Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2: Putting a New Twist on Illustrator 9781484288283, 9781484288290, 1484288289

Table of contents :
Table of Contents
About the Author
About the Technical Reviewer
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction to Warps in Illustrator
Illustrator Warps and Distorts
Resources
System Requirements
Set Up the Workspace and Review the Main Panels and Tools
Illustrator Panels
Toolbars
Control
Color
Color Guide
Swatches
Brushes
Symbols
Stroke
Gradients
Transparency
Appearance
Graphic Styles
Layers
Asset Export
Artboards
Comments
Properties
Libraries
Adding Rulers
Menus
Saving Your File
Saving Duplicates of Your File
Color Conversion from CMYK to RGB for Consistency
New History Panel
Summary
Chapter 2: Pen and Shape Tools Review
Pen Tools and Curvature Tool
Pen Tool (P) Review
Join Points on an Open Path
Add Anchor Point Tool (+) Review
Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) Review
Anchor Point Tool (Shift +C) Review
Curvature Tool (Shift +~) Review
Swapping Fill and Stroke Colors with the Pen Tool
Selection, Direct Selection, and Group Selection Tools
Selection Tool (V)
Control Panel Options for Paths
Direct Selection Tool (A)
Control Panel Options for Anchor Points
Group Selection Tool
Adjusting Scale of Paths
Additional Properties Panel and Transform Panel Options
Shape Tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, etc.)
Rectangle Tool (M)
Control Panel Options
Rounded Rectangle Tool
Control Panel Options
Ellipse Tool (L)
Control Panel Options
Polygon Tool
Control Panel Options
Star Tool
Control Panel Options
Flare Tool
Lens Flare Properties
Line Segment Tool (\)
Control Panel Options
Arc Tool
Control Panel Options
Spiral Tool
Control Panel Options
Rectangular Grid Tool
Control Panel Options
Polar Grid Tool
Control Panel Options
Tips for Practicing with the Artboard and Layers Panel
Align Panel to Align Shapes
Use the Pathfinder to Edit Shapes
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 1
Setting the Size of the Artboard
Working with Template Layers and Locked Layers
Using the Line Segment Tool
Copying and Pasting Between Documents
Using Ellipse Tool to Create a Sun
Copying, Pasting, and Placing Grouped Paths
Add Another Line to the Field
Summary
Chapter 3: Working with Scale, Shear, Reshape, and Free Transform Tools
Move (Selection Tool)
Rotate Tool (R)
Reflect Tool (O)
Scale Tool (S)
Shear Tool
Transform Each
Reshape Tool
Free Transform Tool (E)
Constrain and Free Transform
Perspective Distort
Free Distort
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 2
Summary
Chapter 4: Working with the Puppet Warp Tool
Puppet Warp Tool
Project: Warped Mandala T-Shirt Art
Designing a Mandala
Working with the Puppet Warp Tool
Workaround with Puppet Warp and Photoshop
Summary
Chapter 5: Working with Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools
Project: Warped Mandala Design
Width Tool (Shift + W)
Additional Work with Line Segment Tool and Stroke Panel
Brushes Definition for the Current Variable-Width Profile
Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools
Warp Tool (Shift + R)
Warp Options
Twirl Tool
Twirl Options
Pucker Tool
Pucker Options
Bloat Tool
Bloat Options
Scallop Tool
Scallop Options
Crystallize Tool
Crystallize Options
Wrinkle Tool
Wrinkle Options
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 3
Summary
Chapter 6: Working with the Blend Tool
Blend Tool (W)
Blend Options and Menu
Additional Options in the Object ➤ Blend Menu
Scaling Blends
Blending Complex Group Objects
Symbols and the Blend Tool
What Is a Symbol?
Symbols Panel
Symbol Options
Symbols Control Panel
Returning to the Control Panel Options
Apply the Blending Tool to the Symbol
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 4
Adding Posts and Bushes as Symbols
Creating the Row with the Blend Tool
Adding More Blend Rows
Add Additional Bushes on Another Layer
Editing All Symbol Instances
Project: Wolf-Girl
Summary
Chapter 7: Warping Patterns
Pattern Introduction
Swatches Panel for Patterns
Pattern Editing Mode
Pattern Options Panel
Scaling Your Pattern
Transform and Scale the Pattern with the Transform Panel
Object Transform and Patterns
Repeating Patterns with the Object Menu
Radial Repeat
Grid Repeat
Mirror Repeat
Further Repeat Menu Options
Pattern Library and the Pattern Options Panel
Extracting Photoshop Patterns from the Creative Cloud Libraries Panel
Customizing a Capture Pattern and Modifying It
Altering Colors
Use Your Patterns for Some Brushes
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 5
Project: Colorizing the Circus Tent
Summary
Chapter 8: Gradients, Mesh Tool, and Transparency
Working with Gradient Panel and Gradient Tool
Linear Gradient
Linear Gradient Fill and Stroke
Gradient Tool (G)
Linear Gradient Strokes
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Adding Linear Gradients
Radial Gradient
Radial Gradient Fill
Gradient Tool (G)
Radial Gradient Stroke
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Adding a Radial Gradient
Adding the Radial Gradient to the Sun
Freeform Gradient
Freeform Gradient Example
Mesh Tool (U)
Create Gradient Mesh
How to Separate the Gradient Mesh from a Path
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Working with the Mesh Tool on Flowers
Petal 1
Petal 2
Petal 3
Petal 4
Stem
Make Poppies and Group the Poppies
Copy the Poppies
Add More Flowers and Grasses
Transparency Panel
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Examples of Working with the Transparency Panel
Gradients and Transparency in Brushes Panel
Using Tools Such as Pen Tool, Paintbrush Tool, Blob Brush Tool, and Eraser Tool
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Using the Brush Tool
Summary
Chapter 9: Creating Envelope Distorts
Envelope Distorts on Objects and Type
Envelope Options
Make with Warp
Control Panel Options
Warp Type
Make with Mesh
Control Panel Options
Warp Type
Make with Top Object
Control Panel Options
Project: Type in the Heart
Project: Circus Tent and Molded Masks
Molded Mask
Summary
Chapter 10: Working with Type Paths
Type Tool (T)
Control Panel and Properties Panel Options
Character
Variable Font
Open Type Panel
Paragraph
Area Type
Make Envelope
Align
Transform
Changing Text Color
Glyphs Panel
Resetting Character, Paragraph, and Open Type Panels
Vertical Type Tool
Area Type Tool and Vertical Area Type Tools
Area Type Options
Additional Tips for Working with the Area Type Tools
Project: Text Wrap Around a Shape with Type Area
Text Wrap Option 1
Text Wrap Option 2
Type on a Path Tool and Vertical Type on a Path Tool
Type on a Path Options
Touch Type Tool (Shift + T)
Type into Outlines
Project: The Juggling Clown Circus Tent Poster and Letters Around the Ring
Envelope Warp Type
Fixing Hollow Text Issues
Type on a Path Layer
Summary
Chapter 11: Working with Live Effect Filters
Effect Menu
Illustrator Effects
3D and Materials
Convert to Shape
Crop Marks
Distort & Transform
Free Distort
Pucker & Bloat
Roughen
Transform
Tweak
Twist
Zig Zag
Path
Pathfinder
Rasterize
Stylize
Drop Shadow
Feather
Inner Glow
Outer Glow
Photoshop Layer Styles and Illustrator Equivalents
Round Corners
Scribble
SVG Filters (Scalable Vector Graphics)
Warp
Applying Effects Again
Applying Different Multiple Effects and Editing Objects
Effect ➤ Photoshop Effects
Effect Gallery
Artistic Effects
Brush Strokes Effects
Distort Effects
Sketch Effects
Stylize Effect
Texture Effect
Choose an Effect
Use the Appearance Panel to Edit Effects
Blur, Pixelate, and Video Effects
Blur Effects
Gaussian Blur
Radial Blur
Smart Blur
Pixelate Effects
Color Halftone
Crystallize
Mezzotint
Pointillize
Graphic Styles Panel Review for Storage
Adding Graphic Styles to Type, Including Gradients
Graphic Styles and Symbols
How Can You Apply Effects to Symbols as Well?
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 7, Adding Texture with Effects
Where to Acquire Additional Effects via Creative Cloud
Summary
Chapter 12: Working with Symbol Warping Tools
Symbol Creation (Symbol Review)
Symbolism Tools
Project: Bubble Wand Example
Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift +S)
Symbol Shifter Tool
Symbol Scruncher Tool
Symbol Sizer Tool
Symbol Spinner Tool
Symbol Stainer Tool
Symbol Screener Tool
Symbol Styler Tool
Creating Graphic Styles for Symbols
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 8: Dandelion Seeds
Summary
Chapter 13: Working with 3D and Perspective
Perspective Grid & Perspective Selection Tools
Project: Skyscraper City Scene
View ➤ Perspective Grid
Making a Custom Grid
Drawing on the Perspective Grid
Additional Perspective Commands
Effect ➤ 3D and Materials (3D Classic)
Rotate (Classic)
Revolve (Classic)
Map Art
Extrude & Bevel (Classic)
Map Art
Effect ➤ 3D and Materials Panel
Project: Coffee Cup Example
Rotate
3D and Materials Object Tab
Materials Tab
Add Single and Multiple Graphics Symbols
Lighting Tab
The Render Tab
Materials
Revolve
Materials Tab
Lighting Tab
Extrude & Bevel
Materials Tab
Lighting Tab
Inflate
Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 9, Adding the House Using 3D Effects
Graph Tools and 3D Effects for Creating Beginner Infographics
Project: Coffee Production Infographic Idea
Summary
Chapter 14: Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps
Workflow of Photoshop and Illustrator Graphics to Other Adobe Applications
InDesign
Animate
Dreamweaver
Saving Exported Files or Assets from Photoshop and Illustrator
Other Adobe Applications
Summary
Index

Citation preview

Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2 Putting a New Twist on Illustrator

Jennifer Harder

Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2: Putting a New Twist on Illustrator Jennifer Harder Delta, BC, Canada ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-8828-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0

ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-8829-0

Copyright © 2022 by Jennifer Harder This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Managing Director, Apress Media LLC: Welmoed Spahr Acquisitions Editor: Spandana Chatterjee Development Editor: Spandana Chatterjee Coordinating Editor: Mark Powers Copy Editor: April Rondeau Cover designed by eStudioCalamar Cover image by Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash (www.unsplash.com) Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Apress Media, LLC, 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, email [email protected], or visit www. springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation. For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected]; for reprint, paperback, or audio rights, please e-mail [email protected]. Apress titles may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Print and eBook Bulk Sales web page at http://www.apress.com/bulk-sales. Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub (https://github.com/Apress). For more detailed information, please visit http://www. apress.com/source-code. Printed on acid-free paper

Table of Contents About the Author����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi About the Technical Reviewer������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii Acknowledgments���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv Introduction�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xvii ■Chapter ■ 1: Introduction to Warps in Illustrator����������������������������������������������������� 1 Illustrator Warps and Distorts������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Resources����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3 System Requirements���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4

Set Up the Workspace and Review the Main Panels and Tools���������������������������������������� 4 Illustrator Panels����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11 Adding Rulers��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30 Menus��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 31 Saving Your File������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 31

Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 36 ■Chapter ■ 2: Pen and Shape Tools Review�������������������������������������������������������������� 37 Pen Tools and Curvature Tool����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 38 Pen Tool (P) Review������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 38 Add Anchor Point Tool (+) Review��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 44 Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) Review������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 45 Anchor Point Tool (Shift +C) Review����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47

iii

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Curvature Tool (Shift +~) Review��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 49 Swapping Fill and Stroke Colors with the Pen Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 52

Selection, Direct Selection, and Group Selection Tools�������������������������������������������������� 54 Selection Tool (V)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 54 Direct Selection Tool (A)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 67 Group Selection Tool����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 72 Adjusting Scale of Paths����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 76

Shape Tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, etc.)��������������������������������������������� 80 Rectangle Tool (M)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 82 Rounded Rectangle Tool����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 88 Ellipse Tool (L)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 89 Polygon Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 91 Star Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 94 Flare Tool���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 98 Line Segment Tool (\)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 100 Arc Tool����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 102 Spiral Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104 Rectangular Grid Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 105 Polar Grid Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 107 Tips for Practicing with the Artboard and Layers Panel���������������������������������������������������������������������� 110

Align Panel to Align Shapes������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 111 Use the Pathfinder to Edit Shapes�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112 Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 1����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 Setting the Size of the Artboard���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 116 Working with Template Layers and Locked Layers����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 132 Using the Line Segment Tool�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 147 Copying and Pasting Between Documents����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 150 Using Ellipse Tool to Create a Sun������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 154 Copying, Pasting, and Placing Grouped Paths������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 156 Add Another Line to the Field������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 163

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 165 iv

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■Chapter ■ 3: Working with Scale, Shear, Reshape, and Free Transform Tools������ 167 Move (Selection Tool)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 168 Rotate Tool (R)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 169 Reflect Tool (O)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 171 Scale Tool (S)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 174 Shear Tool��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177 Transform Each������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 179 Reshape Tool���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 181 Free Transform Tool (E)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 183 Constrain and Free Transform������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 183 Perspective Distort����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 185 Free Distort����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 186

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 2����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 186 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 ■Chapter ■ 4: Working with the Puppet Warp Tool������������������������������������������������� 201 Puppet Warp Tool���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201 Project: Warped Mandala T-Shirt Art��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 221 ■Chapter ■ 5: Working with Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools���������������������������������������� 223 Project: Warped Mandala Design��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224 Width Tool (Shift + W)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 225 Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 243

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 3����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 286 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 291 ■Chapter ■ 6: Working with the Blend Tool������������������������������������������������������������ 293 Blend Tool (W) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 293 Blend Options and Menu�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 295 Additional Options in the Object ➤ Blend Menu�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 300 Scaling Blends������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 304 v

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Blending Complex Group Objects������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 306

Symbols and the Blend Tool����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 310 What Is a Symbol?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 311 Symbols Panel������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 312 Symbols Control Panel������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 321 Returning to the Control Panel Options���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 324 Apply the Blending Tool to the Symbol����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 327

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 4����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 331 Adding Posts and Bushes as Symbols������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 333 Creating the Row with the Blend Tool������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 341 Adding More Blend Rows������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 343 Add Additional Bushes on Another Layer�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 348 Editing All Symbol Instances�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 349

Project: Wolf-Girl���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 350 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 355 ■Chapter ■ 7: Warping Patterns����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 357 Pattern Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 357 Swatches Panel for Patterns���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 360 Pattern Editing Mode�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 365 Transform and Scale the Pattern with the Transform Panel��������������������������������������������������������������� 385

Repeating Patterns with the Object Menu�������������������������������������������������������������������� 392 Radial Repeat������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 393 Grid Repeat����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 404 Mirror Repeat�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 408 Further Repeat Menu Options������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 410

Pattern Library and the Pattern Options Panel������������������������������������������������������������� 412 Extracting Photoshop Patterns from the Creative Cloud Libraries Panel�������������������������������������������� 415 Customizing a Capture Pattern and Modifying It�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 421

Use Your Patterns for Some Brushes��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 435 Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 5����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 446 vi

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Project: Colorizing the Circus Tent�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 452 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 456 ■Chapter ■ 8: Gradients, Mesh Tool, and Transparency������������������������������������������ 457 Working with Gradient Panel and Gradient Tool����������������������������������������������������������� 457 Linear Gradient����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 463 Radial Gradient����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 493 Freeform Gradient������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 506

Mesh Tool (U)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 517 Create Gradient Mesh������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 521 How to Separate the Gradient Mesh from a Path������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 523 Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Working with the Mesh Tool on Flowers����������������������������������� 525

Transparency Panel������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 551 Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Examples of Working with the Transparency Panel������������������ 571

Gradients and Transparency in Brushes Panel������������������������������������������������������������� 575 Using Tools Such as Pen Tool, Paintbrush Tool, Blob Brush Tool, and Eraser Tool������������������������������ 580 Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Using the Brush Tool����������������������������������������������������������������� 582

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 593 ■Chapter ■ 9: Creating Envelope Distorts��������������������������������������������������������������� 595 Envelope Distorts on Objects and Type������������������������������������������������������������������������ 595 Envelope Options�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 596 Make with Warp���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 598 Make with Mesh��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 612 Make with Top Object������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 618

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 630 ■Chapter ■ 10: Working with Type Paths��������������������������������������������������������������� 631 Type Tool (T)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 632 Control Panel and Properties Panel Options��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 634

Vertical Type Tool���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 665 Area Type Tool and Vertical Area Type Tools����������������������������������������������������������������� 668 Area Type Options������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 674 vii

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Additional Tips for Working with the Area Type Tools������������������������������������������������������������������������� 681 Project: Text Wrap Around a Shape with Type Area����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 682

Type on a Path Tool and Vertical Type on a Path Tool��������������������������������������������������� 688 Type on a Path Options����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 691

Touch Type Tool (Shift + T)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 699 Type into Outlines��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 700 Project: The Juggling Clown Circus Tent Poster and Letters Around the Ring�������������� 702 Envelope Warp Type���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 704 Fixing Hollow Text Issues�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 716 Type on a Path Layer�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 723

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 731 ■Chapter ■ 11: Working with Live Effect Filters����������������������������������������������������� 733 Effect Menu������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 733 Illustrator Effects���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 737 3D and Materials�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 738 Convert to Shape�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 738 Crop Marks����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 740 Distort & Transform����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 741 Path���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 757 Pathfinder������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 759 Rasterize��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 765 Stylize������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 767 SVG Filters (Scalable Vector Graphics)����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 778 Warp��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 781 Applying Effects Again������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 783 Applying Different Multiple Effects and Editing Objects��������������������������������������������������������������������� 784

Effect ➤ Photoshop Effects������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 785 Effect Gallery�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 788 Use the Appearance Panel to Edit Effects������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 818 Blur, Pixelate, and Video Effects���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 825

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Graphic Styles Panel Review for Storage��������������������������������������������������������������������� 839 Adding Graphic Styles to Type, Including Gradients���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 850 Graphic Styles and Symbols��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 851

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 7, Adding Texture with Effects�������������������������������� 853 Where to Acquire Additional Effects via Creative Cloud����������������������������������������������� 881 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 882 ■Chapter ■ 12: Working with Symbol Warping Tools��������������������������������������������� 883 Symbol Creation (Symbol Review)������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 883 Symbolism Tools����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 888 Project: Bubble Wand Example����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 888

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 8: Dandelion Seeds������������������������������������������������ 918 Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 921 ■Chapter ■ 13: Working with 3D and Perspective�������������������������������������������������� 923 Perspective Grid & Perspective Selection Tools����������������������������������������������������������� 923 Project: Skyscraper City Scene����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 924 Drawing on the Perspective Grid�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 941 Additional Perspective Commands����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 957

Effect ➤ 3D and Materials (3D Classic)������������������������������������������������������������������������ 961 Rotate (Classic)����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 962 Revolve (Classic)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 971 Extrude & Bevel (Classic)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 993

Effect ➤ 3D and Materials Panel�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1002 Project: Coffee Cup Example������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 1005 Rotate����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1005 Materials������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1026 Revolve��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1027 Extrude & Bevel�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1036 Inflate����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1048

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 9, Adding the House Using 3D Effects������������������ 1057

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Graph Tools and 3D Effects for Creating Beginner Infographics�������������������������������� 1070 Project: Coffee Production Infographic Idea��������������������������������������������������������������� 1071 Summary�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1074 ■Chapter ■ 14: Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps������������� 1075 Workflow of Photoshop and Illustrator Graphics to Other Adobe Applications����������� 1076 InDesign�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1077 Animate�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1083 Dreamweaver����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1088 Other Adobe Applications����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1091

Summary�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1093 Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1095

x

About the Author Jennifer Harder has worked in the graphic design industry for more than fifteen years. She has a degree in graphic communications and is currently teaching Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Creative Cloud courses at Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia. As a freelancer, Jennifer frequently works with Adobe PDFs to help enhance websites and other instructional documents. She enjoys talking about Adobe software, and her interests include writing, illustration, and working on her websites.

xi

About the Technical Reviewer PK Kaushal is a visual artist, graphic designer, and photographer and has worked at an ad agency, print media house, and educational institute for about nine years. He has a post-graduate degree in applied arts from Kurukshetra University in Haryana, India. He currently runs a photo/video production company.

xiii

Acknowledgments For their assistance with writing this book, I’d like to thank several people. This includes my parents, from whom I inherited my drawing skills, for encouraging me to continue to find new ways to look at using Adobe applications. I am grateful for their assistance over the years in selecting the final artwork for this book and doing some of the proofreading of my notes before I sent them to my editors. I also want to thank my program coordinator at Langara College, Raymond Chow, for his suggestions and advice on what art and drawing in Photoshop and Illustrator should be about for students. I must also thank my editors and technical reviewers at Apress, and a special thank-you goes to Spandana Chatterjee and Mark Powers for giving me the opportunity to continue my writing on topics that I enjoy. I hope you, the reader, will enjoy them too.

xv

Introduction Welcome to my book, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2. In this book we will be exploring how to work with various warping tools and effect filters in Adobe Illustrator, though at points throughout the book we will also be using and looking at graphics acquired from Adobe Photoshop. Knowing how to work between these two applications is a crucial part of understanding how to successfully manipulate your designs. In Illustrator, we will alter vector graphics and learn how to do so with the Layers panel in various non-destructive ways. The various chapters will deal with the following: 1. Introducing what warps and distorts in Illustrator are and the types of graphics files you can work with, as well as an overview of those Illustrator workspace tools and panels that we will be using throughout the book 2. Working with the Pen, Selection, and Shapes tools, along with various panels 3. Working with various Transform tools and dialog boxes, including Rotate, Reflect, Scale, Shear, Reshape, and Free Transform 4. Working with the Puppet Warp tool and comparing its settings to the ones found in Photoshop 5. Working with the Shape Warp (Liquify) tools 6. Working with the Blend tool and symbols 7. Warping patterns, using repeat commands, using Capture patterns from Photoshop, and creating brushes 8. Working with Gradients, the Mesh tool, and the Transparency panel 9. Creating Envelope distorts to warp shapes and text 10. Working with Type tools and text paths to warp text 11. Working with Effect filters to create live effects and create graphic styles 12. Working with symbol-warping tools 13. Working with the 3D and Materials effects and Perspective tools 14. Discovering how you can use your warp designs with other Adobe apps besides Photoshop and Illustrator

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■ Introduction

Additional supplemental books that I have written that can assist you in the book include the following: •

Graphics and Multimedia for the Web with Adobe Creative Cloud

•

Accurate Layer Selections Using Photoshop’s Selection Tools

•

Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1

Source code or other supplementary material can be found at: github.com/apress/puppet-warpsdistorts-vol2. Additional resources and information regarding Illustrator will be found in Chapter 1.

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Warps in Illustrator Chapter Goal: Set up your workspace. Begin the process of discovering what a true warp and a distort are when working in Illustrator, with its many panels and menus. With Illustrator vector shapes, the concept of a distort is more wide-ranging.

Illustrator Warps and Distorts In this book, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, we will focus on the application Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator has tools similar to those in Photoshop, such as the Pen, Path Selection, and Direct Selection tools, which we will review in Chapter 2 and look at how they can work to distort various vector shapes. Distortion in some ways is easier to control in Illustrator than in Photoshop, as you are dealing with points and paths only. Pixilated or raster images like (.psd), (.jpeg), and (.tiff ) files can be added to Illustrator from Photoshop; however, I would not recommend doing any major warping or distorting of photos in this application. It’s better to create those distorts in Photoshop first and save the file. Then, go to File ➤ Place and locate the file. Upon clicking on the Illustrator artboard, this linked or embedded image will become a kind of background image on a separate layer below the other Illustrator artwork. Refer to Figure 1-1.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_1

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-1.  The Layers panel thumbnail in Illustrator with a linked photo placed on a separate locked layer. One can tell the photo is linked or embedded because it appears in the Links panel You can find which images are linked or embedded via Window ➤ Links panel. In this book we will not be looking in any detail at linked or embedded images; however, if you would like more detail on this topic, you can look at the Photoshop Selections book mentioned in the Resources section of this chapter. It is not required to complete these projects. Figure 1-2 gives a brief review of some of the steps to bring your Illustrator graphics into Photoshop as Illustrator Smart Objects. You can then complete your final distortion in Photoshop. In the next section we will look at resources available.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-2.  Illustrator shapes and paths can be pasted as Vector Smart Object layers into Photoshop In this book, however, we will focus mostly on Illustrator. In Chapters 4 and 6–11 we will be either briefly returning to Photoshop or discussing tools or effects that are similar to ones in Photoshop for comparison. Nevertheless, Illustrator is ideal for warping not just vector shapes and type, as will be seen in Chapters 9–10, but also basic 3D object paths, as you will see later, in Chapter 13.

Resources Before we get started, however, let’s make sure that you have your Illustrator workspace set up. We’ll just be working with Illustrator, but, as mentioned, you can copy and paste selected items over to Photoshop as Smart Objects Layers. Refer to Figure 1-2. Though Smart Objects are not required to complete the projects in this book, supplemental books that I have written can be found in the “Introduction” of this book. Some other Adobe resources I will mention throughout the book can be found in the following Adobe help link: https://helpx.adobe.com

■■Note This chapter does not contain any project files.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

System Requirements Make sure when working in Photoshop that you have the most up-to-date version of your Creative Cloud desktop and that the latest version of the application meets your system’s requirements. Currently I am using Illustrator CC 2023 Version 27.1 on my Windows 10 computer. However, you may be using a newer version of Windows or MacOS, so review your system requirements here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements.html

■■Note Some features for Windows 11 computers may not be supported at the time of this writing. With your Creative Cloud desktop application Apps tab and subscription active, make sure that you have downloaded Illustrator. From the panel, choose All Apps, and then to the right of the application click Open to launch it. Refer to Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3.  Use the Creative Cloud desktop All Apps tab to locate and launch the Illustrator app

 et Up the Workspace and Review the Main Panels S and Tools To set up your workspace, from the main menu choose File ➤ New. You will for now just practice. Click on the Print tab and select the Letter preset blank document. Refer to Figure 1-4.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-4.  Illustrator New Document dialog box and blank document presets You will notice on the right in the Preset Details area that the name will currently be Untitled -1. Change the increments drop-down from Points to Inches; there are other measurement options available. Refer to Figure 1-5.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-5.  New Document dialog box with various increment settings Now the width is 8.5, the height is 11, and the increment is in inches. The orientation is portrait, but it can be switched to landscape by clicking on the icon. I can add additional artboards, but I will leave that set to 1 for now. Refer to Figure 1-6.

Figure 1-6.  New Document settings for orientation and number of artboards Leave the bleed settings for top, bottom, left, and right at the default of 0 inches and with link enabled. In this case, we do not need to add any additional space around the artboard. Refer to Figure 1-7.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-7.  New Document dialog box current bleed settings At this point, click the Advanced Options arrow (➤) to open see all the options if it is collapsed, and you will have the option of changing the color mode from CMYK Color to RGB Color. I will leave it at CMYK for now for print work, but if you are planning on using the file in your RGB Photoshop file then set it to RGB Color. Likewise, you can change the color mode of a copy of your file later on if you realize that you want to use it in that color mode. This will be discussed at the end of the chapter. Refer to Figure 1-8.

Figure 1-8.  New Document dialog box, Advanced Options and Color Mode The Raster Effects drop-down is set to High (300ppi) (pixels per inch), which is a good resolution for working with graphics that will have filters or 3D effects applied to them. I prefer to keep my Illustrator files on the highest settings. Refer to Figure 1-9.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-9.  New Document dialog box, Raster Effects I’ll leave Preview Mode set to Default. Similar settings can later be accessed in Illustrator’s View menu. Refer to Figure 1-10.

Figure 1-10.  New Document dialog box, Preview Mode; also seen in the View menu

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

The More Settings button brings up the same settings but also allows you to access Templates; you can skip that button for now. Refer to Figure 1-11.

Figure 1-11.  New Document dialog box, More Settings button Click the Create button to commit the preset. Refer to Figure 1-12.

Figure 1-12.  New Document dialog box, Create and Close buttons The new blank document will open, and you will see the current Illustrator workspace. Refer to Figure 1-13.

Figure 1-13.  Adobe Illustrator app current workspace

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

You can then begin to set up your workspace, either using the main menu Window ➤ Workspace or from the Workspace button found on the far right of the main menu area. Refer to Figure 1-14.

Figure 1-14.  Set up your workspace, using one of the menus to select Essentials Classic For my work I generally like to choose Essentials Classic, as this gives me all the tools that I need in the Toolbars panel as well as other essential panels. Many of the following panels I discuss in my book Accurate Layer Selections Using Photoshop’s Selection Tools, but I will present an overview of them here. Refer to Figure 1-14.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Illustrator Panels Panels can be opened, collapsed, and undocked by dragging them around in the application so that they are closer to your artwork as you work on your project. Refer to Figure 1-15.

Figure 1-15.  Color panel collapsed and open and its menu, and then undocked from the Color Guide panel Most panels have their own menu, which gives you other options while working with the panel. You can find these panels again, as well as additional panels, in the Window drop-down menu. Refer to Figures 1-14 and 1-15. However, I will do a basic overview of the key panels that are useful in this workspace. You can reset your Essentials workspace by choosing Reset Essentials Classic from the Workspace menu. Refer to Figure 1-14.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Toolbars The Toolbars panel contains all the tools that you need to work on your Illustrator projects. As you can see in Figure 1-16, there are many.

Figure 1-16.  Toolbars panel and its many tools Some of these tools, after working in Photoshop, will already be familiar to you, and some are very unusual. However, for the moment the main tools that you need to know about in this chapter are the Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Zoom tool, and Hand tool. We will explore some of the others in later chapters in regard to warps and distorts. Selection Tool (V): The black arrow allows you to select and move objects around on layers with your mouse. Refer to Figure 1-17 for a comparison to the similar tool in Photoshop.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-17.  The Selection tool next to the Direct Selection tool in Illustrator, and Photoshop’s Move, Path Selection, and Direct Selection tools; a rectangle selected with the Selection tool in Illustrator The Selection tool is similar to the Photoshop Move tool as well as the Photoshop Path Selection tool, which is used for moving and scaling vector shape layers. Refer to Figure 1-17. Direct Selection Tool (A): The white arrow is basically identical to the Photoshop Direct Selection tool and is used to move and edit individual points on a path. Refer to Figure 1-18.

Figure 1-18.  A point on a rectangle in Illustrator has been altered with the Direct Selection tool, which is similar to Photoshop’s Direct Selection tool We’ll review these tools further in Chapter 2. However, these two tools work best with Illustrator’s Layers panel. Zoom Tool (Z): This allows you to zoom in and out of an image. To zoom in, click once with the tool; to zoom out, Alt/Option + Click with the tool, or you can use your key commands of Ctrl/CMD + +, Ctrl/CMD+ -, or Ctrl/CMD +0 to zoom in or out. Refer to Figure 1-19.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-19.  Zoom tool Hand Tool (H): This is great to use when you are zoomed in. You can drag your hand tool and navigate about the canvas without moving or disrupting the layers or points on a shape while drawing it. If you hold down the spacebar key while using the Selection tool or another tool you can access this Hand tool. Refer to Figure 1-20.

Figure 1-20.  Hand tool

■■Note  If you find that a tool is missing from the Toolbar, it might be accessed via the Edit Toolbar button in the pop-out panel. You may need to drag it back to the main Toolbars panel. In this workspace, however, all tools should be in the Toolbar. Make sure, using the Window menu, that it is set to the Toolbars setting of Advanced. Refer to Figure 1-21.

Figure 1-21.  Use the Edit Toolbar button in the Toolbars panel to locate missing tools, and use the Window menu to make sure that the Toolbars is set to Advanced

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Because we are using the Essentials Classic workspace, no tools should be missing.

■■Note Recently a Window ➤ History panel has been added to Illustrator that is very similar to the one found in Photoshop; you can learn more about it at the end of this chapter. For now, make sure to use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD + Z) if you make a mistake.

Control The Control panel does have some similarities to the Options panel in Photoshop and works with some of the tools in the Toolbars panel. However, this is usually done once the object has been selected with, for example, the Selection tool; many of its options are found in the Properties panel as well, which we will look at later. Refer to Figure 1-22.

Figure 1-22.  How the Control panel appears when a rectangle is selected with the Selection tool

Color The Color panel allows you to select colors for select paths, using its palette without having to double-click on a stroke or a fill in the color picker in the Toolbar. However, this new color is added to whichever is in front—the stroke or the fill—in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 1-23 and Figure 1-24.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-23.  Color panel collapsed and open with its menu

■■Note  If you need to reset the colors in the Toolbars panel, press the D key, which is a white fill and black stroke. To switch what is in the foreground, or the currently selected color—the fill or the stroke—press the X key on your keyboard. Shift + X will swap fill and stroke colors. Refer to Figure 1-24.

Figure 1-24.  Toolbars panel with stroke editable with color picker default color, stroke editable with color picker (X), fill and stroke swapped (Shift+ X), and the Color Picker dialog box

The Color panel menu also offers various ways to view and alter the color. For now, we’ll keep it on the CMYK setting, but select Show Options if you cannot see all the settings. Refer to Figure 1-25.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-25.  Color panel with its menu for show and hide options

Color Guide The Color Guide panel, while not a main topic of this book, is great for altering colors on selected shapes. Refer to Figure 1-26.

Figure 1-26.  Color Guide panel collapsed and open with its menu

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You can discover more information on this topic in my Accurate Layers Selections book mentioned earlier. However, I will be going over the essentials of this panel again in Chapter 7 when we recolor a custom pattern.

Swatches The Swatches panel allows you to store the color swatches, gradients, and patterns you create that are in the Toolbars panel so that you can later share them with others. Refer to Figure 1-27.

Figure 1-27.  Swatches panel collapsed and open with its menu Its menu and the icon on the lower left corner of the panel have a link to additional swatch libraries. Swatches can be accessed from the Control panel for stroke and fill of selected vector shapes and paths. Refer to Figure 1-28.

Figure 1-28.  Control panel for path with access to the fill and stroke

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

These swatches can also be added to the Libraries panel for further collaboration. We will be using the Swatches panel throughout Chapters 1–13.

Brushes The Brushes panel and its library can store a variety of unique vector brushes, which we will look at in more detail in Chapters 5, 7, and 8; they can be applied to selected strokes. Refer to Figure 1-29.

Figure 1-29.  Brushes panel collapsed and open with its menu Its menu and the icon on the bottom left corner of the panel have a link to additional brush libraries.

Symbols The Symbols panel can be used to store graphics as symbols that you can use many times in your artwork. We will be looking at how it can be used in Chapter 6 for blends, Chapter 8 to enhance illustrations, to apply effects in Chapter 11, with a collection of symbolism tools in Chapter 12, and later with perspective in Chapter 13. The menu and the lower left area of the panel also contain a link to additional symbol libraries that you can use for practice. Refer to Figure 1-30.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-30.  Symbols panel collapsed and open with its menu

Stroke The Stroke panel, as well as the Control panel and Properties panel, can be used to modify the weight of a stroke. We will be exploring more stroke options in Chapter 2, and the Width tool in Chapter 5. Refer to Figure 1-31.

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Figure 1-31.  Stroke panel collapsed and open with Show and Hide options, and the Control panel with stroke options

■■Note  If you cannot see all the stroke options, make sure to use the panel’s menu and choose Show Options. Refer to Figure 1-31.

Gradients The Gradients panel creates gradients. However, they are stored in the Swatches panel and then accessed and altered using the Gradient tool in combination with the Gradients panel. You can easily create your own gradients, which can later be applied to a fill or stroke of an object. You will see this in Chapter 8 when used with the Gradient tool. Refer to Figure 1-32.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-32.  Gradient panel collapsed and open with its Show and Hide options

■■Note  If you cannot see all of your gradient options, make sure to use the panel’s menu and choose Show Options. Refer to Figure 1-32.

Transparency The Transparency panel allows you to set the opacity and blending mode of a selected shape, as well as an opacity mask, as seen in Chapter 8. Refer to Figure 1-33.

Figure 1-33.  Transparency panel collapsed and open with its Show and Hide and other options

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

This is a bit different than working in Photoshop, where you would set the layer’s opacity by using the Layers panel. However, in Chapter 8 you will see that many of the blending modes found in Illustrator are very similar in function when applied to a shape or path rather than a layer.

Appearance The Appearance panel allows you to add multiple strokes and fills with varying opacities and effects. We will look at this more closely in Chapters 7, 8, and 10–13. Refer to Figure 1-34.

Figure 1-34.  Appearance panel collapsed and open with its menu

Graphic Styles With the Graphic Styles panel, once you have created an appearance, it can be turned into a graphic style. Graphic styles are like the layer styles in Photoshop, but they do have some slight differences in the way they are created. Refer to Figure 1-35.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-35.  Graphic Styles panel collapsed and open with its menu We will look at this panel more closely in Chapters 11–13. The menu and the lower left corner of the panel also have a link to various Graphic Style libraries that you can modify.

Layers The Layers, Toolbars, Control, and Properties panels are probably the most important panels in Illustrator. The Layers panel stores all the shapes, objects, and symbols that you can apply graphic styles or live effects to when they are stored on separate layers or sub-layers. These layers can be organized and do have some similarities to Photoshop layers, but there are differences as well. We will see how layers work in the Layers panel in Chapters 2–13. Refer to Figure 1-36.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-36.  Layers panel collapsed and open with its menu and the Layer Options dialog box

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Asset Export The Asset Export panel, while not a topic of this book, is useful for later exporting your design creations in a variety of file formats for the web. We’ll talk about those options briefly in Chapter 14. Refer to Figure 1-37.

Figure 1-37.  Asset Export panel collapsed and open with its menu

Artboards While working with your Artboard tool, you can use the Artboard panel to create and easily find other artboards on which to store your graphics. In this book, we will be using a single artboard, and using multiple artboards is not a topic of this book. Refer to Figure 1-38.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-38.  Artboard tool and Artboards panel collapsed and open with its menu Working with the Artboard tool will be shown in Chapter 2.

Comments The Comments panel, while not important to this book, may be useful if you are sharing comments with other collaborators on your current project. They can be saved as you work in the Creative Cloud for others in your group to view. In this book we are working alone, so you do not need to work with this panel in any chapter. Refer to Figure 1-39.

Figure 1-39.  Comments panel collapsed and open

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Properties The Properties panel is in some ways very similar to the Controls panel in that it can help you while you are working with a tool, as well as with transforming the scale and size of the object, shape, or path. As you will see starting in Chapter 2, the Properties panel, just like in Photoshop, can also advise you with Quick Actions rather than having to remember where in the main menu that command is located. Refer to Figure 1-40.

Figure 1-40.  Properties panel collapsed and open; it changes based on what kind of path or tool is selected

Libraries The Libraries panel in Photoshop can be used to share your colors, text, patterns, and graphics between Photoshop and Illustrator. Though it is not required for this book to build patterns in Photoshop, as you will be working with supplied patterns, use Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1 as a resource if you are interested in pattern creation using the panel. You will do this in Chapter 7; you can reuse those patterns that you or I have captured earlier in Photoshop. Refer to Figure 1-41.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-41.  Libraries panel collapsed and open with its menu; it has access to patterns created in Photoshop Other panels found in the Window menu that we will look at later include the following: •

3D and Materials (refer to Chapters 13 and 14)

•

Align (refer to Chapter 2)

•

Image Trace (refer to Chapter 7)

•

Links (refer to Chapter 11)

•

Pathfinder (refer to Chapter 2)

•

Pattern Options (refer to Chapter 7)

•

Transform (refer to Chapter 2)

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

•

Type ➤ Character (refer to Chapter 10)

•

Type ➤ Glyphs (refer to Chapter 10)

•

Type ➤ OpenType (refer to Chapter 10)

•

Type ➤ Paragraph (refer to Chapter 10)

If you like, you can open these panels as well and create your own Custom New Workspace, but for now we will keep those additional panels closed. Refer to Figure 1-42.

Figure 1-42.  Create a new workspace that is custom to the tools and panels you use

Adding Rulers After you open a file, go to View ➤ Rulers ➤ Show Rulers. You should do this if you need to drag out guides while working on the file and aligning shapes. Selected guides are colored based on current layer color. Refer to Figure 1-43.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-43.  Show your rulers so that you can use guides in Illustrator for lining up paths and objects Also make sure that your View ➤ Smart Guides are activated so as to assist in path alignment. Refer to Figure 1-44.

Figure 1-44.  Show your Smart Guides in Illustrator for lining up paths

Menus We will be looking at the Object menu and Commands in various chapters throughout the book. In Chapters 11 and 13 we will be looking in more detail at the Effect menu. Refer to Figure 1-45.

Figure 1-45.  Illustrator main menu

Saving Your File At this point, if you have added a path or object to your new file, you can File ➤ Save the document as a .ai file somewhere on your computer so that you can continue to work with the various tools in Illustrator. An Illustrator file will allow you to use and edit all the features in the Illustrator app. Refer to Figure 1-46.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-46.  Save your file in the Save As dialog box Most files in Chapters 2–13 will be in the .ai format. But for printing projects, you may be asked by clients to save the file as an .eps or .pdf. Refer to Figure 1-47.

Figure 1-47.  “Save as type” file types in the Save As dialog box For .ai files, after clicking Save make sure to click OK to the following Illustrator options. Refer to Figure 1-48.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

Figure 1-48.  Illustrator Options dialog box I make sure that the version is compatible with Illustrator 2020. If I were saving for an older computer, I would choose a lower version in the drop-down menu, but then the file would not be able to retain the latest features. For Fonts, I leave the setting for Subset fonts when percentage of characters used is less than 100%. In this case, only fonts with appropriate permission will be embedded. However, if you have the fonts on your computer or are accessing them from the Creative Cloud, this is not an issue. If it is a concern, you can turn type into outlines, as you will see in Chapter 10. Keep the options enabled for Create PDF Compatible File, Embed ICC Profiles for color, and Use Compression. In this case, we do not need to include linked files, as this would increase the file size, and we do not need to save each artboard to a separate file, because we only have one. Also, if we had more, in this case you would want to keep then together in a single document. The Transparency options are kept disabled for the following: •

Preserved paths (discard transparency)

•

Preserve appearance and overprints

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

•

Preset: [Resolution]

•

You can ignore the settings, as transparency will be maintained within the file.

Then click OK to complete saving the file as an (.ai). Refer to Figure 1-48. Other project files in some folders will be in the (.psd) format, and those you can File ➤ Open in Adobe Photoshop.

Saving Duplicates of Your File Later, if you need to make any duplicates of my open Illustrator files for practice, use File ➤ Save As. To create a copy of the file, in the Save As dialog box rename the file as required, with your initials on the end so you know which copy you are working on, and click Save and OK to the Illustrator Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 1-49.

Figure 1-49.  Save As options in Save As dialog box This will automatically close the original file and just leave your copy open.

Color Conversion from CMYK to RGB for Consistency In some cases, you may have created a file in RGB color mode that you want to convert to CMYK color mode. This is important in Photoshop (.psd) files, where you may need to convert the Illustrator file from CMYK color mode to RGB color mode to ensure that there is consistent color conversion before an illustration is pasted into a Photoshop file that is already in RGB color mode. I always recommend making a copy of your original CMYK Illustrator document using File ➤ Save As, and then on the copy of the file from the menu go to File ➤ Document Color Mode and choose RGB Color. It’s always best while in Illustrator to convert a copy to RGB Color from this menu if it is going to be used in Photoshop. Refer to Figure 1-50.

Figure 1-50.  Set the file’s Document Color Mode

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

There may be a slight color shift, but that is OK because you are working on a copy of your file. Then use File ➤ Save to commit the change. You can then select your path, shape, or object with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 1-51.

Figure 1-51.  Select a path or shape with the Selection tool Choose Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C) and then return to Photoshop and go to Edit ➤ Paste (Ctrl/CMD +V) and paste it as a Smart Object layer into your own (.psd) document that is in RGB color mode. Click OK and then make sure to click the check in the Options panel to commit and complete the paste of the Smart Object layer. Refer to Figure 1-52.

Figure 1-52.  Paste dialog box in Photoshop set to Smart Object and confirm option settings This is one way you can ensure that your Illustrator Smart Object layer will be in RGB color mode in the Photoshop document.

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Chapter 1 ■ Introduction to Warps in Illustrator

New History Panel In past versions of Illustrator, you may have noticed that, unlike Photoshop, there was not a History panel to undo, manage states, or create a new document from the current state. Starting in version 26.4, a History panel has finally been added. If you are familiar with how to use this panel when working in Photoshop, I would encourage you to use it if you need to undo a step by clicking on a previous state; however, you can, as I will mention later, continue to use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) or Edit ➤ Redo (Shift+ Ctrl/CMD+Z) if you are more comfortable with the main menu or key commands. Refer to Figure 1-53.

Figure 1-53.  Illustrator History panel and its menu options For more details on this new panel, make sure to visit the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/illustrator/using/recovery-undo-automation.html#history

Summary This chapter is a starting point for learning about warps and distorts in Illustrator and how to set up your workspace. Now that you know the basics of some of the panels and tools that you will encounter in most chapters, you can begin to work on an actual project and begin the process of altering actual paths and shapes in your artwork. In the next chapter, you will be reviewing pen and shape tools as well as looking more closely at the three selection tools and how they can be used in conjunction with the Layers panel, as well as the Control, Properties, Pathfinder, Align, and Transform panels.

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CHAPTER 2

Pen and Shape Tools Review Chapter Goal: Review how basic shapes are created with the Pen and Shape tools and how they can be distorted with the Direct Selection tool or scaled or rounded using bounding box handles and guides. In this chapter, we are going to review the basic Pen and Shape tools that can be used for drawing and tracing over an illustration or guides. We will also be looking at Selection tools and a few panels that can assist us as we use the Pen and Shape tools to create basic warps and distorts. Refer to Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1.  Toolbars panels for Pen tools, Shape tools, and Selection tools

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 2 folder.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_2

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Let’s start with a review of the Pen tools.

■■Note In this chapter and the rest of the book, when I refer to shapes and paths collectively, I will use the word “object.”

Pen Tools and Curvature Tool If you are familiar with Photoshop, then you will have worked with the Pen tool and its assisting tools—Add Anchor Point tool, Delete Anchor Point tool, and Convert Point tool—for shape and path creation for vector shapes and paths on layers. Refer to Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2.  Some of Photoshop’s Pen tools While these Photoshop tools are not required for this book, it’s good to know that their paths operate in the same way as you would create vector paths in Illustrator. However, the Convert Point tool is here called the Anchor Point tool, but it basically operates the same way, as we will see shortly. Refer to Figure 2-3.

Figure 2-3.  Pen tools in Illustrator

Pen Tool (P) Review To start our review of the tools, open your file that you started in Chapter 1 if you want to practice, or create a new blank document using the steps mentioned in Chapter 1. You could also open the file pen_shape_ practice.ai, which is an empty document, to practice with; it’s located in the Chapter 2 folder. In this case, I have enabled View ➤ Rulers ➤ Show Rulers (Ctrl/CMD+R) and set the measurement increments to inches by right-clicking on the top ruler. Your document’s rulers will be set to inches already if you set this increment when you created a new file. Refer to Figure 2-4.

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Figure 2-4.  Setting the ruler measurement increments to inches for the Artboard and enabling the Smart Guides in the view menu I also have my Smart Guides enabled. Go to View ➤ Smart Guides (Ctrl/CMD+U). Refer to Figure 2-4. In the Layers panel, you are working on Layer 1, and you can practice creating the following paths. Refer to Figure 2-5.

Figure 2-5.  Layers panel with Layer 1 selected Select the Pen tool from the Toolbars panel. The Pen tool relies on what the current path and fill color are in the Toolbars panel. Press D on your keyboard if you want the same default colors of white fill and black stroke. Refer to Figure 2-6.

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Figure 2-6.  Pen tool with fill set to default white and stroke to black With the Pen tool, you can click a point. Before you click you will see an asterisk by the pen icon. Then click another point somewhere on the Artboard to create a path. Each end of the path has an anchor point. Refer to Figure 2-7.

Figure 2-7.  Use the Pen tool to create a path If you want the path to be straight vertical, horizontal, or at a 45° angle, then hold down the Shift key on the next click. Refer to Figure 2-8.

Figure 2-8.  Use the Pen tool with the Shift key to create a straight path

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Click another point in your path if you want to continue with straight sides. Refer to Figure 2-9.

Figure 2-9.  Use the Pen tool to create more points on the path Or, if you want a curved side, then as you create the next point hold down the mouse button and click and drag in a direction, revealing your anchor point’s handles. Refer to Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10.  Use the Pen tool to create a path with a curve Release the mouse button to move the Pen tool to a new location and click to create the next anchor point. Refer to Figure 2-11.

Figure 2-11.  Use the Pen tool to add more points to the path after creating a curve

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Or click and drag to continue to round the next curve. Refer to Figure 2-12.

Figure 2-12.  Use the Pen tool to add more points to the path after creating a curve, and curve again Or, if you want to return to a straight edge after the curve on point 3, release the mouse button and then right away hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the same point again. Notice that the Pen tool icon will change to having an angled path beside it. Then, when you click to create Point 4, the path is now straight. Refer to Figure 2-13.

Figure 2-13.  Use the Pen tool to change a curved line back to a straight corner with Alt/Option + Click, or curve the line on the next click and drag Or you can click and drag for point 4 to create a curve again. Refer to Figure 2-13. To close a path, click on the original point 1. To verify that it is joined correctly, hover over the point with your mouse, and you should see the Pen tool icon add a zero or O icon next to it. Then, click to close the path. Refer to Figure 2-14.

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-14.  Close the path as either a straight or a curved path with the Pen tool Or click and drag to close the path with a curve. Then, release the mouse button, and you should have a closed path. Refer to Figure 2-14.

■■Tip Adding the Shift key while you click and drag can also assist in your path adjustment. If, while using the Pen tool, you want to keep the path open and deselect the path to create a new one, then on the last point you click hold down the Ctrl/CMD key. This changes the Pen tool temporarily to the Direct Selection tool. Click elsewhere on the Artboard, and this will allow you to deselect the path and keep it open. Refer to Figure 2-15.

Figure 2-15.  Leave the path open using the Pen tool when you Ctrl/CMD + Click

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Join Points on an Open Path With the Pen tool you can click on an open anchor point, and the pen icon will add a line to it. Then, click on that point 1 that is part of the open path and drag out a new line and then on the point 2 you want to connect to and close the path when you see the O near the pen you know you have joined the paths or closed object. Refer to Figure 2-16.

Figure 2-16.  Join two points for a closed path or connect two open paths with the Pen tool Or if you are joining two open paths but not closing a path, you will see a pen cursor icon connection point between the two points. Refer to Figure 2-16.

■■Tip  Use the Zoom key commands (Ctrl/CMD ++ and Ctrl/CMD+ -) and Hand tool (spacebar) when you need to navigate while using the Pen tool so you don’t deselect the path while you work.

Add Anchor Point Tool (+) Review Likewise, as in Photoshop, with Illustrator points can be added to a path with the Add Anchor Point tool. This is useful when you need to edit or correct part of the path. Refer to Figure 2-17.

Figure 2-17.  Toolbars panel Add Anchor Point tool

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Once your path is complete, use this tool to click somewhere on the path if you need to add a new anchor point. Refer to Figure 2-18.

Figure 2-18.  Add a point with the Add Anchor Point tool

■■Note If you do not want to switch tools, you can also use the Pen tool and hover over part of a selected path with the pen cursor until a plus symbol is added, then just click to add a point. We will look at how to select paths in the next section. If you click on a point and not a path, you may get the following warning message. In this case, click OK and use the Zoom tool if you need to get closer to the path, before using the Add Anchor Point tool. Refer to Figure 2-19.

Figure 2-19.  When you click on another point with the Add Anchor Point tool, you will get a warning message to add the point to a segment of a path

Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) Review To remove points from a path, use the Delete Anchor Point tool. Click on a selected point. Note that in doing so you may alter the path, and then you may need to move the handles later with the Direct Selection tool, or add another anchor point elsewhere to make adjustments. Refer to Figure 2-20.

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-20.  Toolbars panel Delete Anchor Point tool. Click on a point to delete the point

■■Note If you do not want to switch tools you can also use the Pen tool and hover over a selected point with the pen cursor until a minus symbol is added, then just click to remove the point. We will look at how to select paths in the next section. ■■Tip Hold down the Alt/Option key when you want to switch between the Add Anchor Point tool and Delete Anchor Point tool while either tool is in use. If you don’t click directly on a point, you may get the following warning message. In this case, click OK and use the Zoom tool if you need to get closer to the point before using the Delete Anchor Point tool. Refer to Figure 2-21.

Figure 2-21.  When you click on a path with the Delete Anchor Point tool, you will get a warning message to use the tool on an anchor point of a path

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Anchor Point Tool (Shift +C) Review The Anchor Point tool is used to convert points from straight to curved or a combination of both. This is useful after you have created a closed path and need to edit and correct the path. Refer to Figure 2-22.

Figure 2-22.  Toolbars panel, Anchor Point tool Click on a straight point with the Anchor Point tool and drag to curve the path. Refer to Figure 2-23.

Figure 2-23.  Convert a point from corner to curved with the Anchor Point tool Or click on a curved path to cause it to become straight on both sides. Refer to Figure 2-24.

Figure 2-24.  Convert a point from curved to corner with the Anchor Point tool For a combination of straight and curved sides, after you click and drag out your curve with the Anchor Point tool, click on one of the handles to straighten that part of the path. Refer to Figure 2-25.

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-25.  Create a point that is both curved and corner with the Anchor Point tool Or click and drag on the handle to cause the path to remain curved but in a different direction. Refer to Figure 2-26.

Figure 2-26.  Create a point that changes the path’s direction with the Anchor Point tool You can also use the tool to click and drag on the path itself if you need to scale part of the path. Refer to Figure 2-27.

Figure 2-27.  Adjust the path with the Anchor Point tool

■■Tip The Anchor Point tool is good for untangling twisted points as well that you may have created while using the Pen tool. Click and drag in the opposite direction to untangle. Refer to Figure 2-28.

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-28.  Untangle a path with the Anchor Point tool Remember you can always go back to Photoshop and apply what you learned here about the Pen tool to your own Photoshop projects. Hold down the Alt/Option key when you want to switch between the Pen tool and the Anchor Point tool. You can review my notes in the file pen_practice_diagram.ai.

Curvature Tool (Shift +~) Review Next to the Pen tool in the Toolbars panel you will find a similar tool known as the Curvature tool. Refer to Figure 2-29.

Figure 2-29.  Toolbars panel, Curvature tool While I will not be going into any detail on this in this book, as it not part of the later project, I will note a few tips about the tool you can use on your own. 1. It is like the Photoshop Curvature Pen tool. Refer to Figure 2-30.

Figure 2-30.  Photoshop’s Curvature Pen tool

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2. The Curvature tool can be used to create a curved path as you click and drag and observe the rubber-band preview of the path. Refer to Figure 2-31.

Figure 2-31.  Creating a path with the Curvature tool, and the preview of the path 3. You can close the path when you click on the original point. Refer to Figure 2-32.

Figure 2-32.  Closing the path with the Curvature tool 4. Once the path is closed, you can select points on the path if you need to move them to scale the path. 5. You can also add points to the selected path by clicking on a part of the path. Refer to Figure 2-33.

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Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-33.  Adding points to the path with the Curvature tool 6. As with the Pen tool, you can hold down the Ctrl/CMD key to release on the next click on the artboard and keep the path open. 7. You can also use the Shift key while clicking to keep the anchor points level. 8. Hold down the Alt/Option key or double-click as you click to create a straight part of the path. Refer to Figure 2-34.

Figure 2-34.  Creating straight paths and corner points with the Curvature tool 9. While a point is selected, press the Backspace/Delete key to remove the point but not the path. Refer to Figure 2-35.

Figure 2-35.  Deleting points from the path with the Curvature tool

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10. Once that path is complete, Double-click on a point when you want to make it cornered or curved. Refer to Figure 2-36.

Figure 2-36.  Change the point of a path from corner to smooth and curved by double-clicking with the Curvature tool Likewise, you can switch to the Pen tool at any time to complete or edit the path. You can refer to my file curve_practice_diagram.ai.

Swapping Fill and Stroke Colors with the Pen Tool Paths or shapes, as mentioned, will often have a stroke or a fill that is applied when the selected path is being drawn with the Pen tool. You can see the current colors in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 2-37.

Figure 2-37.  Swapping the fill and stroke for an open path using the Toolbars panel while the path is selected While drawing, you can switch or swap the stroke and fill colors by pressing Shift + X. In other situations, while you are using the Pen tool or before you start you may want to set the fill to none. I find this is best when tracing over a placed graphic image on a locked layer or a template layer, as you will see later in the project. Refer to Figure 2-38 and Figure 2-39.

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Figure 2-38.  Creating a template layer to trace over for practice While using the Pen tool you can easily click on the Toolbars panel and switch the fill to none. Do so by clicking on the square with the red slash through it while the fill is in front of the stroke. Refer to Figure 2-39.

Figure 2-39.  Setting the fill to none while using the Pen tool for tracing

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This will make it easier to trace over the template or underlying graphic.

■■Note  Besides having a path with no fill, you can also eliminate the stroke while tracing over another path by setting the color to none as well, though doing so makes it difficult to locate the path afterward. Paths with no fill or stroke are used for the purpose of text on a path, clipping masks, or envelope meshes to partly cover a path or a shape. We will see examples of these kinds of hidden paths in Chapters 9 and 10. If you are interested in reviewing some of the other ways that I trace over images for the start of logo creation, check out the books mentioned in the Introduction.

Selection, Direct Selection, and Group Selection Tools Once you have created multiple paths, you want to be able to select, move, scale, or deselect all or part of the path. In the Toolbars panel you can find three tools to assist you with this. They are the Selection tool, the Direct Selection tool, and the Group Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-40.

Figure 2-40.  Toolbars panel: Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, and Group Selection tool

Selection Tool (V) Like the Move tool and Path Selection tool in Photoshop, the Selection tool in Illustrator is used to help move and scale an entire selected path. Refer to Figure 2-41.

Figure 2-41.  Use the Selection tool to move, scale, and rotate a path

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Using the bounding box handles, you can move, scale, and rotate the entire path. Refer to Figure 2-42.

Figure 2-42.  The path is being scaled and then rotated using the bounding box handles If you want to copy a path, rather than using Edit ➤ Copy and Edit ➤ Paste, you can select the path with the Selection tool and Alt/Option-drag it to create a copy. Holding down the Shift key while dragging places the copy on the same horizontal or vertical plane. Refer to Figure 2-43.

Figure 2-43.  Using the Selection tool, the path is copied when the Alt/Option key is held down while the path is dragged

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Or, if you want to delete the selected shape, press the Backspace/Delete key on your keyboard. Once you have created one or more objects you can Shift + Click them one at a time so you can move them or scale them together. Refer to Figure 2-44.

Figure 2-44.  Use the Selection tool to Shift + Click multiple shapes, or drag a marquee around the shapes to select them at the same time Shift + Click on a selected path to deselect it. Another way to select is to, with the Selection tool, drag a rectangular marquee around the paths. Refer to Figure 2-44.

■■Note  You can also use the Select menu to select objects, such as Select ➤ All to select all objects on a layer or Select ➤ Inverse if you want to deselect currently selected items and select those currently deselected. Additional selection options from the Select menu include All, All on Active Artboard, Deselect, and Reselect. Refer to Figure 2-45.

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Figure 2-45.  Use the Select menu to select or deselect multiple shapes or objects To deselect all paths, click off the Artboard, or go to Select ➤ Deselect. While the path is selected you can use the Control panel or Properties panel to adjust the various object settings.

Control Panel Options for Paths The following Control panel options affect the path. Refer to Figure 2-46.

Figure 2-46.  Use the Control panel to adjust options on the path Fill Color: Using the dropdown menu, select a color. These colors can also be accessed from the Swatches panel. Holding down the Shift key while clicking on the fill menu will allow you to access colors from the Color panel instead and use the sliders or Eyedropper tool. Refer to Figure 2-47.

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Figure 2-47.  Control panel path options for fill color Stroke Color: Using the dropdown menu, select a color. These colors can also be accessed from the Swatches panel. Holding down the Shift key while clicking in the stroke menu will allow you to access colors from the Color panel instead. Refer to Figure 2-47 and Figure 2-48.

Figure 2-48.  Control panel path options for setting stroke color while path is selected Stroke Weight: Clicking on the name allows you to access the Stroke panel and its various stroke options, or just use the Control panel dropdown Stroke Weight menu to adjust only the weight. We will review this area in Chapter 5. Refer to Figure 2-49.

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Figure 2-49.  Control panel path options for setting Stroke and Stroke Weight for a selected path Stroke Variable Width Profile: Can be set either from the Stroke panel or from the Control panel. By default, it is set to Uniform. We will look at how to create a custom variable width in Chapter 5. Refer to Figure 2-50.

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Figure 2-50.  Control panel path options for setting variable-width profile while path is selected Brush Definition: Allows you to set a brush for the stroke. Using the Brushes panel, we will look at some brush options later in this chapter as well as in Chapters 5 and 8, and see how they relate to opacity and transparency. By default, it is set to Basic as you work with the Pen tool unless you have set some different definition before you started or while the path is selected. Refer to Figure 2-51.

Figure 2-51.  Control panel path options menu for setting brush definition while path is selected

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Opacity (0%–100%): Controls the stroke and fill opacity. The name links to the Transparency panel, which we will look at in Chapter 8. Refer to Figure 2-52.

Figure 2-52.  Control panel path options and slider for setting opacity while path is selected Style: From this dropdown menu you can access options from the Graphic Styles panel. These are similar to Photoshop Layer Styles. By default, it is set to “Default Graphic Style”; we will explore this area more in Chapter 11. Refer to Figure 2-53.

Figure 2-53.  Control panel path options for setting a graphic style while path is selected; currently no graphic style is chosen

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Recolor Artwork: Allows you to further alter the color of your current paths. While this topic is not relevant to our discussion on warps and distorts, you can learn more about this topic from the following link and discover how to alter the current colors in your paths. Refer to Figure 2-54. https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/recolor-artwork.html

Figure 2-54.  Control panel path options for recoloring artwork while path is selected Align: As in Photoshop with selected layers, when you have two or more paths selected with the Selection tool, you can align them by Selection, Key Object, or Artboard by their Horizontal Align (Left, Center, or Right) and Vertical Align (Top, Center, or Bottom). With three or more, the setting is for Vertical Distribute (Top, Center, Bottom) and Horizontal Distribute (Left, Center, Right). These same settings can also be accessed from the Align panel. I will review the Align panel near the end of this chapter before we look at the project. Refer to Figure 2-55.

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Figure 2-55.  Control panel path options for setting alignment while paths are selected When a selected object (path or shape) is moved or scaled using the Control panel, you can first set the reference point. By default, I leave it as the center mark. You can then type in or use the up and down arrows in the text box to move the shape based on the X and Y coordinates. This is easy to see in inches, as you set this earlier when you created the document. You can also adjust the settings for the width (W) and height (H) using the up and down arrow keys in the text boxes. Selecting the link icon constrains width and height proportions for the selected shape so it scales both width and height at the same time. But if the link icon is not selected then you can scale just the width or just the height separately. These and additional settings can also be accessed from the Transform panel if you click on the X and Y coordinates letters. Refer to Figure 2-56.

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Figure 2-56.  Control panel path options for setting X and Y coordinates and width and height while path is selected Isolate Selected Object: This button puts the path or shape into Isolation mode so that you can edit it separately from other paths. Likewise, you can enter Isolation mode by double-clicking on a path. This grays out surrounding paths. Refer to Figure 2-57.

Figure 2-57.  Control panel path options for setting the path into Isolation mode while path is selected

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To exit Isolation mode, click on the back arrow twice just below the rulers on the left. This returns you to Normal mode, or in this case Layer 2. The path then becomes deselected. Select the path again with the Selection tool. We will see similar isolation for editing being used in Chapter 7 for patterns and Chapter 6 for symbols. Refer to Figure 2-57. The last area, while not part of the topic of this chapter, is for the following: Select Similar Objects and Options: Select objects based on All or specifics such as Fill Color, Stroke Color, Stroke Weight, Opacity, or Appearance. Refer to Figure 2-58.

Figure 2-58.  Control panel path options for selecting similar objects while the current path is selected Start Editing Similar Shapes Together and Global Edit Options: This is useful if you need to do a global edit on multiple artboards. In this case, we are only working on one. Refer to Figure 2-59.

Figure 2-59.  Control panel path options for global edits while a path is selected

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On the far right are three icons for Align Selected Art to Pixel Grid, Align Art to Pixel Grid on Creation, and Transformation, third is what is displayed in the Control panel menu when an object is selected or active. I will leave these areas at their default settings with all options active and docked to the top. Refer to Figure 2-60.

Figure 2-60.  Additional Alignment and Control panel options found in the Control panel menu While working in the Control panel, note that you have similar options available in the Properties panel, categorized under Transform, Appearance, and Align. Additional options related to those panels can be found under the ellipses. Refer to Figure 2-61.

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Figure 2-61.  Properties panel with similar settings as the Control panel

Direct Selection Tool (A) The Direct Selection tool, as in Photoshop, is meant for selecting individual points on a path. This is useful when you want to move or alter single or select points. When curved points are selected, you can drag on the handles or the path itself to adjust the path. Refer to Figure 2-62.

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Figure 2-62.  Direct Selection tool selects an anchor point on a path, and you can drag on a point to move it or a handle You can move the selected anchor point with the tool. You can Shift + Click multiple anchor points to move them in unison, or Shift + Click to deselect certain points. When you click on an anchor point and press the Backspace/Delete key, it will delete the path and cause it to be open. Refer to Figure 2-63.

Figure 2-63.  Deleting a selected point on a path with the Direct Selection tool makes it an open path Press the Backspace/Delete key again to delete the whole shape. Use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) a few times, or use the History panel if you need to undo those last steps. Refer to the end of Chapter 1 if you need to review this panel.

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Control Panel Options for Anchor Points When you select a point on a path, the Control panel changes to reflect that selection. I will just point out the key differences here. Refer to Figure 2-64.

Figure 2-64.  Control panel options for a single selected anchor point Convert: Allows you to convert selected anchor points to corner or to smooth. Refer to Figure 2-65.

Figure 2-65.  Control panel Convert options Handles: Allows you to show handles or hide handles for multiple selected anchor points. In this example, it is set to hide. Refer to Figure 2-66.

Figure 2-66.  Control panel handles options Anchors: Allows for options to alter selected points, such as Remove selected anchor points, which removes the point without making it an open path, just like the Delete Anchor Point tool does. Use Connect selected endpoints when a path is open and you want to join two points that have first been Shift + Clicked. Use Cut path at selected points to cut off or remove part of path and make it separate; this will create two open paths. Refer to Figure 2-67.

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Figure 2-67.  Control panel anchor point options and the effects of the three (remove, connect, and cut) on a path Corners: Click on the word to reveal:

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•

Various corner options, such as Round, Inverted Round, or Chamfer.

•

Radius: This is the same settings as the text box next to the word “Corners” outside of the dropdown menu.

•

Rounding: Can be set to Relative or Absolute. You can also adjust the rounding and the radius by dragging on the live corner widgets, as you will see with various shape tools in the next section of this chapter. Refer to Figure 2-68.

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Figure 2-68.  Control panel anchor point options and their effects on a point on the path Rounding is more apparent when the radius is set higher. Align: Settings are the same as when using the Selection tool, but this time they affect only the points selected. You can then align them using the same settings. Refer to Figure 2-69.

Figure 2-69.  Control panel anchor point options for alignment of selected points on a path When a single anchor point reference is selected, you can only set the coordinates for X and Y and not the width (W) and height (H), as a point cannot be scaled, only moved. Refer to Figure 2-70.

Figure 2-70.  Control panel anchor point options for X and Y coordinates for a single point on a path

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Only when two or more points are selected can the width, height, and link to constrain width and height proportions be set. Refer to Figure 2-71.

Figure 2-71.  Control panel anchor point options for X and Y coordinates and the width and height values (usable when you Shift + Click multiple points on a path with the Direct Selection tool)

■■Note  Settings for Isolate Selected Object and Start Editing Similar Shapes Together options are the same as with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-71. Options for an anchor point similar to those in the Control panel can also be found in the Properties panel. Refer to Figure 2-72.

Figure 2-72.  Properties panel for a single anchor point selected with the Direct Selection tool To deselect a point and the whole object, click outside the Artboard or off the object.

Group Selection Tool The Group Selection tool is used to select parts of or all grouped paths or objects. Refer to Figure 2-73.

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Figure 2-73.  Toolbars panel Group Selection tool When you have Shift + Clicked more than two objects with the Selection tool, you can group them so that they move together as one unit. From the menu use Object ➤ Group (Ctrl/CMD+G). Refer to Figure 2-74.

Figure 2-74.  Select two paths with the Selection tool and use the Object menu to turn it into a group To ungroup paths, while they are selected, choose Object ➤ Ungroup (Shift+Ctrl/CMD+G). Group objects can then be moved as one unit using the Selection tool, or as a single point using the Direct Selection tool. However, to select separate selections of objects within the group use the Group Selection tool. In this example, by clicking once on a path to select a single path and then clicking on the same path again, you can select both paths. You can then move them in unison. Refer to Figure 2-73 and Figure 2-75.

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Figure 2-75.  Use the Group Selection tool to select a single path within a group and drag to move

■■Note With one path selected with the Group Selection tool, you could return to the Selection tool and edit only that path using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 2-76.

Figure 2-76.  Once a path is selected with the Group Selection tool, you can switch to the Selection tool and use the Control panel to modify the path’s fill, stroke, and stroke weight

For the Group Selection tool, the Control panel remains the same as when using the Selection tool, except that it says Group, which describes the current selection. This is the same for the Properties panel. Refer to Figure 2-77.

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Figure 2-77.  The Properties panel will have the caption of group while the group is selected However, when the colors—for example, of the stroke and the fill—are different for two items in a group, or one path’s weight is different than the other’s, this will show up in the Toolbars, Control, and Properties panels as a question mark or blank area, indicating more than one choice has been made. Refer to Figure 2-78.

Figure 2-78.  When paths are different within a group, in the Toolbars, Control, and Properties panels certain boxes may appear with a [?] or appear blank To make both shapes uniform while they are selected with either the Selection tool or the Group Selection tool, select a common color for the fill and stroke, and common number for the stroke weight, from the dropdown menus in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 2-79.

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Figure 2-79.  Use the Control panel to reset both paths to a common fill color, stroke color, and stroke weight

■■Tip  You can also use the Group Selection tool to move a path without the bounding box handles. Shift + Click each path when you want to select certain paths. Click outside the Artboard or off the object to deselect.

Adjusting Scale of Paths After creating open and closed paths, with my Selection Tool active to prevent your strokes from scaling if you resize your image, in the Properties panel, while no path or a current path is selected, go to the Document Preferences or Transform section and under the ellipses uncheck the option of Scale Strokes and Effects. I will do this so that when I scale down my paths and shapes the stroke does not become too small and difficult to see. This area is the same as in the Transform panel. Refer to Figure 2-80.

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Figure 2-80.  Use the Properties panel to remove the Scale Strokes and Effects settings so that your stroke does not become too small when the path is scaled down. Similar settings are found in the Transform panel

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Additional Properties Panel and Transform Panel Options Using either the Properties panel or the Transform panel will reveal additional options. In addition to being able to set the X and Y coordinates of a shape, along with its width (W) and height (H), for which you can link or unlink constrain width and height proportions, there are additional features. Refer to Figure 2-80. These include setting the angle of rotation and setting the angle of shear. Refer to Figure 2-81 and Figure 2-82.

Figure 2-81.  Transform panel Rotate Path menu options

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Figure 2-82.  Transform panel Shear Path menu options From both the Properties panel and the Transform menu, you can flip horizontally and flip vertically. Refer to Figure 2-83 and Figure 2-85.

Figure 2-83.  Properties panel options for flipping a path horizontally or vertically Scale corners can also be enabled to scale corners of the radii proportionately. Currently, the setting is disabled. Refer to Figure 2-84.

Figure 2-84.  Transform and Properties panels options for Scale Corners and Scale Strokes & Effects

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In Chapter 3, we’ll compare the Transform panel to some actual tools for rotation, scaling, shearing, and free transforming.

■■Note  Currently, in the menu, the transform is set to Transform Both for object (path) and pattern. However, in Chapter 7 we’ll look at that option again. Refer to Figure 2-85.

Figure 2-85.  Transform panel and its menu with additional transform options You can use my file, path_control_practice.ai, if you need some paths to experiment with.

Shape Tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, etc.) If we compare Photoshop tools to the Illustrator tools, you will see Illustrator also has several shape tools you can use to create rectangles, ellipses, and polygons. However, how these shapes are divided up is slightly different. And it appears that Illustrator has a few additional options. Refer to Figure 2-86.

Figure 2-86.  Photoshop Shape tools in its Tools panel

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Many of these tools and their options I have discussed before in previous books, and many of the key commands that you used in Photoshop are similar in Illustrator. However, I will review a few key points in this section, as they relate to this book. Refer to Figure 2-87.

Figure 2-87. Illustrator Shape tools in the Toolbars panel For each tool, once selected, you can click on the Artboard to enter its dialog box. Subsequently, you can use, either separately or in combination, the Control, Properties, and Transform panels to control various options and properties of each shape. Like the path created with the Pen tool, you can set the fill and stroke colors using the Toolbars panel as well as the Color Picker dialog box when you double-click on the fill or stroke. Refer to Figure 2-88.

Figure 2-88.  Use the Toolbars panel Color Picker dialog box to set fill and stroke colors Select a color and click OK to exit.

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■■Note The settings I am using in the following Shape dialog boxes are in inches because I set my rulers (right-click) to this unit after I chose View ➤ Rulers ➤ Show Rulers. Refer to Figure 2-89.

Figure 2-89.  Right-click on one of your rulers so that you can set the increments to inches, if it is not already set

Rectangle Tool (M) To create a rectangle, you can either

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drag out a shape on the Artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key as you drag if you want to create a square;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift to drag the rectangle or in this case square from its center point; or

•

click somewhere on the Artboard with the tool to enter the rectangle dialog box for the width and height. Then, choose with the link whether or not to constrain the width and height proportions. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-90.

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Figure 2-90.  Rectangle tool, dialog box with settings, and various created rectangles The Control panel and the Properties panel both contain Transform panel settings, so you can use them to edit the Rectangle’s properties further. Note that you can also adjust the rounding of the corners by dragging on the live corner widgets. Refer to Figure 2-91.

Figure 2-91.  Rounded rectangle created by dragging on corner widgets

Control Panel Options In the Control panel, you will find many of the same settings for fill color, stroke color, stroke weight, variable-width profile, brush definition, opacity, and graphic style. These are the same as when you used the Selection tool to select a path. However, there are a few differences. Refer to Figure 2-92.

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Figure 2-92.  Control panel settings for Rectangle tool and most Shape tools After the Recolor Artwork and Alignment sections is an area specifically for shapes. Clicking on the name “Shape” will reveal more options. Refer to Figure 2-93.

Figure 2-93.  Control panel settings for Rectangle tool and most Shape tools and then specific Shape Properties options for rectangles Shape properties: A rectangle can be edited further for the width, height, and constrain proportions option. You can set a rectangle angle (0°–360°) as well as the corner type and corner radius of each side collectively, or separately when you unlink the corner radius values. Refer to Figure 2-94.

Figure 2-94.  Additional shape properties options for rectangles Unchecking the link will allow you to round all four corners and add a different corner type to each side. Refer to Figure 2-95.

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Figure 2-95.  Adjusting the Corner Type options for rectangles and then resetting the sides To reset all sides, click and choose one of the round corner type options in the Control panel and set the corner radius to make it all uniform. Then click on the link to link the radii for all corners. Transform: When you click on the name, it shows the rest of the Transform panel, allowing you to set a reference point, X, Y, width, and height, and to indicate whether to maintain proportions. You can also set options for rotate, shear, and Scale Corners and Scale Strokes & Effects. Currently those options are disabled. Refer to Figure 2-96.

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Figure 2-96.  In the Control panel use the Transform options to rotate and shear a rectangle Choosing the shear angle option in the panel will turn the rectangle into a path, and you may not have the additional rectangle options available anymore. Refer to Figure 2-97.

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Figure 2-97.  Upon shearing a rectangle, shape properties are lost

■■Note  For information on the Isolate, Selected Object, and Select Similar Objects features, as well as editing similar shapes together, see my notes on these options in the Selection tool section earlier. Refer to Figure 2-98.

Figure 2-98.  Additional options in the Control panel for all shapes

Remember, with all shapes you can use the Selection or Direct Selection tools to select the shape or points of the shape if you want to edit the path further, such as to move, scale, or rotate, using the bounding box handles. To create copies of a shape, you can select a shape with the Selection tool and Alt/Option-drag to create a copy. Refer to Figure 2-99.

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Figure 2-99.  Use the Selection or Direct Selection tools to scale the entire path or points on a path while the shape is selected

■■Note Rectangles can also be rotated horizontally and vertically using the Properties panel, though if they are not on an angle, you will not notice the rotation. Refer to Figure 2-80.

Rounded Rectangle Tool To create a rounded rectangle, you can either

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drag out a shape on the artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key as you drag if you want to create a rounded square;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift to drag the rounded rectangle or square from its center point; or

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•

click somewhere on the Artboard with the tool to enter the Rounded Rectangle dialog box for the width and height. Then, choose with the link whether or not to constrain the width and height proportions, and set the corner radius. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-100.

Figure 2-100.  Rounded Rectangle tool, dialog box with settings, and various created rounded rectangles

Control Panel Options The Control, Properties, and Transform panels have the same settings as the Rectangle tool, so you can refer to that section if you need more details.

Ellipse Tool (L) To create an ellipse, you can either •

drag out a shape on the Artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key as you drag if you want to create a circle;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift to drag the circle from its center point; or

•

click somewhere on the Artboard with the tool to enter the Ellipse dialog box to set the width and height. Then, choose with the link whether or not to constrain the width and height proportions. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-101.

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Figure 2-101.  Ellipse tool, dialog box with settings, and various created ellipses

Control Panel Options In the Control panel and Properties panel you will find properties for the ellipse similar to those for the Rectangle tool, so you can refer to that section. However, I will point out the key differences for Shape and Transform properties as seen in the Control panel when you click on the name “Shape.” Refer to Figure 2-102.

Figure 2-102.  Additional Control panel settings for the selected ellipse Shape Properties: These allow you to edit further the width, height, and constrain proportions items. You can set an ellipse angle (0°–360°) as well as set start pie angle, constrain pie angles, end pie angle, and invert pie options. Refer to Figure 2-103.

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Figure 2-103.  Shape properties options for the ellipse and the option to turn the ellipse into a pie by adjusting the start/end pie angle You can use the handles on the ellipse to adjust the pie angle radius manually. Transform: When you click on the name it shows the rest of the Transform panel, allowing you to rotate, shear, and set the options to Scale Corners and Scale Strokes & Effects. Currently, those options are disabled. Refer to Figure 2-104.

Figure 2-104.  Additional Transform panel options

Polygon Tool This is the same as using the Polygon tool and Triangle tool in Photoshop. To create a polygon, you can either •

drag out a shape on the Artboard and rotate it at the same time. While dragging out the polygon you can use your up and down arrow keys to add or remove sides from the polygon;

•

hold down the Shift key as you drag if you want to create an equal-sided polygon with the lower face horizontal and no rotation;

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•

press Alt/Option + Shift to drag the polygon from its center point; or

•

click somewhere on the Artboard with the tool to enter the Polygon dialog box to set the radius and sides (3–1000). Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-105.

