) to select both the characterand the square. Choose Filter/Pathfinder/Intersect to delete thepart of the character that does not overlap the square (Figure12.21). This filter applies the paint attributes of the frontmostobject to the newly created object. Choose Edit/Undo(Command-Z) to restore the original image.

5. Select both the square and the character again (Edit/Select All)and choose Filter/Pathfinder/Exclude (Figure 12.21) to delete anyarea where the two objects overlap. Again, the paint attributes ofthe frontmost object are applied to the newly created object.Choose Edit/Undo Command-Z) to restore the original image.

6. Select both objects again and choose Filter/Pathfinder/MinusFront to delete any part of the backmost selected object where itoverlaps the front object (Figure 12.22). Choose Edit/Undo(Command-Z) to restore the original image.

7. Select both objects again (Command-A) and chooseFilter/Pathfinder/Minus Back to delete any part of the frontmostobject that overlaps the backmost object (Figure 12.22).

8. Use the rectangle tool to draw a small square. Apply fill andstroke attributes to it.

9. Option-drag to create another square diagonally below the firstone so that the top left corner of the duplicate intersects theoriginal at its centre point. Apply different fill and strokeattributes to the second square.

10.Select both squares and choose Filter/Pathfinder/Unite. Thetwo objects are joined into one object. The overlappingsegments disappear and the paint attributes of the frontmostobject (the second square) are applied to the newly createdobject (Figure 12.23).

DIVIDE AND MERGE FILTERSThe Divide and Merge filters split overlapping and non-overlappingpaths and then merge them into closed and/or open objects. In theprocess of dividing and merging, fills and strokes are eitherremoved, replaced, or repositioned.

EXERCISE G

Figure 12.20-Atext character isplaced over acoloured square( left ) , thenconverted to apath.

Figure 12.21 -TheIntersect f i l ter ( left )deletes any non-overlapping areas; theExclude filter (right)deletes those areaswhere the objectsoverlap. They are nowindependent segmentsand can be selectedwith the direct-selection tool.

Figure 12.22-The Minus Frontf i l ter ( left ) andMinus Back filter(right) delete theback and frontoverlapping partsof the image.

Outline indicatesarea that wasdeleted.

Figure 12.23-Thefrontmost object (left)has a yellow fill andsix-point strokeapplied. When theUnite filter is applied,those fill and strokeattributes are appliedto the newly createdobject (right).

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-I Object/Paint Style -A Edit/Select All

Merge filter applied inArtwork mode.

Oval tool

Selection tool

Tip

To achieve morestriking results andinteresting effects withthe Mix Hard filter, usedifferent or contrastingcolours.


- - (hyphen) Arrange/Send to Back

Rectangle tool

Type tool

Selection tool

Fact

The Trim and Mergefilters remove any partof a filled path that isnot visible behindanother object. TheTrim filter does notmerge objects with thesame fill colour as doesthe Merge filter.

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1. Use the rectangle tool and Shift-drag to create a square. Use thetype tool to type an ampersand (Shift-7) and click on the selectiontool to select the text character.

2. Format the ampersand in any size of Palatino italic which will makethe text overlap the square as in the Original example in Figure12.24.

3. With the text character still selected, choose Type/Create Outlines toconvert the text character to a graphic object. Fill it with a colour thatcontrasts with the square. Assign it a 2-point stroke.

4. Shift-select both objects with the selection tool and Option-drag tocreate another pair. Choose Arrange/Repeat Transform(Command-D) five more times. You should have a total of 7 pairs.

5. Label one pair as Original. Shift-select the second pair of objects andchoose Filter/Pathfinder Divide. The new object keeps its fillcolours, but the strokes are removed from both the character andthe square. Any area where the character and the squareoverlapped has become a separate object.

6. Click on one of the overlapping areas and notice that it is a separatepath. Fill it with a different colour from the Colours palette.

7. Shift-select the third pair of objects with the selection tool. ChooseFilter/Pathfinder/Outline. The Outline filter strips the selected objects(they don’t have to overlap) of their fill attributes and replaces thestroke attributes with the colour of the original fill.

8. Shift-select the fourth pair of objects with the selection tool. ChooseFilter/Pathfinder/Trim to strip the stroke attributes from the selectedobjects. The fill attributes remain the same.

9. Use the rectangle or oval tool to draw an object that overlaps thecharacter and square in the 5th pair. Fill it with the same colour as thecharacter. Choose Arrange/Send to Back (Command- -) to make it thebackmost object in the stacking order of the three objects.

10.Shift-select the fifth pair of objects and chooseFilter/Pathfinder/Merge to remove any part of a filled path that ishidden and merge the overlapping objects filled with the samecolour.

11.Shift-select the sixth pair of objects and chooseFilter/Pathfinder/Crop to delete any part of the selection extendingbeyond the frontmost object. The resulting object becomes separatepaths which can be filled and stroked independently.

MIX FILTERSThe Mix Hard and Mix Soft filters transform the areas created byoverlapping objects into separate objects. These new objects are filledwith a mixture of the colours from the overlapping objects. Strokeattributes, however, are removed.

1. Use the oval tool and Shift-drag to create a circle. Option-drag theselected circle a few times to form a cluster of circles (Figure 12.25).

2. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and apply a black stroke toall the selected circles.

3. Use the Paint Style palette (Command-I) to fill every circle with adifferent colour.

4. Choose Edit/Select All (Command-A) and use the selection tool tooption-drag a copy of the circles to another part of the drawingpage.

5. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around all thecircles in one cluster. Choose Filter/Pathfinder/Hard. The CMYKvalues with the highest values in each object are mixed in theoverlapping areas. Any strokes applied to the selected objects arealso removed. Your screen should resemble Figure 12-25.

6. Use the selection toot to draw a selection marquee around thesecond cluster of circles. Choose Filter/Pathfinder/Soft to displaythe Pathfinder Soft dialogue box (Figure 12.26).

