Adobe Illustrator CS5 Revealed Additional ACE Material

Transcription

1 Chris Botello Adobe Illustrator CS5 Revealed Additional ACE Material This document provides additional information for Adobe Illustrator CS5 ACE certification.

2 How to use this document: Use this information in conjunction with Adobe Illustrator CS5 Revealed to prepare for the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) exam About the Application frame If you re working on a Mac, the Application frame option in the Window menu creates a single window that integrates all the workspace elements in a single window. In this way, you can treat the entire workspace as though it were a single unit. If you move or resize the Application frame, all of the elements are affected equally, so that none overlap. If you switch to another application, the panels in Illustrator don t disappear. You can even position Illustrator s workspace side by side with that of another open application Saving Panel States Panel states are saved when you save a workspace. How you ve grouped and docked specific panels and where you position those panels in the workspace is saved when you save a workspace. This is an enormously powerful facet of saving workspaces, allowing you to save how the panels you use most often are grouped and how they are positioned. 1.9 Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts are important tools that allow you to speed up your work. Rather than click the Copy command then click the Paste command, you probably just use the keyboard shortcuts - or quick keys. The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box lets you view a list of all the shortcuts available and lets you edit them as you wish or even create new ones. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts command in the Edit menu to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box. Click the available menu to choose between shortcuts for Tools and for Menu Commands. To change an existing shortcut, click the command in the Shortcut column. It will highlight and you can type a new shortcut. If you enter a shortcut that is already assigned to another command or tool, an alert appears at the bottom of the dialog box. Click Undo, or click Go To to switch to the conflicting command or tool and assign it a new shortcut.

3 1.12 View and Modify Metadata Use the Metadata panel to view and edit metadata. When you select one or more files, you can view the metadata information in the Metadata panel. If you select multiple files, only the metadata that is common to the selected files appears. Use the scroll bars to view hidden categories. Click the triangle to display everything within a category. You can also edit metadata in the Metadata panel. Click the Pencil icon at the far right of the metadata field you want to edit, then type in the box to edit existing metadata or add new metadata. To move through metadata fields, simply press Tab. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the panel to apply the edits you ve made. Click the Cancel button to discard them.

4 1.13 This table covers 1.13, , and 8.4 Command Format Suffix Description Save As Adobe Illustrator.ai Native Adobe Illustrator format. Saves all Illustrator features Save As Adobe PDF.pdf Creates an Adobe Portable Document File. PDFs are self-contained files including fonts that can be opened in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader buy users who don t have Illustrator on their computers. PDFS are used for final printing or compressed for Save As Illustrator EPS.eps Creates an Encapsulated PostScript file. PostScript is Adobe s proprietary page description language. EPS files were often used to export Illustrator files to layout packages like QuarkXPress. However, with InDesign, that s no longer necessary, because InDesign opens the.ai native format. Save As SVG.svg SVG is a vector format that describes Illustrator artwork as shapes, paths, text, and filter effects. SVG files are compact yet provide high-quality, making them very useful for output for the Web and handheld devices. Export Export Photoshop, JPEG, Tiff AutoCAD Drawing.psd.jpg.tif.dwg The three most common bitmap formats save Illustrator artwork as pixels bitmap files that can be opened and manipulated in Photoshop. The Photoshop PSD allows you to export layers from Illustrator to Photoshop Exports Illustrator graphics for AutoCAD, sophisticated, industry-standard vector drawing software used in mechanical drafting, architecture, landscape design, etc. Export Flash.swf Exports Illustrator files to Adobe Flash or allows them to be opened by Flash Player or other types of browser software. This format is explored extensively in Chapter 13. Save As Adobe FXG.fxg The.fxg format allows you to declare a wide range of graphics operations using XML tags

