Adobe Illustrator CS4 bible phần 5 docx

276 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II FIGURE 8.7 If you attempt to delete a selected layer that contains artwork, Illustrator warns you before actually deleting the layer. Moving and layers You can move selected objects to another layer. A selected object appears on its layer with a square in the upper-right corner of that layer. Dragging that square to another layer moves the selected object to that layer. Figure 8.8 shows a selection marker being dragged to another layer. You can drag only to a layer that isn’t hidden or locked. Only one object at a time can be moved to another layer. FIGURE 8.8 The selected object is being moved to another layer. This box shows the items being dragged. Using the Layers panel’s popup menu Clicking the triangle in the upper right of the Layers panel displays a popup menu that shows the different options that are available relative to the selected layers; Figure 8.9 shows this popup menu. These options are available: 12_345191-ch08.indd 27612_345191-ch08.indd 276 10/24/08 11:35:06 AM10/24/08 11:35:06 AM 277 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects 8  New Layer: This option creates a new layer above the currently selected layer or, if no layer is selected, at the top of the list. When you select this option, the Layer Options dia- log box opens. When you create a new layer, Illustrator automatically assigns the next color in the color list. TIP TIP If you press Alt (Option) before you click the popup menu triangle, the first menu item reads New Layer Above First Layer or New Layer Above whatever the name of the active layer is.  New Sublayer: This option creates a new sublayer below the selected layer.  Duplicate Layer: This option duplicates selected layers, along with any objects that are on those layers. You can also duplicate layers by dragging them to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.  Delete Layer: This option deletes the layer and any artwork on the layer. If the layer you want to delete contains artwork, a dialog box warns you that you’re about to delete it. If one or more objects are selected, the popup menu says Delete Selection. If you select sev- eral layers, the entry reads Delete Layers, and all selected layers are deleted. You can undo layer deletions using the Edit ➪ Undo command.  Options for Layer: This option is called Options for whatever the name of the active layer is. The menu item reads Options for Selection if you select more than one layer. Clicking Options for Selection displays the Layer Options dialog box. If more than one layer is selected, the layer options affect all selected layers.  Make/Release Clipping Mask: This option creates a clipping mask in the layer. The top- most object in the layer acts as the masking shape.  Locate Object: Use this to find where an object is located in the Layers panel. Choose an object in the document and then select this option to see where it is in the Layers panel.  Merge Selected: This option combines selected layers into one. Merging layers does two important things: First, in just one step, it places art together that you want on the same layer. Second, it automatically eliminates all those empty layers.  Flatten Artwork: This option takes all your layers and combines them into one layer.  Collect in New Layer: This option moves the selected objects to a new layer.  Release to Layers (Sequence): Use this option to move the selected objects to new indi- vidual layers.  Release to Layers (Build): Use this option to move the selected objects to layers in a cumulative sequence. You mainly use this option to create animation sequences where the first layer contains the first object, the second layer contains the first and second objects, the third layer contains the first three objects, etc.  Reverse Order: Use this to reverse the stacking order of the selected layers. The layers must be adjoining in the Layers panel.  Template: You use this option to make your selection a template. 12_345191-ch08.indd 27712_345191-ch08.indd 277 10/24/08 11:35:07 AM10/24/08 11:35:07 AM 278 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II  Hide Others: This option hides all the layers except the selected ones.  Outline Others/Preview All Layers: This option changes all unselected layers to Outline view or changes all unselected layers to Preview view.  Lock Others/Unlock All Layers: This option locks all layers except the selected ones or unlocks all layers except the selected ones.  Paste Remembers Layers: This option causes Illustrator to paste all objects on the layer from which you copied them, regardless of which layer is currently active. Deselecting this menu item causes objects on the Clipboard to be pasted on the current layer.  