Adobe Illustrator CS3

What is Adobe ILLUSTRATOR?

. RGB A large percentage of the visible spectrum can be represented by mixing red, green, and blue (RGB) colored light in various proportions and intensities. Where the colors overlap, they create cyan, magenta, and yellow

 CMYK Whereas the RGB model depends on a light source to create color, the CMYK model is based on the light-absorbing quality of ink printed on paper. As white light strikes translucent inks, a portion of the spectrum is absorbed. Color that is not absorbed is reflected back to your eye. Combining pure cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) pigments would result in black by absorbing, or subtracting, all colors. For this reason they are called subtractive colors. Black (K) ink is added for better shadow density. (The letter K came into use because black is the key color for registering other colors, and because the letter B also stands for blue.) Combining these inks to reproduce color is called four-color process printing .

Colors

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Vector graphics (sometimes called vector shapes or vector objects) are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors, which describe an image according to its geometric characteristics.

Options for selecting objects

Selection tool Lets you select objects and groups by clicking or dragging over them. You can also select groups within groups and objects within groups. Direct Selection tool Lets you select individual anchor points or path segments by clicking on them, or select an entire path or group by selecting any other spot on the item. You can also select one or more objects in a group of objects. Group Selection tool Lets you select an object within a group, a single group within multiple groups, or a set of groups within the artwork. Each additional click adds all objects from the next group in the hierarchy. Lasso tool ets you select objects, anchor points, or path segments by dragging around all or part of the object.

Magic Wand tool Lets you select objects of the same color, stroke weight, stroke color, opacity, or blending mode by clicking the object.
Live Paint Selection tool Lets you select faces (areas enclosed by paths) and edges (portions of paths between intersections) of Live Paint groups

Selection tool gallery

Drawing tool gallery

The Cursors

Continuation

continuation

Type tool gallery

Parts of the gradient mesh are:

Gradient Mesh tool: Use the Gradient Mesh tool to select one mesh point at a time for coloring or manipulation. Mesh Lines: These are straight (or curved) lines which can be used to change the shape of the object or the direction of the color. Mesh lines are added in a few different ways which we will learn about later. They are moved using their control points just like moving other lines in Illustrator.

Mesh Points: Mesh points are the basis of the mesh. They control where color is placed, what direction it goes in, and the overall shape of the mesh. Mesh points are also the place where the mesh lines intersect . At these points you can add color that will radiate out from the point to the surrounding parts of the mesh. You can select, move and delete these mesh points which will move the color around throughout the mesh or alter the shape of the mesh. Mesh Patch: This is the section within the four mesh points. You can add color to the mesh patch that will radiate out from within to the surrounding areas.
Control Lines: These are the lines which control the curve of the mesh lines, and the amount of color applied to both a patch and a mesh point. These lines are selected and moved like all other curves and lines in Illustrator.

Part of the gradient mesh tool

Brushes let you stylize the appearance of paths. You can apply brush strokes to existing paths, or you can use the Paintbrush tool to draw a path and apply a brush stroke simultaneously. There are four types of brushes in Illustratorcalligraphic, scatter, art, and pattern. You can achieve the following effects using these brushes: Calligraphic brushes Create strokes that resemble those drawn with the angled point of a calligraphic pen and are drawn along the center of the path.

Scatter brushes Disperse copies of an object (such as a ladybug or a leaf) along the path. Art brushes Stretch a brush shape (such as Rough Charcoal) or object shape evenly along the length of the path.

Pattern brushes Paint a patternmade of individual tilesthat repeats along the path. Pattern brushes can include up to five tiles, for the sides, inner corner, outer corner, beginning, and end of the pattern.