EXERCISE H

Figure 12.24-D i s p l a y sexamples of theDivide andMerge f i l ters.The segmentsof the Cropexample wereselected andf i l l e dindependently.

EXERCISE I

Figure 12.25-The circles inArtwork mode(left) and after theMix Hard fi l terwas applied. A 2point whitestroke wasapplied to thesegments, whichdisplay the new(mixed) colours.

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Bye,bye

The two ways todeselect every object inthe illustration are topress Command-Shift-A(Edit/Select None) or toclick on any empty areaof the drawing page.

Selection tool

Warning!

Select Filters don’t workif you are running Ram-Doubler

Frontmost object (oval)was originally filled withwhite.

A mixing rate of 80%will make the underlyingcolours appear lighterwhen the frontmostobject has a white fill.

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7. The higher the value entered in the Mixing Rate field, the greaterthe transparency of the frontmost objects. Type 90 in the Mixingrate field. Click to select the Convert custom colours to processcheck box and click on OK. Your screen should resemble Figure12-27.

SELECT FILTERSUse the Select filters (Figure 12.28) to select objects with the same fill,paint, and stroke attributes. The Inverse filter will switch selections-select what is not selected and deselect what is selected.

The Stray Points filter cleans up anchor points that may belittering the drawing page when you click with the pen tool and thendecide to use another tool. This leaves a stray anchor point on thepage which you can select with the Stray Points filter and delete.

These filters are handy when you decide that the purple stroke onthe yellow birds is too bright. You can select one object with the purplestroke, use a Select filter to select all the other objects with that stroke,and change the colour and /or weight with one keystroke.

1. Use the drawing tools or the Create filters to draw four objects, andthe Pen tool to create a single point. Assign two objects the samefill and stroke attributes. Assign the other two objects different filland stroke attributes. You now have four objects with two differentfill and stroke attributes and a loose point (Figure 12.29).

Figure 12.29-Four objects with similar and different strokes and fills.

2. Use the selection tool to select Object 1. Choose Filter/Select/SameFill Colour. Both Object 1 and Object 2 are selected because theyhave the same fill attributes.

3. Deselect everything (Command-Shift-A). Select Object 2.Choose Filter/Select/Same Paint Style. Object 1 becomesselected because it has the same fill, stroke, and stroke weight asthe originally selected object (Object 2).

4. Deselect everything by clicking on an empty area of the drawingpage. Choose Filter/Select/Same Stroke Colour. Objects 1, 2,and 4 are selected because they all have the same black stroke.

5. Deselect everything. Select Object 4. Press Command-Shift-E toapply the Select filter again. Objects 1 and 2 are now selectedbecause they have the same black stroke as Object 4, the selectedobject.

6. Deselect everything. Choose Filter/Select/Same Stroke Weight.All the objects are selected because they all have the same 1-point stroke. Colour is not an issue with this filter.

7. Deselect everything. Use the selection tool to select Object 3.Choose Filter/Select/Select Inverse. Object 3 becomesdeselected and Objects 1, 2, and 4 become selected. The SelectInverse filter deselects the selection and selects every otherobject in the document.

8. Deselect everything. Choose Filter/Select/Select Stray Points.The single point you created with the pen tool appears selected.Press the Delete key to delete the stray point.

9. Change the paint, stroke, and stroke weight values of the fourobjects and practice using the Select filters to select similarobjects. Once you have them selected, use the Paint Stylepalette to make global fill and stroke changes.

Figure 12.26-Thehigher the value in theMixing rate field, thegreater thetransparency.

Figure 12.27-The Mix Soft filter makes thefrontmost objects transparent. A 2 point whitestroke has been applied to the overlappingobjects.

Figure 12.28 -The Select filters.

EXERCISE J

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Oval tool

Fact

The Calligraphy filterresembles theCalligraphic option forthe brush tool.However, theCalligraphy filter differsfrom the Brush tooloption in that the filtercan be applied to anobject that is alreadycreated.

Type tool

Pen tool

Fact

An open path must beselected before the AddArrowheads filter can beapplied.

Tip

Increasing anddecreasing the Scalevalue in the AddArrowheads dialoguebox will make thearrowheads larger orsmaller.

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STYLISE FILTERSThe Stylise filters are used to add special effects to objects. You cancreate interesting graphic effects with these filters, especially when youuse them with text objects which have been converted to outlines.

1. The Add Arrowheads filter adds arrowheads to the start, end, orstart and end of any selected open path. Use the pen tool to draw astraight line. Apply a stroke of any weight. Keep the line selected.

2. Choose Filter/Stylise/Add Arrowheads to display the AddArrowheads dialogue box (Figure 12.30). Click on the handarrows to move forward and backward to select arrowhead #20,one of the many installed arrowheads. The selected arrowheadappears in the preview window.

3. Type 100 in the Scale field and click in the Start and End buttonto make the arrowhead appear at both ends of the open path.Click on OK. Your screen should resemble Figure 12.30.

Figure 12.30-This Add Arrowheads dialogue box specifies arrowheads forthe start and end of the open path.

4. Draw another line, select it, and use the Add Arrowheads filterto create different graphic effects. The path does not have to bea straight line (Figure 12.31) as long as it is an open path.

Figure 12.31-Draw a circle and select it. Use the scissors tool to cut thetwo horizontal anchor points and delete the bottom path. Then select thetop path and add the balls to the start and end of the path via the AddArrowheads dialogue box.

5. Select the oval tool and Shift-drag to draw a circle. ChooseFilter/Stylise/Bloat to display the Bloat dialogue box. The Bloatfilter curves a selected path out from its anchor points at aspecified value. Type 30 in the Amount field to curve the anchorpoints outward by 30%. Click on OK. Your screen shouldresemble Figure 12.32.

Figure 12.32-The greater the value in the Amount field, the morepronounced the outward curve of the anchor points.

