Introduction to Illustrator CSC020, Computer Graphics Introduction to Illustrator 1

Illustrator Vector Graphics Popular Uses Posters / Flyers Infographics Web Images Web Icons Company logos http://kucd.kutztown.edu/designathon/gallery. html 2

Illustrator – Vector Graphics Pixels don’t scale well Vectors scale without losing quality 3

Illustrator – Vector Graphics Vector: algorithm based Pixels: bit based. 4

Vector vs. Bit Mapped Type Bit Mapped Letter “O” Original: Enlarged: (rasterized) Letter “O” Original: Type Bit Mapped Enlarged: In a vector image, pixels get mapped for the target resolution

Illustrator – Similarities with Photoshop Tools Palette is similar to PhotoShop. Click and hold to see sets of related tools. Arrow in lower right shows presence of tool groups. 6

Other palettes and panels Layers are similar to PhotoShop. Layering commands are in a pull-down menu accessed from the Layers Panel. Align Panel supports object alignment. Window -> Align if not visible 7

Other palettes and panels File -> New supports various document types. RGB (for displays). CMYK (for print). Optional templates supply format and building blocks (Also, File -> New from Template) 8

Geometric Objects Create a new, blank 8.5 x 11 inch print doc. Tear off Rectangle, etc. tool menu. Add rectangles, squares (hold shift key while sweeping), rounded rectangles, ellipses, circles (shift). Set stroke color and enable / disable fill color at bottom of Tools Palette. 9

Adobe Tutorial Ellipse: Create Circle by holding Shift key 10

Useful Shortcuts Cmd-A Cmd-Shft-A V select everything deselect everything V direct selection useful when you want to move something

Adobe Tutorial Add a inner circles, exactly ½ the size Select anchor point at the top Deselect large circle first Drag to the right until edge of circle is found Can deselect with: cmd-shift A Shift-click on object in Layers Anchors and paths appear as highlights as they are crossed 12

Adobe Tutorial Center the circle Copy and paste to create another circle 13

Adobe Tutorial Add a smaller circle centered inside Hold Shift and option to draw from center 14

Adobe Tutorial Select the whole image Shape Builder tool to select 2 sides of each circle Drag across edges to remove 15

Adobe Tutorial Select bottom half and fill with black Change setting for little hole Black fill, no lines 16

Adobe Tutorial Check out the layers! 17

Adobe Tutorial Command R to show rulers Create a guide line: Select tool (V) Click on the ruler drag down or over 18

A Note about History There is NO history panel in Illustrator unlike Photoshop!!! There are, however, multiple undo/redo levels under the edit menu Cmd-Z … undo last edit Cmd-Shft-Z … redo last edit

Adobe Tutorial Draw a magnifying glass icon Open a new “Landscape” doc 20

Adobe Tutorial Draw 2 circles, both centered on the guide Shift and Option Make sure all objects are unfilled 21

Adobe Tutorial Add the rectangle Add rounded rectangle “alt” will draw from the center 22

Adobe Tutorial Select All Use shape builder Use shift to capture group (adds to selection) 23

Adobe Tutorial Draw 2 more circles to create crescent 24

Adobe Tutorial Use shape builder and shift to remove all but crescent Select just the two circles Hold “alt” on to get subtraction tool (cursor will turn to a minus)

Adobe Tutorial Add Color Can use shape builder Remove strokes Double click Select a color from swatches Remove strokes 26

Adobe Tutorial Select rotate tool for final step 27

Adobe Tutorial Add to a flyer 28

Adobe Tutorial Pick a background rectangle Pick a pattern Object -> Arrange > Send to Back Pick a pattern Send that back too 29

Adobe Tutorial Shear tool to skew Transparency multiply to blend in 30

Adobe Tutorial Add Drop shadow for effect Effect -> Drop Shadow 31

Adobe Tutorial Pick your favorite font Use shift to resize Rotate and center 32

Record a new “Cleanup” Action Open a new document Windows -> Actions Place some shapes on the page. Create New Action named Cleanup. Record “Select All” then “Edit Cut”. Stop the recording on the Actions panel. Now you can replay “Cleanup” as you experiment with geometric shape tools. 33

Polygons Point click without drawing to set number of sides and default radius. Sweep polygon out from center, rotate. Vary the parameters in the Control Panel. Stars are similar to polygons with two radii. Selection Tool (arrow) supports selection and basic geometric transforms. Flare Tools has rings, rays, etc. 34