Figure 2-105.  Polygon tool, dialog box with settings, and various created polygons when using the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard Afterward, if you want to increase or decrease the sides, you can use the diamond slider on the side of the bounding box. When you hover over the diamond the cursor will change, and you can drag the slider up (decrease sides) or down (increase sides). You can also adjust the rounding of the corners by dragging on the live corner widget. Refer to Figure 2-106.

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Figure 2-106.  Use the slider beside the selected polygon to add or remove sides, or the live corner widget to round the corners

Control Panel Options In the Control panel and Properties panel you will find properties similar to those for the Rectangle tool, so you can refer to that section. However, I will point out the key differences for the Shape and Transform properties, as seen in the Control panel when you click on the name “Shape.” Shape properties: A polygon can be edited further with the Polygon Side Count option by using the slider (3–20) or by typing a number into the text box (3–1000). You can set a polygon angle (0°–360°), as well as the corner type and corner radius of all sides collectively. You can then adjust the Radius and Side Length settings by either typing in a number or using the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard. Refer to Figure 2-107.

Figure 2-107.  Shape properties options for the polygon Transform: These options appear in the Control panel like other paths and shapes. You can click on either the X or the Y coordinate to access additional transform options, which will allow you to rotate, shear, and set the options to Scale Corner and Scale Strokes & Effects. Currently, those options are disabled. Refer to Figure 2-108.

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Figure 2-108.  In the Control panel there are additional transform options

■■Tip  Use the Properties panel for easy access to settings for rotating or flipping your polygon vertically or horizontally. Also, use the Selection tool when you want to scale a disproportionate polygon. Refer to Figure 2-109.

Figure 2-109.  Use the Properties panel to rotate and flip the polygon and the Selection tool when you want to scale the selected polygon

Star Tool This is the same as the Polygon tool in Photoshop. However, in Illustrator it is a separate tool where you only focus on star creation. Refer to Figure 2-110.

Figure 2-110.  Toolbars panel Star tool

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To create a star, you can either •

drag out a shape on the Artboard and rotate it at the same time. While dragging out the star you can use the up and down arrow keys to add or remove points from the star. Refer to Figure 2-111;

Figure 2-111.  Various Star with multiple points that can be added as you drag on the star with your up and down arrow keys on your keyboard •

hold down the Shift key as you drag if you want to create an equal-sided star with no rotation;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift to drag the star from its center point. You can also hold down the Ctrl/CMD key if you want a pointier star;

•

press Ctrl/CMD + Alt/Option + Shift + Drag, which will reset the star’s radius. Refer to Figure 2-112; or

Figure 2-112.  Make a pointy star or reset the star using additional keys on the keyboard while dragging out the shape •

Or click somewhere on the Artboard with the tool to enter the Star dialog box for Radius 1, Radius 2, and Points (3–1000). Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-113.

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Figure 2-113.  Star tool dialog box

Control Panel Options Shape properties: No additional shape properties are found in the Control, Properties, or Transform panels, and Illustrator regards the Star as a path. Refer to Figure 2-114.

Figure 2-114.  The star is a path, so there are no shape properties Transform: Using the Control panel, you can click on either the X or the Y coordinate to access additional transform options, which will allow you to rotate, shear, and set the options to Scale Corners and Scale Strokes & Effects. Currently, those options are disabled. Refer to Figure 2-115.

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Figure 2-115.  In the Control panel, there are additional transform options when X or Y is selected However, you can modify the end points of a star using the Direct Selection tool when you drag a rectangular marquee around the star and then use the Control panel when it changes to make the live corner radius rounded for the points, or you can change the other corner, radius, and rounding options. Refer to Figure 2-116.

Figure 2-116.  Use the Direct Selection tool and Control panel to round the edges of the star

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■■Note  You can use the live corner widgets as well to round the star as you drag in or out. The following tools I regard as more specialty tools for adding accents to your images.

Flare Tool The Flare tool creates a type of lens flare graphic on your image. That consists of lines and circles in various states of gradients and transparencies. I find the best way to use this tool is to click on the Artboard first and then enter the Flare Tool Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 2-117.

Figure 2-117.  Flare tool and its options dialog box With the preview check enabled, you can set such things as the following: Center: Diameter in points, Opacity: 0%–100%, and Brightness: 0%–100%.Halo: Growth: 0%–300%, and Fuzziness: 0%–100%. Then, enable or disable Rays, which are lines, and set the values for Number: 0–50, Longest: 0%–1000%, and Fuzziness: 0%–100%.

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Lastly, you can enable or disable the Rings of additional circles and set the Path in points, Number: 0–50, Size of largest circles in ring: 0%–250%, and the Direction: 0°–359°. Then click OK. Refer to Figure 2-117. If you need to reset, you can hold down the Alt/Option key and click the Cancel/Reset button, before clicking OK, to see the default settings. Refer to Figure 2-118.

Figure 2-118.  Hold down the Alt/Option key to access the Reset button in the dialog box Lens flares are best viewed on a colored background. Refer to Figure 2-119.

Figure 2-119.  Flare on a blue background While, at this moment, you may not see much of a use for a lens flare, you can use some of the gradients from them and store them in your Swatches panel for later use. We will look at gradients in more detail in Chapter 8.

Lens Flare Properties To access the overall flare opacity and gradient type, you can select the flare with your Selection tool, and the Control panel will allow you to alter the opacity, recolor artwork, and edit the gradient using the Gradient tool. Refer to Figure 2-120.

Figure 2-120.  Control panel settings for the selected lens flare For additional Control panel settings and alignments, you can refer to the Selection tool’s Control panel options. Refer to Figure 2-121.

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Figure 2-121.  Control panel settings for the selected lens flare

Line Segment Tool (\) This tool is similar to the Line tool in Photoshop. This tool creates a single line segment, unlike the Pen tool, which is used to create and connect multiple segments. To create a line, you can either •

drag out a line on the Artboard, while rotating it at the same time, and release the mouse;

•

hold down the Shift key while dragging when you want the line to be horizontal, vertical, or at a 45° angle, just like when you used the Pen tool;

•

press Alt/Option-drag when you want to scale the line out from its center. Refer to Figure 2-122; or

Figure 2-122.  Line Segment tool and various lines drawn on the Artboard •

click on the Artboard, with the tool selected, if you want to enter the Line Segment Tool Options dialog box. Here, you can set the length of the line, the angle (0°–360°), and whether to add a fill to the line. By default, this setting is disabled, as a single straight line would not have a visible fill. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-123.

Figure 2-123.  Line Segment Tool Options dialog box

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Control Panel Options You can set your line properties using the Control, Properties, or Transform panels. Most settings are the same as those for the Rectangle tool so you can refer to that section for more details. However, I will point out the key differences for shape and transform properties, as seen in the Control panel when you click on the name “Shape.” Shape Properties: You can set the line length and angle. Refer to Figure 2-124.

Figure 2-124.  Control panel line shape properties options Transform: You can click on either the X or Y coordinate to access additional transform options, which will allow you to rotate, shear, and set the options to Scale Corners and Scale Strokes & Effects. Currently, those options are disabled. Refer to Figure 2-125.

Figure 2-125.  Additional transform options when X or Y is selected This tool is useful for grids and rows.

■■Note Later in Chapter 5 I will point out how you can add arrowheads to lines using the Stroke panel.

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Arc Tool This tool is similar to the Illustrator Line Segment tool except that it allows you to create a single arc, unlike the Pen tool, which is used to create and connect multiple segments. To create an arc, you can either •

drag out an arc on the Artboard, rotate it at the same time, and release the mouse, and the arc is on the Artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key while dragging when you want the arc to flip on the horizontal or vertical angle and the arc to be symmetrical;

•

press Alt/Option-drag when you want to scale the arc out from the center as you rotate. Refer to Figure 2-126; or

Figure 2-126.  Arc tool and various arcs drawn on the Artboard •

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click on the Artboard, with the Arc tool selected, if you want to enter the Arc Segment Tool Options dialog box. Here, you can set the length of the arc’s X-axis and Y-axis, and the reference point of where the arc will start upon dragging. Other additional settings include: •

Type: Open or Closed path

•

Base along: X-axis or Y-axis

•

Slope: whether it is more concave or convex. Range is (-100,0,100).

•

Whether the arc should be filled with the current fill color in the Toolbars panel. By default, this setting is disabled as an arc line would not have a visible fill. Refer to Figure 2-127.

Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-127.  Arc Segment Tool Options dialog box •

Click OK to Commit.

■■Tip With the Arc tool, you can double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel to see a preview window. This preview does not appear when you click with the tool on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 2-128.

Figure 2-128.  Additional preview option in the Arc Segment Tool Options dialog box

Control Panel Options No additional shape properties are found in the Control, Properties, or Transform panels, as the arc is regarded as a path. However, you can use the Control, Properties, or Transform panels to adjust basic settings, like when you created a path with the Pen tool and selected the path with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-129.

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Figure 2-129.  Additional transform options when X or Y is selected for the selected path This tool is useful for creating grass, fur, or hair.

Spiral Tool The Spiral tool is like the Arc tool except that it connects several arcs together to create a spiral snail shape. To create a spiral, you can either: •

drag out the spiral on the Artboard, rotate it at the same time, and release the mouse, and the arc is on the Artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key as you drag when you want the line to be symmetrical, on the horizontal plane, and with rotation constrained;

•

press Alt/Option-drag when you want a more simplified arc;

•

press Ctrl/CMD-drag out for a single arc segment. Refer to Figure 2-130;

Figure 2-130.  Spiral tool and a spiral on the Artboard that while dragging can be adjusted with the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard

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as you drag, use the up and down arrow keys when you want to increase or decrease the number of segments; or

•

click on the Artboard to enter the Spiral dialog box and enter a Radius; Decay Rate: (5%–150%) the default is 80%; number of segments: 2–1000; and the style of either clockwise or counterclockwise. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-131.

Chapter 2 ■ Pen and Shape Tools Review

Figure 2-131.  Spiral tool dialog box

Control Panel Options Like the arc, no additional shape properties are found in the Control, Properties, or Transform panels as the spiral is regarded as a path. However, you can use the Control, Properties, or Transform panels to adjust basic settings, like when you created a path with the Pen tool and selected the path with the Selection tool. This tool is good for creating snail shells or the stylized idea of wind or steam and is useful for text on a path, which we will see in Chapter 10.

Rectangular Grid Tool The Rectangular Grid tool creates a series of lines and arranges them in a grid-like pattern. To create a grid, you can either: •

drag out the grid on the Artboard, release the mouse, and the grid is on the Artboard;

•

hold down the Shift key while dragging when you want the lines to be symmetrical and evenly spaced;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift + Drag when you want to drag out the grid from its center. Refer to Figure 2-132; or

Figure 2-132.  Rectangular Grid tool and a Rectangular Grid on the artboard

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•

click on the Artboard with the tool and enter the Rectangular Grid Tool Options panel. You can set the default size for width and height and the reference point from where the rectangle is dragged. You can also set the number of horizontal dividers (0–999) with skew setting from bottom to top (-500,0, 500%), and vertical dividers (0–999) with the skew setting from left to right (-500,0,500%). Refer to Figure 2-133.

Figure 2-133.  Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box next to a selected rectangular grid with live corner widgets •

Enable Use Outside Rectangle As Frame when you want a border around the grid and Fill Grid if you want the current fill in the Toolbars panel inside, In this case it is disabled and the fill is set to none. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-133.

Control Panel Options No additional shape properties are found in the Control, Properties, or Transform panels. In this case a grid is considered a grouped shape. However, you can use the Control, Properties, or Transform panels to adjust basic settings, like when you created a path with the Pen tool and selected the path with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-134.

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Figure 2-134.  The rectangular grid is considered a group object You can select the whole grid using the Selection tool, select a line in the grid using the Group Selection tool, or a point on a line using the Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-135.

Figure 2-135.  Parts of grids can be modified with the Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, and Group Selection tool You will see an example of the Rectangle Grid tool being used in Chapter 13 to add perspective to a building to give the effect of windows on skyscrapers.

Polar Grid Tool The last shape tool in Illustrator is the Polar Grid tool. It creates a series of lines and circles and arranges them in a grid-like spider-web pattern. To create a polar grid, you can either •

drag out the grid on the Artboard and release the mouse;

•

hold down the Shift key while dragging when you want the circle to be symmetrical and the lines evenly spaced;

•

press Alt/Option + Shift + Drag when you want to drag out the grid from the center. Refer to Figure 2-136; or

Figure 2-136.  Polar Grid tool and a Polar Grid on the artboard

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•

click on the Artboard with the tool and enter the Polar Grid tool options. You can set a default size for width and height, and the reference point from which the polar grid is to be dragged. Number of concentric dividers can be set (0–999), with the Skew setting from In to Out (-500,0,500%), as can the number of radial dividers (0–999), with the Skew setting from Bottom to Top (-500,0,500%). Refer to Figure 2-137.

Figure 2-137.  Polar Grid Tool Options dialog box Enable Create Compound Path From Ellipses when you enable Fill Grid, using the current fill in the Toolbars. In this case it is disabled, and the fill is set to none. However, those checkbox options together would create a target-like pattern if there were a current fill set in the Toolbars panel. Click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 2-137 and Figure 2-138.

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Figure 2-138.  Polar Grid with a setting of Create Compound Path From Ellipses and Fill Grid, and the other with just the setting of Fill Grid

Control Panel Options No additional shape properties are found in the Control, Properties, or Transform panels. Like the rectangular grid, this is considered a group shape, and you can refer to the Rectangular Grid tool for more details.

■■Tip If you are dragging out a shape with one of the Shape tools, make sure to experiment by holding down the tilde key (~). Rather than Alt/Option-dragging to make copies, this creates multiple shapes all at once and rotates and scales copies at the same time. Refer to Figure 2-139.

Figure 2-139.  Use the tilde key when dragging out a shape to create a unique pattern

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Tips for Practicing with the Artboard and Layers Panel To view my shape examples, make sure to look at the file shape_practice.ai. I put all the shapes on one layer and expanded the size of the Artboard using the Artboard tool. Refer to Figure 2-140.

Figure 2-140.  The Artboard tool and selected Artboard We will practice using this tool in the next project, and I will explain how to expand the Artboard. However, as you practice a shape you may want to use the Layers panel to create multiple layers for practice by clicking the Create New Layer button. Then lock and hide the visibility of a completed layer so you have a clean layer to work with. Refer to Figure 2-141.

Figure 2-141.  Layers panel with shapes on separate layers We will be using layers in the next project to keep our shapes organized and neat.

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Align Panel to Align Shapes As you create one or more shapes, you can rely on the Align panel to line up the shapes. The Align panel, as you have seen, will often be present in either the Control or the Properties panel or can be accessed separately using the Window menu. Refer to Figure 2-142.

Figure 2-142.  Align panel and its menu As mentioned, when two or more objects are Shift + Click selected, you can use the Align panel to align objects horizontally on their left, center, and right, or vertically on their top, center, and bottom. Or you can distribute three or more objects evenly either vertically: top, center, or bottom, or horizontally: left, center, or right. Refer to Figure 2-143.

Figure 2-143.  Shapes arranged using the Align panel

You can also adjust the distribute spacing vertically or horizontally by a set space amount with a key object and align to Artboard, selection, or key object. Refer to Figure 2-142.

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Use the Pathfinder to Edit Shapes In Chapter 3, in Photoshop, you used the Properties panel and Pathfinder options to edit shapes. In this chapter, you can use the Pathfinder panel as well. However, to alter the order of your shapes or path within a layer or sub-layers, before using the Pathfinder panel, select a single shape or path with your Selection tool and choose from the main menu: Object ➤ Arrange ➤ •

Bring to Front: Shift + Ctrl/CMD + ]

•

Bring Forward: Ctrl/CMD + ]

•

Send Backward: Ctrl/CMD + [

•

Send to Back: Shift + Ctrl/CMD + [

Refer to Figure 2-144.

Figure 2-144.  Use the Object menu to arrange shapes on a selected layer and its sub-layers. Use the Layers panel to move objects from one layer to another

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Knowing these key combinations is very useful when you want to move selected shapes above or below each other on a layer, without having to use the Object menu each time. Note, however, that this only works within the layer and sub-layer. In situations where you must move an item above or below onto another layer, while the item is selected use the Layers panel to drag the selected item—represented by a colored square on the right—to a new layer. Now go to Window ➤ Pathfinder panel, which you can use to edit and build your shapes. Refer to Figure 2-145.

Figure 2-145.  Pathfinder panel and its menu When two shapes or paths are Shift + Click selected with the Selection tool, you can access the Pathfinder panel to help you build or modify the shapes, to enhance distortions, and to cut out various shapes when you click on the different buttons. Refer to Figure 2-146.

Figure 2-146.  Two shapes, and then they are Shift + Click selected with the Selection tool Shape modes (Unite, Minus Front, Intersect, and Exclude) can be kept editable as compound shapes when you hold down the Alt/Option key as you click on a button in the panel. Refer to Figure 2-147.

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Figure 2-147.  Example of the Pathfinder panel shape modes and the Expand button And you only commit when you click the Expand button in the Pathfinder panel. However, the Pathfinders (Divide, Trim, Merge, Crop, Outline, and Minus Back), when clicked on, are destructive right away and cannot be saved as compound shapes. Refer to Figure 2-148.

Figure 2-148.  Examples of the Pathfinder panel options. Merge behaves differently when the colors are the same versus different

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You can see these Pathfinder examples in more detail in the file two_blends.ai, and see Chapter 10 for an example when working with type.

■■Note To create live, editable shapes you can use the Effect ➤ Pathfinder menu. See Chapter 11 for more details on that topic. For certain Pathfinder settings, this is a better and less destructive option. Make sure, at this point, to save any of your practice projects that you have created so far.

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 1 For this part of the chapter, I am going to show you how to create paths or copy paths that can be used to create the start of a scene. In the project and in some of the following chapters, we are going to build an image of a young girl who is standing on a hill overlooking a farm and blowing dandelion seeds that are being moved by the wind. Refer to Figure 2-149.

Figure 2-149.  An illustration of a young girl at a farm blowing dandelion seeds over a field To start, create a practice file by going to File ➤ New and creating a preset, as you did in Chapter 1. Or, if you want to follow along, you can save a copy of my file Landscape1_start.ai.

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Setting the Size of the Artboard In your own project, go to File ➤ New ➤ Print ➤ Letter. Enter the width and height dimensions, such as 8.5x11 inches, portrait, and enter the other preset attributes based on the preset chosen. Click the Create button. You are presented with a file in the set size. Refer to Figure 2-150 and Figure 2-151.

Figure 2-150.  Preset settings in New Document dialog box

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Figure 2-151.  Blank document created from preset settings

■■Note At this point, you should make sure that you View ➤ Rulers ➤ Show Rulers (Ctrl/CMD+R). They should be set to the increments of inches if you set this earlier when you created your document. Also, make sure that your View ➤ Smart Guides (Ctrl/CMD+U) are enabled as well. This will assist us as we add guides and shapes. Refer to Figure 2-152.

Figure 2-152.  Rulers and Smart Guides should be enabled

However, this set size of Artboard is in no way permanent. As you draw a landscape on your Artboard using your Pen tool or Rectangle tool, you may discover that you need more room, or you may realize that a landscape orientation was really what you wanted. Refer to Figure 2-153.

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Figure 2-153.  Using the Rectangle tool to draw the ground and sky and then realizing the Artboard is not wide enough

As you work on your project you can alter the Artboard’s size and orientation very easily using the Toolbars Artboard tool (Shift+ O). Refer to Figure 2-154.

Figure 2-154.  Toolbars panel Artboard tool Click on the tool to enter Artboard Editing mode. Refer to Figure 2-155.

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Figure 2-155.  Artboard Editing mode

In this case, you can use either the Control panel or Properties panel to change your Artboard settings, or use the bounding box handles around the Artboard to move or increase or decrease the size of the Artboard. Refer to Figure 2-156.

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Figure 2-156.  The Control and Properties panels while in Artboard Editing mode In this case, I’ll use the Control panel to alter the size. Initially, in the new file that I created, the Artboard would be set to Letter and Portrait. Refer to Figure 2-157.

Figure 2-157.  Control panel with Artboard settings However, to avoid repositioning artwork, I set it to Landscape. I move my reference point from center to lower left. You can see what would happen if I did not do that. Refer to Figure 2-158.

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Figure 2-158.  Setting the Artboard to Landscape but with an incorrect Artboard reference point

■■Note If you made this mistake at this point, you can Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) and try again.

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The lower left positioning as landscape is good. Refer to Figure 2-159.

Figure 2-159.  Setting the Artboard to Landscape but with a correct Artboard reference point in the lower left

However, if you want to have a wide landscape, you need to extend the Artboard a bit more on the right; the preset of Letter is not going to work. I decide to use a Legal size of 8.5x14, so from the Select Preset dropdown menu I choose that setting, and you can see that now in the Control panel and on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 2-160.

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Figure 2-160.  Setting the preset to Legal for the Artboard. Settings are W: 14 in and H: 8.5 in because it is landscape There are many other preset sizes that you could choose from, depending on your project, whether it be for print or the web. You can even use the bounding box handles or Control panel width (W) and height (H) text boxes to set a custom size and constrain proportions. However, I find that if your eventual project is for print, it’s always good before you start to familiarize yourself with some of the different custom paper sizes and learn whether you can print those dimensions with your home printer or, for larger sizes, email them to your local print house. Because I am working with US measurements, common sizes like Letter 8.5 in x 11 in, Legal 8.5 in x 14 in, or Tabloid 11 in x 17 in are good dimensions to memorize. The preset dimensions that you use will vary from country to country, and all depend on your layout. Refer to Figure 2-161.

■■Note If you are working with multiple Artboards, you can use other buttons in the Control panel that appear to add, delete, move, or copy Artboards, as well as additional Artboard options. You can also arrange all Artboards and align them.

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Figure 2-161.  Additional Artboard mode settings However, in this case we are only using one Artboard, so to commit your settings you then either click Exit in the Properties panel or click on the Hand tool in your Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 2-162.

Figure 2-162.  Exiting Artboard mode using the Properties panel or the Hand tool

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I then save the document at this point as Landscape1_start.ai. In your case you can save the file with your initials on it. Or refer to my copy of the file if you want to follow along. Now, look at the Layers panel to see how I created the next steps. In this case, my Layers panel has a base Layer 1. Refer to Figure 2-163.

Figure 2-163.  Layers panel with a single Layer 1

I double-clicked beside the layer name to enter the new Layer Options dialog box to call it Background. The Layer Options dialog box allows you to, besides set a name, set its layer color. You can change the layer color any time if you find that it is conflicting with your art as you draw paths on the layer. You can turn the layer into a template, as we will see shortly. Lock the layer. Show or make the layer visible. Print the layer, preview or dim the images on the layer to a set percentage. Leave the layer at the default settings of Show, Print, and Preview enabled and click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 2-164.

Figure 2-164.  Use the Layer Options dialog box to rename the layer and view its options

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Now, create a new layer above the Background layer by clicking the Create New Layer button. Refer to Figure 2-165.

Figure 2-165.  Create a new layer above the Background layer This time just double-click on the Layer 2 name to rename it; I called it Guides. Refer to Figure 2-166.

Figure 2-166.  Rename the layer Guides and then click beside the name to confirm it Then, click outside the text area to the right to confirm the name. On this layer, because my rulers are active, I drag down two horizontal guides from the rulers using my Selection tool. The upper coordinate is at Y: 2.83 in, and the lower is at Y: 5.6 in. Refer to Figure 2-167.

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Figure 2-167.  Use the ruler to drag down two horizontal guides You can make sure this is correct by selecting a guide with the Selection tool and checking the Y value in the Control panel. If not correct, you can type this into the text box. Refer to Figure 2-168.

Figure 2-168.  Use your Control panel while a guide is selected to adjust your settings

■■Note In this example your X value, width (W) value, and height (H) value may be different than mine, but they do not need to be the same, as only the Y value is needed. I set these guides to allow me to divide the height of the landscape into thirds so I can figure out roughly where I want the horizon line, sky, and mountains to be placed as I draw them. Dividing 8.5 by 3 gives me roughly the numbers of 2.83 and 5.6. I could also add vertical guidelines for placement, but for me this is more abstract, so knowing that I have the boundary of 14 in on the Artboard is good for now. To keep the guides in place, I then lock the Guides layer by clicking next to the layer’s visibility eye. Then I select the Background layer again. Refer to Figure 2-169.

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Figure 2-169.  Use the Layers panel to lock the Guides layer Now, on the Background layer, we need to add some ground and sky. In your case this area, as you build this layer, might be currently blank, or maybe you have dragged out two rectangles to represent the sky and the ground. Refer to Figure 2-170.

Figure 2-170.  Use your Rectangle tool to drag out two rectangles for the ground and sky, if not done already I first dragged out the sky to cover the page, W: 14 in and H: 8.5 in, as you can see in the Properties panel. I used the setting X: 7 in and Y: 4.25 in from reference point center. Refer to Figure 2-171.

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Figure 2-171.  Use the Properties panel to set the X, Y, W, and H for your rectangle I set the fill color, using the Control panel, to C=70, M=15, Y=0, K=0, and the stroke color to none. Refer to Figure 2-172.

Figure 2-172.  Use the Control panel to set the fill and stroke colors for the sky, as seen in the Toolbars panel Currently, in my Toolbars panel, the Drawing setting is set to Draw Normal, so that each new shape will draw on top of the other. Refer to Figure 2-173.

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Figure 2-173.  Make sure as you draw additional shapes that the Toolbars panel is set to Draw Normal Make sure that your Toolbars panel is set to Draw Normal mode and not Draw Behind or Draw Inside. Next, I will draw the ground area using my Rectangle tool again. Refer to Figure 2-174.

Figure 2-174.  Use the Rectangle tool to draw the ground if you have not already done so

■■Note If you have already drawn the ground and it is behind the blue sky, then just select the blue rectangle with your Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back. Drag out a rectangle to the size of W:14 in, H:2.9 in, with the coordinates of X:7 in, Y:7.05 in, in the lower half of the picture. Refer to Figure 2-175.

Figure 2-175.  Use the Properties panel to set the X, Y, W, and H for your rectangle for the ground

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In your View menu, if your Smart Guides are on, the rectangle should snap to the guides. Now, using the Control panel, color the ground with a fill of C=90, M=30, Y=95, K=30, and set the stroke color to be black with a 1 pt stroke weight. Refer to Figure 2-176 and Figure 2-177.

Figure 2-176.  Use the Control panel to set the fill color for the ground

Figure 2-177.  Use the Control panel to set the stroke color for the ground The stroke gives us a light boundary line for the horizon.

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At this point, while you are drawing the basic shapes, do not be concerned about realism in colors. Later, in Chapter 8, we will improve many of the colors using multiple gradients and transparencies. For now, working with solid colors is best. Lock the Background layer for now and create another layer above it, Layer 3. Refer to Figure 2-178.

Figure 2-178.  Lock the Background layer and create another layer above it

Working with Template Layers and Locked Layers Now we need to add the mountains and foreground. You can draw them using the Pen tool, which can be practiced over a template layer or a locked layer, which I have created in the file mountains_foreground_ trace.ai.

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Save a copy if you want to follow along. Refer to Figure 2-179.

Figure 2-179.  In the Layers panel, view the template layer Template layers are useful when you have artwork or photo images (linked or embedded) that you want to practice tracing over with your Pen tool. If you have artwork on a specific layer that you want to make into a template layer, select the layer in the Layers panel and double-click on it. Enable the Template setting and click OK. Refer to Figure 2-180.

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Figure 2-180.  Layer Options dialog box with template settings This automatically locks the layer in place. On a new blank layer, or Layer 3 when selected, you can begin to trace with the Pen tool using what you learned earlier in the chapter. Refer to Figure 2-181.

Figure 2-181.  Pen tool

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Select Layer 3. See my example of how I drew the first mountain closest to me. Refer to Figure 2-182.

Figure 2-182.  Use the Pen tool to trace over the nearest mountain to create a path with points While working with your Pen tool, make sure to set the fill to none and the stroke to a color you can easily see while you trace. I often use CMYK cyan with a stroke of 1 pt. You can do that before you start using your Control panel, or swap using the Toolbars panel or Swatches panel while you trace. Refer to Figure 2-183.

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Figure 2-183.  Change the stroke to an easy-to-see color before you use the Pen tool by clicking on a swatch color In your case, you may have to later straighten and alter the locations of the points and paths using the Direct Selection tool. To do that, make sure to zoom in (Ctrl/CMD++) and use your Hand tool (spacebar) to move about without disrupting the path. Refer to Figure 2-184.

Figure 2-184.  Use the Direct Selection tool to modify paths; your Zoom tool to get a closer view; and your hand tool to move about without disrupting the path

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With some of the mountains' being behind the other, you may have to end off the path that is touching part of the opposite mountain, with some of it overlapping the foreground mountain. With photos that can be tricky to know where to stop. Refer to Figure 2-185.

Figure 2-185.  Knowing where to stop the path can be tricky when it goes behind another part of the image Because you are tracing over vector objects that I have already created, what you can do is double-click on the Template layer and uncheck the Template checkbox in the Layer Options dialog box. Then just enable Lock and click OK. Refer to Figure 2-186.

Figure 2-186.  Reset your layer’s Layer Options so that you can easily view my paths to practice tracing Now return to Layer 3 and select it. I also turned off the visibility for the Guides layer for the moment. Refer to Figure 2-187.

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Figure 2-187.  Return to Layer 3 to continue tracing Then go to View ➤ Outline (Ctrl/CMD+Y). This puts you into a type of path view where you only see the outline of shapes. Refer to Figure 2-188.

Figure 2-188.  Using Outline Mode allows you to see all the paths you need to trace Now, continue with Layer 3 and use your Pen tool to trace the middle mountain, the mountain in the distance, and the foreground area. Refer to Figure 2-189 and Figure 2-190.

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Figure 2-189.  Use your Pen tool to trace the middle mountain

Figure 2-190.  Use the Pen tool to trace the mountain on the right and the foreground area

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Once you have completed tracing your shapes, go to View ➤ Preview (Ctrl/CMD+Y); you should see your new paths on Layer 3. You can see how that looks with the Mountains and Foreground layer’s visibility turned off. Refer to Figure 2-191.

Figure 2-191.  Here are how the traced areas should appear with the cyan stroke and fill of none Now I Shift + Click to select each path with the Selection tool and set the stroke color to Black using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 2-192.

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Figure 2-192.  Shift + Click to select each path and then use the Control panel to set the stroke to black

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Click off the Artboard to deselect the paths. Refer to Figure 2-193.

Figure 2-193.  How the paths appear as a black stroke

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To help us color the paths quickly, we can turn back on the visibility of the Mountains and Foreground layer. But do not select that layer—remain on Layer 3. Refer to Figure 2-194.

Figure 2-194.  Make sure you have your Mountains and Foreground layer visible and Layer 3 selected in the Layers panel With the Selection tool, select the first mountain path on the left and, using the Eyedropper tool from your Toolbars panel, click on the dark green color. Refer to Figure 2-195.

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Figure 2-195.  Use the Eyedropper tool to sample colors from the locked layer below This tool should pick up the attributes from the underlying layer and color the path with those current fill and stroke colors. Now repeat those steps with the middle mountain. Select the mountain path and then click on the midgreen color with the Eyedropper tool so that it takes on its attributes. Refer to Figure 2-196.

Figure 2-196.  Sample colors using the eyedropper tool for the middle mountain and mountain on the right when selected

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Next, repeat those steps with the Selection tool on the mountain farthest away on the right with the light green and the foreground area in gray. Refer to Figure 2-198.

■■Tip: If you need to check what current attributes your Eyedropper picks up, you can double-click on it in the Toolbars panel, or when the tool is selected in the Properties panel click on the Tool Options button. Refer to Figure 2-197.

Figure 2-197.  Use the Properties panel to check the Eyedropper tool options

At this point, depending on the order in which you drew the mountains, you will notice that some are overlapping incorrectly. Refer to Figure 2-198.

Figure 2-198.  The mountains are currently in the order they were traced, but they need to be behind one another This is because, as mentioned earlier, Illustrator always draws the next path over the top of the previous path, as per the settings in the Toolbars panel. To correct the order of the middle and right-most mountain, first select the middle mountain with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back. Refer to Figure 2-199.

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Figure 2-199.  Correct the order for the selected middle mountain using the Object ➤ Arrange menu

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Then, select the light green mountain on the right with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back. Refer to Figure 2-200.

Figure 2-200.  Correct the order for the selected mountain on the right using the Object ➤ Arrange menu The gray foreground in this case is fine where it is, but if it were below a layer then you could use Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front to make sure it was the topmost shape, as we will do a few times later in the project. Click outside the Artboard if you need to deselect your paths and Ctrl/CMD+- or Ctrl/CMD+0 if you need to zoom out to see the picture.

Using the Line Segment Tool To finish our drawing of the mountains, let’s use the Line tool to trace over the lines. We can do that in View ➤ Outline mode. Select the Line Segment tool to draw over the lines while on Layer 3. Ctrl/CMD++ if you need to Zoom in for a closer look while using the Line Segment tool. Refer to Figure 2-201.

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Figure 2-201.  Use the Line Segment tool to create the lines in the field With your Smart Guides active, you should easily be able to trace over the lines. Continue to use the Line Segment tool over the next six lines, as it does not matter what kind of stroke or fill color they have. We will correct that later, as the lines are needed to create rows and at the same time a feeling of distance and perspective, and it’s OK if they go off the Artboard. In this case the lines were a black stroke with a stroke weight of 1 pt. Refer to Figure 2-202.

Figure 2-202.  Shift + Click the lines and use the Control panel to set them to black and a stroke weight of 1 pt

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Now, return to View ➤ Preview (Ctrl/CMD+Y). Shift + Click on each of the seven lines with your Selection tool. While selected, set the stroke color in the Control panel to C=85, M=10, Y=100, K=10. Refer to Figure 2-203.

Figure 2-203.  Shift+ Click the lines and use the Control panel to set them to a new color Click off the Artboard to deselect the lines. Now select, with the Selection tool, the closest line on the left and set the stroke weight to 6 pt using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 2-204.

Figure 2-204.  Select each line and set to a new Stroke Weight Then select each line one at a time and adjust the line’s stroke weight as follows. Refer to Figure 2-205. •

Line 2 to 5 pt

•

Line 3 to 4 pt

•

Line 4 to 3 pt

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•

Line 5 to 3 pt

•

Line 6 to 2 pt

•

Line 7 leave at 1 pt

Figure 2-205.  The seven lines with their new stroke weights This makes the lines look finer as they move into the distance. Save your work at this point.

Copying and Pasting Between Documents Now, while on Layer 3, make sure that the other two layers are locked. Refer to Figure 2-206.

Figure 2-206.  Layers panel with Layer 3 selected

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From the Select menu choose Select ➤ All (Ctrl/CMD+A). Refer to Figure 2-207.

Figure 2-207.  Select all the paths This selects all the paths on this layer. We can see this is so by the square icon on that layer in the Layers panel. Refer to Figure 2-208.

Figure 2-208.  Layers panel with all the paths selected Now, in the Main menu, go to Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C) and return to your copy of the Landscape1_ start.ai document.

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Make sure that the Guides layer and Background layer are locked and then select Layer 3. Refer to Figure 2-209.

Figure 2-209.  Back in the Landscape1_start document with Layer 3 selected Now Edit ➤ Paste in Place (Shift+ Ctrl/CMD+V). Refer to Figure 2-210.

Figure 2-210.  Use the Edit menu to paste the paths in place This will work because both documents were the same size, so the mountains and foreground area should fit very closely to the guides. Refer to Figure 2-211.

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Figure 2-211.  The paths pasted into Layer 3 Now I will rename my Layer 3 “Mountains and Foreground.” Refer to Figure 2-212.

Figure 2-212.  Rename Layer 3 in the Layers panel

Then I will lock that layer. Refer to Figure 2-213.

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Using Ellipse Tool to Create a Sun Now create a new layer in the Layers panel, Layer 4, above the Mountains and Foreground layer and select the Ellipse tool. Click on the Artboard to enter the Ellipse dialog box. Set the width to 2.2738 in and height to 1.8876 in. Click OK. Refer to Figure 2-213.

Figure 2-213.  Lock the Mountains and Foreground layer, create a new Layer 4, and use the Ellipse tool dialog box I colored the fill of the sun a CMYK yellow color using the Control panel and set the stroke to none. I moved it low on the horizon, partly going off the Artboard with my center registration point set at X: 13.4659 in and Y: 4.6059 in mark, which I set using my Properties panel. Refer to Figure 2-214.

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Figure 2-214.  Use the Control panel to set the color of the ellipse and the Properties panel to move it into place

■■Note This is not a perfectly round sun as it is low on the horizon and would be more elliptical due to atmospheric distortion. Later in Chapter 8 we will add a gradient so that it appears more sun-like. ■■Tip Another tool that you can use to create a sun would be the star tool with multiple points. Refer to Figure 2-215.

Figure 2-215.  Toolbars Star tool

Now change the Layer 4 name to “Sun” (double-click on the name) and lock the layer. Refer to Figure 2-216.

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Figure 2-216.  Rename Layer 4 to “Sun” and lock the layer

Now the picture is taking shape. Refer to Figure 2-217.

Figure 2-217.  How the landscape currently appears

Copying, Pasting, and Placing Grouped Paths Now, I will copy some group paths of the girl that I created earlier and place that on its own layer to finish this part of the chapter.

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Open girl_trace.ai. Refer to Figure 2-218.

Figure 2-218.  The girl and her placement in the document in the Layers panel As we progress through the book, I will go into more detail as to how shading, paths, and gradients were used to create this girl. But essentially, she started off as several photos that I placed on a locked layer. I traced over them in Illustrator with the Pen, Ellipse, and Line Segment tools and then used the Selection and Direct Selection tools to modify the points on the path while looking at the underlying photo. This was very similar to what we did with the mountains while using a template layer or a locked layer. You can see her design is complex if you view it as an outline. Refer to Figure 2-219.

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Figure 2-219.  The girl in Outline mode After I create the girl with the various tools, I drag a rectangular marquee around her with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 2-220.

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Figure 2-220.  Select the girl with the Selection tool and group the paths Then, from the menu I choose Object ➤ Group (Ctrl/CMD+G). This keeps all the paths together so that I can move them as one unit. Refer to Figure 2-220. While selected, you can go to Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C).

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Now return to your copy of the file Landscape1_start.ai and create a new Layer 5. Double-click on the layer and rename this layer “Girl.” Refer to Figure 2-221.

Figure 2-221.  Create a new Layer 5 and rename the layer “Girl” in the Landscape1_start document

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Now with this layer selected go to Edit ➤ Paste (Ctrl/CMD+V). Refer to Figure 2-222.

Figure 2-222.  Paste the girl into the document Use the Selection tool and the Properties panel to move the girl to the correct coordinates—X: 1.4813 in and Y: 5.2122 in from center reference point; in this case, there is no need to scale her. Refer to Figure 2-223.

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Figure 2-223.  Use the Selection tool and the Properties panel to set the girl at the correct X and Y coordinates You can lock this Girl layer at this point. Refer to Figure 2-224.

Figure 2-224.  Lock the Girl layer

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Add Another Line to the Field Lastly, I return to the Mountains and Foreground layer, unlock it, and drag out one more line with the Line Segment tool. I scale it in the Properties panel to X: 5.1594 Y:6.6971, W: 3.639 in, H: 2.1942 in and set the angle to 328.38°. In the Control panel the stroke color is set to C=85, M=10, Y=100, K=10, and the stroke weight to 8 pt. Refer to Figure 2-225.

Figure 2-225.  Unlock the layer and draw with the Line Segment tool, set the stroke color, and use the Properties panel to set the X, Y, W, H, and angle rotation of the line Then select the gray foreground with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front so that the green line is behind the gray foreground, making it appear like the girl is on a high hill overlooking the fields. Refer to Figure 2-226.

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Figure 2-226.  Select the gray foreground and use the Object ➤ Arrange menu to move it above the new stroke Then lock all the layers. Refer to Figure 2-227.

Figure 2-227.  Lock all the layers in your Layers panel

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Save your copy of the Landscape1_start.ai file with your initials and close any other open files at this point. You can see my final file Landscape1_1.ai to compare.

Summary After working with these Pen and Shape tools we can see how basic distorts can be made to each shape or path using the Selection, Direct Selection, and Group Selection tools. You can also scale, rotate, and edit shapes or paths using the Control, Properties, Transform, Align, and Pathfinder panels. Then we saw how paths and shapes can be used to create the start of a landscape image. In the next chapter, we will work with a few more tools to modify distortions as we would with Free Transform tools in Photoshop.

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Working with Scale, Shear, Reshape, and Free Transform Tools Chapter Goal: Get used to working with various tools in the Illustrator Toolbars panel and Object menu to distort shapes and paths. Now that you are comfortable working with the Shapes and Pens tools, it’s time to look at a few additional tools you can use in conjunction with the Control, Transform, and Properties panels to further warp your objects. Some of these tools have additional options, found in the Object ➤ Transform menu. Refer to Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1.  Illustrator’s Rotate, Reflect, Scale, Shear, Reshape, and Free Transform tools. Dialog boxes for many of these tools can be found in the Object ➤ Transform menu

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_3

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■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 3 folder. For practice, create a new document with the settings found in Chapter 1, or use my file reshape_ tools.ai to practice with various shapes and tools.

Move (Selection Tool) As mentioned in Chapter 2, the Selection tool operates like the Move tool in Photoshop. However, if you have an object type selected with the Selection tool, whether a shape or a path, when you double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel you can enter the Move dialog box. This is the same as choosing Object ➤ Transform ➤ Move, or Shift+ Ctrl/CMD+M, while the object is selected. Refer to Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2.  The Move dialog box can be found with the Selection tool; options change if the shape has a pattern

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The Move dialog box, with the preview enabled, allows you to position your object horizontally or vertically, or at a set distance or angle (0°–360°) from the point of origin. Updating one text box updates the others collectively. By default, the options are grayed out for Transform Objects and Transform Patterns. However, if your shape contains a pattern swatch then these options become available, and you can transform the object and pattern collectively or separately. If you want to move the current object, click OK, or if you want to move a copy of the object, then click the Copy button. Clicking the Cancel button exits the dialog box without the move occurring. Refer to Figures 3-2 and 3-3.

Figure 3-3.  Result of using the Move dialog box to create a copy of the shape

■■Note  You can also access the Move dialog box when a shape is selected with the Group Selection tool, or when a point on a path is selected with the Direct Selection tool. Just double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel while the object or path is selected. Refer to Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4.  The Move dialog box is also used with the Direct Selection and Group Selection tools

Rotate Tool (R) Use the Rotate tool on a selected object rather than relying on the Transform panel for rotating. Use the bounding box handles. This is a better tool to use as it results in a more accurate rotation, based on a custom reference point on your object. Refer to Figure 3-5 and Figure 3-6.

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Figure 3-5.  The Transform panel allows you to do a basic rotation of a shape When an object is first selected with the Selection tool and then the Rotate tool, rather than just rotating from the center you can click to move or drag your reference point of rotation to a new location on or off the object, and then drag the object to rotate around that point. Refer to Figure 3-6.

Figure 3-6.  Select an object with the Selection tool, then the Rotate tool. Click to set the reference point for rotation, and then drag to rotate

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Holding down the Shift key while dragging can constrain the rotation to 45° angles. Holding down the Alt/Option key while dragging the object creates a rotated copy around that reference point. To create more copies, make sure to click on the reference point again before you Alt/Option-drag another copy; otherwise, you might reset the reference point by mistake. You can also double-click on the Rotate tool to enter the Rotate dialog box; this is the same as choosing Object ➤ Transform ➤ Rotate. With the preview enabled, you can set the angle of rotation (0°–360°) as well as enable the options Transform Objects and Transform Patterns, if they are present. Refer to Figure 3-7.

Figure 3-7.  Use the Rotate dialog box to rotate a copy of the object If you want to rotate the current object, click OK, or if you want a copy of the object, click the Copy button. The Cancel button exits the dialog box without the rotation occurring. Refer to Figure 3-7.

■■Note If you hold down the Alt/Option key while clicking to move the reference point of rotation to a new location, you can enter the Rotate dialog box and retain the same point position, rather than reverting to the center-point position when you double-click on the tool. Holding down the Ctrl/CMD key while dragging allows you to move the object and keep the point of rotation in the same location during the move.

Reflect Tool (O) Use the Reflect tool rather than rely on the Transform panel menu or Properties panel options. Refer to Figure 3-8 and Figure 3-9.

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Figure 3-8.  Use the Transform panel menu or Properties panel to do a basic horizontal or vertical flip of an object When an object is first selected with the Selection tool and then the Reflect tool, rather than just reflecting over the center, you can click to move or drag your reference point of reflection to a new location on or off the object, and then drag the object to rotate on that axis angle of reflection. Holding down the Shift key while dragging can constrain the reflection to 45° angles. Holding down the Alt/Option key while you drag the object creates a reflection copy around that reference point. To create more copies, make sure to click on the reference point again before you Alt/Option-drag another copy; otherwise, you might reset the reference point by mistake. Refer to Figure 3-9.

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Figure 3-9.  Select an object with the Selection tool, then Reflect tool, and set the reference point for reflection. Then, drag to reflect As well, you can double-click on the Reflect tool to enter the Reflect dialog box; this is the same as choosing Object ➤ Transform ➤ Reflect. With the preview enabled, you can set the axis of reflection to be either horizontal or vertical, set the angle (0°–360°) in positive or negative numbers, and enable the options Transform Objects and Transform Patterns, if they are present. Refer to Figure 3-10.

Figure 3-10.  Use the Reflect dialog box to reflect a copy of the object If you want to reflect the current object, click OK, or if you want a copy of the object, then click the Copy button. The Cancel button exits the dialog box without the reflection occurring. Refer to Figure 3-10.

■■Note If you hold down the Alt/Option key while clicking to move the reference point of reflection to a new location, you can enter the Reflect dialog box and retain the same point position rather than reverting to a center point when you double-click on the tool. Holding down the Ctrl/CMD key allows you to move the object and keep the point of reflection in the same location during the move.

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Scale Tool (S) Use the Scale tool when you want to scale by percentage, rather than just relying on your Selection tool’s bounding box handles or the Transform panel. Refer to Figure 3-11 and Figure 3-12.

Figure 3-11.  Use your Selection tool with bounding box handles and the Transform panel to scale your object’s width and height When an object is first selected with the Selection tool and then the Scale tool, rather than just scaling from the center you can click to move or drag your reference point of scale to a new location, on or off the object, and then drag to adjust the point of scale. Holding down the Shift key can constrain the object’s width and height. Holding down the Alt/Option key while you drag the object creates a scale copy around that reference point. To create more copies, make sure to click on the reference point again before you Alt/ Option-drag another copy; otherwise, you might reset the reference point by mistake. Refer to Figure 3-12.

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Figure 3-12.  Select an object with the Selection tool, then Scale tool, and set the reference point for scaling. Then, drag to scale your object As well, you can double-click on the Scale tool to enter the Scale dialog box, which is the same as choosing Object ➤ Transform ➤ Scale. With the preview enabled, you can set the percentage of scale to be either uniform or non-uniform, with separate options for horizontal and vertical scaling. Other options that can be enabled or disabled include Scale Corners, Scale Strokes & Effects, Transform Objects, and Transform Patterns, if they are present. Refer to Figure 3-13.

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Figure 3-13.  Use the Scale dialog box to scale a copy of the object

■■Note  Scaling can be in positive or negative percentages between -20,000% and 20,000%. If you want to scale the current object, click OK, or if you want a copy of the object, then click the Copy button. The Cancel button exits the dialog box without the scaling occurring. Refer to Figure 3-13.

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■■Note If you hold down the Alt/Option key while clicking to move the reference point of scale to a new location, you can enter the Scale dialog box and retain the same point position rather than reverting to a center point when you double-click on the tool. Holding down the Ctrl/CMD key allows you to move the object and keep the point of scale in the same location during the move.

Shear Tool Use the Shear tool rather than just relying on your Transform panel when you want to create a custom shear. Refer to Figure 3-14 and Figure 3-15.

Figure 3-14.  Use the Transform panel to do a basic shear of the object

■■Note  Shearing is similar to Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Skew in Photoshop. When an object is first selected with the Selection tool and then the Shear tool, rather than just shearing from the center you can click to move or drag your reference point of shear to a new location on or off the object, and then drag to adjust the point of shear. Drag in an up-and-down direction to shear vertically, or left and right to shear horizontally. Holding down the Shift key can constrain the object’s width and height, depending on the side on which you are dragging. Holding down the Alt/Option key while you drag the object creates a sheared copy around that reference point. To create more copies, make sure to click on the reference point again, before you Alt/Option-drag another copy; otherwise, you might reset the reference point by mistake. Refer to Figure 3-15.

Figure 3-15.  Select an object with the Selection tool, then the Shear tool, and set the reference point for shearing. Then, drag to shear the object

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As well, you can double-click on the Shear tool to enter the Shear dialog box; this is the same as choosing Object ➤ Transform ➤ Shear. With the preview enabled, you can set the shear angle (0°–360°) to be positive or negative, or the axis of shear to be either horizontal, vertical, or by angle (0°–360°), either positive or negative. Other options that can be enabled or disabled include Transform Objects and Transform Patterns, if they are present. Just be aware that if you set the shear angle too large you may get a warning message. Refer to Figure 3-16.

Figure 3-16.  Use the Shear dialog box to shear a copy of the object

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If you want to shear the current object, click OK, or if you want a copy of the object, then click the Copy button. Clicking the Cancel button exits the dialog box without the shear occurring. Refer to Figure 3-16.

■■Note If you hold down the Alt/Option key while clicking to move the reference point of shear to a new location, you can enter the Shear dialog box and retain the same point position, rather than reverting to a center point as happens when you double-click on the tool. Holding down the Ctrl/CMD key allows you to move the object and keep the point of shear in the same location during the move. Shear can be a useful tool when you want to adjust an object according to perspective or cast a shadow on the ground.

■■Note If want to repeat steps (including Move, Rotate, Reflect, Scale, or Shear), you can use Object ➤ Transform ➤ Transform Again or the key command Ctrl/CMD+D.

Transform Each Another way to perform many of these actions at the same time on an object is to select Object ➤ Transform ➤ Transform Each (or Alt/Option+ Shift+ Ctrl/CMD+D). This brings up another dialog box. With the preview enabled, you can move horizontal and vertical sliders for scaling (0%–200%) and move horizontal and vertical sliders to rotate (0°–360°). Options can be enabled or disabled for Transform Objects, Transform Patterns, Scale Strokes & Effects, Scale Corners, Reflect X, Reflect Y, and Random, for random scaling. You can also set the reference point location. Refer to Figure 3-17.

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Figure 3-17.  The Transform Each dialog box allows you to scale, move, and rotate, as well as other options, to transform your object If you want to apply the Transform Each to the current object, click OK, or if you want to do so to a copy of the object, then click the Copy button. Clicking the Cancel button exits the dialog box without the transformation occurring. Refer to Figure 3-17.

■■Tip  When your bounding box has been tilted due to rotation, you can use the Object ➤ Transform ➤ Reset bounding box. Refer to Figure 3-18.

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Figure 3-18.  Transform Each was used to scale, move, and rotate a copy of the object Likewise, if you have multiple selected objects or use Object ➤ Group to group them, you can use any of these mentioned tools and dialog boxes to adjust paths.

Reshape Tool The Reshape tool may be a tool that you are not familiar with or have not used very often, as it is quite hidden among all the other tools in the Toolbar panel. So, you might wonder how to use it. Refer to Figure 3-19.

Figure 3-19.  Toolbars panel Reshape tool Select an object or closed path first with the Selection tool, and then with the Reshape tool. When you click on the path the tool functions like the Add Anchor Point tool in Chapter 2, adding additional points to the path. However, they are smooth and not corner points. This expands the path of the shape. Refer to Figure 3-20.

Figure 3-20.  Select the object first with the Selection tool and then the Reshape tool. Add an anchor point to the object’s path to reshape it Hold down the Alt/Option key if you want to duplicate the path after adding points. Later, you can select points on the path with your Direct Selection tool and modify the path further by dragging points or moving handles. Refer to Figure 3-21.

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Figure 3-21.  Use the Direct Selection tool to reshape the curved closed path However, on a selected open path with no fill, you will discover that you have more control of the path with the Reshape tool and do not need the Direct Selection tool. You can just click and then drag the new anchor points. Refer to Figure 3-22.

Figure 3-22.  When a path is open with no fill and created with the Pen tool, you can use the Reshape tool to add points and edit the path There are no additional dialog boxes for this tool. This tool would be good to use with paths created with the Pen tool, Line tool, Arc tool, or Spiral tool, all of which we reviewed in Chapter 2.

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Free Transform Tool (E) Instead of using the Transform Each dialog box and Transform panel, you can use the Free Transform tool, which has four options for free transforming. Refer to Figure 3-23.

Figure 3-23.  Toolbars panel Free Transform tool with its four options They are as follows: •

Constrain

•

Free Transform

•

Perspective Distort

•

Free Distort

First select an object with the Selection tool, and then do so with the Free Transform tool.

Constrain and Free Transform Constrain acts as a link when enabled, keeping your object proportionate while you use the Free Transform button to drag and scale your shape from a corner point. Or you can hold down the Shift key as you drag. Refer to Figure 3-24.

Figure 3-24.  Use Constrain and Free Transform to scale and rotate your object by dragging on the shape’s bounding box handles To scale relative to the object’s center point, hold down the Alt/Option key as you drag. You can also rotate from a side bounding box handle, or shear the object as well, by using a side handle as the pointer changes. Refer to Figure 3-25.

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Figure 3-25.  Use Constrain and Free Transform to rotate and shear your object by dragging on the shape’s side bounding box handles You can move the shape and also the reference point by dragging as you did with previous tools, to adjust for scaling, rotation, and shear. Refer to Figure 3-26.

Figure 3-26.  Use Constrain and Free Transform and move the reference point, then drag on the bounding box handles to alter the shape Disabling the Constrain link allows you to perform the same warp but disproportionately. Refer to Figure 3-27.

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Figure 3-27.  Disable the Constrain options and continue to use Free Transform to scale, rotate, and shear using the bounding box handles

Perspective Distort Using this sub-tool on the object is similar to using Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Perspective in Photoshop, though that tool is not required for this book. By dragging on one of the four handles, you can adjust the perspective or basic shape. You can also rotate using the handles, but you do not have access to the Constrain option here. Refer to Figure 3-28.

Figure 3-28.  Use the Perspective Distort option to distort your object using the handles, and then rotate the object when pointer changes to curved arrows

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Free Distort Using this tool on the object is similar to using Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Distort in Photoshop. It allows you to move each of the four handles independently, and to rotate the object. You can have the Constrain option enabled or disabled. Refer to Figure 3-29.

Figure 3-29.  Use the Free Distort option to distort your object using the handles, and to rotate the object You can see how this is much more versatile than just using the Transform panel to distort objects.

■■Note  We’ll look at the Puppet Warp tool in Chapter 4. In Chapters 9 and 11, we will look at warps in Illustrator that are similar to Photoshop’s Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Warp, and that involve either envelope distortion or alter effects.

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 2 Let’s continue with the project that we started in Chapter 2. Recall that it is a landscape, with a girl on a farm. Go to File ➤ Open Landscape1_2_start.ai and then File ➤ Save As to make a copy, if you want to follow along for practice.

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In this file, I created a new layer above the Sun layer and renamed it Bushes. Refer to Figure 3-30.

Figure 3-30.  The project has a new layer called Bushes On this layer, I have added one bush already. Next to that bush is a post to mark the end of the row. The bush in this case is a grouped object (Ctrl/CMD+G), so it could be scaled with all of its parts if we use Object ➤ Transform ➤ Scale, creating a copy each time. We could continue to make a row of trees. However, I will show you a better way to do this in Chapter 6 using the Blend tool. Refer to Figure 3-31.

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Figure 3-31.  The bush is selected, and the layer in the Layers panel has many sublayers

■■Note Parts of the bush were created using the Pen and Ellipse tools. Later, you can review its multiple parts by revealing its sub-layers in the Layers panel. Refer to Figure 3-31. For now, let’s focus on adding a shadow to the base of the bush and the post. Adding a shadow to the post is quite easy because it is just a stroke created with the Line tool. Refer to Figure 3-32.

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Figure 3-32.  The post in the image was created using the Line tool. It has a brown-colored stroke with a stroke weight of 3pt, as seen in the Control panel In this case, select the line with the Selection tool. Then, go to Object ➤ Transform ➤ Rotate. Refer to Figure 3-33.

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Figure 3-33.  Use the Rotate tool to set and preview the rotation Rotate the post to a roughly 326° angle and click Copy. Refer to Figure 3-34.

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Figure 3-34.  Use the Rotate tool to create a rotated copy of the post Then, with the Selection tool, drag the line down to the base of the post. In this example, part of the shadow goes off the artboard. Refer to Figure 3-35.

Figure 3-35.  Use the Selection tool to move the copy of the post to the base of the post to start creating a shadow

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Set the stroke to black and then give the line an opacity of 78%. Refer to Figure 3-36.

Figure 3-36.  Use the Control panel to set the copy of the post to black and an opacity of 78% to create a shadow with some transparency Select the post with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front. Then, Shift+ Click to select the shadow and choose Object ➤ Group. Refer to Figure 3-37.

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Figure 3-37.  Use the Selection tool and the Object menu to send the shadow behind the post, and then group the shadow and post together Then, click off the artboard to deselect the group. Refer to Figure 3-37. Adding a shadow to the bush takes a bit more work. In this case, with the Selection tool, select the grouped bush. Refer to Figure 3-38.

Figure 3-38.  Use the Selection tool to select the bush

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Go to Object ➤ Transform ➤ Reflect. Choose to reflect across the horizontal axis. Refer to Figure 3-39.

Figure 3-39.  Use the Reflect dialog box to reflect the bush Then, click the Copy button. Refer to Figure 3-39 and Figure 3-40.

Figure 3-40.  Use the Reflect dialog box to create a copy of the bush and select it with the Selection tool Drag the bush copy with the Selection tool to the base of the bush to create the start of the shadow. Refer to Figure 3-41.

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Figure 3-41.  With the Selection tool, move the copy of the bush to the base of the original bush Now, let’s solidify the fill of the shadow. While this object is selected, go to Window ➤ Pathfinder panel (which you saw in Chapter 2). Under Shapes Modes, select Unite. In this case, do not hold down the Alt/ Option key, as you want it to be one shape. Refer to Figure 3-42.

Figure 3-42.  With the copy selected, use the Pathfinder panel to unite all the paths as one unit to create the start of a shadow

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Change the fill of the bush’s shadow to black with a stroke of none and an opacity of 78%. Refer to Figure 3-43.

Figure 3-43.  Use the Control panel to set your shadow’s fill color, stroke, and opacity

■■Note  We will look at opacity and blending modes in more detail in Chapter 8 and see how they can improve the look of a shadow. OK, that is good. But now we need to twist the shadow so that it looks a bit more in line with the post. Use the Free Transform tool with the Free Distort with Constrain disabled to move the shadow into the following perspective, which is angled. In other situations, try Perspective Distort. Refer to Figure 3-44.

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Figure 3-44.  While the shadow is selected, use the Free Transform Free Distort tool to modify the basic shape of the shadow Afterward, I adjusted some of the points separately with the Direct Selection tool to get the look I wanted. I also moved the shadow’s trunk parts over so that it was more in line with the bush. In your own project, you could use the Shear tool as well to experiment. Refer to Figure 3-45.

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Figure 3-45.  Use your Direct Selection tool to further modify points on your bush’s shadow. Group the bush and shadow and lock the layer in the Layers panel

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Because these bushes are seen at a distance it does not have to be perfect, but try getting the shadow as close to mine as you can. The ground on the farm is bumpy and hilly so the shadow will not lie exactly flat. Now use the Selection tool to create a rectangular marquee around both the shadow and bush and choose Object ➤ Group. Refer to Figure 3-45. At this point, lock your Bushes layer. Save your work. You can see my final file in Landscape1_2_final.ai.

Summary The Scale, Rotate, Reflect, and Shear tools, along with the Transform panel, allow you to modify and twist all or part of your shape. This can be further enhanced with the Object ➤ Transform dialog boxes. You can use the Reshape tool to modify part of a path and Free Transform tools for additional distortions. In the next chapter, we will look at the Puppet Warp tool, which has similar features to the same tool in Photoshop.

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Working with the Puppet Warp Tool Chapter Goal: In Photoshop, it is possible to manipulate or twist a graphic using the Puppet Warp smart filter on a Smart Object layer, as will be seen later in the chapter. However, for now we will practice that similar effect using the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator before briefly comparing it against how that file would appear in Photoshop. At the same time, we’ll look at the differences and similarities between using it in the two applications with vector art and logos.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 4 folder.

Puppet Warp Tool In Illustrator, the Puppet Warp tool, instead of being found in the Edit menu, is found in the Toolbars panel; it is located with the Free Transform tool that we looked at in Chapter 3. Refer to Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1.  Toolbars panel, Puppet Warp tool To use this tool correctly, you need to have a shape, a grouped object of shapes or paths, or a symbol present on the artboard. We will look at symbols in more detail in Chapters 6 and 12. Let’s try working with the Puppet Warp tool now.

Project: Warped Mandala T-Shirt Art Go to File ➤ Open ➤ puppet_warp_start.ai. Then go to File ➤ Save As and make a copy if you want to practice. This is an image that contains two layers: one with a drawing of a T-shirt and the other with the original Mandala design that I created. Refer to Figure 4-2.

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Figure 4-2.  The Layers panel has two layers: one with a T-shirt illustration and the other with a mandala design The T-shirt layer is locked so that when I move my mandala pattern, I do not move the shirt along with it. This is a good way of practicing fashion design to see how your designs will look on clothing.

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Designing a Mandala Parts of my mandala design use various lines as well as clip art that I acquired from my Brushes panel: Decorative ➤ Elegant Curl & Floral Brush Set and Arrows ➤ Pattern Arrows. Refer to Figure 4-3 and Figure 4-4.

Figure 4-3.  Locate unique pieces of clip art from the Brushes panel that you can use to create your own patterns

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Figure 4-4.  Brushes panel library of pattern arrows has many unique vector shapes While I won’t demo how to build the whole mandala, I will point out that if you want to build something similar in a new file you can open your various brush libraries and drag the components of the brush onto the artboard—for example, Arrow Brush Fancy 2—and then use your Selection tool to Shift + Drag it to scale it to a larger size. Refer to Figure 4-5.

Figure 4-5.  Drag a pattern out of the Brushes library and onto the artboard and ungroup the pattern from the invisible boxes (Stroke and Fill of none) Then select Object ➤ Ungroup, twice, so that the objects are separate from their invisible boxes. Then you can move, colorize using the Control panel, and modify each of the objects and patterns separately. Refer to Figure 4-6.

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Figure 4-6.  Drag the parts of the pattern you want away from the invisible boxes and use the Control panel or Swatches panel to colorize your selected object

■■Tip  Make sure to select your invisible box later with the Selection tool and press the Backspace/Delete key to remove the box path so that it does not get added back to your design by mistake. If you can’t locate the box path then, as we did in Chapter 2, use View ➤ Outline (Ctrl/CMD+Y) so that you can find it and delete it, and then use View ➤ Preview to return to normal viewing mode. Refer to Figure 4-7.

Figure 4-7.  Use View ➤ Outline mode if you have difficulty finding the invisible boxes so you can delete them

Acquiring shapes and paths from the Brushes library is a great way to practice building repeating patterns. Afterward, as you saw in Chapter 3, with your selected path you can use your Rotate tool to click a reference point. Then click Alt/Option and drag your mouse to make a copy of your paths. Click the reference point again to keep it in the same location and then repeat the Alt/Option and drag step to place more copies around a circle. The circle is created with the Ellipse tool, using Smart Guides to assist with finding the center point of the circle. Refer to Figure 4-8.

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Figure 4-8.  Use the Rotate tool and its reference point to help rotate copies of the object around a circle to create a pattern In my case, once I completed my design, with the Selection tool I dragged a rectangular marquee around the entire design and then chose Object ➤ Group so that the design would be one grouped object. Refer to Figure 4-9.

Figure 4-9.  After creating your modified pattern, use the Selection tool to select all parts of the pattern and group it as one object We will look at more pattern-creation options in Chapter 5 and Chapter 7.

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Working with the Puppet Warp Tool Once your grouped pattern is complete, you will want to make sure that you keep a backup of the original for other projects, as the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator is a bit destructive compared to that in Photoshop. I will explain a workaround later in the chapter. For now, make sure that your layer Original is selected in the Layers panel and then drag it over the Create New Layer button. This creates a copy of the layer and all artwork on it. Refer to Figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10.  Make a copy of your pattern on a new layer so that you can preserve the original for other projects Now, lock your original layer and turn off the visibility of that layer for now, and make sure to select your Original Copy layer. Refer to Figure 4-11.

Figure 4-11.  Lock the original layer so that you can work on the copy and not move the original by accident With the Selection tool, select the mandala pattern. Scale the pattern down, using the bounding box handles and the Shift key, to the size you want it to be on the T-shirt and move it into position. Refer to Figure 4-12.

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Figure 4-12.  Use your Selection tool to scale the copy Then, choose the Puppet Warp tool from the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13.  Select the Puppet Warp tool from the Toolbars panel A mesh will then appear and cover the pattern, with some pins already in place that you can move and drag. Refer to Figure 4-14.

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Figure 4-14.  Pins and mesh in Puppet Warp tool The mesh options in this case are much more simplified than what is found in Photoshop, and you will find them in the Properties panel or Control panel. Refer to Figure 4-15.

Figure 4-15.  Options for Puppet Warp can be found in the Properties and Control panels They are similar to the ones shown in Photoshop, such as Expand Mesh, which ranges from 1px to 100px and brings disjointed objects together for transformation, and the option to show and hide the mesh. Refer to Figure 4-16.

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Figure 4-16.  Expanding the mesh, and the mesh at 2px In this case, I will leave the Expand Mesh field at the default of 2px. Also, there is only one mesh mode and density. But the mesh becomes more complex as pins are added. As noted, some pins for the shape are already created, but you can click to add more pins to the mesh. The most recently added pin is currently selected. Refer to Figure 4-17.

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Figure 4-17.  Adding a pin to the mesh when you click on a point These pins already have a rotate preview added, allowing you to twist clockwise or counter-clockwise the pin, causing a distort. Refer to Figure 4-18.

Figure 4-18.  You can rotate the pin when you hover over the rotation circle and the mouse pointer changes, then drag You can use the Shift key to click select multiple pins so that you can drag and move them at the same time. Use the Properties panel’s Quick Actions option to choose Select All Pins. Refer to Figure 4-19.

Figure 4-19.  Click Shift and select multiple points in the mesh, or use your Properties panel’s Quick Actions to choose Select All Pins Pins can only be rotated one at a time, so Shift + Click to deselect a pin, or the other pins, so that only one is selected. Refer to Figure 4-20.

Figure 4-20.  Select only one pin when you want to rotate

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Hollow pins are selected, while solid pins are deselected. To delete a pin while selected, press the Delete/Backspace key. Refer to Figure 4-21.

Figure 4-21.  Delete a pin using the Delete/Backspace key Click on the pin and drag and move it to cause a warp. The mesh will temporarily disappear while you are dragging the pin. Refer to Figure 4-22.

Figure 4-22.  Drag the pin to edit the warp

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If you need to undo a drag that you just made, use Edit ➤ Undo or Ctrl/CMD+Z, or use the History panel. At this point, continue to click to add pins to the mesh and drag the pins to the locations that you want them placed. You can see my result here, but it’s OK if your result is slightly different. Refer to Figure 4-23.

Figure 4-23.  Multiple pins added to the mesh and seen with the mesh hidden

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After you are finished adding your warps, you can then choose the Selection tool from the Toolbars panel and click outside the artboard to deselect the grouped object. Refer to Figure 4-24.

Figure 4-24.  The current Puppet Warp deselected While you are in the copy of your file puppet_warp_start.ai, you can continue to work with the Puppet Warp tool to adjust the warp for the shape. But other than removing pins, there is no way to reset the warp back to its original design after you have saved and closed the file.

■■Note It should be mentioned, you can use an Illustrator symbol, which is similar to a Photoshop Smart Object layer. However, upon clicking on the symbol the Puppet Warp is fully applied, breaking the symbol and turning it into a grouped object. An informational message will appear indicating the expansion. Refer to Figure 4-25.

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Figure 4-25.  Symbols that are puppet warped on the artboard become broken from the original symbol and become a grouped object

Therefore, when working with Puppet Warp in Illustrator, you should always make sure to save copies of non-warped objects, either on separate layers, as we did earlier in the chapter, or stored as symbols in the Symbols panel for later use. Refer to Figure 4-26.

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Figure 4-26.  Always store a copy of your original pattern in the Layers panel on its own layer or in the Symbols panel As mentioned, we will discover more about symbols in Chapters 6, 12, and 13. Save your document at this point, and you can compare this Puppet Warp to the mandala pattern in my file puppet_warp_final.ai.

■■Note If you try to Puppet Warp text in Illustrator, it expands as a shape and becomes an outline and group object, and you can then move each grouped letter freely. We’ll look at type in more detail in Chapters 9 and 10. Refer to Figure 4-27.

Figure 4-27.  Type can be warped with the Puppet Warp tool, but it ceases to be editable text, only an outline

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Workaround with Puppet Warp and Photoshop You may have noticed that while you were creating the warp in Illustrator, some of the paths in the grouped object bent in an unexpected way, around the border of the ellipse. Refer to Figure 4-28.

Figure 4-28.  Puppet Warp and Illustrator can distort parts of your pattern in unexpected ways While I enjoy using the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator, I think that using it on a Smart Object layer in Photoshop is a much less destructive option. There is an example of that in the Photoshop file, puppet_warp_photoshop.psd. First, in Illustrator I selected my grouped object with the Selection tool and went to Edit ➤ Copy. Then, in Photoshop, I went to Edit ➤ Paste to get it into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer. I clicked OK and clicked the checkmark in the Options panel to commit. Refer to Figure 4-29.

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Figure 4-29.  Paste a copy of your Illustrator pattern into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer Then, in Photoshop, I applied the Edit ➤ Puppet Warp and clicked to add numerous pins to the mesh using the settings in the Options panel. I then dragged the pins to create the warp. Selected pins can also be deleted using the Backspace/Delete key. Refer to Figure 4-30.

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Figure 4-30.  Use Photoshop to Puppet Warp your pattern instead, to better control the pins After committing the changes in the Options panel with the checkmark icon, the Smart Filter was added to the layer. By using Puppet Warp in Photoshop, you will have greater control over complex patterns. To review my settings in the file, double-click on the Puppet Warp name in the Layers panel then click the cancel icon or commit check icon if you have made changes to the pins. Refer to Figure 4-31.

Figure 4-31.  Pins added and the warp committed in Photoshop Layers panel with Puppet Warp Smart Object Filter applied, and the pattern is maintained

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The other benefit is that with Photoshop’s Puppet Warp you can go to File ➤ Save and close the file and return to editing, scaling, or deleting the warp smart filter at any time without destroying the original Smart Object layer; you can double-click to enter the filter at any time. You could even double-click on the Smart Object layer’s thumbnail image to enter the embedded (.ai) file. While in Illustrator, you can then alter colors on paths quickly by using the Group Selection tool to Shift + Click on paths within the group. Then, you can use the Color panel to find a new color or use the Eyedropper tool to click a sample from other colors in the pattern. Refer to Figure 4-31 and Figure 4-32.

Figure 4-32.  Enter the Smart Object layer and use Illustrator to alter colors in your pattern Then save the .ai file, close the Illustrator file, and return to the Photoshop .psd file to see the updated change with the Puppet Warp still applied to the Smart Object layer. Refer to Figure 4-33.

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Figure 4-33.  Return to Photoshop, and the colors of the mandala are updated but the Puppet Warp is maintained You would then save the .psd file to commit the change. Though not required for this book, for more detail on using Puppet Warp in Photoshop, refer to the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/warp-images-shapes-paths.html

■■Note In this example, I was using an .ai file in CMYK mode inside of an RGB mode Photoshop file. However, if you are concerned about there being a major color shift, then make sure to change your Illustrator color mode to RGB first before you copy Smart Object layers into Photoshop, as I mentioned in Chapter 1. So, creating the Puppet Warp later in Photoshop on the Illustrator Vector Smart Object layer might be a better option to keep your artwork preserved and editable, should you need to make changes.

■■In Chapter 11 we will look at warps that are preserved as Live Effect options in Illustrator. For further notes on Puppet Warp in Illustrator, visit this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/puppet-warp.html

Summary The Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator is useful for stretching parts of basic shapes or grouped objects by using a mesh and pins. The Photoshop Puppet Warp tool when applied to a smart object layer does a better job of preserving the original artwork and makes it easy to edit it anytime. In the next chapter, we’ll be looking at a collection of tools that act similarly to the Liquify Filter found in Photoshop, but this time on vector shapes in Illustrator.

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Working with Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools Chapter Goal: Discover how to use the Illustrator Shape Warp Liquify tools correctly and discover that some tools are similar to what is found in Photoshop under Filter ➤ Liquify, though this filter is not required for this book. Illustrator has a collection of eight tools in the Toolbars panel that are dedicated to warping strokes or the entire vector shape or object. They are the Width, Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize, and Wrinkle tools. Refer to Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1.  Width and Liquify tools in the Toolbars panel Maybe you have used these tools before but did not know how to modify their options; let’s look at that next.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 5 folder.

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Project: Warped Mandala Design Open the mandala_width_shape_warp_start.ai file and save a copy of the file so that you can practice. Refer to Figure 5-2.

Figure 5-2.  Mandala design and the original design in the Layers panel In this example, we have some original artwork on a locked layer. To preserve the original artwork so that you can refer to it as you did in Chapter 4, use the Selection tool and drag the layer over the Create New Layer button. You can do this any time you want to create a new variation of the file. Then, lock your original layer, turn off its visibility, and select and unlock your copy layer so that you can work with the tools. Refer to Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3.  Creating a copy layer of the pattern in the Layers panel

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In this example, the paths are currently a grouped object. Object ➤ Ungroup some of the paths so that you can select each path. We will start by selecting one of the lines and using the first tool. Using the selection tool, I selected the line above the orange point. Refer to Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4.  Selecting a line on the pattern

Width Tool (Shift + W) The Width tool is used for stroke-width adjustment of the variable-width profile found in the Control panel and is used while the path or line is selected, after you use the Pen tool, Pencil tool, Paintbrush tool, or Line Segment tool to create a stroke. Refer to Figure 5-5.

Figure 5-5.  Width tool and different tools in the Toolbars panel used to create lines Once you select the line with the Selection tool, you can look at the current variable-width profile. Refer to Figure 5-6.

Figure 5-6.  Control panel for the line segment when selected with the Selection tool The default variable-width profiles are stored and saved in the Control panel, after the stroke weight and next to brush definition. Currently, it is set to the default of Uniform. However, from the dropdown list you can see six other options. Refer to Figure 5-7.

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Figure 5-7.  Default variable-width profiles in the Control panel When you select another variable-width profile, like Width Profile 1, the line updates to that new profile. Refer to Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-8.  Variable width applied to the line

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■■Note Use the Hand tool (spacebar) and Zoom tool if you need to see this area more closely. Refer to Figure 5-9. On your computer the preview of the variable width profile may vary slightly so refer to the names if you are unsure which to choose.

Figure 5-9.  Use the Zoom tool when you need a closer look at the lines

Now, select the Width tool, click on a point on the line, and drag outward from that point to alter the width on that part of the line’s path widening the stroke. Refer to Figure 5-10.

Figure 5-10.  Use the Width tool to select and widen parts of your line You are now creating a custom variable-width profile. Click another point and hold down the Alt/Option key; drag on the left or right side if you need to adjust one side at a time. Refer to Figure 5-11.

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Figure 5-11.  Widen only one side of the line with the Width tool Alt/Option-drag on the center of the point to create a copy of the point.

■■Note Hold down the Ctrl/CMD key if you need to move the stroke, and then release it to return to the Width tool. In this case, just leave the stroke where it is. Refer to Figure 5-12.

Figure 5-12.  Use the Ctrl/CMD key with the Width tool when you need to move the line, and the pointer changes

To edit the width point further, you can double-click on a point to enter the Width Point Edit dialog box. Refer to Figure 5-13.

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Figure 5-13.  Double-click on a point when the pointer changes, and enter the Width Point Edit dialog box In the dialog box, set the Width Options for Side 1 and Side 2. The width is adjusted proportionately when the link is enabled. You can set the Total Width field, as well as select the Adjust Adjoining Width Points checkbox. Click OK to commit or the Cancel button to exit. Refer to Figure 5-13.

■■Note Once a width point is created, you can enter the dialog and delete the width point. You can also drag a width point to move it up or down on the line or path. Hold down the Shift key to move it and several points along the path. Pressing Alt/Option + Shift will create a width point copy and move that point at the same time. Refer to Figure 5-14.

Figure 5-14.  Make edits to the width point and move it on the path In this case, I added several width points to create a wavy line. Feel free to experiment and add your own custom width points. Refer to Figure 5-15.

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Figure 5-15.  The final line created with the Width Point tool Then, using the Control panel, you can preview the new custom variable-width profile and save it by clicking the Add to Profiles button. Rename or keep the default profile name, and click OK in the Variable Width Profile dialog box to exit. Refer to Figure 5-16.

Figure 5-16.  Adding a variable-width profile to the Control panel using the menu and dialog box

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Now it is added to the bottom of the list. Refer to Figure 5-17.

Figure 5-17.  The custom variable-width profile is added to the menu

■■Note If you do not want to save this profile, you can delete it. Refer to Figure 5-18.

Figure 5-18.  You can delete the profile from the Control panel’s Variable-Width Profile menu

Or, reset the entire profile list back to the default profile. If you click Reset, you will get the following message. Click OK if you want to remove all custom profiles you created. Refer to Figure 5-19.

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Figure 5-19.  You can reset the profiles from the Control panel’s Variable-Width Profile menu However, this will not remove the custom profile from the line itself, only from the list. In this case, keep the custom profile in the list and select some other lines with the Selection tool to apply the new variable-width profile. Increase the stroke weight to about 12pt so for each line you can see the variable-width profile clearly. Refer to Figure 5-20.

Figure 5-20.  Adjust the stroke weight so that you can see the custom variable-width profile

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Additional Work with Line Segment Tool and Stroke Panel You can also access the variable-width profile from the Stroke panel. Make sure to set the panel’s menu to Show Options if you cannot see them all. Refer to Figure 5-21.

Figure 5-21.  Stroke panel with Show Options enabled With the Selection tool, click off the Artboard to deselect and then click on a single line again. Refer to Figure 5-22.

Figure 5-22.  Select the line with the Selection tool

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In the Profile area, you can now flip the profile of the line either side-to-side or up-and-down to adjust its direction. Refer to Figure 5-23.

Figure 5-23.  Adjust the direction of the profile using the Stroke panel This is often more apparent on less symetrical profiles. Refer to Figure 5-24.

Figure 5-24.  Changes in profile orientation using Flip Along or Flip Across Using this area of the Stroke panel ensures that your profiles all move in the direction that you intend. In this case, I wanted the wider area of the line profile to be more toward the inside. So, I clicked on each line and adjusted the Flip Along option for my profile in the Strokes panel until they all matched, with the wider part of the line pointing inward. Refer to Figure 5-25.