6. The Calligraphy filter applies a line of varying weight to an openor closed path. Although you cannot apply this filter to text, ifyou convert the text to outlines (Type/Create Outlines), you canapply the filter to the paths and achieve some interesting results.

7. Use the freehand tool to draw a wavy line. Apply a 6 pointstroke and no fill. Choose Stylise/Calligraphy to display theCalligraphy dialogue box. Assign a 9 point Pen Width value anda 120° Pen Angle value. Click on OK.

8. Use the type tool to type a letter. Click on the selection tool andformat the text character in 72 point type. Choose Type/CreateOutlines.

9. With the character object still selected, choose Filter/Stylise/Calligraphy Type 1 (inch) in the Pen Width field. Tab to the PenAngle field and type 45. Click on OK. Your screen shouldresemble Figure 12-33.

10.Select Points/Picas as the Ruler units (Command-K).

11.Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle. Assign it a blackstroke and a white fill. Choose Filter/Stylise/Drop Shadow todisplay the Drop Shadow dialogue box (Figure 12.34). The valuein the X Offset field determines the horizontal distance betweenthe selected object and the shadow; the Y Offset field determinesits vertical distance.

EXERCISE K

Original path Figure 12.33 -The Call igraphyfilter applied to anopen path and to atext characterconverted tooutlines.

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Rectangle tool

Path-type tool


Rectangle tool

Design Tip

Create dropshadowsarounddifferent

graphic objects like starsand polygons. Savethem as EPS files andimport them into yourpage layout program toadd a little pizazz topages.

The 1st Radius valueaffects the size of thestar, since this valuedetermines the distancefrom the centre of thestar to its outer points.The 2nd Radius valuedetermines the distancebetween the centre of thestar and the inner points.

Fact

You can enter a valuebetween -200 and 200in the Amount field ofthe Punk dialogue box.The higher the number,the more pronouncedthe distortion.

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12.Type 9 in the X Offset field to offset the drop shadow 9 pointsto the right of the selected object. Press the Tab key and type 9in the Y offset field to offset the shadow 9 points down from theobject. The preview window on the right side of the dialoguebox displays the effect of the values.

13.Type 100 in the Darker field to make the drop shadow black. Anyvalue below 100% makes the drop shadow lighter than black.

14.Click to select the Group Shadows check box to group the dropshadow with the selected object. Click on OK.

15.Draw another rectangle and choose Filter/Stylise/Drop Shadow.Type -9 in the X offset field to offset the shadow 9 points to theleft of the selected object. Type -9 in the Y Offset field to offsetthe shadow 9 points above the object. Leave the Darker value at100%. Click on OK. Your screen should resemble Figure 12-35.

16.Use the rectangle tool to draw another rectangle. ChooseFilter/Stylise/Punk to display the Punk dialogue box. Type 20 inthe Amount field to distort the edge of the selected object andmake it jagged. Click on OK. Your screen should resembleFigure 12-36.

17.Use the rectangle tool and Shift-drag to create a small square.Choose Filter/Stylise/Round Corners to display the RoundCorners dialogue box. Type 60 in the Radius field and click onOK. Your screen should resemble Figure 12.37.

This is a free exercise!

1. Use the Create filters or draw objects and apply various filters tothem. Change the values in the dialogue boxes and reapply thefilters to see how objects can be altered with the different values.

2. Use the Create command to create a spiral. Then use the path-type tool to type text on the path and the direct-selection tool tostroke the path.

3. Use the Add Arrowheads filter to create different effects witharrowheads on straight or curved open paths.

4. Use a wide Pen Width value like 9 or 10 in the Calligraphydialogue box to create a compound path which will reveal thebackground behind it. Your screen might resemble Figure 12.38.

Figure 12.34-The DropShadow dialogue box.

Figure 12.35-The dropshadow on the left displayspositive offset values; theone on the right displaysnegative offset values.

Figure 12.36 -Arectangle stylised withthe Punk filter.

Figure 12.37-A rectangle stylisedwith the Round Corners filter.

REVIEW EXERCISE

Figure 12.38-D i s p l a y sspirals; a spiralwith text; a starand polygonstyl ised withthe Calligraphyfilter and thenpainted white,which makestheir centrest r an spa ren t ;and graphicarrowheads atthe start andend of an openpath.

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1. The Adjust Colours filtera. adds coloursb. changes CMYK valuesc. saturates coloursd. changes spot colours to process colours

2. The Pathfinder filtersa. merge pathsb. divide pathsc. affect stroke and fill attributesd. all of the above

3. The Roughen, Scribble, and Twirl filtersa. affect fill and stroke attributesb. affect selected anchor pointsc. distort selected objectsd. can be used only on an open path

4. To make global changes in a document, use thea. Pathfinder filtersb. Select filtersc. Create filtersd. Objects filters

5. To align objects at the same point on the X axis, use thea. Distribute Horizontally filterb. Offset Path filterc. Direct-selection toold. Vertical field in the Align Objects dialogue box

6. Arrowheads and drop shadows are created with thea. Stylise filtersb. Create filtersc. Object filtersd. none of the above

7. The Add Anchor Points filtera. adds a specified number of anchor points to a selected objectb. can be applied to textc. doubles the number of anchor points in a selectiond. adds anchor points only to closed paths

8. Pressing Command-Shift-Ea. doubles the number of selected objectsb. allows you to enter values in a Filter dialogue boxc. applies a filter to the next selected objectd. reapplies the most recently applied filter

9. To create transparent effects with overlapping colours, usea. the Mix Soft filterb. the Blend Front to Back filterc. the Invert Colours filterd. all of the above

10.Stars and polygons are created with thea. Create filterb. Stylise filterc. Objects filterd. Pathfinder filters

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers; 1. b; 2. d; 3. c; 4. b. 5. d; 6. a; 7. c; 8. d; 9. a; 10. a.

