Even though Illustrator CS3 has only been out a short time, I already got my first call with a question from a former student. He said, “I’m having a problem with CS3. As I move my Direct Selection tool (A) over unselected objects in my design, these little squares keep popping up. What are they about? I thought it might have something to do with Smart Guides, but turning them off (View > Smart Guides) did nothing to stop these pop-up squares.”
I answered, “This is not a problem at all. It’s a new Direct Selection tool feature in Illustrator CS3. As you roll over an anchor point in an unselected path, a little square pops up to let you know your mouse is over an anchor point. This makes it a lot easier to select an individual point in an unselected path. If you’d like to turn this feature off (and I’m not sure why anyone would), go to your Application menu (Edit on PC) > Preferences > ‘Selection and Anchor display’ and uncheck ‘Highlight anchors on mouse over’.”
Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe® Training Provider.
Author: jeff witchel
Jeff Witchel graduated from Pratt Institute in 1973 with a B.F.A. (Cum Laude) in Advertising Design and Visual Communications. He has been an award-winning advertising art director, writer, designer, illustrator, and TV producer ever since.
Before starting his own advertising agency in New Jersey, Jeff built his career at top New York ad agencies such as Young & Rubicam, Grey Advertising, and Wells, Rich, Greene. Over the years, he has created award-winning work for many clients including AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Jell-O Pudding, The Plaza Hotel, and Pfizer. His many prestigious awards include N.Y. Art Directors Club Gold Award, One Show Gold Award, N.J. Art Directors Club Award, multiple Andy Awards, Graphis Annual, numerous readership awards, plus an Emmy Award nomination.
Jeff is a self-taught computer artist with over 19 years of experience. His initial introduction to the computer was with PageMaker, but he switched to Quark 1.0 when it was first introduced in 1987. Having arrived on the desktop publishing scene so early, Jeff became the “go to” guy for answers when others started getting into computer graphics.
As an Adobe Certified Expert, he’s provided online support for Adobe and is now an Adobe Certified Training Provider for both Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Adobe InDesign CS2. Jeff is one of just a handful of Adobe Certified Instructors in the New York metropolitan area. He also is a Quark Certified Expert in QuarkXPress 6 as well as a master of Adobe Photoshop and related applications. He counts among his training clients ad agencies, design studios, magazines, illustrators, and photographers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
