When you move into a new house or apartment, you feel a kind of excitement, yet you also feel a bit uncomfortable because it's all new and different to you. Only after you've arranged things the way you like it, making adjustments and finding your favorite "spot," do you get that warm comfortable feeling.
The same holds true with Illustrator (although Illustrator is a lot cheaper than a new house). In the beginning, Illustrator may feel foreign--even overwhelming--but as you progress, you will find yourself getting comfortable working in Illustrator. One way of getting comfortable is setting Illustrator's preferences. In this chapter we learn about:
The first step in creating a document is setting up the correct page size. Do this by selecting Document Setup from the File menu. You're presented with a dialog box with four sections: Artboard, View, Paths, and Options (see Figure 2.1).
Illustrator's Document Setup dialog box.
In the Artboard section, you specify the size of your page. You can choose from those listed in the Size pop-up menu, or you can enter a custom size manually--Illustrator supports page sizes anywhere from 2"x2" up to 120"x120"--in the Width and Height boxes. Clicking either Orientation icon swaps the width and height values, so you can quickly change from Portrait (tall) to Landscape (wide) format (see Figure 2.2).
Simply clicking the Tall or Wide icon automatically swaps the width and height settings.
You can select any of Illustrator's five supported measurement systems to specify page sizes by selecting one from the Units pop-up menu (see Figure 2.3). If you check the box marked Use Page Setup, Illustrator will use the page size that is currently selected in Page Setup. You can change the setting in Page Setup by clicking on the Page Setup button beneath the Cancel button.
Selecting a measurement system.
In the View section, you can choose to Preview & Print Patterns. Previewing patterns onscreen can slow down screen redraw considerably, and this option enables you to turn it off. You can also elect to Show Placed EPS Artwork. This setting is for when viewing placed images in Artwork mode, not Preview mode. You will always be able to see placed images in Preview mode.
Many times, Illustrator is used as a tool to create art that will then be placed into another program for final layout, such as PageMaker or QuarkXPress. In such cases, you don't need to create more than one page. When creating complex layouts and spreads, however, you can set Illustrator to create a number of pages in your document. Unlike other programs, however, Illustrator makes multiple pages in a document by splitting one large page into smaller pseudo-pages. You can either select Single full page, Tile full pages, which creates the most possible full-sized pages on your artboard (see Figure 2.4), or you can select Tile imageable areas, where Illustrator creates tiles to fill the entire artboard (see Figure 2.5).
Only two 8 1/2"x11" pages fit onto this 20"x20" artboard using the Tile full pages option.
Using the Tile imageable areas option, Illustrator maps out tiles for the entire 20"x20" artboard.
In the Paths section, you can choose a printer resolution, which helps Illustrator determine smooth gradients and clean curves, plus you have the option to Split long paths. What that means is that sometimes paths become very long and complex, filled with many anchor points (anchor points are part of a Bézier object, as we will learn later on). When a path has so many points, its complexity could cause problems at print time (see Figure 2.6). In such cases, in order to print the file, you can have Illustrator split the one big path into several smaller ones, which would make printing them possible (see Figure 2.7). Always save and keep a copy of your file before you split long paths, for future editing purposes--once a path is split, it is difficult to edit it.
For demonstration purposes, a path with several hundred unnecessary anchor points has been created. This image will "choke" on an imagesetter and will not print.
In the Options section, you can choose to use the printer's default line screen setting, or, if you're printing to a Postscript Level 1 device, check the box marked Compatible gradient printing (if you're not sure about this, leave it unchecked, and if you have problems printing a file, try turning it on).
After selecting Split long paths, saving the file, closing it, and reopening the file, you can see how Illustrator has split up the one large object into several smaller ones, and, more importantly, made the file printable.
Just A Minute: Any settings that you set in the Document Setup dialog box, or those that you will be setting in the Preferences dialog box (coming up next), are changeable at any time, even after you've saved it, closed it, and opened it again. Changes will take effect when you close either dialog box, except for the Split long paths option, which takes effect only when you save and close the file, and then reopen it.
