Illustrator 101: Escape Text Boxes without the Mouse

June 2, 2008 | Posted in Illustrator | 78 Comments »

This is a quick Illustrator tip, but in my opinion, a priceless one if its new to you. Have you ever been typing in Illustrator and hit the “V” key to select the move tool (or any other tool shortcut for that matter), but instead, Illustrator just types a v? Yeah, it happened to me all the time, until I figured this out. Are you tired of having to click on the move tool, then click on the artboard, then click the text tool, and then click again, just to start another empty text box? It’s truly annoying to be stripped of your tool shortcuts while you’re editing an active text box, but help is only one keystroke away.

Illustrator 101: Escape Text Boxes without the Mouse
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Illustrator: Load Brush Libraries Faster [CS3]

May 12, 2008 | Posted in Illustrator | 8 Comments »

This is a very quick Illustrator CS3 tip that will hopefully save you some time in the long run. I’m sure a lot of you, if not all of you, know how to load a Brush Library. There are 3 ways, actually, but my favorite, and quickest way is the Brush Library icon.

Illustrator: Load Brush Libraries Faster [CS3]
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Workflow: Preview EPS Files in Finder and QuickLook

May 7, 2008 | Posted in Software | 23 Comments »

Some of you may have noticed that Leopard’s finder doesn’t really like EPS files. Its a huge inconvenience to have to open a file just to see what’s in it, and if you’re at all like me, you have a hard drive full of downloads that need to be browsed once in a while. Never fear, EPSQuickLookPlugin is here to help. It’s a (freeware) plugin for QuickLook, that allows you to view the contents of an EPS file (in Finder and QuickLook) without opening an application. Now that’s gonna save me about 500 hours per year, I’d guestimate.

Workflow: Preview EPS Files in Finder and QuickLook
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OS X Workflow: Save a Click When Using Stacks

May 1, 2008 | Posted in OS X | 9 Comments »

We all love those little tips that save us a click or two, and I’ve got another one for you. For those of you on a Mac, you might remember how I showed you a faster way to install Photoshop brushes. This little click saver is pretty much the same thing. Details after the jump.

OS X Workflow: Save a Click When Using Stacks
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Illustrator: Rid Yourself of Pesky “Expand Appearance” Woes

April 1, 2008 | Posted in Illustrator | 25 Comments »

In the spirit of April Fools day, I wrote a tutorial on something I once considered “tricky.” If you’ve ever run into problems while trying to “Expand Appearance” on your brushes in Illustrator, you’re not alone. Expanding the appearance of your brush work has many helpful uses because you can get paths that outline your shapes, instead of just the brush stroke itself. This helps preserve the shape of your brush work when scaling and allows you to send files to print with outlined paths that prevents problems when the printers open your files, among other things. Let’s get started.

Illustrator: Rid Yourself of Pesky
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