Aligning to a key anchor works very much the same as aligning to a key object except you need 1 less click. I have a very crude shape drawn below as an example. I want to align a few of these anchors to the highest anchor on the left, but I DON”T WANT THE ANCHOR I ALIGN TO TO MOVE AT ALL, which is why I’m using this technique and not simply the align to selection option in the align palette.

Step 1:

Select each anchor individually, and the LAST anchor you select will automatically be your “key anchor.”

Step 2:

First, make sure that “Align to Key Anchor” is active in the Align palette (it should happen automatically when manually selecting points), and then hit the “Vertical Align Center” button.

Step 3:

Done. You’ll notice that the last anchor we selected didn’t move at all. All of the other points wore aligned to match the key anchor’s vertical location. Like I said, this probably won’t be something you use every day, but it is good to know. :)

As you can see in the image above, I have two pieces of a lowercase “f” that I want to merge together with pathfinder. Below I have the two pieces lined up where I want them, and If I simply use pathfinder now and merge them, I will get more than one point on the bottom left curve, where the arrow is. I want to have a nice clean curve there, so I’m going to use the “Average” function.

As you can see here, in wireframe mode zoomed way in, the 2 points are not exactly lined up.

Step 1:

As pictured above, use the Direct Select Tool (white arrow) and select the 2 points you want to align.

Step 2:

Go to Object > Path > Average, and select “both,” then hit ok.

And that’s it. Now your points are in exactly the same x,y coordinates, so when you use pathfinder, the result is only a single point, not two.

Now I have my nice clean path outline to work with!

Step 1:

Ok, let’s say for example, you have all of the different text boxes like in this image, and you want to change all of the, sizes, and fonts, and colors to match the text box on the bottom right. In that case, step 1 would be to fine tune your text formatting in the bottom right text box and get it exactly the way you want it.

Step 2:

Shift + Select all of the text boxes except for the one you want to match.

Step 3:

Select your Eyedropper Tool, or hit (I).

Step 4:

Click your Eyedropper Tool on the text box on the bottom right. (The one you want to copy, font and size, etc. from) and it applies the formatting from that text box to all of the other selected text boxes! And Done :) It won’t change the actual TEXT in the boxes, only the font, color, and size, etc. Basically, anything you can control in the Type Panel, including letter spacing, leading, etc. Styles (effects) must be applied manually, which you can do easily by Shift + Selecting and then applying a graphic style, or drop shadow, or whatever you need.

Alternate Method:

Shift + Select all of the text boxes and the adjust your settings in the Type (Character Panel). It’s as simple as that.

Illustrator: Edit Multiple Text Boxes at Once from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator 101: Center Artboard from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator: Align to Key Object [HD] from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator: How to reset bounding boxes from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator How To: Angled Guides and Deleting a Single Handle from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator 101: Precise Guide Placement from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Illustrator: How to Make Vector Grunge from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Ok, take a close look at the screenshot above. You’ll notice that the line I circled is not perfectly horizontal. You can tell by the steps in the path. Sometimes you can adjust your keyboard nudge increment in the preferences, select one of the points, and nudge it to where it needs to be. But another way to make a perfect alignment between 2 points is using the Align palette and the direct select tool, just like you would for 2 objects. Here’s how:

1. Open the “Align” palette and make sure you have “Align to Selection” checked.

2. Using the Direct Select tool (White Arrow) select both of the points you want to align, the hit the “Vertical Align Center” button in the Align palette. Now both points will be perfectly aligned, thus, your path will be perfectly strait.

This can come in pretty handy on those paths that you need to be perfect, like designing fonts or cutting out stickers for example. Hope some of you find it useful :)

First of all, when creating a new document, you can set the raster effects right away in the “New Document” window.

Second, if your document is already created, you can go to Effects > Document Raster Effects Settings to find out what those settings are for your current document.

Third, you can see the pixel dimensions of an image by clicking on it and looking in the “Info” palette. (This can also be seen in the toolbar at the top of the Illustrator window.)

