1 Introduction to Computer Graphics – CGS-1586C Spring Quarter 2011 Instructor: Amanda Dickinson Tues/Thurs from 6:00PM to 7:50 PM

2 The main toolbar.

3  Try making a few objects on the artboard.  Here’s a few interesting tips and shorcuts to make your life easier. Helpful Tips in Illustrator

4  We use Macs in the lab. If you use a PC at home:  Cmd key = Ctrl key  Option = Alt

5 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Zoom with your mouse Hold down the Option key and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom around.

6 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Change The Unit Setting Right click the ruler to change the unit of measurement

7 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Duplicate Objects Select an object, hold down Option key and drag to duplicate. Press Cmd+D to make more copies.

8 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Need more/less sides on your shape? Make a star on the art board and while holding down the mouse button, use the up or down arrow to add/subtract sides. This works for Arc, Spiral, Rectangle Grid, Polar Grid, Polygon, and Flare Tool.

9 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Need a fat/skinny star or spiral? Make a star on the art board and while holding down the mouse button, press down the Cmd key and drag your mouse around to adjust the inner radius.

10 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Straight Side Star While making a star, hold down the Option key to make a star with straight sides.

11 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Continuous Duplicates With any shape tool, hold down the tilde key (~)while dragging will make duplicates based on your mouse movement. This is fun to try and can make interesting art.

12 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Draw Shapes with Options Select any shape tool and click on the art board, it will let you draw a shape using the options menu.

13 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Shortcuts for fill and stroke

14 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Flip between color profiles Hold down shift and click on the color bar to toggle the color profiles. (Greyscale, RGB, CMYK, etc)

15 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Picking Gradients made easier Want a gradient color in the swatch menu? Select a gradient stop (the square), hold down the Option key and click on the swatch.

16 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Desaturate or saturate color Hold down Cmd key and drag the color slider to desaturate or saturate a mixed color.

17 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  Want to grab a color from a gradient or photo? Grab the eyedropper and shift-click the area on the gradient or photo to pick the color.

18 Helpful Tips in Illustrator  There are many, many more shortcuts that you will discover as you play with Illustrator.  The top menu has many shortcuts that are familiar and new, so take a look and make some mental notes.