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Figure 5-25.  Lines currently selected are adjusted with the Stroke panel’s profile options

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In the Stroke panel, for your own lines or stroke paths, besides changing the stroke weight and variablewidth profile, you can also do the following: Cap end for your line: Butt, Round, and Projecting caps. Refer to Figure 5-25 and Figure 5-26.

Figure 5-26.  Caps added to lines using the Stroke panel Corner: Miter Join, Round Join, Bevel Join with a Miter Limit (1–500), when reduced, makes the corner less pointy. Miter Limit only applies to Miter and is not available to Round or Bevel Joins. Refer to Figure 5-25 and Figure 5-27.

Figure 5-27.  Corner options added for Miter, Round, and Bevel with Miter Limit raised and lowered using the Stroke panel Align Strokes: to Center, Inside, or Outside. For open paths, by default it is set to Center, and I usually leave it at that setting. However, if you are combining strokes using the Appearance panel, as we will be using in Chapters 8 and 11, you could have some strokes overlap on the inside and outside of the closed path, creating a unique stripe. Refer to Figure 5-25 and Figure 5-28.

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Figure 5-28.  Align strokes to Center, Inside, and Outside using the Stroke and Appearance panels Dashed Line: When the checkbox is enabled, set a dashed line with Dash and Gap settings. This can be further adjusted with the stroke cap settings or by adding varying point sizes to dashes and gaps. Refer to Figure 5-29.

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Figure 5-29.  Variations of dashed lines are created using the Stroke panel options

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You can also select “Preserves Exact Dash Gaps and Lengths” or “Adjust Dashes and Corners to End Paths, Adjusting Lengths to Fit.” Refer to Figure 5-30.

Figure 5-30.  Additional dash line settings and the results they produce with dashes and gaps Uncheck the Dashed Line checkbox if you want to return to a solid line. Arrowheads: By default, your arrowheads are set to “none.” However, you have 39 other options that you can select from the dropdown list for the start and end of your path, and you can also swap the order. Refer to Figure 5-31.

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Figure 5-31.  Arrowhead settings in the Strokes panel Scale: The arrowheads can also be scaled by a factor or percentage (1–1000%) for the start and the end, and this scale factor can be linked via the link icon, or unlinked and scaled separately. Refer to Figure 5-32.

Figure 5-32.  Arrowheads Scale and Align settings in the Stroke panel Align: You can extend the arrow tip beyond the end of the path or place the arrow tip at the end of the path. Refer to Figure 5-32.

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■■Note  You can used dashed lines with arrows as well. Refer to Figure 5-33.

Figure 5-33.  Arrowheads with dashed lines

Brushes Definition for the Current Variable-Width Profile Once you create a variable-width profile, you can enhance it further with brush definitions. These same default definitions are stored in the Brushes panel. Returning to my white line in the mandala project, and selecting it with the Selection tool, you can see that it is set to a brush definition of Basic. Refer to Figure 5-34.

Figure 5-34.  Setting brush definitions with the Control panel From the dropdown list, you can select another brush definition. Refer to Figure 5-35.

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Figure 5-35.  Brush definition dropdown list in the Control panel However, depending on the brush selected, it may not only reset the stroke weight, but also the variablewidth profile and its orientation, which you then may have to reset in the Control panel. Also, not all brush definitions will work well with your custom width profile, so you may have to experiment. Or use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) a few times, or the History panel, to get the settings back to what they were previously. We will look at brush definitions and variable-width profiles later in this chapter, and in a bit more detail in Chapter 8, where we’ll learn how brushes can be used with transparency.

■■Tip If you want to change any of these strokes into a path, you can use Object ➤ Path ➤ Outline Stroke, and they will no longer be a single line segment. Use Edit ➤ Undo if this was not your intent. Refer to Figure 5-36.

Figure 5-36.  Turning a line into an outline stroke object

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Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools The next set of tools affects the fill direction of the path, whether open or closed. If you used the Liquify filter in Photoshop, you should already be familiar with the Forward Warp tool, Twirl Clockwise tool, Pucker tool, and Bloat tool as far as how they affect a photograph. However, Illustrator has a few additional tools.

■■Note These tools will alter the shape permanently, which is why we are working on a copy of the object. If you make a mistake while warping, use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z). Refer to Figure 5-37.

Figure 5-37.  When creating a new design, always work on a copy to preserve the original artwork

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Warp Tool (Shift + R) The Warp tool is used for basic warps of a path. As you drag over the object either left to right or up and down, you can alter the warp direction of the path. Refer to Figure 5-38.

Figure 5-38.  Warp tool in the Toolbars panel Make sure to select a path first with the Selection tool, and then select the Warp tool, so that you do not accidentally warp the other paths around it. In this case, I have selected the path for the black ellipse that goes around the outside of the mandala pattern. Refer to Figure 5-39.

Figure 5-39.  Use the Selection tool to select the ellipse before using the Warp tool

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Now, with the Warp tool, drag the area between the colorful points and the triangles on the edge of the circle. Use Ctrl/CMD++ if you need to get in closer with your Warp tool, and then drag outward, expanding the shape and adding more points. Refer to Figure 5-40.

Figure 5-40.  Drag the path inward or outward, using the Warp tool to alter the path Then, try this on another area of the path, dragging inward.

Warp Options You can access the Warp Tool Options dialog box by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. This can offer you more control over the warp. Refer to Figure 5-41.

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Figure 5-41.  Warp Tool Options dialog box In the dialog box, in the Global Brush Dimensions section, you can alter the following settings: •

Width: This controls the width of the brush, in this case in inches. However, depending on what increments you set the rulers to, this may appear as points (pt). Or, you can set it by points from the dropdown list; 100 points or 1.3889 inches is the default. Refer to Figure 5-42.

Figure 5-42.  The Warp Tool Options dialog box settings for the Width and Height fields can be adjusted using the text box or via the dropdown list for alternative increment settings •

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Height: This controls the height of the brush, in this case in inches. However, depending on what increments you set your rulers to, this may appear as points (pt). Or, you can set it by points from the dropdown list; 100 points or 1.3889 inches is the default. Refer to Figure 5-42.

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•

Angle: (-180°, 0°, 180°) By default, the angle is set to 0°, but you can type in a different angle or choose one from the dropdown list. In this case, I left it at 0°. Refer to Figure 5-43.

Figure 5-43.  Warp Tool Options dialog box settings for Angle field using text box or dropdown list, as well as Intensity settings •

Intensity: This ranges from 1% to 100% and controls how fast the brush reacts to the pressure or length of time the mouse is held down, as we will see with other Shape Warp tools. By default, it is set to 50%, which I find is a good speed for the Warp tool, but too fast for other Liquify tools. Refer to Figure 5-43.

•

Use Pressure Pen: If enabled, it will gray out the Intensity field, and you will have to rely on the pressure of your stylus pen. If you do not have a pen, then make sure to leave this unchecked so that you can use your mouse instead. Refer to Figure 5-44.

Figure 5-44.  Warp Tool Options dialog box with pressure pen enabled and disabled Then, you can set the following Warp tool options: •

Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2. If disabled, the path adds fewer points when the brush is dragged. Only a slight warp occurs. Refer to Figure 5-45.

Figure 5-45.  Warp Tool Options dialog box with Detail checkbox disabled, and results produced

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•

Simplify: When enabled, you can set the range from 0.2 to 100; the default is 50. If disabled, the path adds many points when the brush is dragged. Refer to Figure 5-46.

Figure 5-46.  Warp Tool Options dialog box with Simplify checkbox disabled, and results produced These two options can add more points to the path, though if the path is already basic, as in the case of the ellipse, it appears to have little effect on adjusting the sliders for warping the shape, so I will just leave it at the default settings with both options enabled. Refer to Figure 5-47.

Figure 5-47.  Warp Tool Options dialog box with Detail and Simplify checkboxes enabled, by default •

When Show Brush Size is enabled, you can see the size of your brush as you work outside the dialog box. Refer to Figure 5-48.

Figure 5-48.  Warp Tool Options dialog box with Show Brush Size checkbox enabled and info message

■■Note The info area lets you know that the brush size may be interactively changed by holding down the Alt/Option key before clicking with that tool. What this means is that when outside the dialog box, while the Alt/Option key is held down, you can drag the brush inward and outward to scale its width and height disproportionally. In addition, if you hold Alt/Option + Shift while you drag, you can size the width and height proportionately, and this setting can affect the other shape liquify brushes as well. Then release those keys to begin using the new brush size. Refer to Figure 5-48. 248

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•

Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving the option changes. Refer to Figure 5-48.

I often work with the default brush or even a smaller brush size to make little edits to the path, as a larger warp brush can affect the whole shape and overwhelm it. In this case, I used the default brush size and continued to warp the circle path. Refer to Figure 5-49.

Figure 5-49.  Design with Warp tool applied to the ellipse

Twirl Tool The Twirl tool is used for basic clockwise or counterclockwise twirls over the path, achieved as you hold down the mouse button and drag in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the twirl. By default, it twirls counterclockwise. Refer to Figure 5-50.

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Figure 5-50.  Toolbars panel Twirl tool applied to a selected shape, twirling counterclockwise However, if you hold down the mouse button and then add the Alt/Option key, you can switch to a clockwise twirl. Be sure to release the mouse button first before the Alt/Option key, or you will switch back to a counterclockwise twirl. Refer to Figure 5-51.

Figure 5-51.  With the Twirl tool twirling clockwise Make sure to first select the path with the Selection tool, and then select the Twirl tool, so that you do not accidentally twirl the other paths around it. In this case, I selected one of the small ellipses on the edge of my path, but found the default brush to be a bit too large and the twirl too fast. So, I need to modify it to get a smaller, slower twirl. Use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to reset your shape. Refer to Figure 5-52.

Figure 5-52.  Selecting a shape with the Selection tool; however, the brush size is too large, and the intensity is too fast, making for an undesirable twirl

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Twirl Options You can access the Twirl Tool Options dialog box by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. There, you can better control the twirl. Refer to Figure 5-53.

Figure 5-53.  Twirl Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool options, so you can refer to that section for more details.

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However, at this point I will reduce the brush size to about 20pt, or 0.2778 in, and the intensity down to 10%, so that the twirl will move slowly, and I will have more control when I hold down the mouse key and will not overwhelm the shape. Refer to Figure 5-54.

Figure 5-54.  Twirl Tool Options dialog box Global Brush Dimensions settings I will now point out the twirl options. Refer to Figure 5-55.

Figure 5-55.  Twirl Tool Options dialog box default Twirl Options settings •

Twirl Rate: Controls whether the spin is counterclockwise (0°–180°) or clockwise (-180°–0°); by default it is set to 40°, which is a counterclockwise spin. Refer to Figure 5-56.

Figure 5-56.  Adjusting the Twirl Rate setting to move clockwise or counterclockwise produces different results •

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Detail: When enabled, you can set it in the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2. If disabled, fewer points are added to the path when the brush is dragged. Only a slight warp occurs. Refer to Figure 5-55 and Figure 5-57.

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Figure 5-57.  Results of twirl with Detail disabled and Simplify enabled •

Simplify: When enabled, you can set the range from 0.2 to 100; the default is 50. If disabled, many points are added to the path when the brush is dragged or held down. Refer to Figure 5-55 and Figure 5-58.

Figure 5-58.  Results of twirl with Detail enabled and Simplify disabled •

Click the Reset button to reset the Brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving option changes. Refer to Figure 5-59.

Figure 5-59.  Twirl Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel In this case, I kept the default settings for the twirl options, with Detail and Simplify enabled, but, as mentioned earlier, I adjusted the brush’s width and height to 20pt and the intensity to 10% and clicked OK. Refer to Figure 5-54 and Figure 5-55. I then selected the circles around the edges with the Selection tool, one at a time, then—using the Twirl tool while holding down the mouse button—gave each a slight twirl near the edge of the shapes. Refer to Figure 5-60.

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Figure 5-60.  Select a shape with the Selection tool and then use the Twirl tool with the new settings Only through practice will you find the ideal twirl, and each twirl may be slightly different. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again. Refer to Figure 5-61.

Figure 5-61.  The result of using the Twirl tool on the outer circles

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Pucker Tool The Pucker tool is used for basic squeezing or pinching of the object and path inward as you hold down the mouse button and drag in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the pucker. Refer to Figure 5-62.

Figure 5-62.  Using the Toolbars panel Pucker tool on the selected star triangle Make sure to first select the path with the Selection tool, and then with the Pucker tool, so that you do not accidentally pucker the other paths around it. In this case, I selected one of the triangle star shapes. However, the default width and height will be too large, and the default intensity is too fast. Use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to reset your shape. Refer to Figure 5-63.

Figure 5-63.  Use the Selection tool to select a path first, and then use the Pucker tool. If the brush is too large and the intensity is too high, you will get an undesirable result

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Pucker Options You can access the Pucker Tool Options dialog box by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 5-64.

Figure 5-64.  Pucker Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool options, so you can refer to that section for more details. However, at this point I will reduce the brush size to about 50pt, or 0.6944 in, and the intensity down to 10%, so that the pucker will move slowly. I will have more control when I hold down the mouse button and will not overwhelm the shape. Refer to Figure 5-65.

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Figure 5-65.  Pucker Tool Options dialog box Global Brush Dimensions settings I will now point out the pucker options. Refer to Figure 5-66.

Figure 5-66.  Pucker Tool Options dialog box, default pucker options •

Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2. If disabled, fewer points are added when the brush is dragged. Only a slight pucker occurs and the center shrinks. Refer to Figure 5-66 and Figure 5-67.

Figure 5-67.  Results of pucker with Detail disabled and Simplify enabled •

Simplify: When enabled, you can set the range from 0.2 to 100; the default is 50. If disabled, many points are added to the path when the brush is dragged or held down. Refer to Figure 5-66 and Figure 6-68.

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Figure 5-68.  Results of pucker with Detail enabled and Simplify disabled •

Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving option changes. Refer to Figure 5-69.

Figure 5-69.  Pucker Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel In this, case I kept the default settings for the pucker options, with Detail and Simplify enabled, but, as mentioned earlier, I adjusted the brush’s width and height to 50pt and intensity to 10% and clicked OK. Refer to Figure 5-65 and Figure 5-66. I then selected each triangle star with the Selection tool, one at a time. Then, using the Pucker tool and holding down the mouse button, I gave each a slight pucker in the center. Refer to Figure 5-70.

Figure 5-70.  Select a shape with the Selection tool and then use the Pucker tool with the new settings on that shape

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Only through practice will you find the ideal pucker, and each will be slightly different, depending on how long you hold down your mouse. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again. Refer to Figure 5-71.

Figure 5-71.  The result of using the pucker tool on select star triangles. However some are left unselected and unchanged

Bloat Tool The Bloat tool is used for basic expansion of the object and path outward as you hold down the mouse button and drag in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the bloat. Refer to Figure 5-72.

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Figure 5-72.  Using the Bloat tool on a selected grouped object Make sure to first select the path with the Selection tool, and then select the Pucker tool, so that you do not accidentally bloat the other paths around it. In this case, I selected the small star grouped shape in the center of my pattern. However, the default width and height will be too large, and the default intensity is too fast. Use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to reset your shape. Refer to Figure 5-73.

Figure 5-73.  When the Bloat tool is used with too large a brush and too high an intensity, you can get undesirable results

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Bloat Options You can access the Bloat Tool Options dialog box by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 5-74.

Figure 5-74.  Bloat Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool options, so you can refer to that section for more details. However, at this point I will reduce the brush size to about 50pt or 0.6944 in, and the intensity down to 10% so that the bloat will move slowly. Now I will have more control when I hold down the mouse button and will not overwhelm the shape. Refer to Figure 5-75.

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Figure 5-75.  Bloat Tool Options dialog box Global Brush Dimensions settings I will now point out the bloat options. Refer to Figure 5-76.

Figure 5-76.  Bloat Tool Options dialog box default bloat options •

Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2. If disabled, fewer points are added to the path when the brush is dragged. Only a slight bloat occurs, and the center expands. Refer to Figure 5-77.

Figure 5-77.  Results of bloat with Detail disabled and Simplify enabled •

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Simplify: When enabled, you can set the range from 0.2 to 100; the default is 50. If disabled, many points are added to the path when the brush is dragged or held down. Refer to Figure 5-78.

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Figure 5-78.  Results of bloat with Detail enabled and Simplify disabled •

Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving option changes. Refer to Figure 5-79.

Figure 5-79.  Bloat Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel In this case, I kept the default settings for the bloat options, with Detail and Simplify enabled, but as mentioned earlier, I adjusted the brush’s width and height to 50pt and intensity to 10% and clicked OK. Refer to Figure 5-75 and Figure 5-76. I then selected the center group star with the Selection tool, then with the Bloat tool, holding down the mouse button. This created a slight bloat in the centers of the shapes. Refer to Figure 5-80.

Figure 5-80.  Selecting the grouped object with the Selection tool and using the Bloat tool with the new settings applied

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Only through practice will you find the ideal bloat, and each will be slightly different, depending on how long you hold down your mouse. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again.

Scallop Tool The Scallop tool is used for adding sharp angles by dragging off of the object and path inward, or by holding down the mouse button and dragging in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the scallop; in some ways, it is similar to the Pucker tool. Refer to Figure 5-81.

Figure 5-81.  Using the Scallop tool from the Toolbars panel on a point of a colorful grouped star object Make sure to first select the path or grouped paths with the Selection tool, and then select the Scallop tool, so that you do not accidentally scallop the other paths around it. In this case, I select the large grouped colorful star. I will then try scalloping some of the points. But first I will adjust the scallop options. Refer to Figure 5-82.

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Figure 5-82.  Select the grouped eight-point star object with the Selection tool

Scallop Options You can control the scallop via the Scallop Tool Options dialog box, which you can access by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 5-83.

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Figure 5-83.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool options, so you can refer to that section for more details. In this case, I left the brush’s width and height at 100pt, or 1.3889 in, but lowered the intensity down to 10% so that the speed of the scallop was not too fast. Refer to Figure 5-84.

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Figure 5-84.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box Global Brush Dimensions settings I will now point out the Scallop Options section. Refer to Figure 5-85.

Figure 5-85.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box scallop options at default settings •

Complexity: Range of 0–15; can be set using the textbox or its dropdown list. The higher the number, the greater the number of scallop points; by default it is set to 1. Refer to Figure 5-85 and Figure 5-86.

Figure 5-86.  Scallop options applied to point at different levels of complexity

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Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1–10; the default is 2. If disabled, fewer points are added to the path when the brush is dragged. Only a slight scallop occurs but is not very noticeable. I keep it enabled. Refer to Figure 5-87.

Figure 5-87.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box with setting of Detail disabled and enabled •

Brush Affects Anchor Points: This setting, by default, is disabled. It becomes enabled when either the Brush Affects In Tangent Handles checkbox or Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles checkbox is disabled. Refer to Figure 5-88.

Figure 5-88.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box with various checkboxes enabled and disabled, producing various results When enabled, it can cause a more rounded scallop. Refer to Figure 5-89.

Figure 5-89.  The scallop appears more rounded when only the Brush Affects Anchor Points option is enabled •

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Brush Affects In Tangent Handles: Can be used separately or in combination with the Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles option. The scallop pulls inward and is more uneven. Refer to Figure 5-90.

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Figure 5-90.  Brush Affects In Tangent Handles produces a more lopsided scallop •

Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles: Can be used separately or in combination with the Brush Affects In Tangent Handles or Brush Affects Anchor Points, but not both. The scallop pulls inward and is more uneven but is the mirror image of the In Tangent Hand Option. Refer to Figure 5-91.

Figure 5-91.  Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles produces a more lopsided scallop •

Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving options changes. Refer to Figure 5-92.

Figure 5-92.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel

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In this case, I clicked the Reset button and lowered the intensity to 10%. Refer to Figure 5-92 and Figure 5-93.

Figure 5-93.  Scallop Tool Options dialog box with current settings I then selected the colorful group star with the Selection tool, and then the Scallop tool. I held down the mouse button and gave a slight scallop to some of the points on the star. I used the smart guides to keep near the path of an underlying ellipse shape as a guide. Refer to Figure 5-94.

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Figure 5-94.  Select the grouped star object with the Selection tool and use the Scallop tool with the new settings Each scallop will be slightly different, depending on how long you hold down your mouse. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again. Refer to Figure 5-95.

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Figure 5-95.  The results of using the Scallop tool on four of the grouped stars points

Crystallize Tool The Crystallize tool is used for adding sharp angles while dragging the object and path outward, or as you hold down the mouse and drag in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the crystallization. In some ways, it is similar to the Bloat tool. Refer to Figure 5-96.

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Figure 5-96.  Use the Crystallize tool from the Toolbars panel on one of the selected grouped star’s points Make sure to first select the path with the Selection tool and then select with the Crystallize tool, so that you do not accidentally crystallize the other paths around it. In this case, I select a large grouped colorful star again. I will try crystallizing some of the points. But first I will adjust the crystallize options. Refer to Figure 5-97.

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Figure 5-97.  Select the grouped star object with the Selection tool

Crystallize Options You can control the Crystallize tool via the Crystallize Tool Options dialog box, which you can access by double-clicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 5-98.

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Figure 5-98.  Crystallize Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool Options, so you can refer to that section for more details. In this case, I left the brush’s width and height at 100pts, or 1.3889 in, but lowered the intensity down to 10% so that the speed of the crystallization was not too fast. Refer to Figure 5-99.

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Figure 5-99.  Crystallize Tool Options dialog box Global Brush Dimensions settings The crystallize options are the same as the scallop options, so you can refer to that section for more details. In this case, the setting can cause a bloating effect and does not pucker. I’ll just point out the differences. Refer to Figure 5-100.

Figure 5-100.  Crystallize Tool Options dialog box, Crystallize Options section with default settings

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Complexity: 0–15, can be set using the textbox or its dropdown list. The default setting is 1.

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Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2.

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Brush Affects Anchor Points: Unlike Scallop, this option is enabled by default.

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Brush Affects In Tangent Handles: By default this setting is disabled.

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Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles: By default, this setting is disabled.

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Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving option changes. Refer to Figure 5-101.

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Figure 5-101.  Crystallize Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel In this case, I clicked Reset and lowered the intensity to 10%, then clicked OK. Refer to Figure 5-99. I then selected the colorful group star with the Selection tool, then with the Crystallize tool, holding down the mouse button and giving a slight crystallize to some of the remaining points on the star I had not yet altered. I used the smart guides to keep near the path of an underlying ellipse shape as a guide. Refer to Figure 5-102.

Figure 5-102.  Select the grouped star object with the Selection tool and use the Crystallize tool on one of the points Each Crystallize instance will be slightly different depending on how long you hold down your mouse. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again. Refer to Figure 5-103.

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Figure 5-103.  The results of using the Crystallize tool on four of the grouped stars’ points

Wrinkle Tool The Wrinkle tool is used for smoothing angles of the object and path outward as you hold down the mouse button and drag in some direction. The longer you hold down the mouse, the more intense the wrinkle, and in some ways it is similar to the Warp tool. Refer to Figure 5-104.

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Figure 5-104.  Toolbars panel Wrinkle tool applied to one of the lines to warp it further Make sure to first select the path with the Selection tool, and then select the Wrinkle tool, so that you do not accidentally warp the other paths around it. In this case, I am going to wrinkle some of the white lines. Select one of them to start. Refer to Figure 5-105.

Figure 5-105.  Select the line with the Selection tool

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Wrinkle Options You can control the Wrinkle tool via the Wrinkle Tool Options dialog box, which you can access by doubleclicking on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 5-106.

Figure 5-106.  Wrinkle Tool Options dialog box

■■Note  Many of the settings here for Global Brush Dimensions and Show Brush Size are the same as for the Warp tool options, so you can refer to that section for more details.

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In this case, I left the brush’s width and height at 100pts, or 1.3889 in, but set the angle to -120° and lowered the intensity down to 10% so that the speed of the wrinkle was not too fast. Refer to Figure 5-107.

Figure 5-107.  Wrinkle Tool Options dialog box with Global Brush Dimensions settings However, I will point out the Wrinkle Options section. Many options are the same as those for the Scallop tool, so you can refer to that section for more details. However, two different options are Horizontal and Vertical. Refer to Figure 5-108.

Figure 5-108.  Wrinkle Tool Options dialog box with Wrinkle Options section •

Horizontal: 0%–100%; by default is set to 0. In this case I set it to 50% for a more defined wrinkle.

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Vertical: 0%–100%; by default is set to 100%.

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Complexity: 0–15, can be set using the textbox or its dropdown list. The default setting is 1.

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Detail: When enabled, you can set the range from 1 to 10; the default is 2.

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Brush Affects Anchor Points: By default is disabled.

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Brush Affects In Tangent Handles: By default is enabled.

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Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles: By default is enabled.

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Click Reset to reset the brush, or OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit without saving option changes. Refer to Figure 5-109.

Figure 5-109.  Wrinkle Tool Options dialog box to reset settings, click OK, or click Cancel I clicked OK after making my changes. Refer to Figure 5-107 and Figure 5-108. I then selected the white line with the Selection tool, then with the Wrinkle tool. I held down the mouse button and gave a slight wrinkle to line. Later, I selected some of the other lines and wrinkled them as well to complete the pattern. Refer to Figure 5-110.

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Figure 5-110.  Select the line with the Selection tool and use the Wrinkle tool with the new settings Each wrinkle will be slightly different depending on how long you hold down your mouse. If you make a mistake, use Edit ➤ Undo and try again. Here is the final result for me. Refer to Figure 5-111.

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Figure 5-111.  The result of using the Wrinkle tool on select lines, and then cleaning up using the Direct Selection tool to modify some of the points on the ellipse path

■■Tip Afterward, you can always use the Direct Selection tool to modify individual points, or continue to warp and distort other paths on your own. Refer to Figure 5-111. Save your document at this point. You can view my file, mandala_width_shape_warp_final.ai, for reference.

■■Note It should be mentioned, as in Chapter 4, that like the Puppet Warp if you want to use these Warp Liquify tools on a symbol, you must first break the link with the symbols in the library before you can edit the group path. Refer to Figure 5-112.

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Figure 5-112.  Symbols will need to be broken before you can use the Liquify tools on them

We’ll look at symbols in Chapters 6, 12, and 13.

■■Note For selected type, you need to convert the text to Type ➤ Create Outlines before you can use these tools. Refer to Figure 5-113.

Figure 5-113.  Type will need to be in outlines before you can use the Liquify tools on them

We’ll look at type in Chapters 9 and 10. Later, in Chapter 9 and 11, we will look at some less destructive ways of altering your objects with warps.

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Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 3 To continue with our project of the young girl at the farm, let’s make the lines in the field more organic looking by adding a variable-width profile and a brush definition to the strokes. From this chapter’s folder, open the file Landscape1_3_start.ai. Save a copy (File ➤ Save As) of the file so that you can practice. Refer to Figure 5-114.

Figure 5-114.  The current project with the Mountains and Foreground layer unlocked in the Layers panel In this example, you will find the layer Mountains and Foreground unlocked; you need to select this layer so that you can edit it. With your Selection tool, Shift + Click to select all eight lines in the field. Refer to Figure 5-115.

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Figure 5-115.  Use the Selection tool to Shift + Click on lines in the path Now look at the Control panel. The Stroke weight field is blank because multiple stroke weights are selected, and that is OK. Refer to Figure 5-116.

Figure 5-116.  Use the Control panel to see that multiple stroke weights have been selected Now change the Variable-Width Profile field from Uniform to Width Profile 5. Refer to Figure 5-117.

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Figure 5-117.  Use the Control panel to set the Variable-Width Profile field This will cause the lines to be thin on the ends but thicker in the middle. Now, to make them look more organic, change the Brush Definition field from Basic to CharcoalFeather. Refer to Figure 5-118.

Figure 5-118.  Use the Control panel to set the Brush Definition field You may notice, at this point, that your Stroke Weight and Variable-Width Profile fields may switch back to the default of 1 point and Uniform. This will sometimes happen when you add a new brush from the Brushes panel that already has set width and profile options. Refer to Figure 5-119.

Figure 5-119.  The Brush Definitions field resets the Stroke Weight and Variable Width Profile settings

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In this case, it is better to add the brush definition first and then the variable-width profile, and lastly the stroke weight. While all the lines are still selected, set the Variable-Width Profile setting back to Width Profile 5. Refer to Figure 5-120.

Figure 5-120.  Reset the Variable-Width Profile field again in the Control panel for all selected lines Click off the Artboard to deselect, and with the Selection tool select each line one at a time from left to right and reset the stroke weight. Refer to Figure 5-121.

Figure 5-121.  Reset the Stroke Weight for each selected line: •

Line 1: 8pt

•

Line 2: 6pt

•

Line 3: 5pt

•

Line 4: 4pt

•

Line 5: 3pt

•

Line 6: 3pt

•

Line 7: 2pt

•

Line 8: 1pt

Click off the Artboard to deselect and look at the lines for the field. We’re almost ready to plant those bushes! Refer to Figure 5-122.

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Figure 5-122.  The field with the updated rows is ready for planting Lock the Mountains and Foreground layer for now and save your document. You can look at my file, Landscape1_3_final.ai, for reference. Refer to Figure 5-123.

Figure 5-123.  Lock the layers when you are done with the project Later, in Chapter 8, we’ll take a closer look at some of the brush strokes on the girl. You can save and close any open projects at this point.

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Summary Illustrator’s Liquify tools allow you to alter or change the shape of single paths in grouped objects very quickly. With the Width tool, you can modify and stretch parts of a brush stroke on a shape that you can save as a preset and later access in the Control panel or Stroke panel. Next, we’ll look at another tool that can assist you in blending two shapes or symbols together and create a variety of morphed transitions.

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CHAPTER 6

Working with the Blend Tool Chapter Goal: Work with the Blend tool to create warped transitional graphics, shapes, and symbol blends. The Blend tool is very simple to use and can assist you in creating unique designs quickly. You can then pick part of the transition for a new logo or the start of a pattern. We will also use it to blend parts of two art pieces as well. We will also discover what the alternative is in Photoshop, depending on your artistic vision, when the blends are too complex.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 6 folder.

Blend Tool (W) The Blend tool is found in the Toolbars panel. It is generally used when you have two simple shapes or paths that you want to find a transition between, or blend. You can access it in the Toolbars panel by pressing the key W on your keyboard. I will just give a few basic examples of how that works before we start the project. Refer to Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1.  Toolbars panel Blend tool icon For example, you may have drawn two basic shapes. These shapes could have different fill and stroke colors that you may have modified, using your Control or Properties panels, as you did in previous chapters. Refer to Figure 6-2.

Figure 6-2.  Two shapes that can be blended © Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_6

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To use the Blend tool, first Shift + Click both shapes with the Selection tool that you want to create a blend between. Refer to Figure 6-3.

Figure 6-3.  Shift+ Click to select the two shapes with the Blend tool Then, select the Blend tool and click on the center of each shape one at a time. I clicked first on the square and then the triangle. The pointer icon had a white square. Refer to Figure 6-4.

Figure 6-4.  Click with the Blend tool on each shape to create a smooth blend This created a blend based on the current blend option settings, which we will look at next. You can use the Selection tool if you need to move the blend.

■■Note If you clicked on anchor points by accident, rather than clicking on the centers of the shapes, it will cause the blend to happen from those anchor points and produce some unusual results. In this case, the pointer icon had a black square. Refer to Figure 6-5.

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Figure 6-5.  Clicking on anchor points with the Blend tool changes the tool’s pointer and alters the blend

Blend Options and Menu While your blend is selected, you can access blend options under the menu Object ➤ Blend. Refer to Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6. Object ➤ Blend Make: If you have not already clicked with the Blend tool on the two selected objects, then you can use this menu option instead to create your blend. Release: If you need to cancel the blend and return to the two separate shapes, but still want the blend spine, then use the option to temporarily break the blend. You can use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) or the History panel if you need to go back to the current blend. Refer to Figure 6-7.

Figure 6-7.  The result of releasing a blend

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Blend Options: Once a blend has been created, you can then go into the Blend Options dialog box and set how you want the blend to appear. You can also access this dialog box when you press Alt/Option and click on the second object or any part of the selected blend with the Blend tool. It can also be accessed from the Properties panel’s Quick Actions while the blend is selected. Refer to Figure 6-8.

Figure 6-8.  Blend Options dialog box and the buttons in the Properties panel’s Quick Actions With the Preview checkbox enabled, you can set the spacing to the following: •

Smooth Color: Used to create a graduated blend of color, very much like a gradient but made of many paths. It automatically calculates how many steps are required to get this effect for a smooth blend. Refer to Figure 6-9.

Figure 6-9.  Spacing Smooth Color blend example •

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Specified Steps: This can be set to a range of 1–1000 steps and gives a similar gradation. Fewer steps are good if you want to see some spacing or viewable transition between the steps. For example, if I set the steps to 5, then we will see five transition steps between the square and the triangle in both shape stroke and color. Refer to Figure 6-10.

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Figure 6-10.  Spacing Specified Steps blend example •

Specified Distance: This sets a distance between each of the transitions to create a distance based on units of increments, in this case inches. If I set the spacing to a higher number like 0.25 inches and click or tab outside the text box, you can see the spacing more clearly. Refer to Figure 6-11 and Figure 6-12.

Figure 6-11.  Spacing Specified Distance blend example

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Figure 6-12.  Distance blend example with more space •

Orientation: Can be used with all three spacing settings. Currently, in these examples, the default is set to Align to Page. Refer to Figure 6-13.

Figure 6-13.  Blend Options Orientation setting of Align to Page The other option is to set it to Align to Path. This is more apparent if the path or blend’s spine is curved. Refer to Figure 6-14.

Figure 6-14.  Blend Options Orientation setting of Align to Path To curve the spine, click OK to commit your blend options. Refer to Figure 6-15.

Figure 6-15.  Blend Options Orientation setting of Align to Page, and click OK to exit

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Then, with the Direct Selection tool, select one end of the spine; in this case, the triangle. Refer to Figure 6-16.

Figure 6-16.  Selecting a point on the spine with the Direct Selection tool Then, select the Anchor Point tool. Click and drag one end of the spine; this causes the spine to arc. Refer to Figure 6-17.

Figure 6-17.  Altering a point on the spine with the Anchor Point tool You can then move the point or adjust the handles again with the Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 6-18.

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Figure 6-18.  Further altering the spine with the Direct Selection tool You can now see, if you return to the Blend Options dialog box, how it affects the orientation of the spine if set it back to Align to Page. Refer to Figure 6-19.

Figure 6-19.  Setting the Blend Options orientation back to Align to Page Click OK to exit the Blend Options dialog box to confirm the change. Refer to Figure 6-15.

Additional Options in the Object ➤ Blend Menu Expand: This expands all shapes on the spine into separate distinct objects that are no longer editable as part of the blend spine. They are now part of a grouped object. Refer to Figure 6-20.

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Figure 6-20.  An expanded blend is now part of a grouped object If you need to remove individual parts, you can choose Object ➤ Ungroup and then select the individual shapes or paths with your Selection tool. Refer to Figure 6-21.

Figure 6-21.  You can remove shapes from an expanded path to use for other projects In this case, I used Edit ➤ Undo a few times so that I returned to the blend state with the spine. Refer to Figure 6-22.

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Figure 6-22.  Return your shapes back to the blend state Replace Spine: A spine can be replaced or altered if you add another path created with the Pen or Line Segment tools. For example, while the blend is selected, with the Selection tool Shift + Click on another path. Then choose Object ➤ Blend ➤ Replace Spine. Refer to Figure 6-23.

Figure 6-23.  Use the Selection tool and Object menu to replace the spine on a blend

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The spine is now replaced with the new path. Reverse Spine: This allows you to reverse the order of the paths so that now the triangle starts on the right and the square is on the left, like a horizontal flip. Refer to Figure 6-24.

Figure 6-24.  Reverse Spine Blend Reverse Front to Back: In this example, this moves the square in front and triangle to the back, as though the square has now been pasted in front. Refer to Figure 6-25.

Figure 6-25.  Reverse Front to Back blend To undo this, you can choose Reverse Front to Back again. Refer to Figure 6-26.

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Figure 6-26.  Adding more shapes to the blend when selected with the Selection tool and then the Blend tool

■■Note  You can also add more shapes to the selected blend spine. With the Selection tool, Shift + Click on another shape, then with the Blend tool click first on one end of the blend and then on the new shape to add it to the blend and spine.

Scaling Blends The entire blend can be scaled using the Selection tool and the bounding box handles. However, if you want to scale just one end of the blend, select that object first with your Group Selection tool, and then select the Selection tool and move, scale, or rotate that object. Refer to Figure 6-27.

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Figure 6-27.  Scaling selected parts of a blend Likewise, while that object is selected, you can update the fill color, stroke color, and other attributes using the Control panel, which could include stroke weight, variable width profile, brush definition, opacity, and graphic style. Refer to Figure 6-28.

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Figure 6-28.  Altering the color and opacity of selected parts of a blend

■■Note  When the entire blend is selected, overall opacity can be altered using the Control panel, as well as being able to recolor artwork. Refer to Figure 6-29.

Figure 6-29.  Using the Control panel to alter the overall opacity of the blend

We will explore opacity and transparency in more detail in Chapter 8.

Blending Complex Group Objects So far, as we can see, blending can be easily done between basic paths and shapes, and you can create a relatively smooth blend. However, when working with grouped objects (Object ➤ Group) that are complex, this can become more complicated. Refer to Figure 6-30.

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Figure 6-30.  Creating a blend between two girls Here, we can see an example of two grouped faces of some girls, which I modified originally from the EmojiOne Color font. You can find these in my file blend_tool_examples1.ai. Save a copy if you want to edit the file. One Girl has blue eyes and the other has brown, but otherwise they are the same in scale and shape. After both are selected with the Selection tool and then the Blend tool, I click on each, then in the Blend Options dialog box set the Spacing field to Specified Steps and 2; we can see a blend of color between the eyes. Refer to Figure 6-31.

Figure 6-31.  Blend options of two specified steps, and the result Upon exiting the dialog box, if you change the hair color using the Group Selection tool and then the Selection tool, and use the Control panel to set a new fill color, you will see gradual change in hair color as well. Refer to Figure 6-32.

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Figure 6-32.  Altering the girl’s hair color with the Group Selection and Selection tools updates the blend I can also use the Group Selection tool and click a few times on one of the girls until I select all parts of the group. Then, I can use the Selection tool and, while holding down the Shift key, scale her using the upper right bounding box handle. Refer to Figure 6-33.

Figure 6-33.  Use the Group Selection and Selection tools to scale the girl Simple group blends like this work very well, as the similarities between the two grouped shapes are close. Illustrator must do very few calculations to create a blend. However, when you try to work between two very different grouped objects, like this girl and a cat, the results of the path blend can be quite unexpected, though it can provide ideas of how to blend colors. Refer to Figure 6-34.

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Figure 6-34.  Trying to blend a cat and a girl does not always produce the best results In this case, it would be better, rather than using the Blend tool, to ungroup a copy of your grouped objects. Then, move around the paths you want to use to create the morphed character you envision, and adjust the colors to suit using the Control panel. Then, use the Selection tool to marquee around the illustration, and from the menu choose Object ➤ Group. Refer to Figure 6-35.

Figure 6-35.  Create your own custom morph with the Selection tool and parts of two illustrations We’ll explore this kind of complex blend issue further later in the chapter when we look at Wolf Girl and Photoshop. Other things that can complicate blends could include the use of patterns or gradients. Refer to Figure 6-36.

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Figure 6-36.  Patterns and most gradients do not blend well into solid colors using the Blend tool In the case of patterns, no blend occurs between a solid shape and a patterned shape. However, with a simple gradient a smooth color transition can occur. But with a more complex gradient, additional blend steps are required. We will need a different set of tools if we want to blend patterns and gradients. We’ll explore how to build and blend patterns and solid colors in Chapter 7, and multiple gradients in Chapter 8. As mentioned, you can look at some of these examples in my file, blend_tool_examples1.ai.

Symbols and the Blend Tool Before we start the next project, I want to point out the importance of creating symbols and using them with the Blend tools. Refer to Figure 6-37.

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Figure 6-37.  Any object that you want to repeat can be turned into a symbol After you have created a grouped object that you might want to use multiple times throughout your document, you can store it as a symbol. Open the file tree_blend_symbol_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to practice. In this example, I start with a grouped object of a tree that includes a shadow on the Tree layer.

What Is a Symbol? If I wanted to create two more trees in a row, I could select the tree with the Selection tool and then Alt/ Option-drag multiple copies. However, if I want to make minor changes to all the trees, such as the arrangement of branches or the orientation of the shadow, to make a global change to all trees, I would have to select parts of each of the trees and modify the colors one at a time. Or I could delete the other two trees and make changes to one tree and then Alt/Option-drag out the trees again with the Selection tool, but this takes up a lot of time. Refer to Figure 6-38.

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Figure 6-38.  Grouped objects are not symbols, and each must be updated separately A better way to globally edit objects is to turn them into symbols. A symbol is a collection of paths or grouped objects that you can reuse in your document multiple times, which reduces file size. These files are linked to the Symbols panel.

■■Note A symbol is similar to a Photoshop Smart Object in that it can act as a template without destroying the original while you do basic scaling and rotation.

Symbols Panel In this case, make sure that your Symbols panel is visible on the screen. Refer to Figure 6-39.

Figure 6-39.  Symbols panel for storing symbols in your document

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Now, with the Selection tool, select your grouped object of the tree and click the New Symbol button at the bottom of the panel. Refer to Figure 6-40.

Figure 6-40.  Select a grouped object and add it to the Symbols panel

Symbol Options This opens the Symbol Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 6-41.

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Figure 6-41.  Symbol Options dialog box In the options, you can rename the symbol to “Trees.” Other options you can set are as follows: •

Export Type: Either Movie Clip or Graphic. However, in Illustrator this makes no difference, as this is specifically if you use the symbol in an application like Adobe Animate (formerly Flash). So, in this case, I leave it at the Movie Clip setting. Refer to Figure 6-42.

Figure 6-42.  Symbol Options dialog box; Export Type options are only relevant to the Animate application •

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Symbol Type: Symbols come in two kinds, either dynamic or static. Refer to Figure 6-43.

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Figure 6-43.  Symbol Options dialog box; Symbol Type options In the Symbols panel, the current symbols are all static. However, if they were dynamic, they would have a plus symbol in the preview icon. Refer to Figure 6-44.

Figure 6-44.  Static and dynamic symbol examples in the Symbols panel So, what is the difference between the two, and which should you choose? •

Static Symbols: Like a grouped object, they allow you to move, scale, rotate, reflect, and shear. However, you can do that to the instance of the symbol on the Artboard without affecting the original file stored in the panel. However, the colors of the symbol’s fill and stroke are locked and cannot be edited, unless you use the Control panel to edit the original “master” or parent symbol, which we will look at in the next section. Refer to Figure 6-45.

Figure 6-45.  You can move, scale, and rotate a static symbol

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■■Note  You cannot alter or distort the perspective of a symbol using the Free Transform tool mentioned in Chapter 3 with the Perspective and Free Distort options, as this would alter the structure. In this case, when attempted, the action is canceled and the symbol remains undistorted. •

Dynamic Symbols: These allow you to do the same scaling and moving as a static symbol. However, you can also edit the individual colors on the symbol on the Artboard, using the Direct Selection tool. You can use the Toolbars and Swatches panels to select and swap solid colors, gradients, and patterns in the fills and strokes if the path in the symbol already has a stroke. Refer to Figure 6-46.

Figure 6-46.  Dynamic symbols allow you to alter color of selected paths using the Direct Selection tool and can be colored with your Toolbars or Swatches panels However, the original parent symbol structure will remain intact in the Symbols panel, and its colors will not be edited. Refer to Figure 6-47.

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Figure 6-47.  The dynamic symbol in the Symbols panel is not altered by the color change

■■Note  Symbols, whether static or dynamic, can also have additional live effects from the Effects menu applied. We will look at that in more detail in Chapter 11. In this case, I will keep my symbol as static, as I am just going to be focused on scaling the symbol with the Blend tool. Refer to Figure 6-48.

Figure 6-48.  Symbols in this chapter are set to be static symbols •

You can also set the registration or reference point for the symbol. In this case, I leave it at the center.

•

Enable Guides for 9-Slice Scaling refers to when working in Animate with graphic or movie clip symbols; it does not apply to this book. However, if you need more details on that topic or symbols in general, you can refer to the following link: https:// helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/symbols.html. See “Use 9-slice Scaling.” Refer to Figure 6-49.

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Figure 6-49.  Symbol Options dialog box for setting Registration and Enable Guides for 9-Slice Scaling Click OK to exit the dialog box. The symbol should now be added to the panel. Refer to Figure 6-50.

Figure 6-50.  The symbol is added to the Symbols panel Selected symbols in the Symbols panel can do the following: •

Be placed on the Artboard as an instance using either the menu or the right-pointing arrow icon. You can also Alt/Option-drag your symbol while it is on the Artboard to create a copy of an instance. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-51.

Figure 6-51.  Place Symbol Instance icon

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•

Be unlinked using the Link icon with a slash, or in the menu use Break Link to Symbol. Broken symbols will often also break their grouped state. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-52.

Figure 6-52.  Break Link to Symbol icon •

Be set to static. If you made a mistake and need to set the symbol to static, you can use the Symbol panel list icon or menu and choose Symbol Options. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-53.

Figure 6-53.  Symbol Options icon •

Be duplicated. The selected symbol in the Symbols panel can be duplicated if you click on the New Symbol button while nothing else is selected on the Artboard. Or, using the panel’s menu, choose Duplicate Symbol. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-54.

Figure 6-54.  New Symbol icon can also duplicate a symbol •

Be deleted by clicking on the Delete (trash can) icon. Click Yes or No to any message to delete. However, if a symbol is already on the Artboard, you may get the following warning message. And you must choose whether to Expand Instance (Unlink), Delete Instances on the Artboard, or Cancel the Delete. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-55.

Figure 6-55.  Delete icon also triggers a warning message if symbols are on the Artboard

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You can also use the panel’s menu and choose Delete Symbol. •

Additional symbols can be acquired from the Symbol Library menu on the left, or from the panel’s menu. Refer to Figure 6-50 and Figure 6-56.

Figure 6-56.  Libraries icon in the Symbols panel All the layers and sublayers of the path are stored within the symbol. You can access them at any time by double-clicking on the symbol in the panel, from the menu choosing Edit Symbol, or by double-clicking on the selected symbol on the Artboard. To remain within the boundaries of the picture, click OK to the message about symbol definition and how any edits will be applied to all symbol instances and enter Symbol Editing mode. This can be seen in the Layers panel. Refer to Figure 6-57.

Figure 6-57.  Enter Symbol Editing mode when you double-click on a symbol

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■■Tip If upon entering your symbol you find that any of your object paths are ungrouped you can enter the symbol and Object ➤ Group the selected paths so that when you break the symbol it does not become ungrouped. After you make any change to the symbol you can exit this mode by clicking on the arrow on the left below the rulers. Refer to Figure 6-58.

Figure 6-58.  Exit Symbol Editing mode

Symbols Control Panel Above the selected symbol is the Control panel. Whether the symbol is static or dynamic, it is the same except for the Object Type name that identifies it. Refer to Figure 6-59.

Figure 6-59.  Static symbol options in the Control panel For both static and dynamic symbols, you can edit the following: The symbol in this example is identified as a movie clip (gear icon), which would be useful to know if you planned to later use the symbol in Adobe Animate. Refer to Figure 6-60.

Figure 6-60.  A symbol can be either a move clip or graphic Instance Name: You can name each symbol on your Artboard if you need to keep track of them. However, in this case you can leave the text box blank; it is an instance of the parent symbol Trees. Refer to Figure 6-61.

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Figure 6-61.  Control panel options for static symbol You can also enter Symbol Editing mode by clicking on the Edit Symbol button. To turn the symbol back into a grouped object, you can break it from the Symbols panel by choosing Break Link, or as mentioned earlier you can do so from the link icon on the Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 6-62.

Figure 6-62.  Edit your symbol or break the link with your symbol using the Control panel or Symbols panel If you have scaled the static symbol or changed the color appearance of the dynamic symbol, you can reset it to the original setting by clicking the Reset button. Refer to Figure 6-63.

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Figure 6-63.  Reset the symbols to their original size using the Control panel Replace: Allows you to change the symbol instance to another in the Symbols panel if there is another available. Refer to Figure 6-64.

Figure 6-64.  Replace the symbol using the Control panel

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■■Note In the Symbols panel menu is another option called Redefine Symbol. This can be used after you have broken the link with a symbol. Make some edits to the object, and then, with the group selected, choose Redefine Symbol from the menu. Refer to Figure 6-65.

Figure 6-65.  Break link to a symbol and redefine it using the Symbols menu

The previous selected parent symbol is then updated with the changes without entering Symbol Editing mode.

Returning to the Control Panel Options Opacity: Has a range of 0–100%; lets you set the opacity for the symbol instance. This does not affect the original parent symbol. Refer to Figure 6-66.

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Figure 6-66.  Alter the opacity of a symbol Recolor Artwork: Whether a static or a dynamic symbol, this option does affect the original parent symbol and not just the instance. If recoloring is something you want to do to just the instance, then make sure to use your Symbols panel menu first to change the symbol to dynamic, and then use the Direct Selection tool to color individual parts. Otherwise, Edit ➤ Undo right away if you recolored the original parent symbol artwork by mistake. Refer to Figure 6-67.

Figure 6-67.  Recolor your parent symbol using the Control panel

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Align: When two or more symbols are selected on the Artboard, you can use the Align options or the Align panel, as you did in Chapter 2 for two or more paths and shapes. Refer to Figure 6-68.

Figure 6-68.  Use the Control panel to align two or more symbols Symbol Registration Point: This is the point that you set earlier in the Symbol Options panel, to center. Refer to Figure 6-69.

Figure 6-69.  Use the Control panel to set the X and Y coordinates and width and height for your symbol As with paths, shapes, and other grouped objects, you can set the symbol’s X and Y coordinate values, as well as its width and height. You can constrain width and height proportions with the Link icon. All the numbers are based on the registration point. Refer to Figure 6-69. You can access additional transform options by clicking on the X or Y in the Control panel or from the Properties panel. Refer to Figure 6-70.

Figure 6-70.  Use the Control panel to perform basic transforms on a symbol Additional options include rotate, shear, flip horizontally, or flip vertically.

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■■Note  You can also switch back to the normal reference point if you uncheck Use Registration Point for Symbol in the Transform menu. Refer to Figure 6-71.

Figure 6-71.  You can set the reference or registration point using the Transform menu

Symbols are saved within your document’s Symbols panel, but they can also be moved to other documents, as you can copy and paste from one AI file to the next or open the AI file directly from the Symbols panel menu. Refer to Figure 6-72.

Figure 6-72.  Symbols can be saved as an .ai file We will look more at editing and working with symbols and their related tools in Chapters 11, 12, and 13.

Apply the Blending Tool to the Symbol With the Selection tool, select the Trees symbol on the left side of the Artboard and then click on the Place Symbol icon to create another tree. Refer to Figure 6-73.

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Figure 6-73.  Place an additional symbol on the Artboard using the Symbols panel Drag this tree over to the right and scale it to a smaller size. Hold down the Shift key to make the tree proportionate. Refer to Figure 6-74.

Figure 6-74.  Scaling one of the symbols with the Selection tool

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Now, using the Selection tool, Shift + Click on both trees. Then, select the Blend tool and click on both trees, one at a time. Refer to Figure 6-75.

Figure 6-75.  Click on both selected symbols with the Blend tool This will create a transition tree between the two trees. Now all the trees are linked by the blend. You can update all the trees at the same time when you double-click on the symbol, either in the Symbols panel once or on the Artboard a few times to navigate through the blend to the symbol. Commit the change upon exiting Symbol Editing mode by clicking on the left-pointing arrow a few times. Refer to Figure 6-76.

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Figure 6-76.  Enter Symbol editing mode when you need to make a global edit to the blend With this knowledge, we can now start to plant the bushes on the farm in the next project. Save your work on this file, and you can view my example in tree_blend_symbol_final.ai.

■■Tip  Use the blend option Spacing of Specified Distance if you need to create a more graduated blend between two symbols, as the other options—Smooth Color and Specified Steps—will create a space between each transition. Refer to Figure 6-77.

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Figure 6-77.  You can create some unusual effects depending on your blend option settings in the dialog box

■■Tip  While not relevant to this book, for your own independent projects, if you are planning on creating a frame-by-frame GIF animation in Photoshop, you might want to refer to the books I mentioned in the introduction. However, as an alternative idea, you can use the Blend tool to create your transitions and then later expand the path. These selected objects can later be added as Smart Object layers to Photoshop to create an animation. For more information on the Blend tool, visit https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/ using/blending-objects.html.

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 4 To continue the project of the girl at the farm, it’s time to plant the bushes and add posts to the end of the rows. Open Landscape1_4_start.ai and save a copy if you want to follow along for practice. In this example, we can see, on the unlocked Bushes layer, that a few more posts have been added to the layer. The bush, for the moment, has been moved and duplicated at the far end of the row, but you will look at that in the Symbols panel in a moment. At this point, I will just explain what I did. Refer to Figure 6-78.

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Figure 6-78.  Illustration with girl on the farm with bushes ready to be planted on the bushes layer

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■■Note  Make sure to zoom in with your Zoom tool and use your Hand tool (spacebar) if you need to navigate around on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 6-79.

Figure 6-79.  Use the Zoom and Hand tools to navigate about the Artboard

Adding Posts and Bushes as Symbols First, in regard to the posts, after I created the post and its shadow in Chapter 3, I made sure to group them together. Then, while they were selected in the Symbols panel, I clicked on the New Symbol button. Refer to Figure 6-80.

Figure 6-80.  Create a new symbol In the Symbol Options dialog box, I gave it the name “Post,” left the Export Type field set as Movie Clip, set the Symbol Type field to Static, and left the Registration Point field set at Center. I kept the Enabled Guides for 9-Slice Scaling checkbox disabled. Refer to Figure 6-81.

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Figure 6-81.  Symbol options for the Post symbol I clicked OK to convert the post on the layer to a symbol. I then Alt/Option-dragged the posts to create three other copies of the post symbol. Moving them into place, the nearest one goes off the Artboard. Refer to Figure 6-82.

Figure 6-82.  Using the Selection tool to move the posts

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At this point, I Shift + Clicked three of the symbol posts with my Selection tool. And because I wanted to slightly alter their shadows from the parent symbol, from the Symbols menu I clicked the Break Link to Symbol icon. Refer to Figure 6-83 and Figure 6-84.

Figure 6-83.  Select the three post symbols to break link from the parent symbol

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Figure 6-84.  Break link to the posts using the Symbols panel Then, I used my Direct Selection tool and clicked on the ends of the shadow lines to alter them. In this case, I adjusted the angle of the two posts on the Artboard on the right. The one shadow off the artboard will never be seen. Refer to Figure 6-85.

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Figure 6-85.  Use the Direct Selection tool to select the end point of a post shadow and move it to adjust the shadow I then, with my Selection tool, clicked on each post and shadow that was not a symbol and used Object ➤ Group to group them again, as you can see. Currently, in the file only one post is a symbol on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 6-86.

Figure 6-86.  Group any posts that may have become detached from their shadows when broken from the symbol

■■Note As mentioned earlier in the chapter, even though the posts were grouped before becoming a symbol, they can automatically become ungrouped within the symbol, and this is apparent when the link is broken. However, to prevent this in your own projects, enter the symbol (double-click) and select all shapes and Object ➤ Group them, then exit the Symbol Editing mode. This time, when the symbol is broken it will break, but as a group and not as separate paths.

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That’s OK in this example as there are only four posts and they are not difficult to update; breaking them from the symbol is not an issue. However, when it comes to the bushes, we do not want to spend a lot of time updating each one, so using symbols for them is a better option. In this example, after I created a bush with the shadow, as you saw in Chapter 3, I then (as I did with the post) selected all the parts of the bush with my Selection tool (marquee-drag around the bush) and grouped the object as one unit. While this unit was selected, in the Symbols panel, I clicked New Symbol to add it to the panel. Refer to Figure 6-87.

Figure 6-87.  The grouped object of bush is added to the Symbols panel I called this new symbol “Bush” in the dialog box and used the same settings for a static symbol that I used for the post and clicked OK. Refer to Figure 6-88.

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Figure 6-88.  Symbol Options dialog box for the bush symbol, and the scaled bush on the Artboard near a post Then, using the Selection tool bounding box handles and the Shift key, I scaled the bush, making it a bit larger so that it appears closer to the viewer. Refer to Figure 6-88. Then I Alt/Option-dragged out a copy and put it at the end of the row of the field. In the Control panel, I clicked the Reset button so that the scale of the most distant tree would be smaller and appear farther away. Refer to Figure 6-89.

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Figure 6-89.  Use the Control panel to reset the bush in the distance to make it smaller Now, on your own, using the symbols I have supplied, you need to create a blend for this row on the Bushes layer. Refer to Figure 6-90.

Figure 6-90.  Start creating the row of the bushes

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Creating the Row with the Blend Tool With the Selection tool, Shift + Click to select both bush symbol instances. Then, with the Blend tool, click on both bushes, one at a time—first the one in the distance, and then the closer bush. Refer to Figure 6-91.

Figure 6-91.  Use the Selection tool and Blend tool to create your row of bushes This creates a row of bushes that gradually get larger as they get closer. I will adjust the number of bushes by entering the Blend Options dialog box and setting the Spacing option to Specified Steps with a setting of 9 and an orientation of Align to Page. Refer to Figure 6-92.

Figure 6-92.  Set the Blend Options Specified Steps field to 9 for more bushes in the row

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Then click OK to exit. This adds two more bushes to the row, making them more compact and evenly spaced. Refer to Figure 6-93.

Figure 6-93.  Now the row has more bushes

■■Note  For your own projects, if you want to adjust the spacing afterward, you could always Choose Object ➤ Blend ➤ Expand to release the symbols from the blend but keep them grouped. Then, manually adjust the spacing using the Direct Selection tool and the Selection tool. However, I will leave them as is so that I can create more blends of bushes for my rows and adjust the spacing and scaling at the same time as required. Refer to Figure 6-94. Blends that consist of two different transitioning symbols will create grouped objects between the two symbols if they are expanded.

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Figure 6-94.  An expanded blend produces a row of symbols at various scale sizes. Use your Direct Selection tool and then Selection tool to select a symbol

Use Edit ➤ Undo if you expanded the blend by mistake, and then keep the blend spine active.

Adding More Blend Rows Now that you know how to create one row, you can create more rows. I did that in my example Landscape1_4_final.ai, which you can refer to later. In this case, while the blend is selected with the Selection tool, Alt/Option-drag the blend onto the next row to line it up with the next post. Refer to Figure 6-95.

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Figure 6-95.  Duplicate the selected blend rows However, the bushes farthest away are too high on the horizon. That’s OK, as you can fix it. Click off the Artboard to deselect the blend. Refer to Figure 6-96.

Figure 6-96.  If your rows are uneven you may need to move the bushes on one end With your Direct Selection tool, select the bush farthest away. Then, switch to the Selection tool and drag the bush downward so that it sits on the row. Refer to Figure 6-97.

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Figure 6-97.  Use the Direct Selection tool and Selection tool to move your bush and adjust the blend This causes all the other bushes in the blend to move along with it and adjust. At this point, you may notice that the bushes’ shadows are overlapping the other bushes. Again, select the blend with the Selection tool and choose from the main menu Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back. Refer to Figure 6-98.

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Figure 6-98.  Select your bushes so that the shadow does not overlap the closer bushes This places the shadow behind the row closest to you. Refer to Figure 6-99.

Figure 6-99.  The new row of bushes is now behind the other As you move your rows farther away from you, make sure to scale the symbols so the bushes get gradually smaller. However, it OK if some are slightly higher as it is a slightly hilly field, and the ground is uneven. Select a single bush on one end with the Direct Selection tool, and then with the Selection tool you can use the bounding box handles to scale the bushes as required. You can see my example, Landscape1_4_final.ai. I have on the Bushes layer. I have a total of six blended rows, as the last row in the field was too far away and I did not add any bushes to it. Refer to Figure 6-100.

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Figure 6-100.  On your Bushes layer, you need a total of six rows of bushes Make sure as you add the blended rows moving away from you, that you Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back each one. That way, the bushes and their shadows will be behind the posts as well. Later, you can select symbols at the end of each row if you need to move them with your Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 6-101.

Figure 6-101.  You can still move the bushes and scale them using the Direct Selection and Selection tools Next, with your Selection tool, scale using the bounding box handles. Refer to Figure 6-101.

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Add Additional Bushes on Another Layer In my example, on the Mountains and Foreground layer, I added a few more bush symbols, but not as part of any blend. I dragged them out of my Symbols panel onto the Artboard, and with the Selection tool I moved them across my closest row, near the gray foreground the girl is standing on. There are four bushes. Refer to Figure 6-102.

Figure 6-102.  Drag out additional bushes for the closest row To make them appear just below the gray foreground area, I selected the gray area with my Selection tool and chose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front. Refer to Figure 6-103.

Figure 6-103.  Bring the foreground in front of the bushes to cover the shadow You could scale these bushes if you wanted to, or leave them small, as not all the bushes would be planted at the same time.

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Editing All Symbol Instances Remember: Now that the bushes are all the same symbol, you could double-click on the symbol in the Symbols panel and make alterations, such as to a color on a selected path. Use the Control panel in Symbol Editing mode and then exit, using the arrow below the rulers, and all the bushes will update at the same time. Refer to Figure 6-104.

Figure 6-104.  Enter the symbols by double-clicking on them in the Symbols panel, and exit Symbol Editing mode to see the result

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Use Edit ➤ Undo a few times or use the History panel if you need to undo those steps, but don’t delete the symbol in the process. If that happens, then use Edit ➤ Redo or Shift + Ctrl/CMD+Z, or find the correct state in the History panel. See the earlier note about what to do if you need to group your paths while in Symbol Editing mode before breaking symbols for your own projects. Then, lock your layers in the Layers panel. Save your document at this point. Refer to Figure 6-105.

Figure 6-105.  Lock your layer in the Layers panel In the next chapter, we will start adjusting the foreground so that it has a bit more texture.

Project: Wolf-Girl Open the file wolf_girl_blend.ai. We are just looking at this file and another one as part of the discussion on what to do when you have complex blends. Sometimes illustrations in Illustrator can be quite complex, and using the Blend tool on a grouped object or symbol will not work well when there are many paths and gradients that Illustrator needs to reference. Refer to Figure 6-106.

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Figure 6-106.  Complex illustrations with multiple gradients Complex gradients that are applied in symbols will sometimes require that the appearance or gradients be expanded. Before you create a symbol, to avoid gradient error messages, while the grouped object is selected you can use Object ➤ Expand Appearance. Refer to Figure 6-107.

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Figure 6-107.  Illustrations with gradients can be saved as symbols, but when blended with the Blend tool they may trigger a warning message unless you expand the gradient first However, this is no guarantee that you can blend or morph these two symbols the way you expect them to, no matter how many blend steps you create. Remember, Illustrator cannot look inside your head and know what you are thinking. Refer to Figure 6-108.

Figure 6-108.  The Blend tool can produce unpredictable results on complex illustrations

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When we are dealing with complex illustrations, we could, as you saw earlier in the chapter, move parts of each illustration around to create a new image. Or, for a smoother blend that is part of your vision, you could use Photoshop. In Photoshop, open wolf_girl_blend_photoshop.psd. In Photoshop, you can look at the layers to see what I did to create my artistic blend. Refer to Figure 6-109.

Figure 6-109.  Using Photoshop might be a better option with complex blends In this example, I copied the woman’s face and the wolf’s face on separate layers as Smart Object layers, as mentioned in previous chapters. Refer to Figure 6-110.

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Figure 6-110.  Use Smart Object layers when you want to do custom blends with the brush and eraser tools using layer masks

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In this case, I used layer masks and the brush and eraser tools to paint out areas of the woman’s face and the wolf’s face to blend parts of the illustration together. I also made another copy of the wolf layer so that I could scale the wolf’s nose better. The woman’s face-to-nose ratio is wider than the wolf’s, which is more compact, so being able to move separate parts of the wolf around for a better blend is a good option. Lastly, in Photoshop you may want to add a gradient fill background or additional shadows to the face, as on Layer 1, to add additional shadows that were not present in the original illustration. Refer to Figure 6-110. This project is just something to keep in mind when you are working with complex blends and choosing which Adobe application is better to work with for your illustrations. You can close any open files at this point as the project is complete.

Summary The Blend tool is easy to use and can help to generate new shapes or transitions. These can be used as part of a new design or a logo in ways that are planned or sometimes unexpected. You can also use the Blend tool to scale and transform symbols so that you do not have to copy multiple repeating grouped objects or symbols, and then you can update them all in one location while in the Symbols panel and Symbol Editing mode. However, as the design or illustration becomes more detailed and complex, depending on what your definition of a blend is, you may need to use Photoshop and Smart Object layers to help you achieve your goals. In the next chapter, we will be looking at a few ways to generate custom patterns and brushes in Illustrator.

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Warping Patterns Chapter Goal: Review how to create patterns and then enter the pattern through the Swatches panel to distort it further. Also, work with the new feature, Object ➤ Repeating Shapes. In this chapter, we will be reviewing the Pattern Options panel that I briefly discussed in my book, Graphics and Multimedia for the Web with Adobe Creative Cloud. However, since the writing of that book I have discovered a few additional features that can enhance the repeating patterns that we can use with this panel. In addition, we will be working with the Libraries panel, as well as discussing ways to work with repeating shapes and do custom borders and brushes.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 7 folder.

Pattern Introduction Whether you have used Photoshop in the past or Illustrator while reading this book, once you start using the Pen, Shape, Rotation, and Liquify tools, you can create all kinds of geometric shapes and patterns. Patterns can be very simple or quite complex. They are often meant to repeat so that they can be used in the cloth or fashion industry, on printed paper backgrounds for advertisements, and in other areas of the manufacturing industry. If you take the time to look around your house or in a magazine, you’ll probably see a lot of repeating patterns. One of the great pattern designers whom I often think of is Maurits Cornelis Escher, known as MC Escher (1898–1972). He was a Dutch graphic artist who was known for his mathematics-inspired printed designs that reflected symmetry, perspective, and impossible landscapes. Though he was not a professional mathematician himself, he did collaborate with other scientists and mathematicians, and was very interested in tessellations, or tiling. Escher was inspired by older repeating-pattern mosaic works done by the Moors in Alhambra, Spain. Refer to Figure 7-1.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_7

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Figure 7-1.  Recreation of Moorish tiles, and an Illustrator pattern in the style of MC Escher Though I’m sure it would take many years of study to achieve his level of work and understanding of geometry, if we look at very basic repeating patterns, they will often at their core use some very simple geometric shapes that we can later build upon to create our own inspired works. Shapes that often work well with tessellation tiles, with no gaps or overlaps, include the following: Equilateral Triangles: These can interlock well, and if you stare at the triangles long enough you might notice other more complex geometric shapes, like a hexagon and even a six-sided star. Refer to Figure 7-2.

Figure 7-2.  Triangle patterns often have more than one hidden shape Squares, Rectangles, and Diamonds: By varying the width and height of a square or a rectangle, as well as its color, you can alter the pattern to appear like cubes, herringbone, and plaid. Note how the diamond shape is very much like two triangles butted up against each other. Refer to Figure 7-3.

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Figure 7-3.  There are many variations of square patterns Octagons and Other Combinations: To build a tessellation, you don’t have to use the same geometric shapes. Some geometric shapes must work in combination to avoid transparent gaps. For example, octagons require squares. Hexagons could have additional strokes to make them more distinct, or you could do a combination of squares and hexagons, or squares, hexagons, and triangles. Refer to Figure 7-4.

Figure 7-4.  When basic shapes are used in combination the possibilities are endless

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The possibilities are endless. Escher himself was even noted to have said in his journals about tessellations that creating them, and patterns, could become an addictive activity. Here is a link that talk a bit more about Escher’s life and works.

■■https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Escher/ Imagine what would have happened back then if he’d had access to a computer and Adobe Illustrator.

■■Note Some of the patterns I am using here were likely inspired by Escher’s work and that of other similar pattern designers; they can be found in Illustrator’s library under Window ➤ Swatch Libraries ➤ Patterns.

Swatches Panel for Patterns I chose some examples from the Patterns ➤ Decorative ➤ Decorative Legacy library, and they are stored in the Swatches panel when you click on them from the selected Library. You can access them from the panel’s Swatch Libraries menu icon. We will investigate this storage in more detail in a moment. Refer to Figure 7-5.

Figure 7-5.  Additional Illustrator pattern libraries can be accessed, and patterns can be added to the Swatches panel

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Once you have several stored patterns, you can draw your shape or path. Then, click on the swatch in the Swatches panel to add it to the stroke or fill currently selected in the Toolbars panel. You could also use the Control or Properties panels as you would with solid colors, and apply your pattern swatch to the fill color, stroke color, or both. Refer to Figures 7-5 to 7-7.

Figure 7-6.  Create a rectangle to store and test your pattern, and add the pattern to the fill using the Control panel

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Figure 7-7.  Add the pattern to the stroke or to both the fill and the stroke, and see how it appears in the Toolbars panel You’ll also notice that in some of these patterns, rather than solidly filling up the tessellations, blank areas are left so that some underlying color can show through. This can be very useful when you want to have alternating or solid colors show behind the pattern, as we will see later. Refer to Figure 7-7. So, while it’s nice to use patterns supplied by Adobe Illustrator, you may be wondering how to build or modify patterns to suit the needs of your project. This requires using the Swatches panel and Pattern Options panel, which we will look at next. Before I started working with the Swatches panel on the Artboard, I created a simple pattern using a few geometric shapes and overlapped them. You can see these two starting patterns when you open pattern_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to follow along for practice. You can, on your own, create a pattern if you want to use the various Pen and Shape tools that you learned about in earlier chapters. In this case, I used the Ellipse tool, Polygon tool, Star tool, and then the Pen tool to create a white triangular division between the points of the star. Refer to Figure 7-8.

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Figure 7-8.  Use various Shape and Pen tools to create the start of your pattern Later, I used the Control panel to align and center parts of the shapes. Refer to Figure 7-9.

Figure 7-9.  Use the Control panel to align various paths in your shape I then grouped the objects and selected my first pattern with the Selection tool. I Alt/Option-dragged a copy, then altered the colors by using the Control panel and selecting parts with the Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 7-10.

Figure 7-10.  Select a copy of your grouped object so that you can colorize it and create alternative variations

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Now, select the patterns one at a time with the Selection tool and drag them into the Swatches panel. The New Swatch button in this case will not work, as it would only at the very least add a swatch color and not the actual pattern. Because the group object is multi-colored, the button is grayed out. Dragging the objects into the panel one at a time adds them to the Swatches panel, and you can then begin to edit them further. In my case, they were automatically named New Pattern Swatch 4 and New Pattern Swatch 5, as I had been creating other test patterns earlier. Refer to Figure 7-11.

Figure 7-11.  Drag the grouped objects into the Swatches panel one at a time

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■■Tips  You cannot drag a pattern into the Color Group folder, only to the end of the main swatches with the other patterns and gradients. To delete a pattern from the Swatches panel, while it is selected you can click on the Delete Swatch Icon (trashcan icon) and click Yes to the message about your delete-a-swatch selection. Refer to Figure 7-10.You can also drag a copy pattern out of the Swatches panel to edit it like you did with the Brushes panel in Chapter 4. However, I find working in Pattern Editing mode a better solution.

Pattern Editing Mode Now, so that you do not apply your patterns by mistake to the original, make sure you click off the pattern with your Selection tool to deselect all artwork. You can then rename and edit your pattern when you double-click on the pattern swatch, which will enter you into Pattern Editing mode, with access to the Pattern Options panel. Refer to Figure 7-12.

Figure 7-12.  The Layers panel will let you know you are in Pattern Editing mode

■■Note An alternative way to create a pattern with solid colors is to select an object and then choose Object ➤ Pattern ➤ Make. This will also add the pattern to the Swatches panel, and a message will appear, indicating that you will be in Pattern Editing mode and that changes will be applied upon exit. Click OK to enter the mode. Refer to Figure 7-13.

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Figure 7-13.  Use Object ➤ Pattern ➤ Make instead if you want to edit in Pattern Editing mode, and then read the info message and click OK

In my case, to enter Pattern Editing mode, I selected the blue hexagon pattern in the Swatches panel and double-clicked. You know that you are in Pattern Editing mode when you see the New Pattern icon in the upper-left corner of your Artboard. Refer to Figure 7-14.

Figure 7-14.  Use the icons on the upper-left near the rulers to exit Pattern Editing mode You can save a copy of the pattern, or work on the original. When finished, click the Done button to confirm your pattern in the swatch, or click Cancel to exit and not create or edit a pattern at all. For now, you will stay in Pattern Editing mode. At this point, the Pattern Options panel is available, which we will look at next.

Pattern Options Panel Now we will look at the Pattern Options panel and see how it affects the current pattern. Refer to Figure 7-15.

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Figure 7-15.  The Pattern Options panel and menu with the object currently within the tile Start by giving the pattern a new name so that you can identify it in the Swatches panel. I called mine Blue Octagon Star Pattern. Refer to Figure 7-16.

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Figure 7-16.  Pattern Options panel with new name and Tile Type of Grid The first icon in the upper-left corner of the panel is the Pattern Tile tool. You can click this button to turn the tile’s bounding box handles on or off so that you can drag, scale, and adjust the starting shape’s distance from other repeating shapes. Refer to Figure 7-17.

Figure 7-17.  Using the Pattern Tile tool icon to control the pattern

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Holding down the Shift key scales the spacing proportionately. Refer to Figure 7-18.

Figure 7-18.  Adjusting the area of the tile You could also drag out a new tile if you wanted the pattern to start tiling in a different location or to alter part of the path. Refer to Figure 7-19.

Figure 7-19.  Dragging out a new tile area in the lower right and changing the pattern at the same time In this case, Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD +Z) a few times or use the History panel to revert back to the original pattern state. Refer to Figure 7-20.

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Figure 7-20.  Undo those last steps and turn off the Pattern Tile tool bounding box handles When you are done, turn it off with the Pattern Tile tool icon so that you can make other adjustments within the panel. After the name change, the next option that you can set is the Tile Type setting. You can choose from several different grids or arrangements that adjust how the shapes fit together. Refer to Figure 7-21.

Figure 7-21.  Pattern Options panel with Tile Type options The options are as follows: •

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Grid: The default. It provides evenly spaced squares or spaces within the pattern; however, it does not make for a very compact pattern. This is, however, ideal if you want to leave some transparent space around the octagon for background colors to show through. Alternatively, you could add another geometric square or diamond within the gap, using the rectangle tool to fill in the area. In this example, I will leave this area transparent and blank for now. Refer to Figure 7-22.

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Figure 7-22.  Tile with the Tile Type option of Grid •

Brick by Row and Brick by Column: Have a square tile and allow you to adjust the Brick Offset setting by degrees. The tiles are shifted vertically or horizontally, depending on what option you choose, as we will look at shortly. Refer to Figure 7-23.

Figure 7-23.  Tile with the Tile Type options of Brick by Row and Brick by Column •

Hex by Column and Hex by Row: Create hexagonal tiles; these are the most compact of the patterns; however, you don’t have access to Brick Offset setting. Refer to Figure 7-21 and Figure 7-24.

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Figure 7-24.  Tile with the Tile Type of Hex by Row and Hex by Column If you choose the Tile Type of Brick by Row or Brick by Column, you do have access to the Brick Offset feature. I am using Brick by Row in this example. Refer to Figure 7-25.

Figure 7-25.  Pattern Options panel Brick Offset options •

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Brick Offset tiles are shifted either vertically or horizontally, depending on what option you chose in Tile Type. Currently, it is set to the default of 1/2. However, choosing another option like 1/4, 1/3, or 1/5 would give you a different gap and offset between the tiles. Refer to Figure 7-26.

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Figure 7-26.  Changing the pattern’s Brick Offset options In this case, I will leave it at 1/2 for now. Refer to Figure 7-27.

Figure 7-27.  Pattern Options panel, setting the Tile Type to Brick by Row and Brick Offset to 1/2 •

Setting the width and height is similar to setting the Pattern Tile tool icon, except rather than enabling the button and manually using the handles you can enter a number to increase or decrease spacing. Refer to Figure 7-28.

Figure 7-28.  Setting the width and height of the tile area Clicking the Lock icon lets you scale proportionately and maintain width and height proportions. This area is only accessible when the Size Tile to Art option is unchecked. Refer to Figure 7-29.

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Figure 7-29.  Pattern Options panel setting for width and height, with Lock icon enabled If you made a mistake when entering the width or height, and you want to revert, click Size Tile to Art, which resets the spacing. And then uncheck it to disable it again. Refer to Figure 7-30.

Figure 7-30.  Enabling and disabling Size Tile to Art option will reset the tile around the object •

When Size Tile to Art is checked, you can use H Spacing or V Spacing, which adds or removes spacing between each shape in the pattern. A positive number spreads the space, while a negative number shrinks the space. You can also link the spacing so that you maintain spacing proportions as you scale up or down. Refer to Figure 7-31.

Figure 7-31.  Checking Set Tile to Art enables the H and V Spacing fields, and you can use the link to maintain spacing proportions

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•

Move Tile with Art, when enabled, allows you to move the preview pattern tile with the selected part of art; if unchecked, the tiles or art can be moved independently. Refer to Figure 7-32.

Figure 7-32.  With Move Tile with Art disabled, the art can be moved separately from the tile To undo, select Edit ➤ Undo right away, or use the History panel, so that your art is contained, then enable the checkbox Move Tile with Art and set your horizontal (H) and vertical (V) spacing back by disabling and then enabling the Size Tile to Art checkbox. Refer to Figure 7-33.

Figure 7-33.  Enabled Move Tile with Art Now make sure the link is unlinked and set the V Spacing to -0.125 in. This makes the octagons even closer. Refer to Figure 7-34.

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Figure 7-34.  Negative spacing moves the art closer together

■■Tip  You can use the up and down arrow keys while in the Width, Height, H or V Spacing text boxes to edit more accurately the spacing without disrupting the artwork. Refer to Figure 7-35.

Figure 7-35.  Use the up and down arrow keys when you want to change scaling increments in the Pattern Options panel

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Overlap is how the shapes or objects overlap when they are compressed together. Refer to Figure 7-36.

Figure 7-36.  Pattern Options panel Overlap options Overlap pattern settings can be the following:

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And two options must be set at the same time. Refer to Figure 7-37.

Figure 7-37.  Pattern Options panel Overlap options, and previewing the pattern

■■Note This type of overlapping may not be evident unless the shapes are touching, using the H and V Spacing. Refer to Figure 7-38.

Figure 7-38.  Setting the H Spacing and V Spacing

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The Copies section has to do with the preview, or the number of copies that are on the screen, while you edit the pattern. This does not affect the final pattern layout. The default is 5×5, but you can set it to any number of copies from the dropdown list. Refer to Figure 7-39.

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Figure 7-39.  Preview copies help you visualize the pattern overall

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Dim Copies to: Allows you to dim the preview pattern so that you can distinguish it from the original shape. The range is 0%–100% and does not affect the final pattern outcome. Refer to Figure 7-39.

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Show Tile Edge: Lets you turn on or off the tile so that you can preview the pattern as one unit. I leave it enabled so I can see the pattern. Refer to Figure 7-40.

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Figure 7-40.  Pattern Options panel preview of Show Tile Edge enabled and disabled •

Show Swatch Bounds shows which areas will or will not be repeated in order to have a seamless pattern. Anything outside the bounds is not repeated, except in this preview unless it is required to make the pattern seamless. Along with the tile, the swatch bounds are saved as a transparent box guide within the pattern swatch. When enabled, it appears as a very fine dotted line. By default, I leave this setting disabled and hide the bounds. Refer to Figure 7-41.