5 2.1 The Marvelous Control Panel Think of the Control panel as Super Panel. Whenever you click a specific tool, the Control panel changes to provide you options for that tool. For example, when you click the Type tool inside an object, the Control panel changes to offer you type-specific options, like typeface, type size, etc. When you click a selection tool and select an object, the Control panel changes again, offering you formatting options, like fill color and stroke color and stroke weight. It s like all panels in one. 2.2 Create and modify a vector object using the Pen tool and Bezier controls (covered in book; definition provided here) Bezier Curve: Developed by Pierre Bezier in the 1970 s for CAD programming, a Bezier cureve is a simple cubic equasion that became the basis for Adobe s PostScript drawing model. Whenever you create curved lines with Illustrator s Pen tool or drawing tools, you care creating Bezier curves. 3.1 Setup color management settings and proof color on screen About color management In most computer environments in design studios, advertising agencies, and web development companies, various types of equipment are all working together. Printers, monitors, scanners, digital cameras, computer monitors, software products - all of them are involved in some way in producing the final product. Color-matching problems result because all these various devices and software products are using different color spaces. A color management system (CMS) is a solution that interprets and translates color accurately between devices. For example, a CMS would compare the color space in which an image or a layout is created with the color space in which the same image will be output and make the adjustments necessary to reproduce the colors accurately.

6 On a much larger - and very challenging - level, a CMS analyses, adjusts and manages color across all the various devices involved in a given production system. To set up color management in Illustrator, click the Edit menu, then click Color Settings. Select a color setting from the Settings menu, then click OK. The setting you choose determines which color space Illustrator will use. One goal in color management is to see colors and proof colors accurately on your monitor screen. Remember that the very environment that you work in - your home office, your ad agency, your design studio - affects how you see color both on your monitor and on any printed output. Part of color management includes controlling the lighting in your work environment. Consistency is the name of the game here, consistency in light level and color temperature. In the best-case scenario, work in a windowless room, or install blackout shades to eliminate the variations of sunlight. Install 5000-K lighting for consistent color temperature without the color casts you can see with non-standard lighting.

7 3.2 Organizing Swatches At some point, you might find that you want to organize or segregate swatches. For example, there might be a set of swatches that you use for one client, swatches that you don t want to get mixed up with all the other swatches in your panel. You can organize swatches into folders within the Swatches panel quickly and easily. You can select multiple swatches in the Swatches panel, then click New Color Group, and a new folder appears in the panel containing copies of all the swatches you selected. Or, you can select artwork on the artboard, click the New Color Group button, and a folder appears containing swatches for all the colors in the artwork. How great is that? 4.0 Using Type Adobe Illustrator, as part of its role as a layout application, offers tools and techniques for laying out long format copy. When you lay text out in this manner - as body copy so to speak - Illustrator refers to this text as a story. Illustrator offers many solutions for formatting a story, including threading text, wrapping text and managing fonts. 4.5; Threading Text You can use the Area Text tool to enter text into frames you ve created to use as text frames. When you use the Area Text tool to flow text into frames, each area type object creates an in port and an out port. These are small squares on the top-left and bottom-right of the frame. You use these ports to link the frame to other objects and to flow text from one fram to another, which is called threading text. One great thing about doing this in Illustrator is that the objects can be of any shape. However, the text you re threading must be entered as area text. You can also use text on a path as part of a thread, though that s unusual. Use the following steps to thread text: 1.Click the Selection tool, then select an area type object. Usually, this will be an object you ve already filled with area text.

8 2.When you click the out port of the area type object, your pointer changes to the loaded text icon, indicating that you re ready to thread the text to another object. 3.Do one of the following: Click the pointer on an existing object s path. Any overflow text from the first object flows into the second. In Illustrator terminology, the objects are linked. To create a new object to link to, click or drag the loaded text icon on the artboard. If you click, Illustrator creates a new object at the same size as the object you re linking from. This is a great way to let Illustrator do the work for you. Alternatively, you can drag to determine the shape and size you want for the new object. In either case, a new object is created that is linked to the first. When working with threaded text, especially within many objects, it can be useful to see the thread icons to follow the trail of text as it flows between objects. To view threads, choose View > Show Text Threads and then select any object that contains threaded text. At some point, you might need to break text threads and change the how text flows between given objects. Use the following steps to remove or break threads: Note: When working with threaded text, it can be useful to see the threads. To view threads, choose View > Show Text Threads and then select a linked object. To remove or break threads, first be sure you have text threads showing, then select an object in a linked set of threaded objects.

