Working in FreeHand – Lesson 21 Working in FreeHand Lesson 2
2 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Objectives Organize your graphics by using layers. Customize the FreeHand workspace. Place images in FreeHand. Use the Paste Inside feature in FreeHand.
3 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Customize FreeHand by adding buttons to toolbars If a toolbar does not contain a tool that you use frequently, you can add a button to the toolbar in the Toolbars dialog box. Commands are listed (including menus) on the left side of the box in the Commands list. When a command is selected, the buttons currently on that menu or toolbar are displayed on the right side of the box. Click on a button for the selected command and drag it to one of the other commands to add that button to that menu or toolbar.
4 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 The Toolbars tab The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box allows you to add toolbar buttons to any menu or toolbar listed in the Commands list. Figure 2-1 (windows) The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box (Windows) is shown on the left, and the Macintosh equivalent dialog box is shown on the right.
5 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Move and resize toolbars FreeHand toolbars can be undocked and changed to a floating toolbar by dragging them with the mouse. In Windows, point to the gray area at either end of the toolbar and drag it to where you want it to be. In Macintosh, point to the toolbar handle at either end of the toolbar and drag it with the mouse. To re-dock the toolbar, click an empty area of the bar or its title bar and drag it to the toolbar area.
6 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Organize artwork using layers Layers are basically stacked planes or overlays. Objects can be added to any layer or moved from one layer to another using the Layers panel. The order of the layers affects how the final document appears. Layer order can also be changed in the Layers panel.
7 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Learn to manipulate layers The Layers panel allows you to make one or more layers invisible by toggling the Show/Hide option. You can lock a layer to prevent it from being updated accidentally. You can change the viewing mode of a layer by toggling the Keyline/Preview area. You can rename layers and add new layers in the Layers panel.
8 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 The Layers panel You can open the Layers panel by clicking the Window menu, then Panels, and then clicking Layers. Click here to show or hide the layer. Click here to change the view mode. Click here to open the Options menu. Click here to lock or unlock a layer.
9 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Import existing images into FreeHand FreeHand allows you to import a variety of vector or raster images into your document. To import an image: Click the File menu. Click the Import option. Locate the image in the import dialog box and click Open (Windows) or Choose (Macintosh). When the pointer changes to the Import pointer, move it to the desired location in the document and click the mouse to insert the image. The image can be resized or repositioned using the Object inspector.
10 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Use Paste Inside to create clipping paths You can mask parts of an image (make them invisible) by creating a clipping path. A clipping path is a closed path with an object pasted inside it. The Paste Inside command places an object on the Clipboard inside a selected object in the document. Only the area of the object that falls within the selected path is visible and the rest of the image is masked.
11 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Create a clipping path Select the image to be pasted inside the clipping path and cut it to the Clipboard. Select or draw a rectangle (or other shape) in the document. With the shape object selected, click the Edit menu and then click Paste Inside. The image that was cut is now pasted inside the selected object, but only the portion of the image that lies within the confines of the selected shape’s path are visible.
12 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 An example of a clipping path The image on the left shows the original graphic image as it was imported into the document. The image on the right shows the same image after the Paste Inside command was used to insert it into a square object. Only the portion of the image that falls within the bounds of the square are now visible.
13 Working in FreeHand – Lesson 2 Summary In this lesson, you learned: To organize your graphics by using layers. To customize the FreeHand workspace. How to place images in FreeHand. To use the Paste Inside feature in FreeHand.