Welcome to Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor. In short, it is, at it's heart, a line editor. But lines of a special type widely known a Bézier curves.
When using Illustrator think lines and fills. The most significant feature of Illustrator has always been scalability.
Originally developed for the Apple MacIntosh in 1986 Adobe Illustrator was based on the proprietary software, and the Postscript file format, Adobe used in-house to design fonts. Since its inception in 1986 Illustrator has deepened its features list and now in its latest release supports many new features such as multiple artboards, transparency in gradients, blob brush, live gradient editing, separations previews, in-palette appearance editing, etc. It is closely tied to the other applications in the CS4 package, particularly Flash.
Illustrator Tutorials
Go through the following tutorials before we begin working with Illustrator in class.
Getting started understanding Illustrator
- The complete "episode" list from Learn Illustrator CS4 [various]
- Select from 22 episodes. Work your way through all of them.
- Introducing Illustrator CS4 [9:20]
- Learn about some exciting new features in CS4: document windows, multiple artboards, gradients, appearances, and the Recolor Artwork dialog box.
- Getting Started: 01 Starting a New Document [4:27]
- Start a new document in Illustrator CS4 using the Welcome screen. Adjust settings in the New Document dialog box. Establish multiple artboards.
- Getting Started: 02 Brushes and Blobs [6:59]
- Learn about the Blob and Brush tools in Illustrator CS4. Choose a brush style. Change the fill color. Create freeform lines, shapes, and other paths.
- Getting Started: 03 Working with Text [5:14]
- Work with text inside Illustrator CS4. Use the Type tool to create a basic text object. Format text using the Type tool menus in the Control Palette.
- Getting Started: 04 Point and Path Text [5:48]
- Create point text and path text. Format text using the Control palette. Use keyboard shortcuts to reduce text size and change the leading.
a little more on using Illustrator...
- Getting Started: 05 Filling and Stroking [5:50]
- Get introduced to fill and stroke. Access the Swatches panel to use preset colors or create custom shades. Add strokes from the Appearance panel.
- Getting Started: 07 Reshaping a Path Outline [5:07]
- Reshape path outlines by dragging anchor points with the Selection tool. Align objects using Smart Guides. Use the Reflect tool to flip a path
- Getting Started: 09 Using Live Paint [5:00]
- Fill and stroke objects according to how they overlap and intersect using Live Paint. Use the Live Paint bucket to convert objects into a group.
- Create iPhone Icons [20:11]
- A good tutorial introduction to designing icons widely used on mobile devices. This one is on YouTube but comes from Tutvid.com
- The Caffe Fibonacci series : Rufus and Tim's Digital Kitchen [various]
- Tim Cole and Rufus Deuchler share their favorite recipes and productivity enhancing tips and tricks for cooking creatively with Adobe Creative Suite.
- Send me any good tutorials for Adobe Illustrator CS4 you find useful.
Illustrator Help
The online help guide for all of the Adobe applications we will use this semester is always available from within the specific application under the "Help" menu.
Additionally, most applications in the CS4 package load a "Start page" - some times still called the "Welcome Screen" - when you first launch the application. This screen contains links to "Getting Started", "New Features and "Resources". Take a look!
"When you start Illustrator without opening a document, the Illustrator Welcome Screen appears in the work environment. This screen gives you quick access to Illustrator tutorials, recent files, and Illustrator Exchange, where you can add new capabilities to some Illustrator's features. To disable the start page, check the "Don't show again" box when the Welcome Screen appears."
To turn the Welcome Screen on again, select "Welcome Screen" from Illustrator's Help menu. Uncheck the "Don't show again" box if you want the Welcome Screen to appear the next time you start Illustrator.
The direct link to Adobe Help on the Web for Illustrator is: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/14.0/
Illustrator Terms
Vector Graphics: 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. Read more about Illustrator vector graphics online
Live Trace: Read more about Illustrator's LiveTrace function online.
Editing Paths: Read about Editing Illustrator Paths online.
Symbols: A symbol is an art object that you can reuse in a document. For example, if you create a symbol from a flower, you can then add instances of that symbol multiple times to your artwork without actually adding the complex art multiple times. Each symbol instance is linked to the symbol in the Symbols panel or to a symbols library. Using symbols can save you time and greatly reduce file size. Read more about Illustrator Symbols online.
Color Management: A color management system reconciles color differences among devices so that you can be reasonably certain of the colors your system ultimately produces. Viewing color accurately allows you to make sound color decisions throughout your workflow, from digital capture through final output. Color management also allows you to create output based on ISO, SWOP, and Japan Color print production standards. Read more about Color Management in Illustrator online.
Illustrator and Flash: You can move Illustrator artwork into the Flash editing environment or directly into Flash Player. You can copy and paste artwork, save files in SWF format, or export artwork directly to Flash. In addition, Illustrator provides support for Flash dynamic text and movie clip symbols.
Read more about, Illustrator and Flash online.