Figure 7-41.  Pattern Options panel, Show Swatch Bounds disabled Once the pattern is complete, you can review your settings in the Pattern Options panel. Refer to Figure 7-42.

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Figure 7-42.  Pattern Options panel, reviewing the current settings If you want to close it, click Done in the upper-left corner to commit the changes and exit Pattern Editing mode. Refer to Figure 7-43.

Figure 7-43.  Exiting Pattern Editing mode Then you can apply your pattern to an object on the Artboard. In this example, use the Rectangle tool to draw a shape, and because the pattern is selected, and the fill is in the foreground in the Toolbars panel, that pattern should automatically be applied to the fill. Refer to Figure 7-44.

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Figure 7-44.  Draw with the Rectangle tool an area to display your pattern that you selected from the Swatches panel

Scaling Your Pattern Maybe you find this pattern to be a bit too large and would like it to be smaller.

■■Tip  You can also use the following steps in this example to edit patterns from Illustrator’s pattern libraries. You can alter the pattern—either by double-clicking it in the Swatches panel or by choosing Object ➤ Pattern ➤ Edit Pattern—when you have the pattern swatch selected in the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-45.

Figure 7-45.  Pattern in the Swatches panel; you can use Object ➤ Pattern ➤Edit Pattern to enter the editing mode as well

■■Note Object ➤ Pattern ➤ Tile Edge Color refers to the color of the guide that appears when you are previewing the pattern. The default is medium blue, but you can change it to another color if you find it hard to see, or if it clashes with your pattern. You can use the Pattern Options panel menu to change this setting as well, and can also set the color from the dialog box color list or computer system’s color picker. Refer to Figure 7-46.

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Figure 7-46.  Pattern Tile Edge Color dialog box, and same option in the Pattern Options panel menu When back in Pattern Editing mode, you can rescale your shape. Use the Selection tool to drag a rectangular marquee around the pattern, and then use the bounding box handles and the Shift key to scale proportionately. In this case, it scaled the pattern tile as well. Refer to Figure 7-47.

Figure 7-47.  Scaling the pattern with the Selection tool, as well as the pattern tile

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To make just the pattern smaller, ensure that the Size Tile to Art and Move Tile with Art options are still enabled. However, due to the smaller scale size, some of the pattern may not correctly overlap with the current V Spacing setting. For your own patterns, you may need to adjust this spacing after scaling. Refer to Figure 7-48.

Figure 7-48.  Scale Tile to Art is selected and the V Spacing has been set to a negative setting to keep the pattern overlapping and close Once you have completed scaling the pattern, rather than destroying the original design and before exiting, choose +Save a Copy from the upper-left corner. Name the new pattern Blue Octagon Star Pattern Small. Click OK, and click OK again to the message that the pattern has been added to the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-49.

Figure 7-49.  Save a copy of the current pattern so as not to override the original, and click OK to the message

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So as not to distroy the orginal pattern, click Cancel to exit. Refer to Figure 7-50.

Figure 7-50.  Use Cancel button to exit Pattern Editing mode without altering the original This creates, upon exit, a copy of your now smaller pattern. The larger pattern is still available in the Swatches panel. To change the current pattern in your rectangle while it is still selected, click on the new swatch in your Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-51.

Figure 7-51.  The updated pattern in the fill of the rectangle and added to the Swatches panel

■■Tip  You can copy this rectangle as a Smart Object layer into Photoshop and do further editing or cropping there. Like with solid swatches, when the rectangle is selected, you can use the Control panel to fade the opacity down from 100% to 30% for the shape’s fill and stroke. Refer to Figure 7-52.

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Figure 7-52.  With the rectangle’s opacity reduced, it is much easier to read type over the pattern This is often a good idea, especially if you decide at some point to place type over the pattern, as it will be easier to read. As well, a faded pattern may not be as overwhelming, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. We will look more into opacity and the Transparency panel in Chapter 8.

Transform and Scale the Pattern with the Transform Panel Regardless of which pattern you use, you may have noticed that as you try to scale the rectangle shape with the Selection tool, the pattern scales along with it. But what you really wanted to do was scale the shape and not the pattern. Refer to Figure 7-53.

Figure 7-53.  The pattern and the object scale at the same time

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Choose Edit ➤ Undo. Then, if you do not want patterns to scale with the shape, in the Transform panel choose Transform Object Only. Currently, by default, it is set to Transform Both. Refer to Figure 7-54.

Figure 7-54.  Transform panel with the menu set to Transform Both You can now move the bounding box handles, and the pattern does not scale along with the shape. Refer to Figure 7-55.

Figure 7-55.  Transform panel with the menu set to Transform Object Only, and only the rectangle is scaled— not the pattern If you only want to transform the pattern, choose from the panel’s menu Transform Pattern Only; however, you may get a warning on the Transform panel about what the transformation will affect. In this case, it’s the pattern fill of the selected object. Refer to Figure 7-56.

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Figure 7-56.  Transform panel with the menu set to Transform Pattern Only, and the warning in the panel On this setting, besides using the Transform panel to scale this pattern, you could also rotate just the pattern. Refer to Figure 7-57.

Figure 7-57.  With the option of Transform Pattern Only set in the menu, you can now scale the pattern and rotate it without scaling or rotating the object Or you could even shear the pattern and set an angle. Refer to Figure 7-58.

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Figure 7-58.  With the option of Transform Pattern Only set in the menu, you can now shear it without shearing the object

■■Tip  Use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard while in the text boxes to scale, rotate, and shear the pattern. Also, you can set the reference point to a location other than center to affect the scaling within the shape. Refer to Figure 7-59.

Figure 7-59.  Use the up and down arrow keys to make transform adjustments in the text boxes of the Transform panel

To remove this setting, click the warning icon in the Transform panel, which reverts the setting in the menu to Transform Both. This will, however, not reset the current setting you applied to your pattern within the rectangle. Refer to Figure 7-60.

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Figure 7-60.  Click on the warning icon to set the Transform panel back to Transform Both without resetting the pattern While generally you will use the default setting of Transform Both, as you can see, these options allow you to scale your shape or pattern separately, setting one or the other and not both at same time. The pattern can be reset if you click again on the same pattern in the Swatches panel.

Object Transform and Patterns In Chapter 3, the Transform options are Move, Rotate, Reflect, Scale, Shear, and Transform Each. Within their dialog boxes, they have option settings to Transform Objects and Patterns separately based on which checkboxes you enabled or disabled, and you can preview the result at the same time. Refer to Figure 7-61.

Figure 7-61.  Various Transform dialog boxes allow you to separately transform patterns, preview the result, and make a copy as well You may prefer to use these options, instead of the Transform panel, to control the direction of your pattern as you adjust or create a copy afterward. You can also use the Free Transform tool to scale, rotate, and shear the shape and pattern together. However, it does not appear that you can use the Free Transform sub-tools of Perspective Distort and Free Distort to alter the pattern, only the shape. Refer to Figure 7-62.

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Figure 7-62.  The Free Transform tool will allow you to scale, shear, and rotate the path and pattern, but will not allow you to distort or adjust the perspective the pattern within—only the path. You need to expand it first with the dialog box so that you an alter the fill An alternative is to select the shape with the pattern and, from the main menu, choose Object ➤ Expand. In the dialog box, expand both the fill and the stroke and click OK. Refer to Figure 7-62. This turns the pattern and shape into a grouped object with multiple compound and clipping paths. Then, you could use the Free Transform tools of Perspective and Free Distort on the group. Refer to Figure 7-63.

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Figure 7-63.  Once the pattern is a grouped object, you can use the Free Transform tool to further distort it But this way is destructive, and if you want to adjust the entire pattern later, this is not ideal. See Chapter 9 on how to warp patterns using envelopes and meshes. You could apply these same settings to the red pattern that we added to the Swatches panel, as well. However, let’s try something else to alter that pattern. Refer to Figure 7-64.

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Figure 7-64.  The Swatches panel with the stored patterns

Repeating Patterns with the Object Menu To enhance patterns, we can use some newer features in Illustrator that allow us to repeat shapes and grouped objects. They are Radial, Grid, and Mirror. These commands can be found in the Object ➤ Repeat menu. Refer to Figure 7-65.

Figure 7-65. Object ➤ Repeat submenu

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Radial Repeat In the pattern_start.ai copy of your file, on the artboard, lets create a copy of the red-patterned grouped object (Alt/Option-drag). Currently we are not working in Pattern editing mode. Select the grouped object with the Selection tool and then go to Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Radial. Refer to Figure 7-66.

Figure 7-66.  Radial Repeat set to a grouped object This option appears to be very much like using the Rotate tool, except those multiple copies are created for you. You can then refer to the Control panel or Properties panel for specific settings for this Radial Repeat command. Refer to Figure 7-67.

Figure 7-67.  Radial Repeat options in the Control panel Number of Instances: This controls how many times you will repeat the object around its point of reference, between 1 and 100 times. In this case, the default is set to 8. But you can also use the up and down icon to the right of the bounding box to set that. Refer to Figure 7-68.

Figure 7-68.  Number of instances slider on the bounding box Radius: Sets the distance between the objects on the radius circle. Refer to Figure 7-69.

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Figure 7-69.  Radial Repeat options for radius The ring’s rotation can also be further adjusted with the rotation circle when you drag on the point to rotate and expand it in and out. Refer to Figure 7-70.

Figure 7-70.  Radial Repeat options for radius using the rotation circle You can also remove some of the symbols from the rotation by dragging on one side of the split circle icon and pulling it around the radius. Refer to Figure 7-71.

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Figure 7-71.  Radial Repeat options for radius, using the split circle to reduce the number of instances on the radius Reverse Overlap: When enabled, this causes the objects to overlap or stack in the opposite direction on the repeating radius. Refer to Figure 7-72.

Figure 7-72.  Radial Repeat options in the Control panel with Reverse Overlap enabled

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■■Note  While working with the Radial Repeat, you also have access to other options in the Control panel, such as stroke weight, which will update at the same time all instances in your pattern. Refer to Figure 7-73.

Figure 7-73.  Additional options in the Control panel while using Radial Repeat

For this project, we will leave them at the current settings. Create a repeat that you like. In this case, I added nine instances and a radius of 1.2312 in, and left Reverse Overlap unchecked. Refer to Figure 7-74.

Figure 7-74.  Radial Repeat options set for the design Then you can, while the repeat is selected, try this trick: Select it with the Selection tool, then use Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C).

■■Note  While using the Selection tool, you can still move, scale, and rotate your Radial Repeat. Then, with the Selection tool, click outside the artboard to deselect the repeat. Refer to Figure 7-75.

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Figure 7-75.  Deselect your radial repeat so that pattern is not applied to it by mistake Now, in the Swatches panel, double-click on the red pattern to enter Pattern Editing mode. Refer to Figure 7-76.

Figure 7-76.  Use the Swatches panel to enter Pattern Editing mode, as seen in the Layers panel Select the current paths that are present in the pattern by using the Selection tool to drag a marquee around the paths, and then press Backspace/Delete to remove the current pattern. Refer to Figure 7-77.

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Figure 7-77.  Delete the current pattern after you select it with the Selection tool Now Edit ➤ Paste (Ctrl/CMD+V) so that the pattern appears in the center of the tile’s edge area. Refer to Figure 7-78.

Figure 7-78.  Paste in the Radial Repeat pattern Now, it is going to appear a bit cramped. So, use your Pattern Options panel and check the Size Tile to Art option to spread it out a bit more. You may need to click it to disable it and then enable it again. Refer to Figure 7-79.

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Figure 7-79.  In the Pattern Options panel, check Size Tile to Art option so that the Radial Repeat has more space

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That is how you can get your Radial Repeat inside of the Pattern Editing mode, and you can still use those settings to modify your pattern further in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 7-80.

Figure 7-80.  Radial Repeat is still available while in Pattern Editing mode In this case, I renamed my pattern Red Pattern Repeat and left it at the default setting of Tile Type: Grid. Refer to Figure 7-81.

Figure 7-81.  Renaming the pattern in the Pattern Options panel Then, I unchecked the Size Tile to Art checkbox. Refer to Figure 7-82.

Figure 7-82.  Disable Size Tile to Art before you add more shapes Then, I wanted to fill in the gap a bit more on the sides of the repeated pattern. I clicked on the Artboard and then, using the Polygon tool dialog box, I drew an eight-sided octagon with a radius of 0.6615in. Refer to Figure 7-83.

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Figure 7-83.  Create a polygon with the dialog box Then, with my Selection tool, I placed the polygon in the upper-left of my tile area on the Artboard and rotated it 241.252°. You can see that rotation transformation in the Transform panel. Refer to Figure 7-84.

Figure 7-84.  Use the Transform tool to move, rotate, and scale the polygon into place, as well as the Selection tool to adjust near the tile I then used the Control panel to set the fill to red (C=15, M=100, Y=90, K=10) and the stroke to black with a stroke weight of 1pt. Here you can see the result of that, and the preview of the other octagons appearing in the other three corners. Refer to Figure 7-85.

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Figure 7-85.  The setting used in the Control panel for the new polygon, and its final placement partly outside the tile so that it will repeat on all four sides For your own patterns, you could use other shape tools as well to enhance the design. Once done, I reviewed my Pattern Options panel and then clicked Done in the upper-left of the Pattern Editing mode dialog to commit the change and exit. Refer to Figure 7-86.

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Figure 7-86.  Review the Pattern Options panel and then click Done to exit and commit the changes The pattern is now updated in the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-87.

Figure 7-87.  Swatches panel with updated pattern

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■■Note  One other great thing you can try is applying the pattern to a copy of your Radial Repeat outside of Pattern Editing mode. This produces a pattern within a pattern. Refer to Figure 7-88.

Figure 7-88.  Swatch applied to another Radial Repeat

We’ll come back to these patterns in an upcoming project in this chapter, but for now let’s continue to look briefly at the other two object repeat options.

Grid Repeat Again, on a copy of your original grouped object, you can try this next setting: Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Grid. Refer to Figure 7-89.

Figure 7-89.  Example of Grid Repeat While not exactly for pattern creation, this is very useful if you need to create a grid of repeating items in a hurry. I can see how this would be helpful for print production of labels or stickers, so that you do not have to Alt/Option-drag a copy multiple times and then rely on your Align panel to line everything up. You will find the settings in the Control panel and Properties panel for Grid Repeat. Refer to Figure 7-90.

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Figure 7-90.  Grid Repeat Control panel Horizontal Spacing in Grid: Adjust the spacing evenly horizontally, between the objects in the grid. You can also use the arrow slider on the top of the bounding box to do this, by dragging left or right. However, if some of the pattern disappears outside the bounding box during expansion, then you need to drag on the right handle to increase the size of the bounding box. Doing so will also add more repeating items to your grid. Refer to Figure 7-91.

Figure 7-91.  Grid Repeat settings with horizontal spacing in grid using the Control panel or slider on the bounding box

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Vertical Spacing in Grid: Adjust the spacing evenly vertically, between the objects in the grid. You can also use the arrow slider on the left of the bounding box to do this, by dragging up or down. However, if some of the pattern disappears outside the bounding box during expansion, then you need to drag on the bottom handle to increase the size of the bounding box. Doing so will also add more repeating items to your grid. Refer to Figure 7-92.

Figure 7-92.  Grid Repeat settings with vertical spacing in grid using Control panel or slider on the bounding box In the More Options dropdown in the Control panel are the other three options: Grid Type: Similar to working in the Pattern Options panel, you can set to Grid (Default), Brick by Row, or Brick by Column. Refer to Figure 7-93.

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Figure 7-93.  Grid Repeat settings for Grid Type of Grid, Brick by Row, and Brick by Column Flip Rows: This allows you to flip the objects in the row, with settings of Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical, or both. It is similar to how you would flip a single object using the Transform or Properties panel, but now you are flipping all items at once or in alternating rows. Refer to Figure 7-94.

Figure 7-94.  Grid Repeat settings for Flip Rows, with Flip Horizontal enabled

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Flip Column: This allows you to flip the objects in alternating columns with Flip Horizonal, Flip Vertical, or both. It is similar to how you would flip a single object using the Transform or Properties panel, but now you are flipping all items at once in alternating columns. Refer to Figure 7-95.

Figure 7-95.  Grid Repeat settings for Flip Column, with Flip Vertical enabled

■■Note  While in Grid Repeat, you can still use the Selection tool to move, scale, and rotate the grid.

Mirror Repeat This last repeat example is similar to using Object ➤ Transform➤ Reflect. In this case, I selected a copy of my grouped object and then chose Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Mirror. In this command, however, the mirrored item goes into Isolation mode, as you can see from the Layers panel and the area on the left below the rulers. Refer to Figure 7-96.

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Figure 7-96.  A Mirror Repeat is set in Isolation mode, and when complete you need to exit it You can find your settings in the Control panel or Properties panel. Refer to Figure 7-97.

Figure 7-97.  Mirror Repeat Control panel Angle of Mirror Axis: You can then set, in degrees, the angle of the mirror (0°–360°) in the text box or use the dropdown list to select a preset. The default is 90°. Here I tried a setting of 210°. Refer to Figure 7-98.

Figure 7-98.  Use Mirror Repeat to set the angle of the mirror axis

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By dragging on the center circle you can adjust the spacing, and dragging on the end circle handles will adjust the angle. When you are done, use the left-pointing arrow in the upper left to exit Isolation mode and commit the Mirror Repeat. You may have to click a few times to completely exit. Refer to Figure 7-99.

Figure 7-99.  Exit Isolation mode when you complete the Mirror Repeat However, after this you can continue to use Mirror Repeat in the Control panel without having to enter Isolation mode. But to adjust spacing, you will need to double-click again on the mirrored paths to enter Isolation mode once more. Refer to Figure 7-99 and Figure 7-100.

Figure 7-100.  You can still access the Mirror Repeat outside of Isolation mode

■■Note  While in Mirror Repeat (Isolation mode) you can still use the Selection tool to move, scale, and rotate the original, and the Mirror Repeat will adjust as well.

Further Repeat Menu Options The same repeat options can be found under Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Options. You can preset your options by just clicking on a tab (Radial, Grid, Mirror) for the type of repeat you are planning to do. Enter your settings and click OK. Or, just set them using the Control and Properties panels as you adjust your repeat. Refer to Figure 7-101.

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Figure 7-101.  Repeat Options dialog box The other option, Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Release, is good if you decide you want to cancel a repeat and return to the current grouped object only. Refer to Figure 7-102.

Figure 7-102.  Release the grouped object from the repeat

■■Note  You can use any of the three repeats multiple times on an object or in combination with each other. However, in that case you may have to use Object ➤ Repeat ➤ Release a few times to return to the original group shape. Refer to Figure 7-103.

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Figure 7-103.  Apply multiple repeats for a more complex effect

You can see some of my examples in the file pattern_final.ai. I expanded the Artboard so you can see the examples I created. You can save your examples at this point. For some additional visual examples from Adobe, you can visit https://helpx.adobe.com/ illustrator/using/repeat-patterns-desktop.html.

■■Note  You can now experiment with a new feature Object ➤ Intertwine to edit you patterns further. To learn more about this item refer to this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/intertwine-objects.html

Pattern Library and the Pattern Options Panel While not necessary to know for this book, I’ll just mention that we could use Photoshop’s Adobe Capture (Extract from Image) from the Libraries panel to create custom patterns from layers. Once they are edited in the dialog box using the Patterns tab, they can be stored and saved to CC libraries or Creative Cloud libraries. They can be accessed later using the Libraries panel by other Photoshop documents, In those documents they can then be applied to Pattern Fill Adjustment layers, and added to the Patterns panel. Refer to Figure 7-104 for a brief overview.

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Figure 7-104.  Photoshop with the Libraries panel and its access to patterns later stored in the Patterns panel However, in Illustrator there is currently no option to use Extract from Image or Adobe Capture to make Illustrator patterns available to Photoshop. Instead, you must save them as a graphic, which you could later add to Photoshop. Refer to Figure 7-105.

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Figure 7-105.  Illustrator’s Libraries panel can store patterns as graphics only, but you can import libraries with pattern assets created by others using Photoshop However, you do have access to any patterns you created in Photoshop. In this example, you do not need to create a new library using the menu. In this case use the Libraries panel’s menu to load or import my library Photoshop Patterns.cclibs. If you have already read Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1 you may have already done this step, so it does not need to be imported again. If you have not read it, import it now so you can see the same library as myself. Upon choosing Import library from the Panels menu, select and find the library in the Lib folder in your Projects folder. Select the library and then click Import in the dialog box. Refer to Figure 7-106.

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Figure 7-106.  Use the Libraries panel to import my library of patterns For more details on the topic of libraries, you can review the following resources: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/cc-libraries-in-photoshop.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/creative-cloud-libraries-sync-share-assets.html

 xtracting Photoshop Patterns from the Creative Cloud E Libraries Panel Open the file Library_Pattern_start.ai and make sure that the current patterns are available in the Libraries panel of Photoshop Patterns. Save a copy of your document if you need to practice. Refer to Figure 7-107.

Figure 7-107.  These two blank rectangles are ready for Capture patterns from the Libraries panel to be added

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In this case there are two rectangles. Select one of the rectangles with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 7-108.

Figure 7-108.  Select the rectangle with the Selection tool Then, double-click on one of the Capture patterns to add it to the shape. Refer to Figure 7-109.

Figure 7-109.  Double-click on the first pattern in the Libraries panel to add it to the selected rectangle This automatically adds the pattern to the Swatches panel as well. Refer to Figure 7-110.

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Figure 7-110.  The pattern is also added to the Swatches panel OK, that was quick and efficient, and you can see how, for simple patterns straight from Photoshop Capture, this could be very useful. Refer to Figure 7-111. If we check the pattern by double-clicking on it in the Swatches panel, going into Pattern Editing mode, and selecting it, we can see from the Control panel that it is an image.

Figure 7-111.  In Pattern Editing mode, you can discover the pattern is an image And if you check your Window ➤ Links panel, you will see that it is an Embedded Link image. Refer to Figure 7-112.

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Figure 7-112.  While selected, use the Links panel to discover more about the image, such as its resolution If you check the details under the link info triangle, the PPI or pixels per inch is at 1440, which is high, so resolution is not an issue should you want to scale the pattern. However, you might notice a slight white seam on one side of the pattern, which might be visible if you did scale the pattern. We can correct that using the Pattern Options panel. Refer to Figure 7-113.

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Figure 7-113.  One edge of the pattern has a tiny white seam Enable the Size Tile to Art and Move Tile with Art options and set the H Spacing to about -0.001 in, leaving V Spacing at 0 in, as there were no white spaces there. Set the Overlap to Right in Front and Bottom in Front. This should close the overlap of the white line. Refer to Figure 7-114.

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Figure 7-114.  Use the Pattern Options panel to adjust the spacing and overlap to cover the white seam At this point, you can click Done to commit your changes and exit Pattern Editing mode. Refer to Figure 7-115.

Figure 7-115.  Click Done to commit the change and exit Pattern Editing mode

■■Note  You might still see a white line on the preview, but if you zoom in with your Zoom tool it should be gone. I always make a test print to confirm this with any pattern I create.

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Customizing a Capture Pattern and Modifying It However, what if you want to edit the color of the pattern in some way, as well as simplify it? Let’s look at that possibility next. In my own projects, I often use two panels to assist me in altering my illustration. You can use these as well on any embedded image in Illustrator. They are the Image Trace panel and the Color Guide panel. Refer to Figure 7-116.

Figure 7-116.  Image Trace and Color Guide panels I will not go into any details about them, as you can review that topic on your own at the following sites: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/color-groups-harmonies.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/image-trace.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/image-trace-presets.html However, I will point out the basic steps that I would use to customize one of my Libraries panel’s Capture patterns should I want to use it in Illustrator for other projects. To edit one of the Capture patterns, with the Selection tool, I would drag it out of the Libraries panel onto the Artboard to embed it. In the Libraries panel, it is stored as a bitmap PNG. Refer to Figure 7-117.

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Figure 7-117.  Drag a copy of the second pattern out of the Libraries panel Click somewhere on the Artboard to place it. The file will come in quite large, so use the Shift key and the bounding box handles to scale it down to a manageable size and move it onto the Artboard. You can see my Width and Height settings in the Control panel of W: 3.7395 in and H: 2.1594 in. Refer to Figure 7-118.

Figure 7-118.  Use the Control panel to size the pattern as it is very large

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Now I will Alt/Option-drag a copy, so I still have the original pattern to view, and then select the copy of the bitmap PNG pattern. Refer to Figure 7-119.

Figure 7-119.  Alt/Option-drag a copy of the selected pattern on to the Artboard Looking at the Control panel, I will see a button for Image Trace. Refer to Figure 7-120.

Figure 7-120.  Locate the Image Trace button for the selected image in the Control panel Do not click on the button yet. Instead, go to the side arrow beside the button and choose, from the menu, a preset to simplify the pattern down, such as 16 Colors. Refer to Figure 7-121.

Figure 7-121.  Select one of the Image Trace default options, like 16 Colors

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At this point, you may get a warning message that says, “Tracing may proceed slowly with this large image. Would you like to Continue?” The warning suggests reducing the image size and rasterizing to a lower resolution. If you wanted to, you could click Cancel and choose Object ➤ Rasterize, and then set a new resolution setting in that dialog box before proceeding with the image trace again. However, in this case just click OK. Refer to Figure 7-122.

Figure 7-122.  Read the alert message before you click OK to tracing the image Give Illustrator a few moments to progress through the image trace. When complete, the pattern should be simplified and traced with some reduced colors. You can either add back some colors or reduce the colors further using the Image Trace panel. Refer to Figure 7-123.

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Figure 7-123.  Once the image is traced you can use the Image Trace panel to adjust the Colors setting further In this case, I increased the Colors setting to 18 to add back some of the yellow. Give Illustrator time to recalculate as you move the slider and click the preview off and on to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 7-123 and Figure 7-124.

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Figure 7-124.  Set the Colors setting in the Image Trace dialog box to 18 Now that I have my ideal settings, I can click the Expand button in the Control panel to commit the image tracing so that it is no longer a bitmap image, but rather a group shape made of many paths. Refer to Figure 7-125.

Figure 7-125.  In the Control panel, click the Expand button to commit the image trace and create the grouped paths Click off the Artboard with the Selection tool so that you can see the pattern without all the paths selected. Refer to Figure 7-126.

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Figure 7-126.  The image traced group with no paths selected So, that is good for simplifying the pattern and its colors for Illustrator. However, now I want to alter some of the colors. In this case, I want the pink areas to be blue instead.

Altering Colors Select the group pattern again with the Selection tool, and this time you can modify the colors using the Color Guide panel. Remember, if you need to review this panel in more detail, make sure to check out my Photoshop Selection book. However, in this project just click the Edit or Apply Colors button. Refer to Figure 7-127.

Figure 7-127.  Use the Selection tool to select the grouped object and the Color Guide panel to adjust colors You will then be inside of the Recolor Artwork dialog box. Refer to Figure 7-128.

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Figure 7-128.  Recolor Artwork panel with colors applied Don’t be worried if the preview of your pattern color changes dramatically. Illustrator will do that based on the current active colors in the dialog box, but you will control that in a moment. Refer to Figure 7-129.

Figure 7-129.  New colors on the grouped object are not always what you expect

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■■Note  Your project you may have different colors than mine. This project can only give you a basic idea of how to alter your color, and you may need to swap some colors as you proceed to match my figures as closely as possible. Return to your Recolor Artwork dialog box. Look at the current colors. To prevent some colors from changing, click the arrow between the Current Colors and the word New so that it becomes a straight line. This controls whether the colors in the row are recolored. Refer to Figure 7-130.

Figure 7-130.  Make sure to decide which of the current colors will recolor to the new colors Changing all the arrows to lines will reset all the colors. Refer to Figure 7-131.

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Figure 7-131.  Setting the colors back to the original with no color change Now, in this case I just want to alter the one shade of pink that I want to switch to a new blue color. So, I select it first. Refer to Figure 7-132.

Figure 7-132.  Selecting the current color that you intend to change Now, I am going to click on the New Row button. It looks like bars with a plus symbol. Refer to Figure 7-133.

Figure 7-133.  Adding a new row to the Recolor Artwork dialog box

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This added a new row above my other current color collections. Refer to Figure 7-134.

Figure 7-134.  The new row is above the other rows Then, I will select the pink color again and drag it onto that row to isolate it. Refer to Figure 7-135.

Figure 7-135.  The pink color is being dragged into the new row Currently, the new color is showing up as white in the preview. Refer to Figure 7-136.

Figure 7-136.  Currently, the new color is white

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Now, to change the color to a blue, double-click on the new swatch to enter the Color Picker dialog box, then find a light blue color that you like. Refer to Figure 7-135. I used C: 50%, M: 3%, Y:0%, and K:0% and clicked OK to exit. Refer to Figure 7-137.

Figure 7-137.  Enter the Color Picker dialog box to find the ideal blue color The new color has now been set for that selected color. Refer to Figure 7-138.

Figure 7-138.  The new replacement color is now blue, and you can see the change in the preview At this point, you may want to move or drag some of the other colors around. In this case, click OK to exit the Recolor Artwork dialog box and confirm the change. Refer to Figure 7-139.

Figure 7-139.  Click OK to commit changes and exit the Recolor Artwork dialog box

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Then, click outside the Artboard to preview the change. Refer to Figure 7-140.

Figure 7-140.  Preview the color change of the group object Now that your grouped pattern is complete, you can scale it further or leave it at the current size. Then, select the entire grouped pattern again with the Selection tool and use the Swatches panel to add the repeating swatch by dragging the swatch into the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-141.

Figure 7-141.  Drag the object into the Swatches dialog box Now, with the Selection tool, select the other gray rectangle, apply the pattern swatch, and see the result. Refer to Figure 7-142.

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Figure 7-142.  Use the Selection tool to select the blank rectangle and apply the swatch

■■Note In my case, there was again a slight seam issue in the width and height, so afterward I doubleclicked on the pattern in the Swatches panel to enter Pattern Editing mode. Using the Pattern Options panel, I again checked the Size Tile to Art box, and this time in my spacing I set both the H Spacing and V Spacing to -0.002 in; Overlap was set to Right in Front and Bottom in Front. If the pattern is complex, as in this case, with many paths, it may take a moment to process each step. Refer to Figure 7-143.

Figure 7-143.  Pattern Options panel with Size Tile to Art, H Spacing, V Spacing, and Overlap

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Then I clicked Done to confirm and exit Pattern Editing mode. The seam should be very tiny now and barely noticeable, unless you zoom in at a very close range. Note you may need to adjust the H and V Spacing more or less depending on how large or small you initially scaled your pattern, or adjust your Overlap settings to Left in Front or Top in Front. Refer to Figure 7-144.

Figure 7-144.  Click Done to exit Pattern Editing mode As mentioned earlier, you can also set—in the Transform panel—the option to Transform Object Only if you want to scale the path without scaling the pattern, and this will allow you to cover part of the thin seam as well. Then, return the setting to Transform Both, and scale your pattern and path. Selecting an area of a path with the Direct Selection tool in a grouped pattern and then altering the swatch color can improve complex seam issues as well. So, as you can see, you can use the Image Trace panel and the Color Guide panel to simplify patterns and edit the colors as well. The more simplified the pattern, with fewer paths, the easier it will be for the Pattern Options panel to adjust, and the smaller the file size. So, these are all things to consider when you create a pattern, first using Photoshop Capture settings to create a pattern, and then later for use in Illustrator. You can look at my final examples in the file Library_Pattern_final.ai.

Use Your Patterns for Some Brushes Patterns do not have to be used just for backgrounds; you can also use them for creating borders with the Brushes panel. I’ll point out a few basic examples, and you can refer to my file brush_border.ai if you need more. In this case, with my Selection tool, I drag a copy of my grouped objects into the Swatches panel. I will not edit them using Pattern Editing mode, though technically they are still a pattern.

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Then, with nothing selected on the Artboard, I go to my Brushes panel and click on the New Brush button. Refer to Figure 7-145.

Figure 7-145.  Add your objects to the Swatches panel and then in the Brushes panel click on the New Brush button The New Brush dialog box will appear. There are five brush options to choose from, but two are grayed out. Refer to Figure 7-146.

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Figure 7-146.  New Brush dialog box •

Calligraphic Brush: Use for a calligraphy pen–like appearance when you paint with the Paintbrush tool or Pen tool to give the strokes a more angled look. Refer to Figure 7-147.

Figure 7-147.  Paintbrush tool and Pen tool with various calligraphic brushes and a preview of one of the brushes on a path •

Scatter Brush: Brushes used to scatter art objects that have been added directly to the Brushes panel and applied on paths when you use the Paintbrush tool or Pen tool. Refer to Figure 7-148.

Figure 7-148.  Scatter Brush example with it going around a path

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•

Art Brush: Art added directly to the Brushes panel and used as borders and applied on paths when you use the Paintbrush tool, Pen tool, or a Shape tool. Refer to Figure 7-149.

Figure 7-149.  Art Brush example with it going around a path •

Bristle Brush: Can be used to create painterly effect–type paths when you use the Paintbrush tool, Pen tool, or Shape tool to make it appear that you painted with a brush with natural bristles. Refer to Figure 7-150.

Figure 7-150.  Bristle Brush example with it going around a path •

Pattern Brush: This is ideal if you want to create a patterned border using patterns from your Swatches panel; they are applied to the path’s strokes as tiles. We will look at this option now. Refer to Figure 7-151.

Figure 7-151.  Pattern Brush example with it going around a path

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In this case, I will choose Pattern Brush and click OK. I enter the Pattern Brush Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 7-152.

Figure 7-152.  Choose Pattern Brush from the dialog box and enter the Pattern Brush Options dialog box

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You can then give your brush a name: Octagon Border. Adjust the scaling. I left it at a fixed 100%, but there are other settings when you are using a stylus. Refer to Figure 7-153.

Figure 7-153.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, adjusting the scale settings I left the spacing between the tiles at 0%. Refer to Figure 7-154.

Figure 7-154.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, adjusting the Spacing setting Now I can select the pattern that I want to use from the Swatches panel, by selecting it for the edge of the border. There are five dropdown menu options: Outer Corner Tile, Side Tile, Inner Corner Tile, Start Tile, and End Tile. Start and End Tiles only are needed when the path is open. Refer to Figure 7-155.

Figure 7-155.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, the tile settings In the menu, scroll down until you see the swatch you want and leave the checkbox enabled for Show Auto-Generated Corner Tiles. Refer to Figure 7-156.

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Figure 7-156.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, adjusting the scale settings for each menu and selecting a swatch Here are the patterns that I used to generate the preview. I found some of the corner tile options to be too warped, so I just set the actual swatch instead. Refer to Figure 7-157.

Figure 7-157.  Some corner options are too warped, so I just used the original pattern swatch and previewed it first

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Figure 7-158.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, Flip options of Along and Across disabled Additional options also allow me to do the following: Flip: Flip the pattern along and across. I left these disabled. Refer to Figure 7-158.

Figure 7-159.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box, Fit options, with previews of Stretch to Fit, Add Space to Fit, and Approximate Path Fit: You can choose Stretch to Fit, Add Space to Fit, or Approximate Path. I left it at the default of Stretch to Fit. Refer to Figure 7-159. Colorization: By default, this is set to None. However, by selecting a key color eyedropper you can alter the color, after selecting from the Method dropdown either Tints, Tints and Shades, or Hue Shift (only if the stroke is initially a color and not black). More information on this can be found when you click on the Lightbulb icon near the Method dropdown list. You could preview this change if you enabled the Preview checkbox while a patterned stroke is selected. Refer to Figure 7-160.

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Figure 7-160.  Pattern Brush Options dialog box for colorization when the path stroke is a different color and you set the Method to None, Tints, Tints and Shades, or Hue Shift, with the preview enabled When set to Tints, the color of the pattern is altered, as the stroke in the Toolbars panel is orange

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I left my Method at None and the Key Color at black and clicked OK to exit. This adds the patterned border to the Brushes panel. Refer to Figure 7-161.

Figure 7-161.  Click OK to exit the dialog box, and the brush is added to the Brushes panel I can then drag out a rectangle with the Rectangle tool and, with the Control panel, apply a brush definition to my stroke. The new brush pattern is then applied. Refer to Figure 7-162.

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Figure 7-162.  Apply the border to the selected path using the Control panel and the Brush Definition menu To scale down the border a bit more, I then set my stroke weight to 0.25 pt. This balances out the shapes and makes them more evenly spaced. Refer to Figure 7-163.

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Figure 7-163.  Use the Control panel to change the stroke weight of the path and make the pattern more uniform Brushes can be duplicated if dragged over the New Brush icon in the Brushes panel, and then you can set alternate settings in the copy of the brush. We will look at brushes a bit more in Chapter 8.

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 5 To continue with our project of the girl on the farm, we can apply what we will learn now about the Appearance panel to modify areas of the illustration with additional patterns. Open Landscape1_5_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to practice. Refer to Figure 7-164.

Figure 7-164.  The girl on the farm with a patterned bow clip in her hair

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In the Swatches panel you will find two patterns that I created and edited using the Pattern Options panel, and one has already been added. Refer to Figure 7-165.

Figure 7-165.  The Swatches panel contains two new patterns that I created If you unlock the Girl layer and select her bow clip with the Group Selection tool, you will find that it has a pattern that was added over a yellow background fill. Refer to Figure 7-166.

Figure 7-166.  Unlock and look at the Girl layer in the Layers panel and use the Group Selection tool and Control panel to examine the bow You will see a warning symbol in the Control panel showing the background fill is active, but not the top-most pattern fill. Refer to Figure 7-166 and Figure 7-167.

Figure 7-167.  The warning message that currently the topmost fill is not active on the bow In this case, do not click the warning triangle, but instead look in the Appearance panel. Here, you will see that this path has two fills and one stroke. The top fill is the pattern with some transparent areas, and a second, lower fill is a solid CMYK yellow swatch. Refer to Figure 7-168.

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Figure 7-168.  Looking at the Appearance panel to figure out how many fills and strokes there are At this point, lock the Girl layer for now, as we do not need to alter anything on this layer. Refer to Figure 7-169.

Figure 7-169.  Lock the Girl layer after you have examined the bow Now, unlock the layer Mountains and Foreground and, with the Selection tool, select the gray foreground area. Refer to Figure 7-170.

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Figure 7-170.  Unlock the Mountains and Foreground layer and select the gray foreground Now look at the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 7-171.

Figure 7-171.  Look at the Appearance panel; there is only one fill and stroke We need to add another fill above the current fill so that we can blend the pattern in with the ground, to create a more textured effect. Select the fill and then click the Duplicate Selected Item button to create a second fill. Refer to Figure 7-172.

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Figure 7-172.  Use the Appearance panel to duplicate the selected fill This creates a second fill with the same swatch color. Now, select the dropdown menu and locate the pattern called Mezzotint and select it. Refer to Figure 7-173.

Figure 7-173.  Use the Appearance panel to find the Mezzotint pattern for the fill

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This adds a texture-like appearance to the gray ground to make it look more like gravel. Refer to Figure 7-174.

Figure 7-174.  The Mezzotint pattern is applied in the Appearance panel, and you can use this panel to add additional effects Besides fills, you can use the Appearance panel to add additional stroke effects, alter the opacity overall or for individual fills and strokes, and other filter effects. We will look at that a bit more in this next project and in Chapter 8, as well as in Chapter 11.

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For now, lock your layers and save your document. You can look at my project so far in the file Landscape1_5_final.ai. Refer to Figure 7-175.

Figure 7-175.  Lock the Mountains and Foreground layer when you are done making changes

Project: Colorizing the Circus Tent For additional practice with patterns and the Appearance panel, you can use the file Circus_Tent.ai. Save a copy to practice. You will see the tent again in Chapter 10 with a very similar project when the clowns get ready for their next circus performance. However, you can use this opportunity to colorize one of the tents with your own patterns or the ones that I supplied in the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 7-176.

Figure 7-176.  The Swatches panel with patterns and gradients

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The patterns were built using similar steps to what we did in this chapter, only some of the colors differ. Also, most of the tent parts were built with a gradient fill rather than a solid color to add texture. Refer to Figure 7-177.

Figure 7-177.  Three tents, two have already been colored with patterns In this case, work on the Original Tent layer and use the steps I showed you in the previous project to add a pattern via the Appearance panel. You can select your paths with the Selection tool, as the tent is not grouped. Refer to Figure 7-178.

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Figure 7-178.  On the unlocked layer select parts of the tent with the Selection tool If you get stuck, you can unlock another tent layer and then refer to the Appearance panel for those selected paths. Then, try to add the new fill to your own Appearance panel for your path. Refer to Figure 7-179.

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Figure 7-179.  Use your Appearance panel to color parts of the tent with the patterns One final thing that I will point out is that should you get the fills out of order, such as the gradient fill is on top of the pattern, you can drag that pattern fill above the other in the Appearance panel, similar to working with the Layers panel. Refer to Figure 7-180.

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Figure 7-180.  If your pattern is below the gradient, you can drag it above the gradient fill in the Appearance panel

■■Note As mentioned, if you want to distort the pattern on the top of the tent, I will explain how to do this in Chapter 9. For now, just use different patterns with the Appearance panel. When you are done, save your project.

Summary We looked at patterns that can be created in Illustrator, as well as ones that can be modified from Photoshop. We also looked at the repeat options and how they can be incorporated into patterns. The Swatches panel patterns can be reused for brushes as well. And the Appearance panel allows us to blend patterns over the top of solid colors or gradients. As you can see, you can create many unusual patterns for all your print projects. In the next chapter, we will explore gradients.

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Gradients, Mesh Tool, and Transparency Chapter Goal: While gradients and gradient meshes have been used for many years in Illustrator, how do they compare to freeform gradients? During this project, this will be explored, along with the Transparency panel. In Photoshop, gradients can be used to enhance a pattern or even a layer mask. However, on their own in Photoshop they really do not warp and distort, only blend one image into the next. This is not the case in Illustrator. In this chapter, we will look at how to warp our gradients on a shape using a few gradient-related tools, and then at how a gradient can interact on a Opacity mask and how opacity and transparency can be used in brushes as well.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 8 folder. Throughout this chapter, we will be looking first at the various panels and tools, and then at how we can apply what we have learned to the picture of the girl at the farm.

Working with Gradient Panel and Gradient Tool Gradients are often a blend of two or more colors, and they can be used to create shadow and highlights on the fill or the stroke of an object. When multiple gradients are used together, we can achieve in our illustrations a level of realism or, at the very least, create artwork that does not look flat or two-dimensional. Gradients, like patterns in Illustrator, are stored in the Swatches panel. There are a few default gradients available next to the patterns when you open a new file. These are ones that Adobe has decided that you might use or that might be a good starting point when learning about gradients. Refer to Figure 8-1.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_8

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Figure 8-1.  Swatches panel with four default gradients To work with a gradient, you can draw out a rectangle or other shape with one of the Shape tools or create an open or closed path with the Pen tool. Refer to Figure 8-2.

Figure 8-2.  Toolbars panel Shape tools and Pen tool, with rectangle on Artboard Then, while the path is selected, either click on the gradient in the Swatches panel to add it to the path’s currently selected fill or stroke, or use the Control or Properties panel to add it to the fill or stroke or both. Refer to Figure 8-3.

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Figure 8-3.  Gradient stroke in Toolbars panel, gradient accessed for fill and stroke from Control panel, rectangle with gradients applied, and same settings found in Properties panel

■■Note  You can also use the area below the Toolbars panel’s fill and stroke options to add a recent gradient. Refer to Figure 8-4.

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Figure 8-4.  Setting a current gradient using the Toolbars panel

If you want to acquire additional gradients for your Swatches panel, you can find them under Window ➤ Swatch Libraries ➤ Gradients or via the Library icon at the bottom of the Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 8-5.

Figure 8-5.  Accessing Gradient menu through Swatches panel Libraries menu and sub-menus There are about 21 gradient libraries you can choose from. As with the pattern libraries, once you open a library you can click on a gradient swatch to add it to your Swatches panel and apply it at the same time to a selected object. Refer to Figure 8-6.

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Figure 8-6.  Swatch libraries gradient Gems and Jewels can be added to the current path and the Swatches panel

■■Note If you need to remove a recently added swatch, you can either use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) or use the History panel right away; or, while the swatch is selected, click the Delete Swatch Icon in the Swatches panel and click Yes to delete the selection or No to cancel the deletion. Refer to Figure 8-7.

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Figure 8-7.  Swatches panel Delete Swatch button and alert message

However, if you want to create your own custom gradient then you need to use two items in Illustrator: the Gradient panel and the Toolbars panel Gradient tool. We will look at these together next and see how they can be used to create three types of gradients. Refer to Figure 8-8.

Figure 8-8.  Gradient panel with Show Options set to show more in the Gradient panel, and Gradient tool in Toolbars panel

■■Note If you cannot see the same options as shown in my Gradient panel, make sure to click Show Options in the Gradient panel menu. Refer to Figure 8-8. On your own, you can practice creating a selected shape in a File ➤ New Document as you did in Chapter 1 and try working along with the Gradient tool and panel.

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Linear Gradient When you look at the Gradient panel you will find on the right the current active gradient. In this example, it is a linear gradient, and it is the one that is applied to the fill of the shape. Refer to Figure 8-9.

Figure 8-9.  Gradient panel with Linear Gradient fill set

Linear Gradient Fill and Stroke From the dropdown list of current gradients within the document, you can select another gradient to switch to. This will then update the current gradient for both the fill and the selected object. I used Fading Sky. Refer to Figure 8-10.

Figure 8-10.  Setting a new linear gradient fill from the Gradient menu; it updates in the fill of the shape You can then select the stroke in the Gradient panel and use the same menu to change that as well to a different gradient. Then the stroke is updated on the selected shape. I used White, Black. Refer to Figure 8-11.

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Figure 8-11.  Setting a new linear gradient stroke from the Gradient menu; it updates in the stroke of the shape You can then use the Reverse Gradient button, located below the current fill and stroke, to swap either the selected stroke or fill gradient’s direction. This will update on the selected shape. Refer to Figure 8-11 and Figure 8-12.

Figure 8-12.  Reverse the gradient order, and it appears in the shape in the opposite direction

■■Note To swap the gradients between fill and stroke you need to use the Toolbars panel as you do with solid fills (Shift+ X). Now select the fill gradient, for the moment, and look at the options to the right in the Gradient panel. Not all options are currently available. Refer to Figure 8-13.

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Figure 8-13.  Gradient panel with gradient fill selected Type: Currently, the selected type of gradient is linear; a linear gradient follows a straight horizontal, vertical, or angled line. One color stop flows to the other; we will look at how to adjust that in a moment. There are two other types of gradients, radial and freeform, which we’ll look at later in this chapter. Refer to Figure 8-14.

Figure 8-14.  Gradient panel linear gradient Edit Gradient: When this button is clicked it automatically brings up the Gradient tool settings annotator on the selected object. The button also temporarily disappears from the panel, and the focus in the panel is only on this fill gradient, not the stroke. Refer to Figure 8-15.

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Figure 8-15.  Linear gradient with Edit Gradient clicked, and the Gradient tool is selected with its annotator

Gradient Tool (G) The Gradient tool’s annotator allows us to move and modify the gradient angle using the various handles. In this case, we are editing the fill. These same settings will be reflected in the Gradient panel as well.

■■Note If you cannot see the annotator, go to View ➤ Show Gradient Annotator. For example, drag on the right-side black square point handle of the Gradient tool to stretch or scale the gradient, or on the left-side black circle to move the gradient by dragging on the starting point either inside or outside of the rectangle. Refer to Figure 8-16.

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Figure 8-16.  Use the Gradient tool to scale and move a gradient when the cursor changes When the pointer turns to a rotation cursor near the black square end you can rotate the gradient on the end point as well, and this rotation is noted in the Gradient panel under the Angle section. You can also drag out the gradient at a new angle and starting point with the annotator. Refer to Figure 8-17.

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Figure 8-17.  Use the Gradient tool to alter the angle of the gradient, and the angle appears in the Gradient panel Likewise, you can adjust the angle (-180°,0°,180°) in the Gradient panel using the text box or dropdown list, and that will be reflected in the Gradient tool for the selected shape. Refer to Figure 8-18.

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Figure 8-18.  Setting the angle of the gradient using the Gradient panel For the fill’s linear gradient in the Gradient panel, you can set the colors of the Gradient annotator slider using the circular slider color stops currently seen here in blue in the gradient panel. In the middle of them is the diamond shaped mid point slider. The control how a gradient start, stops and transitions. Refer to Figure 8-19.

Figure 8-19.  Gradient panel circular color stops and diamond midpoint slider You can alter a gradient sliders color swatch stop by double-clicking on it so that you can view the current swatches in the Swatches panel, and then you can select a swatch to alter the gradient. In this case I used C=15, M=100, Y=90, K=10. Refer to Figure 8-20.

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Figure 8-20.  Gradient panel with new color stop selected and changed in the panel and in the fill of the shape on the Artboard

■■Note To add a new color you can also use your color or color picker (eyedropper) options. Refer to Figure 8-20. In this case, the current selected color stop has an opacity of 100% and is sitting at the far left location of 0% in the panel, though because of the angle the color will show up on the right side of the rectangle. Refer to Figure 8-20 and Figure 8-21.

Figure 8-21.  Gradient panel, color stop’s current opacity and location However, if you click on the other blue color on the right side of the panel, you will see that it has an opacity of 0% and is at the location of 100%, as seen on the upper far left of the rectangle due to angle. In the panel you can double-click on this color to change it, but because the color is faded to an opacity of 0% and location of 100%, the color change may not be that noticeable on a white Artboard. Refer to Figure 8-22.

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Figure 8-22.  Setting the new color for the second color stop in the Gradient panel In this case, set the Opacity option to 100%, and then you can see the red and blue, or set it between the range of 0% and 100% for a gradual fade. Refer to Figure 8-23.

Figure 8-23.  Setting the Opacity and Location options for the second color stop in the Gradient panel, changing the fill color in the shape In this case, I changed the Opacity setting to 20%. Refer to Figure 8-23.

■■Note  Clicking on the eyedropper next to the Opacity and Location fields is the same as when you select the eyedropper when you double-click to find a new swatch. This allows you to use a color-picker eyedropper to select a color from an object on the Artboard for the selected color stop. Press the Esc button to exit the color picker and continue working with the Gradient panel and Gradient tool. Refer to Figure 8-23.

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The white diamond-shaped slider between the two colors in the Gradients panel allows you to move the midpoint between the two colors to a new location. When it is selected, it changes to black. You can see this change on the shape too when the Gradient tool is active, and you can adjust these same settings while on the shape by moving the annotator circular color stop sliders away from the start and end points and moving the diamond midpoint as well. Refer to Figure 8-24.

Figure 8-24.  Using the Gradient panel and annotator to set the new location for the diamond midpoint slider and circular color stops A gradient slider needs a minimum of two colors. You can add more by clicking just below the gradient when the pointer adds a plus icon. This adds a new color that you can set to a new color swatch when you double-click on it. Then you can set a new opacity and location for it as well. Refer to Figure 8-25.

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Figure 8-25.  Adding a new color stop to the Gradient panel and changing its color You can then adjust the diamond midpoint sliders in between the stops as well to a new location. You can set more color sliders as well. To remove them either drag them off the gradient or, when they are selected, click the Trashcan icon (Delete Stop). Refer to Figure 8-26.

Figure 8-26.  Delete a selected stop to remove it from the Gradient panel You can use Edit ➤ Undo to undo that last step and add back the stop you deleted. Refer to Figure 8-27.

Figure 8-27.  The selected stop added back to the Gradient panel and then adjusted using the gradient annotator Once a gradient is complete it can be saved in the Swatches panel from the Gradient menu by clicking on the dropdown menu Add to Swatches icon. Refer to Figure 8-28.

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Figure 8-28.  Saving the new linear gradient created from the Gradient panel and storing it in the Swatches panel Once you have created a linear swatch you can double-click on it in the Swatches panel and rename it. I called mine Red Yellow Blue Gradient. Click OK to commit the name. Refer to Figure 8-29.

Figure 8-29.  Naming the new gradient for the Swatches panel

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Linear Gradient Strokes When the gradient stroke is selected in the Gradient panel, you have access to some other options for the stroke itself. Gradient strokes are more apparent with a larger stroke weight. Refer to Figure 8-30.

Figure 8-30.  Creating a stroke gradient in the Gradient panel By default, the stroke is set to Apply Gradient within Stroke. Refer to Figure 8-31.

Figure 8-31.  Gradient panel stroke setting Apply Gradient within Stroke, and as it appears on shape However, it can also be set to Apply Gradient Along Stroke for a more beveled effect. Refer to Figure 8-32.

Figure 8-32.  Gradient panel stroke setting Apply Gradient Along Stroke, and as it appears on shape Or Apply Gradient Across Stroke, for a more rounded frame edge. Refer to Figure 8-33.

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Figure 8-33.  Gradient panel stroke setting Apply Gradient Across Stroke, and as it appears on shape

■■Tip  You can use your Stroke panel if you want to create a dashed gradient stroke. Refer to Figure 8-34.

Figure 8-34.  Using the Stroke panel to create a dashed line gradient

For the stroke in the Gradient panel, you can use all the other settings, adjust the angle, alter the gradient’s color, as well as set new stops with different opacities and circular slider stop locations and move the diamond midpoint sliders. Refer to Figure 8-35.

Figure 8-35.  Adjust the Angle, Opacity, and Location settings of the stroke gradient using only the Gradient panel

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However, when you select the Gradient tool, you will notice that the Gradient tool annotator is not available for strokes, only fills.

■■Note  You can also apply a linear fill gradient with the Gradient tool across multiple selected paths and then drag across them to create a unifying origin point and angle for all. Shift-drag to constrain the angle to 45° increments. Refer to Figure 8-36.

Figure 8-36.  Use the Gradient tool to adjust multiple selected gradient fills at once or leave as separate gradients

As you scale, the object the gradient is in will scale as well. One way to get around this issue would be to create a gradient on a separate path with the Gradient panel. And then create another path with no fill over the top. Then, select both and create an Object ➤ Clipping Mask ➤ Make. Then you could scale one path separate from the other using the Direct Selection tool and then the Selection tool. Otherwise, you must use your Gradient tool and its annotator to drag out a new gradient. Refer to Figure 8-37.

Figure 8-37.  Use the Selection tool to select a path within a clipping mask and to scale it

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Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Adding Linear Gradients In this part of the project of the girl at the farm, we will first begin by adding linear gradients to parts of the scenery. Refer to Figure 8-38.

Figure 8-38.  Girl on the Farm image upon opening the file Open Landscape1_6_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to follow along. In this case the gradients have already been added to the Swatches panel, and I have named them so that it will be easy for you to apply them to the various parts of the landscape. Refer to Figure 8-39.

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Figure 8-39.  Gradients have been named in the Swatches panel Also, there are some new layers that have been added to the Layers panel. I will explain those later. For now, leave them locked and their visibility turned off as you work. Refer to Figure 8-40.

Figure 8-40.  New layers have been added to the Layers panel

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Select and unlock the layer Mountains and Foreground. Refer to Figure 8-41.

Figure 8-41.  Unlock the Mountains and Foreground layer Now, with the Selection tool, select the mountain on the right and make sure that you have the Appearance panel active. Refer to Figure 8-42.

Figure 8-42.  Select the mountain and look at the fill and stroke properties in the Appearance panel

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Now, as you did in Chapter 7, select the green fill, and this time replace it with the gradient that I called Right Mountain Gradient. Refer to Figure 8-43.

Figure 8-43.  Use the Appearance panel to change the color of the mountain to a gradient The gradient is now updated on the mountain. Look at the setting in the Gradient panel. It is a linear gradient consisting of three color stops and two midpoints, and the angle is at 0°. This will make it appear that light is coming from the sun. We will fix the sun later in the chapter. Refer to Figure 8-44.

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Figure 8-44.  View the current gradient in the Gradient panel Now, with the Selection tool, select the middle mountain. Refer to Figure 8-45.

Figure 8-45.  Select the middle mountain in the image This time, using the Appearances panel, for the fill choose the gradient that I called Middle Mountain Gradient. You can see the two color stops in the Gradient panel, and it too has an angle of 0°. Refer to Figure 8-46.

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Figure 8-46.  Use the Appearance panel to change the fill to a gradient, and view it in the Gradient panel

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We could also add a third gradient to the mountain on the left, or even to the green ground or gray foreground. But for now, we will leave them at the current solid swatches. However, we will enhance that more in Chapter 11 when we add effects. For now, lock your Mountains and Foreground layer. Refer to Figure 8-47.

Figure 8-47.  View the image and lock the Mountains and Foreground layer Now select and unlock the Background layer. The sky is boring, so we will use a gradient to make it appear more like a sunrise or sunset, since the sun is lower on the horizon. Refer to Figure 8-48.

Figure 8-48.  Unlock the Background layer

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With the Selection tool, select the blue sky and use the Appearance panel to change the blue fill to the gradient that I called Background Sky. Refer to Figure 8-49.

Figure 8-49.  Use the Appearance panel to change the fill to a new gradient color

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This sky needs a bit of correction, as the color has moved to the wrong angle. Refer to Figure 8-50.

Figure 8-50.  View the new gradient color in the image While the sky is selected, go to the Gradient panel. You can see this gradient has a bit of opacity for the red and moves from a red-pink to blue. Now change the angle from 0° to 90°. Refer to Figure 8-51.

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Figure 8-51.  Use the Gradient panel to change the angle of the sky This is better, but the light is still a bit too high for me on the horizon. You are going to fix that with another gradient on another layer. You can lock the Background layer for now. Refer to Figure 8-52.

Figure 8-52.  Lock the Background layer Select the new layer called Atmosphere, make it visible, and unlock it. Currently, it is a blank layer with nothing on it. Refer to Figure 8-53.

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Figure 8-53.  Unlock the Atmosphere layer Make visible your Guides layer as well, but do not select it. Stay on the Atmosphere layer for now. Refer to Figure 8-54.

Figure 8-54.  Make the Guides layer visible Using the Rectangle tool with a white fill and stroke of none, drag out a rectangle that goes down twothirds of your image. Refer to Figure 8-55.

Figure 8-55.  Use the Rectangle tool and the Control panel to add a rectangle onto the scene, using the guides to assist you The size should be about W: 14 in by H: 5.6 in and with the reference point in the center sitting at X: 7 in and Y: 2.8 in, as seen in the Properties panel in the Transform area. Refer to Figure 8-56.

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Figure 8-56.  View the coordinates and size in the Properties panel Now choose your Selection tool, and in the Appearance panel change the Fill setting to the gradient I called Atmosphere. Refer to Figure 8-57.

Figure 8-57.  Use the Appearance panel to change the fill color to the selected gradient

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Hide the Guides layer for now so that you can see the gradient better. Refer to Figure 8-58.

Figure 8-58.  Hide the Guides layer The gradient does make the mountains appear more distant, but it is currently in the wrong direction. Using the Gradient panel, change the angle from 0° to 90°. The transparency of the gradient is now at the bottom, giving some atmosphere at the top and covering some of the pinkness of the sky. Refer to Figure 8-59.

Figure 8-59.  View the gradient in the Gradients panel and on the image

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We will add more details to this area in Chapter 11 so that the mountains stand out more, but I think adding this atmosphere does make the mountains appear more distant and causes the girl to stand out more in the picture. Lock the Atmosphere layer for now. Refer to Figure 8-60.

Figure 8-60.  Lock the Atmosphere layer To add some interest to the sky, I added a few clouds using symbols that I found in my Window ➤ Symbol Libraries ➤ Nature. I then clicked on the Symbols Cloud 1, 2, and 3 and added them to my Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 8-61.

Figure 8-61.  Adding symbols from one Symbol library to the Symbol panel I then entered Symbol Editing mode by double-clicking on each cloud in the Symbols panel. When I selected the cloud, I altered the gradient with the Gradient panel, adding a bit of pink with another color stop to the bottom of the clouds. Refer to Figure 8-62.

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Figure 8-62.  Altering the selected cloud’s linear gradient while in Symbol Editing mode using the Gradient panel and Color panel

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The same gradient was used for each cloud at an angle of -89.6883°. After I made my changes, I exited Symbol Editing mode for each symbol by clicking on the left-pointing arrow next to the instance name below the ruler. Refer to Figure 8-63.

Figure 8-63.  Exiting Symbol Editing mode If you make visible the Clouds layer you can see how I placed and scaled my clouds using the Selection tool after dragging them out of the Symbols panel onto the layer. Refer to Figure 8-64.

Figure 8-64.  Making visible the Clouds layer Some clouds go off the Artboard, and some are larger than others to make them appear different. At this point, lock your layers and save your copy of the document. We will look at the next type of gradient and then continue the project from there.

Radial Gradient Continuing with the Gradient panel, the next type of gradient available is the radial gradient for both stroke and fill. This time it takes on a more circular appearance, with color moving from the inside origin to the outside end point.

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Create a new document if you want to practice with the Gradient panel before we start the next part of the project. Refer to Figure 8-65.

Figure 8-65.  Radial gradients can be applied to fills and strokes when the radial gradient type is selected in the Gradient panel What you have learned about the linear gradients in regards to color stops, midpoints, opacity, and location you can also apply to the radial gradient, so refer to that section for more details. However, I will point out a few key differences.

Radial Gradient Fill You can reverse the order of the gradients for the fill and stroke when you click on the Reverse Gradient button. However, to swap them from fill to stroke use Shift + X. Refer to Figure 8-65 and Figure 8-66.

Figure 8-66.  Reverse the order of the radial gradient for either the selected fill or stroke

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Gradient Tool (G) When you click on the Edit Gradient button or Gradient tool, the radial gradient annotator for the fill is set for a circle shape, indicated by the dotted ring. The color stops and midpoint sliders are also available. Refer to Figure 8-67.

Figure 8-67.  Gradient tool with radial gradient annotator on the shape’s fill Like with the linear gradient options, you can scale or increase the range of the gradient with the end of the square point, currently on the right. Refer to Figure 8-68.

Figure 8-68.  Scaling the radial gradient with the annotator when the cursor changes

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On the left handle, or circular origin point, you can drag and adjust the angle of the starting point. Refer to Figure 8-69.

Figure 8-69.  Adjusting the angle of starting point for the radial gradient with the annotator You can also rotate, using the rotation circle, when the pointer changes on the black square end point to the rotation cursor. Refer to Figure 8-70.

Figure 8-70.  Change the angle of the radial gradient by using the annotator when the cursor changes

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You can use the circle to scale the rotation by dragging on the white point with the black center. Refer to Figure 8-71.

Figure 8-71.  Change the scale of the radial gradient using the annotator circle Or you can use the larger black point to scale the radial gradient to make it more elliptical, which alters the aspect ratio. Refer to Figure 8-72.

Figure 8-72.  Change the aspect ratio of the radial gradient using the annotator circle

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This settings for the angle (-180°,0°,180°) and aspect ratio of the radial gradient is then shown in the Gradients panel. Refer to Figure 8-73.

Figure 8-73.  New angle and aspect ratio appear in the Gradient panel Aspect ratio (0.5%–32767%): Can also be set using the text box or dropdown list of preset settings. Refer to Figure 8-74.

Figure 8-74.  The aspect radio of the radial gradient can be set using the list in the Gradient panel, and changes update the shape’s fill

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■■Note  You can also, with the Gradient tool and annotator, drag out a new origin location for the gradient to start from within the object. Refer to Figure 8-75.

Figure 8-75.  Drag out a new point of origin using the Gradient tool

Once you create a radial gradient, you can then store it in the Swatches panel using the Add to Swatches button in the dropdown menu of the Gradient panel. Refer to Figure 8-76.

Figure 8-76.  Add your new gradient to the Swatches panel using the Gradient panel’s Add to Swatches button

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Like the linear gradient, once you have created a radial swatch you can double-click on it in the Swatches panel and rename it. Click OK to commit the name. Refer to Figure 8-77.

Figure 8-77.  Rename the radial gradient to a name you will remember in the Swatches panel However, if you switch to another gradient from the radial gradient and then select the radial gradient again in the Swatch panel you will lose the angle and aspect ratio when you apply it. This information is not stored in the Swatches panel, and it would in that case be better to store that information as a graphic style in that panel. We will look at that panel more closely in Chapter 11 when we need to save appearances that we created. Refer to Figure 8-78.

Figure 8-78.  Gradients with complex angles can also be stored in the Graphic Styles panel

Radial Gradient Stroke Like the linear gradient stroke, you will not have access to the Gradient tool’s annotator, but you can use the Gradient panel to set the same three settings for your stroke, including angle and aspect ratio. Refer to Figure 8-79.

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Figure 8-79.  Use the Gradient panel to adjust your radial gradient stroke settings

■■Note Some radial gradient strokes will show up better when the gradient is fill or stroke reversed. You can also apply the radial gradient, with the Gradient tool, across multiple selected paths and then drag across them to create a unifying origin point and angle. Shift-drag to constrain the angle to 45° increments. Refer to Figure 8-80.

Figure 8-80.  Use the Gradient tool to set a radial gradient for multiple shapes

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As you scale the object the gradient will scale as well.

■■Tip One way to get around this issue would be to create a gradient on a separate path with the Gradient panel. Then create another path with no fill over the top, then select both and create an Object ➤ Clipping Mask ➤ Make. Then you could scale one path separate from the other, using the Direct Selection tool and then the Selection tool. Or use the Gradient tool and its annotator to drag out and scale the gradient. Refer to Figure 8-81.

Figure 8-81.  Use the Direct Selection tool to select one of the paths in the clipping mask and then use the Selection tool to scale that path

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Adding a Radial Gradient With the current copy of the file Landscape1_6_start.ai still open, continue with the project of the girl at the farm, and this time we will add a radial gradient to the sun. It will make the sun appear more real, as if light were coming out of it, and not just a yellow ellipse. Refer to Figure 8-82.

Figure 8-82.  The sun is a solid color in the current project

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Adding the Radial Gradient to the Sun Select and unlock the Sun layer. Refer to Figure 8-83.

Figure 8-83.  Unlock the Sun layer With the Selection tool, select the sun. Refer to Figure 8-84.

Figure 8-84.  Use the Selection tool to select the sun Now use the Appearance panel to set the fill color to the radial gradient that I called Sun. Refer to Figure 8-85.

Figure 8-85.  Use the Appearance panel to change the fill to a new radial gradient

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The sun should now have a nice glow to it. Also, the five color stops have varying opacity settings of 100%, 100%, 50%, 20%, and then 0%. You can see how for many color stops that I used in the Gradient panel the angle is at 0° and the aspect ratio is at 100%. But because I used an ellipse shape, some of the gradient is cut off at the top and bottom, which is what I wanted, and some of the design goes off the Artboard. Refer to Figure 8-86.

Figure 8-86.  Look at the Opacity settings for the color stops of the sun’s radial gradient I then locked my Sun layer again and previewed the result. Refer to Figure 8-87.

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Figure 8-87.  Lock the Sun layer and view the current picture Save the document at this point. Later in this chapter, I will talk about a few more areas on other layers, in relation to gradient mesh and then transparency. One other final note I will mention about the benefits of the Appearance panel is if you have multiple gradients with transparency, you can overlap them within the Appearance panel to blend them together. Refer to Figure 8-88.

Figure 8-88.  Use the Appearance panel when you want to apply multiple gradients

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Freeform Gradient The last type of gradient in the Gradient panel is the freeform gradient. It can only be applied to the object’s fills and not its strokes. However, the path can be open or closed even if the freeform gradient is applied to the fill. Closed paths, I find, are best. Freeform also does not use the Gradient tool or its annotator. Refer to Figure 8-89.

Figure 8-89.  Freeform gradients can appear on open or closed paths Create a new document if you want to practice with the Gradient panel before we start the next part of the project. This is a newer gradient type in Illustrator and in many ways is similar to the Mesh tool, which we will look at next. However, if you want smooth, airbrushed gradients for skin to create a 3D effect, then you may find this tool useful. Refer to Figure 8-90.

Figure 8-90.  Use the Gradient panel to create a freeform gradient only for the fill To use the freeform gradient, you can start with a shape that already has a solid or gradient fill. It does not really matter, as the freeform gradient is going to choose its own set of points that you can modify. While the path or shape is selected, using the Gradient panel, set Type to Freeform Gradient. Refer to Figure 8-91.

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Figure 8-91.  When the Freeform Gradient type is selected, a solid fill turns into a freeform gradient automatically Working with the freeform gradient is simlar to working with the Puppet Warp tool, seen in Chapter 4. Currently, four points are drawn in the square. This setting allows you to add and edit color points. Refer to Figure 8-92.

Figure 8-92.  Gradient panel Freeform Gradient setting for drawing point and lines You can select one of the points and change the color stop using the Gradient panel. To do that you can either in the panel, Double-click in the stop or double-click on a selected stop found on the actual shape, to access the swatches. Refer to Figure 8-93.

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Figure 8-93.  Color stop on freeform gradient selected, and then use the Gradient panel to change the color of the color stop From the menu, as with the other gradients, you can use the eyedropper tool (color picker) to copy a color from another shape, or use the Colors panel to find a color, then use the Esc key to exit. Refer to Figure 8-93. A selected stop can be removed by clicking on the Trashcan icon. Or, while the stop is selected, press the Backspace/Delete key, or drag it outside the path. Use Edit ➤ Undo to add the stop back right away. Refer to Figure 8-94.

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Figure 8-94.  Delete a selected color stop when selected using the Gradient panel The Gradient menu also allows you to adjust the opacity (0%–100%) and spread (0%–100%) for the color stop using the dropdown lists. Another way to adjust the spread is to, while the color stop is selected, drag on the black-and-white point of the spread radius and pull outward; this will change the spread setting in the Gradient panel. Refer to Figure 8-95.

Figure 8-95.  Change the spread of the selected color stop on the fill when dragging on the spread circle or using the Gradient panel You can also move a stop to a new location by dragging on the center of the stop. Refer to Figure 8-96.

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Figure 8-96.  Move the color stop to a new location To add additional stops, you can click somewhere in the freeform gradient and then edit the new stops. Refer to Figure 8-97.

Figure 8-97.  Add another color stop to the fill when the cursor changes, and click The other draw setting in the freeform gradient is Lines. This allows you to create gradient color points over a line segment. Refer to Figure 8-98.

Figure 8-98.  In the Gradient panel, use the Draw Lines settings It’s a bit like working with connect the dots and the curvature tool, in that you can click to add color stops that are connected or connect color stops that are already present in the freeform gradient, creating a curved path, or hold down the Alt/Option key to create a straight path and the Shift key to keep the path at a set angle. You can click on the original point to close the path. Refer to Figure 8-99.

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Figure 8-99.  Use the Lines settings and cursor changes to guide you on how to create color stops on the line To keep the path open and create a new path, press the Esc key. Refer to Figure 8-100.

Figure 8-100.  Use the Esc key to exit adding color stops and keep the path open Color stop points that are part of a line do not allow you to set a spread setting. If you find that one of your single points has lost its spread setting, you may need to delete it and create a new point. Refer to Figure 8-101.

Figure 8-101.  Only the Opacity field and not the spread of the color stop on a line can be adjusted

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Return to the Draw Points setting when you want to move or edit the points without creating more lines. However, you can still click and add points to the lines. Refer to Figure 8-102.

Figure 8-102.  In the Gradient panel, switch back to Draw: Points, but you can still add points to the lines You can also use the Gradient panel to delete a selected stop, or you can use the Backspace/Delete key.

■■Note If you deselect your path at some point and want to return to the freeform gradient, then make sure to select the object again with the Selection tool. Then, in the Gradient panel, click on the Edit Gradient button. Refer to Figure 8-103.

Figure 8-103.  To enter deselected freeform gradient again, select it and then choose Edit Gradient

The freeform gradient stops will be visible again, and you can continue to edit them. Refer to Figure 8-104.

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Figure 8-104.  The Freeform Gradient setting is visible again Like linear and radial gradients, the freeform gradient will scale with the path when selected with the Selection tool. To move one freeform gradient to another shape, select the shape and then use the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbars panel, then click on the freeform gradient you want to copy. Refer to Figure 8-105.

Figure 8-105.  Use the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbars panel when you want to transfer a freeform gradient to another selected path The freeform gradient gets removed if you click on another gradient type, and you need to Edit ➤ Undo right away so you do not lose your original settings. Refer to Figure 8-106.

Figure 8-106.  Be careful that you do not lose your freeform gradient if you accidently click on another type of gradient

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Where can you store these gradients? Because they are not considered a swatch and are more like a patterned graphic, I find the best way to store these freeform gradients once applied to a path is in the Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 8-107.

Figure 8-107.  Use the Symbols panel to store your paths that contain freeform gradients Another option could be to store them in the Graphic Styles panel, which we will look at in Chapter 11.

Freeform Gradient Example While I did not use the freeform gradient in the current landscape project that we are working on in this chapter, if you would like to see an example of one, you can refer to my Chapter 6 example, wolf_girl_ blend.ai. Refer to Figure 8-108.

Figure 8-108.  The Wolf Girl images contain multiple gradients created with the Gradient panel The wolf is made of various linear and radial gradients, and the girl’s hair is as well. The skin on her face, nose, under the chin, and neck are actually several different freeform gradients. Refer to Figure 8-109 and Figure 8-110.

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Figure 8-109.  The girl’s face has multiple freeform gradient color stops

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Figure 8-110.  Other paths also contain freeform gradients You can study this file if you like, for your own reference, if you plan to create a similar kind of portrait. I achieved accurate highlights when I worked from a scanned picture that I kept on a separate layer in Illustrator to refer to. Then I made some alterations afterward to the freeform gradient. Now you can create illustrations of your models with flawless skin. However, don’t expect to get this type of project done all in one evening, as you may need to play with the colors and move the points around until you get the level of realism you are looking for. You may also need to draw separate paths as I did to get all the right shading.

■■Tip If you’re not sure on your own project how to get the right skintone colors, you can add color groups to your Swatches panel from Window ➤ Swatch Libraries ➤ Skintones. I then clicked on the color group folders that I needed to add them to my Swatches panel. Refer to Figure 8-111.

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Figure 8-111.  Skintones library swatches and the color groups are added to the Swatches panel

In my case, I originally worked with Skin Tone 2 and Skin Tone 3 color group folders and then made modifications. However, you may require different skintones for your project. Additional ideas for using the Gradient panel and Gradient tool can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/gradients.html

Mesh Tool (U) The Mesh tool in the Toolbars panel, as mentioned, is in many ways similar to the freeform gradient tool and is an older tool that has been in Illustrator for some time. It too can be used to create a smooth gradient effect. However, being able to twist and manipulate individual points of color on the mesh can give a slightly different organic effect. Create a new document if you want to practice with the Mesh tool before we start the next part of the project. Refer to Figure 8-112.

Figure 8-112.  Mesh tool next to the Gradient tool in the Toolbars panel To create a color mesh, you need to select with the Selection tool either an open or a closed path that has a fill. I prefer to work with closed paths and then click somewhere inside of the object with the Mesh tool. Refer to Figure 8-113.

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Figure 8-113.  Use the Mesh tool to edit the selected path when the cursor changes This causes the stroke to disappear, creating a mesh object and a diamond shaped mesh point. Currently, the mesh point is the same color as the rest of the object, but while the point is selected and the fill is in the foreground on your Toolbars panel, you can use the Swatches panel to add a new color swatch to that point. Refer to Figure 8-114.

Figure 8-114.  Note that the current mesh point is yellow on the path as seen in the Toolbars panel, but you can use the Swatches panel to set a new color for the mesh point

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You can also use the Control panel to adjust the opacity of that point. Refer to Figure 8-115.

Figure 8-115.  Mesh Point settings in the Control panel With the Mesh tool, you can continue to click to add more mesh points and then edit the colors with the Swatches panel. The areas between the mesh points are known as mesh patches. Refer to Figure 8-116.

Figure 8-116.  Add another point using the Mesh tool and color it using the Swatches panel Shift + Click to add a mesh point if you do not want to alter the current or nearest fill color. Refer to Figure 8-117.

Figure 8-117.  Faded mesh point color when mesh point added

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With the Mesh tool you can select the points of the mesh and drag to move them, or twist the handles. Alternatively, you can use the Direct Selection tool to manipulate points and handles. When you hold down the Ctrl/CMD key while using the Mesh tool, you can use the Selection tool to move the mesh or selected point handle. Using the Mesh tool, you can also Shift-drag on an anchor point to keep it on the mesh line. Refer to Figure 8-118.

Figure 8-118.  Use the Mesh tool or Direct Selection tool to alter points on the mesh Select mesh points going around the edge of the path if you want to color them separately. This is similar to working with the Direct Selection tool in that you can also move and warp the edges of the shape on the points using the handles. You can use this tool as well as the Anchor Point tool to modify the mesh while the handles are active. Refer to Figure 8-119.

Figure 8-119.  Use the Anchor Point tool to alter diamond mesh point and square anchor points and handles on the mesh

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Use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to go back a step while creating the mesh. You can remove parts of the mesh, when selected, by pressing the Backspace/Delete key, or Alt/Option + Click on a selected anchor point. Refer to Figure 8-120.

Figure 8-120.  Use the Mesh tool to remove mesh lines and points

Create Gradient Mesh Another way to use this tool quickly is to select a shape and choose Object ➤ Create Gradient Mesh. This opens the dialog box. Within this dialog box, with Preview enabled, you can evenly set the number of rows and columns, as well as the following Appearance settings: •

Flat: This retains the object’s original color, and there is no highlight added to the mesh.

•

To Center: A highlight color from the Highlight settings is added to the center of the object.

•

To Edge: A highlight color from the highlight settings is added to the edge of the object.

Highlight area of (0%–100%) is a white highlight. The lower the percentage, the less highlight appears; 0% is no highlight. Choose an option and click OK. Refer to Figure 8-121.

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Figure 8-121.  Use the Create Gradient Mesh dialog box and settings to create your mesh quickly with Appearance settings of Flat, To Center, or To Edge Often, when using the mesh tool, it’s best to keep the number of points as few as possible for fast redrawing with Illustrator. Refer to Figure 8-121 and Figure 8-122.

Figure 8-122.  Find the Mesh tool next to Gradient tool in Toolbars panel To make one of your linear or radial gradients into a mesh, you can choose Object ➤ Expand, choose Expand Gradient to Gradient Mesh, and click OK. Refer to Figure 8-123.

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Figure 8-123.  Expanding a gradient mesh sometimes produces unusual results This transforms the gradient into a complex gradient mesh. However, be aware that it works better with linear than radial gradients, and you may get some unusual results. Refer to Figure 8-123.

How to Separate the Gradient Mesh from a Path If you need to remove a gradient mesh from a copy of the original, you can select the entire mesh with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 8-124.

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Figure 8-124.  A gradient mesh path with color selected Select Object ➤ Path ➤ Offset Path. In the Offset Path dialog box, enter 0 for the Offset, leave the other options at the default settings, and then click OK. Refer to Figure 8-125.

Figure 8-125.  Select the mesh and view settings in the Control panel, then set new settings in the Offset Path dialog box You will then have created a path object copy without a mesh. You can then select, with the Selection tool, the mesh and Backspace/Delete the original mesh if you do not want to keep it. Refer to Figure 8-126.

Figure 8-126.  New offset path copy that you can use for another project

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To review more about gradient meshes you can visit: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/meshes.html In Chapter 9, the Mesh tool will be used again for another kind of warp.

 roject: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Working with the Mesh Tool P on Flowers Continuing with the project of the girl at the farm, we are now going to edit some flowers, using the Mesh tool to create petals with multiple colors for some poppies that we will later add to a copy of the Landscape1_6_start.ai file that you have been working on. For now, set that file aside. Open flowers_mesh_start.ai and save a copy if you want to follow along. Refer to Figure 8-127.

