Adobe Illustrator CS5 - Illustrated Unit B: Performing Essential Operations

Objectives Upon completion of this unit, you should be able to:  Create an object  Resize an object  Duplicate an object  Transform and color an object  Use the Transform Again command  Specify a point of origin  Use the Star and Reflect tools  Use the Polygon tool

History of Illustrator First developed in 1986  Exclusively for Mac Version CS5 is the 15 th version

Creating an Object Illustrator is all about creating objects:  Hidden tools under Rectangle tool: Circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, stars, polygons, and other freeform shapes Freehand vs. specific measurement Hold SHIFT to make object proportional

Creating an Object Press [X] repeatedly to toggle between activating the Fill button and Stroke button FIGURE B-1: Fill and Stroke buttons on the Tools panel

Creating an Object When an object is selected anchor points become visible FIGURE B-2: Points and paths on a selected object

Creating an Object Rectangle dialog box  Offers the ability to enter specific values for width and height FIGURE B-3: Rectangle dialog box

Resizing an Object Several options:  Bounding box Size matches width and height of the object Selection handles are used to drag and resize the object  Transform panel Shows specific height and width values for an object, along with other information  Free Transform tool Hold CTRL while dragging corner handle to distort

Resizing an Object FIGURE B-4: Using the Transform panel to resize the square

Resizing an Object FIGURE B-5: Handles visible on an object with bounding box showing

Resizing an Object FIGURE B-6: Repositioning the 4" x 4 " square

Moving an Object Nudge object by pressing arrow keys Move in a straight line by dragging with SHIFT key held Use MOVE dialog box (Object| Transform | Move)

Duplicating an Object Several methods  Copying/pasting (EDIT menu) Paste in front, Paste in center, Paste  Dragging and dropping (ALT Key)  Move dialog box (Object menu|Transform) Allows an object to be moved a specific distance and/or copy to be made

Duplicating an Object FIGURE B-7: The copy of the square pasted at the center of the artboard

Duplicating an Object FIGURE B-8: “Dragging and dropping” the third copy

Duplicating an Object FIGURE B-9: Move dialog box

Transforming and Coloring an Object Transform  Refers to tools and operations that modify objects Examples: move, scale, rotate, reflect, and shear  You can also change an object by applying color to it Fill: color applied to the inside Stroke: color applied to the outline or border

Transforming and Coloring an Object Stroke panel:  Used for changing the weight (thickness) of the stroke FIGURE B-10: Activating the Stroke button on the Tools panel

Transforming and Coloring an Object FIGURE B-11: Applying a stroke to the rotated object

Using the Transform Again Command Repeats the last transformation applied using the same values  Power comes in combination with copying transformations  A great way to create complex geometric shapes from basic objects

Using the Transform Again Command Grouping objects  When multiple objects are grouped, Illustrator regards them as a single object  Result: Click on any grouped object with the Selection tool and all objects in the group will be selected

Using the Transform Again Command FIGURE B-12: Positioning the stroked ellipse

Using the Transform Again Command FIGURE B-13: Seven ellipses created from one original

Specifying a Point of Origin Default point of origin is Center Point of Origin = point from which a transformation is executed Click a different part of path to change the point of origin

Specifying a Point of Origin FIGURE B-14: Positioning the ellipse

Specifying a Point of Origin FIGURE B-15: Ellipse rotated from specified point of origin

Using the Star and Reflect Tools Reflect tool  Used to “flip” an object  Double-click it to activate it  Horizontal reflect vs. Vertical reflect Star tool  Options for creating stars 2 Radii on a Star: center to the inner point and center to the outer point Number of Sides

Using the Star and Reflect Tools FIGURE B-16: Identifying a star’s radii

Using the Star and Reflect Tools FIGURE B-17: Positioning the star

Using the Polygon Tool Used to quickly create basic shapes  Triangles, pentagons, octagons, etc. Options for the Polygon:  Number of Sides  Hint: can also use arrow keys on the keyboard while dragging to draw a polygon

Using the Polygon Tool FIGURE B-18: Positioning the triangle