Illustrator

Day 3: Modules 5 & 6

Course Reference Handout

Take this class home with you!

Student Videos Available at: www.LearnItAnytime.com
(ask your instructor for a special discount)

Student manuals available at: www.learnit.com/manuals

Username: manuals; Password: password

Note: All course guides are in PDF format and you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer to open and print these course guides. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer, download a free copy at: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

www.learnit.com © 2021 Learn iT!


Adobe Illustrator DAY 3 – Module 5
Combining Shapes
You can combine vector objects to create shapes in a
variety of ways.
 Compound paths
Compound paths let you use an object to cut a
hole in another object. For example, you can
create a doughnut shape from two nested circles.
 Compound shapes
Compound shapes let you combine multiple
objects and specify how you want each object to
interact with the other objects. You can add,
subtract, intersect, or exclude different shapes.
 Pathfinder effects
Pathfinder effects let you combine multiple objects
using one of ten interaction modes accessed
through the Pathfinder Panel.
Using the Pathfinder Panel
The Pathfinder Panel can help you combine shapes to
make new shapes, such as merging shapes together,
creating holes, or cutting shapes.
 Open the Pathfinder Panel from the Window
menu.
 To combine separate paths into a single object,
select the objects and click the Add button. Click
Expand to make the change permanent.
 To create holes in shapes, overlap paths so that
the shape that will become the hole is on top.
Select the objects and click Subtract.
 To create cuts in a shape with straight lines,
overlap paths and click the Divide button in the
Pathfinder Panel. Any overlapping paths will
create cuts. Choose Ungroup to separate the
parts.
Live Paint
Live Paint lets you divide the drawing surface up into areas
based on overlapping shapes. Any sections created by
overlapping shapes can be colored, regardless of whether
the area is bounded by a single path, or by segments of
multiple paths. The result is that painting objects with Live
Paint is like filling in a coloring book or using watercolors to
paint a pencil sketch.
To use Live Paint
 Select one or more paths and Choose Object >
Live Paint > Make
OR
 Select the Live Paint Bucket tool and click on the
selected object(s).
 Next apply fill and stroke properties as you would
with any object.
Working with Styles
The Styles Panel can collect settings for any feature
normally listed in the Appearance Panel, including: Fill,
Stroke, Effects, Brushes, and Transparency.
To Use Styles:
 Open the Styles Panel from the Window menu.
www.learnit.com

Select an object and click on a style in the Panel
to apply the style.
 Use the Appearance Panel to inspect the features
and settings included in the style.
Creating Styles:
 Select an object with the Fill, Stroke, Effects,
Brushes, and Transparency settings you wish to
collect, and click the New Style button in the
Styles Panel. A new style is added based on the
selected object.
 Style Libraries (Window menu) can help you load
more Styles or copy Styles from other Illustrator
files (Other Library). You can also access Style
Libraries from the Style Panel submenu.
Working with Symbols
The Symbols Panel can be used as a library of objects
that you use frequently. Symbols can also help you make
global changes to multiple copies of objects in a document.
To Create a Symbol:
 Select objects and drag them into the Symbol
Panel, or click the New Symbol button.
To Use Symbols:
 Drag the Symbol from the Panel into the
document area.
To Redefine a Symbol:
 Drag a fresh symbol into your document.
 Click the Unlink button in the Symbol Panel.
 Edit the Symbol: change color, shape, add or
delete parts--change anything.
 To update other Symbol Instances to match the
edited symbol art, select the updated art AND the
symbol in the Symbol Panel, and choose
Redefine Symbol from the Symbol Panel menu.
Symbolism Tools
Another way to work with Symbols is to use Symbolism
tools. You could use the Symbol Sprayer to create groups
of symbols in a document (similar to using a scatter brush).
Other Symbolism tools can be used to manipulate opacity,
color, angle, size and position of Symbol groups. Double-
click on a symbolism tool in the Toolbox to set the tool
options.
 The Symbol Sprayer tool creates multiple symbol
instances as a set.
 The Symbol Shifter tool moves symbol instances
 The Symbol Scruncher tool moves symbol
instances closer together.
 The Symbol Sizer tool resizes symbol instances.
 The Symbol Spinner tool rotates symbol
instances.
 The Symbol Stainer tool colorizes symbol
instances.
 The Symbol Screener tool applies opacity to
symbol instances.
 The Symbol Styler tool applies the selected style
to symbol instances.
© 2021 Learn iT!