Figure 8-127.  Illustrations of some poppies in various colors I created a file to draw some poppies in that I plan to add to my landscape picture later. I made the file the same size as my landscape document so that I could get the size and placing figured out right away, However, for your own projects you may have to scale the flowers afterward with the Selection tool while you hold down the Shift key or use one of the Transform tools that I talked about in Chapter 3. If you look at the Layers panel, you will see that there are several layers. I did that to keep organized so that I didn’t apply the Mesh tool to the wrong layers and could also go back a step if something with the Mesh tool did not turn out as expected. Refer to Figure 8-128.

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Figure 8-128.  Select the Poppies layer in the Layers panel The Mesh Finals layer’s visibility is currently turned off as we will look at that layer later. For now, just select the unlocked layer called Poppies. While the leaves in the image have already had a linear gradient applied to them, the poppy’s petals and branches are a solid color and do not appear very three-dimensional. Refer to Figure 8-129.

Figure 8-129.  Select a petal on one of the poppies One thing that I have discovered while working with the Mesh tool is that when it creates a mesh the stroke around my path disappears. There is also no direct way of releasing the mesh afterward if I want to keep the original path. The only way to make a copy of paths, once they are a mesh, is to use the Object ➤ Path Offset method I mentioned earlier. But recreating color again takes time. So, once I established the base fill and stroke color of my poppies, I made sure they were on their own layer, which kept the paths and colors safe. Refer to Figure 8-130.

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Figure 8-130.  Select the Poppies layer Then I dragged this Poppies layer over my Create New Layer button to create a copy. Refer to Figure 8-131.

Figure 8-131.  Create a copy of the Poppies layer The Copy layer is the one I used to work with my Mesh tool. I locked the original layer and selected the Poppies copy layer instead. Refer to Figure 8-132.

Figure 8-132.  Lock the Poppies layer and work on the Poppies copy layer Now I am going to show you how to color one of the poppies using the Mesh tool. However, you can continue to color the other poppies and their branches on your own. You can refer to the Mesh Finals layer by turning on and off the visibility of that layer if you get stuck. But your poppies do not have to look the same as mine—be as creative as you want to be. Refer to Figure 8-133.

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Figure 8-133.  Use the Mesh Finals layer when you need guidance on how a color should look in the mesh We are going to work on the red poppy in this example, as well as its stem.

Petal 1 To begin on your Poppies copy layer, with the Selection tool select the lower petal. You may need to zoom in with Ctrl/CMD++, or use the Zoom tool or Hand tool (spacebar) to navigate closer to the flower, and as you work on other areas throughout the project. Refer to Figure 8-134.

Figure 8-134.  Select the lower petal of the red poppy with the Selection tool, zoom in with the Zoom tool, and use the Hand tool to navigate

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Now select the Mesh tool and click to create a mesh point near the middle of the petal. Refer to Figure 8-135.

Figure 8-135.  Use the Mesh tool to start creating a mesh on the poppy’s petal

■■Note If you are not exactly on the same point as myself, you can drag the mesh point with the Shift key to move it. This is good for moving mesh points near the edge of the petal without distorting the mesh, now that the stroke has disappeared but the red of the petal remains, as seen from the change in the Toolbars panel. However, because I kept my original layer some of that path’s stroke can still be seen below. Refer to Figure 8-135 and Figure 8-136.

Figure 8-136.  The mesh points of the fill are currently red, and the stroke is gone, as seen in the Toolbars panel

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Now, with the Mesh tool, click another point on the petal slightly to the right. Refer to Figure 8-137.

Figure 8-137.  Use the Mesh tool to create another mesh point Add another mesh point on that same mesh line, but above. This creates a type of grid. Refer to Figure 8-138.

Figure 8-138.  Use the Mesh tool to create a third mesh point Now you will color the petal. Use the Direct Selection tool and click on the lower mesh point on the left. Using the Swatches panel to change the red swatch, click on the black swatch to add a shadow as you would with a gradient to create a transition from red to black. Refer to Figure 8-139.

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Figure 8-139.  Select a mesh point with the Direct Selection tool and change the color to black using the Swatches panel The problem with 100% black is that it is trying to transition to the red, which is made up of CMYK (cyan magenta, yellow, and black), and so you get a gray mess and it does not look very vibrant. You can see that when you refer to the Color panel. Refer to Figure 8-140.

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Figure 8-140.  Use the Color panel to note the black-to-red transition To create a richer black color, while the point is still selected, use the Colors panel to up the Cyan to 15%, Magenta to 100%, and Yellow to 100%, and leave the Black (K) at 100%. Refer to Figure 8-141.

Figure 8-141.  Use the Color panel to add more of the colors found in the red to the black for a better blend

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That looks much better. Then save that color by clicking on the Swatches panel’s New Swatch button to add it to your swatch collection. Refer to Figure 8-142.

Figure 8-142.  Add the new swatch you create to the Swatches panel You can give the swatch a new name in the New Swatch dialog box or leave it at the default name and click OK. It is now added to the Swatches panel so you can apply it to the next point on your mesh. Refer to Figure 8-143.

Figure 8-143.  Commit the newly made swatch using the New Swatch dialog box and click OK so it is added to the Swatches panel

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Now, with the Direct Selection tool, select the next point to the right in the mesh and apply the redblack colored swatch again. Refer to Figure 8-144.

Figure 8-144.  Use the Direct Selection tool to select another point and color it Then move on to the above two points on the left and right. Because this petal is below the other petals, to better access the hidden mesh points you may have to use View ➤ Outline (Ctrl/CMD+Y) to get a better selection of points, and then apply the color using the Swatches panel while in outline mode. In this case, I applied the same dark-red color to those points. Then, from the menu, select View ➤ Preview to exit and see the result. Refer to Figure 8-145.

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Figure 8-145.  The upper mesh points are behind the other path, and you need to go into Outlines mode to select them first and then alter the color Return to the Mesh tool. You can then twist and adjust the handles, using them if you want to get more curve or a three-dimensional result. Or use the Direct Selection tool and Anchor Point tool to make additional adjustments. Again, you can also use View ➤ Outline and View ➤ Preview to assist you as you alter the points, and in the end you should have grid or mesh similar to what is shown in the next figure. Refer to Figure 8-146.

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Figure 8-146.  Use the Mesh tool, Direct Selection tool, or Anchor Point tool to alter the mesh lines Now continue with the other three petals.

Petal 2 First, select the petal with the Selection tool and then with the Mesh tool to add more points and lines to the mesh. Then, modify with the Mesh tool, Direct Selection tool, or Anchor Point tool. The petal on the left, in my case, needed three clicks to create the mesh. Refer to Figure 8-147.

Figure 8-147.  Add mesh points with the Mesh tool to the second petal on the left I did use the red-black swatch I created on the upper-left and lower-right points. Then I created a lighter red shade for the lower-left and upper-right points of the grid while they were each selected with the Direct Selection tool. I then used my Color panel’s sliders to make minor adjustments to the CMYK sliders, altering the red. Refer to Figure 8-148 and Figure 8-149.

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Figure 8-148.  Use the black-red color and the Color panel’s sliders to alter the color for some of the mesh points that you select with the Direct Selection tool

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Figure 8-149.  Use the Color panel to alter the color for the selected point

Petal 3 The petal on the top requires three clicks with the Mesh tool to create the mesh. Refer to Figure 8-150.

Figure 8-150.  Use the Mesh tool to create mesh points for the third petal Now adjust the points with the earlier mentioned tools and with the Direct Selection tool, and set the colors for each mesh point using the Swatches panel. I used the dark red in the upper-left and lower-right points, and for the lower-left point used a slight shade variation that I created with the Color panel. Refer to Figure 8-151.

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Figure 8-151.  Color mesh points on the third petal, and use of the Swatches and Color panels Bear in mind that your mesh and colors may flow slightly differently than mine, depending on how the mesh flows when you clicked to create it. You may have additional points that you want add color to and enhance the shading further later.

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Petal 4 For the right-most petal, I clicked twice with the Mesh tool to create this grid in the upper area of that petal. Refer to Figure 8-152.

Figure 8-152.  Use the Mesh tool to create mesh points for the fourth petal I applied my dark-red-colored swatch to those two points using my Direct Selection tool and the Swatches and Color panels. Refer to Figure 8-153.

Figure 8-153.  Use the Direct Selection tool to select a point and Swatches panel and Color panel to edit the color further

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Stem To finish this poppy, select the stem with the Selection tool and click once on it with the Mesh tool about halfway up the stem. Refer to Figure 8-154.

Figure 8-154.  Use the Selection tool to select the poppy’s stem and the Mesh tool to add an anchor point To this point, with the Direct Selection tool, I applied a green swatch from the Swatches panel of C=90, M=30, Y=95, and K=30. This makes it match with the leaves. Refer to Figure 8-155.

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Figure 8-155.  Select the point with the Direct Selection tool and color using a swatch from the Swatches panel You can then preview your completed poppy mesh and compare it to mine on the Mesh Finals layer. Refer to Figure 8-156.

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Figure 8-156.  The final colored red poppy If it’s not the same as mine, that is OK. You might like your poppy better. Then, keep on practicing on your Poppies copy layer with the Mesh Finals layer hidden. Refer to Figure 8-157.

Figure 8-157.  Keep working on your Poppies copy layer to color more flowers

Make Poppies and Group the Poppies Make poppies that are blue, yellow, cream, peach, purple, and pink or orange, as they come in many colors. Refer to Figure 8-158.

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Figure 8-158.  Create your poppies in a variety of colors Also, besides coloring the stems with a gradient mesh, you can color the unopened heads of the poppy with the mesh tool and the same green and lighter greens I used for stems to make them appear more rounded and give some highlights. Refer to Figure 8-159.

Figure 8-159.  Color the heads of the poppies using the Gradient mesh tools When you are done, make sure to save your work on this file.

Copy the Poppies In my case, when I was done, I unlocked all the relevant layers that I had created. If you don’t want to use your flowers, you can use my Mesh Finals Layer as an alternative. Refer to Figure 8-160.

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Figure 8-160.  Use the Layers panel to select which layers you want to have as part of your final poppies, and lock the other layers Unlock the layers Heads, Front Leaves, Mesh Finals, Poppies, and Back Leaves. Then choose, from the menu, Select ➤ All (Ctrl/CMD+A) and then Object ➤ Group. Refer to Figure 8-161 and Figure 8-162.

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Figure 8-161.  Select all the items on those unlocked layers This groups all the parts onto the top Heads layer. Refer to Figure 8-162.

Figure 8-162.  The grouped object is now on a single layer Then choose Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C) and return to your copy of the file Landscape1_6_start.ai. Then unlock the layer called Poppies and select it. Refer to Figure 8-163.

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Figure 8-163.  Return to your other document and unlock the Poppies layer Then choose Edit ➤ Paste In Place. Doing this should get the Poppies close to where you want them to be. But use the Selection tool to select the group if you need to adjust the positioning. Refer to Figure 8-164.

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Figure 8-164.  Paste the poppies onto the Poppies layer Save your document at this point and lock the Poppies layer. Closed the other document flowers_mesh_start.ai with the original poppies you created; however, before you save that file, you may want to Edit ➤ Undo the last Group step so that the paths return to the original layers. Refer to Figure 8-165.

Figure 8-165.  You may want to undo the group to return your poppy parts to their original layers in your original flower mesh file

Add More Flowers and Grasses Additionally, after I added the flowers to my Poppies layer, in the file Landscape1_6_start.ai I added a few additional symbols to the layer for grasses, seeds, rocks, some dandelions, and even a ladybug. Refer to Figure 8-166.

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Figure 8-166.  On the Poppies layer you can add more flowers to cover the stems as well as grasses from the Symbols panel You can find many of these symbols in the Window ➤ Symbol Libraries ➤ Flowers and Nature folders. Refer to Figure 8-167.

Figure 8-167.  Symbol libraries of flowers and nature are good resources for this picture

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I clicked on some of them and added them to my Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 8-168.

Figure 8-168.  Collection of symbols that I added to the Symbols panel and then edited You can find the symbols that I added and edited in the Landscape1_6_final.ai file, and you can select and Edit ➤ Copy and Edit ➤ Paste those items into your own project, if you select them from my Poppies layer. In your case, you may have to move some of the symbols around. Remember to use the Object ➤ Arrange menu on your selected items as required. Refer to Figure 8-169.

Figure 8-169.  Your project may require that you arrange some of the symbols to get them in the right order on the layer Lock your layers and save your document at this point. You can see how it is looking so far in my file Landscape1_6_final.ai. Refer to Figure 8-170.

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Figure 8-170.  Locked layers in the Layers panel, and the image on the Artboard We will now look at the Transparency panel and how it affects opacity and blending.

Transparency Panel In addition to working with the overall opacity of an object using the Control or Properties panels, and areas of opacity in a gradient using the Gradient panel, you can use the Transparency panel to alter not only the opacity, but also the blending mode and to create what is known as a Opacity mask. We will look at the mask shortly. To make sure that you can see all the options of the Transparency panel, click the Show Options item in the panel’s menu.

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Create a new document if you want to practice with the Transparency panel. Refer to Figure 8-171.

Figure 8-171.  Transparency panel with Show Options set and its menu settings Here are the parts of the panel: Blending Modes: Like the Photoshop Layers panel, the Transparency panel in Illustrator has a number of blending modes that allow you to blend the colors of a lower or base shape with the colors of the overlying shape. These include Normal, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity. Refer to Figure 8-172.

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Figure 8-172.  Use the Transparency panel to set new blending modes for paths For a more detailed explanation of how to use blending modes in Photoshop for layers and brushes, you can refer to the books mentioned in the introduction or the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/blending-modes.html But in this chapter, I will present how these blends would appear in Illustrator. In this case, brush stroke and blending modes are the same; there is no separation between the two. Over a rainbow background I put lines with a stroke of CMYK red, green, blue, black (K=100%), rich black (C=100, M=100, Y=100, K=100), and white to show you how having different blending modes applied to these lines will blend over the background base colors. See my file Blend_examples.ai for reference. In some cases, the white or black lines disappear entirely or turn black. The resultant color is the blend and base combined. Refer to Figures 8-173 to 8-177.

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Figure 8-173.  Blending modes on lines of Normal, Darken, and Multiply

Figure 8-174.  Blending modes on lines of Color Burn, Lighten, and Screen

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Figure 8-175.  Blending modes on lines of Color Dodge, Overlay, and Soft Light

Figure 8-176.  Blending modes on lines of Hard Light, Difference, and Exclusion

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Figure 8-177.  Blending modes on lines of Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity

■■Note Photoshop has an additional 11 blending modes in its Layers panel and two additional ones when working with brushes. Blending modes in Illustrator can vary slightly in how they affect color when we compare them to the blending modes in Photoshop layers, so this is something to consider if you plan to blend that Illustrator layer as a Smart Object layer in Photoshop and results turn out slightly different than what you tried in Illustrator.

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Opacity: With the addition of opacity (0%–100%) you can also alter how the base and blend colors are affected and what colors show through. I will point out an example of that in the project shortly. However, here we can see how the blending mode of Screen is affected simply by lowering the blending mode lines to 50% opacity. Refer to Figure 8-178.

Figure 8-178.  A blending mode of Screen can be faded with opacity changes Opacity Mask: Creates a mask from two overlapping objects of different colors when they are selected and the Make Mask button is clicked. Or, from the panel’s menu, choose Make Opacity Mask. This creates a linked mask, with the topmost object acting as the mask. Refer to Figure 8-179.

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Figure 8-179.  Use the Transparency panel to create a Opacity mask from two selected paths This kind of mask is similar to working with a clipping mask, when two shapes are selected and you choose Object ➤ Clipping Mask ➤ Make. However, with the clipping mask the stroke around the star remains. Refer to Figure 8-180.

Figure 8-180.  Example of a clipping mask over the path

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■■Note In this case I used a shape that had a fill color other than black so that you could see the opacity mask at work. Black areas turn what you are trying to mask invisible. I did, however, leave the stroke color of the opacity mask black so that you could see how black does affect the mask. Refer to Figure 8-181.

Figure 8-181.  The Opacity mask has a color so that you can see it in the Transparency panel

Currently, the opacity mask is set to Clip. This is set as a default in the menu when a new opacity mask is made and gives the mask a black background, cropping the artwork to the boundaries of the opacity mask. However, by adding Invert Mask you can reverse the luminosity values of the masked object, which will in turn affect the opacity of the underlying artwork and partly show the mask’s stroke. Refer to Figure 8-182.

Figure 8-182.  View the opacity mask on the Artboard with the Clip and Inverted Mask settings enabled and the menu default setting of New Opacity Masks Are Clipping set

■■Note  From the menu you can also set that new opacity masks are inverted before you create the opacity mask. Refer to Figure 8-182.

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Disabling Clip causes the entire star area to fill with yellow, but you can still see the outline of the opacity mask fill and stroke. Refer to Figure 8-183.

Figure 8-183.  View the opacity mask on the Artboard with the Inverted Mask setting enabled Disabling both Clip and Invert Mask reveals the star and shows the outline of the opacity mask’s stroke within the star. Refer to Figure 8-184.

Figure 8-184.  View the opacity mask on the Artboard with the Clip and Inverted Mask settings disabled In this case I will enable the Clip checkbox again. In Photoshop, masks and art are linked so that they can move together. However, in Illustrator, if you click on the mask even while linked, you can move the mask separately from the artwork.

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When you need to move the object on the layer separately from the mask, you can click on the link to unlink the art and mask, and then click on either the art or mask first in the Transparency panel. A dark blue line will appear around the current selection in the panel—in this case, the artwork. Refer to Figure 8-185.

Figure 8-185.  View the opacity mask on the Artboard with Clip enabled and Invert Mask disabled, and the mask unlinked Then, with the Selection tool, you can move that item separately. Refer to Figure 8-186.

Figure 8-186.  Use the Selection tool to move the art separately from the mask while unlinked Likewise, if you select the mask, you can change its color. Use the Control panel to change the color, which will affect how the mask blends over the art. To see just the mask, Alt/Option + Click on it in the Transparency panel. It appears in a gray tone. All colors take on a grayscale equivalent when they become an opacity mask. Refer to Figure 8-187.

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Figure 8-187.  When the opacity mask is selected you can alter it and preview it on the Artboard

■■Note  While the opacity mask is selected, you will in the Layers panel be in Opacity Mask mode. This is good to check if you are not sure if you are in the opacity mask. Refer to Figure 8-188.

Figure 8-188.  When the opacity mask is selected you can see you are in that mode in the Layers panel

Alt/Option + Click again on the opacity mask in the Transparency panel to exit Edit mode but remain on the opacity mask.

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Changing the mask to a gradient swatch can also cause different blending effects and make parts of the star shape fade away. Refer to Figure 8-189.

Figure 8-189.  Adding a gradient to the opacity mask using the Control panel can cause the underlying image to fade or you can use a pattern on the mask instead

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An opacity mask can also be a pattern swatch. Refer to Figure 8-189. Link the mask again at this point when you select the art again in the Transparency panel to complete the blend. Refer to Figure 8-190.

Figure 8-190.  Select the art in the Transparency panel and link it with the opacity mask again, and view the result on the Artboard You can also see a before and after if you choose Disable Opacity Mask from the menu. This puts a red cross though the mask, so you see just the art. Refer to Figure 8-191.

Figure 8-191.  Using the Transparency panel and menu, you can disable the opacity mask to see only the art

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Choose Enable Opacity Mask from the panel’s menu to add the opacity mask back. Alternatively, you can Shift + Click on the mask to enable and disable it. Refer to Figure 8-192.

Figure 8-192.  Using the Transparency panel and menu, you can enable the opacity mask again To release the art from the opacity mask, click the Release button. If you want to combine it again while both are selected, then click the Make Mask button as you did earlier. Refer to Figure 8-193.

Figure 8-193.  Use the Transparency panel to release the mask The final three options in the Transparency panel are as follows: Isolate Blending: Disabled by default. It prevents blending modes from being applied past the bottom of a group. Separate ungrouped objects will display separate blending modes, each affecting the other. However, with grouped objects the blending mode, when applied to the group, is contained as one unit within the group. However, to isolate the blend of the group further, you can enable Isolate Blending. Refer to Figure 8-194.

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Figure 8-194.  Transparency panel with Isolate Blending selected for a grouped object

■■Note  You can apply separate blending modes to each shape in the group by selecting them with the Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 8-195.

Figure 8-195.  Select each shape separately with the Direct Selection tool and use the Transparency panel to give each a different blending mode

Knockout Group: Disabled by default. When objects are separate and the same opacity is applied to them, they will each show it separately. Refer to Figure 8-196.

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Figure 8-196.  Separate shapes show their colors through each other when they have similar opacity However, when opacity is applied to a grouped object, then an automatic knockout or neutral knockout is applied with a dashed line rather than a check. This knockout prevents elements of the group from showing through each other. Refer to Figure 8-197.

Figure 8-197.  Grouped objects show their colors as one unit when they have similar opacity If the opacity of one of the shapes differs within the group, leaving the knockout group neutral or leaving the check disabled is OK as it does not interfere with the knockout behavior determined by the group. However, you can then click the knockout group to turn it into a check, so that as a group they are all uniform. Refer to Figure 8-198.

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Figure 8-198.  When grouped shapes have different opacities, you many need to check the knockout group to unify them Opacity & Mask Define Knockout Shape: Enabled by default. In knockout groups, this causes an element to be shaped by its opacity setting and mask. We saw how this earlier affected a single path, and this is similar when a grouped object has an opacity mask applied. However, the opacity mask itself can have its own opacity applied that is different from that for the artwork. Having a separate blending mode for an opacity mask appears in this example to make no difference. Refer to Figure 8-199.

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Figure 8-199.  Transparency panel with opacity mask and Opacity & Mask Define Knockout Shape enabled, and the mask with its own separate opacity Make sure to click on your artwork in the Transparency panel so that you do not draw extra paths on the opacity mask by mistake. The final two options in the menu, Page Isolated Blending and Page Knockout Group, can affect how the grouped object blends in relation to the page rather than independently. Refer to Figure 8-200.

Figure 8-200.  Transparency panel additional settings

■■Tip If you need to see transparent items more accurately on the white Artboard, you can choose View ➤ Show Transparency Grid (Shift+ Ctrl/CMD+ D) and then to exit, View ➤ Hide Transparency Grid. Refer to Figure 8-201.

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Figure 8-201.  Show Transparency Grid option

In situations where you want to affect the opacity for the object’s fill and stroke separately, you need to use the Appearance panel. Click on the Opacity option, below the fill or stroke, to enter the Transparency panel and change the opacity and blending mode. Refer to Figure 8-202.

Figure 8-202.  Setting the stroke’s and fill’s opacity settings separately using the Appearance panel

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Adding a different opacity and blending mode to the fill can affect how underlying objects will show through. Refer to Figure 8-203.

Figure 8-203.  Setting the stroke’s and fill’s Blending Mode settings separately using the Appearance panel For more detail on working with transparency and blending modes you can visit the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/transparency-blending-modes.html

 roject: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Examples of Working P with the Transparency Panel Come back to the project of the girl on the farm and your copy of the file Landscape1_6_start.ai. While there are no actual steps that you need to do in this part of the project, I will just point out here that I created the symbols of the bushes and the posts on the bushes layer. Refer to Figure 8-204.

Figure 8-204.  Unlock the Bushes layer I then entered Symbol Editing mode through the Symbols panel when I double-clicked on the bush symbol. Refer to Figure 8-205.

Figure 8-205.  Symbols panel with the bush symbol

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Using the Direct Selection tool, I selected the group shadow’s center and then used the Transparency panel to set the blending mode of the shadow from Normal to Multiply. Refer to Figure 8-206.

Figure 8-206.  The shadow was selected with the Direct Selection tool and its blending mode changed using the Transparency panel

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The 79%opacity I had already set using the Control panel, but, as mentioned earlier, you can set it here as well. If we compare the blending mode of Normal to that of Multiply, we can see that even with the set opacity it darkens the shadow and gives it a richer color. Refer to Figure 8-206 and Figure 8-207.

Figure 8-207.  Shadow with blending mode of Normal and blending mode of Multiply

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You may also notice that within my groups one of the sub-levels is set to 85% opacity. This gives the bush area in the center a slightly transparent effect, so that you can see some of the shadows from the next row, as bushes are not entirely solid. This area can be hard to notice at first, but here it is in my sub-layers. Refer to Figure 8-208.

Figure 8-208.  Part of the grouped bush had an opacity applied to it This just points out how different parts of a group can have different opacites as you build complex symbols. I then adjusted the shadow on the four posts, including the symbol on the Artboard. They were set to a blending mode of Multiply as well, with an opacity of 78%. Refer to Figure 8-209.

Figure 8-209.  The shadow of the post also has a blending mode of Multiply

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After you have finished looking at the file you can lock the layer, but you do not have to save any changes. Refer to Figure 8-210.

Figure 8-210.  Lock the Bushes layer

Gradients and Transparency in Brushes Panel Earlier, in Chapter 7, we looked at one of the brushes in the Brushes panel known as the Pattern brush. If objects already have levels of opacity within their patterns, they will also appear transparent when they are added to a Pattern brush and applied to the stroke. Refer to Figure 8-211.

Figure 8-211.  Objects with Transparency can be added to a Pattern brush and modified. They can then me applied as a border or stroke to another path However, adding a pattern brush with a gradient is not availble, and you would need to Object ➤ Expand the gradient before it could be used in a pattern brush. With the Calligraphic brush type, after you paint with the brush you could select the strokes and set the opacity, or change the stroke to a gradient or pattern swatches using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 8-212.

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Figure 8-212.  Calligraphic brush setting can be preset using the Control panel, and then you could use the Pen tool to create the brush strokes, or set them afterward Or set additional blending modes using the Transparency panel. Refer to Figure 8-213.

Figure 8-213.  You can then set the blending mode using the Transparency panel You cannot store these gradients, patterns, and opacites within the brush; they must be added after, or while the settings are present, in the Control panel. Scatter brushes and art brushes, as mentioned in Chapter 7, have selected objects added directly to the brush. When you select the shapes and click on the New Brush button, choose either Scatter or Art. Refer to Figure 8-214.

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Figure 8-214.  Create either a new scatter brush or a new art brush from your current shapes with opacity These can include items with opacity. However, like the pattern brush, they cannot contain a gradient, and you will get a warning message if you try to add an object with a gradient. You must expand the gradient first. Refer to Figure 8-215.

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Figure 8-215.  Art and scatter brushes will show a warning if you try to add a gradient pattern. Only solid or transparent swatches are allowed

■■Note Like pattern brushes, scatter brushes and art brushes can have colorization settings added as well, to determine if they will be affected by the current stroke color. This can give added color enhancement as well. We will see an example of this in the next part of the project. Refer to Figure 8-216.

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Figure 8-216.  Art and scatter brush dialog box Colorization options

Addionally, you can adjust these brushes and strokes by using the Opacity settings in the Control panel or Transparency panel. Lastly, the Bristle brush, like the Calligraphic brush after you paint with it, can have the opacity and blending modes of its stroke’s swatch altered by using the Control panel and the Transparency panel. Refer to Figure 8-217.

Figure 8-217.  Use the Control panel to set the final settings for the Bristle brush You can discover what controls the brush strokes’ blurriness within the Bristle Brush Options dialog box, which you get to by double-clicking on a Bristle brush in the Brushes panel. Refer to Figure 8-218.

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Figure 8-218.  Bristle Brush Options dialog box The brush’s Shape (10 options), Size (1mm–10mm), Bristle Length (25%–300%), Density (1%–100%), Thickness (1%–100%), Paint Opacity (1%–100%), and Stiffness (1%–100%) settings all impact how the effect appears on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 8-218.

 sing Tools Such as Pen Tool, Paintbrush Tool, Blob Brush Tool, U and Eraser Tool Besides using my Pen tool to create strokes for my design, other brush-related tools can be used to enhance your artwork. These include the following found in the Toolbars panel:

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•

Paintbrush Tool: Used for painting open path strokes that you do not need to connect

•

Blob Brush Tool: Used for creating a closed object as you would if you were painting, using the current stroke setings

•

Eraser Tool: Used for erasing parts of a selected path or object Refer to Figure 8-219.

Figure 8-219.  Use the Paint Brush, Blob Brush, and Eraser tools to create paths and strokes You can study these tools in more detail in the books mentioned in the introduction or the following links: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/tool-techniques/paintbrush-tool.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/tool-techniques/blob-brush-tool.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/tool-techniques/eraser-tool.html However, I will point out the basics here, and if you want to use any of the options in these tools then you need to double-click on them in the Toolbars panel to edit their dialog box settings. These could include Fidelity, Angle, Roundness, and Size of brush or eraser. Refer to Figure 8-220.

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Figure 8-220.  When you double-click on the Eraser tool in the Toolbars panel you can see its tool options Like the Pen tool, after you create a stroke or objects with the Paintbrush tool or Blob Brush tool you can then select that area with the Selection tool and use either the Control panel to further edit colors, gradients, patterns, and opacity, or the Transparency panel to further adjust blending modes. We will look at an example of how I did that next. Refer to Figure 8-221.

Figure 8-221.  Use the Transparency panel to adjust the selected paths afterward

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 6, Using the Brush Tool We will continue with the project of the girl at the farm and your copy of the file Landscape1_6_start.ai.

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I will just point out a few of the transparent brush strokes that I added to the girl when I constructed her. You can unlock the Girl layer if you want to follow along. Refer to Figure 8-222.

Figure 8-222.  Unlock the Girl layer As mentioned, the girl is made up of many paths and brush strokes. After using the Pen tool to construct the main parts of her, to add final details I used the Paintbrush tool, Blob Brush tool, and Eraser tool. These helped me to create many of her shadows and highlights. Refer to Figure 8-223.

Figure 8-223.  I used various brushes to create details on the girl Afterward, I selected these paths and then used the Control panel and Transparency panel to adjust the opacity and blending mode. While selecting with the Direct Selection tool, let’s examine some key areas. Let’s begin with the girl’s blond hair. In the Control panel, we can see that this is a yellow stroke. Refer to Figure 8-224.

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Figure 8-224.  The Control panel reveals what brush and setting were using for the selected path for the hair The Opacity setting is at 100%, and I used a brush or brush definition of Watercolor Stroke 5. This is found in Window ➤ Brush Libraries ➤ Artistic ➤ Artistic_Watercolor, which I added to my Brushes panel when I clicked on it. Refer to Figure 8-225.

Figure 8-225.  Brush library Artistic Watercolor, and the brush added to the Brushes library

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It is an art brush that was created from various gray shades, and because it has a colorization method of Tints, it picks up the yellow rather than remaining grayscale, giving painterly and hair-like effects. Refer to Figure 8-226.

Figure 8-226.  Art Brush Options dialog box If we were to take apart the brush, we would also discover that grouped areas of it also have an opacity of 85%, and this is what emulates the watercolor and transparent effect. Refer to Figure 8-227.

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Figure 8-227.  The extracted brush reveals that it has area of opacity to create a watercolor effect After the brush stroke was applied to the Artboard, I further enhanced it in the Transparency panel after selecting it, giving it a blending mode of Soft Light and blending it in with the rest of the hair. Refer to Figure 8-228.

Figure 8-228.  Applying a blending mode using the Transparency panel further adds to the effect on the hair This brush was used again on the girl’s pants and boots with different swatch colors and different opacities throughout. Refer to Figure 8-229.

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Figure 8-229.  The Control panel reveals other settings for the selected stroke However, the blending mode in the Transparency panel was kept at Normal. Refer to Figure 8-230.

Figure 8-230.  The Transparency panel shows this stroke has a blending mode of Normal To create areas of color for her cheeks, I used the Blob Brush tool to create a round area. Refer to Figure 8-231.

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Figure 8-231.  Using the Blob Brush and Eraser tools to create the cheek on the girl I then applied a linear gradient to this area using my Swatches panel as well as swatches from the Skintones library. See my Wolf Girl Freeform Gradient example earlier in this chapter if you need more details on this. I also set the angle to about 37.3° to adjust for the cheek. Refer to Figure 8-232.

Figure 8-232.  Creating a gradient with the Gradient panel and using swatches from the Skintones library

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The Gradient color stop in this example also has some opacity on the left and helps fade the color into the main part of the skin, giving the girl a pink cheek. I also applied a blending mode of Color Burn to the path using the Transparency panel. Refer to Figure 8-233.

Figure 8-233.  Use the Transparency panel to set to a blending mode of Color Burn Other areas on the face where I also used the Blob Brush tool with the same gradient were on the lips and ears. I left the blending mode at Normal for some areas and at Multiply for the top of the ear. Refer to Figure 8-234.

Figure 8-234.  Various Transparency panel settings for the blending mode on various parts of the face

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Lastly, another area where I used the Blob Brush and the Eraser tool was on the shadow, below the girl. Refer to Figure 8-235.

Figure 8-235.  Using the Blob Brush and Eraser tools to create the shadow The Blob Brush tool, I find, is very good for creating a shadow area very quickly in a big area, as I do not have to spend time trying to figure out the angles or roundness of the strokes with the Pen tool. Once I create a Blob path, I like to select it and use the Eraser tool to smooth out large areas quickly. I find this similar to painting in Photoshop. Though not required for this book, remember to check out my book Accurate Layer Selections Using Photoshop Selection’s Tools if you need more details on these brushes, as well as other related Illustrator tools. While building the girl in the original file and using these tools to add detail, I worked on separate layers, which made it easier to control the Brush and Eraser tools, and then later grouped the girl onto one layer as you did with the poppies. Once I had the path for the shadow selected, I changed the fill to a gradient shadow fill using the Gradient panel. I then used the Transparency panel to set the blending mode to Multiply and the opacity to 47%. Refer to Figure 8-236.

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Figure 8-236.  Use the Gradient and Transparency panels to adjust the shadow’s settings

Additional opacity adjustments were also added to shadows on the yellow boots and the dandelion ellipse. But no additional blending modes were applied. Refer to Figure 8-237.

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Figure 8-237.  Other areas of the grouped image also have Opacity settings in the Transparency panel Once you have finished looking at the Girl layer and the gradient and transparency options that were used, you can lock the layer, but don’t save any changes as we did not make any in this part of the project. You can see our progress so far in the file Landscape1_6_final.ai. Refer to Figure 8-238.

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Figure 8-238.  The final image so far with the new parts of the image added

Summary Gradients can be used to create the illusion of a 3D effect based on the placement of color. We adjust this in the Gradient panel with the Gradient tool or the Mesh tool. The Transparency panel can also be used to adjust and blend color. Transparency and gradients can then be applied to paths and edited using the Appearance panel. Brushes and related tools can be used to apply transparency as well. However, in the next chapter, we will be looking at another object distortion tool command, one similar to Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Warp in Photoshop.

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Creating Envelope Distorts Chapter Goal: Learn how shapes and type can warp and distort with the Envelope Distort tool. The Envelope Distort tool in Illustrator is similar to the Puppet Warp and the Transform ➤ Warp found in Photoshop, though those commands are not required for this book. The Envelope Distort tool allows you to create a shaped mesh around a shape or text item that you can then warp and manipulate to create unusual distortions. We will explore the options of the Envelope Distort in this chapter.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 9 folder.

Envelope Distorts on Objects and Type If you need to warp an object, text, or even a pattern, you can do so with three commands that are found in the Object ➤ Envelope Distort menu. Refer to Figure 9-1.

Figure 9-1. Object ➤Envelope Distort ➤ Sub-menu Commands They are as follows: •

Make with Warp

•

Make with Mesh

•

Make with Top Object

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_9

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Envelope Options However, before you use these commands, and to warp all your designs successfully, you should first look at Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Envelope Options, as these settings affect the three commands. Refer to Figure 9-2.

Figure 9-2.  Envelope Options dialog box In the Envelope Options dialog box are settings for the following: Rasters: The Anti-Alias setting, by default, is enabled and appears to affect raster images, like an embedded image, so that when it is warped by the envelope, there is a smooth transition. Alternatively, you can uncheck it to speed up the warp, but the raster image warp may not be as smooth. This option does not appear to affect vector graphics, which we have been using in previous chapters. However, keep this setting enabled. Refer to Figure 9-2 and Figure 9-3.

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Figure 9-3.  Close-up of a photo of thread with and without Anti-Alias setting enabled Preserve Shape Using: This setting has Clipping Mask and Transparency options. This affects how the raster image will be preserved in its shape when you are using non-rectangular envelopes to distort the image. By default, it is set to Clipping Mask. The Transparency setting will create an alpha channel instead. In this case, because I am using vector graphics in my projects, I left it at the default of Clipping Mask. Refer to Figure 9-2. Fidelity: The range is 0–100, and the default is 50. This determines how closely the object will fit the mesh of the envelope. If it is a complex group of shapes within the envelope, a higher setting of 99 may improve the conformity of the objects to the envelope, but may increase distortion time. Leave it at the default of 50 for now, as most of the envelope distortions that we will do in this chapter will be simple. Refer to Figure 9-4.

Figure 9-4.  Envelope Options dialog box, Fidelity setting Distort Appearance: By default, this is checked, and you can distort the general appearance of your graphic styles and effects. If unchecked, then the options to affect gradients and pattern fills are disabled. However, strokes can still be distorted; for our purposes, you should have this option enabled. Refer to Figure 9-5.

Figure 9-5.  Envelope Options dialog box, Distort Appearance setting disabled and enabled Distort Linear Gradient Fills: If the object has gradient fills, it is possible to warp the linear gradient fill. However, radial and freeform gradients cannot be warped using this method. Check to enable this setting. Refer to Figure 9-6.

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Figure 9-6.  Envelope Options dialog box, Distort Linear Gradient Fills and Distort Pattern Fills enabled Distort Pattern Fills: If you want to distort the pattern fills in your fill and stroke, then you need to enable this checkbox as well. We will look at this in more detail later. Refer to Figure 9-6. Once you have updated your settings in the dialog box, click OK to commit the settings and note that the preview is enabled by default. Refer to Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7.  Envelope Options Dialog Box with preview enabled and the OK and Cancel buttons

Make with Warp When you have a group of type or an object that you need to warp and distort in a preset way, using Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Warp is a good solution. To test the command, go to File ➤ Open Make_With_Warp_Start.ai. Save as a copy if you want to practice or view some of my examples. Refer to Figure 9-8.

Figure 9-8.  Colorful shapes and type with a pattern within

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In this case, select the pattern of the grouped object with the Selection tool first. It has some solid colors but also patterns and linear gradients. Refer to Figure 9-9.

Figure 9-9.  Use the Selection tool to select the grouped shapes Now go to Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 9-10.

Figure 9-10.  Warp Options dialog box This brings up the Warp Options dialog box, which is similar to what you’ve seen in Photoshop, if you’ve worked with Edit ➤ Transform ➤ Warp on your own projects. Though not required for this book, take a moment to compare this area in Photoshop; you can refer to this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/warp-images-shapes-paths.html

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A rectangular envelope has now wrapped the object, and you can manipulate the shape by setting the Style to either Arc, Arc Lower, Arc Upper, Arch, Bulge, Shell Lower, Shell Upper, Flag, Wave, Fish, Rise, FishEye, Inflate, Squeeze, or Twist. You can see that these and the following settings change when the preview is enabled. Refer to Figure 9-11.

Figure 9-11.  Warp Options dialog box with Style options, and a warp set to Arc for the enveloped object

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Test out each of these styles and then adjust the following settings: Horizontal and Vertical: This affects the direction of the style. Refer to Figure 9-12.

Figure 9-12.  Warp Options dialog box with examples of Arc with Horizontal and Vertical settings

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Bend: By default, this is set to 50%. However, it can range from -100% to 100%. Depending on if the Bend is set to Horizontal or Vertical, the shape can warp quite a bit. Refer to Figure 9-13.

Figure 9-13.  Warp Options dialog box with example of setting the bend from 50% to 100% Distortion: This can be either Horizontal (-100% to 100%) or Vertical (-100% to 100%). This can affect how the sides of the object warp on the horizontal or vertical planes. Refer to Figure 9-14.

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Figure 9-14.  Warp Options dialog box with example of setting the bend and Vertical and Horizontal distortion sliders

■■Note As you test the style options, you’ll note that FishEye and Inflate do not have Horizontal and Vertical style options, though you can set the Bend and Horizontal and Vertical distortion sliders. Refer to Figure 9-15.

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Figure 9-15.  Warp Options dialog box with Inflate setting with Horizontal and Vertical options grayed out

In this case, for this pattern, I liked the Flag style, horizontal, with a bend of 32% and distortion of -15% horizontal and -1% vertical. I clicked OK to commit the change, and some of the shapes were expanded in the process. Refer to Figure 9-16.

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Figure 9-16.  Warp Options dialog box with example of Flag setting and settings altered in the dialog box Now that the selected object is within an envelope warp, you can refer to the Control panel.

Control Panel Options Besides the similar Control panel options that you find for most objects to control the opacity of the mask, alignment, and transformation, the Control panel lists some options that specifically relate to the Envelope Warp. Refer to Figure 9-17.

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Figure 9-17.  Control panel options for Envelope Warp tool Edit Envelope: Currently, this setting is enabled so that you can continue to edit the envelope from the Control panel rather than having to enter the Warp Options dialog box again. You can adjust the Style from the list, select Horizontal and Vertical radio buttons, and set a new bend and horizontal (H) and vertical (V) distortions using the text box or sliders. Refer to Figure 9-18.

Figure 9-18.  Control panel Edit Envelope options for the current style warp You can also adjust your Envelope Options dialog box from here by clicking on the List icon. In this case, the options have changed to Preserve Shape Using Transparency. However, in other situations it may be set to Clipping Mask. On most vector shapes, this will make little difference. Refer to Figure 9-19.

Figure 9-19.  Control panel Envelope Options button to access the Envelope Options dialog box

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The other button in the Control panel is Edit Content. This is the same as selecting Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Edit Contents. This allows you to see the other Control panel options for objects specifically, as we saw starting in Chapter 2, to adjust parts of the object. Refer to Figure 9-20.

Figure 9-20.  Control panel Options for Edit Content For now, switch back to and click on the Edit Envelope option. Refer to Figure 9-21.

Figure 9-21.  Control panel Edit Envelope button Some other related Make with Warp settings are included in the Envelope Distort menu. Refer to Figure 9-22.

Figure 9-22.  Additional Envelope Distort options in the Envelope Distort menu Reset with Warp: Allows you to reset the warp by entering the Warp Options dialog box and making changes. Refer to Figure 9-23.

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Figure 9-23.  Warp Options dialog box where you can reset the warp Reset with Mesh: Once a mesh is created, you can choose to maintain the envelope shape but also adjust the rows and columns of the mesh. In this case, it is set to Rows: 1 and Columns: 3. You can adjust this; however, doing so will make it into a custom mesh, and you may not have access to the Warp Options settings. In this case, click the Cancel button, or, if you committed the setting by clicking OK, then go to Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) right away, or use the History panel to revert to a prior state. Refer to Figure 9-24.

Figure 9-24.  Reset Envelope Mesh dialog box next to an example of a mesh

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We will look at this custom option in the next section of this chapter. However, as long as you do not add extra rows and columns to the mesh, if you want to edit your Make with Warp envelope further you can click on points and handles with the Direct Selection tool or Anchor Point tool, as you did with the mesh in Chapter 8. Then, when you click on the shape with the Selection tool again, you can access the Select Warp Styles option in the Control panel. Release: This releases the object from the envelope and makes the mesh a separate shape, which you can later select separately and then backspace/delete if you do not require it. Refer to Figure 9-25.

Figure 9-25.  Release the mesh from the grouped object and delete the mesh

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In this case, use Edit ➤ Undo right away if you did not intend to release the object. Expand: This releases the object in the shape of the envelope so that all the objects are permanently distorted. It is now a grouped shape. Refer to Figure 9-26.

Figure 9-26.  Expand the mesh so that the shapes form to the envelope’s shape In this case, use Edit ➤ Undo right away if you did not intend to expand the shape.

Warp Type You can use the Make with Warp command to warp type as well. We will look at text in more detail in Chapter 10 and apply it to a project there. However, if you want to test the warp options now, select the text in this project with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Warp and try some different settings. Refer to Figure 9-27.

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Figure 9-27.  Type warped after using the Warp Options dialog box Later, in Chapter 11, we will look at a very similar command where we can do this exact same thing, using the Effect menu instead, to create live effects rather than rely on the envelope.

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■■Note The type in this case can have a fill and a stroke with a pattern or areas of solid color. However, the fill and stroke of type cannot have a gradient directly applied from the Swatches panel. Text would have to go through Type ➤ Create Outlines first in order to apply a gradient to the lettering that is now a path. Refer to Figure 9-28. However, there is another way to apply a gradient to live type, which is with the Graphic Styles panel that we will see in Chapter 11.

Figure 9-28.  For type to have a gradient it must be changed to an outline first

Make with Mesh Make with Mesh allows you to create a custom warp area with additional rows and columns. You can see some of these examples in the file Make_With_Mesh_Start.ai. Save a copy of the file if you need to follow along. In this example, select a grouped object with the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Mesh. This brings up the Envelope Mesh dialog box. Refer to Figure 9-29.

Figure 9-29.  Use the Selection tool to select the grouped shape and use the Envelope Mesh dialog box to add a mesh

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Here, you can set the mesh rows and columns and preview the result. If you like the result, then click OK to commit the change. Refer to Figure 9-30.

Figure 9-30.  Grouped object inside of an envelope mesh

Control Panel Options In the Control panel, the envelope mesh options for Edit Envelope are currently enabled, and the Edit Contents button is deselected. As you saw earlier in the chapter, that button brings up options specifically for editing the object and not the mesh. Refer to Figure 9-31.

Figure 9-31.  Control panel settings for a Make with Mesh envelope While the Edit Envelope button is selected, you can continue to add additional rows and columns. Another way to add custom rows is to use the Toolbars panel’s Mesh tool. We saw this same tool earlier, in Chapter 8, when we were creating gradient meshes. However, it can be used to edit envelope meshes as well, but not add color to them. Refer to Figure 9-32.

Figure 9-32.  Toolbars panel Mesh tool

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Click on the envelope with this tool when you want to add more rows and columns at random spacings. Refer to Figure 9-33.

Figure 9-33.  Use the Mesh tool to add more mesh lines and points to the envelope To edit these mesh points and alter the warp, you can continue to use the Mesh tool to drag or move the handles, as you did when you created the gradient mesh. Refer to Chapter 8 for some tips. Or, instead, use the Direct Selection tool to drag and move the handles and the Anchor Point tool to adjust the anchor point handles further. Refer to Figure 9-34.

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Figure 9-34.  Select points on the mesh with the Direct Selection tool and adjust the handles further with the Anchor Point tool Other options that are available in the Control panel when the envelope is selected with the Selection tool include the Reset Envelope Shape button, to reset the warp on the grid, as well as access to envelope options. Refer to Figure 9-35.

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Figure 9-35.  Control panel Reset the Envelope Shape button and Envelope Options button

■■Note To undo a reset make sure to use Edit ➤ Undo right away or use the History panel. Other options are available in the Object ➤ Envelope Distort menu, as you saw with Make with Warp. These include Reset with Warp, which we looked at earlier in the chapter. Refer to Figure 9-23 and Figure 9-36.

Figure 9-36.  Envelope Distort additional menu options

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The other option is Reset with Mesh: This will allow you to adjust the rows and columns, as you did with the Envelope Mesh dialog box, and maintain the envelope warp. Refer to Figure 9-37.

Figure 9-37.  Reset Envelope Mesh dialog box You can also, from the menu, release the object from the envelope or expand the object to mold to the envelope shape. Refer to Figure 9-38.

Figure 9-38.  Expand the mesh from the envelope to make all the grouped shapes warped

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Warp Type Alternatively, this option can be used to warp text as well. Use your Mesh tool, Direct Selection tool, and Anchor Point tool to edit the custom mesh. Refer to Figure 9-39.

Figure 9-39.  Use the Mesh tool, Direct Selection tool, and Anchor Point tool to warp an envelope with type

Make with Top Object This last mesh option is the one I like the most, as you can use custom shapes to create some unusual warps. In this case, go to File ➤ Open and open Make_With_Top_Object_Start.ai. Save a copy if you would like to practice or view my results. Refer to Figure 9-40.

Figure 9-40.  Grouped pattern with a heart below In this example, to warp this pattern above the heart, select, with the Selection tool, the heart below the grouped pattern. Refer to Figure 9-41.

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Figure 9-41.  Use the Selection tool to select the heart below the grouped shape This time, go to Edit ➤ Copy (Ctrl/CMD+C) and then Edit ➤ Paste in Front (Ctrl/CMD+F). This pastes one copy in front of the other. Then, with the copy selected, choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front. This places the heart copy above the grouped shapes. Refer to Figure 9-42.

Figure 9-42.  A copy of the heart is pasted in front and then brought to front above the grouped shape

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While the heart is selected with the Selection tool, press Shift and click on the group pattern below (not the lower heart) and choose Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Top Object. This causes the heart to become a mesh and mold the underlying shapes in the object, creating a unique warp. Refer to Figure 9-43.

Figure 9-43.  The top heart shape is what creates the envelope mesh and warp

■■Note  When working with this command, for example, a top object (heart) and a lower object (shapes) must be both selected. If only one item is selected you will get the following warning message that a selection of multiple objects is required. The top object must be a single path or mesh or a symbol containing a single path or mesh. Click OK and then make sure you have two objects selected before you try the Make with Top Object command again. Refer to Figure 9-44.

Figure 9-44.  Warning message that would appear if you only selected one path for Mesh with Top Object

Control Panel Options The Control panel, for Make with Top Object does not offer as many options as the other Envelope commands discussed earlier in the Chapter, while in Edit Envelope, but you can still switch to Edit Contents and Envelope Options, if required. Refer to Figure 9-45.

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Figure 9-45.  Control panel Envelope Top settings and Envelope Options dialog box The Options menu lets you use the other options mentioned earlier, Reset with Warp and Reset with Mesh, to revert to earlier mesh options. Refer to Figure 9-46.

Figure 9-46.  Envelope Distort additional menu options As with the other envelopes, you can use the menu to release the mesh from the envelope or to expand your envelope to warp all the shapes. Refer to Figure 9-47.

Figure 9-47.  Envelope Release and Envelope Expand examples with heart path Make sure to use Edit ➤ Undo if release or expansion was not your intent.

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Project: Type in the Heart In this second example in the same file, we can use the same custom envelope to warp text within a heart. Maybe you want it to be part of a flyer or a logo. Refer to Figure 9-48.

Figure 9-48.  Heart path below a Type layer

■■Note The font I am using in this example is Cooper Black, but you can use a similar font if you want to— just make sure that it is bold. Like we did for the other heart, make sure to select it with the Selection tool and copy and paste it in front. Then, while the copy heart is selected, choose Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Bring to Front. Refer to Figure 9-49.

Figure 9-49.  Copy of heart above the type layer

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Now, to select the hidden type, while the heart is selected go into View ➤ Outline (Ctrl/CMD+Y). With the Selection tool, press Shift and click on the type. You do not want to have the lower heart selected by mistake. Refer to Figure 9-50.

Figure 9-50.  Heart and type in Outline view Return to View ➤ Preview and then choose Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Top Object. Refer to Figure 9-51.

Figure 9-51.  Heart and type selected, and then as an envelope with Make with Top Object

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The type in this case is a bit too distorted and needs some additional adjustments, especially for the center. In the Envelope Options I found adjusting the Fidelity setting made little difference. In this case, you should be in Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 9-52.

Figure 9-52.  Control panel with Edit Envelope setting Use the Direct Selection tool, as well as the Anchor Point tool, to move and edit the mesh so that it conforms better to the heart. In this case, the envelope will no longer be heart shaped, but the text will flow better over the underlying heart. Refer to Figure 9-53.

Figure 9-53.  Use the Direct Selection tool and Anchor Point tool to edit the envelope mesh so that the text sits more evenly on the heart The type is still editable, should you need to make changes to the color or font. You can see an example of this heart in my file Make_With_Top_Object_Start.ai. As mentioned, we will look more at type in Chapter 10.

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Project: Circus Tent and Molded Masks In Chapter 7, when we were creating patterns and then colorizing the circus tent, I mentioned that if you wanted to add a warped pattern to the top of the tent, you would need to possibly use an envelope distort, as it would be less destructive than going to Object ➤ Expand and using the Free Transform tool. Now I will show you what using an envelope would look like. In the file Envelope_Circus_Tent.ai, if you look at the Envelope Mesh layer, you will see that it is an envelope warp that was created with Make with Top Object, as you did with the heart earlier. Refer to Figure 9-54.

Figure 9-54.  A tent with an envelope mesh pattern on a separate layer above the locked Tent layer Originally, the pattern on top of the tent was a rectangular shape with a fill pattern on top of the tent, covering the area. Refer to Figure 9-55.

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Figure 9-55.  Pattern within a rectangular shape over top of the tent I then, with the Pen tool, clicked and created a triangle over the top of the pattern, which was the envelope. Then I pressed Shift and clicked, selecting the rectangle and the triangle. I chose Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Top Object. Refer to Figure 9-56.

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Figure 9-56.  Use the Pen tool to create a triangle that covers the top of the tent, select the shape with the pattern as well, and then choose Make with Top Object to create the pattern distort I then used the Direct Selection tool to make minor adjustments to the points and moved them so that the pattern sat better on the tent. And then, using the Transparency panel, I set the blending mode to Soft Light so that some of the original tent pattern lines showed through. Refer to Figure 9-57.

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Figure 9-57.  Use the Direct Selection tool to modify the envelope over the path; change the blending mode in the Transparency panel or change the opacity to make the pattern appear faded on the cloth So, you can see that envelope distorts can be used to add interest and texture to a design.

Molded Mask Envelope warps can be further enhanced with Opacity masks. If you would like to see an example of that, you can check out the file Envelope_Masks.ai. Refer to Figure 9-58.

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Figure 9-58.  Masks with envelope warps, and Transparency panel with Opacity mask applied The Opacity mask is necessary in this case, so that you can see through to the color on the other side of the mask. You can also use your Layers panel to examine the Opacity mask while it is selected, to see its multiple paths. Refer to Figure 9-59.

Figure 9-59.  Layers panel in Opacity Mask mode At this point, you can save any documents you have been working on. For more details on envelope meshes, you can visit https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/ reshape-using-envelopes.html.

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Summary Various envelope distorts can be used to modify shapes as well as paths. They can transform an object or a path into an unusual design, and we can modify and edit the pattern while it is part of the envelope. You can also incorporate them with Opacity masks using the Transparency panel. In the next chapter, we will focus on how to distort text, as well as on how to add type to a path using tools in Illustrator.

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Working with Type Paths Chapter Goal: Work with type on paths and see how you can distort the lettering and the text path going around a vector logo. In this chapter, we will first review some of the basic text tools—Type, Area Type, Type on a Path, and Touch Type—and see how we can use them and their options to warp either the letter character, the area the text is within, or the path itself. Though not necessary for this book, to compare these to similar settings in Photoshop, you can refer to Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1. In that project, I worked with the clowns and type. Here, we will be working on a similar poster. However, this time all the work with the text will be done in Illustrator on separate layers. In some situations, you may not be able to do the type work in Photoshop and use Smart Object layers, so it is good to practice using similar type settings and know where they can be found in Illustrator.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 10 folder. Before we start the project, let’s familiarize ourselves with some of the type tools and their related panels. All the type tools can be found in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 10-1.

Figure 10-1.  Toolbars panel type tools collection

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_10

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Before you start the project, create a new document as you did in Chapter 1 so that you can practice along.

Type Tool (T) In the Toolbars panel, the first tool is the Type tool. Refer to Figure 10-2.

Figure 10-2.  Toolbars panel Type tool Once you select this tool from the Toolbars panel, you will have access to the settings found in the Control panel and Properties panel. Refer to Figure 10-3 and Figure 10-4.

Figure 10-3.  Type tool settings in the Control panel

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Figure 10-4.  Type tool settings in the Properties panel

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Control Panel and Properties Panel Options You can use the Control panel or the Properties panel to set the options before you begin to type with the Type tool. Some of these settings in the Control panel should already be familiar to you from past Illustrator chapters; however, this time you can apply to type the following settings: Color of Fill, Stroke Color, Stroke Weight, Variable Width Profile, Brush Definition, Opacity, and Graphic Style. Refer to Figure 10-5.

Figure 10-5.  Type tool settings in the Control panel for color fill, stroke, opacity, and graphic style; currently nothing has been typed and only the tool is selected

■■Note  We will look at the Graphic Styles panel in more detail in Chapter 11. Returning to the Control panel, there are a few new settings you may not have seen before. These options are specifically for your characters (individual type letters) and your paragraph (the characters within a line of type, or several lines of type). Refer to Figure 10-6.

Figure 10-6.  Control panel Character and Paragraph options You will also notice that there are more options in the Properties panel, which we will look at next. Refer to Figure 10-7.

Figure 10-7.  Properties panel Character and Paragraph options

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To begin using your Type tool, click somewhere on your Artboard and begin to type. This creates a point at which you can start to type. Refer to Figure 10-8.

Figure 10-8.  Click a location on the Artboard and start typing with the Type tool Illustrator will create some placeholder text that is pre-highlighted. You will notice that the Control panel and Properties panel change to match the current selection of text. Refer to Figure 10-9 and Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-9.  Current Character settings in the Control panel

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Figure 10-10.  Current Character settings in the Properties panel For type, the Character settings will change by default to a Fill Color of Black with a Stroke of None. Refer to Figure 10-11.

Figure 10-11.  Control panel settings for Character color This leaves the Stroke and Variable Width Profile fields blank. However, you can choose a stroke color from the Control panel, and this will set the current highlighted placeholder text with that new stroke color. Refer to Figure 10-12.

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Figure 10-12.  Control panel setting a stroke color for highlighted type This will give you access to the Stroke Weight field, currently at 1 pt, and the Variable Width Profile field, set currently to Uniform. While the text is highlighted, you can change its opacity (0%–100%) and click on the word. This setting includes blending modes and opacity masks. Refer to Figure 10-13.

Figure 10-13.  Control panel Opacity setting for highlighted type I talked about blending modes and the Transparency panel in Chapter 8. From the Control panel, you can also recolor the artwork of the type. Though not required for this book, for more information on the topic of recoloring and the color guide you can refer to the following site: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/recolor-artwork.html. Refer to Figure 10-14.

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Figure 10-14.  Control panel Recolor Artwork option While the text is highlighted, type a new word or sentence, and then choose the Selection tool so that the text is not highlighted, so that you can view the result. Refer to Figure 10-15.

Figure 10-15.  Select the type with the Selection tool For this size of type, the stroke is too thick, blocking out the fill. You can reduce the stroke weight to 0.25 pt to see it better. However, in my case the type is quite thin, and strokes, I find, are best used on fonts that are bold already. Refer to Figure 10-16.

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Figure 10-16.  Use the Control panel to lower the stroke weight You can also use the Stroke panel if you want to have a dashed-line stroke around the text, by enabling the Dashed Line settings. Refer to Figure 10-17 and Figure 10-18.

Figure 10-17.  Type with a dashed stroke

Figure 10-18.  Stroke panel with the Dashed Line option enabled For now, let’s return the color of the stroke to None and continue to look at the rest of the options in the Control and Properties panels. You can change the settings while the type is selected with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 10-19.

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Figure 10-19.  Control panel; use the Selection tool to set the Stroke field to None

Character The next section in the Control panel is the Character section. Refer to Figure 10-20.

Figure 10-20.  Control panel Character settings While the text is selected in the Control panel, you can set the Font Family field. Refer to Figure 10-21.

Figure 10-21.  Use the Control panel to find a font family

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I am choosing the font family Arial. While you are in this dropdown list, you can see the list of current fonts, or under the Find More tab you can search the Adobe Fonts website and activate Adobe fonts that you can use as part of your subscription. Currently, I am remaining on the Fonts tab, and from here I can filter my fonts by various classifications and properties or clear all the filters. Refer to Figure 10-22.

Figure 10-22.  Filters used to find a specific font family I can also filter for favorite fonts, recently added, and activated fonts. Refer to Figure 10-23.

Figure 10-23.  Additional filters used to find a specific font family You can then choose how you want to preview the font, either by the currently selected text or by a list of other sample text options, and then set a font’s size to preview—small, medium, or large. Refer to Figure 10-24.

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Figure 10-24.  Set a preview text and a preview font size Currently, I am previewing using the selected text, with a preview size of medium. In the case of the Arial font on my computer, there are other font styles within the family. By clicking on the arrow tab dropdown, I can find an Arial Bold font and select it. Refer to Figure 10-25.

Figure 10-25.  Search for a font style within the font family This then automatically sets my font style in the Control panel, as well. Refer to Figure 10-26.

Figure 10-26.  Control panel with new font family and font style updated

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From the Font Style dropdown menu you can see a list of the available styles. The type will update on the artboard as you hover over them but will not commit until you click on a choice. Refer to Figure 10-27.

Figure 10-27.  Use the Control panel to locate a font style Some fonts will only have one style, such as Regular; however, most will have the additional three other styles of Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic. Other fonts will have further options, such as Black and Narrow with additional bold and italic style subsets. In the Control panel you can then increase or decrease the font’s size while selected, by using the up and down arrow keys in the text box, typing into the text box, or selecting a preset size from the list. Refer to Figure 10-28.

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Figure 10-28.  Use the Control panel to change the font size For additional options in the Control panel, if you click on the word “Character,” this brings up additional Character settings, which we will look at in a moment. These are also found in the Window ➤ Type ➤ Character panel. Refer to Figure 10-29.

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Figure 10-29.  Locate additional Character settings in the Control panel menu or in the Character panel and its menu

■■Note  When using the Properties panel, you can access similar settings while clicking on the ellipses button (More Options). Refer to Figure 10-30.

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Figure 10-30.  Similar Character settings can be accessed in the Properties panel

As the topic of this book is not about typography settings specifically, I will not go into any major detail about the topics of leading (space between lines), kerning (space between two character), or tracking (space between several selected characters, like a whole word). If you want to learn about specific Character settings in the Characters panel, you can refer to https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/ formatting-type.html. Refer to Figure 10-31.

Figure 10-31.  Character panel settings for Font Size, Leading, Kerning, and Tracking However, I will point out that if you want to use the Character panel specifically to scale a type vertically or horizontally, shift it, or rotate it, then look at this section of the Character panel. Refer to Figure 10-32.

Figure 10-32.  Character panel settings of Vertical Scale, Horizontal Scale, Baseline Shift, and Character Rotation Here, you can see an example of vertical scaling on the entire text, which you can alter by using the text box’s up and down arrow keys, typing in the text box, or choosing a preset from the list. By default, it is set to 100%. Refer to Figure 10-33.

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Figure 10-33.  Character panel setting for the type’s vertical scale You can also set the scaling on a single letter when you select and highlight it with the Type tool. Refer to Figure 10-34.

Figure 10-34.  Character panel setting for the vertical scale of a single character

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Horizontal scaling lets you scale the text horizontally. You can alter it by using the text box’s up and down arrow keys, typing in the textbox, or choosing a preset from the list. By default, it is set to 100%. Refer to Figure 10-35.

Figure 10-35.  Character panel setting for the type’s horizontal scale You can also set the scaling on a single letter when you select and highlight it with the Type tool. Refer to Figure 10-36.

Figure 10-36.  Character panel setting for the horizontal scale of a single character Set Baseline Shift: When you use the Type tool you can highlight a specific letter and shift it up or down on the baseline by using the text box’s up and down arrow keys, typing in the textbox, or choosing a preset from the list. By default, it is set to 0 pt. Negative numbers move the character downward and positive numbers upward. Refer to Figure 10-37.

Figure 10-37.  Character panel, set the baseline shift of a single character

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Character Rotation: This can be done for a set of letters selected with the Selection tool or a selected letter of text. You can change the rotation angle of the letter by using the text box’s up and down arrow keys, typing in the textbox, or choosing a preset from the list (-180°, 0°, 180°). By default, it is set to 0°. Refer to Figure 10-38.

Figure 10-38.  Character panel settings for character rotation

Variable Font If you have a font family that is a variable width, such as Acumin Variable Concept, you will have additional scaling options available to you in the Character panel when you click on the icon next to the Font Style field. The icon will also appear in the Control and Properties panels. Refer to Figure 10-39.

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Figure 10-39.  Character and Control panels’ settings for the variable font options, and menu This will include the slider settings for Weight, Width, and Slant; some variable fonts may even have additional options such as Optical Size. Weight affects the thinness or boldness and spacing of the font. Refer to Figure 10-40.

Figure 10-40.  Examples of variable font weight with slider settings

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Width: Adjusts the spacing of the type and makes it less narrow and broader. Refer to Figure 10-41.

Figure 10-41.  Examples of variable font width with slider settings Slant: Rather than use an italic font style, you can custom set the slant. Refer to Figure 10-42.

Figure 10-42.  Examples of variable font slant with slider settings Returning to the Arial font and the Control and Character panels, as mentioned, if you need more details on additional settings for all caps or superscript and subscript in the panel, you can refer to https:// helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/formatting-type.html. Refer to Figure 10-43.

Figure 10-43.  Character panel additional Character settings

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We will come back to the Character panel again later in the chapter.

Open Type Panel Additionally, if you cannot find specific Character panel settings such as fractions that you found in the Character panel in Photoshop, you can locate these in the separate OpenType panel if the font has OpenType settings. Refer to Figure 10-44.

Figure 10-44.  Photoshop Character panel and some of those settings found in the Illustrator OpenType panel

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Paragraph While the next set of Paragraph option settings in the Control panel will work on a single line of text, if you want to use them correctly, this time with the Type tool, drag out a rectangular box area that will automatically fill with placeholder text. Refer to Figure 10-45.

Figure 10-45.  Control panel and Properties panel Paragraph settings; a type area drawn out with the Type tool and filled with highlighted placeholder text While the text is highlighted, you can type in some new text. Refer to Figure 10-46.

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Figure 10-46.  Type some new text in the type area You can then select the text area with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 10-47.

Figure 10-47.  Text area selected with the Selection tool While not specifically for warping text, you can use the Control panel to adjust the Paragraph settings to align left, align center, or align right. Refer to Figure 10-48.

Figure 10-48.  Setting the paragraph alignment using the Control panel’s three settings

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By default, it is set to align left. Additional Paragraph options can be found when you click on the word “Paragraph” in the Control panel, under the More Options ellipses in the Properties panel, or in the Paragraph panel. Refer to Figure 10-49.

Figure 10-49.  Accessing the Paragraph panel through the Control panel, Properties panel, and the Paragraph panel with its menu options

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New options have now been added to the Paragraph panel that make creating either bulleted or numbered lists with your highlighted text easier; these additional options can be found when you click on the ellipses. Refer to Figure 10-49. For more details on working with the Paragraph panel, you can visit the following: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/formatting-paragraphs.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/bullets-numbering.html

Area Type While working with an Area Type text box, the Control panel may have additional features specifically for the area of type in the Control and Properties panels. Refer to Figure 10-50.

Figure 10-50.  Control panel and Properties panel Area Type settings These are used to control the spacing of the type within the area of box, and we will look at that in more detail when we look at the Area Type tool in the next section.

Make Envelope Whether you are working with a single line or an area of type, you can use the Make Envelope feature we already briefly looked at for warping text in Chapter 9. However, you can access these options in the Control panel specifically for selected type. You can choose to Make with Warp for a preset warp or Make with Mesh to create a custom warp. Refer to Figure 10-51.

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Figure 10-51.  Warp options in the Control panel for Make with Warp and Make with Mesh, their dialog boxes, and a preview of the type

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As mentioned in Chapter 9, you can use the Direct Selection tool or Anchor Point tool to alter the mesh. Refer to Figure 10-52.

Figure 10-52.  Use the Direct Selection tool and Anchor Point tool to alter the mesh

Align In both the Control panel and the Properties panel, while working with type, you have the options found in the Align panel. You can use this when two or more items are selected to align them, as well as to align the selected text to the Artboard itself. Refer to Figure 10-53.

Figure 10-53.  Control panel Align options for selected type while selected with the Selection tool

■■Tip  While text is selected with the Selection tool, you can Alt/Option-drag to create a copy, and then you can Shift + Click to select each text and choose an Align option.

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Transform You can also access the Transform panel from the Control and Properties panels. Refer to Figure 10-54.

Figure 10-54.  Control panel Transform options for selected type Many of the same options you saw when working with paths in Chapters 2 and 3 apply to type as well. You can use the Transform panel, while the bounding box around the type is selected, to scale and rotate, or to use the shear setting to alter the angle of the type further. Refer to Figure 10-55.

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Figure 10-55.  Use the Transform panel options and bounding box handles to rotate, scale, and shear As well, you can flip the type horizontally and/or vertically using the Properties panel buttons. Refer to Figure 10-56.

Figure 10-56.  Use the Properties panel to flip the type

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The handle that is sticking out on the right side of the bounding box allows you to, when you doubleclick it, convert the type line to area type; it is not for rotation. We will look at that option later in the Area Type tool section. Refer to Figure 10-57.

Figure 10-57.  Selected type in bounding box

Changing Text Color One final important thing I will point out for when you are working with type and the Type tool is that you can select individual letters and change their color using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-58.

Figure 10-58.  Changing a single text color line using the Control panel However, when you select the line again with the Selection tool, there may be a [?] question mark in the Color Fill or Stroke field in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-59.

Figure 10-59.  In the Control panel a setting of mixed fill colors with a [?]

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To resolve this and set all type to one color, you can select the fill color and select a new color in the Control panel for all the type. Refer to Figure 10-60.

Figure 10-60.  Setting the same color using the Control panel for all the selected type Type can be set to a solid or patterned swatch, but not directly to a gradient swatch. We will see how to do that later, in Chapter 11.

Glyphs Panel If you need some additional characters that you can’t access with your keyboard, make sure to use the Window ➤ Type ➤ Glyphs panel. While the type is selected with the Type tool, you can place the cursor at a select location, or drag to highlight a letter that you want to change, and then double-click the letter in the panel to change the letter on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 10-61.

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Figure 10-61.  Glyphs panel and changing a highlighted character with the Type tool and panel You can use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) to undo that last step, or use the History panel to return back to the original letter. Refer to Figure 10-62.

Figure 10-62.  Undo the last change to the highlighted letter This area can also be used to access color fonts, like EmojiOne Color, after you have selected it in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-63.

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Figure 10-63.  Use the Control panel and Glyphs panel to locate color fonts

Resetting Character, Paragraph, and Open Type Panels If, after using this font, you want to reset your Character, Open Type, and Paragraph settings back to the base font, use the menu option of Reset Panel. Make sure that no text is selected when you reset the panels. Refer to Figure 10-64.

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Figure 10-64.  Use the menu in the Character, Paragraph, and OpenType panels to reset the options

■■Note If you want to know how to save your Character and Paragraph settings as styles for the Libraries panel, you can check out https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/character-paragraphstyles.html.

Vertical Type Tool Much of what you have learned about the Type tool, which has been for horizontal type, can be applied to the Vertical Type tool. You can refer to that previous section for more details. However, I will point out a few key differences. Refer to Figure 10-65.

Figure 10-65.  Toolbars panel Vertical Type tool In this case, when I click on the Artboard, the type flows vertically downward. Vertical type is more often used when writing with Asian characters. However, if you must write a few words in a narrow area such as a book spine, it can be useful. Refer to Figure 10-66.

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Figure 10-66.  Click on the Artboard with the Vertical Type tool to add some text, and type when highlighted If you want to create an area of type, drag out a rectangular area with the Type tool. Refer to Figure 10-67.

Figure 10-67.  Use the Vertical Type tool to create a text area for larger amounts of text The type flows backward, and, as mentioned, it is meant for Asian characters. Refer to Figure 10-67. The main differences that you will find in the Control panel and Properties panel are the Paragraph Orientation (Align Top, Align Center, and Align Bottom) and Orientation for Area Type, which is now in a vertical spacing. Refer to Figure 10-68.

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Figure 10-68.  Control panel and Property panel settings for vertical type in Paragraph and Area Type menus In the Character panel, some icons for leading, kerning, tracking, and baseline shift look a bit different. So will the orientation in the Paragraph panel. Refer to Figure 10-69.

Figure 10-69.  Vertical Type settings in the Character and Paragraph panels Like the Type tool, the Vertical Type tool will allow you to perform all the same kinds of warps that I mentioned, as well as the Make with Warp Envelope options, though you may need to change to a vertical alignment for the style to get the result you expect. Refer to Figure 10-70.

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Figure 10-70.  Make Envelope options in the Control panel and Warp Options dialog box with preview of type

Area Type Tool and Vertical Area Type Tools As we have seen so far, the Type tool and Vertical Type tool can be used to create an area for a paragraph of type. Drag out a rectangular area, and it is then populated with placeholder text. Refer to Figure 10-71.

Figure 10-71.  Area Type for type If you have just clicked on the Artboard with the Type tool, you can double-click with the Selection tool on the circle on the right, which will turn your text line into a type area (Type ➤ Convert to Area Type). Refer to Figure 10-72.

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Figure 10-72.  Point type converted to area type Double-clicking on it again will set it back to point type (Type ➤ Convert to Point Type). When you double-click the square at the bottom the text box area, it ensures that your text fits within the area. This is useful when you have typed more type than the area can hold. When you see the red box with the plus symbol, you can double-click on the lower blue box so that the area expands to fit the text. Refer to Figure 10-73.

Figure 10-73.  Adjust the area where the box is overflowing, and expand the text area You can then use the Control panel to set the alignment within the area to either Top, Center, Bottom, or Justify. By default, it is set to Top. Refer to Figure 10-74.

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Figure 10-74.  Control panel Type Area options, and examples of Top, Center, Bottom, and Justify However, if you use the Area Type tool or Vertical Area Type tool, you can create custom areas in which to place your type. Refer to Figure 10-75.

Figure 10-75.  Toolbars panel Tools Area Type tool and Vertical Area Type tool Any shape or object path can become an area for type. For example, I can create a hexagon with the Polygon tool. Refer to Figure 10-76.

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Figure 10-76.  Toolbars Polygon tool with created polygon With either the Area Type tool or Vertical Area Type tool, I can click on the edge of the shape or path and have the area be filled with placeholder text. Refer to Figure 10-77.

Figure 10-77.  Use the Area Type tool or Vertical Area Type tool to click on a path to create an area Upon clicking, the type area will lose the path’s fill and stroke colors. However, you can set that back when you select the path, not the text, with the Direct Selection tool. It should say “Anchor Point” in the Control panel. Then, use the Appearance panel to set new fill and stroke colors for the path. Refer to Figure 10-78.

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Figure 10-78.  Adjust the color and stroke of the selected path area by first selecting the path with the Direct Selection tool. Note that it should say “Anchor Point” in the Control panel. Using the Appearance panel, set the new fill and stroke colors The text within the area appears a bit constrained and needs more spacing. Something you could do is with the Selection tool scale the area larger while holding down the Shift key. Refer to Figure 10-79.

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Figure 10-79.  Expand the type area using the Selection tool Or highlight your text with the Area Type tool, type some new text, and then reduce the font size using the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-80.

Figure 10-80.  Use the Area Type tool to highlight the text and the Control panel to reduce the font size These options can be used for the Vertical Area Type tool as well. Refer to Figure 10-81.

Figure 10-81.  Adjusting text using the Vertical Area Type tool However, the text in either case is still quite close to the edge. For either area type you can select the area with the Selection tool and then use the Area Type Options dialog box. Go to Type ➤ Area Type Options or access it from the Control panel and click on the name. Refer to Figure 10-82.

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Figure 10-82.  Select the type area and access the Area Type Options from the Control panel

Area Type Options In the dialog box, with preview enabled, adjust the following settings (refer to Figure 10-83):

Figure 10-83.  Area Type Options dialog box

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Width and Height: These settings scale the object, or in this case the type area. Type in a number or use the up and down arrows on the text boxes to scale. Refer to Figure 10-84.

Figure 10-84.  Area Type Options dialog box, set the width and height and preview the result Rows: If there is a lot of text within a large shape, you can add rows. When, the number is set to 1 and it has a span equal to the area height, before adding another number row. Refer to Figure 10-83. However this changes when you add more rows. In this area, you can also set a fixed or unfixed span should you decide to scale the area later. According to Adobe, having Fixed enabled you can change the number of rows, the rows height will not change, but the shape will expand in height. Having Fixed disabled you can change the number and height of the rows, but the shape will not expand with the text. With two rows you can set a gutter width as well, and the size of the span changes. Refer to Figure 10-85.

Figure 10-85.  Area Type Options dialog box; set the Rows options and preview the result Columns: If there is a lot of text within a large shape you can add columns. When the number is set to 1 and the span is equal to the dimensions of the area width before adding another number column. Refer to Figure 10-83. However this changes when you add more columns. This allows you to also set a fixed span should you decide to scale the area later. According to Adobe, having Fixed enabled you can change the number of columns, their width will not change, but you will expand the width of the shape. Having Fixed disabled you can change the the width number and width of the columns but they will not expand with the text. With two columns, you can set a gutter width as well, and the size of the span changes. Refer to Figure 10-86.

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Figure 10-86.  Area Type Options dialog box; set the Columns options and preview the result You can set a combination of rows and columns. Refer to Figure 10-87.

Figure 10-87.  Area Type Options dialog box, set the row and column options and preview the result Set rows and columns back to 1 for each, for now. Refer to Figure 10-88.

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Figure 10-88.  Set back to one row and one column and preview the result in the text area Offset: Allows you to add spacing within the type area. Currently, the Inset Spacing is set to 0 inches. Refer to Figure 10-89.

Figure 10-89.  Area Type Options dialog box Offset settings By increasing the inset spacing, you can add a bit of padding around the type so that it does not sit on the stroke of the shape. Refer to Figure 10-90.

Figure 10-90.  Preview the result of altering the inset spacing

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First Baseline: This is currently set to Ascent with a Min of 0 inches. However, to better align the text within the area, you can try the other options of Cap Height, Leading x Height, Em Box Height, Fixed, and Legacy. Refer to Figure 10-91.

Figure 10-91.  Area Type Options dialog box, First Baseline settings I tried Leading and then set my Min to 0.25 in to move the type within the area down a bit more. Refer to Figure 10-92.

Figure 10-92.  Area Type Options dialog box, First Baseline settings with Min setting and preview

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Align: This is currently set to Horizontal Top. You can set this area outside of the dialog box as well as in the Control panel, and it has the same settings of Top, Center, Bottom, and Justify. Refer to Figure 10-93.

Figure 10-93.  Area Type Options dialog box Align settings and options Leave set to Horizontal Top. Options: Text Flow: If there are rows and columns in the text area currently based on the settings the rows will flow the type (By Rows, from Left to Right). If you choose the right-most option, then columns will flow the type (By Columns, from Left to Right). Refer to Figure 10-94.

Figure 10-94.  Area Type Options dialog box options for text flow and preview

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Set the text flow back to (By Rows, Left to Right) and leave the columns and rows at 1 each. Note autosize is not available and can only be used for rectangular type areas. Click OK to exit the dialog box and review the result. Refer to Figure 10-95.

Figure 10-95.  Click OK to exit the Area Type Options dialog box and review the result

■■Note  For the Vertical Area Type tool, the Area Type Options are the same, except for Align Vertical (Right, Center, Left, and Justify) and the Text Flow options, which are now By Columns, Right to Left and By Rows, Right to Left. Refer to Figure 10-96.

Figure 10-96.  Area Type Options for Vertical Area Type tool

■■Note  For more detail on Area Type options, visit https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/ manage-text-area.html.

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Additional Tips for Working with the Area Type Tools There are a few other things to note about Area Type. If you need to add additional placeholder text, place your cursor at the point you want to add the text, then choose Type ➤ Fill with Placeholder Text. Refer to Figure 10-97.

