Lesson overview: This module covers basic elements of the Illustrator work area. Learn how to open and close plaettes, choose tools, and learn the funtions of each tool. Learn how to reset your workspace and how to customize the work area. Interface Overview Menu Bar Control Palette Toolbox Palettes Status Bar Document Window 1
Toolbar: Tool Groupings and Flyout A. Selection Tools B. Drawing Tools C. Type Tools D. Painting Tools E. Reshaping Tools F. Symbol Tools G. Graph Tools H. Slicing amd Cut Tools I. Moving and Zoom Tools Selection The Selection tool lets you select entire objects. The Direct Selection tool lets you select points on a path or contents within a frame. The Group Selection tool selects objects and groups within groups. 2
The Magic Wand tool selects objects with similar attributes. The Lasso tool selects points or path segments within objects. Drawing Tools The Pen tool lets you draw straight and curved paths. Add Anchor Point tool lets you add anchor points to a path. The Delete Anchor Point tool lets you remove anchor points from a path. The Convert Direction Point tool lets you convert corner points and smooth points. The Line tool lets you draw a line segment. The Arc tool draws individual concave or convex curve segments. 3
The Spiral tool draws clockwise and counterclockwise spirals. The Rectangular Grid tool draws rectangular grids. The Polar Grid draws circular chart grids. The Rectangle tool lets you create a square or rectangle. The Rounded Rectangle tool draws squares and rectangles with rounded corners. The Ellipse tool lets you create a circle or oval. The Polygon tool lets you create multi-sided shape. The Star tool draws stars. The Flare tool creates lens-flare or solar-flare effects. 4
The Pencil tool tool lets you draw a freeform path. The Smooth tool lets you remove excess angles from a path. The Erase tool lets you deleted points on a path. Type Tools The Type tool lets you create text frames and select text. The Area Type tool changes closed paths to type containers and lets you enter and edit type within them. The Type on a Path tool lets you create and edit type on paths. The Vertical Type tool creates vertical type containers and lets you enter and edit type within them. The Vertical Area Type tool changes closed paths to vertical type containers and lets you enter and edit type within them. The Vertical Path Type tool changes paths to vertical type paths and lets you enter and edit type on them. 5
Painting Tools The Paintbrush tool draws freehand and calligraphic lines, as well as art and patterns on paths. The Mesh tool creates and edits meshes and mesh envelopes. The Gradient tool lets you adjust the beginning and ending points and angle of gradients within objects. The Eyedropper tool lets you sample color or type attributes from objects and apply them to other objects. The Live Paint Bucket tool paints faces and edges of Live Paint groups with the current paint attributes. The Live Paint Selection tool selects faces and edges within Live Paint groups. The Measure tool measures the distance between two points. 6
Reshaping Tools The Rotate tool lets you rotate objects around a fixed point. The Reflect tool flips objects over a fixed axis. The Scale tool lets you resize objects around a fixed point. The Shear tool lets you skew objects around a fixed point. The Reshape tool adjusts selected anchor points while keeping of the overall detail of the path intact. The Free Transform tool lets you rotate, scale, or shear an object. The Blend tool creates a series of objects blended between the color and shape of multiple objects. The Warp tool molds objects with the movement of the cursor like molding clay. The Twirl tool creates swirling distortions within an object. 7
The Pucker tool deflates an object by moving control points towards the cursor. The Bloat tool inflates an object by moving control points away from the cursor. The Scallop tool adds random curved details to the outline of an object. The Crystallize tool adds random spiked details to the outline of an object. The Wrinkle tool adds wrinkle-like details to the outline of an object. Symbol Tools The Symbol Sprayer tool places multiple symbol instances as a set on the artboard. The Symbol Shifter tool moves symbol instances. The Symbol Scruncher tool moves symbol instances closer together. 8
The Symbol Screener tool applies opacity to symbol instances. The Symbol Sizer allows you to resize symbols randomly. Symbol Spinner rotates symbols. The Symbol Stainer tool colorizes symbol instances. The Symbol Styler tool applies the selected style to symbol instances. Graph Tools The Column Graph tool creates graphs that compare values using vertical columns. The Staked Column graph tool creates graphs that are similar to column graphs, but stacks the columns on top of one another, instead of side by side. This graph type is useful for showing the relationship of parts to the total. The Bar Graph tool creates graphs that are similar to column graphs but positions the bars horizontally instead of vertically. 9
The Stacked Bar Graph tool creates graphs that are similar to stacked column graphs, but stacks the bars horizontally instead of vertically. The line graph tool creates graphs that use points to represent one or more sets of values, with a different line joining the points in each set. This type of graph is often used to show the trend of one or more subjects over a period of time. The Area Graph tool creates graphs that are similar to line graphs, but emphasizes totals as well as changes in values. The Scatter Graph tool creates graphs that plot data points as paired sets of coordinates along the x and y axis. Scatter graphs are useful for identifying patterns or trends in data. They also can indicate whether variables affect one another. The Pie Graph tool creates circular graphs whose wedges represent the relative percentages of the values compared. The Radar Graph tool creates graphs that compare sets of values at given points in time or in particular categories, and is displayed in a circular format. This type of graph is also called a web graph. Slicing and CuttingTools The Slice Tool slices images into web tables and table cells. The Slice Selection tool selects web slices. The Scissors tool cuts paths at specified points. 10
Navigation tools The Knife tool cuts objects and paths. Moving and Zooming Tools The Hand tool moves the page view within the document window. The Page tool adjusts the page grid to control where artwork appears on the printed page. The Zoom tool increases and decreases the view magnification in the document window. 11
Tools Keyboard Shortcuts Icon Tool Hot Key Selection V Icon Tool Hot Key Eyedropper I Direct Selection A Live Paint Bucket K Magic Wand Y Rotate R Lasso Q Reflect O Pen P Scale S Line Segment \ Warp Shift+R Pencil N Free Transform E Type T Blend W Type On a Path Shift+T Symbol Sprayer Shift+S Rectangle M Slice Shift+k Paintbrush B Scissors C Mesh U Hand H Grandient G Zoom Z Illustrator comes with preset shortcuts, but it is possible to set your own to be compatible with shortcuts you already know. This is how it is done. Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts In the Set drop down menu choose the Default set. In the Tools drop down menu choose Tools or Menu Commands. Select the Command. Highlight the Current Shortcut and Remove. Enter New Shortcut. Click Save. When you are done, Click OK. 12
Palettes Control palettes are placed at the top of your screen when you click on a tool from the Toolbox. Drawing & Orientation Control Palette Text Control Palette Docking Control Palettes On the upper right corner of the control palette is a small arrow, Click on the arrow and you can select Dock at Top or Dock at Bottom. Side Palettes Arrow On the right side of the screen are grouped and collapsed palettes. Illustrator has many palettes to work with. These palettes can placed in the workspace by opening the Window menu and Clicking on a palette. Collapsing & Grouping Palettes If a palette is floating in the workspace you can collapse it into three different states. To collapse a palette into its different states, Double Click on the tab. To collapse a grouped palette Click on the tab. To group palettes, Click and Drag the palette into a palette group. Grouped palettes can be repositioned by Clicking and Dragging on the groups outline with the Selection tool. You can expand the palette group by using the Selection tool and placing your curser over the outline for the group. The curser will change into a double headed arrow, Click and Drag to on the outline to expand the group. Doing this action will make the palette tabs easier to see. Resetting & Saving Your Workspace Window>Workspace>Save Workspace. Name new workspace. Click OK. Resetting workspace Window>Workspace>Default 13