Liquefy Tools
The Liquefy section of the Toolbox offers a series of tools
which can be used to produce radical transformations of
your artwork. These can be used on single objects or
groups of objects. The Liquefy tools include: Warp, Twirl,
Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize, and Wrinkle.
To liquefy artwork, simply select the object(s) you want to
distort and click or drag on them with one of the liquefy
tools.
Adobe Illustrator DAY 3 – Module 6
Using Layers
Think of layers as transparent planes on which your
artwork exists. The planes are represented by folders in the
Layers Panel which you can name, organize, group and
move. If you reshuffle the folders, you change the stacking
order of the items in your artwork. Layers can contain
objects and groups of objects and you can expand and
collapse their view in Layers Panel. The Layers Panel also
gives you the ability to lock a layer (to prevent editing) and
hide a layer by making it temporarily invisible.
Tips for Using Layers:
 Create layers by clicking the New Layer button in
the Layers Panel.
 To move any object to a different layer, select the
object and drag the small square on the right side
of the Layers Panel to another layer.
 Hold Alt/Option while dragging the small square
in the Layers Panel to copy and move an object to
another layer.
 Alt/Option+click a layer to automatically select all
the objects on a layer.
Placing Photoshop Images
 To Insert Photos or Scans:
 Choose File > Place and browse to your image.
 In the Place dialog box, check Link to maintain a
link to the original file, or uncheck Link to create
an Embedded image.
 Use the Links Panel to locate missing or modified
linked images, or to view a list of all images
placed into the document.
File Formats
 For best quality images, place Photoshop images in
one of the following file formats: .TIF, .EPS, .PSD,
although you can place most common file formats
including .GIF, .JPG, .WBMP and .PNG.
 To preserve transparency from Photoshop, use .PSD
file format.
 If your Photoshop file includes text layers (or any other
vector-based feature) use .PSD or .EPS format to
preserve the vectors.
Managing Linked Graphics
www.learnit.com
As mentioned above, when you place artwork, you can
choose whether to link to the file or embed it in the
Illustrator document:
 Linked artwork remains independent of the
Illustrator document, resulting in a smaller
Illustrator file.
 Embedded artwork is copied into the Illustrator
document, resulting in a larger Illustrator file.
Use the Links Panel to see and manage all of your linked
and embedded artwork.
Updating Linked Artwork
After editing the original source file of your artwork, you can
choose to update your changes in the Illustrator file:
 Select the artwork in the Links Panel and click the
Update Link button at the bottom of the Links
Panel.
Live Trace
This feature allows you to create vector art automatically
from raster graphics such as a scanned image of a pencil
sketch. With Live Trace you can control the level of detail
for the filter and how traced areas are filled.
To use Live Trace
 Open or place a raster file in Illustrator to use as
the source image for the tracing.
 To trace the image most accurately, open the Live
Trace menu in the Control Panel and select a
preset corresponding to the type of image being
traced.
 To set tracing options before you trace the image,
select Tracing Options from the bottom of the
Live Trace menu or choose Object > Live Trace
> Tracing Options.
To create a custom tracing preset:
 Choose Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options
to open the Tracing Options dialog box.
 Set the tracing options the way you want them.
 Click the Save Preset button and enter a name
for the preset. Click OK.
Optimizing Web Graphics
Save for Web
To create a copy of your image in web formats, such as
GIF, JPEG, or PNG:
 Choose File > Save for Web.
 Click the Optimized tab to view your image in web
formats, or choose 2-up or 4-up to compare
multiple previews of your file side-by-side.
 Choose the Hand or Zoom tools to change your
view.
 Click the triangle in the upper right corner to
choose a modem speed to suit your intended
audience (This affects the time estimate displayed
below your image).
© 2021 Learn iT!
JPEG Settings
Choose JPEG format for photos, or any image with blurry,
soft, or textured areas.
This format is continuous tone, or 24-bit, supporting
millions of colors.
 Choose JPEG High, Medium, or Low in the
Settings menu.
 Note the file size, and estimated download time
displayed under the image.
 Adjust the Quality slider to affect file size and
quality.
 Choose Progressive if you wish the image to
download gradually in multiple passes (This is a
good idea for larger images that may take several
seconds to download).

GIF Settings
Choose GIF format for images with solid flat color areas.
This format is 8-bit, supporting a maximum of 256 indexed
colors.
 Choose a GIF setting in the Settings menu,
selecting a number of colors, and whether you
want dither or no dither.
 Choose a color Panel such as Selective or
Adaptive.
 Reduce the number of colors as much as
possible to reduce file size.
 Choose Browser Dither to check for dithering
caused by using non-web safe colors.
 Select colors with the Eyedropper tool, and click
the web-safe cube button at the bottom of the
Color Table, to snap colors to the nearest web-
safe color. Double-click a color to bring up the
color picker.

Notes

www.learnit.com © 2021 Learn iT!