1. Project 7: Consumer Infographics
Creating Charts and Graphs
Drawing in Perspective
The first half of this project explores graphing, one of Illustrator’s lesser-known features. Although a somewhat limited application, these tools can be useful for anyone who works in information graphics; in fact, illustrators who specialize in infographics are highly marketable in the professional design world.
Prior to CS5, perspective drawing — the second focus of this project — was a very complex, imprecise, manual undertaking. In CS5, Illustrator introduced a set of sophisticated perspective drawing tools that make it very easy to create and manage objects in precise perspective.
We created the artwork for this project to highlight the different options that are available in perspective drawing mode; we tried to develop a simple finished piece that did not require extensive repetition of the same task.
You should understand that Illustrator’s perspective drawing tools can be used to create highly complex finished illustrations if you are willing to devote the necessary time and attention to detail.
If you want more practice with these tools, you might place an urban street-level photo onto the artboard and recreate the buildings.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

2. Charts and Graphs Tool defines graph area excluding type Type directly
Import data
Information graphics (or simply “infographics”) are illustrations that deliver information; bar graphs, pie charts, and area charts are all examples of information provided in a visual format that makes it easier to understand.
Successfully designing infographics requires knowing which kind of chart best shows which type of information. Once you know what kind of chart you need, Illustrator provides the tools to generate the chart. The available options are described in detail on Page 323.
Creating a graph in Illustrator is as simple as choosing a tool and drawing the graph area.
Keep in mind that the area you draw is the actual graph area; it does not include axis labels. If you need a graph including labels to fit in a defined space, you should draw the area smaller than the defined space. You can’t use the Selection tool or Transform panel to resize an existing graph, but you can use the Object>Transform>Scale dialog box.
As soon as you release the mouse button, the Data panel appears. You can enter data directly into the panel, or click the Import button at the top of the panel to load external data (such as a Microsoft Excel file).
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

3. Data Panel Cut and Paste Transpose Row/Column Cell Style Text field
Quotation marks
Pipe character
Object>Graph> Data
Illustrator’s Data panel has a number of quirks that affect the way you create and manage graph data.
First, you should also realize that you can’t drag highlighted cells in the panel the way you might in Excel. You can, however, cut cells and then paste them in the appropriate place.
Different types of graphs require different information in rows and columns. If the resulting graph isn’t what you expect, you might try clicking the Transpose Row/Column button. This changes columns into rows, and vice versa.
Especially when you import data, you might need to include more than the default two decimal points. You can click the Cell Style button to change this setting.
Contents of the highlighted cell appear in the text field at the top of the Data panel. To treat a number as text instead of as data, you must enclose the number in quotation marks. To start a new line within a cell, you can use the pipe character.
You can reopen the Data panel at any time using the graph’s contextual menu, or by choosing Object>Graph>Data. After you enter or edit data in the panel, you can click the Apply button to preview the resulting graph.
Keep in mind that if you have changed formatting — especially type formatting — editing the data can overwrite your formatting changes.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

4. Graph Formatting Groups No Isolation mode Direct Selection tool
Graphs in Illustrator are special types of object. All of the component elements are grouped, but you can’t double-click to isolate the graph and access the individual graph objects.
If you ungroup the graph objects, the graph data is no longer editable. To maintain the editable graph data, you can use the Direct Selection tool to edit the individual graph pieces without ungrouping.
You should also realize that a graph object has no overall bounding box. This means you can’t use the Selection tool, Transformation tools, or Transform panel to modify the overall graph object.
As mentioned before, however, you can use the Object>Transform submenu options to rotate, reflect, scale, or shear a graph.
When the entire graph object is selected, changes to type formatting affect all type objects in the graph. If you want to change only certain type objects (for example, the legend), you should use the Direct Selection tool.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

