Besides actually drawing your illustration, the most important things to master in Illustrator are the selection tools. Please allow me to explain. Illustrator can do lots of things, but it has to know where and when to do them. Let's say you have a picture of a face. If you want to make the eyes smaller, you have to select the eyes before you perform the transformation, or Illustrator will scale the whole face. By selecting only certain objects, or even just certain parts of an object, we can tell Illustrator exactly what we want it to do and, more importantly, have complete control over our file (see Figure 4.1). In this chapter we talk all about selecting objects, including:
The image on the left is the original. The middle is what happens when you scale the entire illustration, and the image on the right had just the eyes reduced.
There are three selection tools: the Selection tool, the Direct Selection tool, and the Group Selection tool. We'll discuss each of them in detail, as well as learn to use each of them effectively.
The Selection tool (or the black arrow, as it is most commonly called because of its appearance) is used to select entire objects (see Figure 4.2). You select an object simply by clicking it (see the section "Area Select," later in this chapter). After an object is selected, you can move it by clicking the mouse button and dragging the object.
The Selection tool, also referred to as the black arrow.
Let's give the Selection tool a whirl, shall we? Make sure you have Illustrator open, and if you don't already have an empty file opened, select New (Command-N)[Control-N] from the File menu (see Figure 4.3).
Creating a new document.
Your screen should look something like this.
4. Click any rectangle. Notice that the object has become selected (see Figure 4.5). You can see the four anchor points of the rectangle, and its Bézier path has become highlighted in light blue (when we discuss Layers in the next hour, we'll talk more about what color selected objects are).
The selected rectangle.
Dragging the rectangle to move it.
Now let's select and move more than one object at a time.
2. Press and hold down the Shift key.
3. Click another rectangle to add it to your selection (see Figure 4.7).
With the first rectangle still selected, clicking the second rectangle while pressing the Shift key will add the second rectangle to your selection.
Moving both rectangles simultaneously.
Just A Minute: The Shift key is actually a toggle that adds or subtracts from your selection. In the previous example, we selected rectangle number one and then selected rectangle number two while holding down the Shift key. Now, with both rectangles selected, if you were to Shift-select rectangle number two again, it would become deselected (go ahead and try it). The Shift key makes an unselected item selected, or a selected item unselected.
The Shift key technique can really save time when making certain selections, too, as in the following exercise, where we will try to select all the rectangles except for the one in the middle. From what we've learned until now, you would Shift-select each rectangle until all were selected except the one in the center. Depending on how many rectangles you have, that could be a lot of work! Now let's do it in two easy steps:
2. Hold down the Shift button and, using the Selection tool, click the center rectangle.
Sure, this may not seem like such a big deal now, when we have just a few rectangles on our page, but imagine if we had fifty, or even a hundred rectangles. Imagine how much time you'd save then.
There is yet another way to select objects, and this one is called the marquee method, which defines a selection by drawing a bounding box around what we want selected. Anything that falls within the bounding box becomes selected. We will continue to work on the same file with all our rectangles, as I am becoming rather fond of them.
2. Position your mouse to the upper left of the object(s) you want to select (see Fig-ure 4.9).
Position the mouse to begin the marquee.
Defining the marquee.
The selected objects.
Sometimes, using the marquee method saves a lot of time, too, as in the case we presented earlier, when trying to select all rectangles except for the middle one. You can marquee-select all the rectangles, and then Shift-click the center one to deselect it. This is especially useful when working on one portion of a page, where using (Command-A)[Control-A] would select other unwanted objects.
The Direct Selection tool, or as I like to call it, the white arrow, is the selection tool used the most in Illustrator (see Figure 4.12). In a few moments, you will see why. As we just learned, the black arrow is used to select entire objects. The white arrow, on the other hand, is used to select parts of an object. Although we could only move an entire object with the black arrow, the white arrow enables us to move parts of an object, individually.
The Direct Selection tool.
Let's go back to our file with all the rectangles and try to move a single point.
2. Choose the Direct Selection tool from the Toolbox.
3. Carefully select the lower-right corner of one of the rectangles (see Figure 4.13).
When you select just one corner, notice that the selected point you clicked on is solid, whereas the other, unselected points are hollow.
Moving part of an object.
Let's try something a little different now and move a single line segment:
Selecting just one of the rectangle's line segments.
Moving the line is really like moving two points with one click.
