Layers Magazine » Illustrator

Reversing Selections

jeff witchel — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:22:29 +0000

You just completed a complex design made up of hundreds of overlapping rectangles using just two color fills, red and blue. You save the design, but you would like to experiment with alternate colors. So you do a “Save As” and name your new version. You select one of the red shapes and use the Select menu to select the rest of the red shapes – Select > Same > Fill Color. You change the red fills with one click of a swatch. Now you’re ready to select the all the blue rectangles. You could first deselect all the “newly colored” rectangles and then click on a blue rectangle and use the Select menu to select all the rectangles with the same blue fill color. Or, even better, with all the “newly colored” rectangles still selected, go to Select menu > Inverse and every object that is NOT selected (all the blue shapes) will be selected and the “newly colored” shapes get deselected. Even faster!

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Switch Selection Tools Fast

jeff witchel — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:08:31 +0000

You’re working with the Direct Selection tool to adjust the position and handles of the anchor points in a variety of flowing curvy paths that are part of a group. One path is finally just right and you need to select it and move it into position in the design and continue editing the next path. Is there a way to switch to the Group Selection tool when using the Direct Selection tool? This would be a huge time saver with the number of paths that need to be edited and moved.

When using the Direct Selection tool, hold down the Option key (Alt key on PC) to temporarily access the Group Selection tool. The reverse is true as well. If you’re using the Group Selection tool, the keyboard shortcut will temporarily activate the Direct Selection tool.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Let's Zoom In for Our Close-Up

jeff witchel — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:51:50 +0000

In ordinary layout programs, you can view your page at up to 800% of actual size. In rare instances, this is just not close enough. That’s why in InDesign you can Zoom in a lot closer – five times closer than what other page layouts consider to be close up. So if you want to check and see if that’s a sliver of white between the edge of your image and the stroke of its Frame, zoom in for an extreme close-up. At 4000%, that .25 pt. sliver will be as easy to see as an 8 point gap.

The fastest way to zoom in for the ultimate close-up is to select the object you want to view and in the View Percentage area in the lower-left corner of your document, click on the arrow and select your percentage. You’ll snap zoom to an extreme close-up with your selected object (or type selection) right in the center.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Where Are My Stroke Styles in Illustrator?

jeff witchel — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:40:55 +0000

Recently, I got the following question from an InDesign artist who was just getting into Illustrator: “In InDesign, after I apply a stroke to a path, I can choose from all types of stroke style presets right in the Stroke palette. I find nothing like that in Illustrator’s Stroke palette. Am I missing something?”

Nope! It’s not included in Illustrator’s Strokes palette. But creating your own custom strokes is easy.

A quick example:
1- Draw a path with the Line Segment tool or the Pen tool.
2- With the path selected, go to the Appearance palette, and click on the Stroke in the palette listings. Click the “New” (page) icon at the bottom of the palette to create a second stroke for this path.
3- Click on the bottom Stroke listing and make in twice as thick in the Stroke palette.
4- Click on the top Stroke listing and make it white.
5- Drag the “path” name from the top of the Appearance palette to the Graphic Styles palette. As a graphic style you can quickly apply it to any path again and again, kind of like a preset.

Another solution – Brushes! But that’s another Tip.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Find a Whole New World of Precision in Find/Change

jeff witchel — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:22:47 +0000

After six months of writing Tips of the Day for InDesign, I uncovered another feature that I can’t do without. The Find/Change feature (Edit>Find/Change), which you can find in virtually all layout and word processing applications, is taken to a new level in InDesign. Hidden under the More Options button is a whole new world of precision editing that allows you to include type formatting and Styles in your Find and Change specifications. But my favorite part is that you can perform your Find/Change editing on all open documents at one time–a great way to ensure consistency in an ad campaign or a series of brochures.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

No Matter How You Slice the Pie

jeff witchel — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:43:32 +0000

You’ve created a pie chart using the Pie Graph tool in Illustrator. With lots of beautiful alterations, your chart looks nothing like the standard Illustrator gray graph. You even pulled one of the slices out of the pie and put a drop shadow effect under it under it for added emphasis. As soon as you save the artwork, the client calls to tell you that the data has changed slightly. Is there a way to alter the graph that you just finished or do you need to start from scratch?

As long as you didn’t ungroup the graph, you can easily alter the current art. Select your pie chart with the Selection tool and go to Object > Graph > Data to change your data at anytime. Your pie chart will update beautifully. You may have to reposition the slice you pulled out of the pie and reapply a drop shadow – a piece of cake!

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Set Up Multiple-Page Layout

jeff witchel — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:53:38 +0000

One of the most overlooked settings in the New Document Setup window is “Number of Pages.” If you know that you’ll be designing a 20-page, 8½x11″, three-column newsletter with bleed, why not set up the entire document from the very beginning?

I’ve been producing a 20-page newsletter for one of my clients based on the above settings for years. I have a Preset saved with all my settings, including the 20 pages (click the Save Presets button in the New Document dialog to save your settings). Why? Because with the way most newsletters are set up, it’s inevitable that there will be two or three stories that start on page 1 and continue someplace else in the publication. At least one of these stories will continue on the back page. With all 20 pages set up from the get-go, the ends of my stories have a page ready and waiting for them.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

The Key to White Fill, Black Stroke.

jeff witchel — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:58:37 +0000

You’ve been playing around with all kinds of fills, strokes, and effects for selected objects, but now you want to get back to Default – a white fill with a 1 point black stroke. You could go to the Appearance palette and select any Effects listings and delete them, and then change the fill and stroke manually. But there has to be a faster way.

Yes there is, if you know the key. Just remember “D” for Default. Press “D” on your keyboard with any objects selected, and they will all revert to the Default white fill with a 1 point black stroke.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Clear Your Table of Extra Cells

jeff witchel — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:28:14 +0000

One of my advertising clients supplies price listings of sale items in an Excel file which I Place as a Table in my InDesign layout. It’s almost inevitable that the Table will have an extra Column or two as well as some extra Rows at the end. So before I start formatting, I make a clean sweep of the extra unneeded Cells.

With the Type tool active, move your mouse up toward the top of the first empty Cell at the top of the first empty Column until you get a heavy down arrow. Then click-and-drag to the right to select all of the empty Columns. To delete them, go to Table>Delete>Column. Next, select any extra Rows at the bottom of the Table by moving your cursor to the first empty Cell on the left of the first empty Row of the Table until you get a heavy arrow pointing into the Row. Click-and-drag down the empty Table Rows all the way to the bottom of the Table. To delete the Rows, go to Table>Delete>Row. After this quick Cell cleanup, you’re ready to format.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.

Combining Layers

jeff witchel — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:28:22 +0000

You have created a very complex illustration with a lot of objects and numerous layers. As the illustration moves along to completion, you decide to tidy up a bit. Some of the layers only have a few objects in them and really do not need to be separate layers. So you decide to combine some of these layers. Is there an easy way to do this?

Yes! In the Layers palette (Window > Layers), click on one of the layers to make it the Active Layer. Then Command-Click (Control-Click on PC) the remaining layers that you would like to combine with the first layer. Make sure to click last on your destination layer for all the objects from the layers. Go to the Options flyout menu of the Layers palette and select Merge Layers. All the objects will move to the destination layer maintaining their original stacking order.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe Training Provider.