5. Graph Type Graph Options Category Axis Value Axis Legend
Override Calculated Values
You can change a number of settings for a graph by choosing Object>Graph>Type, or by choosing Type in the graph’s contextual menu.
In the Graph Type dialog box, the Graph Options pane has different options depending on the type of graph you are creating; most of these are fairly self-explanatory.
You can use the Category and Value Axis options in the dialog box to change the axis ranges and divisions. For the Value axis, you can also choose to include labels based on the existing data in the panel. (The label is the leftmost column or top row, depending on the type of graph.)
When you change the graph options, strange and unpredictable things can sometimes occur. Type size might change, moved elements can move back near their original positions, etc. Unfortunately, the Graph Type dialog box does not include a Preview check box. Always review your graph carefully when you edit these graph options.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

6. Working in Perspective
Vanishing Point
Plane
Horizon Line
Origin
Perspective Grid tool
Plane Switching widget
As you will see in the sketch for this part of the project, you are drawing a sign similar to one that you might really see when you drive down the road. Objects in the real world have depth — which means the sign you are drawing should reflect that same level of dimension. To recreate this effect using two-dimensional drawing tools, you need to understand the basic artistic principle of perspective.
To begin, you should understand several basic terms related to dimensional drawing:
• A plane is a flat surface. The Plane Switching widget, which defaults to the top-left corner of the document window, determines which plane is currently active in the file.
• A vanishing point is the location where all lines on a plane appear to converge.
• The horizon line is the height of the theoretical viewer’s eye level.
• The origin is the zero point for perspective objects. For objects on the horizontal plane, the origin point is X: 0, Y: 0. For objects on the left or right plane, the origin point is X: 0.
Illustrator’s Perspective Grid tool makes it very easy to define the perspective planes that will guide your drawing. If you have never worked with perspective drawing, the grid might seem intimidating at first. Once you understand the various elements, you will see how this grid makes it very easy to draw in correct perspective.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

7. Two-Point Perspective
In two-point perspective, there are two vanishing points and three planes.
Illustrator’s perspective grid shows the left plane in blue, the right plane in orange, and the ground plane in green.
When you first choose the Perspective Grid tool, the default two-point perspective grid appears. You can toggle the grid’s visibility by choosing View>Perspective Grid> Show/Hide Grid.
Depending on what you need to create, you can also change the grid to one-point or three-point perspective by choosing the appropriate option in the View>Perspective Grid menu.
Keep in mind that only one perspective grid can exist in a single file, regardless of the number of artboards in the file. If you choose a different perspective, you replace any grid that already exists in your file.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

8. One-Point Perspective
In one-point perspective, there is only one vanishing point and two planes. Illustrator’s perspective grid shows the vertical plane in blue and the ground plane in green.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

9. Three-Point Perspective
In three-point perspective, there are three vanishing points and four planes. (You might have noticed by now that there is always one more plane than vanishing point.)
Both horizontal planes — ground and “ceiling” — appear in green; the vertical planes appear in blue and orange.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

10. Perspective Grid Options
View>Perspective Grid submenu
Define Perspective Grid
Save Grid as Preset
You can change the settings and appearance of the active perspective grid by choosing View>Perspective Grid>Define Grid. In addition to changing the color and opacity of gridlines, you can also define specific measurements such as scale and the interval of gridlines.
If you take the time to establish a grid that you think you might need again, you can save it as a preset by choosing View>Perspective Grid>Save Grid As Preset. The resulting dialog box has most of the same options as the Define Perspective Grid dialog box, but you can type a name in the top field for easier recognition. Your saved grid presets will then be available in the View>Perspective Grid submenus.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

11. Plane Switching Widget
Options
Left plane = 1
Horizontal Plane = 2
Right Plane = 3
No Plane = 4
When you draw in perspective, the Plane Switching widget determines the active plane — in other words, which plane will define the perspective of objects you create or attach.
By default, the Plane Switching widget appears in the top left corner of the document window. Double-clicking either perspective tool in the Tools panel opens the Perspective Grid Options dialog box, where you can change that position (or turn off the widget).
You can click a specific plane in the widget, or click the background area in the widget to select “no plane”. You can also simply use the keyboard shortcuts to change planes:
• Press 1 to select the Left plane
• Press 2 to select the Horizontal plane
• Press 3 to select the Right plane
• Press 4 to select No plane
(These keyboard shortcuts relate only to the main numbers on the keyboard; the numeric keypad numbers do not work for switching planes.)
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