Panel Options: Use this option to change the Row Size, Thumbnail views, and whether to Show Layers Only. TIP TIP Double-clicking a layer name displays the Layer Options dialog box. FIGURE 8.9 The Layers panel’s popup menu gives you more options for working with layers. 12_345191-ch08.indd 27812_345191-ch08.indd 278 10/24/08 11:35:08 AM10/24/08 11:35:08 AM 279 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects 8 Working with Templates in Illustrator It’s often much easier to create artwork in Illustrator by starting with something to trace, whether it’s a logo, a floor plan, or your cousin Fred’s disproportionate profile. Even the best artists use some form of template when they draw to keep proportions consistent, to get angles just right, and for other reasons that help them to achieve the best possible results. This section discusses methods and techniques for manually tracing different types of artwork within Illustrator. First, you place an image — the image that you eventually want to trace — on a layer, which is your template layer. Next, you use the template layer to trace your image. CROSS-REF CROSS-REF For more on Live Trace, see Chapter 13. Placing a template on a layer You can create a template in Illustrator by placing any image into a template layer. That image can then be used for tracing or as a guide for creating or adjusting artwork. Follow these steps to create a template layer: 1. Double-click the layer that you want to modify. The Layer Options dialog box opens. 2. In the Layer Options dialog box, click the Template check box. By default, the Dim Images check box is selected and all other options are grayed out. 3. Type a value in the Dim Images text field. The lower the percent value, the lighter the image appears in Illustrator. 4. Click OK to apply the change. Illustrator creates a template layer from the image you selected. NOTE NOTE Paths that you place on template layers don’t appear when they’re selected. Instead, an icon appears in the Layers panel’s view column to indicate that the current layer is a template layer. Template layers don’t print. TIP TIP You can make any vector artwork into a template by rasterizing it and then placing that layer into a template layer. Figure 8.10 shows an image before and after dimming. Placed images work well as templates because their resolutions are independent of the Illustrator document. You can scale placed images up or down, changing their on-screen resolution as you change their size. For example, if you scale a 72 dpi (dots per inch) image down to one-fourth of its imported size (making the dpi of the placed image 4 × 72, or 288 dpi), you can zoom in on the 12_345191-ch08.indd 27912_345191-ch08.indd 279 10/24/08 11:35:09 AM10/24/08 11:35:09 AM 280 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II image in Illustrator at 400%. At 400%, the placed image still has a 72 dpi resolution because one- fourth of 288 dpi is 72 dpi. The more you increase the placed image’s dpi by scaling it down, the more you can zoom in to see the details of the image. Here’s another plus: A placed image template is a full-color template that keeps all the shading and colors and allows you to see all the fine details easily. That way, you can trace all the tiny details that the color brings out. FIGURE 8.10 The original image (left) and after dimming (right) 12_345191-ch08.indd 28012_345191-ch08.indd 280 10/24/08 11:35:11 AM10/24/08 11:35:11 AM 281 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects 8 Using a template to trace an image Now that you have your template (placed image) all set up, you’re ready to trace it — or so you would think. You can go about tracing in lots of different ways, and I include the best of the best techniques in this section to help you muddle through this mess. You can trace templates in two ways: manually and automatically. Manually tracing consists of using the Pencil and Pen tools to tediously trace the edges of a template — often a very time- consuming task. You manually trace an image when you have lots of time on your hands and when you want to retain every single detail of the traced image. As an alternative, you can use the Live Trace function, discussed in Chapter 13, to speed up the process. Some designers prefer manually tracing templates. Using the Pen and Pencil tools allows illustra- tors to add detail, remove oddities, and change curves, angles, etc., to their satisfaction. Using a pressure-sensitive tablet makes for clean, accurate tracing. The Pencil tool is great to use when cre- ating more bumpy lines, as in map drawing. The