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-I Object/Paint Style -O File/Quit

Drag the Custom toProcess filter from theOptional Plug-Ins folderto the Plug-Ins folderand quit Illustrator.When you relaunch theapplication, the Customto Process filter will beactive.

The Custom to Processfilter is one of theColours filters.

Rectangle tool

Custom colour iconselected in the colourstrip area.

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OVERVIEW

This last lesson covers converting custom colours to process coloursand creating colour traps to compensate for misregistration whenprinting. You will also learn how to print black-and-white files andcolour separations. How Adobe Illustrator interfaces with AdobeSeparator and QuarkXPress is also discussed.

TOPICS

Printing with colourConverting to process coloursPrinting to a laser printerPrinting colour separationsAdobe SeparatorTrappingSpread traps and choke trapsThe Trap filterReview ExerciseReview Questions

TERMS

Choke trapCrop marksKnockoutOverprintingProcess colourSpot colourSpread trapTrapping

TUTORIAL FILES

A la Matisse.ai

PRINTING WITH COLOURColour comes in two flavours: spot colour and process colour.Process colour is sometimes called four-colour process. Spot colouris a single colour that is pre-mixed from any number of colours. Acustom colour like “Banana Yellow,” created in Illustrator, is acombination of any percentage of the four process colours, cyan,magenta, yellow, and black. When you apply “Banana Yellow” toan object in Illustrator and print the file through either AdobeSeparator or a page layout program like QuarkXPress, a separateplate will be printed for “Banana Yellow.” Even though you usedtwo or three or even four process colours to create “BananaYellow,” because you specified it as a custom colour, it remains asingle colour requiring a single plate and only one ink.

Process colours are also comprised of the four process colours,cyan, magenta, yellow and black. However, unlike spot colours, ifyou define “Banana Yellow” as a process colour made up of 17%Cyan, 21% Magenta, 100% Yellow, and 11% Black in the PaintStyle palette (Figure 13.1), four plates will print for each page onwhich an object painted with that colour appears.

Since each spot colour requires a separate plate, if you are printinga file with three or more spot colours and black text, it is cheaper toconvert the spot colours to process colours so that only four plateswill print. Otherwise, a plate will be printed for each page on whicheach spot colour is designated, as well a black plate for the text.

CONVERTING TO PROCESS COLOURSThe easiest way to convert spot colours to process colours in version5.5 is to drag the Custom to Process filter from the Optional(inactive) Plug-Ins folder into the Plug-Ins folder. You must thenrelaunch Adobe Illustrator so that it can initialise the new filter.

1. Drag the Custom to Process filter from the Optional Plug-Insfolder to the Plug-Ins folder in the Adobe Illustrator 5.5 folder.Quit Illustrator (Command-Q) and relaunch the program.

2. Draw a rectangle and display the Paint Style palette (Command-I). Click on the Custom colour icon in the Paint Style palette anduse the scroll box on the right to highlight Gold.

UNIT

13Colour

Trappingand

Printing

Figure 13.1-The Paint Style palettedisplays the CMYK percentages for acolour named “Banana Yellow.”

EXERCISE A

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Selection tool

Fact

You can only Importcolours intoQuarkXPress version3.2 upwards.

Fact

The only way to get anIllustrator 5 file intoQuarkXPress is to saveit as an EPS file inIllustrator. Quark doesnot import files saved inthe Illustrator 5 format.

The colour created inAdobe Illustrator,banana yellow, nowappears in theQuarkXPress Colourspalette.

-O File/Open -P File/Print

Click to select the Activeoption in the Chooserdialogue box if yourprinter is on a network.

Click to select Portraitorientation to printvertically on the paper.

Selecting this optionprints the colouredobjects in the documentas different shades ofgrey so you can moreeasily distinguishbetween objects.

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3. Choose Filter/Colours/Custom to Process to display the Customto Process dialogue box. Make sure the Retain Tint check box isselected to keep the custom colour tint from the Paint Stylepalette. Click on OK.

4. The Process colour icon becomes selected in the Paint Stylepalette, and the CMYK sliders display the values used to create aprocess colour version of the custom colour, Gold.

5. Choose File Save. Type Process Yellow.ai in the Save thisdocument as field and select Illustrator 5 from the Format pull-down menu. Click on Save (Figure 13.2).

PRINTING TO A LASER PRINTERPrinting to a black-and-white or colour PostScript printer is ratherstraightforward in Adobe Illustrator. You must first specify a printer,make the appropriate selections in the Page Setup dialogue box,and then use the Print command.

1. Turn on the printer and launch Adobe Illustrator. If necessary,open the Process Yellow.ai file (Command-O). Pull down theApple menu on the extreme left side of the Menu Bar ( ) andhighlight Chooser to display the Chooser dialogue box.

2. Click on the icon on the left side of the screen for the printerconnected to your computer. When its name appears in theright side of the dialogue box, click on it to highlight (select) it. Ifyou are on a network, click to make Appletalk active. Click theClose box in the upper left corner of the Chooser dialogue boxto exit the Chooser and return to Illustrator.

3. Choose File/Page Setup to display the Page Setup dialogue box.Click to select A4.

4. Make sure that the Portrait Orientation icon is selected to printthe page vertically. None of the other options have to bechecked. Click on OK.

5. Choose File/Print (Command-P) to display the Print dialoguebox. Leave 1 in the Copies field and the All button selected. Ifyou wanted to print only specific pages, you would type values inthe From (page) and To (page) fields.

6. Click to select the Colour/Greyscale option if you want thecoloured objects printed in easily distinguishable shades of grey.

7. Click Printer as the Destination and click on OK. (You did turnon the printer, didn’t you?)

PRINTING COLOUR SEPARATIONSThere are two ways to print colour separations. The easiest way isto save the Illustrator document as an EPS file and import it intoQuarkXPress, which will automatically add the process colour to itsColours palette and separate the colour when printing.