9 To break the thread between any two objects, double-click the port on either end of the thread icon. The text flows retreats into the first object, and by definition, the first object will now contain overflow text. To remove an object from a chain of linked objects, click Type on the application bar, point to Threaded Text, then click Release Selection. The text bypasses this object and flows into the next object in the chain. To remove all threads from all objects in the chain, click Type on the application bar, point to Threaded Text, then click Remove Threading. The text does not reflow. It stays as is, within the objects. Now, if you format text in any one of the objects, text in other objects is not affected, because it is no longer threaded. 4.5; Wrapping Text When you create a layout with text and objects, you will often want to wrap text around objects. In Illustrator, you can wrap text around any object, including those you draw yourself in Illustrator, text objects and even imported images. The object you wrap text around is called the wrap object. Wrapping is related directly to the stacking order of objects. The text you re wrapping and the wrap object must be on the same layer. Within the stacking order on that layer, the wrap object must be directly above the text to be wrapped. Also, the text you want to wrap needs to be area text - text within an object. To wrap text, select the object around which you want the text to wrap. Click Object on the Application bar, point to Text Wrap, then click Make. In almost every case, you ll want to determine the distance of the text from the object. To do so, select the wrap object, click Object on the application bar, point to Text Wrap, then click Text Wrap Options. The Offset value you enter specifies the distance between the text and the wrap object.

10 To unwrap text from the object, select the wrap object, click Object on the application bar, point to Text Wrap, then click Release. 4.6 Find and replace fonts Font management is a big part of working in Illustrator, especially in layouts that include lots of text or body copy. The ability to find and replace fonts - and to locate missing fonts - is a standard utility you d expect to find in any layout program, one that you ll find in Illustrator. To find a given font or to find and replace a given font, do the following: 1. Click the Type menu, thne click Find Font. 2. Click the name of the font you want to find in the top section of the dialog box. 3. Select a replacement font in the bottom section of the dialog box. The Find Font dialog box allows you to change just one occurence of the selected font or to change all occurances throughout the document. This is an enormously powerful utility, one that you can use to quickly change a given font throughout. Note that when you replace a font using the Find Font command, all other type attributes applied to the text are unaffected.

11 4.7 Customize Language Dictionaries In Illustrator, Proximity language dictionaries control both spelling and hyphenation. Illustrator comes loaded with dictionaries for different languages, each containing hudreds of thousands of words with standard syllable breaks. dictionaries that you can use if you re working with different languages. For example, a common scenario occurs if your working with a client from England. Various American words, such as realize or rationalize would be spelled in an English dictionary as realise or rationalise. If you were spell checking or otherwise editing this document, you d want to assign the English UK language dictionary to the document. You can assign a language to an entire document or only to selected text. To assign a language to all text in a document: 1. Open the Preferences dialog box for Hyphenation. 2. Click the Default Language list arrow, choose a language, then click OK. To assign a language to selected text: 1. Select the text. 2. In the Character panel, click the Language menu and choose the language dictionary you want to work with. You can also customize hyphenation settings and spell check settings in any language dictionary just as you do in the English USA dictionary. In the above scenario, for example, you might want to work with the English USA dictionary, because that s what you feel most comfortable. But when doing a spell check, the English USA dicitonary is going to challenge a common British slang word like knackered, which means tired. Rather than switch to the English UK dictionary, you can simply add the word knackered to your English USA dictionary as an approved word, thereby customizing your English USA dictionary to no longer challenge that word.