You're doing great! Now let's apply what we've learned up to now and move multiple points:
2. Now hold down the Shift key and click the anchor point directly opposite that point (see Figure 4.17).
Using Shift-click to add anchor points to the selection.
Moving both selected points.
Marquee selecting works here as well. Let's try it.
2. Marquee-select the bottom two points of a rectangle (see Figure 4.19).
3. Press and drag on one of the points.
Marquee-selecting multiple anchor points.
Great! Now that we are familiar with the black and white arrows, we can go on to grouping objects, and we'll learn about the Group Selection tool, which is a variation of the white arrow. I mentioned before that the white arrow is the most used selection tool in Illustrator, and if you hang in there just a few more minutes, you'll see the light.
Let's have a little fun, shall we? Create a new document by choosing New from the File menu. Draw 10 rectangles randomly throughout the screen. Now draw 10 circles (see Figure 4.20). Okay, now imagine you are showing this incredible work of art to your boss. I can just hear him say it now: "That's not what I wanted! I want you to shift all the circles over one inch to the left!"
Picasso would be proud.
He leaves in a huff, and now you must make a change. So we begin the wonderful task of moving each circle one inch to the left--a time-consuming task, I assure you. So what do we do? I was hoping you'd ask that question...
Selecting the first circle.
3. Choose Group from the Object menu (see Figure 4.23).
Selecting the remaining circles while holding the Shift key.
Choosing Group from the Object menu.
You've just created a group! To see what you've actually done, deselect everything (Command-Shift-A)[Control-Shift-A] and then, using the black arrow, select just one of the circles. You'll be pleasantly surprised to see that all the circles have now become selected. It is now easy to move all the circles together. In fact, anticipating even more changes from our favorite boss, it might be a good idea to group the rectangles as well. But before we begin selecting all our rectangles, I think I feel another step-by-step coming on...
All the rectangles are selected. Because the circles are a group, deselecting one of them deselected all of them. Now would be a good time to group the rectangles by pressing (Command-G)[Control-G].
Groups are extremely helpful when you are working in complex documents, and it's a good idea to group items as you create them. After creating a logo, for instance, group it. This way you can move it around easily, and more importantly, you won't accidentally lose parts by trying to select each and every piece, every time (inevitably, you'll forget one or two).
To break up a group (see Figure 4.24), choose Ungroup from the Object menu (Command-Shift-G)[Control-Shift-G].
Choosing Ungroup from the Object menu.
Groups can be nested, meaning you can have a group within a group, and so on. To better demonstrate the next tool, please select both the circles and the rectangles and group them. You'll now have one group of shapes that contains a group of rectangles and a group of circles.
The Group Selection tool is a variation of the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow) and can be found by pressing and holding the mouse button on the white arrow in the Toolbox. In complex illustrations, you may have nested groups that contain many groups. The Group Selection tool makes working with these files easy. To demonstrate, we'll be working in the same file as we did earlier with all the rectangles and circles.
2. With the Group Selection tool, click one of the circles. Only the circle you clicked becomes selected.
3. Now click that same circle again. All of the circles are now selected.
4. Click that same circle again, and all of the rectangles become selected as well.
Each time you click with the Group Selection tool, it selects the next higher group, giving you easy access to any group within a nested group.
I promised earlier to tell you why the white arrow is so important in Illustrator. Switch back to the Direct Selection tool by selecting it from the Toolbox. Now press and hold down the (Option)[Alt] key. Notice that the Direct Selection tool has changed to the Group Selection tool. Releasing the (Option)[Alt] key returns you to the Direct Selection tool. Now you have the power to select parts of an object, or, simply by holding down the (Option)[Alt] key, you can select an entire object, or entire groups! For 90% of your work, you never have to go back to the black arrow.
We can already see that selecting objects can become complicated. Now we will learn how Illustrator can help us out with selecting objects with certain settings and functions.
We briefly mentioned Area Select in Hour 2, "Customizing Illustrator." In Illustrator's General Preferences, we had the option of activating Area Select, which makes selecting objects easier (by default, Area Select is turned on).
With Area Select turned on, you can select filled objects by clicking anywhere within the object. When Area Select is turned off, you must click an anchor point or the Bézier path of an object to select it (see Figure 4.25). An object filled with the None attribute is considered unfilled and can only be selected by clicking its Bézier path.
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.
Area Select only works in Preview mode. When in Artwork mode, you must click an object's Bézier path (or center point--see the following sidebar) to select it.
There is also another option called Type Area Select, which is covered in Hour 14, "Adding Text." Similar to Area Select, Type Area Select enables you to select type by clicking anywhere on the text.
