Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction To Illustrator
Introduction To Illustrator
Illustrator
We will learn about:
Raster and vector images
Illustrator's environment
Illustrator's tools and palettes
Views in Illustrator
Raster vs Vector
In the world of computer graphics, there
are two types of images - raster and
vector. Some programs that create raster
images (also known as pixel or paint
images) are Photoshop or Paintbrush.
Some programs that create vector art
(also known as object-oriented art) are
Illustrator and FreeHand.
Other programs, such as CorelDRAW,
have tools to create both raster and
vector images.
Raster Images
Raster images are made up of a whole
lot of tiny dots, called pixels. To
illustrate this concept, we will use a
sheet of graph paper. Each square on
the sheet represents one pixel. Let's
start simple and create a black and
white circle that is 20 pixels in diameter.
The number of pixels determines the
resolution of your file. The computer
stores this file by recording the exact
placement and colour of each pixel. The
computer has no idea that it is a circle,
only that it is a collection of little dots.
Vector Images
Vector art is different in that instead
of creating individual pixels, you
create objects, such as rectangles
and circles. By noting the
mathematical coordinates of these
shapes, a vector program can store
files in a fraction of the space as
raster images, and more importantly,
be able to scale images to virtually
any size without any loss in detail.
Drawing Controls
Illustrator drawing tools have long been
the industry standard for power and
versatility, but theyve also always been a
little unnatural and tedious to those who
are new to using vector drawing tools.
The drawing tools have been improved to
allow you to work faster and get better
results, starting with Point selection:
Simply move your cursor over an anchor
point (with the direct selection tool), and
its enlarged to help you see it better.
Erase It Away
The Eraser tool lets you erase as easily
as you create, even reconnecting
paths as you erase over shapes and
paths. You can make the eraser larger
or smaller by double-clicking the
Eraser tool and changing the options
in the Eraser Tool Options window.
The Eraser tool
makes it easy to
take away
shapes and
paths, just where
you want.
Isolation Mode
This allows you to take selected objects
into a mode that protects other artwork.
Isolation mode is truly essential if you
work on complex artwork and spend a lot
of time grouping, hiding, locking, and
restacking layers to access objects for
editing.
To use this new mode, just use the
Selection tool to double-click any
grouped set of objects. The rest of your
artwork becomes inaccessible. This
feature is truly a timesaver!
Cropping Tool
When the new Crop Area tool is
selected, options appear in the
Control panel for measure as well
as Presets that you can choose
from. Want even more control?
Double-click the
Crop Area tool
for additional options.