The more complicated way to print colour separations fromAdobe Illustrator is to separate the colours in Illustrator’s companionapplication, Adobe Separator.

1. If necessary, open the Process Yellow.ai file you created earlier.If you don’t have the file, create a new document with a processcolour or with a custom colour converted to a process colour.

2. Select the object. This will display the CMYK values for that objectin the Custom Colour dialogue box. Choose Object/CustomColour to display the Custom Colour dialogue box.

3. Click on New and type banana yellow in the Change Name tofield. Click on OK. The new name has now been added to thelist of custom colours.

4. Choose File/Save As. Change the.ai suffix to.eps and select EPSfrom the Format pull-down menu (Figure 13.3). Click on Save.

5. The EPS Format dialogue box appears (13.4). Select 8-bitMacintosh for the Preview and Illustrator 5 for the Compatibilityoptions. Click on OK.

6. Launch QuarkXPress, draw a picture box, and choose File/GetPicture. Scroll to locate and highlight the Process Yellow.eps fileand click on Open.

7. Choose View/Show Colours to display the Colours palette.Notice that the process colour you created in Illustrator, bananayellow, appears in the Quark Colours palette and is now part ofthe Quark document.

Figure 13.2 -Savethe file in Illustrator 5format.

EXERCISE B

EXERCISE C

Figure 13.3-Save thefile as an EPS file so itcan be imported intoQuarkXPress.

Figure 13.4 -Select a Previewoption to view theI l lustrator f i le inanother program.

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-S Save All Separations

Click on this button inthe lower right corner ofthe Setup dialogue boxto select colours forprinting.

When Save SelectedSeparations is selected,Separator saves onlythose separations whichyou indicated shouldprint in the Separationdialogue box.

Double-click on theAdobe Separator icon tolaunch AdobeSeparator.

The PPDs folder isinside the Separator &Utilities folder, which isin the Adobe Illustratorfolder on the hard drive.

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8. Choose Edit/Colours to display Quark’s Edit Colours dialoguebox. Click to highlight banana yellow and click on Edit to displaythe Edit Colour dialogue box for banana yellow.

9. Make sure the Model pull-down menu displays CMYK. Click toselect the Process Separation check box (Figure 13.5). Click onOK to return to the Edit Colours dialogue box. Click on Save toreturn to the document.

10.Choose File/Print to print the four plates necessary to separatethe banana yellow colour.

ADOBE SEPARATORAdobe Separator is an application which comes with Illustrator andis installed in the same folder as Adobe Illustrator’s Separator &Utilities folder on your hard drive. To separate a file in AdobeSeparator, it must first be saved in Illustrator as an EPS file with ablack-and-white or colour Preview option.

1. Locate the Adobe Separator application in the Separator &Utilities folder in the Adobe Illustrator folder on your hard drive.Double-click on the application icon to launch the program.

2. Open the Process Yellow.eps file you created earlier. If you can’tfind the file, create another Illustrator file and save it as an EPSfile with a colour Preview format.

3. Scroll to the Adobe Illustrator folder, to the Separator & Utilitiesfolder, and open the PPDs folder. Highlight the PPD file for thetarget printer or imagesetter which will print the plates for thefile. Click on Open.

4. The Setup window appears with a preview of the image on theright and the setting options on the left. Make sure thatOrientation is set to Portrait.

5. By default, Separator will print every process and custom colourin the illustration. You can, however, specify which colours willand will not print by clicking the Separations button in the Setupdialogue box.

6. Click on the Separations button to display the Separationdialogue box (Figure 13.6).

Figure 13.6-Click on No in the Print column to toggle to Yes if you wantthe colour to print.

7. Click on No in the Print column for each colour you want toprint to toggle to Yes. For this example, toggle all to Yes.

8. If you did not convert a custom colour to process colour, you couldalso make the conversion in this dialogue box. Since you alreadyconverted banana yellow to a process colour, this option is notapplicable. Leave the other values as they are and close thedialogue box by clicking on the Close box in the upper left corner.

9. Pull down the File menu and notice the two Save options, SaveSelected Separations and Save All Separations.

10.If you had not specified every colour to print, you could nowchoose to save only those separations for which you indicated Yesin the Print column of the Separations dialogue box. You can alsochoose to save all the separations by selecting Save All Separations,which will save every colour in the document regardless of whatyou selected in the Separations dialogue box (Figure 13.6).

11.Choose Save All Separations (Command-S) to save the threecolours used in this illustration (cyan, magenta, and yellow) asthree separate files.

TRAPPINGTrapping is a method of compensating for gaps which appear whenoverlapping colours are printed on a printing press. Because pressesshift, even slightly, gaps can appear when one colour is printed ontop of another colour. By creating a small area of overlap, this gapbetween overlapping colours can be eliminated (Figure 13.7).

Figure 13.5-Select the Process Separation optionto print colour separations for banana yellow.

EXERCISE D

Figure 13.7-Notice the white papershowing through the gap between the blackcircle and the yellow square. Trapping willeliminate this gap.

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Fact

Before any trap can beset with the Trap filter,at least two or moreobjects must be selected.

Rectangle tool

Type tool

Selection tool

More info

Specify differentHeight/width values tocompensate for anypaper stretch on theprinting press.Increasing the trapthickness on thehorizontal lines withoutchanging the verticaltrap is done by settingthe Height/width valueto more than 100%.Setting it to less than100% decreases thetrap thickness on thehorizontal lines withoutchanging the verticaltrap.

-O File/Open -S File/Save

Trap on the light side

Try to manipulate thelighter colour whencreating a trap. If thelighter colour is theobject, spread it; if thelighter colour is thebackground, choke it.

Fact

Always let the printertell you how heavy thetrapping stroke shouldbe. A common weight isa quarter-point trap.

Traps are not visibleon proofs, only onnegatives.