Okay, so we've decided where all of the furniture goes, but there's still more to do. As I've come to realize, it's the smaller things in life that really make a difference in our daily lives. It isn't the bed or the refrigerator that gives that homey feeling, it's the rug on the floor or that cute little end table with the lava lamp on it. It's the pictures and paintings on the walls and the potpourri in the bathroom that creates a comfortable, safe feeling.
As we set Illustrator's preferences to our tastes, we will be creating our own little environment--our custom workspace--which enables us to use Illustrator comfortably, as well as conveniently.
Illustrator has six screens of preferences, all located in the Preferences dialog box, found in the File menu (see Figure 2.8). The six screens are General, Keyboard Increments, Units & Undo, Guides & Grid, Hyphenation Options, and Plug-ins & Scratch Disk.
To cycle through each of the six preferences screens, you can either select them from the pop-up menu at the top of the Preferences dialog box or you can use the Previous and Next buttons found on the far right of the dialog box (see Figure 2.9).
Choosing Preferences from the File menu.
Selecting a preference screen from the pop-up menu. Also notice the Previous and Next buttons on the far right.
General Preferences has two sections: Tool Behavior and Options (see Figure 2.10).
The General Preferences dialog box.
Constrain Angle is a really cool feature that sets the default angle of your document, which means if you set the angle to 30 degrees and draw a square while holding the Shift key, the square is drawn on a 30-degree angle. This is a great feature for creating 3D drawings, as well as for creating isometric drawings.
The Corner Radius is set here, which is used when drawing with the Rounded Rectangle tool. This setting can be overridden when drawing the rectangle (see Hour 3, "Drawing Basic Objects"), and the number here is only the default setting.
Curve Fitting Tolerance is used to determine how smooth or jagged a path is when drawn with the Freehand tool. The higher the setting, the smoother the path is (see Figure 2.11).
The line on top was drawn with a Curve Fitting Tolerance of 2, the bottom one with a setting of 10.
Auto Trace Gap is used to determine where Illustrator ends a path when doing an autotrace.
Snap to Point is one of Illustrator's most underrated features. This setting makes every point in an illustration work like a guide and makes working and moving items easy.
When performing transformations on objects, you can choose to Transform Pattern Tiles as well as the object (see Figure 2.12). Say you have a square that is filled with a pattern, for example. If you have Transform Pattern Tiles activated, and then you scale the square, the pattern fill scales as well. But if you have Transform Pattern Tiles turned off, the scale function resizes the square, but the pattern tiles remains the same size. This setting is only a default and can be overridden from within a transformation dialog box.
The box on the right is the original item, and the center box has been rotated without Transform Pattern Tiles selected. The third box was rotated with Trans-form Pattern Tiles selected.
You can choose to Use Precise Cursors, which replaces Illustrator's tool cursors with crosshairs, allowing for more precise control. You can toggle this setting to see the standard cursors while working by using the Caps Lock key. If Use Precise Cursors is not checked, then pressing Caps Lock while working changes the cursor to a crosshair cursor.
Paste Remembers Layers keeps layer information intact when moving artwork to and from the Clipboard. You can set this from within the Layers palette as well.
AI 6.0 Tool Shortcuts is applicable only to the Macintosh platform. As of Illustrator 7, several keyboard shortcuts were changed to keep things consistent across computer platforms. For those people who want to keep with the "old way," selecting this option activates those shortcuts.
Area Select enables you to specify how Illustrator selects objects via the selection tools. With Area Select turned on, you can select objects by clicking anywhere within the object (if it is filled). With Area Select turned off, you must click the point or border of an object to select it (see Figure 2.13).
The box on the left is being selected with Area Select activated, whereas the box on the right is being selected with Area Select deactivated.
Scale Line Weight determines whether Stroke weights are scaled when you transform objects. In other words, with Scale Line Weight activated, enlarging a box with a 1 pt. rule to 200% results in a box with a 2 pt. rule. With Scale Line Weight turned off, the rule remains at 1 point.
Did you forget the keyboard shortcut for that tool? Or did you forget which tool was the Scale tool? Illustrator makes it easy with Tool Tips. When activated (the default is set with Tool Tips on), simply drag your mouse over a tool and wait a second. A little teeny window pops up, telling you the name of the tool or function, and it also lists the keystroke command, if there is one.
Japanese Cropmarks are simply a different kind of crop mark, obviously used in Japan.
If you've used Illustrator before, you probably got those annoying dialog boxes that tell you that you can't do certain operations or functions (which was usually because you clicked just a few pixels too far). Well, Disable Warnings sends those dialog boxes home crying, and Illustrator will then alert you with a simple beep, upon encountering any violations.
The Options section in Keyboard Increments refines how some keyboard shortcuts for type controls are implemented (see Figure 2.14). You can enter numerical input using any of Illustrator's measurement systems.
The Keyboard Increments Preferences dialog box.
The mouse is a nice little gadget, but when it comes to positioning something precisely, it can be a bit difficult to control. That's why Illustrator lets you nudge objects by using the arrows on your keyboard. The Cursor Key setting determines just how much each nudge is.
Size/Leading (pronounced "ledding") specifies how much leading is added or removed from a line of type when using the leading keyboard shortcut (Option-up arrow and Option-down arrow)[Alt-up arrow and Alt-down arrow].
Baseline Shift specifies the increment when using the Baseline Shift keyboard shortcut (Option-Shift-up arrow and Option-Shift-down arrow)[Alt-Shift-up arrow and Alt-Shift-down arrow].
The Tracking increment, measured in em's (literally, the width of the letter "M") determines the amount of tracking added or removed when applying the tracking keyboard shortcut (Option-left arrow, Option-right arrow)[Alt-left arrow, Alt-right arrow].
The Greeking Type Limit sets the size at which text is greeked. When small type is rendered onscreen, the computer has to work hard to calculate the letterforms. Because very small type is not readable onscreen anyway, the computer "greeks" the type by simply drawing gray bars where the type should appear (see Figure 2.15). Of course, if you zoom in closer, Illustrator renders the type correctly. Type greeking applies only to the screen, and when printing, all text appears correctly.
The three gray bars are greeked text.
With Anti-alias Type turned on, type appears onscreen with smooth soft edges (see Figure 2.16). Usually, text appears jagged onscreen because of a computer monitor's low screen resolution (72 dpi). This setting is purely aesthetic and has no bearing when you print your file, for all type prints with smooth sharp edges from your PostScript printer. This should not be confused with anti-aliasing for web and raster images--we'll cover that in Hour 23, "Web Graphics."
The word on top has anti-aliasing turned on; the word below had anti-aliasing turned off and appears jagged onscreen.
Basically the same as Area Select, mentioned earlier, with Type Area Select active, you can select type by clicking anywhere within the bounding box of the type (see the following Just a Minute). With Type Area Select turned off, you can only select type by selecting it on the baseline (see Figure 2.17).
The word above has the type bounding box visible, and clicking anywhere within it with Type Area Select selects the word. The word below shows the type's baseline, which you must click to select type if Type Area Select is turned off.
Just A Minute: When using the Baseline Shift option with type, keep in mind that although you can't see it, the bounding box still takes up all the space, and clicking what might seem like white space selects the type. Of course, only the type prints. By the same token, when selecting type by the baseline, if a baseline shift was applied, the baseline may be well above or below the type. In these cases, it is easiest to select the type when in Artwork mode.
Rather straightforward, the Units & Undo dialog box contains two sections: Units and Undo (see Figure 2.18).
The Units & Undo Preferences dialog box.
Illustrator can use five different measurement systems--inches, millimeters, centimeters, picas, and points. You can set Illustrator to use any of these.
You can also enter any mathematical function within any of Illustrator's palettes and dialog boxes, and Illustrator does the math for you on the fly. You can also mix measurement systems in dialog boxes. You can, for example, enter 4 in. + 3p2 - 12mm, and Illustrator automatically does the math for you.
We will be doing several exercises later in the chapter, so it would be a good idea to set Illustrator's units to Inches for now.
Time Saver: Here's a tip for Macintosh users: If you're working with one measurement system, and you want to quickly switch to another, press Command-Control-U to toggle through all five measurement systems. This works directly in the document, and there is no need to open the Preferences dialog box.
Hey, we all make mistakes sometimes, and that's okay because Illustrator has multiple undos. Just how many, you ask? Well, that depends on how much RAM you have allocated to Illustrator. Illustrator keeps track of as many undos as memory allows, but it never goes below the amount that you set here. But remember, the more undos you have, the less RAM Illustrator has for other things. Illustrator's default setting is 5, and unless you're working on really large files, I don't recommend using anything higher than 10.
An important feature of almost any program, Guides & Grid helps you easily align objects and create perfect layouts and art. Guides are vertical or horizontal lines that you can place anywhere on your page. These guides will not print; they are only visible onscreen. The grid is similar to graph paper--a set of non-printing boxes that fill your page, making for easier layout. The Guides & Grid Preferences dialog box contains two sections: Guides and Grid (see Figure 2.19).
The Guides & Grid Preferences dialog box.
You can specify what color guides should be either by choosing from the pop-up list of pre-defined colors Illustrator provides or by choosing Other and selecting any other color from the Color Picker. You also have the option of having Illustrator render guides as solid lines or dotted lines.
You have the same options with Illustrator's Grid settings as you had with Guides. You can choose any color that pleases you, as well as specify a solid or dotted line.
You can also specify how the grid is drawn up, with main gridlines at any increment, and multiple subdivisions.
If you've worked in any page layout program, such as PageMaker or QuarkXPress, you know how important guides are. They help in layout and design and for aligning objects.
As guides and the grid are important, I would like to leave the preferences alone for a moment and talk about how to use these features in Illustrator. If you have the Preferences dialog box open, please close it, as we will be working in Illustrator for a little while.
When Illustrator opens, you are presented with a new blank file. Let's turn on our rulers. From the View menu, select Show Rulers (see Figure 2.20). Notice that your rulers appear across the top and left side of your screen. If you set them earlier, they should be set in inches. If not, Mac users can use the keyboard shortcut (Command-Control-U) to toggle over to inches; Windows users will have to return to Preferences and choose Inches in the Units & Undo screen.
Turning Illustrator's rulers on. I still wonder why Adobe doesn't have Illustrator launch with rulers on as a default.
Creating guides in Illustrator is really simple.
2. Press and drag the mouse onto the artboard.
3. When you've positioned your guide, release the mouse button.
Preparing to drag out a guide.
In its default setting, guides are always locked. After you've placed them, you cannot select them, move them, or delete them. To do so, you must unlock the guides by choosing Lock Guides (Command-Option-;)[Control-Alt-;] from the View menu (see Figure 2.22).
Choosing Lock Guides toggles between locked and unlocked guides.
You can also turn any Illustrator object (such as a square, a star, or an ellipse) into a guide by simply selecting it and choosing Make Guides (Command-5)[Control-5] from the View menu (see Figure 2.23). You can return a guide back to its original state as an object by selecting it, and then choosing Release Guides (Command-Option-5)[Control-Alt-5] from the View menu.
Making an Illustrator object into a guide.
A new and welcome addition to Illustrator 7 is the Grid feature. Turn the grid on by selecting Show Grid from the View menu (see Figure 2.24). Your screen should now look like a sheet of graph paper. To change how the grid appears, select Guides & Grid from the Preferences submenu, as we mentioned before.
Turning on Illustrator's grid.
Time Saver: Besides helping with layout, Illustrator's grid serves another great purpose. With the grid as the backmost object (which you can set in Preferences), you can quickly tell whether an object is filled with None, or white.
The grid is nice, but what makes it powerful is that Illustrator snaps to it. Gridlines act as a kind of magnet, and your mouse "sticks" to them when it gets near them. Sometimes this can get annoying, though, and you can turn off the Snap To feature by choosing Snap To Grid from the View menu (see Figure 2.25).
The Snap To Grid toggle in the View menu.
Okay! You've learned how to work with guides and the grid, so let's get back to the rest of Illustrator's preferences. On with the show!
Rather simple, the Hyphenation Options screen of the Preferences dialog box lets you select a default language, as well as add and delete entries into the dictionary (see Figure 2.26).
The Hyphenation Options screen of the Preferences dialog box.
In this dialog box (see Figure 2.27), there are two sections: Plug-ins Folder and Scratch Disks.
The Plug-ins & Scratch Disk Preferences dialog box.
The Plug-ins folder is where Illustrator keeps all of its "extensions" or add-ons, including third-party filters and plug-ins. There might be times when Illustrator "loses touch" with its Plug-ins folder. If this happens, you'll need to remind Illustrator where the Plug-ins folder is. You may also want to keep more than one Plug-ins folder, and this dialog box enables you to switch between the two.
To specify the Plug-ins folder:
2. From the pop-up menu, select Plug-ins & Scratch Disk.
3. Click the Choose button to locate the Plug-ins folder.
4. Click OK.
5. Quit and relaunch Illustrator.
Those of you familiar with Photoshop are probably familiar with the term scratch disk. A scratch disk is like Illustrator's scrap paper, where it temporarily holds data to perform operations. As the default, your scratch disk is your startup drive. When working with large files, your scratch disk can fill up rather quickly.
Illustrator lets you specify which disk should be the scratch disk, and it also enables you to specify a secondary scratch disk--where Illustrator goes if the primary scratch disk is full. If you have only one hard drive, you can specify a removable disk, such as a Syquest, Jaz, or Zip, to be your secondary scratch disk.
To specify a scratch disk:
2. From the pop-up menu, choose Plug-ins & Scratch Disk.
3. Select a primary and a secondary scratch disk.
4. Click OK.
You will need to restart Illustrator for both plug-ins and scratch disk info to take effect.
When you quit Illustrator, it "remembers" the position of the palettes, and the next time you open Illustrator, it looks just like it did when you quit it. But all of the other settings, such as colors, page size, which typeface is the default, and so on, are defined by a file called the Illustrator start-up file, and those settings revert to match the start-up file every time you launch Illustrator. Whatever is in this file appears whenever you launch Illustrator.
To create a customized Illustrator start-up file:
2. Save the file in Illustrator format, and name it "Adobe Illustrator Startup."
3. Place the file in the Illustrator Plug-ins folder.
4. Restart Illustrator.
We're learning more and more about Illustrator, and the dust is beginning to settle as we become more familiar with Illustrator's feel and metaphors. We learned how to customize Illustrator to tailor-fit our needs, and we learned how to set up a file, ready for use, with guides and grids. Next, we will begin learning how to draw simple shapes, using Illustrator's primary drawing tools.
Artboard--Illustrator's term for the actual page you work on.
Gradient--An attribute referring to the blending of colors into each other.
Anchor point--The heart of a Bézier curve. More on this in Hour 6, "Drawing Bézier Paths."
Line screen--Printing term referring to the number of dots per inch.
Stroke weight--The stroke is the outline of a shape, and the weight refers to the thickness of the outline.
Transform--A function, such as scaling, rotating, or moving, performed on an object.
Nudge--The act of moving a selection incrementally using the keyboard arrow keys.
Leading--Typographical term for the space between lines of text.
Baseline shift--Typographical term for the vertical movement of text relative to the base.
Tracking--Typographical term for the addition or removal of space between letters.
Greeked type--Gray lines used to substitute for small type on screen.
Multiple undos--An undo is the act of deleting the last thing you just did, making as if it never happened (something we all need in real life). Multiple undos means you can go back several steps.
Plug-ins--Adobe or third-party add-ons or extra features for Illustrator. Extensis VectorTools is an example of a set of plug-ins.
Scratch disk--A temporary area on your hard drive that Illustrator uses to calculate operations.
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