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Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

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BittBox Reader Jeff F tipped me off about this neat little Illy trick. It just so happens that if you hold down the “tilde” key on your keyboard, you can get a neat effect using any of Illustrator’s drawing tools. Holding down the tilde key, (the little squiggly line above the tab key, left of the number 1 on your keyboard.) while using a drawing tool will cause Illustrator to repeat the shape rapidly as you move your mouse. Examples after the jump. Thanks Jeff!

For starters, here is a pic of the tilde key:

Here are some quick examples with some different drawing tools:

Also, remember that you can hold shift and/or option/alt at the same time you’re holding the tilde key to constrain your shapes if you like.

Star tool:

Rounded Rectangle tool:

Elipse tool:

Line tool: