Adobe Illustrator CS2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques

• Copyright 2006
• Dimensions: 7 X 9
• Pages: 272
• Edition: 1st

• eBook (Adobe DRM)
• ISBN-10: 0-321-50240-X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-321-50240-7

Illustrator CS2 How-Tos is a highly focused survey of the one-hundred most essential things anyone needs to know to use Illustrator CS2. Folks new to Illustrator will find clear, basic, easy-to-understand explanations of the techniques, tools, and tricks they need to quickly become productive with Illustrator. Experienced users will find a handy reference with insights, tips, and shortcuts that will help even experts be more productive.

Illustrator CS2 How-Tos was written specifically for CS2, and integrates the important new features of Illustrator CS2, including Live Paint, Live Trace, new Type format features, and helpful new interface innovations.

Written by veteran illustrators David Karlins and Bruce K. Hopkins, Illustrator CS2 How Tos breaks down confusing concepts and clearly explains and illustrates how to master the challenges of drawing and editing vector paths. David Karlins teaches Illustrator at San Francisco State University Multimedia Studies Program, and Bruck K. Hopkins has been a professional illustrator for a decade, creating everything from fine art to technical drawings.

The book:

• Demystifies the process of creating and editing vector artwork
• Covers new Illustrator features: Live Paint, Live Trace, Type formatting, and the Control Palette
• Includes survival tips and tricks that will guide new illustrators through the program, and provide time-saving tricks for Illustrator veterans.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

1. Creating a New Document
1. Choosing Color Mode
2. Defining the Artboard
2. Creating Documents from Templates
3. Defining Preferences
4. Controlling the Workspace
5. Defining Guides
1. Moving Guides
6. Viewing Grids
1. Setting Guide and Grid Units
2. Snapping to Grids
7. Saving Files
1. Saving Custom Views
8. Printing Files

CHAPTER 2: CONTROLLING THE WORKSPACE

1. Using the Control Palette
2. Finding Tools
1. Locating Tools
2. Defining Tool Options
3. Tearing off Tools
3. Applying Path and Fill Colors
1. Defining Focused Color
2. Choosing Swatches
4. Relying on Smart Guides

CHAPTER 3: DRAWING LINES AND SHAPES

1. Drawing Lines
2. Drawing Ovals and circles
3. Drawing Spirals
4. Rectangles and squares
5. Polygons and stars
6. Drawing Grids and Polar Grids

CHAPTER 4: DRAWING AND EDITING CURVES

1. Drawing with the Pencil tool
2. Drawing with the Pen tool
1. Closing paths
2. Creating a Smooth Curve
3. Adjusting Anchors
1. Moving anchors
2. Editing control points

CHAPTER 5: COMBINING AND SPLITTING PATHS

1. Combining Paths
2. Dividing Paths
3. Using Clipping Masks

CHAPTER 6: DRAWING WITH BRUSHES

1. Drawing with Brushes
2. Creating Calligraphic Brushes
3. Creating Art Brushes
4. Creating Scatter Brushes
5. Creating Pattern Brushes
6. Pressure-Sensitive Drawing with a Tablet

CHAPTER 7: SELECTING PATHS

1. Selecting Paths and Groups
2. Selecting Anchors
3. Selecting Type
4. Selecting Similar Objects

CHAPTER 8: EDITING SHAPES

1. Editing with the Bounding Box
2. Duplicating
3. Scaling
4. Rotating
1. Rotating on a Pivot Point
2. Rotating Paths
5. Skewing
6. Distorting with Envelopes
7. Cutting
1. Knife tool
2. Pathfinder Divide

CHAPTER 9: CREATING AND APPLYING FILLS

1. Creating and Using Fills
1. Saving Fill Palettes
2. Moving and Scaling Fills
2. Using Color Swatch Palettes
3. Grabbing Colors with the Eyedropper
4. Defining Gradients
5. Editing Strokes
1. Choosing Stroke Types
6. Stacking Strokes in the Appearance Palette
7. Stacking Fills in the Appearance Palette

CHAPTER 10: WORKING WITH LAYERS

1. Organizing Projects into Layers
2. Finding Objects in Layers
3. Using Layers as Masks
4. Building and Sequencing Layers

CHAPTER 11: WORKING WITH IMPORTED RASTER IMAGES

1. Placing Raster Images
1. Embedding vs. Linking
2. Editing Rasters
1. Editing Linked Images
3. Using Live Trace
1. Choosing Presets
2. Expanding to Live Paint Regions

CHAPTER 12: COLORING WITH LIVE PAINT

1. Creating Live Paint Regions
1. Regions vs. Groups
2. Converting Back to Regular Paths
2. Coloring Live Paint Fills
1. Setting Gaps
3. Editing Live Paint Strokes

CHAPTER 12: CREATING AND FORMATTING TYPE

1. Creating Regular Type
2. Creating Area Type
3. Defining Font and Size
4. Kerning and Tracking
5. Scaling Type
6. Rotating Characters
7. Applying Type Attributes
1. Bold, Italic, Color
2. Underline
8. Type and Paragraph Styles
9. Using OpenType Glyphs
10. Outlining Type

CHAPTER 13: FORMATTING BLOCKS OF TYPE

1. Formatting Paragraphs
1. Tabs and Indenting
2. Line Spacing
2. Using Paragraph Styles
3. Linking Type Boxes
4. Flowing Type Around Objects
5. Placing Type on Paths
6. Using Vertical Type

CHAPTER 14: ALIGNING AND ARRANGING OBJECTS

1. Aligning Objects
1. Horizontal and Vertical
2. Spacing Options
2. Snapping to Grids
3. Using Rulers
1. Setting Ruler Options
2. Aligning Zero Point
4. Managing Stacking

CHAPTER 15: USING TRANSPARENCY AND BLENDS

1. Applying Transparency
1. Using Transparency Modes
2. Step and Smooth Blends
1. Step Blend Alignment
2. Blends Between Anchors
3. Adjusting Blends
1. Adjusting Spacing
2. Realigning and Replacing Spines

CHAPTER 16: CLIPPING AND MASKING

1. Using Clipping Masks
1. Edit a Mask
2. Release a Mask
2. Masking with Type
3. Applying Opacity Masks
4. Defining a Crop Area

CHAPTER 17: APPLYING FILTERS AND EFFECTS

1. Applying Filters
1. Filters vs. Effects
2. Applying Effects
1. Managing Effects in the Appearance Palette
3. 3D Extrusion Effects
4. 3D Rotation and Revolve Effects
5. Mapping Symbols onto 3D Effects
6. Using Raster Effects
7. Warping with Liquify Tools
8. Using Graphic Styles

CHAPTER 18: MANAGING ILLUSTRATION WORKFLOW

1. Using Symbols and Actions
1. Constraining File Size with Symbols
2. Saving Time with Actions
2. Sharing Files
1. Embedding Fonts
2. Downward Compatible Files
3. Exporting Vector Files
1. PDF
2. EPS
4. Managing File Size
5. Saving as Rasters
1. TIFF
2. JPEG
3. GIF and PNG / Assigning Web Transparency
6. Exporting to Flash
1. Generating Animation
7. Exporting to HTML Pages
1. Slicing Objects to Generate HTML Tables
2. Defining Links

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