Pen tool is fantastic for creating smoother, more accurate lines. CROSS-REF CROSS-REF For more on using the Pen and Pencil tools, see Chapter 4. NOTE NOTE If you use a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, you may find that manually tracing a printed copy of an image that you place under the clear plastic overlay on the surface of the tablet is easier than attempting to trace the image on the screen. You may need to experiment to see which method best suits your working style. Using Align and Distribute The Align panel contains several buttons for aligning and distributing objects with a simple click of a button. Align treats paths, type objects, and groups as single objects, allowing for quite a bit of flexi- bility when aligning and distributing. Aligning objects moves them to line up along a specified area (horizontal left, horizontal middle, horizontal right, vertical top, vertical center, and vertical bottom). Select the objects first, then choose an alignment. Figure 8.11 shows a bunch of objects before and after being horizontally aligned. Distribute takes the selected objects and evenly moves them a speci- fied amount from each other (vertical distribute top, vertical distribute center, vertical distribute bot- tom, horizontal distribute left, horizontal distribute center, and horizontal distribute right). 12_345191-ch08.indd 28112_345191-ch08.indd 281 10/24/08 11:35:11 AM10/24/08 11:35:11 AM 282 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II FIGURE 8.11 Objects before horizontal alignment (top) and after (bottom) To use the Align panel, follow these steps: 1. Select the objects you want to align and/or distribute. For more on selecting objects, see Chapter 6. 2. Click the appropriate button in the panel. The panel has two areas: Align Objects and Distribute Objects:  The Align area: In order from left to right, the buttons in this area are Horizontal Align Left, Horizontal Align Center, Horizontal Align Right, Vertical Align Top, Vertical Align Center, and Vertical Align Bottom.  The Distribute areas: In order from left to right, the buttons in this area are Vertical Distribute Top, Vertical Distribute Center, Vertical Distribute Bottom, Horizontal Distribute Left, Horizontal Distribute Center, and Horizontal Distribute Right. TIP TIP Each click in the panel counts as a change in Illustrator, which means that if you click 20 times, you need to undo 20 times to return to where you started. 12_345191-ch08.indd 28212_345191-ch08.indd 282 10/24/08 11:35:12 AM10/24/08 11:35:12 AM 283 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects 8 Measuring an Image So, you’re drawing the blueprints for that new civic center downtown, and your boss wants every- thing to scale. Wouldn’t it be great if Illustrator helped you with your gargantuan task? But wait! It does! You can measure objects or distances between objects in Illustrator in several ways:  Using the Measure tool  Using the Transform panel  Using the rulers along the side of the document window  Placing objects whose dimensions are known against the edges  Using Offset Path  Eyeballing it (popular since the first artist painted his recollections of the preceding day’s battle with the saber-toothed animals of his time) Different methods of measuring are appropriate for different needs. For example, you want to use the Measure tool to check the accuracy between objects or the size of the objects. When using the Transform panel, you can type exact measurements of scaling, moving, rotating, shear, and reflect- ing. The rulers let you drag out guidelines for keeping your objects accurately sized and aligned. Offset Path duplicates the selected path, offsetting it from the original by the specified distance. Eyeballing is fine as long as accuracy isn’t a condition of your illustration. The default unit of measure for all the measurement methods listed above is points. Before I dis- cuss the various ways to measure, I want to mention how to change units. Changing the measurement units The default of using points for measurement is great for type, but when was the last time your art director said, “I’d like you to design a 360-point × 288-point ad and make the logo at least 144 points high.” And your grandmother isn’t likely to say to you, “Gosh, you must be at least 5,600 points tall, maybe taller. You’ve grown at least 100 points since I last saw you. Does your mother let you wear that to school?!” Points don’t work for everything, so Adobe lets you change the measurement units to picas, inches, centimeters, millimeters, or pixels. The way to choose from these measurements is to temporarily indicate a different unit of measurement each time you type a value by appending a character or two to the end of your numerical value. 