12 5.2 Given a scenario, apply the appropriate Live Effect to an object (covered in book; definition provided here) Live Effects: Live effects are effects such as distortions, shadows and glows that do not actually affect the existing shape but are instead applied as appearances and listed in the Appearance panel. These effects are sometimes called live because at any time they can be modified or removed from the object Use the Eraser tool and its options The Eraser tool is an enormously powerful and unique drawing tool, unique because you use the Eraser to remove areas from a given object or path. Thus, with the Eraser tool, you are drawing an object by removing. For a simple example, let s say that you wanted to create a half circle. There s no tool for that. So you can create a circle, then drag the eraser tool across the circle. Where you drag, those areas of the circle will simply disappear, leaving you with two half circles and also, by definition, two closed paths. Thus, by removing, the Eraser tool creates two objects from one. Remember that the Eraser tool is a brush, and like any brush, it has options that you can use to define how it paints. Double-click the Eraser tool to open its options dialog box. There you can specify an angle, a roundness and a diameter for the brush. If you re using a pressure-sensitive tablet device, you can input more advanced options, such as pressure sensitivity and tilt. If you remind yourself to think of the Eraser tool as a brush, you can develop sophisticated techniques for using the tool to create interesting results Use the Blob Brush tool options The Blob Brush has many options that control how the brush works and add interesting facets to its behaviors. Double-click the Blob Brush tool in the Tools panel to open its Options dialog box. Keep Selected: With this setting, all paths remain selected as you continue to draw with the Blob Brush. use this option if you want to see all the various paths that are involved in the merged path.

13 Merge only with Selection: With this setting, new strokes that you draw with the Blob Brush merge only with the existing selected path, not with any unselected paths. Fidelity: This setting controls how far - in terms of pixels - you move the Blob Brush on the artboard before Illustrator adds a new anchor point to the resulting path. Ultimately, this setting determines the complexity and smoothness of the path: the higher the value, the smoother and less complex the path. Smoothness: This setting is common to many brushes. Measured in percentages, smoothness ranges from 0% to 100%; the higher the percentage, the smoother the path. Size: Determines the size of the brush. Angle: Determines the angle of rotation for the brush. Roundness: Determines roundness of the brush. To keep consistent, you can enter a specific value in the Roundness text box. The higher the value, the greater the roundness. 7.1 Importing images Illustrator has a very close working relationship with Photoshop, and there s a real power when you learn to use both of them to produce your artwork. There are a number of reasons why you might want to place images from Photoshop in your Illustrator file. You ve seen a number of these examples in this book. You can hand-draw a sketch, scan it into Photoshop, save it, then place the image in Illustrator using the Place command in the File menu. Then, you can use the brushes, the pen tool or the Live Trace tools to create Illustrator vector art from the placed image.

14 8.1.2 (mobile devices) 8.2; 8.2.1; 8.2.2; Working with Illustrator and Flash Because Illustrator and Flash are both vector-based programs, they are related on a very basic level. In fact, many of the art creation tools in Flash are similar to those in Illustrator, and the type of graphics you create in Flash - buttons, etc - are the type of graphics you create in Flash. Many Flash programmers like to work exclusively in Flash, but others who have experience with Illustrator like to create graphics in Illustrator and then use them in their Flash layout. You can copy/paste Illustrator artwork directly into the Flash editing environment. You can also save files int the SWF format, which can be opened by Flash, or export artwork directly to Flash. You can also use Illustrator text in your Flash presentation, as static text or as part of Action script animations and interactivity because Illustrator supports Flash dynamic text. That s not all. You can also use Illustrator to create artwork for mobile devices, such as for the screen on your cell phone or iphone, or your Blackberry. Illustrator s Device Central offers the option to see how Illustrator artwork will appear in Flash Player and on different mobile devices.

15 Pasting Illustrator artwork You can use all your best tricks and techniques in Illustrator to create great artwork and paste simply paste it into Flash. When you paste Illustrator artwork into Flash, the following elements of your artwork are preserved: Paths and shapes Scalability Stroke weights Gradients Text (including OpenType fonts) Linked images Symbols Illustrator and Flash are so interrelated that many complex components of Illustrator artwork can be successfully pasted into Flash. For example, Flash preserves Illustrator masks and blending mode. You can paste Illustrator layers along with layered artwork into Flash. You even have options for pasting effects such as glows and drop shadows. Exporting Illustrator artwork as SWF files When you export to the SWF (Shockwave Flash) format, you are essentially saving your Illustrator artwork as a Flash file. Indeed, your exported Illustrator artwork can meet the same standards for quality and compression as SWF files exported from Flash itself. The SWF dialog box offers a number of presets and options that determine how the export will handle various types of Illustrator artwork. For example, this is where you can determine if you are exporting symbols from Illustrator as movie clips or as graphics.