Stylish Vector Flower

1. Flower petal Create two stroke paths: one yellow and one blue. 2. Blend Options Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options and set it to Specified Steps = 10. Specified Steps basically tells how many step to blend from 1 object to another. Blend Now select the 2 petal paths, go to Object > Blend > Make or press Ctrl + Alt + B and you should get something looks like the image shown below. 3. Duplicate more petals Duplicate more petals to form the flower by Copy & Paste or Alt + Drag. 4. Stem Create a stem by using the same Blend technique as in the previous step. Here I set the Specified Steps = 8. 5. Leaf The leaf is formed by 2 parts, top and bottom. I use Specified Steps = 5 here. 6. Put them together Now put them together to create a beautiful flower. 7. Right long leaf Create a long leaf with Blend step = 3. 8. Left long leaf Repeat the previous step to create the left long leaf. Final Your final image should looks like the image shown below:

Showing and hiding palettes

Press Tab to hide or show all palettes and the toolbox. Press Shift + Tab to hide or show all palettes except for the toolbox. To display a palette menu, position the pointer on the triangle in the upper right corner of the palette and hold down the mouse button.

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Color Palette
Color palette to apply color to an object's fill and stroke, and also to edit and mix colors --either colors that you create or colors that you selected from the Swatches palette, from an object, or from a color library. A gradient fill is a graduated blend between two or more colors or tints of the same color. Gradient colors can be assigned as CMYK process color, RGB process color, or a spot color. Swatches you can add colors and gradients to the Swatches palette by dragging them from the Color palette, from the Gradient palette, or from the toolbox Fill and Stroke boxes to the Swatches palette.

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Brushes Palette
You can create each of the four types of brushes in the Brushes palette.. Brushes cannot have gradients, blends, other brush strokes, mesh objects, bitmap images, graphs, placed files, or masks.

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Align Palette
The Align palette enables you to align selected objects along the axis you specify. You can align objects along the vertical axis, using the rightmost, center, or leftmost anchor point of the selected objects

Path finder -use the Pathfinder palette to combine paths into new objects and shapes.

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Line & arc segments

Select the arc(line) segment tool , click where you want the arc to begin, and drag to create an arc. Press the spacebar to move the arc (line) as you draw. Press `(grave accent) to create multiple arc (line) segments as you move the mouse. Press C to switch between an open and closed arc. Press F to flip the arc, keeping the origin point constant. Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to increase or decrease the arc's (lines)angle. Press Shift to constrain a single line to 45.

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Spiral tool
The spiral tool creates a spiral-shaped object of a given radius and number of winds; that is, the number of turns that the spiral completes from start to finish. To draw a spiral by dragging: Select the spiral tool . Position the pointer at the center of the spiral you want to create, and drag until the spiral is the desired size. As you drag, you can do any of the following: Drag the pointer in an arc to rotate the spiral. Shift-drag to constrain the tool to multiples of 45 degrees or to the angle specified in the Constrain Angle text box in the General Preferences dialog box. Hold down the spacebar to move the spiral. Press or hold down Up Arrow or Down Arrow to add or delete winds. Press ~ to create multiple spirals.
multiple spirals

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Drawing rectangular grids & Polar grid tool

You can draw rectangular grids by dragging or by setting specific grid in the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box. You draw polar grids by dragging or by setting specific grid parameters in the Polar Grid Tool Options dialog box.

The rounded-rectangle tool. Position the pointer where you want the rectangle to begin, and start dragging diagonally. Press or hold down Up Arrow or Down Arrow to change the corner radius. When the corners are the desired roundness, release Up Arrow or Down Arrow. Press Left Arrow to change to the minimum radius (most angular corners). Press Right Arrow to change to the maximum radius (most rounded corners).
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Drawing polygons
The polygon tool draws an object with a specified number of sides of equal length, each side being the same distance from the center of the object. To draw a polygon by dragging: Select the polygon tool . Position the pointer at the center of the polygon you want to create, and drag until the polygon is the desired size. As you drag, do any of the following: Drag the pointer in an arc to rotate the polygon. Shift-drag to constrain the tool to multiples of 45 degrees or to the angle specified in the Constrain Angle text box in the General Preferences dialog box. Hold down the spacebar to move the polygon. Press or hold down Up Arrow or Down Arrow to add or delete sides to the polygon. Hold down ~ to create multiple polygons.

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POLYGON TOOL

STAR TOOL

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Flare tool

The flare tool creates flare objects with a bright center, a halo, and rays and rings. Use this tool to create an effect similar to a lens flare in a photograph. Flares include a center handle and an end handle. Use the handles to position the flare and its rings. The center handle is in the bright center of the flare-the flare path begins from this point.