Below is a video example of what Jimmy was talking about. Using the Brush tool in Illustrator, after you make one stroke, then you make another stroke, the first one disappears.

Untitled from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

This happens because of a simple Brush tool setting. If you double-click on the Brush tool, the Brush tool settings window will appear. There are 3 checkboxes in this window. If you have “Keep Selected” and “Edit Selected Paths” checked, Illustrator will treat your second stroke as an effort to improve, or adjust the first one, and your first stroke will disappear. (depending on how many pixels you select with the slider setting).

If you uncheck “Edit Selected Paths” Illustrator will no longer make your strokes disappear. You can even keep “Keep Selected” selected, and your strokes will remain selected, they just won’t be adjusted, or disappeared.

Here’s a quick example video of using the Brush tool without “Edit Selected Paths” checked:

Edit Selected Paths [Illustrator Example] from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Step 1

Make sure your vector shape is on top of your texture.

Step 2

Select BOTH your texture and the vector shape, then right click or control click and select “Make Clipping Mask.” (You can also go to the Object menu and select Clipping Mask > Make, or hit Command/Control +7.)

Step 3

Done! Now, that you have your texture masked to fill your shape, you’ll notice that Illustrator has made the texture and the path into a new group. You can move the group as a whole with the Select tool, or you can use the Direct Select tool to move the texture itself, without moving the path, and vice versa.

Why? Well if you open your Color palette (Window>Color), you’ll most likley find that it’s set to grayscale. (like below)

All you have to do is set your color palette to something else, like RGB or CMYK. Now you’re good to go. Personally, I have no idea why this problem has made it all the way to CS4. If I wanted to fill a shape with a gray, I’d choose a gray.

1. Start with a “square” artboard.

It doesn’t really matter what size but if you want to follow along, I’m using a 600px x 600px artboard.

2. Create your vertical line.

Again, the size and shape is up to you here.

3. Align your shape to the top right corner

Here we are going to be using the Transform pallete to make or shape align exactly to the upper left corner. Select your shape and in the Transform, set the “X” value to 0, and the “Y” value to 600 (or the document size you chose). The middle of your shape should now be aligned exactly to the upper left corner.

4. Rotate 45 degrees.

Next, rotate your shape 45 degrees either using your mouse and holding Shift, or right click, and enter the value in manually.

5. Duplicate your shape and align it to the opposite corner.

Now we need to duplicate or shape, and align it the same way we did above, but to the opposite corner. Again,select your new shape, and using the Transform pallete, set your X value to 600 (or the document size you chose) and the Y value to 0. Now your two shapes should be aligned perfectly to opposite corners of the artboard.

6. Make a Blend between the 2 shapes.

Using the Blend tool click on 1 of your shapes, then immediately click on the other to make a blend. Then double click on the Blend tool, and you should see the ‘Blend Options” dialogue box. Set it to “Specifed Steps” and then select a number that you think looks good. I recommend making this an odd number. You should have something that resembles the image below.

7. Expand your blend.

Select your new blend, and then go to Object > Expand, then click “OK.”

8. Create a square to crop with.

Select the Rectangle tool, and click once on the aretboard. You can now enter in the exact dimensions you want your square to be. Set it to 600 x 600px (or the document size you chose), and click “OK.”

9. Align your square to the artboard.

Select your square, and in the Align pallete, make sure you have “Align to Artboard” selected.

Now hit these 2 buttons to align your square exactly on top of the artboard.

10. Crop.

Do a Select All (Command/Control + A), and then hit the Crop button in the Pathfinder pallete.

Done!

Now you have a nice, seamless diagonal pattern that can be put to use.

If you want to add this pattern as a Pattern Swatch, just select it, and then go to Edit, Define Pattern, and it will appear in your swatches pallete.

Illustrator: Blend Tool Spacing from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

1) Amy asks:

How do you save a pattern in Illy, so that you can use again and again in different Illy files? I know how to save a pattern for use in the file I created it in, but I’m looking to be able to pull up a palette of my created patterns in files other than the one the original pattern was created in.

