Illustrator Notes

 Asian market - corel draw

in the abroad they dont use the corel draw they use illustrator

it is just like corel draw, if you know corel draw you will be familiar with illustrator

whatever you make in illustrator, the output will be without pixels

you can zoom into whatever you have designed on illustrator without loss of quality

logo, banner, posters designed in illustrator because they can be scaled to any size without loss of quality

whatever level of zoom, the quality wont be disturbed

it has been drawn with segments of polygonal shapes like lines and curves

the interface of illustrator or any adobe application is exactly the same

once you open the first time illustrator, the toolbar will always be on the left side, the panel, the additional tools will be on the right hand side

each tool comes with some options

if I select the pen tool, or move tool, the options will be highlighted in the options bar on top

after selecting any tool, try to search the options in the options

the aditional tools, not in the tool bar will be placed in the menu bar

object, and effect commands will be in the menu bar

when you create a new document, unlike in the photoshop, all the details will be asked at first

give the name, creating for web or print, has to be highlighted in the profile

when going for print, we give maximum resolution. Why because when you go for the less resolution, the pixel size will get increased. if the pixel size is increased, the quality will not be good. to make the resolution of pixel smaller, we give 300. 

no problem with increasing value, not less than 300. 300 is default. 

as soon as you click on print profile, they will ask you for size. 

the common sizes are A3, A4, and the letter are the commonly used sizes in the stationary or in the offices. 

A3 is a double of A4

And A5 is half of A4. 

it is like A5, A4 and A3

if you want a very small size, you go with the A3

B5 is a little bit more smaller. 

Generally in the Asian market, we don't work with B5 and B4 - can be used for greeting cards.

The default size will be given with the units.

Units does not play any role as a designer, but print requires units. 

Work with pixels or inch for printing, not for pixels. 

Pixels does not have decimal point values, but cm or inches will have decimal point values. 

Usually we go with the inches. 

They have a new feature in Illustrator called orientation. In the photoshop this option is not there. 

In the portrait width will be bigger than height. In the landscape it will be opposite. 

When to use portrait and landscape. 

portrait - photos - single pic or single object, then go for portrait 

landscape - group photos, scenerey - wide angle then go for landscape.

whatever you are working the project, if you are using minimum elements go for portrait

if you want to highlight all the elements with more and more images go for landscape. 

we have a new option in printing areas called bleed and slug. 

slug will not be there, in the software it will be in the .... 

bleed is nothing but suppose you have any design, what happens when you go for the printing, the printing starts exactly from the edges.

If you have a4 size, the image will completely fill the edges. If some mistake happens when cutting, there can be loss of image information. 

What the bleed does, when you are adding the bleed, it will give some space around the image, the printing will be done leaving some gap, so that you can cut it properly

bleed is a margin outside the document

it is not used for designing, but used for printing, it is very important 

what the printer does when doing the print, they will add the bleed and send it to the printing. this is the bleed area. 

as a designer you need to maintain the size, units, resolution, and the last thing what you need to maintain? - colours

black and white are the neutral colours to get the shades of the particular colour 

K stands for krypton - krypton is the black colour. 

all photos should go with RGB colour mode - any electronic device has to go with RGB

CMYK colours are the ink colours. RGB are the additive colours. 

CMYK is subtractive colours, whatever the colours are subtracted. 

All the light is absorbed, and the green colour will be reflected thats why we see the colour. 

all the printing work, especially the artwork done with illustrator has to go for cmyk. 

the photos should be in RGB, not CMYK when you go for printing. 

The resolution should be 300 ppi - pixels per inch. 

clarity in the printing output

we are having in one inch 300 pixels

in the preview mode, it is nothing but how you are going to view 

in overprint, there will be more colour. red will be maroon colour. 

preview mode will be default. 

since you are beginner, nothing to change, just work with size and orientation. 

number of artboards is the number of documents you want to open. 

you get a white colour document, here only you will design. 

what is good in illustrator is that you can use the area outside of the document, in photoshop you cannot use the area outside of the document. 

you can utilise the entire workplace in illustrator

whatever is there inside the document, only that area will be printed, but you can utilise it

the shortcut command keys is same like photoshop

zoom - ctrl +

zoom out - ctrl -

zooming area starts from 3. some value to 6000 percentage

in objective questions they might ask in some companies

you can zoom up to 6400 percentage, you can zoom out to 3. percentage

the actual size, go to view > actual size to view 100%. THis is what you are going to print. 

