Comments on: 17 Tips that will save you time in Illustrator

By: jenny

jenny — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:49:13 +0000

referring to “AND you don’t have to look for it like when you paste a copy and it shows up in a random location. ” in tip 15, actually, if you just hit command+f (mac) then it will paste to the exact position that you copied.
p.s. i thought the swatch library tip was really helpful!
(doing couple of gradient mesh objects with pantone)

By: X3

X3 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:39:20 +0000

Very helpfull for me! Good Job!

By: Harold Pace

Harold Pace — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:58:26 +0000

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By: alwin

alwin — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:39:03 +0000

Cal, as illustrator is a vector drawing program, jpg (any bitmap) doesn’t work like in photoshop. You have to ‘Trace’ it to vectors first (toolbar in the top). Then you have to do ‘Release Group’ or something (right mouse on the traced image) until you can select only the background. You can also use the white arrow instead of the black one (i think) to directly select something in the traced group.

By: Cal Smith

Cal Smith — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:39:10 +0000

I am new to illustrator and can’t figure out how to make a selection in an object I place on the workspace. With photoshop, the magic wand outlines the selected color with a dotted outline.
But neither the lasso or the magic wand in illustrator appear to work for me.

I am trying to delete the white background of a jpg object that I placed onto the workspace.

Can you help me?

Thank you in advance.

By: Kynbot

Kynbot — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:55:54 +0000

Not sure if anyone posted this one already, but I find the “Ctrl + Y ” keyboard short-cut to be extra effective - it shows you an outline view of your layout - making it easier to find paths and click directly on the edges to select them. It also helps you catch type and other vector thing-a-ma-dings that get left behind on your layout, that are painted in white (therefore being hidden) so that you can easily delete them and prevent all kinds of mishaps from occurring in the printing stages….
So many times I have seen replicas of text or vector symbols sitting in my layout or just off to the side that don’t need to be there….

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B L O G » Illustrator sta diventando mio amico — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:10:39 +0000

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By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:00:03 +0000

Hi, i’ve translated two of your tips in my blog.. obviously redirecting to the source (here!)
Anyway if you have problems with it just let me know (commenting on my blog, as comments are screened until i moderate them), and i’ll remove it.

Keep on the good work,
Teresa

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:22:02 +0000

TIP 18!!!!

The tip I would suggest everyone do is increase the tolerance of point selection in Illustrator. Simply go into Preferences (under Edit Menu on PC, and under Illustrator Menu on MAC).

Edit: Preferences: Selection & Anchor Display

Then I’d suggest changing the tolerance selection to 5px and I put Snap to Point at 5px as well.

This will make your life a lot easier. You can always zoom in closer if you need the precision where theres a lot of points.

By: Illustrator tips « Mindtracks

Illustrator tips « Mindtracks — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:54:48 +0000

[...] Illustrator tips Posted by sharonb under Illustrator Bittbox has put together a list of 17 Tips that will save you time in Illustrator [...]

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Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:29:12 +0000

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By: Ravijot Singh

Ravijot Singh — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:48:02 +0000

Thanks buddy for sharing all these. GREAT !

Of all above I’m already using 14 while working in Illy,
but anyways thanks for rest 3 and also letting me know
that I’m working ina good way.

Take Care

By: livingroom furniture

livingroom furniture — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:09:57 +0000

ome users are finding that if in Illustrator CS2 if you open a CMYK file with a unit of measure other than points, and then you open a new document with dimensions set in anything other than points and then select an RGB color, the application quits. If this happens, quit the application and dispose of the Preferences file. In Windows, this file, AIPrefs, is located in Documents and Settings/ [user profile] /Application Data/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS2 Settings. On the Mac, delete the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file located in Users/ [User] /local/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator CS2 Settings.

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:01:52 +0000

Good work! Thanks for this information!

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:00:18 +0000

Good work! Thanks for this information!

By: retroluxe

retroluxe — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:44:19 +0000

Great list and I agree with all of these; many are ones I use as well. I thought I’d add an extra comment to tips 12 & 15.

Tip #12: In addition to using the “join” command to join 2 endpoints, use of that in conjunction with the “average” command is useful as well. The “join” command alone inserts a connection path between the 2 points. However, if you want to join those 2 endpoints and combine them into one anchor point along a smooth path, the “average” command splits the difference of the space between the 2 points and puts them right on top of each other. Then when you select “join”, a dialog box will ask you if you want it to be a smooth join or a corner join. If you select “curved” the 2 points will join into one point and you’ll now have singular control of the curve using the handles.

Tip 15: Although the Option-drag is a great way to duplicate a shape, use of the “copy” and “paste in front” command is useful, too. Selecting “paste in front” puts the copy directly on top of the copied object, eliminating the need to search the drawing area for the newly pasted object.

By: Kris Sheppard

Kris Sheppard — Tue, 08 May 2007 06:08:51 +0000

Pagalina, you wrote about how useful the expand feature is used in conjunction with the pathfinder tools. Another cool feature about the pathfinder tools are that after you select the objects you want to apply a pathfinder to, hold the option key (alt on PC) and click on the pathfinder tool. You’ll find that it performs the pathfinder function as well as expanding the object all in one step. This is bound to save you time!

By: YILMAZ

YILMAZ — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:32:13 +0000

Hi, bittbox reader,
I am working regarding automotive documantation, that is why i am fruequently drawing dashboards and complex mechanical parts. In this case, selection becomes very crucial for me. Here are my methods except above;

1- Utilize the power of Lasso (Short cut key L)tool(Lasso tool using in IIIustrator like in photoshop)
just sweep Lasso tool where you want to select-Lasso tool will select anchor points. whetere you can delete selected anchor points or Click(Selection tool -V-) after Lasso tool in order to select all curves which are connected.
Like photoshop Shift tool whilist Lasso tool is active behave (adding to selection)
Like photoshop Alt tool whilist Lasso tool is active behave (Subract from selection)

2- Another gem is using Shift tool. Select arbitrary with Direct Selection tool (A) after selection just select again with SHIFT curves which you dont want to select. Rest of curves yours.

3- Especially, illustrator user who have experience about engineering drawing programs like Autocad, CATIA, Inventor, looking for TRIM tool behavior, indeed There is no TRIM tool. But there are more easier techniques instead.
3-a, Using Erase Tool (No Short cut key, you can assign it From (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+ K ) Erase Tool under the Pencil Tool -You can detach that part-
Erase what kind of path, curve, line you have. Happines
3-b, Of course Scissors (I dont know default short cut, i have already changed it )tool using to trim some thing

4- Of course Smart Guides, Without smart guides an illustrator operator look likes using default program of windows “Paint”. Smart guides helps us holding the prejoctor of other curves. In order to access here View> Smart Guides (Ctrl + U)
Always Make sure that your Smart Guides option is ON.

By: Jim Keplinger

Jim Keplinger — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:32:28 +0000

Nice collection. Thanks!

By: thepsychotherapist

thepsychotherapist — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:04:13 +0000

RE: daimondd…you can export your layers as individual SWF files natively in Illustrator, I’m not to sure about other file formats though.