Components of a flare A. Rays B. Halo C. Center handle D. Rings E. End handle

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Symbols
Symbols are art objects you create and store in the Symbols palette Symbols may also include active objects, such as brush strokes, blends, effects, or other symbol instances in a symbol. Symbol features A. Symbols palette B. Symbol instance C. Symbol instance set

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Using the symbol sprayer tool

Use the symbol sprayer tool to create a set of symbol instances or add more instances to an existing set. The symbol shifter tool moves symbol instances around. It can also change the relative paint order of symbol instances in a set. To move or shift symbol instances: Select the symbol shifter tool and drag in the direction you want the symbol instances to move. Select a symbol in the Symbols palette, and then select the symbol sprayer tool

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Using the symbol scruncher tool

The symbol scruncher tool pulls symbol instances together or apart. Use this tool to shape the density distribution of a symbol set.

To scrunch symbols: Select the symbol scruncher tool: Click or drag in the area where you want to pull the symbol instances toward each other. Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click or drag in the area where you want to push symbol instances away from each other.

the symbol sizer tool to increase or decrease the size of symbol instances in an existing symbol set.
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Using the symbol spinner tool

Use the symbol spinner tool to orient the symbol instances in a set. Symbol instances located near the cursor orient in the direction you move the cursor

To rotate symbol instances:

Select the symbol spinner tool and click or drag in the direction you want the symbol instances to orient.

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Using the symbol stainer tool

Use the symbol stainer tool to colorize symbol instances To stain symbol instances: In the Color palette, select the fill color that you want to use as the colorization color. Select the symbol stainer tool and do one of the following: Click or drag over the symbol instances you want to stain with the colorization color. The amount of colorization gradually increases, and the symbol instance's color gradually changes to the colorization color. Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you click or drag to decrease the colorization amount and reveal more of the original symbol color. Hold down Shift as you click or drag to keep the colorization amount constant, while gradually changing the color of the symbol instances to the colorization color.

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Symbol screener tool

Use the symbol screener tool to increase or decrease the transparency of the symbol instances in a set. To adjust transparency: Select the symbol screener tool and do one of the following: Click or drag where you want to increase the symbol's transparency. Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click or drag where you want to decrease the symbol's transparency.

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Using the symbol styler tool

The symbol styler tool applies the selected style to the symbol instance. You can switch to the symbol styler tool when using any other symbolism tool, by clicking a style in the Styles palette. To apply a style to a symbol: Select the symbol styler tool . Select a style in the Styles palette, and do one of the following: Click or drag where you want to apply the style to the symbol set. The amount of style applied to the symbol instances increases, and the style gradually changes. Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click or drag where you want to reduce the amount the style applied. Hold down Shift as you click or drag to keep the amount of style constant, while gradually changing the symbol instance style to the selected style.

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Bounding box
When select one or more objects with the selection tool, you see a bounding box around them. With the bounding box, you can move, rotate, duplicate, and scale objects easily by dragging the selection or a handle

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Entering text along a path

You can enter type that flows along the edge of an open or a closed path. The path can be regularly or irregularly shaped. When you enter type along a path, the path is no longer stroked or filled. You can paint it later if you want, without affecting the paint attributes of the type. Entering horizontal type on a path results in letters that are perpendicular to the baseline. Entering vertical type on a path results in text orientation parallel to the baseline.

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Clipping Masks
Clipping masks crop part of the artwork so that only a portion of the artwork appears through the shape or shapes you create A masking object can consist of a single path or a compound path.

To mask objects:
Draw or use the selection tool to select the object to use as a mask. Select the mask and the objects you want masked. Choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

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Blend Tool
The Adobe Illustrator blend tool and the Make Blend command let you create a series of intermediate objects and colors between two or more selected objects. You can blend between two open paths (such as two different lines), between two closed paths (such as a circle and a square), between gradients, or between other blends. You can also blend between two open paths to create a smooth transition between objects, or you can combine blends of colors and objects to create color transitions in the shape of a particular object.

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