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Archive for the 'Illustrator' Category

Illustrator 101: To Scale or Not to Scale? Strokes, That Is.

September 27, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 38 Comments »

As you might be able to tell by the title, this isn’t an advanced feature, but because of the wildly popular “Illustrator Quick Tips” I’ve been publishing, I’m starting a new series of simple, yet very useful tips aptly named “Illustrator 101.” (I will also be doing this for Photoshop, so keep an eye out for “Photoshop 101″ tips coming soon as well) Sometimes the simplest things can be the most helpful, so to kick of the Illustrator 101 series, we’re going to save ourselves some transforming headaches, and harness a simple scaling option in the Transform palette.

Illustrator 101: Scaling Stokes and Effects Option
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Illustrator Quick Tip: Faster Gradient-Color Adjustments

September 20, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 73 Comments »

A reader recently asked me about using the eyedropper tool to adjust the (one of 2+) colors in an Illustrator gradient. If you’ve never witnessed this frustration, it is quite annoying. In Illustrator, when using the gradient palette, (Adobe should have figured this out by now) you can’t double-click on one of the gradient color sliders to bring up the color picker? Furthermore, if you click on one of the color sliders of your gradient, and then use the Eyedropper Tool to change that color, Illustrator replaces your gradient fill with a solid color. Every. Time. Although I don’t have a 100% fix for this, I do have a keyboard shortcut to ease your pain…

Illustrator Quick Tip: Faster Gradient-Color Adjustments
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Illustrator CS3: Extract Swatches from Selected Artwork

September 18, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator, OS X | 29 Comments »

I don’t know if this would be as useful to you as it is for me, but I leaped for joy when I discovered this little Illy CS3 feature. If you deal with client-delivered vector artwork, this could make your life a ton easier. By selecting any or all of the artwork and then clicking “New Color Group” from the Swatches Palette Options, Illustrator will extract all of the colors in your selection, and add them to your swatches in a nice, neat little group! Detailed instructions below.

Illustrator CS3: Extract Swatches from Selected Artwork
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Illustrator Tutorial: How To Make 3D Vector Vintage Stars

September 15, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 75 Comments »

I’m going to walk you through a technique to create vintage looking 3d stars in Illustrator. You guessed it, 100% vector. By the time we’re done, there will be 0 (zero) effects, or filters. You will have a very useful vintage star vector on your artboard, and a new skill to go with it. With vector art gaining ground every day because of its long-term value and versatility, new vector art styles are constantly emerging. I’ve seen quite a few of these 3D style shapes that seem to ‘pop’ out at you being used in many different applications. As always, it’s not quite as hard as you would think. You might just need a little shove in the right direction. Ok, lets make one ourselves!

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Make A 3D Vector Vintage Star
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Quick Tip: Beveled Text without Filters or Effects

August 20, 2007 | Posted in Illustrator | 28 Comments »

Every once in a while we might find ourselves needing to get that “inset” or “beveled” look for text, probably more often for buttons and web design, than anything else. But whatever reason you might need or want inset text, here’s a quick tip to get that effect without using a filter, effect, layer style or appearance. Why? By not using filters, your file is more solid and reliable, you can open it in previous versions of the same software with less headache, and if you send vector files to print it will give you less errors by only using paths instead of filters/effects. I will be using Illustrator in the example, but this technique can be applied to just about any software you use to set your typography.

Quick Tip: Beveled Text without Filters or Effects
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