try to zoom before you print, and see that is there any correction that you want to make

so always go to the view and actual size. 

some of the workplace is little bit up and down

to pan the document, use the space bar key to pan the document by clicking and dragging. 

or else you can go to the window menu and we have got a navigater. here they will give a small panel in what area you are working with. you can click and drag the work area and only that area will be viewed in the navigator panel. 

one important thing they have not made mandatory, which is there cumpulsary in the photoshop. what is that? layers

if you are not working with the layers, everything will get messed up you cannot undo or delete. you have to depend on layer in the photoshop. 

in the illustrator, we also have the layers f7 the same shortcut key. but you dont depend on the layers much, because everything you do in illustrator will automatically be in the new layers. no need to depend on the layers. whatever you are designing anything it will always be in the new layers. 

actually here, layer represents groups. 

under layer one, we have more layer, this will be acting as a group. by default it makes a group. 

new layer, making more layers, creates a new group. 

here the layer is like a group. you can hide any group any time. 

and unlike in the photoshop where you want to undo the commands, we have got ctrl+z, in photoshop it undos one time. we just have to ctrl z, it will undo many times, more than 20 in illustrator. 

whatever you have created, everything will be undone, back to normal. 

only the ctrl z no alt ctrl z

so the layer part again we will se more depth when working on the project. right now we do not want the layers. 

today we will see the shapes, how to apply colour and how to modify the shape. 

you can use shapes. shapes are the building blocks. 

in multimedia, you cannot leave the pen tool. even in animation, 3d modelling, video editing, you will use the pen tool .

in shapes tool you have circle, polygon, hexagon, lines, segments, square, triangle, circle, oval

if you know about these shapes and how to manipulate these shapes, you can create any design. you can create any logo very easily 

it is just not a triangle, or a square or a rectangle you can make many shapes. when you combine these shapes you will get new shapes. 

we have certain shapes ovwr here. Rectangle tool, ellipse tool, polygon tool. in the sub tools. 

the flare tool is not a shape, it is an object, like in the photoshop we have lense flare like that in illustrator we have the flare tool

the basic shapes are rectangle, rounded rectangle elipse, polygon and star

you can tear of the tools from the toolbar. you can easily work with this, just tear it off from the toolbar. you can customise very easily and work very comfortably in the illustrator. even though the tools will be there in the toolbar, you can jsut tear it out and place it in the workspace. 

once you are done with the means when you have created the rectangle you can move with the selection tool, select it and place it wherever you want in the design. 

if you want to fill the colour, we have the fill colour and the stroke colour. 

each shape comes with a colour - fill and a border, we call them as a stroke

we can select the shape, double click on the fill, get the colour picker

you know how to pick the colour picker. hue is nothing but the colour. choose the hue

we have got 256 colour shades, starting from 0 to 255. for example if I want to get the red, we have got here, hue saturation black, rgb and hexadecimal number and cmyk 

whenever working with colour, work with the hex code, copy the hex code, it will give you the accuracy

the hex code is divided into six digits. two for red, two for blue and two for green. 

if you make everything 0, you will get the black

if I want to make it the red colour in my design. i just want to fill the red colour in the image, just have to increase the red value. 

the combination of 0-9 and a-f you get the hex numbers

just makes two times ff, you get the red colour. 

if you want to go with green or blue, put first two 00ff00 you will get the green

for blue colour, you will get 0000ff

the pure colour will always be on the rightside top

whatever colour you have selected it will fill it. by default stroke colour is black just double click on it and you can change the colour of it. 

if you want to increase the thickness of the stroke, select the shape, and look for the option bar. in this option bar, we have the stroke option, we can icnrease or decrease the thickness. if you dont want the stroke, just make it zero. 

the stroke is gone. 

ok

but I want the stroke for a moment so I will just increase it. 

now working with the colours with the illustrator is very easy unlike the photoshop. in cs6 they have given the swarches. 

they have categorized the colours according to mood

in option bar, there is a fill and stroke. 

you get swatches in the option bar. they have given the shades properly

open the library of the colours, they have categorized the swatches. all the celebration colours will be available. 

these are the colours used for celebration posters or banners. 