Line Segment and Related Tools Close Rectangle, etc., tear off Line Segment. Control-click for Transform and other actions. Single click for line dialog box. Shift-draw to snap line to 45⁰ alignment. ~-draw to fan out a series of line segments. Shift-~-draw to keep them at 45⁰ alignment. Alt-option draws out from original click. Fill sets color for later use in closed figures. 35

Arcs Arcs have several keyboard shortcuts. “C” toggles between closed and open arcs. “F” flips an arc. Up and Down arrows change curvature. Alt-option draws out from original click. Shift, ~ and Shift-~ draw are similar to line. Single click to enter parameters. 36

Damage some Lines and Arcs Draw and select one line segment per effect. Double-click any of these tools to set parameters. Hold cmd to select a different line/shape Warp warps line and arc segments. Twirl forms a spiral. Pucker is an attractor for edges. Bloat makes edges bloated. Scallop scallops line / arc segments. Crystallize stands line hairs on their ends. Wrinkle generates random waves. 37

Spirals Single click to see parameters. Many segments pack tightly. High decay expands spiral (> 110% is too big). You may wind up hanging Illustrator with this one. Control-click force quit AI in Mac Dock if you do. Sweep to scale, Cmd-sweep for tightness. Up / down arrow to add / delete segments. Rotate, shift for 45⁰, space bar to move. 38

Grids Rectangular grids have dividers, skew, number of dividers in Cartesian space. Rectangular grids have dividers, skew, number of dividers in Polar space. Options for fill. Framing makes outer rectangle a path. Compound ellipses treated as one object in some contexts, e.g., Direct Select. 39

Selection Select Tool selects an entire path. Direct Select is similar to Photoshop. Shift-select adds or subtracts selections. Select-menu or control-click selections. Select all-on-layer on the right side of a layer. Object -> Group creates a composite object, Ungroup releases it. Magic Wand selects on basis of color. 40

Miscellaneous Tools Object -> Transform has geometric transforms. Object -> Arrange raises or lowers objects. Rotate and Reflect Tools on Tools Panel. Scale and Shear Tools on Tools Panel. Reshape tool modifies predefined shapes, e.g., Reshape a spiral. It is possible to Copy & Paste Paths between PhotoShop and Illustrator. We will examine file-based data exchange later. 41

Selection Create a small set of shapes. Selection Tool sweep, Object -> Group them. Create a few more shapes. Selection Tool sweep, Object -> Group these + former group into a second-order Group. Selection Tool selects the entire group. Direct Select selects vertices / edges. Group Select, multiple clicks selects group hierarchy.

More Selection Lasso Tools selects vertices and edges. Magic Wand selects based on Fill color, Stroke color, Stroke Weight. Double click the wand. Selection Tool shift-click adds or subtracts. Direct Select highlights a vertex beneath its cursor. Select -> Same based on properties. Select all on a layer via the Layers Panel. 43

Isolate Selected Groups Select a group of objects. Click Isolate Selected Group in Control Panel. Group appears in Layers Panel. Editing is limited to active group. Clicking top gray bar ends isolation. Object -> Ungroup removes levels of grouping. Select -> Save Selection under a name. 44

Grids and Guides Check View -> Smart Guides to get coordinate and related information. View -> Grid shows a snap grid. View -> Snap To Grid forces grid alignment. Test, then disable this. Illustrator -> Preferences -> Guides and Grid to set grid resolution. Illustrator -> Preferences -> Smart Guides. Enable the top set of options. 45

Moving / Copying Objects Selection Tools moves whole objects / groups. Apple-C / Apple-V for copy / paste. Make and Select a Star Object -> Path -> Offset Path with a .1 in offset, try Miter, Round and Bevel. Window -> Align or alignment icons on Control Panel. Align to Key Object uses reference object. 46

Automating a Composition Put a single simple object (e.g., star) on the page. Select it. Record the following actions: Copy, paste (or Offset Path 0), align, scale, rotate (and / or other transforms), align centers, group, end record. Click this action sequence repeatedly (slowly) to get spiraling-in shapes similar to the first assignment. You may run out of memory! 47

Transformations Window -> Transform and Align Panels. Rulers help with number-based transformations on complicated, many-sided geometric shapes. Object -> Transform has addition transforms. Select -> right click also shows transform menu. If you run low on memory, Save, Quit, restart. 48

PhotoShop Paths to Illustrator Shapes DSC_0007.jpg into PhotoShop (in MoreLayers.zip). Non-contiguous magic wand, tolerance 100. Create and name a new Path from selection. Use Path menu with 1 pixel tolerance. Rename testpath, Edit -> Copy the path. Create a new Illustrator document. Set fill to gradient. Edit gradient options later. Stroke to black. Paste the shape (compound path). 49