Knockout vs.

Overprint

When one overlappingcolour does notoverprint thebackground colourbeneath it, a knockoutresults, which avoidsmixing the overlappingcolours. Instead of theoverlapping colourappearing on the pageand mixing with thebackground colour, thewhite area where thatforeground colourshould appear-theknockout-is displayed.

Selecting theOverprint option in thePaint Style paletteresults in the foregroundfill and stroke coloursprinting on top of thebackground colours,resulting in acombination colour

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SPREAD TRAPS AND CHOKE TRAPSThere are two kinds of traps, a spread trap and a choke trap. Aspread trap extends or spreads the lighter colour object over thedarker background. In Figure 13.7 a spread trap would spread(extend) the yellow square (object) over the black circle (background).

A choke trap extends the lighter background colour behind thedarker foreground object (Figure 13.8). Regardless of the kind ofstroke you apply, the foreground object overprints the background,creating a combination of the two colours where the object andbackground overlap.

1. Use the drawing tools to draw a purple rectangle and a yellowoval. Move the oval (object) on top of the rectangle(background). Save the file (Command-S) as Trap Practice.ai.

2. Select the lighter object (oval) and apply a stroke in the sameyellow colour as the fill. Assume that the printer told you to applya 2 point trap. Since you should double that value for a trap inIllustrator, make the stroke weight 4 points. Type 4 in the StrokeWeight field. In the Overprint area, click on the Stroke check boxto select it. This will place the four-point stroke halfway under thecircle so that the extending 2 points will overlap the backgroundand blend with it to eliminate any gap between the objects (Figure13.9). This is called a spread trap because the trap spreads out ofthe lighter object onto the darker background. Close the File.

3. Choose File/Open (Command-O) and open the Trap Practice.aifile. This is the file to which no trapping was applied.

4. Switch the colours so that the foreground object (oval) is purpleand the background (rectangle) is yellow.

5. Select the lighter object (oval) and apply a four-point stroke inyellow, the same colour as the background. Click on Stroke inthe Overprint area. You have applied a choke trap because thelighter background (yellow rectangle) now overlaps the oval byhalf the stroke weight.

THE TRAP FILTERThe spread and choke traps which you set manually must be used forcomplex artwork like gradients, patterns, and placed objects, sincethe Trap filter does not work on these kinds of overlapping objects.

Trapping text is also another issue. Avoid trapping text at smallpoint sizes, because both trapping and the slightest misregistration onthe press can make the text difficult to read. Also, any text to whichyou apply the Trap filter must first be converted to outlines, andwhen you convert small point size text to outlines, you frequently loseresolution when printing to printers with less than 600 dots per inch.

1. Use the rectangle tool to create a rectangle. Fill it with a lightcolour like yellow.

2. Use the type tool and type a few letters inside the rectangle.Click on the selection tool to select the type.

3. Choose Type/Create Outlines. Fill the selected type with a darkcolour like red or purple.

4. Use the selection tool to draw a selection marquee around boththe rectangle and the text to select all the objects to be trapped.

5. Choose Filter/Pathfinder/Trap to display the Pathfinder Trapdialogue box (Figure 13.10).

6. Type the width of the trap in the Thickness field. This value isalways entered in points. Leave it at the default quarter-point trap.

7. The Height/width values specify the trap on the horizontal linesof the selected objects as a percentage of the trap on the objects’vertical lines. Leave this value at 100%.

8. Leave the Tint reduction value at 40% to create a trap that is asmaller percentage of the CMYK values of the lighter colourtrapped, and 100% of the darker colour trapped.

Figure 13.8-A choke trap is used here to spreadthe lighter yellow background behind the darkerobject (circle).

EXERCISE E

Figure 13.9-Apply a four-point yellowstroke to the lighter foreground object(oval) and overprint it to create a two-point trap which extends into the darkerbackground.

EXERCISE F

Figure 13.10-ThePathfinder Trap filter’sdialogue box.

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-I Object/Paint Style -Control-L View/

Show Layers -O File/Open

Selection tool

Custom Colour iconselected in the colourstrip area.

Select this option in thePathfinder Trapdialogue box to convertthe custom (spot)colours to processcolours.

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9. Click to select the Convert custom colours to process colours ifyou are going to print separations. Click on OK.

In this exercise you will apply trapping values to the objects in the ala Matisse.ai file which you used in Lesson 10.

1. Display the Paint Style palette (Command-I). Display the Layerspalette (Command-Control-L).

2. Open the a la Matisse.ai file in the Tutorial folder (Command-O).Click on the Dancer 1 layer in the Layers palette. Use theLayers palette pull-out menu to select Hide Others.

3. Use the selection tool to select the girl’s skirt. Click on the Fillicon in the Paint Style palette. Click on the Custom Colour iconin the colour strip area and select Purple from the colour list inthe scroll box to fill the skirt with purple.

4. With the skirt still selected, click on the Stroke icon in the PaintStyle palette and click on none.

5. Select the girl’s apron, click on the Fill icon, click on the CustomColour icon again, and click on Gold in the scroll box to fill theapron with gold.

6. With the gold apron still selected, click on the Overprint box inthe Paint Style palette (Figure 13.11).

7. Use the selection tool to Shift-select the skirt and the apron.Choose Filter/Pathfinder/Trap to display the Pathfinder Trapdialogue box.

8. Type .25 in the Thickness field and select the Convert customcolours to process colours option. Click on OK to create the trap.

9. Choose Show All from the pull-out menu on the Layers palette.

10.Continue to apply overlapping colours and create traps for otheroverlapping colours in the illustration. Be sure to select the Convertcustom colours to process option every time you create a trap.

11.Save the file as an EPS file and either import it into QuarkXPressto separate it, following the steps in Exercise C, or separate it inAdobe Separator, following the steps in Exercise D.