12_345191-ch08.indd 28312_345191-ch08.indd 283 10/24/08 11:35:14 AM10/24/08 11:35:14 AM 284 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II In the metric system, there are 100 centimeters in a meter and 10 millimeters in a centimeter. The other system, which is much more significant to Illustrator users, is the pica/point system. When the pica measurement system is selected in the Units & Display Performance section of the Preferences dialog box, measurements are displayed using the common (common to typesetters and designers, anyway) system of picas followed by points. So, a distance of 3 picas and 6 points is displayed as 3p6. Such a measurement is displayed as 42 points using the point system. You can change to a different unit of measure in one of three ways:  Using the Preferences dialog box: Choose Edit (Illustrator) ➪ Preferences ➪ Units & Display Performance and then select the measurement system you want by using the General list box. This permanently alters your measurement units. In other words, all dialog boxes in all new documents express their measurements in the specified units, not points (unless you choose points).  Using the Document Setup menu: Choose File ➪ Document Setup and then choose the appropriate unit of measure from the Units list box. This changes the units in that docu- ment only.  Using any dialog box: Type the appropriate unit abbreviation, listed in Table 8.1, after the number in whatever dialog box you open, even if the text fields show points. Illustrator does conversions from points to inches and centimeters (and vice versa) on the fly, so after you type a point value, the program converts the points into inches as soon as you press Tab. This little feature can be an excellent way for you to become more com- fortable with points and picas. To get picas, type p0 after the number. TABLE 8.1 Illustrator Unit Abbreviations Unit of Measure Abbreviation Example Inches inch, in, or " For 2 inches, type 2 inch, 2 in, or 2". Millimeters mm For 2 millimeters, type 2 mm. Centimeters cm For 2 centimeters, type 2 cm. Points pt For 2 points, type 2 pt or 0p2. Picas p For 2 picas, type 2p. Picas and points p For 2 picas 6 points, type 2p6. Pixels px For 2 pixels, type 2px. 12_345191-ch08.indd 28412_345191-ch08.indd 284 10/24/08 11:35:14 AM10/24/08 11:35:14 AM 285 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects 8 A quick refresher on measurement units and their relations: 1" = 6p = 72 pt = 25.4 mm = 2.54 cm .16667" = 1p = 12 pt = 4.2 mm = .42 cm .01389" = 0p1 = 1 pt = .35 mm = .035 cm .03931" = p2.83 = 2.83 pt = 1 mm = .1 cm .39305" = 2p4.35 = 28.35 pt = 10 mm = 1 cm Pixels can’t be directly related to the other measurement units because the size of each pixel varies according to screen resolution. Using the Measure tool The fastest way to obtain a precise, exact measurement in Illustrator is to use the Measure tool, as shown in Figure 8.12. Follow these steps to use the tool: 1. Click and hold the Eyedropper tool. The Measure tool is a popup tool found with the Eyedropper and Paint Bucket tools. 2. Click the Measure tool. The icon looks like a ruler. 3. Click an object where you want to begin measuring with the Measure tool. The Info panel of the Measure tool opens. 4. Click where you want to end your measurement. The Info panel shows the distance between the location first clicked and the next location clicked or the distance between where the tool was first clicked and where the mouse was released after dragging. Double-clicking the Measure tool displays the Guides & Grid section of the Preferences dialog box, where you can set the distance between grid lines if you use the grid to help in making more accu- rate drawings. For more on the Guides & Grid options, see the section on this topic later in this chapter. You can use the measurements that you obtain with the Measure tool to move your object the dis- tance you want. As soon as the Measure tool measures a distance, it routes that information to the Move dialog box, as shown in Figure 8.13. The next time you open the Move dialog box, it holds the values sent by the Measure tool. You open the Move dialog box by choosing Object ➪ Transform ➪ Move or by double-clicking the Selection tool. If you hold Shift, you can constrain the movement of the measuring line to 45° or 90°. 12_345191-ch08.indd 28512_345191-ch08.indd 285 10/24/08 11:35:14 AM10/24/08 11:35:14 AM [...]