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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!

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

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

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

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:

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

Rounded Rectangle tool:

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

Elipse tool:

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

Line tool:

Illustrator: The Tilde Trick

Please read our Terms of Use before downloading or using our files. All textures or downloadable files on Bittbox.com are free for personal use. For commercial use we require a unrestricted usage fee of $9.99 per file. If there are multiple files please update the quantity to the number you wish to use. Payment can be submitted via paypal below.
Jay Hilgert
Formally trained at Oklahoma State, Jay Hilgert is a graphic and web designer, font designer (Link), software developer (Brush Pilot™), and the founder of BittBox.