Performing Essential Operations

Objectives 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

Creating an Object Illustrator is all about creating objects: Circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, stars, polygons, and other freeform shapes Several techniques: Freehand Specific Press [X] repeatedly to toggle between activating the Fill button and Stroke button

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 Transform panel 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

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

Duplicating an Object Part of the drawing process Several methods Copying and pasting or “dragging and dropping” a copy Move dialog box Allows an object to be moved a specific distance Also allows a copy of an object to be moved a specific distance

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 second copy

Duplicating an Object FIGURE B-9: Move dialog box

Transforming and Coloring an Object 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 Notable 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

Using the Transform Again Command Helpful quick keys

Specifying a Point of Origin Point from which a transformation is executed However, a different point from which you want to execute the transformation can be selected

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

Specifying a Point of Origin Options for transforming objects using Rotate as an example

Using the Star and Reflect Tools Used to “flip” an object over an imaginary axis Star tool Offers a number of options for creating stars Radius: straight line extending from the center of a circle to its outer edge A star has two radii: center to the inner point and center to the outer point

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. Located on the Tools panel

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

Summary 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