... View ➪ Guides ➪ Release Guides or press Ctrl+Alt +5 (Ô+Option +5) This releases all guides and, more importantly, selects all paths that were formerly guides (all other paths and objects are deselected) Finally, choose View ➪ Guides ➪ Make Guides or press Ctrl +5 (Ô +5) , and all selected paths become guides again and are selected TIP 293 8 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work Deleting guides Suppose that... Guides ➪ Release Guides Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Alt +5 (Ô+Option +5) To release multiple guides first, ensure that the guides are unlocked; in other words, ensure that no check mark appears next to Lock Guides in the View ➪ Guides menu Select the guides and then choose View ➪ Guides ➪ Release Guides or press Ctrl+Alt +5 (Ô+Option +5) You select multiple guides in the same way you select multiple... For more on the Offset Path dialog box and its settings, see Chapter 6 FIGURE 8. 15 The Offset Path dialog box creates an offset path you can use for the precise placement of objects 4 Click OK Illustrator creates the new Offset Path 5 Change the new path into a guide 6 Align your objects to this guide 289 8 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work Working with Grids Nothing I’ve found is more useful on a day-to-day... make aligning objects much easier 300 Working with Type F onts are a big deal to Illustrator users For the seasoned graphic artist, the thousands of typefaces that are available provide a typesetting heaven on Earth For a newcomer to Illustrator and typesetting, fonts can be overwhelming Illustrator ships with about 300 Adobe PostScript Type 1 fonts; other fonts are available for purchase at costs that... choose a typeface 3 05 9 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work Understanding the Recent Fonts submenu The Recent Fonts submenu of the Type menu displays the most recent fonts you’ve used in that document The default setting for Recent Fonts is 5 You can change that number in the Type section of the Preferences dialog box Access the Type preferences by choosing Edit ➪ Preferences ➪ Type (Illustrator ➪ Preferences... create the object and indicated that it’s a path 2 95 8 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work FIGURE 8.19 The Smart Guides section of the Preferences dialog box Measuring for Printing Thinking ahead to the time when your job will print is always a good thing Two of the most important areas of printing are the placement and sizing of your artwork within the Illustrator document This section deals with production-oriented... in the Printer Mark Type dropdown list (popup menu) of the Print dialog box CROSS-REF 298 For more on printing, see Chapter 18 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects FIGURE 8.21 Use the Print dialog box to add crop marks 299 8 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work Summary Illustrator documents can quickly become very complex You need to learn how to organize the objects in your documents in order to work... seen in Figure 8.17 Here, you can change the grid color, style, and spacing 290 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects FIGURE 8.16 A document with Illustrator s Grid function turned on FIGURE 8.17 The Guides & Grid section of the Preferences dialog box allows you to set up the appearance options 291 8 Part II Putting Illustrator to Work These options are available in the Grid section of the Preferences... sans serif (fonts without those hooks) Although it seemed like a good idea when Adobe introduced the idea of Multiple Master fonts back in 1991, little interest was generated among users, and Adobe no longer develops this technology Understanding Basic Type Menu Commands The Type menu, as shown in Figure 9.1, contains all of Illustrator s type controls (with the exception of the type tools) FIGURE 9.1... shearing an object with this option selected, Smart Guides appear to help you out 294 Using Illustrator to Organize Objects Construction Guides: As you create objects, these guides appear at the angles specified You can choose presets in this dropdown list (popup menu) The preset angles are 0, 45, 90, and 1 35 The angles are shown in the box at the right When you add a custom angle, it appears with . the movement of the measuring line to 45 or 90°. 12_3 451 91-ch08.indd 2 851 2_3 451 91-ch08.indd 2 85 10/24/08 11: 35: 14 AM10/24/08 11: 35: 14 AM 286 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II FIGURE 8.12 The. pt = 25. 4 mm = 2 .54 cm .16667" = 1p = 12 pt = 4.2 mm = .42 cm .01389" = 0p1 = 1 pt = . 35 mm = .0 35 cm .03931" = p2.83 = 2.83 pt = 1 mm = .1 cm .393 05& quot; = 2p4. 35 = 28. 35 pt =. page, measured from the lower-left corner. 12_3 451 91-ch08.indd 28712_3 451 91-ch08.indd 287 10/24/08 11: 35: 15 AM10/24/08 11: 35: 15 AM 288 Putting Illustrator to Work Part II  W: This option shows