12. Drawing in Perspective
Active plane
Regular drawing tools
Once you have defined a perspective grid, creating objects in perspective is a fairly simple process. The most important issue is determining which plane you should draw on, and making sure that plane is active when you draw.
You can then select a drawing tool and draw as you would any other shape. The only difference is that the new shapes are created on the active perspective plane — as you can see in the preview lines before you release the mouse button.
Gridlines in the perspective grid act as snap-to magnets as long as the Snap To Grid option is active in the View menu.
Smart guides also work in perspective drawing mode, just as they do in regular drawings. You can snap to existing objects to align edges and corners when you draw new objects.
A perspective drawing object is still a drawing object. You can use the Control panel, Swatches panel, or Color panel to change the fill and stroke colors of the selected shape.
Object stacking order in perspective drawing follows the same rules as in regular drawing. New objects are automatically created at the top of the stacking order on the active layer.
Layer stacking order is also the same in perspective drawing as it is in regular drawing. The same perspective grid applies to all layers.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

13. Drawing in Perspective
Perspective Selection tool
Drag handle to resize
Move objects perpendicular to the plane = 5
Using the Perspective Selection tool, you can click an object and drag to move it in perspective on the active plane.
Important note: The tool is a very important distinction, and one that is easy to forget. If you move or resize a perspective object with the regular Selection tool, the object’s perspective is not maintained in the transformation.
The same keyboard shortcuts for transforming objects work for transforming objects in perspective. Press Shift to constrain an object’s movement to 45° angles (including exactly horizontal or vertical). Press Option/Alt to clone the object that you are dragging.
While dragging an object in perspective, you can press a number key (1–4) to change the active plane — and thus move the dragged object to a different plane.
Pressing the 5 key while dragging an object moves the object perpendicular to the plane where the object sits. In other words, the object moves nearer or farther away without changing its horizontal (X) position on that plane.
You can also click and drag an object handle to resize that object in perspective.
The perspective grid does not need to be visible to transform objects in perspective, but it does need to be active in order to create new objects in perspective.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

14. Attach Objects to Plane
Plane Switching widget
Perspective Selection tool
Adding existing flat artwork to the perspective grid is a fairly simple process. The important issue in this case is recognizing that flat artwork placed into perspective often (but not always) needs some additional work to add the depth that is inherent in dimensional artwork.
These two area-type objects represent characters on a sign; they do not need additional elements of depth to appear accurate.
• First, choose the Perspective Selection tool.
• Second, choose the appropriate plane in the Plane Switching widget.
• Third, click an existing object and drag it into position on the perspective plane.
• Finally, use the Perspective Selection tool to resize the object, in perspective, as necessary.
You should keep in mind that you can also place symbol instances onto a perspective grid. (If you completed Project 4, you should understand the concept of symbols. Editing the actual symbol changes any placed instance of that symbol, including those that are placed in perspective.)
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio

15. Type in Perspective Live text Edit Text button (Control panel)
Drag using Selection tool to expand perspective
It’s important to realize that you can’t create a new type area directly in perspective. Instead, you have to create the type object and then drag it onto the correct plane. Both point-type and area-type objects can be placed into perspective.
The text remains editable unless you release the object from the perspective grid.When a perspective type object is selected, you have to “enter into” the text to change the color of the text.
You can double-click the type object, or click the Edit Text button in the Control panel, to enter the Edit Text mode. Click the arrow button at the top of the document window two times to exit Edit Text mode.
Unlike other objects, you can’t change the fill or stroke attributes of a perspective type object without first entering into Edit Text mode.
Make sure you use the Perspective Selection tool and not the regular Selection tool to transform perspective type objects. If you try to resize a perspective type object with the regular Selection tool, the object is detached from the perspective grid and expanded into a group of shapes that represent the letters. The appearance of perspective is maintained, but the object is no longer attached to the perspective grid — and the text is no longer editable.
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio
Adobe Illustrator CS5: The Professional Portfolio