1. A colour printed with a single ink is calleda. process colour c. gradient fillb. spot colour d. b and c

2. A colour comprised of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black whichprints with four inks is called

a. process colour c. gradient fillb. spot colour d. b and c

3. Custom colours area. process colours c. black or whiteb. spot colours d. all of the above

4. Page orientation is specified ina. the New dialogue box c. the Page Setup dialogue boxb. Adobe Separator d. b and c

5. Colours can be separated viaa. QuarkXPress c. Adobe Illustratorb. Adobe Separator d. a and b

6. Before a file can be imported into a page layout program, itmust be saved as

a. a TIFF file c. an EPS file b. a PICT file d. an Illustrator 5 file

7. Adobe Separatora. prints every process and custom colour in the illustrationb. prints only spot coloursc. prints only process coloursd. separates EPS files

8. When trapping colours, try to manipulatea. the darker colour c. the foreground objectb. the lighter colour d. the background

9. Extending the foreground colour createsa. a choke trap b. a spread trapc. a colour separation d. a and c

10. Extending the background colour createsa. a choke trap c. a colour separationb. a spread trap d. a and c

REVIEW EXERCISE

Figure 13.11 -Select theOverprint option to avoid aknockout when the file is printed.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Answers; 1. b; 2. a; 3. b; 4. d. 5. d; 6. c; 7. a; 8. b; 9. b; 10. a.

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GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

Anchor point-a point at thebeginning and end of a segment.

When the segment is selected, anchorpoints are visible. Anchor pointsappear hollow when deselected andfilled when selected.

Area type-type created inside andtherefore bounded by an open orclosed path.

Auto Trace gap-value from 0 to 2which defines the number of blackpixels the auto trace tool will trace. Avalue of 0 tells the auto trace tool notto skip any black pixels whose cornerstouch, even when a white pixel existsbetween them.

Backmost object-the last paintedobject in the stacking order on

any layer; any object to which theArrange/Send to Back command isapplied. (See stacking).

Baseline-an imaginary line on whichtype sits. The baseline is displayedwhen type is selected with theselection tool or when you click onthe tool used to create the typeimmediately after creating that type.

Blend-multiple progression of shapesand/or colours between two open ortwo closed paths. Objects in a blendare evenly distributed between the twopaths in a specified number of steps.When only colours are blended, theresult is a gradient fill. (See gradientfill).

Bounding rectangle-the rectanglesurrounding artwork designated as apattern tile.

Cap-a style for the endpoint of aline. Caps can be butt (squared

off), round, or projecting. Choke trap-extending the lighter backgroundcolour under the darker foregroundobject.

Closed path-has no apparentbeginning or end; has no endpoints.Illustrator calls a closed path a shape.

Coincident points-two endpointsplaced directly on top of each other.

Using the join command on twocoincident endpoints joins them intoone point. (See non-coincidentpoints).

Compound path-two or moreoverlapping paths painted (filledand/or stroked) so that theoverlapping paths appeartransparent.

Continuous curves-curves connectedby smooth points. Continuous curvesall curve in the same direction.

Corner points-are created byclicking once with the pen tool.Clicking without dragging with thepen tool creates corner points.Corner points do not display directionhandles.

Crop marks-printed marks thatdefine where the printed page will betrimmed.

Custom colour-any colour you createand name, or any colour you selectfrom-a colour model like the Pantonecolour models. (See spot colour).

Dash/gap fields-in the PaintStyle palette where you input

values that determine the size of thedashed line (Dash field) and the spacebetween the dashes in a dashed line(Gap field). Direct-selection tool-usedto select individual segments andanchor points on a path; designatedin the Tool palette by a white arrow.

Direction handles-associated withcurve points and used to reshape thecurve.

Direction points-appear at the endof direction handles and are used tomove the direction handles whenreshaping curve segments.

Endpoints-anchor points at thebeginning and end of an open

path.

Fill-paint attributes applied to aclosed path. A fill can also be

applied to an open path.

Filter-a module separate from AdobeIllustrator which works withinIllustrator to create special graphiceffects, determine the way objectsoverlap, select objects, and performtext functions.

Font family-the complete set ofcharacters in one style for a specifictypeface. Helvetica, with all its specialupper-and lower-case characters, is afont family; Helvetica Bold is a style ofHelvetica.

Freehand tolerance-value from 0 to10 which defines the number of pixelsthe auto trace tool traces or skips on atemplate; a value which defines howsmooth or jagged is the line drawn withthe freehand tool. A value of 0 tells theauto trace tool to trace every pixel inthe template. The higher the freehandtolerance value, the smoother the lineto be traced or drawn with thefreehand tool.

Frontmost object-the most recentlypainted object in the stacking order onany layer; any object to which theArrange/Bring to Front command isapplied. (See stacking order).

Gradient fill-a graduated linear orradial blend between two or more

colours. The gradient fill tool is used tomodify the direction and/or the startingand ending point of a gradient fill acrosssingle or multiple objects.

Group-two or more objectscombined to form a single object. Allthe objects in a group can be movedand transformed as one unit.

Group-selection tool-used forselecting a group of objects by clickingon any object in the group to selectthe first object. Click again to selectthe rest of the objects in the group.Click again to select another entiregroup of objects in the illustration;designated by a white arrow and plussign in the Tool palette.

Guide-a non-printing dashed linepulled up and/or out of the rulerswhich is used to align objects. If theSnap to Point option is checked in

the General Preferences dialogue box,an object will snap to the guide if it ispositioned at least two pixels from theguide.

Guide object-is a guide created froman object by using the Make Guidecommand. Guide objects have a filland stroke value of none.

Join-the way the endpoints of twolines meet. Joins can be mitred

where the endpoints meet in acorner; round where the cornerformed by the two endpoints isrounded; and bevelled where the twoendpoints appear to be slit diagonallyacross.

