School Year 2023-2024

Specialization Module in Visual Graphics Design – Adobe Illustrator

Copyright © 2018
2023 Edition

All rights reserved.

No part of this module may be reproduced of transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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 VISUAL GRAPHICS DESIGN 2 STUDY NOTES

Lesson 5 – Adobe Illustrator Tools

Source: CAL STATE

Tools Panel

The Tools panel is located on the left side of the

program window. It contains selection tools, drawing and
painting tools, editing tools, viewing tools, type tools, the Fill
and Stroke boxes, and screen mode options. You can
display the tools in the Tools panel in one column or two
columns by clicking the double arrow at the top of the
panel. Positioning the mouse pointer over a tool
displays the tool’s name and keyboard shortcut.

Hidden Tools
The Tools panel groups similar tools together,
displaying only one tool from a group at a time while
hiding the rest. A small black triangle at the lower- right
corner of a tool icon indicates the presence of hidden
tools.

Control Panel

By default, the Control panel appears below the Menu bar. It provides quick access to options related to the selected
object or tool. The options displayed in the Control panel vary depending on the type of object or tool that is selected.
When text in the Control panel is blue and underlined, clicking the text displays a related panel or dialog box.

San Pedro College Basic Education Department – Technology and Livelihood Education 2023 Edition
 VISUAL GRAPHICS DESIGN 2 STUDY NOTES

Lesson 6 – Vector Graphics

Source: CAL STATE

Vectors Graphics

Adobe Illustrator is an ideal program to create vector graphics because it includes tools and features designed for vector
use.

Vector graphics are made up of points, lines, and curves defined by mathematical equations. Since vector graphics are
resolution independent, you can freely modify them without losing detail or clarity.

Raster images, on the other hand, use a rectangular grid of picture elements (pixels) to represent images. Raster images
are resolution dependent. As a result, they can lose detail and appear jagged if they are scaled to high magnifications. In
general, use Illustrator if you need to create art or type with clean lines that look good at any magnification; use
Photoshop for images that need pixel editing, color correcting, painting, and other special effects. When magnified, the
vector graphic maintains its quality, but the raster image looks pixelated.

File Formats
Users can save their image files in different file formats. It is vital to save image files progressively along the way to minimize
potential work loss due to technical difficulties or other unexpected events. Compressed images degrade when repeatedly
saved; however, uncompressed images, while larger in file size, do not.

Extension Format Description

JPEG or JPG Joint Photographic Preserves color fidelity of photographic images that
Experts Group contain gradations of color (i.e., continuous tone).
Displays millions of colors.
PNG Portable Network Can save partially transparent pixels using alpha
Graphics transparency (i.e., any one of 256 levels of opacity).
Limited to 256 colors.
GIF Graphics 8-bit file format which can save up to 256 colors. Good
Interchange Format for images containing flat-color areas, shapes, and type.
BMP Bitmap Standard bit-mapped graphics format used in Windows.
Used for graphic files.
Format Description
Extension
TIFF or TIF Tagged Image File Photographic file standard. Saves layers, layer
Format transparency, adjustment layers, editable type layers, layer
effects, grids, and guides.
PSD Photoshop Photoshop’s native file format.
Document
RAW Digital Negative Digital negative file format.

Resolution (ppi = pixels per inch or dpi = dots per inch) refers to the quality of an image. The higher the resolution, the higher the number of pixels along
the width and height of an image (hence, higher image quality). However, the file size of an image also increases with increased resolution, making it more
laborious to process or download. Depending on the situation, users can resize an image to fit their specific needs. For photo quality printing, the image
file should be set at a higher resolution (i.e., 300 dpi). For online viewing, the image file can be set at a lower resolution (i.e., 72 dpi).

San Pedro College Basic Education Department – Technology and Livelihood Education 2023 Edition