click on the library, click on foods, kid stuff. ice cream you want to design, ice cream colours will show up. 

every colour they have defined properly. 

if you want to go for the metallic finishing, all the metallic colours they have defined propery. 

used this panel if you are confused what colour you have to use with what project. 

you have the patterns, you have the colour. now I will just select eh colour. I want the stroke, no fill colour. select the fill, it should be on the top, just click on none. the fill is gone, only you will get the border. there is another way also 

The document in the illustrator it is called artboard, in photoshop it is called canvas. 

if you want to create a shape with a perfect size, just click on shape and click on artboard. 

make sure you put the value with the units the software will convert inch value with the points

this can be changed in the preferences

if you want to duplicate shape, ctrl c ctrl v to duplicate

alt click and drag also works here

the good thing about illustrator 

suppose once you have duplicated with alt and drag, hold down the shift key so it will not move up and down

want to duplicate the object with same spacing. the alighment is important. If I duplicate it one more time, I may not get the same gape. 

once the object is duplicated if you want the same duplicate again and again

just press ctrl d

ctrl d will maintain the spacing

move tool can be used to scale and rotate an object. there is no ctrl t for transform.. 

edges means scale, just off edge means rotate. with the same tool. 

we use the shift key for the proportions. specially for the photograph, you need to scale with the corners, not with the middle points. 

do not scale without proportions

hold down the shift key then scale to maintain the proportions

 

select rounded rectangle tool

click on artboard

click the corner radius, specify before creating otherwise it will not happen

you cannot change the radius after creating the tool 

shift plus click and drag will create the circle

polygon tool

specify number of sides and radius before creating

last polygon - end shape is a circle

click and drag, don't leave mouse, click top arrow button to increase the number of sides

select direction selection tool

drag area, all anchor points in the area will be selected

move it more with the same tool

you can modify any shape using the direct selection tool. if you want select multiple anchor points, hold down shift key and select multiple points. 

to rotate with perfect degree, hold down shift key and then rotate 

without shift key it will move very freely

double click on the gradient tool to activate it

Illustrator has only two types of of gradient, one is radial, and one is linear

in a design, there will be many elements. focus on one object from all the elements. as soon as a client or public or audience sees an image, one thing should be in focus. I should look in this element or that element. our focus point should be there. suppose you want to highlight any product. one shape will be there, and around that glowness will be there. They will apply the glowness at the back, that is your psychology. When you want to highlight any object, place the object in the centre, and place the radial light. 

In illustrator, you cannot apply gradient to the artboard, you have to apply the gradient to a shape. Suppose you have drawn one shape. Shuffle the shapes to change the order of the shapes in the layers window. 

Right click on shape, go to arange, and click on bring to front. The selected object will come on top of all the shapes. IF you select bring forward, it will bring it upwards just one step. Right click arrange, send to back, will send the selected shape to the back of all the objects. 

To create a gradient, create a rectangle of the same dimensions of the object. Linear gradient in background is confusing, because you don't know whether to look above or below. use radial gradient. 

If you want to change the colour of the gradient, double click on the colour stop

Whenever going for radial, first colour should always be lighter than the second point. 

if you want to add more colours to the gradient. Just click between the colour oiubtsm yiy wukk get a new point. minimum two anchor points are mandatory in gradient. 

in the same way we can fill the gradient on any shape. select shape, select gradient type, drag for the length of the gradient. 

ctrl+ g to group shapes

select tool and go beyond shape little bit to rotate the shape

if you are rotating, by default the object gets rotated against a fixed center point. This is called the register. 

To change the center point to the corner and rotate it, go to the rotate tool (R). When selected, it will show a registration point, click and drag it to any corner. You can click and rotate the point. YOu can move it outside the shape also. 

The shape will be rotated with respect to the registration point. 

With the help of your rotate tool, select the shape, select the registration tool, press the alt key and drag to fix it where you want. They will ask the angle to be rotated. You can specify the angle to rotate the group, you can see the preview by checking on the preview box. 

Instead of saying ok, say copy, the original will remain you will get a copy at an angle. 

Just do ctrl+d to duplicate again in the same way. 

To create depth, to any shape or object, go to Extrude > 3D > Filter and bevel

Window > pathfinder> Shape mode > second option subtracts front shape from background.