Figure 10-97.  Add additional placeholder text to the type area with the Area Type tool Or, type your own text to fill the space. When you have two text areas that you want to join, click with the Selection tool on one of the white squares on the path—in this case, the lower one—and then click on another selected area type shape’s white square to join them. You can see they are connected by a blue line. Refer to Figure 10-98.

Figure 10-98.  Adjust the threading of text between two type areas This is known as threaded text, and you can find this option under Type ➤ Threaded Text. Other options after you create the link allow you to release the selection so text flows into one text area, or to remove the threading so they are separate text areas again. Refer to Figure 10-99.

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Figure 10-99. Type ➤ Threaded Text menu options Use Edit ➤ Undo or use the History panel if you need to undo a step while working with these options.

Project: Text Wrap Around a Shape with Type Area In other situations, you may want the type to wrap around a shape rather than inside of a shape, and you can see an example of that in my file Text_wrap_clown_example.ai. Refer to Figure 10-100.

Figure 10-100.  Image of clown with text wrapping around one side of the image There are two ways of creating a text wrap, and you may prefer one over the other, depending on your project.

Text Wrap Option 1 In this example, I created a path with my pen tool and made sure to leave enough space around the edge of the balloons and their string. Refer to Figure 10-101.

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Figure 10-101.  Use the Pen tool to create a potential type area I then clicked on the path with the Area Type tool and then edited and spaced the placeholder text as I required. Refer to Figure 10-102.

Figure 10-102.  Use the Area Type tool to fill the area with placeholder text and format it

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This is a good method when you are concerned about whether the type might get too close to an object, and you want to know the type will still flow smoothly. You could also add points with the Add Anchor Point tool or move points with your Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 10-103.

Figure 10-103.  Toolbars panel Add Anchor Point tool and Direct Selection tool

Text Wrap Option 2 In the second example, I created a rectangular text area with my Type tool and then arranged the text behind the grouped clown graphic via Object ➤ Arrange ➤ Send to Back. The type must be behind for this to work. Refer to Figure 10-104.

Figure 10-104.  Use the Type tool to create a text area and placeholder text, then size it and place it behind the clown

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Then I Shift + Clicked with the Selection tool to select the clown group, and from the Object menu chose Text Wrap ➤ Make. Refer to Figure 10-105.

Figure 10-105.  Use the Selection tool to select both the clown and text and use the Object ➤ Text Wrap ➤ Make command I then got the following message: Text will wrap around all objects in the current selection, including type objects. I clicked OK. Refer to Figure 10-106.

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Figure 10-106.  Info alert message that appears before you see the text wrap and result The text is now wrapping around the balloons, but it needs a bit of help, as some of the text will flow under the balloon string. Go to Object ➤ Text Wrap ➤ Text Wrap Options. Currently, the offset is set to 6 pt in the dialog box. Refer to Figure 10-107.

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Figure 10-107.  Text Wrap Options dialog box with info alert I then set it to 13 pt and left the Invert Wrap disabled, and clicked OK to exit. Refer to Figure 10-107 and Figure 10-108.

Figure 10-108.  Offset setting for text to wrap around clown grouped object

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Now the text flows around the balloons more evenly. Refer to Figure 10-108.

■■Note If you need to release a wrap, make sure that both the grouped object and the text are selected, and then choose Object ➤ Text Wrap ➤ Release. Refer to Figure 10-109.

Figure 10-109.  Additional Object ➤ Text Wrap commands

Both must also be selected if you need to fix your Text Wrap options.

Type on a Path Tool and Vertical Type on a Path Tool When you want to create type on a path in Photoshop, you make sure a path created with the Pen tool or Shape tool is selected before you use a Type tool. However, in Illustrator you can use the Type on a Path tool or the Vertical Type on a Path tool. Refer to Figure 10-110.

Figure 10-110.  Toolbars panel Type on a Path and Vertical Type on a Path tools In this case, while a path that you created with a Pen or Shape tool is selected, click on the path with either Type on a Path tool. Refer to Figure 10-111.

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Figure 10-111.  Click on the edge of a shape with either the Type on a Path tool or Vertical Type on a Path tool to see the placeholder text go around the path Text then flows around the ring and, while it’s highlighted, you can type some new text. Use the Control panel to change the font size and other Character type settings. Refer to Figure 10-112.

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Figure 10-112.  Path with new text typed, and then highlighted and adjusted using the Control panel

■■Note  Like when adding an area with the Area Type tools, the original stroke and fill colors disappear once the text is on the path. While the type is selected, you can drag on the starting and ending brackets with the Direct Selection tool to adjust where the text starts and stops on the path. Refer to Figure 10-113.

Figure 10-113.  Use the Direct Selection tool to adjust the brackets on the path While doing this, do not click on the squares, as this will cause you to switch back to the Text tool and create a potential text thread, which you do not want to do. If this happens, Edit ➤ Undo right away, or use the History panel, and then choose the Direct Selection tool again. Refer to Figure 10-113. The center-line bracket lets you, as you drag, push the type inside the circle rather than it’s being on the outside of the circle, and you can drag to rotate the text on the ring as well. Refer to Figure 10-114.

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Figure 10-114.  Adjust the center bracket on the path to move it from outward to inward Hold down the Ctrl/CMD key if you do not want the text to flip while you drag and rotate with the center bracket.

Type on a Path Options To further adjust your path options, you can use Type ➤ Type on Path, and choose the Type on a Path Options item to see the Options dialog box rather than set your effects one at a time. Refer to Figure 10-115 and Figure 10-116.

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Figure 10-115. Type ➤ Type on a Path menu commands In the dialog box, make sure Preview is enabled. Try several Effect options, which are also in the Type on a Path menu. Refer to Figure 10-116.

Figure 10-116.  Type on a Path Options dialog box with Effect menu

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In this example the type is set to the Rainbow effect. Refer to Figure 10-117.

Figure 10-117.  Type on a path with the Rainbow effect However, Skew, 3D Ribbon, Stair Step, and Gravity can produce different effects, and this also depends on the shape of the path. Refer to Figure 10-118.

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Figure 10-118.  Type on a path with the Skew, 3D Ribbon, Stair Step, and Gravity effects

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Instead of using the center bracket, you can also choose the Flip option so that the text flips inward or outward on the path. Refer to Figure 10-119.

Figure 10-119.  Type on a Path with the Rainbow effect and Flip setting enabled Then, you can set the Align to Path field to either Ascender, Descender, Center, or Baseline. Baseline is the default. Refer to Figure 10-120.

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Figure 10-120.  Type on a Path with Align to Path options of Ascender, Descender, Center, and Baseline

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Lastly, you can adjust the spacing of the letters on the path; by default it is set to Auto. You can type in a number or choose a preset from the list. Refer to Figure 10-121.

Figure 10-121.  Type on a Path Spacing options You can choose a range of -800 pt to 800 pt. When Flip is enabled, negative numbers are closer spacing and positive numbers are more spread out. This is a good option to use on curved path segments. Refer to Figure 10-122.

Figure 10-122.  Type on a Path Spacing options, negative and positive, with flip enabled However, when Flip is disabled then the opposite is true of the spacing; with negative numbers the spacing is more spread out and with positive numbers it is closer. Once you find the settings you like you can click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 10-123.

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Figure 10-123.  Click OK to exit the Type on a Path Options dialog box Type can also be on open paths. Refer to Figure 10-124.

Figure 10-124.  Type on an open path created with the Spiral tool Further details on this dialog box can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/ creating-type-path.html. You can also further scale and rotate the path later, using the Selection tool and the bounding box handles. Refer to Figure 10-125.

Figure 10-125.  A path selected with the Selection tool can be rotated and scaled

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■■Tip  You can also use the Envelope Warp options, like Make with Warp, in the Control panel for additional warping effects of the path. Refer to Figure 10-126.

Figure 10-126.  You can warp a path further with the Control panel and Envelope Warp options

Touch Type Tool (Shift + T) The last tool, the Touch Type tool, can be used with the previously mentioned type tools. Refer to Figure 10-127.

Figure 10-127.  Toolbars panel Touch Type tool After selecting type with the Selection tool, choose this Touch Type tool to select a letter, and then you can move, scale, and rotate that single character on the baseline using the handles and rotation circle. Refer to Figure 10-128.

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Figure 10-128.  Rotating, moving, and scaling a single character in a line of type Use ➤ Edit Undo or Ctrl/CMD+Z if you need to undo any of the adjustments you make to the lettering. Refer to Figure 10-129.

Figure 10-129.  Other characters selected and adjusted on the line of type These settings will be reflected in the Character panel.

Type into Outlines In certain situations you may need to select your text and turn it into outlines. Go to Type ➤ Create Outlines or use the other option, Object ➤ Expand, to expand the object and then fill the type. Refer to Figure 10-130.

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Figure 10-130.  Use the Expand dialog box to expand and make selected type into outlines

■■Tip  You can create outlines quickly using the Properties panel Quick Actions button. Refer to Figure 10-130. Here are several reasons why you may need to do that to type: •

You are sending the file to a print company or a client and are not sure if they have that font. You do not want them to get a missing font error message when they open the file. Refer to Figure 10-131.

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Figure 10-131.  Missing Fonts dialog box that appears if fonts are missing when the document opens •

Some of the warped design is going to be quite complicated, and you want to use the Puppet Warp tool we looked at in Chapter 4, or one of the Liquify tools we used in Chapter 5.

•

You want to add a gradient to the text, which you saw an example of in Chapter 9. To add a gradient to text it must first be made into an outline. Refer to Figure 10-132.

Figure 10-132.  Text that is now an outline so that a gradient can be applied to the fill and stroke However, warping as we saw with patterned text is fine. With the Envelope Mesh tool an outline is not required. For more information on how to add a gradient to type with graphic styles, see Chapter 11.

P roject: The Juggling Clown Circus Tent Poster and Letters Around the Ring In this project, we are going to warp some text on a poster in Illustrator, similar to how it might be done in Photoshop.

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Open the file clowns_tent_poster_start.ai. Save a copy of the file if you want to follow along. Refer to Figure 10-133.

Figure 10-133.  Circus poster with its many layers in the Layers panel This example has quite a few layers. In this project, you are only going to be working with the type; however, feel free to explore the additional warp and pattern settings I used. Refer to Figure 10-133. The three layers that we are going to look at are Type on a Path, Warp Text, and Background to Type. Refer to Figure 10-134.

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Figure 10-134.  The layers in the Layers panel that we will be using to edit the type

■■Tip Remember to use the Zoom tool and Hand tool (spacebar) if you need to navigate around the image. Refer to Figure 10-135.

Figure 10-135.  Toolbars panel Zoom tool and Hand tool

Envelope Warp Type To begin, select the unlocked layer Warp Text and, with the Selection tool, select the word “WELCOME.” I have turned off the visibility of the tent layer so that you can see the text better in the figures. Refer to Figure 10-136.

Figure 10-136.  Select the text with the Selection tool

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The type has already been typed using the Type tool, and been formatted in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-137.

Figure 10-137.  Control panel setting for text The text is black fill with a stroke of none and uses the font family of Rosewood Std Regular. You can acquire this font from Creative Cloud with your subscription, if you do not have it on your computer, via the Find More tab. If you did not get a font warning when you opened the file, it is likely already loaded on your machine. Refer to Figure 10-138.

Figure 10-138.  Current font family of Rosewood Std in the Control panel The font is 88.71 pt, and the text for the paragraph is centered; all the following text is centered as well, though the text size will vary. Refer to Figure 10-137. While the type is selected in the Control panel, click on the Make Envelope button; it should be set to Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 10-139.

Figure 10-139.  In the Control panel, use the Make with Warp setting Set the Style field to Rise and select the Horizontal radio button. Adjust the Bend slider to 50% and leave the Vertical and Horizontal distortion settings at 0%, then click OK. Refer to Figure 10-140.

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Figure 10-140.  Warp Options dialog box The text now appears distorted on the poster, and you can see the setting in the Control panel when set to Edit Envelope. Refer to Figure 10-141.

Figure 10-141.  Warped text and Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel Use the Selection tool to move the text up a bit so that it sits near the top of the tent. Here are the coordinate settings that I used for X: 4.2569 in and Y: 2.2858 in. Refer to Figure 10-142.

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Figure 10-142.  Text on the page and its coordinates and size settings in the Control panel Now, skip over the words “TO THE,” as we will not be editing them yet. With the Selection tool, select the next word, “GREATEST.” Refer to Figure 10-143.

Figure 10-143.  Select the text with the Selection tool Select the Make Envelope option in the Control panel. Choose Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 10-144.

Figure 10-144.  In the Control panel use the Make with Warp setting In the Warp Options dialog box, set the Style field to Arch, choose the Horizontal option, set the Bend slider to 16%, leave the Vertical and Horizontal settings at 0%, and then click OK. Refer to Figure 10-145.

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Figure 10-145.  Warp Options dialog box

Figure 10-146.  Warped text and Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel The text now appears on the poster, distorted, and you can see the settings in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-146. Use the Selection tool to move the text. Here are the coordinate settings that I used for X: 4.3982 in and Y: 3.9051 in. Refer to Figure 10-147.

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Figure 10-147.  Text on the page and its coordinate and size settings in the Control panel Now, select the word “SHOW” with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 10-148.

Figure 10-148.  Select the text with the Selection tool Select the Make Envelope option in the Control panel. Choose Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 10-149.

Figure 10-149.  In the Control panel use the Make with Warp setting In the Warp Options dialog box, set the Style to Arch, choose Horizontal, set Bend slider to 24%, leave the Vertical and Horizontal distortion sliders at 0%, and click OK. Refer to Figure 10-150.

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Figure 10-150.  Warp Options dialog box The text now appears on the poster, distorted, and you can see the settings in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-151.

Figure 10-151.  Warped text and Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel Use the Selection tool to move the text. Here are the coordinate settings that I used for X: 4.4326 in and Y: 5.0959 in. Refer to Figure 10-152.

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Figure 10-152.  Text on the page and its coordinate and size settings in the Control panel At the bottom of the poster, with the Selection tool, select the text “ON THE PLANET.” Refer to Figure 10-153.

Figure 10-153.  Select the text with the Selection tool Select the Make Envelope option in the Control panel and choose Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 10-154.

Figure 10-154.  In the Control panel, use the Make with Warp setting In the Warp Options menu set the Style to Arch, choose Horizontal, set the Bend slider to -16%, leave the Vertical and Horizontal distortion sliders at 0%, and click OK. Refer to Figure 10-155.

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Figure 10-155.  Warp Options dialog box The text now appears on the poster, distorted, and you can see the settings in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-156.

Figure 10-156.  Warped text and Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel Use the Selection tool to move the text. Here are the coordinate settings that I used for X: 4.3982 in and Y: 12.7448 in. You can adjust your width and height as well if you find it different than mine. Refer to Figure 10-157.

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Figure 10-157.  Text on the page and its coordinate and size settings in the Control panel The last text that we will warp is the type area “Buy Tickets Now.” Select this text with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 10-158.

Figure 10-158.  Select the text area with the Selection tool In the Control panel, you can see that the type has a black fill and a stroke of white, 1 pt weight, the font is Arial Black at 21.62 pt, and the paragraph text is centered. Refer to Figure 10-159.

Figure 10-159.  Control panel settings for the type area

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Select the Make Envelope option in the control panel. Choose Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 10-160.

Figure 10-160.  In the Control panel, use the Make with Warp setting In the Warp Options dialog box, set the Style to Inflate, move the Bend slider to 50%, leave the Vertical and Horizontal distortion sliders at 0%, and click OK. Refer to Figure 10-161.

Figure 10-161.  Warp Options dialog box The text now appears on the poster, distorted, and you can see the settings in the Control panel. Refer to Figure 10-162.

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Figure 10-162.  Warped text and Edit Envelope mode in the Control panel Use the Selection tool to move the text. Here are the coordinate settings that I used for X: 1.3654 in and Y: 1.4167 in, using the Properties panel. Also rotate the text to 19.884°. Refer to Figure 10-163.

Figure 10-163.  Text on the page and its coordinate, rotation, and size settings in the Properties panel Once you are done, you can save at this point. Don’t, however, lock the layer yet. Refer to Figure 10-164.

Figure 10-164.  Warp Text layer in the Layers panel In Chapter 11, we will look at a similar text warp effect.

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Fixing Hollow Text Issues As you may have noticed, the text has some blank areas that make some of background show through, which is not ideal in this case. Adding a fill or a stroke does not help. There is, however, a way that you can deal with this quickly. With the Selection tool, Shift + Click on your text paths for “Welcome to the Greatest Show on the Planet.” Refer to Figure 10-165.

Figure 10-165.  Select the main text on the poster

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Now choose Edit ➤ Copy. Then, lock the Warp Text layer and unlock the Background to Type layer and select it. Refer to Figure 10-166.

Figure 10-166.  Lock the Warp Text layer and unlock and select the Background to Type layer Choose Edit ➤ Paste in Place. This pastes a copy of the text on the layer. Refer to Figure 10-167.

Figure 10-167.  Paste a copy of the text on the layer

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Turn off the visibility of the Warp Text layer but stay on the Background to Type layer for now. Refer to Figure 10-168.

Figure 10-168.  Turn off the visibility of the Warp Text layer On the Background to Type layer, while this copy of the text is selected, choose Object ➤ Expand. Keep the Object and Fill options enabled in the dialog box and click OK. Refer to Figure 10-169.

Figure 10-169.  Expand dialog box

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This turns the text into grouped outlines. Refer to Figure 10-170.

Figure 10-170.  The copy text is now in an outline state

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Now we need to make this background text solid. In the Pathfinder panel, while the group is selected, click Outline. This makes the text into outlines. Refer to Figure 10-171.

Figure 10-171.  Pathfinder panel with the selected outlines set to Outline Now, in the Pathfinder panel under Shape Modes, click Unite (do not Alt/Option + Click). Refer to Figure 10-172.

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Figure 10-172.  Pathfinder panel with the selected outlines set to Unite

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This turns most of the text into a solid shape. Now, with the Control panel, set the fill to white and stroke to None. Refer to Figure 10-173.

Figure 10-173.  Use the Control panel to set a new white fill color for the selected text

■■Tip On your own, you could now edit the path further if required with your Pen tool and Direct Selection tool and Pathfinder panel. However, what I demonstrated is good for quickly creating a white area behind the text so that the tent does not show through the letters. Now you can lock the Background to Type layer and make visible the Warp Text layer again, and you should be able to see the letters more clearly. Refer to Figure 10-174.

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Figure 10-174.  Turn on the visibility for the Warp Text layer and lock the Background to Type layer to see how the white now fills in the hollow areas of the type

Type on a Path Layer Now select and unlock the Type on a Path layer. Refer to Figure 10-115.

Figure 10-175.  Layers panel, unlock the Type on a Path layer Use the Zoom tool if you need to zoom in more closely to the juggler clown and the balls he is juggling. Refer to Figure 10-176.

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Figure 10-176.  Look at the area where the clown is juggling with the Zoom tool Use the Selection tool and Control panel to set a CMYK cyan stroke of 1 pt with no fill. Refer to Figure 10-177.

Figure 10-177.  Use the Control panel to set a cyan stroke and stroke weight Use the Pen tool to create an open path that will be for the type. Refer to Figure 10-178.

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Figure 10-178.  Create a path with the Pen tool The path has three points. Click + Drag to create a curve. Then Ctrl/CMD + Click on the Artboard to keep the path open. Now, select the Type on a Path tool and, in the Control panel, set the fill to white, the stroke to Black and 1pt, font to Arial, family to Arial Black, size to 18 pt, and paragraph to Center. Refer to Figure 10-179.

Figure 10-179.  Use the Type on a Path tool and set the settings for the fill and stroke color, character, and paragraph in the Control panel Then, click on the path and type the word “JUGGLER.” Refer to Figure 10-180.

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Figure 10-180.  Click on the path and type the word “Juggler”

■■Note In this case, the text set itself back to Black fill with no stroke, so highlight the text again with the Type on a Path tool, and in the Control panel set the fill to white, the stroke to black, and the stroke weight to 0.75 pt. Refer to Figure 10-181.

Figure 10-181.  Highlight the text and change the settings in the Control panel

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Now use the Direct Selection tool to select the line and adjust the spacing and brackets, as well as move points of the line so that they conform more closely to the path. Refer to Figure 10-182.

Figure 10-182.  Use the Direct Selection tool when you want to edit the path and the brackets You may also have to use the Add Anchor Point tool to add a few more points so that the letters sit better on the path. In my case, I added another four points. Refer to Figure 10-182. In this case, to spread out my highlighted letters that were selected with the Type on a Path tool, I had to set the Tracking quite high, using the Characters panel, to 1151, and I set the Horizontal Scaling to 95.575%. Otherwise, I kept my other font settings the same: Size: 18 pt, Leading: 21.6 pt, and Kerning: Auto. Refer to Figure 10-183.

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Figure 10-183.  Character panel settings and highlighted text for “Juggler” You could also use the Touch Type tool if you needed to adjust the letters a bit more. You can see the completed path here. Refer to Figure 10-184.

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Figure 10-184.  Adjusted text for “Juggler” on path I then selected my path again with the Selection tool and, in the Transparency panel, set the Opacity to 89%. Refer to Figure 10-185.

Figure 10-185.  Setting the Transparency panel Opacity for type on path when selected with Selection tool Lock your layer for Type on Path and save your work. You can see the final project in clowns_tent_poster_final.ai. Refer to Figure 10-186 and Figure 10-187.

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Figure 10-186.  Final poster with warped text

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Figure 10-187.  Final Layers panel settings

Summary In this chapter, we warped and wrapped type using the various type tools in the Toolbars panel as well as the panels that help you modify your type. Then we used Envelope distortions on the type to warp the text or text area further. In the next chapter, you will see that you can then add effects to shapes in your design that can further distort or add texture.

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CHAPTER 11

Working with Live Effect Filters Chapter Goal: As with Smart Filters in Photoshop that are used on Smart Objects, you can apply single or multiple effects to Illustrator objects that are non-destructive before you commit. This chapter will explore some of the Illustrator effects and review some of the Photoshop effects that I consider true distorts. These distorts can be combined with other stylized effects. In this chapter, we will also look at how to store your effects and graphic styles for future distortions and where you can purchase other effects through the Adobe Creative Cloud.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 11 folder.

Effect Menu Illustrator has a collection of various effects that you can apply to vector objects, as well as to embedded images that you originally created in Photoshop. The focus of this chapter is on working with vector objects in Illustrator and applying the various effects found in the Effect menu. Refer to Figure 11-1.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_11

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Figure 11-1.  Illustrator Effect menu As you work with the effects and apply them to an object, they will appear in the Appearance panel and Properties panel. Because the effects are live from these panels, you will be able to review your effects and click or double-click on them, and then enter that dialog box or workspace and make updates or adjustments, as required. Refer to Figure 11-2.

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Figure 11-2.  Properties panel and Appearance panel You can also add more than one effect, either from the main menu or from the Properties or Appearance panel dropdown menus. Refer to Figure 11-3.

Figure 11-3.  FX (Effects) menu from the Properties and Appearance panels

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Multiple effects can be dragged up and down and reordered above or below the path in the Appearance panel. And then they can be applied to both the fill and the stroke or to only a specific fill or stroke. Refer to Figure 11-4.

Figure 11-4.  Appearance panel with effects placed in different locations This provides endless possibilities and combinations that can make your objects appear different based on order. If you no longer require an effect, then you can select the effect and click on the Trashcan icon to delete the selected item. Refer to Figure 11-5.

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Figure 11-5.  Appearance panel with Delete Selected Item button clicked Use Edit ➤ Undo or use the History panel if you need to undo a step or state. We will be working with the Appearance panel in more detail in this chapter’s project. We will now look at the first section of the Effect menu: Illustrator Effects. Refer to Figure 11-6.

Figure 11-6.  Illustrator Effects section of Effect menu, with Document Raster Effects Settings

■■Note The setting Document Raster Effects Settings applies to raster images, 3D, and Photoshop effects. We’ll look at that setting later in the chapter. Refer to Figure 11-6.

Illustrator Effects I will discuss some of my favorite effects here, then briefly mention some of the other effects in this menu as well. I will also point out some of the tools and commands in the Object menu that they are equivalent to, but now as live effects. Create a new document, as you did in Chapter 1, if you want to practice with some of the effects.

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3D and Materials This is a recently updated area in the Illustrator Effects menu. In the past, many of the 3D effects were mostly in Photoshop to create primitive shapes that you could edit. However, Photoshop has been moving many of its 3D features over to the Substance Collection, which I mention briefly in Chapters 13 and 14. Thankfully, many of these Photoshop 3D features are now available as effects in Illustrator, so you can still create 3D type and edit and design basic primitive objects with material graphics and map art. Refer to Figure 11-7.

Figure 11-7.  Effect sub-menus for 3D and Materials Because these are complex effects, we will look at it separately in Chapter 13, comparing classic and new features.

Convert to Shape This effect lets you convert any shape into a rectangle, rounded rectangle, or ellipse. It is similar to the Object ➤ Shape sub-commands. Refer to Figure 11-8.

Figure 11-8.  Effect sub-menu for Convert to Shape Choosing one of these shape options brings up the Shape Options dialog box, where you can set the following options: Size: Absolute or Relative Add extra width or height to the current shape when set to Relative, and just width and height when set to Absolute. Make sure the preview is enabled so that you can view the changes. Refer to Figure 11-9.

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Figure 11-9.  Shape Options dialog box with various rectangle settings on a hexagon for Relative and Absolute For rounded rectangles, you can also add a corner radius for all sides of the shape, but not separate sides. Ellipses have the same settings as the rectangle and no corner radius option. Refer to Figure 11-10.

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Figure 11-10.  Shape options for rounded rectangle corner radius and circle options on hexagon shape As with this effect and all effects following, once you have set your options in the dialog box you can click OK, and the effect is added to the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-11.

Figure 11-11.  Appearance panel with Rectangle effect

Crop Marks This is a helpful effect if you are adding crop marks for print work to a selected object. However, it does not apply to this book, and there is no additional dialog box. So, it will not be discussed further. Refer to Figure 11-12.

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Figure 11-12.  Crop Mark effect applied to a rectangle

Distort & Transform Rather than use the Object ➤ Transform commands on some of the objects that you used in Chapter 3, or the Liquify tools that you used in Chapter 5, you can use the Effect ➤ Distort & Transform to keep your settings live. Refer to Figure 11-13.

Figure 11-13. Object ➤ Transform commands and sub-menu for Distort & Transform

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Free Distort Similar to working with the Free Transform tool in Chapter 3, this dialog box previews the path and allows you to edit it by dragging on the bounding box handles. Click the Reset button if you need to reset the distort, and click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 11-14.

Figure 11-14.  Free Distort dialog box with preview of shape

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Pucker & Bloat For the overall object, this is a better alternative than working with the Liquify tools of Pucker and Bloat. In the Pucker & Bloat dialog box, with the preview enabled, for a Pucker the range is (-200%–0%) and the Bloat is (0%–200%) when you move the slider left or right. Click OK to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 11-15.

Figure 11-15.  Pucker & Bloat dialog box with preview of various settings and sliders

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I find Pucker & Bloat useful when I am creating parts of flowers for centers or petals, depending on where the slider is set. Refer to Figure 11-16.

Figure 11-16.  Pucker & Bloat settings and shape rounded with Direct Selection tool

■■Tip  You can further alter the design if you, with your Direct Selection tool, round the star’s corners afterward, and then the Pucker or Bloat updates automatically. Refer to Figure 11-16.

Roughen For an overall shape, Roughen is a better alternative than working with the Liquify tools of Scallop, Crystalize, and Wrinkle. In the Roughen dialog box, with the preview enabled, set the Size slider (0%–100%). Set to Relative, the star is more distorted; set to Absolute, it has less distortion. Choosing Absolute sets the Size increments to inches (0–1.39 in) or the current increments rather than percents.

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For the Detail slider, the range is 0–100/in. For Points, the choices are Smooth and Corner. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-17.

Figure 11-17.  Roughen dialog box with options of Relative and Absolute

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Here, you can see how using similar settings, but altering whether the Roughen is relative or absolute, can affect the star. Refer to Figure 11-18.

Figure 11-18.  Roughen dialog box with options of Relative and Absolute and previews of stars

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Setting the Points option to Smooth makes them rounded and not as sharp. Refer to Figure 11-19.

Figure 11-19.  Points settings of Smooth and Corner for Roughen tool

Transform This Transform Effect dialog box is similar to working with the Object ➤ Transform ➤ Transform Each dialog box from Chapter 3, as it lets you choose similar transformation settings, such as the following: Scale: Horizontal and Vertical from 0% to 200% Move: Horizontal and Vertical, currently set to inches, and can move in a negative or a positive direction. Rotate Angle: 0°–360° angles can be positive or negative. Options: Enable or disable these various settings: Transform Objects, Transform Patterns, Scale Strokes & Effects, Reflect along the X and Y axes, Random movement setting. You can then set a reference point, and you can create copies as well. Refer to Figure 11-20.

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Figure 11-20.  Transform Effect dialog box with preview of star based on settings

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The copies appear as part of the effect, changing slightly based upon the previous transform, and you can see this when the preview is enabled. Refer to Figure 11-20 and Figure 11-21.

Figure 11-21.  Copies of star created with the Transform Effect dialog box Only Scale Corners is not an option in this menu. Click OK to commit your settings. Refer to Figure 11-20.

Tweak For an overall shape, the Tweak effect is a better alternative than working with the Liquify tools for warp seen in Chapter 5. In the dialog box, with the preview enabled, you can set the sliders for the Horizontal and Vertical settings, from 0% to 100%, while in the Relative setting. When using the Absolute setting, inches (0–1.39 in) are used, or whatever the document’s current increment setting is. Refer to Figure 11-22.

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Figure 11-22.  Tweak dialog box with previews of Relative and Absolute settings

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High Horizontal and Vertical values for relative tweaks such as 100% can create some very abstract effects. Refer to Figure 11-23.

Figure 11-23.  Tweak dialog box with preview settings for relative tweaks Modify checkbox settings when enabled or disabled for anchor points; “In” Control Points and “Out” Control Points will also alter the tweak. Here is how they affect the star separately while one check box is enabled and the other two are disabled. Refer to Figure 11-24.

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Figure 11-24.  Tweak dialog box with preview settings for Modify checkboxes By default, they are all enabled. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-22 and Figure 11-24.

Twist For an overall shape, this is a better alternative than working with the Liquify tool of Twirl in Chapter 5. In the dialog box, with the preview enabled, the angle by default is set to 0°—or no twist. However, setting a negative angle creates a counterclockwise twist, and a positive angle a clockwise twist. To see the results, make sure to click the Preview option off and on, or click on the up and down arrows to change the angle. While clicking on the arrows in the text box, if you hold down the Shift key, you can move the angle by 10° at a time. Refer to Figure 11-25.

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Figure 11-25.  Twist dialog box with preview settings of angles

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Click OK to commit your settings. Refer to Figure 11-25.

■■Tip As mentioned earlier, where you move your effect in the Appearance panel will control whether the fill, stroke, or both fill and stroke are affected by the twist. Refer to Figure 11-26.

Figure 11-26.  Appearance panel with Twist effect applied to the stroke and above the fill and stroke

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Zig Zag For an overall shape, this is a better alternative than working with the Liquify tools of Scallop, Crystalize, and Wrinkle in Chapter 5. The Zig Zag dialog box, with preview enabled, allows you to set the Size slider to Relative (0%–100%) or Absolute in whatever the document’s current increment setting is—in this case, inches (0 in–1.39 in). Refer to Figure 11-27.

Figure 11-27.  Zig Zag dialog box with previews of Relative and Absolute

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Ridges per segment (0–100): Can set the number of zig zags. Higher settings make tinier, thinner zig zags. However, if the settings are too high, you will lose detail. Refer to Figure 11-28.

Figure 11-28.  Zig Zag dialog box with preview of Ridges per segment setting Points can be set to Smooth or Corner; a smooth Point setting rounds the edges of the zig zag. Refer to Figure 11-29.

Figure 11-29.  Zig Zag dialog box with preview of Points: Smooth setting

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Click OK to commit your settings. Refer to Figure 11-30.

■■Tip Try moving the zig-zag effect in the Appearance panel to the stroke or fill for a unique design. Refer to Figure 11-30.

Figure 11-30.  Zig Zag applied only to the stroke and then only to the fill using the Appearance panel

Path This sub-menu has three options: Offset Path, Outline Object, and Outline Stroke. They are equivalent to the Object ➤ Path options but are now live effects. Refer to Figure 11-31.

Figure 11-31.  Effect sub-menu for Path

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In this example, Offset Path previews quite well, and you can set additional settings in the dialog box for Offset; Joins: Miter, Round, and Beveled; and Miter limit: (1–16,000). Refer to Figure 11-32.

Figure 11-32.  Offset Path dialog box and various joins applied to a rectangle However, for the other options of Effect ➤ Path ➤ Outline Object and Outline Stroke there are no additional dialog boxes. These settings are not apparent until later when you choose Object ➤ Expand Appearance and look at the compound path revealed in the Layers panel. Refer to Figure 11-33.

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Figure 11-33.  Outline stroke applied to a rectangle in the Appearance panel and then expanded as a compound path, as seen in the Layers panel

Pathfinder The Pathfinder effect is similar to the Pathfinder panel, as mentioned in Chapter 2, but less destructive when you apply the effect to two or more selected objects and then go to Object ➤ Group shapes to create a group object. Then you apply the effect. Otherwise, you will see a warning message if you select a single object. Refer to Figure 11-34.

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Figure 11-34.  Effect sub-menu for Pathfinder, one of the Pathfinder effects in the Appearance panel, and warning message if the Pathfinder effect is not applied to a group For examples of these, refer to my file pathfinder2.ai. Some of the names in the list are a bit different than the ones seen in the Pathfinder panel. For example, Add is the equivalent to Unite, and Subtract is equivalent to Minus Front. Refer to Figure 11-34. Some effects are more visually useful than others, and I prefer Crop, Outline and Minus Back over the options in the Pathfinder panel. However, you will have to use Object ➤ Expand Appearance to see the full effects of Divide, Trim, and Merge. Refer to Figures 11-35 to 11-37 to see a preview the full range of Pathfinder effects, including Hard Mix, Soft Mix and Trap.

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Figure 11-35.  Original group shapes and Pathfinder effects for Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude

Figure 11-36.  Pathfinder effects on grouped shapes for Divide, Trim, Merge, Crop, Outline, Minus Back, Hard Mix, and Soft Mix

Figure 11-37.  Trap options on grouped shapes

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And the effect can vary depending on if you are using strokes with the fills, or different colors. Refer to Figure 11-38.

Figure 11-38.  Divide effects can appear different if the grouped shapes have a stroke Some additional features found here that are not in the Pathfinder panel include Hard Mix, Soft Mix, and Trap. Refer to Figures 11-36 and 11-37. Once you apply one of the Pathfinder effects, additional options can be found when you click on the effect in the Appearance panel to reveal the Pathfinder Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-39.

Figure 11-39.  Appearance panel with Pathfinder effect added, and Pathfinder Options dialog box These additional settings are, for example, if you change the operation to Soft Mix (Soft Mix Settings: Mixing Ratio) or Trap (Trap Settings), the only settings that you may have to adjust. Additional settings for all pathfinder operations, are found under the Advanced Options: Precision points; Remove Redundant Points; and Divide and Outline Will Remove Unpainted Artwork, but I generally do not touch anything in this dialog box and leave everything at the default settings. Refer to Figure 11-40.

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Figure 11-40.  Pathfinder Options dialog box with Trap option selected Hard Mix and Soft Mix can produce some interesting color effects to type and grouped objects, similar to blending modes, and if you want to know more about these Pathfinder settings make sure to review my file and this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/combining-objects.html. Refer to Figure 11-41.

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Figure 11-41.  How Hard Mix and Soft Mix Pathfinder effects appear on type and logos

■■Note The Trap setting is more for print to resolve color issues of gaps when printing certain color combinations and is not relevant to this book. The trap is so small it will not create much of a visual effect in these examples. Refer to Figure 11-37. Once you exit the dialog box, click OK or Cancel. Refer to Figure 11-40.

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Rasterize You can use the Rasterize effect on a patterned shape to see how it would look if it were rasterized at a set resolution. This is equivalent to Object ➤ Rasterize, which we talked about briefly when working with complex Library Capture patterns in Chapter 7. But this time it is an effect, and that effect is not permanent. Refer to Figure 11-42.

Figure 11-42.  Rasterize dialog box, and preview of effect on a vector pattern You can set additional settings for the color models CMYK, Grayscale, and Bitmap. Resolution: Screen 72 ppi, Medium (150 ppi), High (300 ppi), and Use Document Raster Effects Resolution, which is found near the top of the Effect menu. Or set your own custom resolution to create a more pixilated effect. Refer to Figure 11-43.

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Figure 11-43.  Raster dialog box setting a custom resolution The background can be set to White or Transparent. Refer to Figure 11-42. Additional options include Anti-aliasing: None, Art Optimized (Supersampling), or Type Optimized (Hinted). These settings can affect the quality of the art or type. Refer to Figure 11-44.

Figure 11-44.  Raster dialog box options for anti-aliasing and adding space around object You can create a clipping mask and add some white space around the object. The white space will be visible if you disabled Create Clipping Mask. This will not be completely apparent unless you use Object ➤ Expand Appearance. Click OK to confirm settings or Cancel to exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-42.

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Stylize While many of the options in this part of the effects menu are similar to Photoshop layer styles, it can sometimes be a bit confusing to know what some equivalents are when you want to create the same effect in Illustrator, as the dialog boxes are separate and different in their layout. Refer to Figure 11-45.

Figure 11-45.  Effect sub-menu for Stylize in Illustrator, and the Layer Style options in Photoshop for comparison The four familiar names that you will find are as follows: •

Drop Shadow

•

Feather

•

Inner Glow

•

Outer Glow

Drop Shadow This effect allows you to apply a drop shadow to a selected object. You can set blending modes, which are the same modes as in Chapter 8 and are found in the Transparency panel. Refer to Figure 11-46.

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Figure 11-46.  Preview of Drop Shadow effect on star, Drop Shadow dialog box, and blending mode options Additionally, you can set the Opacity (0%–100%), X Offset, Y Offset, and Level of Blur options, and select whether to use a color for the shadow from the color picker or based on darkness (0%–100%). In this case, the star’s current stroke color and fill colors are reflected onto the Artboard. Refer to Figure 11-47.

Figure 11-47.  Preview of Drop Shadow effect on star with darkness option Click OK to commit your settings and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-46.

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Feather You can brighten and fade or blur out areas of a selected object. As you adjust the radius setting, keep in mind that too high a number will cause details to disappear completely and the star, in this case, will turn white. Too low, and there will be no feathering. Refer to Figure 11-48.

Figure 11-48.  Preview of Feather effect on star, with Feather dialog box Click OK to commit your settings and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-48.

Inner Glow This effect allows you to apply an inner glow to a selected object. You can set blending modes, which are the same mode options as in Chapter 8 and are found in the Transparency panel. You can set a color to the mode using the color picker. Refer to Figure 11-49.

Figure 11-49.  Preview of Inner Glow effect on star, with Inner Glow dialog box

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Additionally, you can set the Opacity (0%–100%) and Level of Blur options, and whether the blur should come from the center or the edge. Refer to Figure 11-50.

Figure 11-50.  Preview of Inner Glow effect on star, with glow set to center

■■Tip  Use the Inner Glow dialog box when you want to create an inner shadow, as there is no specific effect for this, but set the mode to Multiply and color to Black rather than Screen mode and Color: White. Refer to Figure 11-51.

Figure 11-51.  Preview of Inner Glow effect on star, changed to black for a shadow with Inner Glow dialog box

Click OK to commit your settings and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-51.

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Outer Glow This effect has the same settings as Inner Glow except that the glow is now on the outside of the selected object. You can set blending modes, which are the same options as in Chapter 8 and are found in the Transparency panel. To the mode you can set a color, using the color picker. Refer to Figure 11-52.

Figure 11-52.  Preview of Outer Glow effect on star on gray background, with Outer Glow dialog box Additionally, you can set the Opacity (0%–100%) and Level of Blur options. Click OK to commit your settings and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-52.

Photoshop Layer Styles and Illustrator Equivalents Here, in this table, I have tried to present what I think are the closest alternatives to Photoshop Layer Styles that you would find in the Illustrator Effect menu or in other panels within Illustrator. Refer to Table 11-1.

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Table 11-1.  Comparison of Photoshop Layer Styles and Illustrator Effects

Photoshop Layer Style

Illustrator Equivalent or Similar Effects on Paths, Shapes, and Type

Blending Options

Use your Transparency panel and Blending Mode options. Refer to Chapter 8.

Bevel & Emboss (Contour & Texture)

Effects ➤ 3D & Materials ➤ Extrude & Bevel. Refer to Chapter 13. Use Gradients panel for stroke. Refer to Chapter 8. Some SVG filters. Refer to next section.

Stroke

Toolbars panel with Control panel to alter stroke and colors from Swatches panel. Or use the Appearance panel.

Inner Shadow

Effect ➤ Stylize ➤ Inner Glow, but change the color to black and adjust the blending mode.

Inner Glow

Effect ➤ Stylize ➤ Inner Glow.

Satin

Effect ➤ Stylize ➤ Feather for a simple feather. Use the Gradient Mesh tool or a freeform gradient for more complex satin. Refer to Chapter 8.

Color Overlay

Toolbars panel with Control panel to alter fill and colors from Swatches panel. Use Appearance panel as well as the Transparency panel and adjust opacity and blending mode. See Chapter 8.

Gradient Overlay

Toolbars panel with Control panel to alter fill and gradients from Swatches panel. Use Appearance panel as well as the Transparency panel and adjust opacity and blending mode. See Chapter 8.

Pattern Overlay

Toolbars panel with Control panel to alter fill and patterns from Swatches panel. Use Appearance panel as well as the Transparency panel and adjust opacity and blending mode. See Chapter 8.

Outer Glow

Effect ➤ Stylize ➤ Outer Glow.

Drop Shadow

Effect ➤ Stylize ➤ Drop Shadow, or use some SVG filters.

Other effects in the Stylize menu that you will find are Round Corners and Scribble.

Round Corners This is similar to rounding corners with the Live Corner widgets. Round the corners by adjusting the radius and click OK to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 11-53.

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Figure 11-53.  Star selected and Round Corner effect from the dialog box applied

Scribble This creates a scribble-like drawing effect. I like these settings a lot when I want to create childlike drawings or thread-like effects. Make sure that preview is enabled so that you can see the changes. Refer to Figure 11-54.

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Figure 11-54.  Star selected and Scribble effect from the dialog box options applied

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In the Scribble Options dialog box, you can use the default setting or choose other presets from the list. Refer to Figure 11-55.

Figure 11-55.  Scribble Options dialog box, Settings list These choices then affect the following options. For example, try a setting of Snarl. Refer to Figure 11-56.

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Figure 11-56.  Scribble Options dialog box, with preview of a setting of Snarl on the star To create a custom setting, you can alter the angle (0°–360°). The angle can be negative or positive. Path Overlap moves the slider from Centered (0) to Inside (-13.89 in–0 in) or Outside (0 in – 13.89 in). Set the Variation slider from None to Wide (0 in–13.89 in). Set the Line Options: Stroke Width (0 in–13.89 in). Change Curviness setting from Angular to Loopy (0%–100%) and Variation from None to Wide (0%–100%).

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Change Spacing from Tight to Loose (0 in–13.89 in) and its Variation from None to Wide (0 in–13.89 in). Refer to Figure 11-56. I find working with one of the Settings: Presets is best, and then I make slight tweaks to the settings afterward. Refer to Figure 11-57.

Figure 11-57.  Scribble Options dialog box with a setting of Custom on the star previewed Click OK to commit the settings and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-57.

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SVG Filters (Scalable Vector Graphics) Many of these filters can be used one at a time but have no additional dialog box settings that you can see at first, so as a beginner you must use them at their default settings. SVG is ideal if you plan to build SVG graphics for the web that you want to scale for viewers with different screen sizes and resolutions. These kinds of filters can be scaled for the web and still retain quality. See https://helpx.adobe.com/ illustrator/using/svg.html. However, they can be used in any AI file, even if you are not planning to use them for a website. Refer to Figure 11-58.

Figure 11-58.  Effect sub-menu for SVG filters To apply an SVG filter, first select your object with the Selection tool and then, rather than select one filter from the list, choose the option Apply SVG Filter. In this case, I am using AI_Alpha_1. I can then click on the next filter in the list and eventually preview them all. Refer to Figure 11-59.

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Figure 11-59.  Star selected with Selection tool and Apply SVG Filter chosen; previewing effects in the Apply SVG Filter dialog box with first filter AI_Alpha_1 applied To edit, you must understand SVG coding, and to access that coding you need to, in this case, click on the FX button while the filter is selected. Refer to Figure 11-59. This will bring up an Edit SVG Filter dialog box where, if you know how to code, you can enter your own settings. Refer to Figure 11-60.

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Figure 11-60.  Edit SVG Filter dialog box In this case, just click Cancel to exit. Likewise, advanced users can use the Apply SVG Filter dialog box to add custom SVG coding or remove older filters that they create. However, be sure that they are created filters—don’t remove the default ones created by Illustrator. Refer to Figure 11-61.

Figure 11-61.  Apply SVG Filter dialog box When you have selected the filter you want, click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 11-61. You can also import additional SVG filters that other users have created, and these can be accessed from files on your desktop. Later in the chapter, I will show you where in the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop you can look to find additional effects.

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Warp The final Illustrator effects in the Effects panel you should already be familiar with, as we saw them used on objects and text in Chapters 9 and 10 with Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Warp. Refer to Figure 11-62.

Figure 11-62.  Effect sub-menu for Warp, and Warp Options dialog box, and Envelope Distort option in Control panel In this case, when an object or text is selected and one of the Warp effects is applied from the list or dialog box, there is no real difference other than that the effects are live and you do not have to rely on an envelope mesh to create the distortion. You could try this as an alternative to warping the text on the clown poster in Chapter 10. However, because they are not an envelope, you will not see the options in the Control panel, and you will instead need to access them using the Appearance panel and click on the name to edit. I used in this example the style of Twist. Refer to Figure 11-63.

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Figure 11-63.  Applying warp effect options and editing using the Appearance panel In this case, it is important that you do not use the warp option twice. You should click on the effect name in the Appearance panel to edit rather than choose Effect ➤ Warp ➤ Twist again, or you might get the following warning message. In this case, you could apply the effect again or just return to the Appearance panel and click or double-click on the effect to edit. Refer to Figure 11-64.

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Figure 11-64.  Alert message when certain effects are applied twice If you do, by accident, apply the effect twice, just select one in the Appearance panel and click on the Trashcan icon, Delete Selected Item, to remove it. Refer to Figure 11-65.

Figure 11-65.  Appearance panel with the duplicate warp selected, and then Delete Selected Item icon is clicked to remove

Applying Effects Again In other situations, you may want to apply effects again. As you apply different effects, you can apply them again right away by using the Apply Free Distort option to set it automatically (Shift + Ctrl/CMD + E) or by entering the dialog box first (Alt/Option + Shift + Ctrl/CMD + E). Refer to Figure 11-66.

Figure 11-66.  Effect menu option to apply the same effect again

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■■Note For either choice, you may see the warning alert first before the effect is applied or you enter the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-64.

Applying Different Multiple Effects and Editing Objects You can apply different effects to enhance the look of your current Illustrator effect. I tried a Pucker & Bloat and a Drop Shadow effect. Refer to Figure 11-67.

Figure 11-67.  Use the Appearance panel to apply more than one effect to a selected path

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Afterward, you can use the Selection tool to scale and rotate the objects you applied the live effects to, and they will update as well. Refer to Figure 11-68.

Figure 11-68.  Afterward, scale and rotate your selected path with the bounding box handles Remember, any of these effects can be expanded afterward when the object is selected and you choose Object ➤ Expand Appearance. In this example, it becomes a grouped object, and the shadow becomes an embedded pixelated image, as seen in the Links panel. Refer to Figure 11-69.

Figure 11-69.  An expanded group shape in the Appearance panel and embedded shadow image in Window ➤ Links panel You can use Edit ➤ Undo right away if you want the effect to remain live.

Effect ➤ Photoshop Effects The second half of the Effects panel is specifically for creating Photoshop-like effects on your vector or raster images, which is similar to using the Filter menu on Smart Object layers in Photoshop. Refer to Figure 11-70.

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Figure 11-70.  Effect menu section for Photoshop effects

■■Note If you are working with File ➤ Place Linked or Embedded Graphics within an Illustrator document, check the Window ➤ Links panel to confirm this. Then you would need to check in the Effects panel before you apply Photoshop effects to see what the current Document Raster Effects Settings are in its dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-71 and Figure 11-72.

Figure 11-71.  After you place a raster image you can use the Links panel to determine whether it is linked or embedded in the Illustrator document

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Figure 11-72.  Effect menu Document Raster Effects Settings dialog box

Changing these settings will break the link with the graphic styles that are applied to the images. In addition, changing these settings may affect the appearance of currently applied raster effects. However, because we are working with vector objects in Illustrator in this chapter, you can ignore this area. Refer to Figure 11-72.

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Effect Gallery In this case, these Photoshop effects also include the effects found under the following sub-menus: •

Artistic

•

Brush Strokes

•

Distort

•

Sketch

•

Stylize

•

Texture

Choosing any effects from these menus will open the filter gallery. Though not required for this book, on your own you can explore the Photoshop Filter Gallery Workspace, which is under Filter ➤ Filter Gallery. Similar filter effects can be applied to a photographic image with that filter gallery. In this chapter, if you want an Illustrator example to look at, and use with the Filter Gallery, then open my file marbles.ai. Save a copy of the file if you want to practice. Refer to Figure 11-73.

Figure 11-73.  Object paths of illustration of marbles With the Selection tool, select one of the grouped marble objects. In this case, I selected the red marble grouped object. Refer to Figure 11-74.

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Figure 11-74.  Use the Selection tool to select an object path Then go to Effect ➤ Effect Gallery. This opens the Workspace. If you have worked in Photoshop previously, then much of what I point out here will be familiar to you already. However, here the effect is not being applied to the whole image, only to the selected part of the image—the red marble and its shadow, which you see currently in the preview. You can see the transparent areas through the object as checkered squares. Refer to Figure 11-75.

Figure 11-75.  Effect Gallery Workspace

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I will give a brief tour and show some basic examples. On the lower left is the preview, and below that is the navigation. Refer to Figure 11-76.

Figure 11-76.  Navigation area of Effect Gallery Workspace For additional navigation, use the Hand tool to drag your image about on the preview stage. Hold down the Ctrl/CMD key and click to zoom in. Hold down the Alt/Option key and click if you need to zoom out to see the whole image. The key combinations of Ctrl/CMD + + and Ctrl/CMD + - and Ctrl/CMD + 0 (Full Screen) will work as well. In the middle section are six folders: Artistic, Brush Strokes, Distort, Sketch, Stylize, and Texture. We will look at those in a moment. Refer to Figure 11-77.

Figure 11-77.  Effect folder options in Effect Gallery Workspace, and Hide/Show folders button If you need to hide these folders for more room, click on the double arrow in the corner, and then click on it again to show the folders. In this case, you want to see all the folders. Now, let’s look at some examples in each of the folders.

Artistic Effects If you un-collapse the folder there are 15 different Artistic effects available. Take a moment to explore each effect and adjust sliders and menus. Refer to Figure 11-78.

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Figure 11-78.  Effect Gallery options for the Artistic folder Selecting one will allow you to see the options on the right that you can use to adjust the effect. I am selecting Colored Pencil. Refer to Figure 11-79.

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Figure 11-79.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Colored Pencil Settings that are available are Pencil Width (1–24), Stroke Pressure (0–15), and Paper Brightness (0–50). Because most of the marble was red, this color was the dominant color that remained for the colored pencil effect, along with a neutral gray. Moving the sliders produces different results. Refer to Figure 11-80.

Figure 11-80.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Colored Pencil

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Here, we can see how Cutout and Neon Glow can produce similar effects, but with different sliders. Refer to Figure 11-81.

Figure 11-81.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Cutout and Neon Glow In the case of Neon Glow, however, you can change the glow color from the Workspace using the Color Picker. Some give more painterly and blurry effects, softening features, such as Dry Brush, Paint Daubs, Palette Knife, and Smudge Stick. Paint Daubs allows you to change the brush type. Refer to Figure 11-82.

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Figure 11-82.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Dry Brush, Paint Daubs, Palette Knife, and Smudge Stick

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Fresco, Poster Edges, and Watercolor, while not distorts, can sharpen or darken and make an image stand out. Refer to Figure 11-83.

Figure 11-83.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Fresco, Poster Edges, and Watercolor

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Film Grain, Rough Pastels, Sponge, and Underpainting can overlay a more textured effect. Refer to Figure 11-84 and Figure 11-85.

Figure 11-84.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Film Grain, Rough Pastels, and Sponge

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Figure 11-85.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Underpainting In this section, Plastic Wrap gives the best example of a warp, as though parts of the marble are wrapped in plastic. This is based on the settings of Highlight Strength (0–20), Detail (1–15), and Smoothness (1–15). Refer to Figure 11-86.

Figure 11-86.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Plastic Wrap

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■■Note  Underpainting and Rough Pastels allow you to not only change the texture but also upload a texture as seen in Photoshop. This custom texture is a grayscale (.psd) file and is often used as a repeating pattern. While not required for this book, if you would like to review how the pattern could be created and used, review Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1. In this case, I have supplied a texture file called Pattern4_Texture_r2, which you can locate and load via the texture menu. Refer to Figure 11-87.

Figure 11-87.  Some effects allow you to load custom .psd textures

Brush Strokes Effects If you un-collapse the folder, there are eight different Brush Strokes effects available. Take a moment to explore each effect and adjust sliders and menus. Refer to Figure 11-88.

Figure 11-88.  Effect Gallery options for the Brush Strokes folder

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Angled Strokes, Crosshatch, Spatter, and Sprayed Strokes can give unusual blurs and jaggedness. Refer to Figure 11-89 and Figure 11-90.

Figure 11-89.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Angled Strokes and Crosshatch

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Figure 11-90.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Spatter and Sprayed Stokes

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Accented Edges and Ink Outlines can define corners and edges very distinctly. Refer to Figure 11-91.

Figure 11-91.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Accented Edges and Ink Outlines

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Dark Strokes and Sumi-e can blur and darken an image. Refer to Figure 11-92.

Figure 11-92.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Dark Strokes and Sumi-e

Distort Effects If you un-collapse the folder there are three different Distort Effects available. Take a moment to explore each effect and adjust sliders and menus. Refer to Figure 11-93.

Figure 11-93.  Effect Gallery options for the Distort folder

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Diffuse Glow can be used to blur or make grainy an image by setting the Graininess level to a value between 0 and 10. Refer to Figure 11-94.

Figure 11-94.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Diffuse Glow The Glow Amount (0–20) sets how much white or black is added to the image and is based on the current colors in the image, and Clear Amount (0–20) will also set the amount of whiteness. Note: Unlike in Photoshop, there are no foreground or background colors; only fills and strokes of the current object or path set the color. Glass is in some ways like the Spatter brush stroke, but with more rounded contours to resemble older glass with a mottled appearance. Refer to Figure 11-95.

Figure 11-95.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Glass You can set the sliders: For Distortion (0–20), the higher the distortion the less visible the image is. Then for Smoothness (1–15), the higher the smoothness the less textured it is. Refer to Figure 11-95.

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For actual Texture, you can use the preset textures of Blocks, Canvas, Frosted, and Tiny Lens. In the previous figure you are looking at Frosted. Each texture creates a unique distortion. Refer to Figure 11-96.

Figure 11-96.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Glass texture Likewise, you can also load a custom grayscale (.psd) texture. Next, you can set the Glass Filter Scaling (50%–200%) and invert the glass reflections when the checkbox is enabled, which affects the texture. Refer to Figure 11-97.

Figure 11-97.  Glass effect Scaling options

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Ocean Ripple is similar to Glass and Spatter. However, it gives more of a water effect, and it lets you set the Ripple Size (1–15) and Ripple Magnitude (0–20). Refer to Figure 11-98.

Figure 11-98.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Ocean Ripple

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Sketch Effects If you un-collapse the folder, there are 14 different Sketch Effects available. Take a moment to explore each effect and adjust sliders and menus. Refer to Figure 11-99.

Figure 11-99.  Effect Gallery options for the Sketch Folder

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This folder is more for creating black-and-white sketch images. Bas Relief, Photocopy, and Plaster create more of an embossed effect. Refer to Figure 11-100.

Figure 11-100.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Bas Relief, Photocopy, and Plaster

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Chalk & Charcoal or just Charcoal create more of a smeared or hand-drawn texture. Refer to Figure 11-101.

Figure 11-101.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Chalk & Charcoal and Charcoal Other filters that create a textured effect include Graphic Pen, Halftone Pattern (dot, line, and circle), Note Paper, and Reticulation. Refer to Figure 11-102 and Figure 11-103.

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Figure 11-102.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Graphic Pen and Halftone Pattern

Figure 11-103.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Note Paper and Reticulation

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Cont^e Crayon, or Conté, also allows you to adjust foreground and background levels, alter or add custom textures, and adjust lighting settings. Refer to Figure 11-104.

Figure 11-104.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Cont^e Crayon Chrome, like Plastic Wrap in the Artistic folder, gives, a shinier appearance and is great for creating twisted metal effects. You can adjust the Detail (0–10) and Smoothness sliders (0–10). Altering the settings can make the chrome appear more liquid. Refer to Figure 11-105.

Figure 11-105.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Chrome Stamp and Torn Edges create images that are either black or white with no major grayscale blend except in transparent areas. Refer to Figure 11-106.

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Figure 11-106.  Previews and Options in the Effect Gallery for Stamp and Torn Edges Water Paper is the only color filter in this folder and is good for creating a fibrous blurred watercolor effect. Refer to Figure 11-107.

Figure 11-107.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Water Paper

■■Note  Unlike in Photoshop, these color options are not controlled by the current foreground and background colors, as there are only stroke and fill available in the Toolbars panel. In this case, grayscale options are your only choice, and then you can edit your appearance later with additional fills.

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Stylize Effect If you un-collapse the folder, there is one Stylize effect available: Glowing Edges. With the sliders, you can set the Edge Width (1–14), Edge Brightness (0–20), and Smoothness (1–15). Refer to Figure 11-108.

Figure 11-108.  Effect Gallery option for the Stylize folder, and previews and options for Glowing Edges

Texture Effect If you un-collapse the folder, there are six different Distort effects available. Take a moment to explore each effect and adjust sliders and menus. They are Craquelure, Grain, Mosaic Tiles, Patchwork (square tiles), Stained Glass, and Texturizer. Refer to Figure 11-109, Figure 11-110, and Figure 11-111.

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Figure 11-109.  Effect Gallery option for the Texture folder, and previews and options for Craquelure and Grain

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Figure 11-110.  Previews and options in the Effect Gallery for Mosaic Tiles and Patchwork

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Figure 11-111.  Preview and options in the Effect Gallery for Stained Glass and Texturizer Stained Glass: Though it does not have any extra options for texture, it is interesting as it does let you create an almost organic, cell-like structure. Use the sliders to adjust Cell Size (2–50) and Border Thickness (1–20). The border color is the current dominant gray in the image. Light Intensity (0–10) is radial from the center of the object. Refer to Figure 11-111. For Texturizer, you can load a custom grayscale (.psd) texture as well. As mentioned in an earlier note, refer to Figure 11-87, if interested in working with a custom texture grayscale image, you can add it to the Effect Gallery. If this is something you want to try, you can use the file Pattern4_Texture_r2.psd to test and then use the Texturizer menu to locate and load the texture. Refer to Figure 11-111.

Choose an Effect Once you have chosen an effect you like, either from the menu or the list, you can see it in the lower area below the effect settings. You can turn the eye visibility on and off to preview the effect. In this case, I added Plastic Wrap after I located it in the list. Refer to Figure 11-112.

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Figure 11-112.  Effect Gallery menu list, effect visible and hidden, and adding and deleting effects grayed out as you can only add one at a time

■■Note However, unlike Photoshop, you cannot add multiple effects together in the Effect Gallery, and the Add Effect and Delete Effect buttons are unavailable. This is the same for when you work with an embedded image in Illustrator. Refer to Figure 11-112. Once you are finished with an effect setting, click OK to commit the effect and exit the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-113.

Figure 11-113.  Effect Gallery OK and Cancel buttons

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The effect is then added to the object and can be found in the Appearance panel when the object is selected. Refer to Figure 11-114.

Figure 11-114.  Appearance panel with effect from the Effect Gallery applied to group object

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Use the Appearance Panel to Edit Effects If I want to edit the effect, I can click on its name in the Appearance panel to enter the Effect Gallery again. However, if I want to add another effect, I can either go to the Effect menu or from the Appearance panel dropdown list select another effect. I can then click on the Effect Gallery again, add another effect from the gallery, and click OK. Refer to Figure 11-115.

Figure 11-115.  Use the Appearance panel to enter the Effect Gallery again and apply another effect

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This effect is then added to the Appearance panel. In this case, I added Watercolor. Refer to Figure 11-116.

Figure 11-116.  Two effects in the Appearance panel applied to the group object

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In the Appearance panel, you now have the two effects. You can reorder the effects in the Appearance panel by dragging one over the other. This changes the appearance slightly or dramatically. Refer to Figure 11-117.

Figure 11-117.  Order changed in the Appearance panel and how they appear on the grouped object

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If you don’t like the change, you can Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD + Z) that step or use the History panel or drag the effect back to the order you like. Refer to Figure 11-118.

Figure 11-118.  Order reset in the Appearance panel of the effects and how they appear on the grouped object

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If you do not like an effect, you can select it and then click on the Delete Selected Item button. Refer to Figure 11-119.

Figure 11-119.  Icon in the Appearance panel to delete, and result Use Edit ➤ Undo to undo that last step. To duplicate an effect, while it is selected you can choose Duplicate Selected Item. This will enhance the effect. Refer to Figure 11-120.

Figure 11-120.  Icon in the Appearance panel to duplicate selected item, and result

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Or, if you need to clear the appearance entirely of all the effects, then choose Clear Appearance. Refer to Figure 11-121.

Figure 11-121.  Icon in the Appearance panel to clear appearance, and the result In this case, I just kept my Plastic Wrap and Watercolor effects for the selected marble, as seen in the Appearance panel. Use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to go back a step. Refer to Figure 11-122.

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Figure 11-122.  Current settings in the Appearance panel and how they appear on the grouped object I will show examples of some of these effects again in the upcoming project.

■■Note In the Appearance panel, next to the Effects menu on the lower left there are two other icons. They are Add New Stroke and Add New Fill. These can be used to add a new stroke or fill to an object rather than duplicate one that is selected. Refer to Figure 11-123.

Figure 11-123.  Add New Stroke and Add New Fill icons next to the FX menu in the Appearance panel

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Blur, Pixelate, and Video Effects Outside of the gallery are a few additional effects that can also be found in Photoshop Effects. These are the menus for Blur, Pixelate, and Video.

■■Note  We will ignore the Video filters De-Interlace and NTSC Colors as they are not part of this topic on distort. Refer to Figure 11-124.

Figure 11-124.  Effect menu Photoshop Effects Video sub-menu options

Blur Effects There are three blurs available: Gaussian, Radial, and Smart. Refer to Figure 11-125.

Figure 11-125.  Effect menu Photoshop Effects Blur sub-menu options When an object is selected with the Selection tool, you can try any of these blurs. I tested the blurs with the blue marble. Refer to Figure 11-126.

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Figure 11-126.  Use the Selection tool to select a grouped object

Gaussian Blur With the preview enabled for Gaussian Blur, set the Radius slider between 0.1 and 250 pixels. You can fade out the object and make it look out of focus. Refer to Figure 11-127.

Figure 11-127.  Gaussian Blur dialog box and preview of blur on selected object

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However, don’t set the radius too high as you may end up with a fuzzy rectangle border edge. Refer to Figure 11-128.

Figure 11-128.  High-radius Gaussian Blur settings can cause a box-like blur Click OK if you want to commit the settings or Cancel to exit and try another effect. Refer to Figure 11-127.

Radial Blur This dialog box lets you create a radial blur. Unfortunately, it does not have a Preview setting, but you can use the Appearance panel to enter the dialog box again if you need to adjust a setting. Refer to Figure 11-129.

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Figure 11-129.  Radial Blur dialog box and how it appears on the object after you have exited, and then edit using the Appearance panel In the dialog box you can set the following: Amount (1–100). Blur Method: Spin or Zoom. Refer to Figure 11-130.

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Figure 11-130.  Radial Blur dialog box and Zoom setting options Quality: Draft, Good, or Best. Best will take longer to process and is similar to Good, which is the default. You can also set the blur center for Spin or Zoom by dragging the point to a new location. Just make sure to check, once you exit the dialog box, that you don’t end up with a blurred cube, as you may have to adjust the blur center a few times. Refer to Figure 11-131.

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Figure 11-131.  Radial Blur dialog box and blur center altered and blur on object

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To reset your center before you click OK, hold down the Alt/Option key to change the Cancel button to Reset, and click to reset the blur center. Refer to Figure 11-132.

Figure 11-132.  Radial Blur dialog box and resetting the blur center Click OK to commit your settings and exit the dialog box, or Cancel without committing the change. Refer to Figure 11-132.

Smart Blur In the dialog box, you can use the preview window to navigate around your object and zoom in and out. You can preview as you drag the hand over the image to see the original image, and then release to see the change with the new settings. Refer to Figure 11-133.

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Figure 11-133.  Smart Blur dialog box You can then set the Radius (0.1–100), Threshold (0.1–100), Quality (Low, Medium, High), and Mode (Normal, Edge Only, Overlay Edge). For a blur on some areas, I set the Radius to 6.1, Threshold to 100, and Quality to Medium, left Mode at Normal, and then clicked OK. A subtle blur is now added to the marble. Refer to Figure 11-134.

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Figure 11-134.  Smart Blur dialog box and result of blur effect on group object marble

Pixelate Effects The last set of effects that I will be discussing are the Pixelate ones: Color Halftone, Crystallize, Mezzotint, and Pointillize. Refer to Figure 11-135.

Figure 11-135.  Effect menu Photoshop Effects Pixelate sub-menu options

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Select the yellow marble this time with the Selection tool, and try the next four effects on it. Remember: If you want to remove an effect, you can use the Appearance panel and the Delete Selected Item button. Refer to Figure 11-136.

Figure 11-136.  Select the grouped object with the Selection tool

Color Halftone Similar to using the Sketch Effects ➤ Halftone Pattern in the Effect Gallery, this creates an effect that appears like colorful halftone dots, similar to what you would see if you looked up close at some printed material. As there is no preview, it requires that you enter the settings first and then click OK to exit. Then use the Appearance panel if the settings are not right, and click on the name to update in the dialog box. Refer to Figure 11-137.

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Figure 11-137.  Color Halftone dialog box and effect in Appearance panel and on the group object To test, leave your Max. Radius setting at 8 pixels and the Screen Angles (Degrees) at Channel 1: 108, Channel 2: 162, Channel 3: 90, and Channel 4: 45, and click OK. This kind of design could be used for a comic book illustration. Refer to Figure 11-137.

Crystallize Similar to working with Texture ➤ Stain Glass in the Effect Gallery, you can use the preview to see the Cell Size settings on the image (3–300). Hold down your cursor in the navigation area and move the image, and then release if you want to see a before-and-after preview of the effect. Refer to Figure 11-138.

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Figure 11-138.  Crystallize dialog box and preview of before and after of the effect Click OK to commit the settings, or Cancel to exit. Refer to Figure 11-138.

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Mezzotint The dialog box allows you to preview a type of various dots, lines, and strokes that are displayed on the object in the navigation area. You can drag over the area with the cursor and release to see a before-and-after preview. Refer to Figure 11-139.

Figure 11-139.  Mezzotint dialog box with settings and preview Click OK if you have chosen a type, or Cancel to exit. Refer to Figure 11-139.

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Pointillize Similar to working with Texture ➤ Stain Glass in the Effect Gallery, you can use the preview to see the Cell Size settings on the image (3–300). The dots in this case are more rounded. Hold down your cursor in the navigation area and move the image, and then release if you want to see a before-and-after preview of the effect. Refer to Figure 11-140.

Figure 11-140.  Pointillize dialog box with settings and preview Click OK to commit the settings or Cancel to exit.

■■Tip If you are looking for another mosaic-like effect to try on your embedded images, try Object ➤ Create Object Mosaic. Here is a link to information on that topic:https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/ using/creating-sketches-mosaics.html You can see how I used the similar effects of Plastic Wrap and Watercolor on all three marbles in my file marbles_final.ai.

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I could do that quickly once I stored the effect as a Graphic Style, which we will learn how to do next. Refer to Figure 11-141.

Figure 11-141.  Marbles with Plastic Wrap and Watercolor effects applied Save any of your open projects at this point.

Graphic Styles Panel Review for Storage In your own projects, once you have created a combination of strokes, fills, and effects that you like in the Appearance panel, you can store them in the Window ➤ Graphic Styles panel. For an example, open graphic_style_start.ai. You can save a copy of the file if you need to practice. In this example, if you select the star and look at the Appearance panel, you can see that it has many strokes, fills, and other effects and transparency settings (opacity and blending modes) applied, as well as patterns and gradients. You can see how this, while fun to do, can get quite complex when you must set the exact order of strokes and fills and effects. Refer to Figure 11-142.

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Figure 11-142.  A star with multiple settings applied in the Appearance panel Next, you want to apply these same effects to another shape, like a rectangle. Refer to Figure 11-143.

Figure 11-143.  A rectangle with no effects applied

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You could try to select the rectangle and then, with the Eyedropper tool, click on the star to copy some of the effects. But this will not capture all the effects, like Drop Shadow and fills and strokes. Refer to Figure 11-144.

Figure 11-144.  Using the Eyedropper tool to apply the star’s settings does not apply them all, as seen in the Appearance panel This time, so that you can reuse the star’s effects, click on the star to activate the effects in the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-145.

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Figure 11-145.  Select the star Now, make sure the Graphic Styles panel is visible and click on the New Graphic Style button. Refer to Figure 11-146.

Figure 11-146.  Use the Graphic Styles panel to store the current object’s appearance settings

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This adds the graphic style to the panel. Now you can select the rectangle and either click on the new graphic style in the Styles panel or, from the Control panel, select the graphic style. Refer to Figure 11-147.

Figure 11-147.  Select the rectangle and use the Graphic Styles panel to apply the new settings In the Graphic Styles panel, you can rename the style by double-clicking on it and giving it a new name. I called mine Gradient Shadow. Click OK. Refer to Figure 11-148.

Figure 11-148.  Graphic Style Options dialog box

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Other options in the Graphic Style library allow you to choose other default graphic styles and additional panel menu options as well. Refer to Figure 11-149.

Figure 11-149.  Graphic Styles panel with menu options and selected graphic style You can duplicate a selected graphic style when it is selected by clicking on the New Graphic Style button again, or delete a style with the Delete Graphic Style button (Trashcan icon), being sure to click yes to the message. Refer to Figure 11-149 and Figure 11-150.

Figure 11-150.  Alert message that appears when you delete a style

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The icon with the link and slash allows you to break the link to the graphic style. This is useful when you can see that you have a graphic style applied in the Appearance panel, but you want to edit the appearance separate from the original graphic style. Refer to Figure 11-151.

Figure 11-151.  Appearance panel settings change for selected object when you click Break Link to Graphic Style icon If two graphic styles are selected (Shift + Click) in the Graphic Styles panel, they can be merged as one style by using the menu item Merge Graphic Styles, which creates a new graphic style of the two now combined. Refer to Figure 11-152.

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Figure 11-152.  Graphic Styles menu option for merging two selected graphic styles, the dialog box, and the two styles merged in the panel

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One helpful graphic style that I like to use to reset my shape is the Default Graphic Style, which resets a selected shape back to a white fill and black stroke. Refer to Figure 11-153.

Figure 11-153.  Graphic style settings to reset the style on a rectangle You can also Alt/Option + Click to add that style to an existing style in the Appearance panel or selected object, but not remove the other appearance settings that may be already applied to that object. Refer to Figure 11-154.

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Figure 11-154.  Adding another style to the original in the Appearance panel and viewing a larger preview of the graphic style in the Graphic Styles panel Right-clicking on a style will make the preview of the graphic style larger. Refer to Figure 11-154. Additional graphic styles can be found in the Library menu or via Window ➤ Graphic Style Libraries. Refer to Figure 11-155.

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Figure 11-155.  Accessing more libraries from the Graphic Styles panel, and one library open I find hunting through these libraries is sometimes much easier than working with the effects directly and can save time. Once you click on an effect in the Graphic Styles library panel, it is added to the Graphic Styles panel. Refer to Figure 11-156.

Figure 11-156.  New graphic style added to the panel

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Your own graphic style libraries can be stored as .ai files. These can be opened in the file when you choose from the menu Other Library.

Adding Graphic Styles to Type, Including Gradients Earlier, in Chapters 9 and 10, I mentioned that you could not add a gradient to type directly without creating outlines. However, there is a way to get around this—and keep the type live—with graphic styles. If you want to view how a graphic style will appear on type, then in the menu switch from Use Square for Preview to Use Text for Preview. Refer to Figure 11-157.

Figure 11-157.  Viewing a text preview of the graphic styles using the panel menu

■■Note In the Panels menu, Override Character Color is set as the default so that the text color updates. Refer to Figure 11-158.

Figure 11-158.  Applying a gradient to the text using the panel menu settings You can then select the text that you want to apply the graphic style to. In this case a gradient was applied to the type fill via the Appearance panel. By default, it is set to Use Square for Preview. Refer to Figure 11-159.

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Figure 11-159.  Resetting the preview of the graphic style using the menu settings For additional information on graphic styles, see https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/ graphic-styles.html.

Graphic Styles and Symbols Once you have created your graphic styles and applied them to your objects and paths, you can add them to your Symbols panel, as you saw in Chapter 6. Refer to Figure 11-160.

Figure 11-160.  Adding a new symbol to the Symbols panel with graphic styles applied Also, in the Graphic Styles panel and Symbols panel, you can store your freeform gradient as well as linear and radial gradients with their custom-set angles and aspect ratios.

How Can You Apply Effects to Symbols as Well? A graphic style can also be applied to a symbol instance when you select it and click on a graphic style. However, keep in mind that not all effects will apply in the way that you might expect. Refer to Figure 11-161.

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Figure 11-161.  Applying graphic styles to a symbol Sometimes, choosing a simpler graphic style is best, and then view it in the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-162.

Figure 11-162.  Applying graphic styles to a symbol and how it appears in the Appearance panel We will look at this in more detail in Chapter 12.

■■Note Keep in mind that, as in Chapter 6 when you worked with the Blend tool, with some complicated group objects with multiple gradients and effects you should work on a copy of the object to avoid some errors. Use Object ➤ Expand Appearance first. You can view some of these graphics in my file graphic_style_final.ai.

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P roject: Blowing in the Wind, Part 7, Adding Texture with Effects Continuing with our girl on the farm, we will now start to add textures to the mountains, as well as some ground areas. We will also look at how we can use one of the filters to create simplistic designs for a tree in the distance, which will be near the farmhouse once it is built in Chapter 13. Open Landscape1_7_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to practice. To this file I have added another post to my Mountains and Foreground layer and another new layer called House. While we won’t be building the house in this chapter, we will be working on some of the objects on this layer later, to add effects. Refer to Figure 11-163.

Figure 11-163.  Layers panel and current image of the landscape

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To begin, unlock the Background layer and select it. Refer to Figure 11-164.

Figure 11-164.  Unlock the Background layer Now, with the Selection tool, select the green ground and look at the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-165.

Figure 11-165.  Select the green ground with the Selection tool, and look at Appearance panel

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Use your fx menu to choose the Photoshop Effect of Effect Gallery. In the Workspace, choose Artistic ➤ Sponge. Refer to Figure 11-166.

Figure 11-166.  Use the Appearance panel to access the Effect Gallery and Sponge effect Set the Sponge settings to Brush Size: 0, Definition: 8, and Smoothness: 15. Then click OK to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 11-167.

Figure 11-167.  Set Sponge effect settings and click OK to commit

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This adds the Sponge settings to the fill and stroke and gives the grass a more realistic mottled appearance. Refer to Figure 11-168.

Figure 11-168.  Current setting in the Appearance panel and how they appear on the screen This is all we need to do to this layer. Now, lock the Background layer and select and unlock the Mountains and Foreground layer. Refer to Figure 11-169.

Figure 11-169.  Lock the Background layer and unlock the Mountains and Foreground layer

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With the Selection tool, select the mountain on the right. Refer to Figure 11-170.

Figure 11-170.  Right mountain selected with Selection tool In the Appearance panel, select the Effect Gallery, and this time choose Texture ➤ Grain. Refer to Figure 11-171.

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Figure 11-171.  Use the Appearance panel to access the Effect Gallery and Grain texture Set Grain Intensity to 80, Contrast to 56, and Grain Type to Clumped. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-172.

Figure 11-172.  Set Effect Gallery Grain effect settings and click OK to commit

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You can see that it has been added to the Appearance panel and the image. Refer to Figure 11-173.

Figure 11-173.  Current setting in the Appearance panel and how it appears on the screen

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To make the pattern appear more random, this time from the Appearance panel, add another Photoshop Effect for the Effect Gallery, called Artistic ➤ Sponge. Set the Brush Size to 2, Definition to 25, and Smoothness to 12. Refer to Figure 11-174.

Figure 11-174.  Use the Appearance panel to access the Effect Gallery and choose Sponge; set the new settings

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Click OK to commit the setting. The Grain effect should be above the Sponge effect in the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-175.

Figure 11-175.  Click OK to commit settings, then look at the current settings in the Appearance panel and see how it appears on the screen

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Now, with the Selection tool, select the middle mountain and add similar effects, using the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-176.

Figure 11-176.  Middle mountain selected with Selection tool

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Set Grain Intensity to 80, Contrast to 56, and Grain Type to Clumped. Click OK to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 11-177.

Figure 11-177.  Set Effect Gallery Grain effect settings Add Sponge. Set Brush Size to 9, Definition to 25, and Smoothness to 1. Click OK to commit the settings. Review the Appearance panel so far. Refer to Figure 11-178.

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Figure 11-178.  Set Effect Gallery Sponge effect settings and look at current setting in the Appearance panel and how it appears on the screen

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Now, with the Selection tool, select the mountain on the left. Refer to Figure 11-179.

Figure 11-179.  Left mountain selected with Selection tool From the Appearance panel, set the Photoshop Effects in the Effect Gallery. Refer to Figure 11-180.

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Figure 11-180.  Current settings in the Appearance panel Set Grain Intensity to 80, Contrast to 56, and Grain Type to Clumped. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-181.

Figure 11-181.  Set Effect Gallery Grain effect settings

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For Sponge, set Brush Size to 7, Definition to 25, and Smoothness to 1. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-182.

Figure 11-182.  Set Effect Gallery Sponge effect settings This adds texture to all the background mountains to make it appear that they are covered with trees. Refer to Figure 11-183.

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Figure 11-183.  Look at current settings in the Appearance panel and how it appears on the screen

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Now, with the Selection tool, select the gray foreground and view the settings in the Appearance panel. Refer to Figure 11-184.

Figure 11-184.  Foreground selected with Selection tool and settings in Appearance panel To this object we will only add the effect of grain to make the ground look more gravel-like. Set Intensity to 80, Contrast to 56, and Grain Type to Clumped. Click OK to commit the settings. Refer to Figure 11-185.