16 Importing Illustrator files into Flash As a designer who loves Illustrator, you might want to go so far as to create your entire layout in Illustrator. This you can do, then you can import the layout into Flash. Save the layout in the native Illustrator (AI) format. In Flash, click File on the application bar, point to Import to Stage or File, then click Import to Library. Even more powerful, you can choose how Flash imports layers from your Illustrator file. In Flash, you can use any of the following options. Convert Illustrator layers to Flash layers Convert Illustrator layers to Flash frames Convert all Illustrator layers to a single Flash layer Using Illustrator Symbol Artwork in Flash If you work in both Illustrator and Flash, you ll see soon enough that symbols play very similar roles in both programs. Adobe has designed and defined symbols this way intentionally, to make Illustrator and Flash work together seamlessly when working with symbols. When you create a symbol in Illustrator, the options you specify are actually Flash options: Specifying a symbol as a movie clip, definining the Flash registration grid location and using 9-slice scaling guides are all Flash related options. Another great relationship between Illustrator and Flash in terms of symbol artwork is naming. When you open or paste Illustrator symbols in Flash, the name you assigned to the symbol in Illustrator is preserved in Flash.

17 Using Illustrator Text in Flash In Illustrator, you can specify any text object as static, dynamic or as input text, and all three definitions have a relationship to Flash. When you select a text object in Illustrator, note that the Illustrator Control panel has a FLASH TEXT panel. In this panel, you can define your Illustrator text as Static, Dynamic or as Input Text. Static text is exactly that in a Flash presentation: static. It doesn t move, and it s not part of an animation. With the other two formats, the text can be used within an Action script as part of an animation. When you bring static text from Illustrator into Flash, Flash converts the text into outlines. Dynamic text allows you link the text to a specific URL when a user clicks the text. You can export point text, area text, or text on a path to Flash; all text is converted to area text in SWF format Creating Pixel Aligned Paths for the Web Anti-aliasing is a common element of all bitmap graphics and a central option in Photoshop for all selections. Since a bitmap is a grid of pixels, a diagonal selection of pixels is not possible. With anti-aliasing, Photoshop uses edge pixels of different colors and shades of color to create the illusion of smooth diagonal and rounded edges for bitmap graphics. Illustrator graphics are vector graphics - by definition able to create smooth, clean arcs and diagonal lines. When you re creating Illustrator graphics for the web, however, you have to keep in mind that ultimately, they re going to be rasterized as bitmap graphics and displayed on a monitor. If you have experience exporting your Illustrator graphics to the web, you know that sometimes, very unsatisfactory results can occur, especially with straight horizontal and vertical lines.

18 For example, let s say you have a yellow square with a 6-point black stroke. You might find that, when viewing that graphic on the web, the black stroke is uneven on one or more sides. That s because, when rasterized, the 6-point stroke is not aligning directly with the pixel grid that will render the rasterized image. This also results in an anti-aliasing effect, in which a horizontal or vertcal stroke appears to be divided in two, with a lighter row of pixels beside a darker row. The pixel grid in Illustrator CS5 makes its debut to provide crisp and even horizontal and vertical strokes and to erradicate anti-aliasing on those strokes. When you re creating a new document, the Align New Objects to Pixel Grid option is available in the Advanced section of the New Document dialog box. If you re working with an existing file, the option is available in the Transform panel menu. Once you ve enabled this option, any new objects that you draw will be aligned to the pixel grid. For new documents you create using the web document profile in the New dialog box, the option is enabled by default. Stroked objects that are pixel aligned feature crisp and consistent horizontal and vertical strokes when output or rasterized at 72 ppi. Objects that are pixel aligned but do not have vertical or horizontal strokes aren t affected.

19 9.1 Using the Document Info Panel You can analyze and assess the content of your Illustrator document with the Document Info panel, which lists all kinds of information about what s in the file, including object characteristics, whether or not the file contains placed art, the number and the names of graphic styles. The panel lists all custom colors in the document, the use of patterns and gradients, and it also lists all the fonts in use. You can think of the Document Info panel as a summary of the entire document, all contained in one intuitive, easy to use panel.