Right click > transform > reflect 

to scale simultaneously from both edges, hold down alt key and then scale

To change the shadow or extrude depth colour, change the colour of the stroke 

verdana is commonly used by web designers

times new roman is used commanly by print media

script is just like cursive writing - used mostly in invitations, greeting cards. Gives appeal to that particular design. 

Any multinational will have neat, clean, basic style. 

We as a designer have a certain target audience, we have to design according to that. If regional, local, design according to local standards, not high standards like multinational company. 

for national company, you can use decorative, script fonts. 

reccommended, only 2 fonts to be used, never use more than 5 fonts. 

Topic - 1 font (arial)

Paragraph - another font (verdana)

as a designer use 2 fonts.

dont use copyrighted font in official designs. 

Helvetica - crystal clear, very nice font. 

Right click text, create shape, select the point and modify it. 

create a shape, select type on path tool, click on shape, and type out the text. 

hold down alt to scale shape from the center 

alt, click and drag to duplicate

The illustrator detects automatically orientation

reflection is axis based not direction based. so horizontal flip along horizontal axis, not flip horizontally. 

ctrl+" to remove the grid

group with ctrl + G

When you click on Alt then click on the pathfinder, you get a compound shape or compount object. 

window > navigator you get a panel. Wherever the red line is there can be seen. Easy to zoom and find stuff. 

Object > envelope distort > make with wrap

In each shape we have got the anchor points

if you want to modify the anchor points, use the direct selection tool

When you select the anchor  point, or any tool, check the options

Click on covert selected anchor point to corner

Logo does not contain the stroke mostly

No using drop shadow in print because if the ink is not good the shadow will spread

Gradient colours for metal - grey, black, white

Object > envelope distort > make with top object

Object > Path > Offset (used to make a shape follow on the inner or outer edge of another shape)

In illustrator, you can blend colours as well as shapes

shortcut key for blend tool is W

object > blend

either with object menu or toolbar can be used for blend

1. how to blend colours

-draw an ellipse

-fill with any colour

-draw another ellipse, with different colour

-avoid the stroke

-use two shapes with different colours

-select both the shapes, go to object menu, go to blend, click on make 

-or select both shapes, click on alt+ctrl+b

-to change the way the blend behaves, double click on the blend area, then click on object or shape and change the colour. Do this if you want to edit the blend. 

-Check option bar to see if you are within the blend area. It will show a label saying "blend"

2. how to blend shapes 

-create a circle with only stroke

-inside that, create a star with only a stroke

-only one step is created

-if you want to add many steps in the blend option

-go to object menu, blend, blend options

-in spacing, smooth colour option, click on specified steps, by default there is only one step. 

-Change this to any number of your choice, then go to blend > make. 

-The star will slowly transform into a circle across the specified number of steps

To modify the shape after applying the blend

go to the shape by double clicking on it then change

double clock and change the position also

To make a blend effect travel on the path

first duplicate the blend for your own safety

select the blend, select the path. Go to object menu, go to blend, select replace spline

Cannot apply blend to the text, because text is a compound object

drop shadows used to be old

now new trend of shadows called flat shadows

to crop or limit the shadow to a particular area

use masking to not disturb the object but work on the area

quick masking, layer masking, vector masking, clip masking

In illustrator, the shape should be on top, and the image on the back. Select both the shape and image, right click, and say make clipping mask

To make a gradient flower logo

>Make an ellipse

>convert rounded point to corner

>copy it, change the shape 

>make a circular shape, with a stroke

>use the scissor tool to seperate or break the anchor points

>go to object > blend > replace spine

>now the direction of the two initial shapes should be changed

>edit the blend to change the direction of the objects in the blend

>adjust the blend according to the required angle

>in blend options there is orientation, set to align to the path

>duplicate and rotate as desired

To make a gear

>make two circles, one outside and one inside

>minus front to remove the smaller circle in the pathfinder, second option

>make a rectangle, place it exactly on top of the circle. Rotate the small rectangle with the respect to the center of the circle

>click alt key, place it on the registration point, go for an angle of 30

>use ctrl + d to rotate 

>effect>stylyze > rounded corners

Stroke panel

-change weight to change thickness

-check dashed line for dotted or dashed stroke

-change gap and dash values, up to 5 slots available

-if you want to convert a path / stroke to a shape, go to object > path > outline stroke