Join paths-using the join commandcreates a single path from two openpaths by joining the overlappingendpoints of each path. If the twopaths to be joined do not haveoverlapping (coincident) endpoints, astraight line is drawn between theendpoints. (See coincident and non-coincident end-points).

Kerning-adding and/or deletingspace between two text

characters. A positive number in theKerning field adds space betweencharacters; a negative numberremoves space.

Knockout-the part of the backgroundobject overlapped by the foregroundobject which does not print on theseparations. Knockouts occur whenthe Overprint option is selected in thePaint Style palette. (See overprinting).

Layer-a specified level in theartwork that allows objects to be

displayed, edited, and printed.

Leading-the vertical white spacebetween lines of type. Leading ismeasured in points from one baselineto the baseline of the line of type aboveor below it in a selected paragraph.

Glossary

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GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

Letter spacing-the space betweentext characters in a selectedparagraph measured as a percent ofthe width of a space in that type size.Justified text defaults to 0% Minimum,100% Desired, and 5% Maximum.The 0% values mean that noadditional space is added betweenletters.

Line-a segment between twoendpoints; an open path.

Line attributes-apply to strokedpaths and include the stroke or weightof a line, its colour, solid or dashstatus (including gaps betweendashes), and its cap and joincharacteristics.

Mask (masking object)-anobject placed over other artwork

like a stencil and which prevents anyobjects not overlapping it from beingpreviewed or printed. Any objectcovered by the mask (masked object)will preview and print. The mask isalways the frontmost object in thestacking order. (See stacking order).

Masked object-any object coveredby a mask. Masked objects can bepreviewed and will print.

Mitre limit-a value which determineswhen the corner’s join angle changesfrom mitred (pointed) to bevelled(squared off).

Non-coincident points-are twoendpoints not on top of one

another. Using the Join command onnon-coincident points creates astraight line (path) between the points,(See coincident points).

Noncontinuous curve-curvesconnected by corner points. (Seecontinuous curves).

Object-a line or shape that can beisolated and manipulated

independently of other objects in theillustration.

Open path-a path with twoendpoints. An open path (line) doesnot have a segment connecting the

first and last segment in the path; anysegment or segments existingbetween two endpoints; a line.

Option-dragging-dragging whilepressing the Option key and keeping itpressed until releasing the mousebutton creates a copy of the object.

Overflow indicator-a plus sign insidea box which appears when you createmore type than will fit on or inside apath.

Overprinting-printing overlapping fillor stroke colours of the foregroundobject directly on top of thebackground object instead of knockingout the background object.Overprinting results in a combinationof the foreground and backgroundcolours where they overlap. Theopposite of overprinting is a knockout.(See knockout).

Paint Style palette-a floatingpalette where you create and apply

colours as fills and strokes and editlines.

Path-a single segment or any numberof connected segments.

Path type-type that is placed along anopen or closed path.

Pattern-a repeating fill and/or strokePaint Style applied from the Paint Stylepalette when the pattern icon is selectedin the colour strip area.

Pattern tile-artwork surrounded by abounding rectangle and designated as apattern in the Paint Style palette. Apattern tile repeats to fill the confinesof a selected path.

Point of origin-the zero point orintersection of the horizontal andvertical rulers.

Point type-type created with the typetool anywhere on the drawing page;Point type is not connected to any path.

Process colour-an ink in which thecolour is based on a percentage of anyor all of the four process colours.

Rectangle type-type createdinside the boundary of a rectangle.

Reflect-creating a mirror image of aselected object over a specified axiswith the reflect tool.

Rotate-rotating a selected object aspecified number of degrees with therotate tool.

Ruler origin-the zero point at theintersection of the horizontal andvertical rulers; the point from whichall measurements are taken.

Scale enlarging or reducing thesize of a selected object with the

scale tool.

Segment-a line or curve existingbetween two anchor points.

Selection tool-used to select awhole path or an entire object byclicking on any point on the path;designated in the Tool palette as ablack arrow.

Shape-a group of connectedsegments; a closed path. Becausethey are closed paths, shapes do nothave endpoints.

Shear-skewing or slanting a selectedobject horizontally, vertically, or alonga specified angle.

Smooth points-anchor points on astraight line between two directionhandles. Smooth points connectcurve segments; created by clickingand dragging with the pen tool orwith the convert-direction point tool.

Spot colour-a custom colour printedwith one ink of that colour. (Seecustom colour).

Spread trap-extending the lightercolour object over the darkerbackground colour.

Stacking order-the order in whichobjects are drawn, which determineshow they are displayed when theyoverlap. The first object drawnbecomes the frontmost object until

another object is drawn on top of oroverlapping it. That first object thenbecomes the backmost object in thestacking order and the most recentlydrawn object becomes the frontmostobject in the stacking order. (Seemasking objects).

Start and stop indicators-trianglesat the beginning and end of thegradient fade-out bar which specifywhere the first colour in the gradientfill starts and where the last colour inthe gradient fill ends. The diamondabove the bar marks the point atwhich the colours are at 50%.

Stroke-paint attributes applied to aline, which can be an open or closedpath.

Template-a dimmed PICT orPaint image which appears in the

background of the illustration and canbe traced with the auto trace tool, orwith any of the drawing tools.Templates cannot be selected, edited,or printed.

Text object-any type selected with theselection tool, and which is manipulatedor transformed like an art object insteadof being edited like text.

Tracking-adding and/or deletingspace between all the characters andthe space between words in aselected range of text. A positivenumber in the Tracking field addsspace; a negative number removesspace.

Trapping-a method of avoiding gapsbetween overlapping colours whichoccurs when the printing pressmisregisters or when paper shifts onthe press.

Word spacing-the spacebetween words in a selected

paragraph measured as a percent ofthe width of a space in that type size.Justified text defaults to 100%Minimum, 100% Desired, and 200%Maximum. The 100% Minimum anddesired values indicate that noaddit ional space wil l be addedbetween words.

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