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Figure 11-185.  Set Effect Gallery Grain effect settings Then view it in the Appearance panel and on the image. Refer to Figure 11-186.

Figure 11-186.  Look at the current settings in the Appearance panel and how it appears on the screen

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The ground is darker, more random, and more gravel-like. Save your document at this point. Then, lock the Mountains and Foreground layer and unlock and select the House layer. Refer to Figure 11-187.

Figure 11-187.  Lock Mountains and Foreground layer and unlock House layer Use the Zoom tool to zoom into this area on the far right and use your Hand tool if you need to navigate. Refer to Figure 11-188.

Figure 11-188.  Zoom into the area where the house will be This is the location for the 3D farmhouse that we will add in Chapter 13. We do not have to add any texture to the gray road and foundation as you would not notice that at this distance, and it already has a gradient applied to it. However, with the Selection tool, select the brown garden area, as we want it to appear as if the soil has been tilled and is ready for planting. Refer to Figure 11-189.

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Figure 11-189.  Use the Selection tool to select the garden area Go to the Appearance panel again and the Effect Gallery menu. Refer to Figure 11-190.

Figure 11-190.  Use the Appearance panel to enter the Effect Gallery Go to Texture ➤ Grain and set Grain Intensity to 61, Contrast to 56, and Grain Type to Clumped. Click OK to commit the setting. Refer to Figure 11-191.

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Figure 11-191.  Effect Gallery Grain effect settings, and view on screen and in the Appearance panel The effect is now added to the Appearance panel. Lastly, we will fix the green leaf area in the tree. The shadows have already been created for you with a blending mode of Multiply. However, the tree leaves are too uniform and need a more organic look so that it does not resemble topiary. Refer to Figure 11-192.

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Figure 11-192.  Tree on the House layer With the Selection tool, select one of the green ellipses. Refer to Figure 11-193.

Figure 11-193.  Select the ellipse with the Selection tool

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From the Appearance panel, go to Distort & Transform ➤ Roughen. Refer to Figure 11-194.

Figure 11-194.  Use the Appearance panel to select the Roughen effect

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In the Roughen dialog box, set the Size to 11%, Relative; Detail to 60/in, and Points to Smooth, and click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 11-195.

Figure 11-195.  Roughen dialog box and setting applied, and effect in the Appearance panel

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Now use the Graphic Styles panel and add this new graphic style to the panel. This saves the settings, including the fill color. Refer to Figure 11-196.

Figure 11-196.  Effect added to Graphic Styles panel Then select the other two ellipses with the Selection tool and use the Graphic Styles panel to click and apply the style to each. Refer to Figure 11-197.

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Figure 11-197.  Roughen effect applied to selected ellipses with the Graphic Styles panel Then, on the selected lower leaf area in the Appearance panel, set the fill color swatch back to C=85, M=10, Y=100, K=10. Refer to Figure 11-198.

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Figure 11-198.  Use the Appearance panel to alter the fill color of one of the Roughen ellipses

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Now lock your House layer. Save the document, as you have completed this part of the project. Refer to Figure 11-199.

Figure 11-199.  Lock the House layer and view the image so far You can see the final result in the file Landscape1_7_final.ai.

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Where to Acquire Additional Effects via Creative Cloud Additional effects for Illustrator, just like Photoshop filters, can be found in the Creative Cloud Desktop under Stock & Market Place ➤ Plugins. Refer to Figure 11-200.

Figure 11-200.  Creative Cloud desktop options for plugins Under All Plugins on the left, check off Illustrator. Type “effects” in the Search All Plugins box and press Enter/Return to filter the results. Refer to Figure 11-201.

Figure 11-201.  Use the Creative Cloud Desktop to search for other plugin effects

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Not only are they compatible with Illustrator, but some can also be used in Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. Click on the name of the plugin link to view version details and pricing. Note that some of the terms used for effects are not just specifically for live effects but could apply to Illustrator brushes as well. Refer to Figure 11-202.

Figure 11-202.  Use the Creative Cloud Desktop to review the effects that were filtered

Summary As you have seen in this chapter, Illustrator provides a variety of Illustrator and Photoshop effects that we can apply to objects and their paths. These are created using the Appearance panel and are stored in the Graphic Styles panel for when we need to use them again. Now that we have applied styles to our objects, we can continue with the project. In the next chapter, we will look at how to work with symbols and the specific Symbolism tools in the Toolbars panel.

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Working with Symbol Warping Tools Chapter Goal: Look at tools used specifically for altering symbols. In this chapter, we will take some time to look at how to use symbols and review their purpose and what they are for. Then, we will look at a collection of eight symbolism tools and how they can be used to alter and distort the look or orientation of the symbol, and finally, if we can use these tools to distort the symbol further.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 12 folder.

Symbol Creation (Symbol Review) In Chapter 6, we looked at symbols and how they can be used with the Blend tool. We also saw, in Chapter 11, that symbols can be used with graphic styles to add additional effects. Refer to Figure 12-1.

Figure 12-1.  Symbols panel with static and dynamic symbols

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_12

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As noted in Chapter 6, symbols come in two kinds: dynamic and static. They are similar in that they can be moved, scaled, rotated, and sheared. However, dynamic symbols can have individual color changes made to specific paths with the Direct Selection tool, while static symbols cannot have this custom color change using this method. Refer to Figure 12-2.

Figure 12-2.  Symbol Options dialog box, and dynamic symbol with colored petals, done with the Direct Selection tool

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Both kinds of symbols can have additional graphic styles applied from the Graphic Styles panel. However, only dynamic symbols can have graphic styles applied to individual paths, which is done with the Direct Selection tool. Refer to Figure 12-3.

Figure 12-3.  Static and dynamic symbols, with dynamic symbol’s petals colored with the Direct Selection tool and the Graphic Styles panel

■■Note However, if you want to use tools like the Puppet Warp tool (Chapter 4) and Liquify tools (Chapter 5) on symbols, they require a break to the symbol instance link. Then, they are no longer symbols, but rather grouped objects that can be distorted and edited. Refer to Figure 12-4.

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Figure 12-4.  To use certain Puppet Warp and Liquify tools on symbols, you need to use the Break Link icon in the Symbols panel first

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For Puppet Warp, the break is automatic. But for the Liquify tools, a warning message alerts you that you must break the symbol from the panel before you can use the tools. Refer to Figure 12-5.

Figure 12-5.  The symbol is now a grouped object, and you can use the Puppet Warp tool or Liquify tool and will not see the alert message However, there are specific tools that you can use just for symbols, and we will look at them next.

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Symbolism Tools In the Toolbars panel, you will find eight symbol-related tools. Refer to Figure 12-6.

Figure 12-6.  Symbolism tools They are as follows: •

Symbol Sprayer tool (Shift+ S)

•

Symbol Shifter tool

•

Symbol Scruncher tool

•

Symbol Sizer tool

•

Symbol Spinner tool

•

Symbol Stainer tool

•

Symbol Screener tool

•

Symbol Styler tool

Project: Bubble Wand Example To test them, let’s create a copy of a file for practice. Open bubble_wand_start.ai. Then save a copy. Refer to Figure 12-7.

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Figure 12-7.  Illustration of bubble wand and bubbles In this example, I have a wand and some bubbles as symbols in the Symbols panel. I made two bubble symbols—one is static, and the other is dynamic (plus sign)—with slightly different colors to see if there is a difference when I use the symbolism tools. Refer to Figure 12-8.

Figure 12-8.  Symbols panel with wand and bubble symbols that are static and dynamic

Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift +S) The first tool in the symbolism set is the Symbol Sprayer tool. This is the first tool that you must use to access the other tools for the next steps. Refer to Figure 12-9.

Figure 12-9.  Toolbars panel Symbol Sprayer tool

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Select one of the bubble symbols in the Symbols panel. I chose the dynamic symbol. With the Symbol Sprayer tool, click and hold down the mouse, and, like mist from a spray-paint can, the small symbols will begin to appear. Refer to Figure 12-10.

Figure 12-10.  Alert that you must select a symbol from the Symbols panel before using the tool, symbol selected, and the tool in use To modify the settings for this tool and the next one, double-click on the tool to access the Symbolism Tool Options dialog box. Refer to Figure 12-11.

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Figure 12-11.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Sprayer settings The current settings for the Symbolism Tool Options for the Symbol Sprayer tool are as follows: Diameter: This is the diameter of the brush area for the symbolism tool that the symbols will appear within. If you want a larger area, you must increase the size or drag around a larger area while you hold down the mouse. Outside of the dialog box, you can use your left [ and right ] bracket keys to decrease and increase the diameter. Method: This area is grayed out for the Symbol Sprayer, and by default is set to User Defined, which is based on the way the mouse is dragged or clicked by you. For the symbolism tools that we will look at next, there are additional options of Average and Random. Refer to Figure 12-12.

Figure 12-12.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box, Method settings

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In Average mode, your new symbol instances can inherit the attributes of size, rotation, transparency, and style from nearby symbols in the same instance set. If a nearby symbol is 30 percent transparent, symbols added to the set will also be 30 percent transparent. With Random, the mentioned attributes would vary in size, rotation, transparency, and style. Refer to Figure 12-13.

Figure 12-13.  Method mode set to Average and Random Intensity: This has a range of 1–10 and is currently set to 8; it has the option of Fixed by default. However, if you have a stylus pen you can use the other options of Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation. Refer to Figure 12-14.

Figure 12-14.  Intensity mode to set to Fixed, or if using a stylus you can use another setting from the list, but then you cannot access the Intensity field These options, however, will rely on the stylus, so the Intensity field will be grayed out. For this practice, leave it at the default of Fixed. Symbol Set Density: The range is 1–10 with a default of 5. This is used to set the number of symbols that will appear and how close together they will be when sprayed. A lower number spreads the symbols apart, while a higher number clumps the symbols closer together. The settings update when you click OK to exit the dialog box. I left my settings at 5. Refer to Figure 12-15.

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Figure 12-15.  Symbol Set Density and effect of various settings on the symbols The next section is for the Symbol Sprayer, but this area controls the other symbolism tools as well. Currently, you are on the Symbol Sprayer tab. But you can set here the Scrunch, Screen, Size, Stain, Spin, and Style tools. Currently, they are all set to Average. Alternatively, you can set them all to User Defined. Leave on the setting of Average for now. Refer to Figure 12-16.

Figure 12-16.  Symbol Sprayer options and settings of Average and User Defined The last setting in the dialog box is Show Brush Size and Intensity. Keep the checkbox enabled and click OK to exit the dialog box for now. Refer to Figure 12-17.

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Figure 12-17.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box setting for Show Brush Size and Intensity, and OK and Cancel buttons To delete symbol instances, hold down Alt/Option as you click or drag where you want to reduce and remove instances. Refer to Figure 12-18.

Figure 12-18.  Using the Symbol Sprayer tool to remove some symbols Whether you use the static or dynamic symbol, it does not appear that you can use the Direct Selection tool to recolor individual symbols, as they are now part of a set. Refer to Figure 12-19.

Figure 12-19.  You cannot recolor parts of dynamic symbols that are part of a symbol set

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However, you can switch to the other static bubble symbol and use the Symbol Sprayer, and that becomes part of the symbol set as well. Refer to Figure 12-20.

Figure 12-20.  Adding additional symbols to the symbol set To make it part of a new set, you need to click with the Selection tool in another location to deselect the old set and then use the Symbol Sprayer tool in a new location. Refer to Figure 12-21.

Figure 12-21.  Starting a new symbol set by deselecting with the Selection tool and spraying with Symbol Sprayer With the Selection tool, just like with symbols, sets can be scaled, rotated, and sheared using the Transform panel, as mentioned in Chapter 3. Refer to Figure 12-22.

Figure 12-22.  The symbol set can be scaled and rotated

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However, to use some of the other sub-tools in the Free Transform tool of Perspective Distort and Free Distort, you will need to turn the symbol set into a group object. To do that, break the link using Object ➤ Expand twice: first, to break the symbol set into individual symbols, and then to turn it into a group. Refer to Figure 12-23.

Figure 12-23.  Symbol sets need to be expanded before you can use some Free Transform sub-tools Use your Selection tool and Alt/Option key to drag a copy. Or, when a symbol set is selected, you can press the Backspace/Delete key to delete the set. Refer to Figure 12-24.

Figure 12-24.  Create copies of your symbol sets Use Edit ➤ Undo, Ctrl/CMD+Z, or the History panel if you need to undo any steps or states.

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Symbol Shifter Tool Once you have a symbol set created with the Symbol Sprayer tool and selected with the Selection tool, you can then use the Symbol Shifter tool. Refer to Figure 12-25.

Figure 12-25.  Toolbars panel Symbol Shifter tool If the symbol or symbol set is not selected first, you will get the following alert message. Click OK and select a symbol or symbol set on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 12-26.

Figure 12-26.  A symbol set must be selected, or you will get an alert message With this tool, when you drag, you can move or shift the symbols in the direction that you want. In this case, I dragged upward. Refer to Figure 12-27.

Figure 12-27.  Shift the symbols in another direction Even though not all of my symbols were within the brush, because they were part of a set, they moved along with the other symbols within the diameter of the Symbol Shifter. Refer to Figure 12-28.

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Figure 12-28.  Shifting symbols inside and outside of the brush area of the Symbol Shifter tool As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options I double-clicked on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Method, Intensity, and Symbol Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. I will just point out that the dialog box has a few info suggestions for using the tool. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-29.

Figure 12-29.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Shifter settings

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Outside the dialog box, while dragging the tool, hold down the Shift key to bring symbol instances forward, or hold down the Shift+ Alt/Option keys to send symbol instances backward. Refer to Figure 12-30.

Figure 12-30.  Moving instances forward and backward in the symbol set If the symbols are of a similar color, this may not be overly apparent. However, if different symbols are of the same set, then while that symbol is selected in the Symbols panel, you can shift that symbol up or down in the set as you hold down the Shift key. In this case, I added my symbol Illuminated Orange to the symbol set with the Symbol Sprayer tool, and then used the Symbol Shifter tool with the various mentioned key commands to move it up and down while shifting. Refer to Figure 12-31.

Figure 12-31.  You can see symbols that move forward or backward with the Symbol Shifter tool in the set when they are of a different shape and are selected in the Symbols panel

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Symbol Scruncher Tool The next tool you can use, while the symbol set is selected, is the Symbol Scruncher tool. Refer to Figure 12-32.

Figure 12-32.  Toolbars panel Symbol Scruncher tool This tool allows you to drag or move closer the other symbol instances of the symbol that you selected in the Symbols panel on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 12-33.

Figure 12-33.  Selected symbols move closer together with the Symbol Scruncher tool As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method. It currently is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that the dialog box has an info suggestion for using the tool. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-34.

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Figure 12-34.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Scruncher settings Outside the dialog box, while dragging, hold down the Alt/Option key to push the symbol instances away from the cursor. This spreads the selected symbols farther apart. Refer to Figure 12-35.

Figure 12-35.  Selected symbols move farther away from each other with the Symbol Scruncher tool and key commands

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Symbol Sizer Tool The next tool you can use, while the symbol set is selected, is the Symbol Sizer tool. Refer to Figure 12-36.

Figure 12-36.  Toolbars panel Symbol Sizer tool This tool, as you hold down the mouse will size the symbol instances selected in the Symbols panel. In this case, they became larger and will vary in size if closer to the center of the brush. Refer to Figure 12-37.

Figure 12-37.  Making the selected symbol bubbles bigger with the Symbol Sizer tool As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method, which currently is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that the dialog box has additional settings for Proportional Resizing and Resizing Affects Density. Both these settings are enabled. Also, there are info suggestions for using the tool. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-38.

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Figure 12-38.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Sizer settings If you disabled Proportional Resizing, then you can stretch the shapes as you size. Refer to Figure 12-39.

Figure 12-39.  Bubbles are stretched when Proportional Resizing is deselected before using the Symbol Sizer tool Disabling the Resizing Affects Density option will cause the bubbles to randomly resize as you hold down the mouse key, and also affects the density, or closeness. Refer to Figure 12-40.

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Figure 12-40.  Bubbles’ density is affected when Resizing Affects Density is deselected before using the Symbol Sizer tool By default, these settings are enabled. However, if some of these settings have been previously altered it may affect new symbols that are added that are near ones that have been already resized. On the Artboard, while dragging, hold down the Alt/Option key to decrease the size of the selected symbol instances. Or, hold down the Shift key to perform density-preserving scaling. This affects the currently selected symbol instances. Holding down the Shift + Alt/Option keys makes the bubbles spread out or in other cases clump and become very tiny. Refer to Figure 12-41.

Figure 12-41.  Using different key commands while using the Symbol Sizer tool can affect what happens to the selected symbol, making it smaller or reducing the density

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Remember to use Edit ➤ Undo (Ctrl/CMD+Z) or the History panel as you work if you do not like certain sizing that the Symbol Sizer created.

Symbol Spinner Tool The next tool you can use while the symbol set is selected is the Symbol Spinner tool. Refer to Figure 12-42.

Figure 12-42.  Toolbars panel Symbol Spinner tool This tool allows the selected symbol instances, from the Symbols panel, to spin in the direction you drag when you hold down the mouse key. This is made clear by the way the preview arrows are pointing. As you drag the brush away from some of the symbols, and they end up outside of the brush area, they do not spin. When you release the mouse, the spin is complete. Refer to Figure 12-43.

Figure 12-43.  You can spin the symbols that are inside the area of the Symbol Spinner brush

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As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method. Currently, it is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that in the dialog there are no additional info settings for keyboard shortcuts. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-44.

Figure 12-44.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Spinner settings

Symbol Stainer Tool The next tool you can use while the symbol set is selected is the Symbol Stainer tool. Refer to Figure 12-45.

Figure 12-45.  Toolbars panel Symbol Stainer tool

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This tool can stain both dynamic and static symbols selected within the symbol set. When you click on them and hold down the mouse key, the stain tints or changes the overall hue, or color, while still preserving the overall luminosity. Refer to Figure 12-46.

Figure 12-46.  Selected symbols are stained using the Symbol Stainer tool The stain is determined by a solid color that you choose first from the Swatches panel while using the tool. It does not appear, however, that you can stain the stroke separately, only the solid fill or, in this case, the symbol overall. You cannot use a gradient or a pattern to stain. Refer to Figure 12-47.

Figure 12-47.  Set the stain using the Swatches panel and select a solid color; then, it appears in the Control panel

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As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method. Currently, it is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that in the dialog box there are a few additional info settings for keyboard shortcuts. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-48.

Figure 12-48.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Stainer settings On the Artboard, while dragging, hold down the Alt/Option key to decrease the amount of colorization. Or, hold down the Shift key to maintain the tint intensity of the previously stained instances, while not staining other instances that have not been stained yet. This affects the currently selected symbol instances in the Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 12-49.

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Figure 12-49.  Using key combinations with the Symbol Stainer, you can reduce and increase the stain

Symbol Screener Tool The next tool you can use while the symbol set is selected is the Symbol Screener tool. Refer to Figure 12-50.

Figure 12-50.  Toolbars panel Symbol Screener tool This tool fades the opacity of the symbol instances selected in the Symbols panel, making them more transparent. Refer to Figure 12-51.

Figure 12-51.  The selected symbols fade when the Symbol Screener tool is used As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method. Currently, it is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that in the dialog box there is additional info for a keyboard shortcut. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-52.

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Figure 12-52.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Screener settings On the Artboard, while dragging, hold down the Alt/Option key to decrease the transparency and return the selected bubbles back to their original state. Refer to Figure 12-53.

Figure 12-53.  Using the key command to increase the opacity of the selected symbols

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Symbol Styler Tool The last tool you can use while the symbol set is selected is the Symbol Styler tool. Refer to Figure 12-54.

Figure 12-54.  Toolbars panel Symbol Styler tool This tool, before you can use it, requires that you select a graphic style from either the Graphic Styles panel or the Control panel, while you have a symbol instance selected in the Symbols panel. Refer to Figure 12-55.

Figure 12-55.  You must select a graphic style from the Graphic Styles panel before you can use the Symbol Styler tool, or you will get an alert message. Then, select a symbol in the Symbols panel and view the graphic style from the Control panel

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After you select a graphic style in the panel, you can start to use the tool. In this case, I tried drop shadow, but you can try any graphic style you like, or custom ones that you may have created in Chapter 11 when you used the Appearance panel. One graphic style can be applied, and then you can select another. Refer to Figure 12-56.

Figure 12-56.  Use the Control panel to apply the style overall, or use the Symbol Styler tool for selected symbols As with the Symbol Sprayer tool, to look at the options, double-click on the tool in the Toolbars panel. Most of the settings—Diameter, Intensity, and Symbol Set Density—are the same for this tool as for the Symbol Sprayer. So, you can refer to that tool for more details. However, in this case you do have access to Method. Currently, it is set to User Defined, but you can set it to Average or Random. I will just point out that in the dialog box there are a few additional info settings for keyboard shortcuts. Click OK to exit. Refer to Figure 12-57.

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Figure 12-57.  Symbolism Tool Options dialog box with Symbol Styler settings On the Artboard, while dragging, hold down the Alt/Option key to decrease the style intensity. Hold down the Shift key to maintain the style intensity of the previously styled instances. This does not style other instances that previously were not styled. Refer to Figure 12-58.

Figure 12-58.  Use various key combinations to alter the style intensity of selected symbols in this example adding a drop shadow

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Creating Graphic Styles for Symbols Not all graphic styes are ideal to use on symbol sets. If you select one you do not like, then Edit ➤ Undo right away. Then, deselect the symbol set and, with your Selection tool, click off the symbol set and search for other options in your Graphic Style libraries. Refer to Figure 12-59.

Figure 12-59.  Some graphic styles do not work well for all symbols, so before you search for more you need to deselect the symbol set and then search in the Graphic Styles library Ideally, for these kinds of symbols I find the ones with the red slash. In this case, I looked in the Additive for Blob Brush library. Click on one to add it to the panel. Refer to Figure 12-60.

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Figure 12-60.  A Graphic Styles library that is ideal for symbols, and then one of them added to the Graphic Styles panel Graphic styles with a red slash generally indicate in the Appearance panel that they have no stroke or fill, only an effect, which can help you to avoid adding box-like shapes around circular items in your symbol set. Refer to Figure 12-61.

Figure 12-61.  Current Graphic Style settings in the Appearance panel

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The symbols in this case do have a fill, and so the drop shadow or blur effect becomes apparent. Refer to Figure 12-62.

Figure 12-62.  The style in the Control panel and applied to the symbol set overall This is a good way to build some of your graphic styles with no stroke or fill and just an effect. Then, save them in the Graphic Styles panel. Next, apply them, using the Control panel, to the selected symbol set or symbol overall, or use the Symbol Styler tool on certain symbols within the set. Refer to Figure 12-63.

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Figure 12-63.  Create your own effects in the Appearance panel, store them in the Graphics panel, and then use them with your Symbol Styler tool on selected symbols. View the settings in the Control panel

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So, as you can see, once a symbol is part of a symbol set it does not matter if it is a static or a dynamic symbol. Instead, you can use the symbolism tools and the Graphic Styles panel to distort your symbols. Save your work, and you then can look at my example, bubble_wand_final.ai. For additional ideas on symbolism, you can visit this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/symbolism-tools-symbol-sets.html

Project: Blowing in the Wind, Part 8: Dandelion Seeds Continuing with the landscape project of the girl at the farm, you can use the symbolism tools to scatter some of the dandelion seeds to the wind. Open the file Landscape1_8_start.ai. Save a copy of the file if you want to practice. In this file, I have added a new unlocked layer called Seeds. Refer to Figure 12-64.

Figure 12-64.  Landscape image with current layers and Seeds layer unlocked

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If you zoom in with your Zoom tool or Ctrl/CMD + +, you will notice that I have started to add some seeds to the dandelion, which are actually symbols. Refer to Figure 12-65.

Figure 12-65.  Use the Symbol tool to add dandelion seeds to the image I dragged some of the symbols onto the Artboard and scaled and rotated them, but now I want to create a random scattering. On your own, practice this with your symbolism tools. Your example does not have to be the same as mine. Refer to Figure 12-66.

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Figure 12-66.  Use your symbolism tools to move and scatter seeds However, in this example, the tools that you would likely use are the Symbol Sprayer, Shifter, Scruncher, Sizer, and Spinner. Use them to adjust and scatter your seeds. Refer to Figure 12-67.

Figure 12-67.  The scattered dandelion seeds of the symbol set When you are done, you can compare it to my example, found in Landscape1_8_final.ai. Lock your Seeds layer and then save your work so far. Refer to Figure 12-68.

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Figure 12-68.  View the current image so far and lock the Seeds layer in the Layers panel We have almost completed the picture and will do so in the next chapter when we build the farmhouse.

Summary In this chapter, we looked at the many ways you can use the symbolism tools with your symbols as well as the Appearance and Graphic Styles panels and how they can be used to enhance the symbol sets. After working with symbols, let’s move on to Illustrator’s new 3D features.

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Working with 3D and Perspective Chapter Goal: Use the Perspective Grid and Perspective Selections tools to create sides of shapes that appear in an image with the correct perspective. I will complete this chapter by demonstrating how to use the 3D non-destructive effects with 2D objects and text. In this chapter, we will look at some tools that we can use to add perspective to your artwork even if you are not a professional artist. Then we will look at and compare classic and new 3D features that have been added to Illustrator, and how these can be used to enhance the look of shapes and text. We’ll also finish off the landscape project we have been working on throughout many of the Illustrator chapters in this book. Finally, we will be making a quick overview of the Graph tools and discover how they can be used to create a basic 3D infographic that could be used in a magazine or on a website to inform people on a specific topic.

■■Note  You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 13 folder.

Perspective Grid & Perspective Selection Tools The last tools that we will be looking at in the Toolbars panel are the Perspective Grid tool (Shift + P) and Perspective Selection tool (Shift + V). Refer to Figure 13-1.

Figure 13-1.  Toolbars panel Perspective Grid tool and Perspective Selection tool with Active Plane widget In Photoshop you can work with Perspective Warp Smart Object filters and the vanishing point filter to create a box with a warped design. You can refer to the books mentioned in the introduction if this topic is of interest to you.

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_13

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In Chapter 8, we used Object ➤ Envelope Distort ➤ Make with Top Object to warp a pattern over another vector object. However, there are other situations where you might want to draw a landscape or a cityscape in perspective for a comic book or a poster, but you are just not sure how to begin. This can be tricky for the beginner artist, especially if they have not taken a lot of art classes on perspective or have difficulty visualizing perspective on the Artboard while working at a computer. Let’s practice that now.

Project: Skyscraper City Scene To look at how we can use perspective in Illustrator, open perspective_start.ai. Save a copy of the file if you want to practice. Refer to Figure 13-2.

Figure 13-2.  Background of illustration visible in Layers panel, and City layer active This file has three layers. The Background with a horizon, sky, and moon; the City layer, on which you are going to use the Perspective Grid tool; and a Clouds layer for which the visibility is turned off, as it is not required in this part of the project. To create the start of the city, select the City layer. Now you want to select the Perspective Grid tool from the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 13-3.

Figure 13-3.  Toolbars panel Perspective Grid tool and Perspective Selection tool This brings up a preview of the Perspective Grid with the Active Plane widget that looks like a circle surrounding a cube. Refer to Figure 13-4.

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Figure 13-4.  Default two-point perspective with Active Plane widget

View ➤ Perspective Grid The grid, before you start to draw, can be altered in several ways. It is always good to set up the grid and decide on a perspective before you start to draw so that you do not have to redraw parts of your artwork later. Viewing options for the grid can be found in the menu under View ➤ Perspective Grid. Refer to Figure 13-5.

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Figure 13-5.  Options in the View ➤ Perspective Grid menu Here you can choose to Hide the grid after working with it (Shift + Ctrl/CMD + I), or go to View ➤ Perspective Grid ➤ Show Grid if it is not visible. Show Rulers: Specifically for the Perspective Grid. In this case you want to keep Snap to Grid selected, as you will need it with the Smart Guides to assist you as you draw. It allows parts of your path to snap to the grid lines. Lock Grid: You can lock the grid to keep parts of it from being altered or moved as you use the Perspective Grid tool. Then only the visibility of the grid and plane position of the left, right and horizontal grid can be moved using their lower handles which we will look at shortly in the custom grid section of the chapter. Lock Station Point: When enabled ensures that the left and right sides of the grid’s vanishing point move together. In this case, I kept these settings unlocked so that both vanishing points can be moved separately, as well as the station point, which we will look at in a moment. Define Grid: Allows you to create custom grid settings from its dialog box. Refer to Figure 13-5 and Figure 13-6.

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Figure 13-6.  Define Perspective Grid dialog box While in the dialog box, you can create and save preset custom perspective grid settings for the following:

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Type: The type of grid you want to use; from the list choose One Point, Two Point, or Three Point Perspective. Refer to Figure 13-6. Units: The settings by default are set to Points, but you can change this to Inches, Centimeters, or Pixels. Refer to Figure 13-6. Scale: Set a scale ratio; the default is 1:1. Refer to Figure 13-6 and Figure 13-7.

Figure 13-7.  Define Perspective Grid dialog box Scale options Gridline every: This sets your grid at 30 pt on the Artboard. Currently based at the scale set of 1:1, at True Height Line, 1 pt on the Artboard represents 1 pt. This is specifically for the perspective grid and is displayed when View ➤ Perspective ➤ Show Rules is enabled. Refer to Figure 13-8.

Figure 13-8.  Define Perspective Grid dialog box, Gridline every 30 pt setting You can then set the Viewing Angle, currently at 45°, Viewing Distance, 480 pt, and Horizon Height, 250 pt. Third Vanishing Point is grayed out and is only available for the Three Point Perspective type, where you can set the X and Y coordinates. One Point Perspective only uses Horizon Height. Refer to Figure 13-9.

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Figure 13-9.  Define Perspective Grid dialog box, with Viewing Angle, Viewing Distance, Horizon Height, and Third Vanishing Point options Grid Color & Opacity: This section lets you set the color and opacity for the Left (Blue), Right (Orange), and Horizontal (Green) grids from either the list or the computer’s color picker. Use the Opacity slider to set the opacity for the grid overall. By default, it is set to 50%. If you have made changes, you can click OK. But in this example, keep it on the default settings and click Cancel to exit. Refer to Figure 13-10.

Figure 13-10.  Define Perspective Grid dialog box Grid Color and Opacity options, and OK and Cancel buttons The lower half of the Perspective Grid menu allows you to choose various preset perspectives that have already been created specifically for One Point, Two Point, and Three Point Perspective. Refer to Figure 13-11.

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Figure 13-11. View ➤ Perspective Grid perspective options One Point Perspective: [1P-Normal View] shows up as a two-sided grids of left and horizontal lines moving into the center of the page and disappearing into the horizon. This is good for a path, road, or train tracks. Refer to Figure 13-12.

Figure 13-12.  One Point Perspective grid Two Point Perspective: [2P-Normal View], which you will be using to build your skyscraper, has the horizontal grid, but also has left and right grids that converge as though you are looking at the corner of a city block or building at ground level. Refer to Figure 13-13.

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Figure 13-13.  Two Point Perspective grid and option Three Point Perspective: [3P-Normal View] This also could be used for a cityscape and also uses left, right, and horizontal grids. However, it is better suited for when you are looking down at objects, like when you are flying in a plane or standing on top of a higher building. Refer to Figure 13-14.

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Figure 13-14.  Three Point Perspective grid and option In this project, make sure that you are using the Two Point Perspective [2P-Normal View]. Refer to Figure 13-15.

Figure 13-15.  Set Two Point Perspective option for this project

Making a Custom Grid While in this project we are going to use the preset grid, alternatively, you could move the various handles on the grid to create your own custom perspective grid. While using the Perspective Grid tool you can move the lower handles, which will move the sides of the grid left, right, or horizontally up or down to a new location. These are the Right (orange), Horizontal (green), and Left (blue) grid planes controls. The point at which they all converge, or the white circle, is known as the station point or origin. Refer to Figure 13-16.

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Figure 13-16.  Perspective Grid tool, Perspective Selection tool, and moving lower handles and how the cursor changes when you move the handles of a grid plane control Likewise, you can use the Perspective Selection tool to focus only on moving these grid handles. Then switch back to the Perspective Grid tool for more options. Refer to Figure 13-16 and Figure 13-17.

Figure 13-17.  How the Grid Plane Handles appear when you use the Perspective Selection tool The lower white station point circle changes the dotted grid point when dragged. When moved, this is then called the changed ruler origin point. Refer to Figure 13-16 and Figure 13-18.

Figure 13-18.  How the cursor changes when you move the ruler origin point

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The upper white diamond point on the horizontal grid can also adjust the plane when dragged up and down. This controls the grid cell size for all grids. Refer to Figure 13-19.

Figure 13-19.  How the cursor changes when you move the diamond handle to adjust the grid cell size The diamond handles on the left and right of the grid can expand and/or contract the grid on the horizontal. These control the extent of the grid and can be adjusted independently. Refer to Figure 13-20.

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Figure 13-20.  How the cursor changes when you move the diamond handles to control the extent of the grid The upper top diamond handle between the left and right grids moves the perspective up or down for squat or tall buildings and is also known as the vertical grid extent. Refer to Figure 13-21.

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Figure 13-21.  How the cursor changes when you move the top vertical grid extent The other handles are part of the green horizontal. The lower diamond handles allow you to move the entire perspective to a new location and change the ground or horizon level. Refer to Figure 13-22.

Figure 13-22.  How the cursor changes when you move the lower diamond handles to move the grid

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The upper diamond handles allow you to move the horizontal up or down to adjust the horizon height. The green line between the two diamonds is known as the horizon line while the diamonds themselves are called the horizon level. The space between this horizon line and the ground level is known as the horizon height. Refer to Figure 13-23.

Figure 13-23.  How the cursor changes when you move the upper diamond handles to adjust the horizon height The inner circular handles, which are resting on the horizontal horizon line, are also part of the left and right grid; they allow you to move the sides of the grid in or out. They are the left and right vanishing points. Refer to Figure 13-24.

Figure 13-24.  How the cursor changes when you move the middle circle handles to adjust the left and right sides of the grid with the horizon

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For your own project you can create your own custom grid, and if you want to save that grid you can, from the View menu, choose Perspective Grid ➤ Save Grid as Preset. Refer to Figure 13-25.

Figure 13-25. View ➤ Perspective Grid ➤ Save Grid as Preset option This brings up the Save Grid as Preset dialog box. It has the same settings as the Define Perspective Grid dialog box, so you can refer to that section. Clicking OK will allow you to name and save a custom preset and add it to the main menu. Refer to Figure 13-26.

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Figure 13-26.  Save Grid as Preset dialog box and new saved grid option added to the sub-menu If you need to remove this preset at any time, go to Edit ➤ Perspective Grid Presets, locate the perspective grid in the dialog box, select it, click on the Delete button, and then click OK to commit and exit. Refer to Figure 13-27.

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Figure 13-27.  Perspective Grid Presets dialog box

■■Note In this dialog box, you can also add a new preset, and edit, import, and export grid presets for other users. You cannot delete the default presets. You can also see a summary of the preset settings for each preset. Refer to Figure 13-27. In this case, reset your grid back to View ➤ Perspective Grid ➤ Two Point Perspective ➤ [2P-Normal View]. Refer to Figure 13-28.

Figure 13-28.  Current default of two point perspective for project

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Drawing on the Perspective Grid To draw the two sides of a building in perspective, you can use the Rectangle tool to draw while the grid is on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 13-29.

Figure 13-29.  Rectangle tool and Two Point Perspective grid on Artboard However, before you start, make sure you know which side of your Active Plane widget is active. Refer to Figure 13-30.

Figure 13-30.  Active Plan widget with left grid selected

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In this case, it is set to Left Grid(1). This means that if you draw, you will be using the left grid to maintain perspective wherever you are on the Artboard. Here, you can see me drag out a rectangle on the left side of my grid. Refer to Figure 13-31.

Figure 13-31.  Use the Rectangle tool to draw in perspective on the plane

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Now switch to the Right Grid(3) and drag out another rectangle on the right side of the grid. Refer to Figure 13-32.

Figure 13-32.  Active Plan widget with right grid selected, Rectangle tool, and drawing in perspective on the plane

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You can then use the Selection tool to select the rectangles and change their colors. I used a gray on the right and black on the left—both with no stroke. Refer to Figure 13-33.

Figure 13-33.  Use the Selection tool and Control panel to recolor your rectangles If you want to add a sidewalk on one side of the building, click on the Perspective Grid tool again and switch your Active Plane widget to Horizontal Grid(2). Refer to Figure 13-34.

Figure 13-34.  Active Plan widget with horizontal grid selected

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Now, with your Rectangle tool, add a sidewalk on one or both sides of the building. Refer to Figure 13-35.

Figure 13-35.  Use the Rectangle tool to draw on the horizontal grid The fourth option of the Active Plane widget is No Active Grid(4). You can use this setting when you do not want to draw in perspective, but still want the grid visible on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 13-36.

Figure 13-36.  Active Plan widget with no active grid selected

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For additional Perspective Grid tool and Perspective Selection tool options, you can double-click on the tools in the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 13-37.

Figure 13-37.  Perspective Grid tool and Perspective Selection tool Grid Options dialog box This dialog box indicates whether the Active Plane widget will be visible and where it will be placed on the screen while you work. By default, it is in the top-left. It also gives advice for automatic plane positioning when you drag the handle points with the Shift key selected to temporarily move the active plane to a new location. While holding down the shift key and double-clicking will hide inactive plains only showing the active. Clicking off the active grid reveals all grids. For the plane positioning. You can also select the options of the Anchor Point of Perspective Artwork and the Intersection of Gridlines check boxes. In this case, both settings are enabled and if disabled can affect the interaction of the Perspective selection tool and dragging or double-clicking while pressing the Shift key and interacting with an active plane. Refer to Figure 13-38.

Figure 13-38.  All three grids currently intersecting

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Another thing you can try with the Rectangle tool is to create windows for the building. Make sure to set either your left or right grid first with the Perspective Grid tool’s Active Plane widget, and then use the grid to add a few windows with the Rectangle tool. Refer to Figure 13-39.

Figure 13-39.  Use the Active Plane widget and Rectangle tool to draw windows on the skyscraper Later, with your Selection tool and Control panel, you can color them CMYK yellow to make it look like the light is on in some of the rooms. Refer to Figure 13-40.

Figure 13-40.  Use the Selection tool to select windows and color them using the Control panel

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Now, if you want to copy some of the windows in perspective, you can use the Perspective Selection tool (Shift + V) and select one of the windows. Hold down the Alt/Option key and drag a copy to a new location on the same grid plane on the building. Refer to Figure 13-41.

Figure 13-41.  Use the Perspective Selection tool and the Active Plane widget to move a selected copy of a window to another area on the grid If you want to move a copy to another plane in perspective with the Perspective Selection tool, then, while dragging, hold down the number of the grid; for example, if you are currently on the right grid, to copy to the left grid press Alt/Option + Drag +1, and this will allow you to copy that path from the right grid onto the left grid. Refer to Figure 13-41 and Figure 13-42.

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Figure 13-42.  Use the Perspective Selection tool and the Active Plane widget to move a selected copy of a window to another area on another grid So, the following options would do the specified movements: •

Left Grid: Drag + 1

•

Horizontal Grid: Drag + 2

•

Right Grid: Drag + 3

•

Perpendicular Movement: Drag + 5

Add the Alt/Option key to any of these combinations to copy and/or the Shift key to constrain the movement. You can also use the command Object ➤ Transform again (Ctrl/CMD + D) to repeat a similar movement on the current plane. Use the Perspective Selection tool to scale and move objects while on the grid.

■■Note Additional options for the Perspective Selection tool can be found for the right, left, and horizontal vanishing planes when you double-click on the circle grid point handles. Refer to Figure 13-43.

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Figure 13-43.  Vanishing Plane dialog box for left, right, and floor (horizontal) grids In all cases, the Location field is set to 0 pt and Object Options are set to Do Not Move. This means that if I were to move my plane to a new location, the current objects on that plane would not move with it. However, setting a new location via the dialog box and changing to Move All Objects or Copy All Objects and then clicking OK would cause the object to either move or be copied with the grid. Refer to Figure 13-44.

Figure 13-44.  Use the grid and its dialog box to move or to copy selected objects, and a preview of how the movement would appear

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If you have tried this setting, you can use Edit ➤ Undo to undo that last step or click the Cancel button in the dialog box. I left the settings at Location: 0 pt and Do Not Move. Additionally, you can use other shape tools with the Perspective Grid tool. In this case, I use the Rectangular Grid tool on the right plane with the following settings, which I first set when I double-clicked on the tool in the Toolbars panel: I set my Horizontal Dividers to 16 and my Vertical Dividers to 3, left my skews both at 0%, and made sure that Use Outside Rectangle as Frame was enabled and Fill Grid disabled. The default width and height do not matter, but the registration point is in the upper left. Refer to Figure 13-45.

Figure 13-45.  Use the Active Plane widget and Rectangular Grid tool and its dialog box to create a grid in perspective

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You might have to use different settings, depending on the size of your building and grid. Use the Control panel to set the fill to none and the stroke to Black 1 pt. Then drag out your rectangular grid. Refer to Figure 13-46.

Figure 13-46.  The rectangular grid on the Artboard with the Control panel settings of fill none, stroke black, 1 pt stroke weight

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Use the Direct Selection tool to move some of the horizontal lines so that they conform to the grid and appear as frames around your windows. View ➤ Smart Guides and View ➤ Perspective Grid ➤ Snap To Grid can assist you with this. Refer to Figure 13-47.

Figure 13-47.  Use the Direct Selection tool to adjust the lines of the grid

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Remember to zoom in with your Zoom tool and use your Hand tool (spacebar) to navigate as you adjust the lines, and you should end up with something like this on the right side of the building. Refer to Figure 13-48.

Figure 13-48.  Current window and grid setting on the right side of the building Additionally, you could keep adding more windows or even add more buildings to your street. You can see how I did that in my file perspective_final.ai. In this file, I have also made the Clouds layer visible. Refer to Figure 13-49.

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Figure 13-49.  A whole city scene can be created with the Perspective Grid tool Remember, if you need to move a shape in front or behind, use the Selection tool and choose Object ➤ Arrange and one of the commands from the menu. Refer to Figure 13-50.

Figure 13-50.  Use the Selection tool and Direct Selection tool with Object ➤ Arrange commands to move objects forward and backward on the layers

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When there are a lot of objects to bring forward or backward, use your key commands Forward Ctrl/ CMD+ ] or Backward Ctrl/CMD+ [ multiple times to move selected objects quickly, without having to use the menu. This is important when you want to have the grids over windows or building to appear behind one another. Refer to Figure 13-51.

Figure 13-51.  You may need to move parts of one building behind another to complete the perspective

■■Note I also added a star in perspective on the building and added awnings with my horizontal plane, as I did with sidewalks. I also added a few symbols of trees between some of the buildings. On some of the shapes I even varied the opacity to make the area appear like light was shining out of parts of the building. Refer to Figure 13-52.

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Figure 13-52.  Adding details in perspective to the scene to add interest

I hope that this will get you started using the Perspective Grid tool and Perspective Selection tool. So, as you can see, working with the perspective tools allows you to create your own creative city landscape.

Additional Perspective Commands Finally, I will point out that in the Object ➤ Perspective menu there are four other commands. Refer to Figure 13-53.

Figure 13-53. Object ➤ Perspective commands Attach to Active Plane: If you have an object selected with the Selection tool and want to add it to the selected plane as seen in the widget, then choose this command. It will now be part of that plane. However, you will still need to use the Direct Selection tool to adjust the anchor points so they are in perspective with the grid. Refer to Figure 13-54.

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Figure 13-54.  Attach your current path to the active plane and then adjust the points using the Direct Selection tool Release with Perspective: Keep the object in perspective, but have it no longer be part of grid and able to be moved with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 13-55.

Figure 13-55.  Use the Selection tool to move the path after it is released Move Plane to Match Object: When you want to draw or bring objects in perspective at the same depth or height as an existing object, select the existing object in perspective. Then choose Object ➤ Perspective ➤ Move Plane to Match Object. This will bring the corresponding grid to the desired height or depth. You can now draw or bring new objects in perspective. This is best used when you are just starting to create the grid, as this creates its own plane for that selected object, which you can then modify with the Perspective Selection tool. Refer to Figure 13-56.

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Figure 13-56.  Choose Move the Plane to Match Object for path and use Perspective Selection tool to edit Edit Text or Edit Symbol: This works with both text and symbols once they are within the perspective grid. Symbols and text cannot be added to the perspective grid directly. To do so, you need to select the text or symbol with the Perspective Selection tool and then drag and move it onto the grid side you want to apply the symbol or text to and then scale the text or symbol. Refer to Figure 13-57.

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Figure 13-57.  Use Perspective Selection tool and Active Plane widget to move type and symbols in perspective onto the grid Both have now become perspective objects. In the Control panel, you can use the options of Edit Text or Edit Symbol, Edit Perspective, Opacity Transparency settings, and Isolate the selected object. Refer to Figure 13-58.

Figure 13-58.  Control panel options for perspective object Editing allows you to go into Isolation mode for text or Symbol Editing mode for symbols. For either alert, click OK and then use the upper-left arrow to exit Isolation mode. Here is an example with a symbol. Refer to Figure 13-59.

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Figure 13-59.  Alert message when entering Symbol Editing mode in the Layers panel, exiting the Editing mode, and how it then appears in the Layers panel Make sure to save your work at this point. For additional details and guidance on Perspective Grid tools as well as working with symbols and type, you can visit the following links: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/perspective-grid.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/perspective-drawing.html

Effect ➤ 3D and Materials (3D Classic) For quite a while in Adobe there have been 3D features that you could use to create basic 3D primitive shapes. However, more recently older features have been moved under a sub-menu called 3D (Classic), which is found in the Effects menu 3D and Materials. We looked at effects in Chapter 11, and now we will look at more advanced effects. Refer to Figure 13-60.

Figure 13-60.  Effect menu settings for 3D & Materials ➤ 3D (Classic)

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The three main items under Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ 3D (Classic) are as follows: •

Extrude & Bevel (Classic)

•

Revolve (Classic)

•

Rotate (Classic)

Let’s take a brief look at each one and then look at the brand-new features and see how they compare. Open 3D_Classic.ai if you want to work with some examples. Use File ➤ Save As to create a copy.

Rotate (Classic) This effect is ideal if you want to just rotate a graphic and text without applying any actual 3D effects other than adjusting the image within the X, Y, and Z 3D axes. It’s good for flat objects that need basic perspective. In this case, select the grouped object of the coffee cup with the coffee text. Refer to Figure 13-61.

Figure 13-61.  Select the group object of a coffee cup illustration Then go to Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ 3D Classic ➤ Rotate (Classic). In the dialog box you can set the position using the various presets. With the preview enabled you can view the changes on the Artboard. Choose a rotation option from the Position dropdown list, like Off-Axis Front. Refer to Figure 13-62 and Figure 13-63.

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Figure 13-62.  3D Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box

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Figure 13-63.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box position settings Alternatively, you can set your own custom rotation. Using the box, you can drag and rotate in a variety of directions, and with the preview enabled the image updates on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 13-64.

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Figure 13-64.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box rotation cube that allows you to rotate the Illustration The only way that you can alter the object in this manner is to use the 3D Rotate Options dialog box. Notice how it will keep an outline of the current shape and show the perspective change at the same time. You can do further custom rotations by dragging and turning the cube in the dialog box to the angle you want or use the text boxes to enter coordinates for the specific X, Y, and Z axes (-180°,0°,180°). The axis of X is red, Y’s is green, and Z’s is blue. If you want to alter the perspective angle, use the slider dropdown to change the angle. 0° is none while 160° is steep. It is used to create lens distortion or simulate three-point perspective. Refer to Figure 13-65.

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Figure 13-65.  The cube has three axes—X, Y, and Z—which relate to the text boxes in the dialog box, and you can also adjust the perspective angle Click the More Options button. Set the Surface dropdown to Diffuse Shading, which allows you to alter the surface with diffuse shading and additional lighting, and you can also preserve spot colors, if present in the document. Refer to Figure 13-66.

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Figure 13-66.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box Surface settings changed from No Shading to Diffuse Shading, and effect on cup Light Intenisty specifies the brightness of the selected light on the preview sphere (0%–100%). The ambient lighting can appear like an overall light, covering the object, or a spotlight, depending on the intensity of the ambient light (0%–100%) you choose, and can gray or brighten the overall object if there are no shadow areas. It controls the brightness of all surfaces uniformly. By default, it is set to 50%. You can add more than one light, add the lights to the back or front or delete a selected spotlight. Drag the spotlights around on the sphere to move them. Refer to Figure 13-67.

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Figure 13-67.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box set more than one spotlight and a custom shading You can choose different shading colors as well. These include None, Black (default), and Custom—so you choose a color using the color picker. This affects how the object is shaded overall. Refer to Figure 13-67 and Figure 13-68.

Figure 13-68.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box set a shading color from the list and the color picker, and look at the effect on the object

■■Note Preserve Spot Colors, when enabled, will disable items that can cause the spot colors to be converted. It will also set a custom shading color back to black. By default, I left this setting disabled as we are not working with any special spot colors. Refer to Figure 13-69.

Figure 13-69.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box, Preserve Spot Color option

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If you don’t want these lighting control options, choose for Surface the option of No Shading, and when you have completed your rotation and perspective settings, click OK to commit. Refer to Figure 13-70.

Figure 13-70.  Rotate Options (Classic) dialog box set back to Surface: No Shading; click OK to exit, and view the result on the object As with other effects, this one is live, and you can view it in your Appearance and Properties panels and click on the name if you need to make further edits. Or select the effect and click on the trashcan icon to delete the selected item. Refer to Figure 13-71.

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Figure 13-71.  Appearance panel with effect and Properties panel with 3D Rotate (Classic) Use Edit ➤ Undo or the History panel if you made this change so the effect is restored.

■■Tip  When the effect is applied to a single shape or object, while selected you can save the rotate style effect you just created in the Graphic Styles panel. You can add it to the panel by clicking New Graphic Style and then apply it when you select that effect from the panel to another selected grouped object. Refer to Figure 13-72.

Figure 13-72.  Add the effect to the Graphic Styles panel and then apply it to another grouped object

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You can apply this same rotate effect to text as well, and then add additional effects such as a drop shadow: Effect ➤ Illustrator Effects Stylize ➤ Drop Shadow as seen in Chapter 11. Check the preview box to see how that looks and click OK to confirm. This gives the feeling of text and a graphic that are raised off the Artboard. Refer to Figure 13-73.

Figure 13-73.  Apply a Drop Shadow effect after you have applied the 3D effect If I no longer want the Effect to be live, I can choose Object ➤ Expand Appearance. However, make sure to Edit ➤ Undo this right away if that was not your intent and you want to keep the object live. Otherwise, keep a backup copy of the object with the effect on another layer.

Revolve (Classic) Revolve (Classic) works best with paths that are open. They can be a path with either no fill or no stroke. And the path must be simple. Refer to Figure 13-74.

Figure 13-74.  Effect menu settings for 3D & Materials ➤ 3D (Classic) ➤ Revolve (Classic)

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Before you select the effect the object’s fill should only be a solid color and not a gradient or a pattern for this effect to work correctly and not cause rendering issues. Refer to Figure 13-75.

Figure 13-75.  Set a solid color for the open path before you use Revolve (Classic) In this case, with your Pen tool, create an open or a closed path. In this example, it created an open path. Select with the Selection tool the open path that I created in the file to practice with. Refer to Figure 13-76.

Figure 13-76.  Use the Pen tool to create an open path and use the Selection tool to select it Now Go to Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ 3D Classic ➤ Revolve (Classic). In the options dialog box are features similar to those found in the Rotate (Classic) effect. However, in this case to Revolve you can set position or use the cube or the X, Y, and Z text-box areas to simplify the revolve angle rotation around the axis and then the perspective (0°–160°) to edit the revolve angle, which can simulate lens distortion or simulate three-point perspective. Refer to Figure 13-77 and Figure 13-78.

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Figure 13-77.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box

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Figure 13-78.  The current revolved path with the Perspective setting changed I left the Perspective at 0°. Revolve allows you to set how much, in degrees, you want the path to revolve around the revolve axis; by default it is set to 360° for a full revolution. Refer to Figure 13-79.

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Figure 13-79.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box with revolve angle and cap set Cap: Allows you to set the cap on for a solid appearance or off for a hollow appearance. This is more apparent on some shapes. In this case I left the cap on. Refer to Figure 13-79. Offset: Can move the path away for a wider revolution around the revolve axis; by default it is set to 0 pt, but it can be set up to 1000 pt. Refer to Figure 13-80.

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Figure 13-80.  Offset of higher than 0 pt applied to 3D object In this case I want my shape to look more like a coffee cup than a tent or a pipe, so I set the offset back to 0 pt and changed it from Left Edge to Right Edge. This determines which side the axis is on. Refer to Figure 13-81.

Figure 13-81.  Setting the offset from Left Edge to Right Edge To alter the surface further, click on the More Options button. Refer to Figure 13-82.

Figure 13-82.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box More Options button

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This area for Surface settings is similar to that for the Rotate (Classic) effect, but with a few more options. Refer to Figure 13-83.

Figure 13-83.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, More Options for Surface settings The Surface field is currently set to Plastic Shading. With this setting you can set the following: Light Intensity (0%–100%): Specify the brightness of a selected light on the sphere. Ambient Light (0%–100%): Control the brightness of all surfaces uniformly. Highlight Intensity (0%–100%): Control how much the object reflects light. Highlight Size (0%–100%): Specify size of highlight. Blend Steps (0–256): Specify the number of paths used to shade the surface; more blend steps will make the shape more realistic and less posterized. Refer to Figure 13-84.

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Figure 13-84.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, More Options for surface lighting and changes in Blend Steps Shading Color: Specify how the object is shaded; settings are None, Black, or a Custom color from the color picker. Refer to Figure 13-85.

Figure 13-85.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, set a custom shading color

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Preserve Spot Colors and Draw Hidden Faces are currently disabled. Preserve Spot Colors: When enabled, this will disable items that can cause the spot colors to be converted. By default, I left this setting disabled as we are not working with any special spot colors. Refer to Figure 13-86.

Figure 13-86.  Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box options for Preserve Spot Colors and Draw Hidden Faces Draw Hidden Faces: Specifies whether faces, hidden from view, are drawn; leaving this setting disabled speeds up the drawing process. You can, as with the Rotate (Classic) effect, set spotlights to back with the Move Selected Light to Back of Object icon, or move them to the front again. You can also add more spotlights or delete a selected spotlight. Drag the spotlights around on the sphere to move them on the shape on the Artboard. Refer to Figure 13-87.

Figure 13-87.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, spotlights on sphere Other Surface options are included in the menu. Refer to Figure 13-88.

Figure 13-88.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, Surface options Wireframe: No additional settings of lighting controls, just creates a wireframe shape. Refer to Figure 13-89.

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Figure 13-89.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, surface wireframe preview No Shading: Just a solid color with no shadows. Only Preserve Spot Colors and Draw Hidden Faces are available. Refer to Figure 13-90.

Figure 13-90.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, No Shading options and preview

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Diffuse Shading: Creates more of a matte than a shiny plastic finish. In this case, for lighting options you are limited to the options of Light Intensity, Ambient Light, Blend Steps, Shading Color, Preserve Spot Color, and Draw Hidden Faces, and you can review those settings in the earlier section on surface plastic shading. Refer to Figure 13-91.

Figure 13-91.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box Surface Defuse Shading options and preview In my case, I set the setting back to Plastic Shading. Refer to Figure 13-92.

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Figure 13-92.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box Surface options set back to Plastic Shading

Map Art The last setting that you can review in this dialog box is the Map Art button, which allows you to map symbol artwork to the surface of the 3D object. Click on the button. Refer to Figure 13-93.

Figure 13-93.  3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box, Map Art button In the Map Art dialog box, with preview enabled and before you select a symbol that you want to use to cover a surface in your art, find the correct surface—in this case there are six. Use the arrows to move quickly through first surface, previous, next, or last surface. Refer to Figure 13-94.

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Figure 13-94.  Map Art dialog box In my case, for surface 5 of 6, as seen in my Wireframe preview, I can select a symbol from the dropdown menu. I will add the coffee beans. Refer to Figure 13-95.

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Figure 13-95.  Map Art dialog box, setting the symbol for the one of the object’s faces

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Now I need to move the beans into a light area so that they will be visible on the cup. Refer to Figure 13-96 and Figure 13-97.

Figure 13-96.  Map Art dialog box move the art on the surface to the correct location

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Figure 13-97.  Object with Map Art preview I can then use the bounding box handles to scale and rotate, or click on the Scale to Fit button. Refer to Figures 13-96 and 13-98.

Figure 13-98.  Map Art dialog box settings for art to scale, or clear from the Map Art dialog box If upon clicking Scale To Fit, the symbol with its bounding box handles is too large then click Clear, or Clear All if there is more than one symbol on another face. Or set the symbol to none from the symbol menu, and apply the symbol again from the menu. Refer to Figures 13-96 and 13-99.

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Figure 13-99.  Map Art dialog box with art set to Scale to Fit and then cleared and added again to the face Other options in this area include the following: Shade Artwork (slower): Mapped art exhibits same shading as object but may take longer to process. Refer to Figure 13-100.

Figure 13-100.  Map Art dialog box with Shade Artwork (Slower) option enabled

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Invisible Geometry: Shows a wireframe-like effect and only the artwork on the cup. Refer to Figure 13-101.

Figure 13-101.  Map Art dialog box with Invisible Geometry option enabled In this case I enabled Shade Artwork (slower) and disabled Invisible Geometry and clicked OK. Refer to Figure 13-102.

Figure 13-102.  Map Art dialog box with Shade Artwork (Slower) option enabled, and click OK I then clicked OK again to exit the 3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box. Refer to Figure 13-103.

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Figure 13-103.  Click OK to exit the 3D Revolve Options (Classic) dialog box and view result As with the Rotate (Classic) effect, 3D Revolve (Mapped) (Classic) will also be available in the Appearance panel if you need to edit it while the object is selected or after it has been externally edited. And the effect can also be added to the Graphic Styles panel, and the Map Art is also included. Refer to Figure 13-104.

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Figure 13-104.  Object with settings in the Appearance panel, and it can be added to the Graphic Style panel You can also use the Direct Selection tool to edit points to make the cup appear as if it has more depth rather than look funnel-like, and the object will update. Refer to Figure 13-105.

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Figure 13-105.  Adjust the object’s path with the Direct Selection tool Also, while the path is selected, you can change the fill or stroke color anytime using the Control panel. In this case I only color the fill and leave the stroke at none as it would cover the fill and be considered an additional surface. Refer to Figure 13-106.

Figure 13-106.  Use the Control panel to change the color of the object afterward From open paths and the 3D Revolve (Classic) effect you can create many simple shapes. Half-circles can become spheres; half-triangles, cones; or half-rectangles, cylinders. Refer to Figure 13-107.

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Figure 13-107.  You can create many simple shapes with open paths

■■Note However, sometimes if there are a number of grouped open paths the shape can start to become complex, and this can cause a warning message in the dialog box. This can sometimes happen when paths cross, but I have not found that it causes any issues, as it is just a warning. Refer to Figure 13-108.

Figure 13-108.  You can also create complex shapes with grouped open paths, but be aware of any alert messages in the Revolve (Classic) dialog box

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Another warning you may encounter with Map Art symbols that have gradients is that those gradients will be rasterized.

Extrude & Bevel (Classic) The last 3D (Classic) option lets you set the 3D Extrude and Bevel (Classic). Like Revolve (Classic) it is best to work with solid-color fills and strokes as patterns and gradients can cause issues with rendering. Refer to Figure 13-109.

Figure 13-109.  Effect menu settings for 3D and Materials ➤ 3D (Classic) ➤ Extrude & Bevel (Classic) This effect works best on closed shapes such as rectangles and type. The shape can have a fill and stroke. In this case I selected a rectangle with no stroke and chose Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ 3D (Classic) ➤ Extrude & Bevel (Classic). Refer to Figure 13-110.

Figure 13-110.  Select the closed path that you want to extrude

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When you enable the More Options settings, you will find most of the same settings overall as for the Revolve (Classic) effect. Refer to Figure 13-111 and Figure 13-112.

Figure 13-111.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box

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Figure 13-112.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box with More Options set In this case, I will just point out the main differences in the dialog box, and you can refer to the 3D Revolve (Classic) section for more information on Position, Surface, and Lighting options. Refer to Figure 13-113.

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Figure 13-113.  Extruded rectangle In this case, look at the Extrude & Bevel section. Refer to Figure 13-114.

Figure 13-114.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box with Extrude & Bevel options Currently, the Extrude Depth is set to 50 pt (the range is from 0 pt to 2000 pt). Increasing the depth makes the extrusion longer. Refer to Figure 13-115.

Figure 13-115.  Extruded rectangle with an Extrude Depth set to 189 pt The extrusion can also be affected by the Perspective setting. I changed that setting to 122° and then set it back to 0°. Refer to Figure 13-116.

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Figure 13-116.  Extruded rectangle with Perspective angle adjusted and then set back to 0° Cap can be either closed or open. Turn cap on for solid appearance and turn cap off for hollow appearance. Refer to Figure 13-117.

Figure 13-117.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box with Cap settings on You can then set the bevel from None to one of ten other options. In this case try Jaggy. It makes an accordion-like shape. Refer to Figure 13-118.

Figure 13-118.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box with Bevel list, and then set to Jaggy

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You can then adjust the Height (1–100 pt) and set the bevel extent to either Bevel Extent Out (bevel is added to original object) or Bevel Extent In (bevel is subtracted from original object). This expands or contracts the bevel on both ends. Refer to Figure 13-119.

Figure 13-119.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box with Height and bevel extent settings

■■Note At the bottom of the dialog box, you may get a warning when you use the bevel that self-intersection may have occurred. You can ignore this message. Refer to Figure 13-120.

Figure 13-120.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box alert when a bevel is set

As mentiond, the same surface options are available as for Revolve (Classic). You can alter the shading color and set to Custom. Refer to Figure 13-121.

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Figure 13-121.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box surface plastic shading options with a custom shading color, and how it appears in the preview

Map Art As with Revolve (Classic), you can add Map Art. Refer to Figure 13-122.

Figure 13-122.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box Map Art button

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The process is the same. Just make sure that you find the surface that you are looking for before you apply the symbol. Then scale and move the symbol into place. Refer to Figure 13-123.

Figure 13-123.  Map Art dialog box with symbol applied to face, and how it appears in the preview Click OK to exit the Map Art dialog box, and OK again to exit the 3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box. Refer to Figure 13-123 and Figure 13-124.

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Figure 13-124.  3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box; click OK to exit As with the other effects, this effect appears in the Appearance panel, and you can click on the name to edit from here. The effect can be added to the Graphic Styles panel with the Map Art included as well. Refer to Figure 13-125.

Figure 13-125.  Appearance panel with effect, which can be added to the Graphic Styles panel

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You can alter the color of the fill or the stroke of the rectangle, when selected, using the Control panel. But this may alter the shadow color as well. In this case I only altered the fill, as adding a stroke can add additional surfaces when working with Map Art. Refer to Figure 13-126.

Figure 13-126.  Changing the fill color of the extrusion afterward using the Control panel Use the Selection tool if you want to scale or move the extrusion. Here is how bevel and extrude can affect text with some Map Art applied to one of the letters. Refer to Figure 13-127.

Figure 13-127.  3D Extrude and Bevel (Classic) type example This is a good alternative if you need to copy 3D text into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer. Save your work and refer to my file 3D_Classic.ai if you want to look at these examples. To view some more complex examples you can check out https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/ using/creating-3d-objects.html.

Effect ➤ 3D and Materials Panel Next, we will look at some new features in the Effects menu that have been updated and improved for 3D in Illustrator and are a good alternative if you need to create 3D objects that you can copy as Smart Objects into Photoshop. Refer to Figure 13-128.

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Figure 13-128. Effect ➤ 3D and Materials panel The options include the following: •

Extrude & Bevel

•

Revolve

•

Inflate

•

Rotate

•

Materials

All of this is combined and edited using the 3D and Materials panel, which we will look at next. Refer to Figure 13-129.

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Figure 13-129.  3D and Materials panel

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Project: Coffee Cup Example Open coffee_cup_3D.ai. In this example, I will show you some of the same examples of a coffee cup, which this time I created using the Window ➤ 3D and Materials panel. Refer to Figure 13-129.

■■Note These 3D effects can only be applied as one instance to an object; however, you can use other non-3D effects in combination. Refer to Figure 13-130.

Figure 13-130.  Alert message for applying more than one 3D and Materials effect

Rotate In the first example, we can see that I used Effects ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Rotate. You can apply this effect when you select your object with the Selection tool. Refer to Figure 13-131.

Figure 13-131.  Select the object with the Selection tool to apply the 3D effect

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3D and Materials Object Tab In the 3D and Materials panel, this will come up as 3D Type: Plane, or a flattened object on a single plane, under the Object tab. Refer to Figure 13-132.

Figure 13-132.  3D and Materials panel, Plane (Rotate) setting, and preview Rather than using a cube to do your rotating, you can now rotate directly on the shape, or use the sliders in the Rotation section in the 3D and Materials panel. It has the same presets for Rotation, based on direction axis and isometrics. And now the X (vertical), Y (horizontal), and Z (circular) axes range (-180°,0°,180°) sliders are clearly labeled, and you can change the Perspective slider (0°–160°). Refer to Figure 13-133.

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Figure 13-133.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting, presets, and preview In the current preset of Off-Axis Front, to rotate on the shape itself, select and drag upward and downward on the horizontal line if you want to rotate around the X-axis. Doing so will create a custom rotation preset. Refer to Figure 13-134.

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Figure 13-134.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting and preview for Rotate around X Drag left and right on the vertical line to rotate around the Y-axis. Refer to Figure 13-135.

Figure 13-135.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting and preview for Rotate around Y Drag on the circle and move in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion if you want to rotate around the Z-axis. Refer to Figure 13-136.

Figure 13-136.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting and preview for Rotate around Z

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The dot in the center is Rotate Freeform. Drag on this dot in any direction to get a different random rotation. Refer to Figure 13-137.

Figure 13-137.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting and preview for Rotate Freeform

■■Note To undo any of the steps you can choose Edit ➤ Undo or Ctrl/CMD+Z, or use the History panel. While in the Object tab for Plane, you will notice that the cap and bevel options are not available. You do, however, have the option to expand as a wireframe in the Quick Actions area. This creates a type of grouped-path outline of the object. Edit ➤ Undo that last step. However, at any point in time you could switch to another 3D type, and these options would become active. We will look at that shortly; however, for now remain on the 3D type of Plane. Refer to Figure 13-138.

Figure 13-138.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) setting, or set to another 3D type, or expand as a wireframe or export 3D object

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Additionally, you can now use the Quick Actions to Export your 3D object to the Asset Export Panel. See the end of this 3D and Materials section for a link on this topic. Besides setting the Object settings, you also have access to three other tabs: Materials, Lighting, and Render.

Materials Tab This lets you set the type of materials that you will fill or cover the object with. If, in the past, you used 3D features in Photoshop, this area will be familiar to you as many of the materials will look similar. Refer to Figure 13-139.

Figure 13-139.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab

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Under the Materials section, with the Materials tab active, you can review all the materials that are available. These include the default base material, which is like plastic shading. And if you scroll down a bit in the menu, you will see over 40 different Adobe Substance Materials. A material is applied to the entire 3D surface. Refer to Figure 13-140.

Figure 13-140.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab

■■Tip If you need to expand this area to see more materials, then drag on lower edge of the panel to enlarge it. Refer to Figure 13-141.

Figure 13-141.  3D and Materials panel, drag to lengthen the panel

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While looking at the Adobe Substance Materials, you have the option to find more materials on Substance 3D Assets or find more materials on Substance 3D Substance Community assets from Adobe. You can also add your own materials. These materials come in the (.Sbsar) format if you have them downloaded on your computer. Refer to Figure 13-142.

Figure 13-142.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab, Add Materials and file format

Add Single and Multiple Graphics Symbols To add single or multiple graphics, you need to switch to the Graphics tab under the Materials tab. This is the same as using Map Art, which we saw earlier with the 3D (Classic) options. Here, all your graphic symbols are available to add to your art when you click on the symbol in the panel. However these options under the plus icon allow you to add a selected object on your Artboard as a single graphic to the Symbols panel, or add as separate multiple graphics, if more than one graphic is selected. Refer to Figure 13-143.

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Figure 13-143.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials (Graphics) tab, adding symbols graphics, and preview of graphic on object; and add single and multiple graphics to the 3D and Materials panel and Symbols panel at the same time

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You can the click on the Delete button if you want to remove a graphic, and it will be removed from the Symbols panel as well. In this case, do not delete any graphics you did not create. Refer to Figure 13-144.

Figure 13-144.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab Delete Graphic button In the Materials tab with the Materials button reselected, once you have a collection of materials from the Substance Collection, you can select that material in the panel and change it from the default to a different material. Some will appear more realistic than others depending on the shape you use. Refer to Figure 13-145.

Figure 13-145.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab with a material selected

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Once a material is selected, it will appear in the panel’s Properties section. Depending on the substance material that you chose, you will have different options, known as Main Parameters and Additional Parameters, below the Properties section, that you can further edit. These could include resolution, repeat of pattern, as well as colors, texture, staining, position, and additional technical lighting effects like ambient lighting. Refer to Figure 13-146.

Figure 13-146.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab with material added to Properties section and additional settings viewed in Main Parameters section Some main parameters are complex, and other materials may only have a few options, so you need to spend time and look at each one after you select your substance material. In this case, I just returned to my Base Default Property for now, so that I could see my current design on my coffee cup. It has two Base Properties: Roughness (0–1) for texture and Metallic (0–1) to set a shinier appearance. Refer to Figure 13-147.

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Figure 13-147.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab, Default material and base properties, and preview of object with a higher metallic setting Additionally, when you switch to the Graphics tab you can click on a symbol to add it to your Properties area and then further manage its main parameters. This includes setting Invisible Geometry, and Scaling and Rotation. You also have an additional option to replace the selected symbol when you click on a new symbol’s More Options ellipse and click Replace to switch to the new symbol. Refer to Figure 13-148.

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Figure 13-148.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Materials tab, Graphic Properties, and Main Parameters for selected graphic You can, move, scale, and rotate the graphic on the object. Or Use the Main Parameter sliders to adjust scale (25-400%) and rotation (0-360°). You can also apply multiple graphics on top of a material. They can be dragged above and below each other in the Properties area to reorder them. Refer to Figure 13-149 and Figure 13-150.

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Figure 13-149.  Move, scale, and rotate the selected graphic on the object

Figure 13-150.  Remove graphic from Properties area We will look at the Properties area again when we look at the other 3D settings, but for now you can select the graphic in the Properties section and remove it, and the symbol will be removed from the object. Use Edit ➤ Undo to undo that last step. Refer to Figure 13-150.

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Lighting Tab The next tab is Lighting, which has a few more options than what was in the Classic panel. Refer to Figure 13-151.

Figure 13-151.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab

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In this case you have some lighting presets: Standard, Diffuse, Top Left, and Right. Refer to Figure 13-152.

Figure 13-152.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab, presets Selecting a preset changes some of the settings in the lower sliders below the lighting color. A new color can be chosen with the color picker. Refer to Figure 13-153.

Figure 13-153.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab settings, set new color preset, and view the result Other Lighting settings include the following: Intensity (0%–200%): Brightness of light Rotation (-180°,0°,180°): Rotates the focus of light around object Height (0°–90°): Brings or moves light closer or farther away from object Softness (0%–100%): Determines how the light spreads and creates a fuzzy effect that can override the Diffuse preset. This is more apparent after the object is rendered.

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Ambient Light: Currently enabled and controls the global setting of the Intensity of the ambient light (0%–200%). Refer to Figure 13-153. Many of these settings are more apparent when a Shadows toggle is enabled for the shadow. Refer to Figure 13-154.

Figure 13-154.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab, Shadows settings This kind of shadow is a new feature, and you do not have to use a separate drop-shadow effect to create this shadow. Settings for the shadow include Position, where you choose a ground position of either Behind Object or Below Object. Refer to Figure 13-155.

Figure 13-155.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab, shadow set to ground position If you choose Below Object, you will have to adjust the distance of the shadow from the object (0%–100%) and the Shadow Bounds (10%–400%) so that the shadow does not appear chopped off or too far away from the object. Refer to Figure 13-156.

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Figure 13-156.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab, shadow options to set Distance from Object and Shadow Bounds In this case, I changed the rotation of the lighting a bit to about 30° so that the shadow position would be below the object, but behind the object as well. Refer to Figure 13-157.

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Figure 13-157.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Lighting tab settings and preview

■■Note It does not currently appear at this time that you can set more than one light source unless the Material Substance itself has a light source within its technical parameters. You can check in the Materials tab if it is present.

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The Render Tab If you choose later to render a real-time preview, you can use this tab to choose Ray Tracing options. With the Ray Tracing toggle active, you can set the quality to Low, Medium, or High, and choose Raster settings. See Chapter 11 about the Document Raster Effects Settings dialog box, found in the Effects menu. Reduce Noise: Enabled to reduce the grainy appearance that may come from rendering Alternatively, with or without the Ray Tracing toggle active, in Real-Time Preview mode you can render as a vector the object and the map artwork, which results in a resolution-independent image. Note that Render as Vector is not supported for materials and graphics with gradients or raster contents. Refer to Figure 13-158.

Figure 13-158.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Render tab

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The setting Remember and apply to all applies these render settings to all existing and future 3D and Materials effects. If you want to render a graphic, then click the Render button or the square icon. It will take few seconds to process depending on the Quality setting that was used. It will then be a grouped object or path that has the setting applied. You can use Edit ➤ Undo if you need to undo that step and return it to its original state. In this case, we will disable Ray Tracing and remain in Real-time Preview mode for the rest of the chapter. Refer to Figure 13-159.

Figure 13-159.  3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate) Render tab, Ray Tracing toggle off

■■Note The effect will appear in the Appearance panel, and this effect, like the others, can be added to the Graphic Styles panel. Refer to Figure 13-160.

Figure 13-160.  Appearance panel with 3D and Materials effect; effects added to Graphic Styles panel

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Materials This setting, when chosen from the Effect menu, will appear as a Plane type in the 3D and Materials panel with a Preset rotation of front. Refer to Figure 13-161.

Figure 13-161.  3D and Materials panel; Plane (Material) object found in the 3D and Materials menu

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However, afterwards as with the earlier mentioned Rotate effect, you can then set the Rotation presets for X, Y, Z, as well as the Perspective Angle, using the panel. As with the Rotation options, you can also utilize the other tabs that contain Materials, Graphics, and Lighting and Shadow to alter the graphic as well as render it. Otherwise, there are no real differences between this setting and Rotate for a Plane. Refer to Figure 13-161.

Revolve Revolve has many of the same settings as the 3D (Classic) Revolve effect, and much of what you have learned about the Rotate effect and the 3D and Materials panel so far can be applied to this effect as well. Refer to Figure 13-162.

Figure 13-162. Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Revolve In this case, select an open path with the Selection tool. Go to Effects ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Revolve and look at the 3D and Materials panel. The path then sweeps or revolves around a point in a circular direction. Refer to Figure 13-163.

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Figure 13-163.  Open path, 3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab, and preview of Revolve

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In the panel you can see that many of the panel options are the same, so refer to the Rotate section for more details. I will just point out the main differences. The 3D type in the panel is now set to Revolve. Refer to Figure 13-164.

Figure 13-164.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab and Revolve settings You now have access to the Revolve angle, which determines how much of a revolution occurs, or if it is segmented and stops at a certain point. By default, it set to 360° for a full rotation, but you can set it from 0° to 360°. Refer to Figure 13-165.

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Figure 13-165.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab with different Revolve Angle values Offset, as we saw in the Classic version, can spread out the revolve. This can make the cup appear more bowl-like. By default, the Offset is set to 0 in, but you can move the slider to the right to increase it. Above the Offset slider are two new sliders called Twist (0-360°) and Taper (1-100%). These can be use to warp an object in unusual ways. In this case I will leave them at the default of Twist 0° and Taper 100%. Refer to Figure 13-166.

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Figure 13-166.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve example with different Offset, Twist and Taper settings The Offset Direction From option can be set to either Right Edge or Left Edge. I set it to Right Edge to create a cup rather than have it appear like a tent. Refer to Figure 13-167.

Figure 13-167.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab with Offset Direction From settings of Left Edge and Right Edge and a preview

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The Cap option has two possibilities: “Turn cap on for solid appearance” and “Turn cap off for hollow appearance.” I leave the cap on by default; however, on some objects it may be more apparent when the cap off setting is chosen. Refer to Figure 13-168.

Figure 13-168.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab with Cap setting on

■■Note  For Revolve, Bevel is not an available option. We will be looking at that in the next section. Refer to Figure 13-169.

Figure 13-169.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab with Bevel unavailable

Rotation settings for Revolve, as mentioned, are the same presets and options as those for Rotate (Plane), and you can adjust your X, Y, and Z axes either from the panel or on the preview. You can also set the Perspective angle. Refer to Figure 13-170.

Figure 13-170.  3D and Materials panel Object ➤ Revolve tab with preset settings for X, Y, and Z, and Perspective with its current setting

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Materials Tab In the Materials tab, for Revolve, like Rotate, you have access to the Materials, Graphic Symbols, and Properties panels. Refer to Figure 13-171 and Figure 13-172.

Figure 13-171.  3D and Materials panel Revolve ➤ Materials tab with Properties settings and a graphic symbol Materials button in this tab is currently selected

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Figure 13-172.  3D and Materials panel Revolve ➤ Materials tab with graphic symbol options in the Materials tab with the Graphics button currently selected What I like about these new options for Revolve, when working with symbols, is that you can drag the symbol over one face and not have to worry about whether there are multiple Map Art Surfaces to set the graphic symbol to—just drag the symbol to where you think it should be. Even if I add or remove a stroke afterward using my Control panel, the symbol only flows over the material. We will see an example of that later, at the end of the chapter, with a complex 3D effect that requires multiple symbols. Refer to Figure 13-173.

Figure 13-173.  3D and Materials panel Revolve Materials tab, move graphic over cup

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Lighting Tab In the Lighting area, as with Rotate (Plane), you can set the same settings. I like that with these new features you can also set a shadow. Refer to Figure 13-174.

Figure 13-174.  3D and Materials panel Revolve ➤ Lighting tab with Shadows settings

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For details on render setting, see the Rotate section. Refer to Figure 13-175.

Figure 13-175.  3D and Materials panel Revolve ➤ Render tab

■■Note  Like rotate, this effect can be viewed and edited in the Appearance panel and added to the Graphic Styles panel. Refer to Figure 13-176.

Figure 13-176.  Appearance panel with 3D effect that can be stored in Graphic Styles panel

Extrude & Bevel Extrude & Bevel has many of the same settings as the 3D (Classic) effect Extrude & Bevel, and much of what you have learned about the Rotate effect and the 3D and Materials panel so far can be applied to this effect as well. You can refer to those sections for more information. Refer to Figure 13-177.

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Figure 13-177. Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Extrude & Bevel In this case, select a closed path with the Selection tool; it could be a shape or even some type. Go to Effects ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Extrude & Bevel and look at the 3D and Materials panel. This extrudes the object at a certain depth. Refer to Figure 13-178.

