Excerpt from Dynamic Learning - Illustrator CS3
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What you’ll learn
in this lesson:
- Working with the dynamic Control panel
- Creating & saving custom workspaces
- Finding stored colors and libraries
- Working in isolation mode
- Integrating Flash and Illustrator
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What’s New in Adobe Illustrator CS3?
Welcome to Illustrator CS3! This lesson is a preview of some of the great new features now available in Illustrator CS3. From the more prominent changes, like the new streamlined interface, to the more under-the-hood improvements, like the enhanced operating performance, Illustrator CS3 is an impressive program with much to offer to experienced and new users alike. Continue through this lesson to get your toes wet before diving in.
Starting up
Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. See “Resetting the Illustrator preferences” on page 3.
You will work with several files from the ai01lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have loaded the ailessons folder onto your hard drive from the supplied DVD. See “Loading lesson files” on page 3.
New document profiles
Save time when creating new documents by taking advantage of Illustrator CS3’s new document profiles. New document profiles save commonly used parameters such as the artboard size (size of a page), orientation (portrait or landscape), and color mode (RGB for CMYK) and provide templates that give you a consistent basis to work from.
You can choose from prebuilt presets for different kinds of projects like mobile, print, web, and video, or create and save your own custom presets.
1 Launch Adobe Illustrator CS3. If the Welcome Screen appears, press the Close Window button in the upper-right (Windows) or upper-left (Mac OS) corner of the Welcome Screen.
2 Choose File > New. The New Document dialog box appears. You don’t need to create a new document for this lesson, so for now just take a look at the options in each drop-down menu. The New Document Profile drop-down menu, for example, lets you determine the anticipated output (Print, Web, Mobile & Devices, etc.) of your Illustrator document.
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Choose from pre-built presets, or make your own. |
Notice that listed in the Size drop-down menu are prebuilt options for print sizes. You can choose from one of these prebuilt sizes or enter your own custom size in the Width and Height text fields. The Units option lets you choose from a number of different units of measurement to work in. You can set this in the New Document dialog box, or determine it after you’ve started working, directly in the document.
3 After you finish looking at the different document settings, press Cancel. Find out more about presets in Lesson 2, “Adobe Illustrator CS3 Jumpstart.”
Easy-to-manage workspace
The interface of all the Creative Suite applications has been standardized with this version of the Adobe Creative Suite, making it easier to locate and use the tools, and taking up less of your screen real estate. In this exercise, you’ll take a look at some of the benefits of the new Illustrator CS3 interface. You can more fully explore the interface in Lesson 3, “Getting to Know the Workspace.”
To gain familiarity with the interface you will open an existing document using Adobe Bridge, the command center for the Adobe CS3 applications, then explore and work with the document in Illustrator.
1 Choose File > Browse. The Adobe Bridge application opens.
2 Select the Folders tab in the upper-left corner to bring forward the Folders panel, then select Desktop to reveal the contents of your desktop.
You should see the ailessons folder that you dragged onto the desktop.
3 Double-click on the ailessons folder, then on the ai01lessons folder to reveal its contents.
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Navigate to the lesson file using Adobe Bridge. |
4 Double-click on the file named ai01.ai. The artwork opens in Adobe Illustrator. If the artwork does not automatically open in Adobe Illustrator, return to Adobe Bridge and right-click (Windows) or Ctrl+click (Mac OS) on the ai01.ai file and choose Open With > Adobe Illustrator CS3. If you receive a missing profile warning message, press OK.
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The new streamlined workspace. |
5 Choose File > Save As. The Save As dialog box appears. Navigate to the ai01lessons folder and type ai01_work.ai in the Name (Windows) or Save As (Mac OS) text field. Leave the format set to Adobe Illustrator document and press Save. When the Illustrator Options dialog box appears, press OK. You will learn more about these options in Lesson 12, “Integrating Illustrator CS3 with Other Applications.”
Convenient Control panel
The Control panel has been improved to help you find and work with the tools you need more efficiently. The Control panel options that appear are relevant to what you’re working on. For instance, font information and options appear in the panel when you type, while anchor point and Bezier options appear when you use the drawing tools.
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The Control panel offers font options and settings when you start to type. |
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Path options appear in the Control panel when you’re working with the drawing tools. |
You can also take advantage of links to key panels, which are displayed right in the Control panel. You can click on the blue underlined text, or links, to display different panels. To start, click on the word Character to open the Character panel.
1 Using the Selection tool ( ), click on the musician to select it.
Note that the Control panel options now allow you to change the attributes of the image of the musician.
2 Click on the blue downward-pointing arrow to the right of the Fill color swatch in the Control panel to open the Swatches panel. Choose the color named Sunshine. The fill becomes a golden yellow. After you select the color click anywhere off the Swatches panel to close it.
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Access the Swatches panel directly from the Control panel. |
3 Click on the blue, underlined word Stroke in the Control panel. The Stroke panel appears.
4 Choose 4 pt from the Weight drop-down menu, then choose Round Cap from the Cap options buttons to the right of the Weight text field. Check the Dashed Line checkbox.
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Adjust the stroke around the selected object in the
Stroke panel, accessed through the Control panel. |
5 Click anywhere off the Stroke panel to close it. The musician now has a dotted line surrounding it.
6 Press Shift+Ctrl+A (Windows) or Shift+Command+A (Mac OS) to deselect the musician, then choose File > Save. Keep this document open.
Now you have a better idea of the Control panel’s central role in coordinating your work in Illustrator. Learn more about the Control panel in Lesson 3, “Getting to Know the Workspace.”
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