Journey to the Center of the Vector
Illustrator gives you the ability to lock items. Locked items cannot be selected, moved, or edited until they are unlocked. This is an important feature for when files get complex, and you don't want to accidentally select objects you are not working on. There are also times when several objects are very close to each other (or even overlaying each other), and selecting the right one can be very difficult. By locking items that are not being edited, you can quickly select and edit the correct objects.
By clicking the center point buttons, you can have Illustrator display or hide an object's center point.
To use the lock and unlock feature, select an object and then choose Lock (Command-L)[Control-L] from the Object menu (see Figure 4.27). You can lock several objects at a time, or you can keep locking items separately. To unlock all of your locked items, choose Unlock All (Command-Shift-L)[Control-Shift-L] from the Object menu.
Choosing Lock from the Object menu.
If locking items won't do the trick, Illustrator also lets you hide objects from view. This has several uses. When working on one section of a complex file, hiding other parts makes it easier to concentrate on what you are working on, as well as make it easier for you to view what you are drawing onscreen. Even more importantly, hiding certain objects can give you a big speed boost. Placed images, objects filled with gradients or patterns, and other such items can severely slow down your screen redraw. If seeing those items is not critical to what you are working on, you can choose to hide those items, saving Illustrator from having to constantly redraw them.
To hide a selection, choose Hide Selection (Command-U)[Control-U] from the Object menu (see Figure 4.28). You can keep hiding objects as often as you like, individually or in groups, but when you choose Show All (Command-Shift-U)[Control-Shift-U] from the Object menu, all hidden objects become visible. There is no way to reveal only certain hidden objects.
Hiding a selection by choosing Hide Selection from the Object menu.
Those of you who have used Photoshop are probably familiar with this function. When you select an object, its path becomes highlighted in a color, and the object's anchor points become visible. This can sometimes interfere with viewing the object, and can make editing and creating artwork difficult, as well as annoying.
To hide a selected object's edges, choose Hide Edges (Command-H) from the View menu (see Figure 4.29). With edges turned off, you are not able to see which item is selected, so make sure you pay attention to what you click.
Choosing the Hide Edges command from the View menu.
Time Saver: The Hide Edges command is a toggle, which means that it stays on until you turn it off by pressing (Command-H)[Control-H] again. Too many times, it's easy to forget that you turned edges off, and then you go crazy trying to figure out why nothing can be selected, when in reality, you just can't see that they're being selected.
Although all drawn objects in Illustrator are on the same screen, they each appear in the order that they were drawn. In other words, if you were to draw two rectangles, one on top of another, the second rectangle would cover the first one and hide it from view. It's similar to having a stack of papers on your desk. If you want to shuffle the order of pages, you would take a paper from the bottom or middle of the pile and put it on top. Or you might take a paper from the top of the pile and move it to the bottom.
Illustrator gives you the ability to move objects all throughout the "pile." Under the Object menu you can find the Arrange submenu, which contains four commands (see Figure 4.30).
The Arrange submenu.
When using groups, each group has its own set of levels. So if you bring an object that is part of a group to the front, it goes to the front of that group. In order to bring the object to the front of everything, you need to select the entire group and bring the whole group to the front.
Starting out as the back-most object, the black square gets sent to the front with the Send to Front command.
The black square starts out as the rear-most object (left). After you apply Bring Forward, the black square moves forward one level (right).
Here the black square begins as the topmost object (left), and is sent back one level using the Send Backward command (right).
Starting out as the topmost object (left), the black square gets sent to the back with the Send to Back command (right).
After learning all about selections and how they work, you should be feeling comfortable with moving things around, as well as know how to work with groups. You should also be able to lock and hide objects to make working easier. We also learned about arranging items and how objects are layered. In the next hour, we discuss Illustrator's layers, which is a powerful step above the kind of layering we just learned.
Fill--The attribute that determines a color, gradient, or pattern for the interior of a shape.
Stroke--The attribute that determines the outline of an object.
Group--A collection of objects that all become selected when just one item in the group is selected.
Selection tool--The tool that looks like a black arrow; used to select entire objects.
Direct Selection tool--The tool that looks like a white arrow; used to select parts of an object.
Group Selection tool--The tool that looks like a white arrow with a plus sign next to it; used for selecting groups.
Marquee--A rectangular-shaped bounding box indicating an area to be selected.
Center point--A non-editable point that appears at the center of a vector object.
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