Figure 13-178.  Selected rectangle with 3D and Materials panel’s Object tab (Extrude)

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In this case, the 3D Type option will now be set to Extrude. You can set the depth of the extrusion as well as the Twist and Taper sliders. Refer to Figure 13-178 and Figure 13-179.

Figure 13-179.  Rectangle with extrusion applied and then a twist and taper added The Cap section has two options: “Turn cap on for solid appearance” and “Turn cap off for hollow appearance.” I leave the cap on by default; however, a setting of off on some objects may be more apparent when the cap-off setting is chosen as in the example below where the rectangle on the right appears hollow. Refer to Figure 13-180.

Figure 13-180.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Cap on and Cap off The next section in the Object tab in the panel is Bevel. Enable the toggle to make Bevel active. Refer to Figure 13-181.

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Figure 13-181.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel settings Bevel now has several new updated options that affect the cap but not the extrusion depth like the Classic Extrude & Bevel effect does. First, you can choose a bevel shape from seven options. I chose Classic from the list. Refer to Figure 13-182.

Figure 13-182.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel Shape options

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In this example, the option has been applied to one end of the object’s depth. You can then make further adjustments to the bevel. Width (0%–100%): By default, it is 50%. Refer to Figure 13-183.

Figure 13-183.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel Width preview Height (0%–100%): By default, it is set to 50%. Refer to Figure 13-184.

Figure 13-184.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel Height preview Repeat (1–10): Creates a type of stair-step pattern. By default, it is set to 1. Refer to Figure 13-185.

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Figure 13-185.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel Repeat preview Space (0%–100%): Is active when Repeat is set higher than 1. It sets the spacing of the repeat. By default, it is set to 30%, so make sure to set this before you set the repeat back to 1, or you might not see the bevel. Refer to Figure 13-186.

Figure 13-186.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with bevel Space and Repeat options

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The next setting is Bevel Inside, which makes the bevel go inward rather than outward on the end. Refer to Figure 13-187.

Figure 13-187.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel Inside options The next setting is Bevel both sides. It ensures that when you rotate the object, you can see the bevel on both sides. This is good, as one side might end up looking flat. Refer to Figure 13-118.

Figure 13-188.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with Bevel both sides options You can click the Reset button if you need to set the bevel setting back to the original state. In the past, I had difficulty creating pyramid shapes with the Classic setting. However, with the improved settings I can now choose whether to have one side beveled or not and adjust the depth and width, and this is much better. Refer to Figure 13-189.

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Figure 13-189.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude) with improved bevel options compared to Extrude and Bevel (Classic) As with Rotate, you can set the Rotation settings presets for the X, Y, and Z axes as well as the Perspective option, which is by default 0°. Refer to Figure 13-190.

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Figure 13-190.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Extrude), Rotate and Preset options, and Perspective settings

Materials Tab In the Materials tab, like Rotate (Plane), you have access to the materials and graphic symbols, and their properties. You can refer to that section and the Revolve section as well for more details. I will point out that, like Revolve, you do not have to hunt through Map Art Surfaces to add symbols as you do with Classic Bevel and Emboss. Just drag the symbol over the shape to the location you want it to be. Also, if you add or remove a stroke you do not have to worry that the symbol will disappear or be covered, as it rests on top of the material. Refer to Figure 13-191.

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Figure 13-191.  3D and Materials panel Materials tab for Extrude example, and graphics on object

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Lighting Tab In the Lighting area, you can set the same settings as with Rotate (Plane). I prefer these new features compared to Classic, as you can also set a shadow. Refer to Figure 13-192.

Figure 13-192.  3D and Materials panel Lighting tab (Extrude) with Shadows settings applied

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For details on Render settings, see the Rotate section. Refer to Figure 13-193.

Figure 13-193.  3D and Materials panel for Render tab (Extrude)

■■Note  Like Rotate, this effect can be viewed and edited in the Appearance panel and added to the Graphic Styles panel. Refer to Figure 13-194.

Figure 13-194.  3D effect applied in Appearance panel and added to Graphic Styles panel

Here is how type appears when Extrude and Bevel is chosen. Refer to Figure 13-195.

Figure 13-195.  Text with 3D Extrude and Bevel effect

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Inflate Inflate is a new option added to the 3D options, which is not found in the Classic settings. However, it shares many of the new features of the Rotate effect and the 3D and Materials panel, and those settings can be applied to this effect as well. You can refer to those sections for more information. Refer to Figure 13-196.

Figure 13-196. Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Inflate In this case, select a closed path with the Selection tool; it could be a shape or even some type. Go to Effects ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Inflate and look at the 3D and Materials panel. Much of what you have learned about the Rotate and Revolve effects and the panel can be applied to this effect as well, so I will just point out the main differences. Refer to Figure 13-197.

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Figure 13-197.  Selected object with Selection tool, 3D and Materials panel Object tab (Inflate), with inflated 3D object

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The 3D Type is now set to the Inflate setting, and the shape that is created is very much like a balloon. Refer to Figure 13-197. In the Object tab, you can set the depth, which will extrude the object, and Volume (0%–100%) will cause the object to expand more on the end. Currently, volume is set to 100%. You can also adjust the Twist and Taper as well. Refer to Figure 13-198.

Figure 13-198.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Inflate), with object set to Depth Twist, Taper and Volume settings Inflate Both Sides: While the checkbox is disable only one side is inflated. When this checkbox is enabled, you can see that both sides are inflated when the object is rotated. Refer to Figure 13-199.

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Figure 13-199.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Inflate), with Inflate both sides option disabled and enabled Cap: Has two options: “Turn cap on for solid appearance” and “Turn cap off for hollow appearance.” I leave the cap on by default; however, on some objects as seen in the following example with the cap turn off it is apparent that the shape is hollow while on more complex examples this might not be as obvious. Refer to Figure 13-200.

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Figure 13-200.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Inflate), with Cap On and Cap Off preview Inflate has no bevel options, but you can set the Rotation presets for the X, Y, and Z axes as well as Perspective, which is by default set to 0°. Refer to Figure 13-201.

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Figure 13-201.  3D and Materials panel Object tab (Inflate) with Rotation presets and Perspective settings

■■Note Settings for the Materials, Lighting, and Render tabs are the same, and you can refer to the Rotate, Revolve, and Extrude & Bevel sections to learn more about these tabs in the panel. Materials will allow you to overlay symbols and have them appear over the material and not be hidden if you later add or remove a stroke from the object. With Inflate you can also adjust the shadows with your Lighting tab. Refer to Figure 13-202.

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Figure 13-202.  3D and Materials panel Lighting tab (Inflate) settings for lighting and adding shadows to object

Like Rotate, this effect can be viewed and edited in the Appearance panel and added to the Graphic Styles panel. Refer to Figure 13-203.

Figure 13-203.  Appearance panel with 3D effect added to Graphic Styles panel

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Here is how type appears when Inflate is chosen. Refer to Figure 13-204.

Figure 13-204.  Type with 3D Inflate effect applied You could then store these objects as symbols in Illustrator in the panel, or with the object selected you could copy it (Ctrl/CMD+C) and paste it (Ctrl/CMD+V) into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer. Click OK and make sure to click the check to commit in the Options panel. Refer to Figure 13-205.

Figure 13-205.  Paste your Illustrator graphics into Photoshop as Smart Object layers In Illustrator, I found using a combination of two of the new 3D effects (Revolve and Inflate with a shadow) on separate paths allowed me to create a coffee cup with a plate, and you can see this example in my file coffee_cup_3D.ai. Refer to Figure 13-206.

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Figure 13-206.  Example of coffee cup with various 3D effects from the 3D and Materials panel applied To complete this design, I also added a circular ellipse with a gradient to cover the top of the cup and make it appear that there was liquid in the cup, with no effects applied. Refer to Figure 13-206.

■■Note  With these new 3D features, while they work best with solid color fills and strokes, you can also use pattern and linear gradient swatches to create material-like effects that bend over the object, as you can see in this Inflate example. However, I would not recommend at this time using radial gradients in your designs as they can come out bitmapped. Refer to Figure 13-207.

Figure 13-207.  The new and improved 3D settings work better with patterns and linear gradients on objects, and you can adjust opacity from the Control panel as well

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■■Note  With 3D effects in Illustrator, when you adjust the opacity using the Control panel it affects the object overall, and you will not see the back face with any contours as you would with behind actual 3d objects that are semi-transparent. Refer to Figure 13-207. For information on acquiring more materials from the Substance Collection you can visit https:// helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/create-3d-graphics.html?trackingid=YB1TGLWS&mv=inproduct&mv2=ai. For more information on the panel and its improvements to revolve, shadow, and how to export 3D objects as OBJ, USDA and GLTF files using the Asset Export panel, here are some links: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/create-3d-graphics.html https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/map-artwork.html

P roject: Blowing in the Wind, Part 9, Adding the House Using 3D Effects To complete the landscape project of the girl at the farm, I will just show you how you can use your 3D and Materials panel to add a basic house shape, with a roof and a chimney, using the Extrude and Bevel option. Open Landscape1_9_start.ai. Save a copy if you want to practice. Refer to Figure 13-208.

Figure 13-208.  Landscape project with new objects added In this file, I added a few shapes to the house layer with my Rectangle tool. I created a rudimentary structure for the house and its roof and chimney. Refer to Figure 13-209.

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Figure 13-209.  New paths added to the House layer I also added a new layer called Windows and Door Shadow. You can leave that layer locked and hidden for now, as it does not apply to this part of the project. You may need to zoom in with your Zoom tool to get a closer look at the house, as it is far away. Refer to Figure 13-210.

Figure 13-210.  Zoom tool Select the House layer. Refer to Figure 13-211.

Figure 13-211.  Select the unlocked house layer Select the yellow part of the house with the Selection tool. As you build, things may appear a bit jumbled, but that’s OK, as we are only going to create three 3D objects. Refer to Figure 13-212.

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Figure 13-212.  Select the yellow rectangle with the Selection tool Now go to Effect ➤ 3D and Materials ➤ Extrude & Bevel and look at your 3D and Materials panel. Refer to Figure 13-213.

Figure 13-213.  Use the Effect menu to apply a 3D and Materials ➤ Extrude & Bevel in the 3D and Materials panel

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Set Depth to 1.25 in and leave Cap turned on. Refer to Figure 13-214.

Figure 13-214.  3D and Materials panel Object tab to set the depth and cap Keep the Bevel option turned off as we do not need it. Refer to Figure 13-215.

Figure 13-215.  3D and Materials panel Object tab, leave Bevel toggle off Then set Rotation to X: 168°, Y: 14°, Z: 3°, and Perspective to 12°. Refer to Figure 13-216.

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Figure 13-216.  3D and Materials panel Object tab, set the rotation settings and view result I left everything else in the panel at the default settings. Now, with the Selection tool select the roof. Refer to Figure 13-217.

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Figure 13-217.  Select the brown roof with the Selection tool In the 3D and Materials panel, click on the 3D Type Extrude icon. This is a good way to access the effect quickly without having to go through the menu. Refer to Figure 13-218.

Figure 13-218.  Choose the 3D Type Extrude from the 3D and Materials panel

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At this point, it does not look much like a roof, but we will fix this. In the 3D and Materials panel, set Depth to 0.0278 in and leave the cap on. Refer to Figure 13-219.

Figure 13-219.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, set the depth and cap Now toggle on the Bevel option and set Bevel Shape to Classic, change the Width setting to 100%, but leave the other settings at the default of Height: 50%, Repeat: 1, and Bevel inside and Bevel both sides disabled. Refer to Figure 13-220.

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Figure 13-220.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, set the bevel and review it Now set the Rotation to X: 76°, Y: 28°, Z: 2°, and Perspective to 6°. Refer to Figure 13-221.

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Figure 13-221.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, set the rotation and review it No other settings were changed in the panel. Lastly, select the chimney with the Selection tool and use the 3D and Materials panel to set to Extrude. Refer to Figure 13-222.

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Figure 13-222.  Use the Selection tool to select the chimney Choose the 3D Type Extrude from the 3D and Materials panel The chimney is currently on its side, but we will fix this. Set the Depth to 0.0833 in and leave the cap on. Refer to Figure 13-223.

Figure 13-223.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, set the depth Leave the Bevel toggle off as we do not need it. Refer to Figure 13-224.

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Figure 13-224.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, keep the Bevel toggle off Now set the Rotation to X: -7°, Y: 14°, Z: 0°, and leave the Perspective at 0°. It is behind the house, and we want to keep the bottom of the chimney hidden. Refer to Figure 13-225.

Figure 13-225.  3D and Materials panel, Object tab, set the rotation No other changes in the panel were made. Click, with your Selection tool, outside the Artboard to deselect the shape and see the final result. Refer to Figure 13-226.

Figure 13-226.  Review how the house currently looks

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Lock the House layer at this point. Refer to Figure 13-227.

Figure 13-227.  Lock the House layer You can then turn on the visibility for the Windows and Door Shadow layer. Refer to Figure 13-228.

Figure 13-228.  Turn on the visibility of the Windows and Door Shadow layer This layer has some windows that I drew with my Pen tool and added a gradient fill to. It also has a door. I also added a small transparent radial gradient shadow in the Transparency panel with Opacity set to 30% and a blending mode of Multiply. It was added to the base of the house, as it would be darker there. Refer to Figure 13-229.

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Figure 13-229.  View the settings and options for the shadow in the Transparency and Control panels

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■■Note I could have used the 3D Bevel and Extrude option to create a shadow as well by using the Lighting tab on the various objects, but sometimes it is best to create a custom effect and blend it the way you want to. In complex areas of an illustration some shadows may not be as distinct at a distance. However, if the house were closer, more details could be added. Make sure to lock your layers and save your document. To view my final project, refer to file Landscape1_9_final.ai. Refer to Figure 13-230.

Figure 13-230.  Lock the layers and view the completed image The project is complete, and you can close any open files.

 raph Tools and 3D Effects for Creating G Beginner Infographics As a final thought, if you enjoyed working with the new 3D effects, make sure to experiment with them if you need to create some infographics for a poster or magazine page. Infographics are similar to designing logos but are meant to inform the public quickly about some statistics or historical event, without their having to do a lot of reading. The focus is on the visual, not text. They can be a bit daunting at first to create, as you must gather information on a topic and then make an illustration to match that data. The visuals need to be informative, but also engaging and interesting to the audience so as to catch their eye and interest instantly. Refer to Figure 13-231.

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Figure 13-231.  Toolbars panel graphing tools One way you can put the data together quickly is to use Illustrator’s graphing tools. While this is a separate topic, you can learn more about how to use these tools and some graphic suggestions at https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/graphs.html.

Project: Coffee Production Infographic Idea However, sometimes the graph you build with the Column Graph tool in a 2D state is not exciting. Refer to Figure 13-232.

Figure 13-232.  A simple column graph example

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However, by applying a few 3D effects, like Extrude or Rotate Plane, to parts of the graph, you can make the information, in this case about coffee production, more interesting. Refer to Figure 13-233.

Figure 13-233.  Infographic column graph with 3D effects In this case I used a number of graphics to add texture to the bar graph to make it look like boxes that are holding coffee beans. Refer to Figure 13-234.

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Figure 13-234.  3D and Materials panel with many graphic symbols added to the Properties area, dragged into place on graph, and reordered in this area as well This is something that I could never do with the 3D Classic effects. The wooden edges of the boxes are all separate 3D rectangles that were rotated into place. Refer to Figure 13-235.

Figure 13-235.  Individual 3D wooden boards

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If you want to look at this file in more detail, you can look at the file coffee_graph_final.ai. While infographics can be complicated to initially research and dream up, Illustrator does make it easy to create them once you have a concept.

Summary 3D effects Extrude & Bevel, Rotate, and Revolve have been a part of Illustrator for some time. However, new and improved features have been added, like Materials and Inflate, that we can use in our illustrations and infographics to create some unique effects. Next, we will look at some other Adobe applications that we can use Photoshop or Illustrator graphics in to take your project to the next level.

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Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps Chapter Goal: This concluding chapter looks at how you can use the content you have created along with this book—or your own projects—using Photoshop or Illustrator later in other Adobe software, and at how to move the assets using either the copy/paste method or the Library panel. So far in this book, we have looked at how to create warps and distorts using the Adobe applications Photoshop and Illustrator. As you have seen throughout the book, you can continue to work between these two applications. Using Illustrator, you can copy and paste Smart Objects layers into a Photoshop file. Refer to Figure 14-1.

Figure 14-1.  Photoshop Paste dialog box for an Illustrator logo set as a Smart Object layer stored in the Layers panel with a layer style of Inner Shadow applied

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_14

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Then, continue on to warp and distort your Illustrator vector graphics as Smart Object layers in Photoshop, whether they be illustrations, logos, or 3D text, and apply layer styles or smart filters with graphics created in either Photoshop or Illustrator. However, there are other Adobe applications to which we can transfer our graphics, and in this chapter I will briefly discuss a few of them, which you may want to explore on your own, as well as some of the methods you can use to do so.

■■Note There are no projects in this chapter. However, I have included a PDF file in the Chapter 14 folder with extra instructions on how to Print an Adobe Illustrator file as a flattened image (.tif) with Photoshop should you run into unwanted thin lines that can appear due to some complex effects. See file Additional_Notes_Illustrator_ Print.pdf.

 orkflow of Photoshop and Illustrator Graphics to Other W Adobe Applications Once you have created your final warped and distorted designs, you need to ask yourself, “How do I plan to display them so that others can view my creations?” The possibilities include the following: •

Print: for a portfolio, art canvas, advertisement, or other document layout

•

3D Designs: to be incorporated into another 3D application

•

Animation: to be used in comical GIF animation or animated instructional infographic

•

EPUB: online document to be viewed on a tablet

•

Web Design or Online Portfolio: your own personal web page, blog, or a client’s social media page, where the graphic will be part of gallery or a GIF animation

•

Video: watermark, logo, or a part of the animated footage or special effect

What you plan to use your artwork for will affect what Adobe application you will choose to complete your project. Refer to Figure 14-2.

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Figure 14-2.  Workflow of various Adobe apps that are included in the Creative Cloud desktop So, on the following pages, I have presented a few Adobe applications that you may want to learn more about, as well some similar warping features those applications possess.

InDesign Once you have gained skills in Photoshop and Illustrator, the next step is to learn how to use InDesign. If your intention is to create a print document or a digital EPUB, then InDesign is a good program in which to design your document layout before you print or export your files. Your (.ai) and (.psd) files can easily be accessed via File ➤ Place and there by linking them to an InDesign document (.indd). Refer to Figure 14-3.

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Figure 14-3.  InDesign app icon and file format for saving files Illustrator and InDesign share many of the same tools and panels, so once you master Illustrator, learning InDesign is quite easy. The one main difference I find is learning how to compose multiple pages on Layers for a document rather than using single artboards. Refer to Figure 14-4.

Figure 14-4.  InDesign’s Tools panel, Layers panel, and Pages panel Some of the similar warping tools and panels that InDesign shares with Illustrator include the following: •

1078

Pen tools (see Chapter 2 to review in Illustrator). Refer to Figure 14-5.

Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-5.  InDesign’s Pen, Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, and Convert Direction Point tools •

Selection and Direct Selection tools: used for moving graphics and linked images. (See Chapter 2 to review in Illustrator.) Refer to Figure 14-6.

Figure 14-6.  InDesign’s Selection and Direct Selection tools •

Type tool and Type on a Path tool (see Chapter 10 to review). Refer to Figure 14-7.

Figure 14-7.  InDesign’s Type tool and Type on a Path tool •

Free Transform tool, Rotate tool, Scale tool, and Shear tool (see Chapter 3). Refer to Figure 14-8.

Figure 14-8.  InDesign’s Free Transform, Rotate, Scale, and Shear tools •

There are also settings similar to those in Illustrator’s Pathfinder panel as well as to its Convert Shape options. (Refer to Chapter 2 to compare to Illustrator Pathfinder options). Refer to Figure 14-9.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-9.  InDesign’s Pathfinder panel •

1080

The Effects panel can be used to add object effect blending modes and opacity to a shape. This is like a combination of Illustrator’s Transparency and Appearances panels. Refer to Chapters 8 and 11 to compare panels. These applied effects can be stored as Object Styles and accessed via that panel, which is like Illustrator’s Graphic Styles panel. Object Styles can affect the object’s stroke, fill, and text. Refer to Figure 14-10.

Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-10.  InDesign’s Effects and Object Styles panels •

Another connective feature between InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator is the CC Libraries panel. When certain styles are applied to text or an object in Illustrator, these graphics can be linked or embedded in the document using this panel. Refer to Figure 14-11.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-11.  InDesign’s CC Libraries panel with new Capture Extract from Image option For more details, refer to this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creative-cloud-libraries-sync-share-assets.html. Recently, InDesign has also added to the CC Libraries panel a new Capture (Ca) feature (Extract from Image) for color themes, shapes, and type. Refer to Figure 14-11 Later, you could turn your work into a PDF (.pdf ) or EPUB (.epub) document for your online portfolio by choosing File ➤Export. Refer to Figure 14-12.

Figure 14-12.  Adobe Acrobat and Digital Editions apps

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

■■Note  You can use Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. However, you will need a tablet or a program like Adobe Digital Editions to view EPUB documents. Digital Editions is not part of the Creative Cloud desktop, but it is free to download from Adobe; you can learn more about it from this link. https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/faq.html

Animate If you enjoy working with GIF and video animations in Photoshop or creating shapes in Illustrator, then Adobe Animate is the next application that you may want to learn. It stores its saved files as (.fla), but later the file can be exported as (.gif ) for GIF animations, in various video formats such as .mp4, or published as a (.oam) file to be used in InDesign and eventually exported as an EPUB document. Refer to Figure 14-13.

Figure 14-13.  Animate app icon and Tools panel Photoshop (.psd) files and Illustrator (.ai) files can be imported into the (.fla) file, or with Illustrator you can use Edit ➤ Copy and Edit ➤ Paste to bring a shape or symbol directly onto the Animate Stage; it is also stored in the Animate Library panel. Refer to Figure 14-14.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-14.  Animate Paste dialog box and Library panel Like Photoshop, Animate uses its Timeline panel to create animations frame by frame and to store layers. Refer to Figure 14-15.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-15.  Animate Timeline panel Animate also has many of the same or similar tools as Photoshop and Illustrator, which you can use to do basic warps to some symbols; these include the following: •

Selection tool (V) and Subselection tool (A), like the Direct Selection tool (see Chapter 2 for Illustrator). Refer to Figure 14-16.

Figure 14-16.  Animate’s Selection and Subselection tools •

Free Transform tool (see Chapter 3). Refer to Figure 14-17.

Figure 14-17.  Animate Free Transform tool •

Width tool for altering strokes (see Chapter 5). Refer to Figure 14-18.

Figure 14-18.  Animate Width tool •

Various brush tools (see Chapter 8 in reference to brushes). Refer to Figure 14-19.

Figure 14-19.  Animate’s Fluid Brush, Classic Brush, and Paint Brush

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

•

Eraser tool (see Chapter 8). Refer to Figure 14-20.

Figure 14-20.  Animate Eraser tool •

Pen tools (see Chapter 2). Refer to Figure 14-21.

Figure 14-21.  Animate’s Pen, Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, and Convert Anchor Point tools •

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Selected symbols can have basic blend and filter effects applied using the Properties panel. Just be aware that complex items may have parts rasterized if they are very detailed when placed on the Animate stage or in the Library panel. Animate cannot render as accurately certain complex details that you may have created in Illustrator or Photoshop, as the animations are meant for a website. Refer to Figure 14-22.

Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-22.  Animate’s Properties with Blend and Filter options and CC Libraries panel •

Animate, like the other mentioned Adobe apps, is connected to the CC Libraries panel, so you can use this panel to add your warped graphics and text to the stage, or add symbols to the Animate Library panel to enhance your animations. Refer to Figure 14-22.

You can learn more about the Animate CC Libraries panel from this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/using/creative-cloud-libraries-stock.html

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

As mentioned, Animate can be used to create animations that can later be used in InDesign to create an EPUB document or added as an animation for your site that you build using Adobe Dreamweaver or even WordPress or another social media page.

Dreamweaver While Dreamweaver may be a bit of a learning curve, as many of the application’s tools are quite different, if you’re planning to create a basic online portfolio with images and GIF animations, it can be a great starting point once you learn a bit of basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create your own custom website. Refer to Figure 14-23.

Figure 14-23.  Dreamweaver app icon Also, like the other Adobe programs, it too has a connection to the CC Libraries panel so that you can transfer some of your graphics in a select file format and link them to the code in your document. Refer to Figure 14-24.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-24.  Dreamweaver CC Libraries panel and conversion setting options for linked or extracted file

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

■■Note Adobe recommends that you do all your color editing and cropping to your graphic files in your native application of Photoshop or Illustrator and no longer supplies these tools in its Properties panel as in past versions.

Saving Exported Files or Assets from Photoshop and Illustrator Regardless of what application you prefer to use to lay out your website, you can use Photoshop and Illustrator to make your image ready for the web. Photoshop and Illustrator can save files such as .png, .jpg, and .gif using the following options within their applications: File ➤ Export ➤ Save For Web (Legacy): In Photoshop, this is good for saving GIF animations as well as the previously mentioned file formats. If this is a topic you are interested in, refer to my books that I mention in the introduction. However, Illustrator will not allow you to export GIF animations; only Photoshop and Animate will (File ➤ Export ➤ Export Animated GIF). File ➤ Export ➤ Export As: This is available in Photoshop and Illustrator. However, in Illustrator you also can use this option to save (.svg) files (Scalable Vector Graphics).

■■Note If in Photoshop you are planning to save a file in the newer (.webp) format, go to File ➤ Save As. Illustrator also has the Asset Export panel, which allows you to save your graphics quickly as small files if you don’t want to save the whole document. As mentioned in Chapter 13, you can also use this panel to export your 3D object OBJ, USDA, and GLTF files. Refer to Figure 14-25.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-25.  Illustrator’s Asset Export panel for creating web or 3D graphics quickly using drag and drop Drag your artwork into this panel and then set your Export Settings before clicking the panel’s Export button at the bottom of the panel. Though not required for this book, if you want to learn more about saving and exporting graphics for the web you can check out my book Graphics and Multimedia for the Web with Adobe Creative Cloud and Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 1.

Other Adobe Applications Keep in mind that graphics you create in Photoshop or Illustrator can be used later in video files in applications like Media Encoder, Premiere Pro, After Effects, or later transferred via Bridge. These apps, except for Media Encoder, all have access to the CC Library panel. Refer to Figure 14-26.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-26.  Adobe app icons for Media Encoder, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Bridge, and the Bridges Libraries panel

■■Note Another alternative is to copy your illustrator drawings into Character Animator, which is similar to Animate; however, it does not appear that this application has access to the CC Libraries panel yet. Refer to Figure 14-27. For more details on this application, you can review this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/ adobe-character-animator/user-guide.html.

Figure 14-27.  Adobe app icons for Character Animator and Fresco

Fresco, as well, is an application that you may want to use to add additional painterly effects to your Photoshop files as well as work with basic animations. Refer to Figure 14-27 and this link: https://www.adobe.com/products/fresco.html For creating further warps and distorts in 3D beyond what you did in Chapter 13, make sure to check out the Adobe Substance Collection, which has been added to the Creative Cloud desktop, as many of the 3D Photoshop features have been migrated there. Refer to Figure 14-2 and Figure 14-28.

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Chapter 14 ■ Using Your Warped Designs Between Other Adobe Apps

Figure 14-28.  Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps of Aero, Substance 3D Painter, Sampler, Designer, and Stager Some of these apps you can try as part of a trial, but you will have to pay extra for on your Creative Cloud subscription. The Dimension App, refer to Figure 14-2, is similar to Substance 3D Stager, and you can learn more about that at this link: https://community.adobe.com/t5/dimension-discussions/introducing-adobe-substance-3d-stagerand-dimension-update/m-p/12134595/page/3. Refer to this link if you want more information on Adobe Substance 3D Modeler: https://www.adobe.com/products/substance3d-modeler.html

Summary This concludes this book. I hope that you enjoyed learning about how to create some unusual transformations in Illustrator as well as some ideas on what additional Adobe applications, including Photoshop, you need to learn about to take your next graphics project to its completion. If you enjoyed these topics, please make sure to check out my other books from Apress as well.

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Index

„„         A Accurate Layer Selections Using Photoshop’s Selection Tools (book), 10 Accurate Layers Selections (book), 18 Acumin Variable Concept, 649 Adobe Animate, 321 animate width tool, 1085 brush tools, 1085 CC Libraries panel, 1087 create animations, 1088 eraser tool, 1086 free transform tool, 1085 icon and Tools panel, 1083 InDesign, 1088 library panel, 1084 paste dialog box, 1084 pen tools, 1086 properties with blend and filter options, 1086, 1087 selection and subselection tools, 1085 timeline panel, 1084, 1085 Adobe Illustrator 3D object paths, 3 graphics, 2 resources, 3 shapes and paths, 3 system requirements, 4 tools, 1 Align panel, 62, 111, 326, 404, 658 Alt/Option-drag another copy, 171, 172, 174, 177 Anchor Point tool, 38, 44–49, 299, 520, 535, 536, 609, 614, 615, 618, 624, 658, 684 Angled Strokes, 799 Appearance panel, 23, 452–455, 970 Duplicate Selected Item button, 449, 450 fills and strokes, 447–449, 451 gradient fill, 455, 456 Mezzotint, 450, 451 modifications, 446 pattern blending, 456

Area type tool add additional placeholder text, 681 area type options, 674 align, 679 colums, 675, 676 first baseline, 678 inset spacing, 677 offset, 677 options, text flow and preview, 679 review result, 680 rows, 675 set rows and columns, 676, 677 width and height, 675 control panel alignment, 669, 670 reduce font size, 673 Direct Selection tool, 672 expand type area, selection tool, 673 highlight text, 673 path to create an area, 671 point type convert, 669 polygon tool, create polygon, 671 text wrap around a shape (see Text wrap around a shape, type area) threaded text, 681, 682 toolbars panel tools, 670 type, 668 Arrowheads, 239–241 Artboard, 1, 6, 39, 40, 43, 82, 100, 110, 117–124, 142, 148, 154, 191, 214, 289, 318, 320, 321, 326, 327, 436, 551, 559 Background layer, 132 blank document, 116, 117 Control panel, 119, 120 create layer, 126 deselect path, 147 drawing setting, 129, 130 Editing mode, 118, 119 exiting, 124 fill color, 129, 131

© Jennifer Harder 2022 J. Harder, Perspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0

1095

■ INDEX

Artboard (cont.) ground area, 130 guide selection, 127 Guides layer, 127, 128 landscape, 127 Landscape, 120–122 Layer Options dialog box, 125 Layers panel, 125 paper sizes, 123 preset setting, 116, 122, 123 preset sizes, 123 Properties panel, 119, 120, 128–130 rectangle tool, 128 Rectangle tool, 117, 118 renaming, layer, 126 rulers, 117, 126, 127 setting, 123, 124 Smart Guides, 117 strokes color, 129, 131 View menu, 131 zoom out, 147 Art brush, 438, 576–578, 585 Artistic effects, 790 Asset Export panel, 26, 1057, 1090, 1091

„„         B Background fill, 447 Blending complex group objects Blend Options, 307 colors blending, 308 control panel, 307 EmojiOne Color font, 307 marquee, 309 paths and shapes, 306 patterns/gradients, 309, 310 selection tool, 307 Selection tool, 308 Blend Options Align to Path, 298 Anchor Point tool, 299 dialog box, 296, 300 Direct Selection tool, 299 objects Expand, 300, 301 Replace Spine, 302 Reverse Front to Back, 303 Reverse Spine, 303 Orientation, 298 Smooth Color, 296 Specified Distance, 297 Specified Steps, 296 Blend tool description, 293 menus, 295

1096

options, 296 option settings, 294 scaling blends, 304 shapes, 293, 294 and symbols, 310 Toolbars panel, 293 Bloat tool grouped object, 260 object and path expansion, 259 Options dialog box, 261 default settings, 263 Detail, 262 Global Brush Dimensions settings, 262 reset settings, 263 Selection tool, 263 Simplify, 262, 263 Selection tool, 260 Blowing in the Wind project adding additional bushes, 348 adding multiple blend tools, 343–347 adding Posts, 333–340 adding shadow, 188 add posts, 331 bushes layer, 187, 331 creating rows with blend tool, 341–343 Direct Selection tool, 197, 198 editing symbol instances, 349, 350 Free Transform tool, 196 rectangular marquee, 199 Rotate tool, 190, 191 selection tool, 189 Selection tool, 191–194 Shapes Modes, 195, 196 sun layer, 187 Blowing in the Wind project, 3D effects Bevel option, 1063, 1064 Bevel toggle off, 1060, 1066, 1067 depth and cap, 1060 3D Type Extrude icon, 1062 Extrude & Bevel, 1059 house layer, 1058, 1068 landscape project, 1057 lock layers, 1070 new paths add to house layer, 1058 review, 1067 rotation, 1064, 1065 rotation settings, 1060, 1061 selection tool, select chimney, 1066 selection tool, select roof, 1061, 1062 select yellow rectangle, Selection tool, 1059 set cap, 1063 set depth, 1063, 1066 set rotation, 1067 shadow, transparency/control panels, 1069

■ INDEX

turn on visibility, Windows/Door Shadow layer, 1068 view final project, 1070 zoom tool, 1058 Blue Octagon Star Pattern, 367, 383 Blur effects gaussian, 826, 827 options, 825 radial, 827–831 selection tool, 826 smart, 831–833 Brick by Row and Brick by Column, 371, 372, 407 Bristle brush, 438, 579, 580 Broken symbols, 319 Brush Definitions, 60, 83, 225, 241, 242, 286, 288, 444, 634 Brushes library, 204, 205 Brushes panel, 19, 203 art brush, 438 colorization settings, 578, 579 creation, 576, 577 warning message, 577, 578 blending modes, 576 Blob brush tool, 581 borders creation, 435 bristle brush, 438, 579, 580 calligraphic brush, 437, 575, 576 Control panel, 576 Eraser tool, 581, 582 New Brush button, 436, 437 opacity settings, 579 Options panel, 439 Pattern Brush, 438, 575, 581 scatter brushes, 437 colorization settings, 578, 579 creation, 576, 577 warning message, 577, 578 Selection tool, 435 tools links, 581 Transparency panel, 582 Brush Strokes effects, 798, 799 Bubble wand project, symbolism tools bubble wand and bubbles illustration, 889 Graphic Styles creation, symbols, 914–918 Graphic Styles panel, 911 select symbols move farther away, cursor, 901 symbolism tool options dialog box, 901 symbol screener tool, 909 Symbol Scruncher tool toolbars panel, 900 symbol shifter tool, 897–899 symbol sizer tool, 902–905 symbols panel, 889 symbol spinner tool, 905, 906 Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift +S), 889–896

symbol stainer tool, 906–908 symbol styler tool, 911–913

„„         C Calligraphic brush, 437, 575, 576 Capture pattern customization altering colors, 427 (see Colors modification) Artboard, 422 bitmap PNG pattern, 423 Color Guide panel, 421 colors setting, 424–426 Expand button, 426 Image Trace panel, 421, 423 Selection tool, 421 warning message, 424 CMYK yellow swatch, 447 Colored Pencil, 791, 792 Color Guide panel, 11, 17, 18, 421, 427, 435 Color panel, 11, 15–17, 57, 58, 220, 531, 532, 536–540 Colors modification Artboard, preview, 433 Color Guide panel, 427 Color Picker panel, 432 current color collections, 431 Current Colors, 429 new color, 431 new replacement color, 432 Pattern Options panel, 434 preview, 428 Recolor Artwork, 427, 428, 430 Recolor Artwork dialog box, 432 Selection tool, 433 Transform panel, 435 Column Graph tool, 1071 Comments panel, 27 Constrain and free transform, 183–185 Cont^e Crayon, or Conté, 810 Control Panel Options align, 326 anchor points, 69–72 opacity, 324 paths, 57–65 recolor artwork, 325 shape tool, 84–88 symbol registration point, 326 Control/properties panel options, Type tool align options, 658 Artboard, 635 change font size, 643, 644 change text color, 661, 662 character color, 636 character options, 634 character panel settings, 646

1097

■ INDEX

Control/properties panel options, Type tool (cont.) baseline shift, 648 character rotation, 649 horizontal scale, 648 open type panel, 652 single character, horizontal scale, 648 variable font, 649–651 vertical scale, 647 vertical scale, single character, 647 character rotation, 649 character settings, 640, 646 current character settings, 635, 636 dashed stroke, 639 filters, specific font family, 641 flip the type, 660 font family field, 640 font style update, 642 font style within the font family, 642 Glyphs panel, 662–664 locate additional character settings, 645 locate font style, 643 Make Envelope feature Anchor Point tool, 658 direct selection tool, 658 warp options, control panel, 657 new font family, 642 opacity setting, highlighted type, 637 paragraph option (see Type tool paragraph option) recolor artwork option, 638 Reset Panel character, 664, 665 open type panel, 664, 665 paragraph, 664, 665 Selection tool, 638, 640 set preview text, 642 settings, 632–634 stroke color, highlighted type, 637 stroke panel, dashed-line stroke enable, 639 stroke weight, 639 Transform panel, 659–661 Copies section, 377 Create New Layer button, 110, 126, 207, 224, 527 Creative Cloud desktop, 4, 881, 882, 1077, 1092, 1093 Crosshatch, 799 Crystallize tool adding sharp angles, 272 grouped star points, 273 Options dialog box, 274, 275 bloating effect, 276 Brush Affects Anchor Points, 276 Brush Affects In Tangent Handles, 276 Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles, 276 Complexity, 276 Detail, 276

1098

Global Brush Dimensions settings, 276 grouped star points, 278 reset setting, 276, 277 Selection tool, 273, 274 Curvature tool path add points, 50, 51 closing, 50 creation, 50 straight path, 51 Pen tool, 51, 52 points corner, 51 cornered/curved, 52 deletion, 51

„„         D 3D and materials (3D Classic) effect menu settings, 961, 962 Extrude & Bevel (Classic) Bevel list, 997 box surface plastic shading options, 999 Cap settings, 997 closed shapes, 993 dialog box alert message, 998 effect menu settings, 993 Extrude & Bevel options, 996 Extrude Depth, 996 Extruded rectangle, 996 height and bevel extent settings, 998 Map Art, 999–1002 More Options settings, 994, 995 Perspective setting, 996, 997 revolve (Classic) (see Revolve (Classic)) rotate (Classic) (see Rotate (Classic)) Taper and Twist, 1030, 1031, 1038, 1050 3D and materials object tab custom rotation preset, 1007, 1008 expand as a wireframe, 1009 presets, 1007 preview, 1006 Rotate Freeform, 1009 setting, 1006 3D and materials panel, 1004 alert message, 1005 coffee cup example, 1005 effect, 1003 Extrude & Bevel (see Extrude & Bevel, 3D and Materials panel) graphic symbols, 1073 inflate (see Inflate, 3D and materials panel) materials, 1026, 1027 options, 1003 revolve

■ INDEX

appearance panel, 1036 with Bevel unavailable, 1032 cap option, 1032 effect, 1027 lighting tab, 1035 materials tab, 1033, 1034 Offset Direction From option, 1031 offset settings, 1031 open path, 1027, 1028 preset settings, 1032 render tab, 1036 revolve angle, 1029, 1030 revolve settings, 1029 rotate 3D and materials object tab, 1006–1010 lighting tab, 1019–1023 materials tab (see Materials tab) render tab, 1024, 1025 select object with Selection tool, 1005 Dark Strokes, 802 3D Classic effects, 1070, 1072, 1073 Delete Instances, 319 Diffuse Glow, 803 Digital EPUB, 1077 Dim Copies to, 378 Direct Selection tool, 1, 12, 13, 37, 43, 45, 54, 181, 182, 197, 299, 336, 347, 658, 671, 672, 684, 690, 722, 727, 953 anchor point, 67, 68 Backspace/Delete key, 68 Control panel options alignment, 71 anchors, 69, 70 convert, 69 corners, 70, 71 handles, 69 width/height, 71, 72 X and Y coordinates, 71 Properties panel, 72 Shift + Click, 68 Distort & transform bloat, 743, 744 free distort, 742 pucker, 743, 744 roughen, 744, 745, 747 settings, 741, 747–749 tweak, 749, 750, 752–754 zig zag, 755–757 Distort Effects, 802 Document’s Symbols panel, 327 Dreamweaver CC Libraries panel, 1088, 1089 icon, 1088 save export files, Photoshop and Illustrator, 1090, 1091

Drop Shadow, 767, 768, 784, 841, 912, 971 Dry Brush, 793, 794 Duplicated symbol, 319 Dynamic symbols, 316, 317

„„         E Effect filters effect menu, 733–737 illustrator, 738 Ellipse tool, 89, 90, 154, 158, 205, 362 Envelope distorts, objects and type commands, 595 control panel options, envelope mesh direct selection tool, 614, 615 Distort menu, 616 Edit Envelope, 613 expand the mesh, 617 mesh tool, 614 reset envelope shape button, 615, 616 reset with mesh, 617 toolbars panel mesh tool, 613 envelope mesh grouped object, 613 Selection tool, 612 Envelope Options dialog box, 596 Anti-Alias setting, 596, 597 Clipping Mask and Transparency options, 597 Distort Appearance setting, 597 Distort Linear Gradient Fills, 597, 598 Distort Pattern Fills, 598 fidelity setting, 597 preview enable and the OK and Cancel buttons, 598 envelope warp tool, control panel options Edit Content, 607 edit envelope, 606 Edit Envelope option, 607 expand the mesh, 610 Preserve Shape, 606 release the mesh, 609 reset with mesh, 608 reset with warp, 607, 608 sub-menu, 607 make with mesh warp type, 618 make with top object grouped pattern with heart below, 618 grouped shapes, 619 selection tool, 618, 619 warning message, 620 make with warp, 599 Arc for the enveloped object, 600 arc with horizontal and vertical settings, 601

1099

■ INDEX

Envelope distorts, objects and type (cont.) bend settings, 602, 603 colorful shapes and type with pattern within, 598 flag setting, 604, 605 Inflate setting with Horizontal and Vertical options, 604 selection tool, 599 with Style options, 600 Vertical and Horizontal distortion sliders, 602, 603 top object, control panel options anchor point tool, 624 copy heart above the type layer, 622 direct selection tool, 624, 627, 628 edit contents, 620, 621 envelope options, 620, 621 envelope release and envelope expand with heart path, 621 envelope setting, 624 heart and type in outline view, 623 heart and type selection, 623 heart path below a type layer, 622 layers panel, opacity mask mode, 629 masks with envelope warps, 629 options menu, 621 Pattern within a rectangular shape, top of the tent, 625, 626 pen tool, 626, 627 tent with an envelope mesh pattern, 625 transparency panel with opacity mask, 629 type warped, warp options, 611 Envelope Warp tool, 605, 606, 617, 625, 629, 699 Envelope Warp Type control panel coordinate settings, 706–713 edit envelope mode, 706, 708, 710, 712, 715 font family, Rosewood Std, 705 Make with Warp, 705, 707, 709, 711, 714 text, 705 type area, 713 warped text, 706, 708, 710, 712, 715 warp options dialog box, 706 properties panel coordinate settings, 715 select text, selection tool, 704, 707, 709, 711, 713 warp options dialog box, 708, 710, 712, 714 Warp Text layer, layers panel, 715 Essentials Classic workspace, 15 Expand Instance (Unlink), 319 Extrude & Bevel, 3D and materials panel Bevel both sides options, 1042 cap section, 1038 classic setting, 1042, 1043

1100

3D type option, 1038 effect, 1037 height preview, 1040 inside options, 1042 lighting tab, 1046 materials tab, 1044, 1045 perspective settings, 1044 render tab, 1047 repeat preview, 1040, 1041 rotate and preset options, 1044 select rectangle, 1037 settings, 1039 shape options, 1039 space, 1041 text, 1047 width preview, 1040 Eyedropper tool, 143–145, 220, 508, 513, 841

„„         F Free Distort, 186, 196, 316, 389, 390, 742, 896 Freeform gradient add points, 512 backspace/delete key, 508, 509 color stop add stops, 510 change color, 507, 508 location, 509, 510 create document, 506 drawing point/lines, 507 draw setting, 510 Edit Gradient button, 512 Esc key, 511 Eyedropper tool, 508, 513 fill, 506 Gradient panel, 506, 509 lines setting/cursor changes, 510, 511 opacity, 511 open/closed paths, 506 solid/gradient fill, 507 Symbols panel, 514 Trashcan icon, 508, 509 Undo, 513 visibility, 512, 513 Wolf girl images, 514 girl’s face, 514, 515 girl’s nose/chin/neck, 514, 516 skintones, 516, 517 Free Transform tool, 389, 390, 742 constrain and free transform, 183, 184 Free Distort, 186 options, 183 perspective distort, 185 Fresco, 795, 1092

■ INDEX

„„         G Gaussian Blur, 826, 827 Girl at the farm project adding line Arrange menu, 163, 164 locking layers, 164 Mountains/Foreground layers, 163 Properties panel, 163 stroke color, 163 Artboard (see Artboard) blowing dandelion seeds, wind, 115 brush tool art brush, 585 blending mode, 583, 586 Blob Brush tool, 587, 588, 590 brush library, 584 Color Burn, 589 Control panel, 583, 584, 586, 587 create gradient, 588 Direct Selection tool, 583 Eraser tool, 587, 588, 590 face parts, 589 Girl layer, 583, 592 opacity, 583, 584, 591, 592 shadow settings, 590, 591 shadows/highlights, 583 Skintones library, 588 Transparency panel, 587 watercolor/transparent effect, 585, 586 documents, copying/pasting Edit menu, 152 Landscape1_start document, 152 Layer 3, 150 Layers panel, 151 Main menu, 151 Mountains and Foreground, 153 paths, 152, 153 Select menu, 151 Ellipse tool, Sun atmospheric distortion, 155 create layer, 154 landscape, 156 Mountains/Foreground layers, 154 Properties panel, 154, 155 renaming/locking, 155, 156 set color, 154, 155 star tool, 155 grouped paths create/renaming layer, 160 Girl layer, 162 girl_trace.ai, 157 outline mode, 157, 158 pasting girl, 161 Selection tool, 158, 159 X/Y coordinates, 161, 162

linear gradient, 478 adding layers, 479 adding symbols, 491 Appearance panel, 481–483, 485, 489 Atmosphere layer, 487, 488, 491 Background layer, 484, 487 Clouds layer, 493 Gradient panel, 481, 482, 490 Guides layer, 488, 490 Middle Mountain Gradient, 482 Mountains/Foreground layers, 480, 484 naming, 478, 479 new gradient color, 486 Properties panel, 488, 489 Rectangle tool/Color panel, 488 Right Mountain Gradient, 481 Selection tool, 480, 482 sky angle, 486, 487 Symbol Editing mode, 491–493 Line Segment tool black stroke, 148 create lines, 147, 148 stroke color, 149 stroke weight, 148–150 Mesh tool Color panel, 538, 539 Direct Selection tool, 540 flowers/grasses, 548, 549 flowers_mesh_start.ai, 525 grid, 530 Layers panel, 525, 526 locked layers, 550, 551 Mesh Finals layer, 527, 528 mesh lines, 535, 536 mesh point, 529, 530, 538, 540 petals, 526 poppies, 525–527 stem, 541–543 Swatches panel, 538, 539 symbol libraries, 549 symbols, 550 Toolbars panel, 529 petals Color panel, 538 Color panel’s sliders, 536, 537 Colors, 530–532 mesh points, 534, 535 New Swatch dialog box, 533 red-black color, 536, 537 Selection tool, 528, 534, 536 Swatches panel, 533 poppies copying, 544–548 creation, 543, 544 grouping, 543, 544 making/grouping, 544

1101

■ INDEX

Girl at the farm project (cont.) radial gradient Appearance panel, 503, 505 aspect ratio, 504 color stops, 504 opacity settings, 504 save document, 505 Selection tool, 503 sun, 502–505 shading/paths/gradients, 157 template/locked layers Arrange menu, 145–147 deselect path, 142 Direct Selection tool, 136 Eyedropper tool, 143, 144 layer 3, tracing, 137, 138 Layer Options dialog box, 137 layers panel, 133 Mountains/Foreground layers, 143 mountains_foreground_trace.ai, 132 outline mode, 138 overlapping, 145 Pen tool, 134, 135, 138, 139 select paths, 140, 141 stop path, 137 stroke, Swatches panel, 135, 136 template setting, 133, 134 Tool Options button, 145 traced areas, 140 uses, 133 transparency panel bushes layer, 571, 575 Control panel, 573 Direct Selection tool, 572 grouped bush, 574 opacites, 574 posts, 574 shadow, 573 Symbols panel, 571 Glyphs panel, 662–664 Gradients Delete Swatch icon, 461, 462 freeform gradient (see Freeform gradient) Gradient tool panel, 517 linear gradient (see Linear gradient) radial gradient (see Radial gradient) Show Options, 462 Swatches panel, 457, 458 Swatch Libraries gems/jewels, 460, 461 sub menu, 460 Toolbars panel Mesh tool, 517 setting, 459, 460

1102

Shape tools/Pen tool, 458 stroke, 458, 459 uses, 457, 593 Gradients panel, 21, 22, 472, 490, 498 Gradient tool, 21, 99, 457–462, 465–474, 477, 495–502, 506, 517 Graphics tab, 1012, 1016 Graphic Style libraries, 24, 844, 850, 914 Graphic Styles creation, symbols appearance panel, 915 Blob Brush library, 914, 915 control panel, 916 deselect the symbol set, 914 effects in appearance panel, 917 symbol sets, 914 Graphic Styles panel, 23, 24, 970, 1025 adding texture, blowing wind project appearance panel, 856, 862, 866, 869 gallery grain effect settings, 863, 866, 870, 873 gallery sponge effect settings, 864 grain texture, 858, 860 house layer, 880 Mountain and Foreground layer, 853, 871 roughen effect, 876–878, 880 select ellipse, 874 selection tool, 854, 857, 871, 872 sponge settings, 855 appearance panel, 839, 840 break line, 845 creative cloud desktop, 881, 882 default graphic style, 847–849 eyedropper tool, 841, 842 gradients, 850, 851 menu options, 844 settings, 843 strokes, 839 symbols, 851, 852 Graphing tools, 1071 Grid, 66, 101, 105–107, 109, 370 Grid Repeat Control panel and Properties panel, 404, 405 Flip Columns, 408 Flip Rows, 407 Grid type, 406, 407 horizontal spacing, 405 vertical spacing, 406 Group Selection tool, 54, 220, 447 Control panel, 74–76 path grouping, 73 moving, 73, 74 ungrouping, 73

■ INDEX

Properties panel, 74, 75 question mark/blank area, 75 Shift + Click, 76 uses, 72

„„         H Hand Tool (H), 12, 14, 124, 136, 333, 528, 704, 790, 871, 954 Hexagons, 358, 359, 366, 670, 739, 740 Hex by Column and Hex by Row, 371, 372 Horizontal scale, 646, 648 H Spacing/V Spacing, 374, 377, 434

„„         I Illustrator, 733, 1075 Illustrator artwork, 1 Illustrator effects apply different effects, 783–785 covert to shape, 738–740 crop marks, 740 3D and materials, 738 distort/tranform, 741 path, 757–759 Pathfinder panel, 759–764 rasterize, 765, 766 stylize, 767 SVG filters, 778–780 warp, 781–783 Illustrator panels Appearance, 23 Artboard Export, 26 Asset Export, 26 Brushes, 19 color Guide panel, 17, 18 color panel, 15, 16 Comments panel, 27 control panel, 15 Gradients, 21 Graphic Styles, 23, 24 Layers, 24, 25 libraries panel, 28–30 Properties panel, 28 Stroke, 20 swatches, 18, 19 Symbols, 19 toolbars panel, 12–15 Transparency, 22, 23 Illustrator’s Libraries panel, 414 Illustrator Smart Objects, 2, 35 Image Trace panel, 421, 424, 425, 435 InDesign, 1078 Adobe Acrobat, 1082 CC Libraries panel, 1081, 1082

Digital Editions apps, 1082 effects and object styles panels, 1080, 1081 Free Transform tool, 1079 Illustrator, 1078 layers panel, 1078 pages panel, 1078 Pathfinder panel, 1079, 1080 Pen tools, 1078, 1079 Rotate tool, 1079 scale tool, 1079 Selection and Direct Selection tools, 1079 shear tool, 1079 tools panel, 1078 Type tool and Type, Path tool, 1079 Inflate, 3D and materials panel appearance panel with 3D effect, graphic styles panel, 1054 cap, 1051, 1052 3D effects, 1055, 1056 effects, 1048 inflate both sides option, 1050, 1051 lighting tab, 1053, 1054 object set, depth and volume values, 1050 opacity, control panel, 1056, 1057 paste illustrator into Photoshop as Smart Object layers, 1055 perspective settings, 1053 rotation presets, 1053 select object, Selection tool, 1049 type with 3D inflate effect, 1055 Infographic column graph, 3D effects, 1072 Infographics, 1070, 1074 Intertwine, 412

„„         J, K Juggling clown circus tent poster (project) Envelope Warp Type (see Envelope Warp Type) fix hollow text issues control panel to white fill color, selected text, 722 copy text, outline state, 719 expand dialog box, 718 lock Warp Text layer, 717 paste copy text layer, 717 Pathfinder panel, 720, 721 select main text, 716 unlock Background to Type layer, 717 Warp Text layer, 718, 723 hand tool, 704 layers in layers panel, 704 layers panel, 703 Type on a Path layer (see Type on a Path layer) zoom tool, 704

1103

■ INDEX

„„         L

„„         M

Layers panel, 24, 25, 36, 110, 112, 113 Libraries panel, 28–30 Capture pattern (see Capture pattern customization) custom patterns creation, 412 Extract from Image/Adobe Capture, 413 extracting Photoshop patterns, 415–420 Photoshop documents, 412, 413 Photoshop Patterns.cclibs library importing, 414, 415 Lighting tab, 1035, 1046, 1053, 1054 3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate), 1019 presets, 1020 preview, 1023 settings, 1020, 1021, 1023 shadow settings distance, object and shadow bounds, 1021, 1022 ground position, 1021 Linear gradient Edit gradient, 465, 466 fill/stroke Fading Sky, 463 options, 464, 465 Reverse Gradient button, 464 swapping, 464 updation, 463, 464 and Gradient panel, 463 Gradient tool (G) add color, 472, 473 angle, 466–468 color/color picker, 470 color stops/midpoint slider, 469, 472 Delete Stop, 473 naming, 474 new color setting, 470, 471 opacity/location, 470, 471 rotation, 467 saving, 473, 474 scale/move, 466, 467 Swatches panel, 469, 470 text box/dropdown list, 468, 469 undo, 473 white diamond-shaped slider, 472 strokes Apply Gradient, 475, 476 creation, 475 dashed, 476 Gradient tool, 477 Selection tool, 477 settings, 476 type, 465 Liquify tools, 285, 744, 749, 755, 886, 887

Map Art, 983 adjust object’s path with Direct Selection tool, 991 appearance panel, 989, 1001 3D Extrude & Bevel Options (Classic) dialog box, 999 3D Extrude and Bevel (Classic) type example, 1002 3D revolve options (Classic) dialog box, 982 fill/stroke color, Control panel, 991, 1002 grouped open paths, 992 Invisible Geometry, 988 move art on the surface, 985 object with map art preview, 986 object with settings appearance panel, 990 graphic style panel, 990 open paths, 991, 992 Scale to Fit button, 986, 987 Shade Artwork (slower), 987, 988 symbol apply to face, 1000 symbol setting, 984 view result, 989 Materials tab, 1033, 1034, 1044, 1045 additional parameters, 1015 add materials and file format, 1012 add single and multiple graphics symbols, 1012, 1013 3D and Materials panel Plane (Rotate), 1010, 1011 default material and base properties, 1016 delete graphic button, 1014 drag to lengthen panel, 1011 graphics tab, 1016, 1017 main parameters, 1015 material selection, 1014 move/scale/rotate select graphic on object, 1017, 1018 remove graphic, properties area, 1018 Media Encoder, 1091, 1092 Mesh tool, 517 Anchor Point tool, 520 create document, 517 Gradient mesh Appearance settings, 521 expanding, 522, 523 mesh points, 522 options, 521, 522 path, 523, 525 results, 523 mesh patches, 519 mesh points altration, 520

1104

■ INDEX

dit colors, 519 faded, 519 setting, 519 removing parts, 521 Selection tool, 517, 518 Swatches panel, 518 Mezzotint pattern, 450, 451 Mine Gradient Shadow, 843 Mirror Repeat, 408–410 Move (Selection Tool), 168, 169

„„         N New history panel, 36

„„         O Opacity mask, 22, 557, 559–565, 568, 569, 629, 637 Orientation, 6, 117, 118, 234, 298, 300, 311, 666, 667

„„         P, Q Paint Daubs, 793, 794 Palette Knife, 793, 794 Pathfinder panel menu, 113 options, 114 shapes modes/expand button, 113, 114 shapes/paths, 113 Pattern Brush, 438, 439 Pattern Brush Options panel colorization, 442, 443 corner tile options, 441 fit, 442 flip, 442 Rectangle tool, 444, 445 scaling adjustment, 440 Show Auto-Generated Corner Tiles, 440 spacing, 440 stroke weight changing, 445, 446 tile setting, 440 Pattern Editing mode blue hexagon pattern, 366 changes and exit, 380 icons, 366 Layers panel, 365 Pattern Options (see Pattern Options panel) pattern scaling (see Pattern scaling) Pattern Options panel, 366 adjusting area, 369 Brick Offset options, 372 change scaling increments, 376 dragging new tile, 369 History panel, 369 menu with the object, 367

Move Tile with Art, 375 naming, 367, 368 negative spacing, 375, 376 Overlap options, 376, 377 Pattern Tile tool, 368, 370 preview, 377–379 settings review, 379, 380 Show Swatch Bounds, 379 Size Tile to Art option, 373, 374 Tile Type options, 370 Brick by Row and Brick by Column, 371 grid, 370, 371 Hex by Column and Hex by Row, 371 Tile Type setting, 370 width and height setting, 373 Patterns application fields, 357 designers, 357 swatches panel (see Swatches panel, patterns) Pattern scaling faded pattern, 385 Move Tile with Art, 383 saving copy, 383 Selection tool, 382 shape’s fill and stroke, 384, 385 Size Tile to Art, 383 Swatches panel, 381 Pattern Tile tool, 368 PDF Compatible File, 33 Pen tools, 37, 38, 972 Alt/Option key, 42 Anchor Point tool, 44 adding point, 45 adjusting path, 48 Alt/Option key, 49 corner to smooth, 47 curved to corner, 47 path, 47 path direction, 48 straight/curved sides, 47, 48 untangling, 48, 49 uses, 47 warning message, 45 create points, 41 curves, 41, 42 Delete Anchor Point tool, 45, 46 fill/stroke colors, 52, 53 Layers panel, 39 path closing, 42, 43 creation, 40 join points, 44 opening, 43 ruler measurement increments, 38, 39 Shift key, 40

1105

■ INDEX

Pen tools (cont.) Smart Guides, 38, 39 white fill/black stroke, 39, 40 Perspective Grid tool Active Plane widget, 941 Horizontal Grid, 944 and Rectangle tool, 947 Active Plane widget, 944 Active Plan widget with no active grid, 945 Artboard, 941 city scene create, 955 Control panel, 947 perspective object, 960 rectangular grid, 952 current window and grid setting, 954 direct selection tool, 953 grid options dialog box, 946 grids intersection, 946 perspective commands attach to active plane, 957, 958 edit text/edit symbol, 959–961 move plane to match object, 958, 959 release with perspective, 958 rectangle tool, 942, 945, 947 rectangular grid tool, 951 Right Grid, 930, 935, 937, 943 Selection tool, 944, 947, 955 Skyscraper City Scene (see Skyscraper City Scene (project)) Toolbars panel, 923, 924 Perspective Selection tool, 933 Grid Options dialog box, 946 left grid, 948, 949 location field, 950 scale and move objects, 949 Toolbars panel, 923, 924 vanishing plane dialog box, 950 window selection, 948 Photoshop blending modes, 553, 556 Curvature Pen tool, 49 Direct Selection tool, 67 gradients, 457 layers panel, 552 masks/art, 560 Pathfinder options, 112 Pen tools, 38 shape tools, 80 Smart Object layer, 556 Photoshop and Illustrator graphics, adobe applications Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps, 1093 Adobe Substance 3D Modeler, 1093 After Effects, 1091, 1092

1106

Animate, 1083–1088 Bridge, 1091, 1092 Character Animator, 1092 Dreamweaver, 1088–1091 Fresco, 1092 InDesign, 1077–1082 Media Encoder, 1091, 1092 possibilities, 1076 Premiere Pro, 1091, 1092 workflow, 1077 Photoshop effects appearance panel, edit effects, 818, 820–824 blur, 825 effect gallery, 788 artistic effects, 790–792, 794, 796–798 brush strokes effects, 798, 799, 801, 802 distort effects, 802–805 illustrator, 788 selection tool, 789 sketch, 806–811 stylize, 812 texture, 812–817 workspace, 790 menu, 786 pixelate, 833 raster image, 786, 787 Smart Object layers, 785 video, 825 Photoshop layer styles definition, 767 drop shadow, 767, 768 feather, 769 illustrator effects, 772 inner glow, 769, 770 layout, 767 outer glow, 771 round corners, 772, 773 scribble, 773, 775–777 Photoshop (.psd) files, 34 Photoshop Puppet Warp tool adding pins, 218, 219 grouped object, 217 Illustrator Vector Smart Object layer, 221 .psd file, 221 Smart Filter, 219 Smart Object layer, 217, 218, 220 Photoshop Selections book, 2 Pins, 211, 212 Pixilated/raster images, 1 Pixelate effects colorful halftone, 834, 835 crystallize, 835, 836 mezzotint, 837 pointillize, 838, 839 selection tool, 834 sub-menu options, 833

■ INDEX

Place Symbol, 327 Plastic Wrap, 797 Polygon tool, 670, 671 Control panel options shape properties, 93 transform, 93, 94 creation, 91, 92 diamond slider, 92, 93 Properties panel, 94 Premiere Pro, 1091, 1092 Preserves Exact Dash Gaps and Lengths, 239 Properties panel, 28 path adjusting scale, 76, 77 flipping, 79 scale corners, 79 scale strokes/effects, 79 Pucker tool options brush size, 256 default settings, 258 Detail, 257 reset settings, 258 Simplify, 257, 258 Selection tool, 255, 258 squeezing/pinching, 255 Toolbars panel, 255 Puppet Warp tool, 199, 886, 887 Expand Mesh, 209, 210 grouped object, 201 Illustrator, 207 Layers panel, 207 mandala pattern select, 207, 208 non-warped objects, 215 Original Copy layer, 207 pins adding, 210, 211 Delete/Backspace key, 212 deselecting, 211, 212 dragging, 212, 213 mesh, 213 rotate preview, 211 selecting multiple pins, 211 projects (see Warped Mandala T-shirt art project) Properties/Control panel, 209 Selection tool, 214 shape warping, 214 symbols, 216 Toolbars panel, 201, 208

„„         R Radial Blur, 827–831 Radial gradient

create document, 494 fill, 494 Gradient tool (G) angle, 496 aspect ratio, 497, 498 Gradients panel, 498 graphic style, 500 new origin location, 499 renaming, 500 rotation circle, 496 scaling, 495, 497 shape’s fill, 495 Swatches panel, 499 stroke, 494, 500–502 Radial Repeat Control panel, 393, 401, 402 grouped object, 393 number of instances, 393 Pattern Editing mode, 397, 400 Pattern Options panel, 402, 403 Polygon tool, 400, 401 radius, 393, 394 Red Pattern Repeat, 400 Reverse Overlap effect, 395 settings, 396 Selection tool, 396–398, 401 Size Tile to Art, 398–400 Swatches panel, 403, 404 Raster Effects, 7, 8 Rasterize effect, 765 Rectangle tool, 945 Control panel options isolation, 87 Selection/Direct Selection tools, 87, 88 settings, 83, 84 shape properties, 84, 85 shapes, 87 shape tools, 84 shearing, 86, 87 Transform, 85, 86 creation, 82, 83 Properties panel, 88 rounded rectangle, 83 Rectangular Grid tool, 951 Red-patterned grouped object, 393 Reflect tool (O), 171–173 Release, 295 Render tab, 1024, 1025 Repeating patterns Grid Repeat, 404 Mirror Repeat, 408–410 radial repeat, 393 shapes and grouped objects, 392 Repeat menu options, 410–412

1107

■ INDEX

Reset Essentials Classic, 11 Reshape tool, 181, 182 Reverse Front to Back blend, 303 Reverse Spine Blend, 303 Revolve (Classic) dialog box, 973 Draw Hidden Faces, 979 effect menu settings, 971 Map Art, 982 (see Map Art) More Options button, 976 No Shading options and preview, 980 offset, 975, 976 Pen tool, 972 perspective setting change, 974 Plastic Shading, 981, 982 Preserve Spot Colors, 979 revolve angle and cap set, 975 set custom shading color, 978 set spotlights, 979 solid color, 972 Surface Defuse Shading options and preview, 981 surface lighting, 978 surface options, 979 surface settings, 977 surface wireframe preview, 980 RGB color mode, 34, 35 Rotate (Classic) appearance panel, 970 dialog box, 963 Drop Shadow effect, 971 Graphic Styles panel, 970 position settings, 964 preserve spot color option, 968 rotation cube, 965 select group object, coffee cup illustration, 962 shading colors, 968 spotlight and custom shading, 968 surface option, 969 surface settings, 967 Rotate tool (R), 169–171, 191, 205, 206, 393, 1079 Roughen tool, 744, 745, 747 Rounded scallop, 268

„„         S Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), 778–780, 1090 Scale Corners, 79, 85, 91, 93, 96, 101, 175, 179, 749 Scale Strokes & Effects, 79, 85, 91, 93, 96, 101, 175, 179 Scale tool (S), 174–176 Scaling blends, 304, 305 Scallop tool grouped star object, 264 Options dialog box, 265, 266

1108

Brush Affects Anchor Points, 268 Brush Affects In Tangent Handles, 268, 269 Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles, 269 brush’s width and height, 266 complexity, 267 current settings, 270 default settings, 267 detail, 268 ellipse shape, 270 Global Brush Dimensions settings, 267 grouped star object, 271 grouped star points, 271, 272 reset setting, 269 path/grouped paths, 264 sharp angles adding, 264 Scatter brush, 437 Scribble-like drawing effect, 773 Selection tool, 12, 37, 54, 286, 329, 448, 788, 854, 857, 862, 871 Alt/Option Key, 55 bounding box handles, 55 Control panel options alignment, 62, 63, 66 brush definition, 60 fill color, 57, 58 global edit options, 65 isolation mode, 64 normal mode, 65 objects/options, 65 opacity, 61 path, 57 recolor artwork, 62 reference point, 63 stroke color, 58 stroke variable width profile, 59, 60 stroke weight, 58, 59 style, 61 width/height, 63, 64 X and Y coordinates, 63, 64 object menu, 112, 113 path deselection, 57 move/scale/rotate, 54 Properties panel, 66, 67 Select menu, 56, 57 Shift + Click, 56 Shapes equilateral triangles, 358 octagons and other combinations, 359 and Pens tools, 167 squares, rectangles, and diamonds, 358 Shape tools, 37 arc tool, 102–104 ellipse tool, 89–91 Flare tool, 98–100

■ INDEX

line segment tool, 100, 101 Polar Grid tool, 107–109 polygon tool (see Polygon tool) rectangle tool (see Rectangle tool) Rectangular Grid tool, 105–107 rounded rectangle tool, 88, 89 rulers, 82 spiral tool, 104, 105 star tool (see Star tool) Toolbar panel, 81 Color Picker dialog box, 81 fill/stroke colors, 81 Shape Warp (Liquify) Tools Bloat tool, 259 Crystallize tool, 272 in Photoshop, 243 Pucker tool, 255 Scallop tool, 264 Twirl tool, 249 Warp tool, 244 Wrinkle tool, 278 Shear tool, 177–179 Show Swatch Bounds, 379 Show Tile Edge, 378 Skyscraper City Scene (project) Active Plane widget, 925 create custom perspective grid change ruler origin point, 933 diamond handle, adjust grid cell size, 934 grid expanding, 934, 935 inner circular handles, 937 move the grid, diamond handle, 936 Perspective Grid Presets, 940 Perspective Selection tool, 933 Save Grid as Preset option, 938, 939 two point perspective, 940 upper diamond handles, 937 vertical grid extent, diamond handles, 935, 936 illustration, layers panel, 924 Perspective Grid define grid, 926, 927 grid color & opacity, 929 gridline every, 928 horizon height, 929 lock grid, 926 lock station point, 926 one point perspective, 930 scale options, 928 Show Rulers, 926 three point perspective grid and option, 931, 932 two point perspective grid and option, 930–932 view, 926, 930

viewing angle, 929 viewing distance, 929 9-Slice Scaling, 317, 318, 333 Smart Blur, 831–833 Smart Guides, 31, 39, 117, 131, 148, 205, 270, 277 Smart Object layers, 35, 217, 218, 220, 221, 353–355, 384, 631, 785, 1002, 1075, 1076 Smart Objects, 2, 3, 733, 1002, 1075 Smooth Color, 296, 310 Smudge Stick, 274, 793 Spatter, 799, 800, 803, 805 Specified Distance, 297, 330 Specified Steps, 296, 297, 307, 341 Sprayed Strokes, 799 Star tool Control panel options Direct Selection tool, 97 live corner widgets, 98 shape properties, 96 transform, 96, 97 creation, 95 dialog box, 95, 96 pointy/reset, 95 various star, multiple points, 95 Static symbols, 315, 317, 321, 322, 338, 884, 907 Stroke panel, 20, 21, 58, 59, 101, 233–236, 238, 240, 291, 476, 639 Stroke Weight, 58, 59, 65, 74–76, 83, 131, 148–150, 287–289 Stylize effect, 812 Substance Collection, 738, 1014, 1057, 1092 Sumi-e, 802 Swatches panel, 18, 19, 447 Swatches panel, patterns Adobe Illustrator, 362 Control panel, 363 Direct Selection tool, 363, 364 Editing mode (see Pattern Editing mode) grouped objects, 364 Pen and Shape tools, 362, 363 stroke/fill color, 361, 362 Swatch Libraries, 360 tessellations filling, 362 Symbol creation Direct Selection tool, 884 Graphic Styles panel, 885 Liquify tool, 886, 887 Puppet Warp tool, 886, 887 static and dynamic symbols, 883 Symbol Editing mode, 320, 321, 330, 355 Symbolism tools, 888 Blowing in the wind project add dandelion seeds to the image, 919 landscape image with current layers and seeds layer unlock, 918

1109

■ INDEX

Symbolism tools (cont.) lock seeds layer, layers panel, 921 move and scatter seeds, 920 scattered dandelion seeds, symbol set, 920 Bubble wand project (see Bubble wand project, symbolism tools) Symbol Library, 320 Symbol Options dialog box, 313, 314 dynamic symbols, 316 export type, 314 selected symbols, 318 static symbols, 315 symbol type, 314 Symbols, 285, 312 Symbols control panel dynamic, 321 editing, 321 Instance Name, 321, 322 parent symbol, 324 Replace, 323 static, 321 Symbol Screener tool key command, 910 select symbols fade, 909 symbolism tool options, 910 toolbars panel, 909 Symbol Scruncher Tool, 900, 901 Symbol shifter tool brush, 897, 898 move forward or backward, 899 move instances forward and backward, symbol set, 899 settings, 898 shift symbols in direction, 897 symbolism tool options, 898 symbol set selection, 897 toolbars panel, 897 Symbol sizer tool key commands, 904 Proportional Resizing, 902, 903 Resizing Affects Density, 902–904 symbol instances select, 902 symbolism tool options, 903 toolbars panel, 902 Symbols panel, 19, 20, 312, 355 Artboard, 329 dynamic, 315 grouped objects, 313 parent symbol structure, 316 Symbol Spinner Tool settings, 906 spin the symbols, 905 symbolism tool options 906 toolbars panel, 905

1110

Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift +S) create copies, symbol sets, 896 Free Transform sub-tools, 896 intensity, 892 method mode, average and random, 892 reduce and remove instances, 894 selection tool, 895 static bubble symbol, 895 static/dynamic symbol, 894 symbolism tool options dialog box Intensity, 894 method settings, 891 Show Brush Size, 894 symbol sprayer settings, 891 Symbol Set Density, 892, 893 symbol set, scale and rotate, 895 symbols panel, 890 Symbol Sprayer, 893 toolbars panel, 889 Symbol Stainer Tool key combinations, 909 select symbols, 907 Symbolism Tool Options, 908 symbol set, 907 toolbars panel, 906 Symbol Styler Tool Control panel, 912 Graphic Styles panel, 911 key combinations, 913 symbolism tool options dialog box with symbol styler settings, 913 toolbars panel, 911 Symetrical profiles, 234

„„         T, U Tessellations, 357–360, 362 Texture-like appearance, 451 Text wrap around a shape, type area Add Anchor Point tool, 684 create text area, 684 Direct Selection tool, 684 info alert message, 686 offset setting, 687 one side of image, 682 pen tool, create potential type area, 683 placeholder text, 683, 684 selection tool, 685 Text Wrap Options, 687 The Warp tool colorful points and the triangles, 245 options angle, 247 default brush, 249 default settings, 248

■ INDEX

details, 247 ellipse, 249 height, 246 intensity, 247 Show Brush Size, 248 Simplify, 248 Toolbars panel, 245 Use Pressure Pen, 247 width, 246 path warps, 244 Selection tool, 244 Toolbars panel, 244 Threaded text, 681, 682 Toolbars panel, 12–15, 223, 225 Curvature tool, 49 Direct Selection tool, 54 Group Selection tool, 54, 72, 73 Pen tools, 37 Selection tool, 37, 54 Shape tools, 37 Star tool, 94 Touch type tool adjustments, line of type, 700 move, scale, and rotate, single character, 699, 700 toolbars panel, 699 Transform commands, 741 Transform dialog boxes, 199 Transform Each, 179–181 Transform Objects, 169, 171, 173, 175, 179 Transform Objects and Patterns checkboxes, 389 Free Transform tool, 389 grouped object, 390–392 shapes, 390 Transform panel, 169, 199 bounding box handles, 386 menu, 80 path menu options rotation, 78 shear, 78, 79 scale corners, 79 scale strokes/effects, 79 text boxes, 388 Transform Both, 386, 388, 389 Transform Object Only, 386 Transform Pattern Only, 386–388 Transform Patterns, 169, 171, 173, 175, 179 Transparency options, 33 Transparency panel, 22, 23 Appearance panel blending modes, 571 opacity settings, 570 blending modes brush stroke, 553

color burn/lighten/screen, 553, 554 color dodge/overlay/soft light, 553, 555 hard light/difference/exclusion, 553, 555 hue/saturation/color/luminosity, 553, 556 normal/darken/multiply, 553, 554 paths, 552, 553 references, 553 create document, 552 grid option, 569, 570 isolate blending, 565, 566 knockout group, 566–569 link, 571 opacity, 557, 568, 569 opacity mask, 568, 569 adding gradient, 563 altering, 561, 562 art, 564 clip, 559, 560 clipping mask, 558 colors, 559 creation, 557, 558 disable, 564 Edit mode, 562 enable, 565 Invert Mask, 559, 560 Layers panel, 562 Make Mask button, 565 preview, 561, 562 Selection tool, 561 shape, 559 unlinking, 561 options/settings, 552, 569 Twirl tool clockwise/counterclockwise twirls, 249, 250 Options dialog box, 251 default settings, 253 Detail, 252 Global Brush Dimensions settings, 252 reset setting, 253 shapes, 254 Simplify, 253 Twirl Rate, 252 Selection tool, 250 Type on a Path layer adjust text, 729 characters panel, 727, 728 control panel cyan stroke, 724 highlight text, 726 stroke weight, 724 Direct Selection tool, 727 final Layers panel settings, 731 final poster with warped text, 730 highlight text, 728 layers panel, 723

1111

■ INDEX

Type on a Path layer (cont.) Pen tool control panel, 725 create path, 725 Transparency panel, 729 Zoom tool, 723, 724 Type on a path tool baseline, 695, 696 center-line bracket, 690, 691 control panel, 690 Direct Selection tool, 690 effect menu, 692 effects, 693, 694 Envelope Warp options, 699 flip setting enable, 695 pen/shape tool, 688, 689 Photoshop, 688 Rainbow effect, 693, 695 selection tool, rotate and scale, 698 spacing options, 697 spiral tool, 698 toolbars panel, 688 Type on a Path menu commands, 692 Type tool, 631 control panel/properties panel options (see Control/properties panel options, Type tool) preview font size, 642 toolbars panel, 632 type into outlines, 700–702 Vertical Type tool, 665–667 Type tool paragraph option alignment, control panel settings, 654 Area Type text box, 656 control panel, 653, 655 properties panel, 653, 655 text area select, selection tool, 654

„„         V Variable font Acumin Variable Concept, 649 character and control panels’ settings, 650 character panel additional character settings, 651 slider settings, 650, 651 Variable-width profile, 286–289 Vertical area type tools adjust text, 673 area type options, 680 path to create an area, 671 polygon tool, create polygon, 671 toolbars panel tools, 670 Vertical type on a path tools, 688, 689 Vertical Type tool, 665–667

1112

„„         W, X, Y Warped Mandala Design grouped object, 225 Layers panel, 224 Selection tool, 224 Shape Warp tool, 243 Width tool, 225 Warped Mandala T-shirt art project designing, 203–206 layers, 201, 202 Puppet Warp tool, 207 Water Paper, 811 Width tool Adjust Adjoining Width Points checkbox, 229 Alt/Option drag, 228 Alt/Option key, 227 Brush definitions Brushes panel, 241 dropdown list, 241, 242 stroke weight, 242 Ctrl/CMD key, 228 custom variable-width profile, 230, 231 custom width points, 229 default variable-width profiles, 225, 226 lines/stroke paths align, 240 align strokes, 236, 237 Arrowheads, 239 cap end for your line, 236 corner, 236 dashed line, 237, 238 scale, 240 Profile area, 234 profile orientation, 234 Reset, 231 Selection tool, 225, 232, 233 Stroke panel, 233 stroke-width adjustment, 225 variable-width profiles, 226, 227 Width Point Edit dialog box, 228, 229 Zoom tool, 227 Wolf-Girl project complex blends, 350 complex illustrations, 352, 353 face-to-nose ratio, 355 multiple paths and gradients, 350–352 Smart Object layers, 353, 354 Workspace set up adding ruler, 30 bleed settings, 6, 7 color mode, 7 Essentials Classic, 10 main menu, 4, 10 menus, 31

■ INDEX

More Settings button, 9 orientation, 6 panels (see Illustrator panels) Points to Inches, 5 Preview Mode set, 8 Raster Effects, 7, 8 saving file document, 31 duplicates, 34, 35 Illustrator options, 32–34 new history panel, 36 printing projects, 32 Wrinkle tool Options dialog box, 280 Brush Affects Anchor Points, 282 Brush Affects In Tangent Handles, 282

Brush Affects Out Tangent Handles, 282 Complexity, 282 Detail, 282 Global Brush Dimensions settings, 281 Horizontal, 281 reset setting, 282 Selection tool, 282–284 vertical, 281 Selection tool, 279 smoothing angles, 278

„„         Z Zoom tool, 12–14, 45, 46, 136, 227, 528, 704, 723, 724, 871, 919, 954, 1058

1113