Answer:

In your swatches palette, go to “Save Swatch Library as AI…”

Name your new library, and make sure to save it in your Illustrator CSX > Presets > Swatches folder.

Now, no matter what document you have open, you can load your custom (in this case pattern) swatches by going to Open Swatch Library, and choosing your file from the list.

2) dbslone asks:

How to create a dotted line along a path in either Illy or PS?

Answer:

I already have a tutorial on how to do this is Photoshop, so I’ll show you an easy way to do it in Illustrator.

There is more than one way to do this, but I like to use a pattern brush. First, draw a circle on the artboard, and from the Brushes palette, select “New Brush.”

Select “New Pattern Brush” and hit OK.

You can always come back and change these settings later by double clicking on the brush from the Brushes palette, but for now the only 2 settings you need to worry about are spacing and colorization method. Set the spacing to 50% and the colorization method to “Tints.” (Tins is so you can change the color of the brush later if you need to.) Then click OK.

Now you can apply your new pattern brush to any path and get a nice dotted line. (You may need to adjust your stroke size, depending on how big of a dot you drew) Then you can go back in and adjust the spacing as needed.

3) Kaje asks:

I read your tip about pixelated brushes, but was wondering if there was a quick fix for pixelated fonts? Sometimes I will type in some text and the font, no matter what it is looks pixelated, so I have to go to the drop down and select “reset character”. Am I doing something wrong? It is quite annoying to have to reset each time this happens.

Answer:

I’m not 100% sure if this is your exact problem, but I’m quessing that your antialiasing setting is set to “None.”

To fix this, simply change your antialiasing setting in the Character palette to “Sharp” or “Crisp.” Then save your workspace by going to Window > Workspaces > Save Workspace. This way Photoshop will remember that you changed the setting and you won’t have to change it manually every time.

Your type should now be nice and sharp.

4) malarts asks:

I’ve had a unique Illustrator problem lately…every now and then the “Send To Back” command stops working, under the Object >Arrange menu… Any idea as to why?

Answer:

Actually I have 2 ideas. Maybe one of them can help…

A) The “Send to Back” command only sends an object to the back of whatever layer it’s on. So if you send an object to the back and it’s not on the bottom layer, you’re still gonna have stuff underneath it.

B) An object that’s inside a “Group” only goes to the back of the group.

1) iheartrendering asks:

What is the “make it awesome” keyboard shortcut? I found it once, and it rocked my world. But now it seems to hide from me.

Answer:

Hmmm… not sure about that one one, but have you tried “Make My Logo Bigger Cream?” If you hurry, they’ll throw in some “Whitespace Eliminator” for free.

1) SuperLame Asks:

Any good plugins for AI to make choosing fonts more visual, like flash?

Answer:

As far as plugins go, I haven’t been able to find one that does what you want, however, there is one Illustartor quirk to ba aware of. If you choose your fonts from the top toolbar you’ll get a plain list of fonts. But if you choose fonts from the Character palette itself, you get a small visual preview, similar to the way Flash works. And if you have an extra $100, this software might be what you need.

VS.

2) deluzione asks:

How do I convert and illy doc from 72dpi to 300?

Answer:

Good question. This is one of those settings that you would think you should be able to find under “Document Setup,” since it’s a setting you choose every time you create a “new” document. However, our friends at Adobe thought it should be in a different place. You’ll find the “Document Raster Effects Settings” under the “Effects” menu.

Just change your setting to 300dpi, and click OK.

3) GrandmasterB asks:

I’ve tried to use Object > Expand… to make a uniform space around text after creating outline, but it doesn’t seem to work…why?

Answer:

Your on the right track, but that’s not what “Expand” was meant for. The command your looking for is “Offset Path.” We can achieve the results you want in 3 easy steps:

1. Type > Create Outlines.

2. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path.

3. Check the preview box and enter a value for the amount you want to offset. (use a negative number to offset inside instead of outside).

4) katzw asks:

What is the correct way to save custom brushes so that others can download and use them? EPS files don’t seem to work. Thanks :)

Answer:

I assume you mean Illustrator brushes, so I’ll try and answer this as best I can. When you save Illustrator brushes, illustrator outputs an .AI file. It’s not a normal AI file, but a “Brush Library.” All you have to do is place that AI file into …Illustrator CSX > Presets > Brushes, and you’ll be able to load the brushes via the Brushes Palette.

Hope that helps, guys:) Remember, you can send me questions via twitter whenever you want. The more questions, the better!

Here is the goal of today’s tutorial.

We are going to be working on a Burberry theamed type. First you’ll need to create the pattern. You could do a quick google image search and find the pattern. Here is a link to the file I created based on those images. Its daunting at first glance, but once you get your head wrapped around it, you can do some amazing stuff (examples are at the end of the tutorial). Ok lets get started.

Step 01

Open the .AI file in our trusty Illustrator and open up the swatches pallet. Here you’ll just drag and drop the vector pattern to create a patterned swatch.

Step 02

Type out some text. Here i’m using the font Arno Pro with the Caption style set at 215.7 points.

Next open up your Appearance Pallet, this is where the magic happens.

Step 03

Add a new fill and add the Burberry swatch to it.

Next make sure your transform is set to Pattern Only.

Click in the Width dialog box then using your arrow key, press down till the pattern is scaled right with in the text.

Step 04

Add another fill, and fill it with the Cream/Off White swatch from the pallet.

Then move it below the patterned fill, by dragging it downward like you would a layer in photoshop.

Select the that fill and add an Offset Path from the Effect menu.

Set your Off Set to 2 px.

This makes this fill 2 pixels wider than the patterned fill. Its hard to see because the color is light.

Step 05

Now select Transform, again from the Effects menu

Then set the Vertical Move to -0.5 px.

This bumps that fill down a tad.

Step 06

Now grab that fill in your Appearance Pallet and duplicate it by dragging it down to the New icon.

Make a new swatch and use the colors: C=39 M=77 Y=44 K=70. Now apply it to the new fill.

Again go to Effect -> Path -> Offset Path, and set it to 4 px.

Next transform that fill with the Effect -> Distort & Transform -> Transform. Give it a -3.0 in the Vertical Move field.

This is where you should be at:

Step 07

Now were going to give a little more depth showing some lighting effects.

Create a new fill and fill it with white, move it below the stroke.

Open your Transparency Pallet and set the fill to Multiply.

Now apply a gradient to it.

Due to the lengthy tail in the lowercase "y" we are going to make this all caps. In your Character Pallet click the fly out in the top right and select "All Caps".

Grab the dark red swatch we created last and drop it on the right end of the gradient.

Set the gradient Mid Point Slider to 87%,

and the White slider around 69%.

Go to your Offset Path in the Effects menu again and set this gradient fill to 4 px.

Here is what your appearance pallet should look like:

Step 08

Lets add a highlight now. Add yet another fill.

Apply the a gradient to it.

Set the first Slider to White at 6%,

the Mid Point Slider to 64%

and the last slide at 30% with a black fill.

Next open your transparency pallet and set the Layer Mode to Soft Light.

And there you have it a nice Burberry text that also has a sense of depth. Tweak each fill till you like it, then save the graphic style so you can use it later on other text.

Now take your text tool and click on the text and just start typing.

Imagine getting a post card in the mail with your first and last name printed like this! Pretty impressive. Oh and here are some examples of Dynamic editable type.

(Last tip: To save your style for later use, or to apply to other text, by opening your Graphic Styles pallet and and click on New Graphic Style.)

About the Author:

Hello, my name is Gautch (Josh). I’ve been working in Illustrator since version 7 (pre-bounding box, and floating pallets) and in Photoshop since version 3, when we got layers and tabbed palettes. I’m a successful designer (for print, motion, and web) working out of Southern Oregon for an in house design department that does 75 to 115 ads a week. Yes you read that right, 115 per week.