-stroke > arrowheads, select starting point or ending point to add arrowheads to the stroke

To align shapes

-make shapes in non uniform lines

-spacing between two shapes should be same and aligned

-select shapes, then align vertically, horizontally, top, bottom or center

-align option in option bar

-or else windows > align

-alignment is for align, distribution option is for spacing

-blend may not be equally spaced, no option in blend to space it properly (happens when one shape is smaller than the other)

-after making the blend, if you want to break the blend effect. go to object > expand > ok

-the blend will be gone, but a group of objects is available

-right click, ungroup, select the individual boxes and then space it equally

-align tool > align to selection > distribute spacing, options are vertically and horizontally, choose the appropriate one for equal gap

-when you have equally gap, you can rotate it or create the effect whatever effect you want

-chris goes wow

-equally spaced if it is there then the effect will be very good

-so each small things plays an important role in your design

-use this option whenever necessary, don't just play with it

Camera logo

-create a polygon of six sides

-six side polygon has sixty degree angle

-select the option bar, and reduce the opacity of the strokes

-ctrl + 2 

-draw a curve following one of the edges of the polygon

-rotate the curve by 60 degrees after keeping the registration point at the centre of the hexagon 

-increase the thickness of these lines

-now this particular path which we have, want to cut it at the intersection of the two paths

-for that, we have got the scissor tool, which will cut any segment of the path. We have two segments now. Delete the top area of the stroke

-to join the two diff paths, join them using the direct selection tool, right click, go with average

-rotate the shape continuously with respect to the centre of the polygon. Press your alt, place in center and copy it at 60 degrees. 

-you will get the aperture shape. 

-once you got the shape, now whatever the edges we have, we want to erase them. The lines we have drawn is not a shape, first of all. So the shape which we have, the sharp corners, I just want to erase them. The segment which we have is not a shape, it is a line. So first things first, we need to create your outline to a shape. Objecct > path > outline stroke. Once you click on that your stroke has become a shape. 

-Now create a circle from the center, and fill with any colour for a moment, and bring the outline which you got on the front of the circle Ok. 

-Now each shape we have rotated is individual, so first join them. Select the outline or the shapes, and unite using pathfinder. Every path will be joined together in a shape. 

-I dont want anything outside or inside, for that, in the cs6, we have got very good tool they have given is the shape builder tool. Wherever there is an overlapping of the shape, it will show up. 

-The shape which you dont want, press your alt key and click on it. Press alt key and click on the parts you dont want to remove the shapes from the circle. 

-or just use divide option, ungroup it and delete the unnecessary bits in the shape. so you will get an aperture. 

Ads

-place a picture

-make a gradient, from white to black

-put gradient over the image

-Window > Transparency 

-or ctrl+shift+f10

-go to extra options > show options

-extra options > make opacity mask 

-the white colour will be seen, but the black colour will be slowly faded out

--keep transparency settings on

-new documents, select A3 size, number of artboards, select 2. Just say it ok. 

-so you will get the two artboards now, in the same file

-come to lesson file, ctrl+a to select all, ctrl +c to copy, clock on one document to paste it 

-when you create a opacity mask, the shape is gone is taken by the image

-file > place to bring the image

-the shape should be on the top for the masking. Arrange > bring to front. Apply gradient colour to the shape. 

-Make opacity mask. 

-If you want to move the mask in the transperency, select the picture in the image area and select and drag to the required location. 

Text area

-Select text tool and drag an area with the text tool, and paste text tool 

-text will not flow beyong the area

-without text area, if you paste it will go in a single continous unrestricted line

-increase leading to increase the gap between two lines if the text is not readable properly by defauly

-tracking is nothing but it is the space between the letters or chars. If you want some gap over here, between the letters, you can increase the tracking. 

-set the tracking and leading in such a way that the text is readable, spacious and it has good alignment

-the font size should be 11 or 12 for A4 and A3 size 

-instead of rewriting with caps lock, go to char options and double click on double T for all caps. 

-to bend text, select anchor point tool and modify it after giving wave effect

-To give a gradient to a stroke, or seperate gradients for stroke and shape. object>path>outline stroke. The stroke becomes a shape. Ungroup the object, then give the gradient colour to the stroke.

To increase roundness of rounded rectangle

-single click on artboard for options

To add blurry shadow

-create a shape

-effect > stylize > drop shadow