Beyond the Basics

Enhanced Clipping Masks

Photoshop CS4 & Illustrator CS4 New Features

Create christmas bauble

Render car with Illustrator Mesh tool

Drawing egg with Gradient Mesh tool

Simple shapes

Illustrator Mesh Tool quick tutorial

Creating vector metal icon button

Figure vector drawing

Vector Fire and Flames

Create a Windows Vista icon

iPod Gel Song Bar

SymmetryWorks - Great patterns in no time

How to Create Florishes in illustrator

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Wavy Lines Tutorial

Creating 3D Brochure in Adobe Illustrator

Time to change - Wal Mart

Adobe Illustrator 3D Pushing Out Clip Drawing

Creating Coil Spring using Blend tool

Amazing Blend tool

How to Recreate the Animal Planet Logo in Adobe Illustrator

SpongeBob Adobe Illustrator Inking Tutorial #3 Brushes

Creating Pixel Art in Illustrator

Creating Business Stationery Files In Adobe Illustrator 12 by: Jacob Gourd

Designing a identity for your small business can be a daunting task when your budget doesn’t stretch to hiring a professional to help you do the job. Digital artwork files need to be created to a correct size, resolution and color mode. Providing poor artwork files to printers will result in a unprofessional looking final product which wont leave a positive mark on your customers.

This tutorial goes over the basics of creating digital artwork files for business cards and marketing postcards. The following tutorial can be used to create business stationery including letterheads, compliments slips and label artwork files by adjusting the sizes.

The dimensions mentioned are for landscape items and should be transposed for portrait cards.

To create a new document in Adobe Illustrator select File > New (Ctrl+N). Set the Color Mode to CMYK and enter the Artboard size. For business cards set the size to 95mm x 57mm and for A6 post card to 151.5mm x 108mm. These dimensions include the bleed of 3mm (8.5pt) for and business cards and 1.5mm (4.2pt) for post cards.

Ensure you have the page rulers showing (View > Show Rulers) and that they are displaying in millimeters (Edit > Preferences > Units).

Set the co-ordinates of your artboard to be 0,0 at the top left-hand corner by clicking and dragging the cross from where the two page rulers meet at the top left of your screen.

Now drag a guide from the top ruler down to the center of your document to 28.5mm for business cards and 54mm for postcards. Add a second one from the lefthand ruler to the centre of your document to 47.5mm for business cards and 75.75mm for postcards.

Adding a bounding box

The bounding box does not show in your design when printed but dictates the size of your eps file.

Select the rectangle tool and click once on your document, this will open a window into which you can enter the size of the box. Set the size for business cards to 95mm x 57mm and for A6 post card to 151.5mm x 108mm. Ensure the box has a transparent stroke and fill. (Window > Show Colors).

Using one of the arrow tools, click on the dot in the centre of the box and drag it to the centre of your document, as marked by your guides. Now lock it by selecting Object > Lock.

Trim and Text Area Guides

Create two more boxes as before but this time don’t lock them, instead right click (For Macs, Control click), choose Make Guides.

For the first box set the size for business cards to 89mm x 51mm and for A6 post card to 148.5mm x 105mm.

For the second box set the size for business cards to 83mm x 45mm and for A6 post card to 142.5mm x 99mm.

You can now add your design within this template. The only items that should touch the outer line are those that bleed off the edge of your card. The middle line shows where the cards will be cut, you should try to keep all your text and images within the inner line to avoid the possibility of anything being ‘clipped’.

Use the Document Info pallette (File > Document Info) to ensure any images you use are all at least 300dpi and are CMYK.

When you are happy with your design, save the file as an Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file, this is your back up in case you need to make alterations at any time in the future. This file cannot be uploaded.

Save as EPS

*note: Using Illustrator filters and transparencies sometimes produce elements in your design that do not print correctly. If you have used these effects in your Illustrator artwork, we recommend that you export your artwork as a 400 DPI TIFF.

View the document at Actual Size, ensuring you can see all round the outsite of your page, now Edit > Select All. There should be nothing outside the outer box other than your two centre guides. If there is, delete it.

All text within your document should be changed to outlines, Edit > Select All, then, Type > Create Outlines.

You must ensure there are no hidden characters (∞) on your artwork. (Type > Show Hidden Characters). If there are any of these on your document, delete them. All black text should be set to overprint Filter > Colors > Overprint Black. Unselect stroke and select include Blacks with CMY.

Select File > Save As. Choose Illustrator EPS (.eps) and save the file.

Hidden font fields in your artwork will register as fonts that are not outlined. Our system will reject this file as a bad file. Please make sure to to delete hidden characters and outline your fonts.

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Technology revolution

Clipping Mask Tutorial for Adobe Illustrator CS4--Is that good?

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Adobe Illustrator can do this, how amazing it is....

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Optimize performance (Illustrator CS4 on Windows XP) - Part 3

Using Illustrator features effectively

The way you work in Illustrator, and especially the way you view artwork, can effect the performance of Illustrator. Modifying view options, linking images rather than embedding them, and optimizing scratch disk and startup options can all affect the speed of Illustrator and its memory usage.

OutlineView

Outline view hides paint attributes, displaying the artwork as unfilled paths. Working in Outline view can speed the display of complex artwork, such as objects containing gradients or patterns. Outline view can also make it easier to edit objects hidden behind other filled objects. In Illustrator, choose View > Outline to display a document in outline mode.

Custom Views

You can create custom views of your document, allowing you to quickly change the view mode, magnification, scroll position, and layer options by choosing a custom view from the View menu. To create a custom view, set the view attributes you want to save, and then choose View > New View and type a name in the New View dialog box. The custom view appears in the View menu.

Display performance

You can specify the quality and speed of the display when you use the Hand tool to move the artboard. To specify the display quality, choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Display Performance. Drag the Hand Tool slider to the left to improve the display quality when you use the Hand tool, or move it to the right to improve speed.

Raster effect resolution

You can change the resolution of raster effects to optimize the performance of Illustrator. To change the resolution of raster effects, choose Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings, do one of the following, and then click OK:

• If you are editing files, click Screen. Illustrator uses a resolution of 72 ppi for raster effects, increasing display speed.
• If you are printing files, click High. Illustrator uses a resolution of 300 ppi for raster effects, decreasing printing speed, but increasing print quality.

Layers panel

The Layers panel lets you easily organize and modify artwork. When you hide layers that contain complex artwork or high resolution bitmap images, Illustrator redraws the screen faster. To hide a layer, click the eye icon to the left of the layer name, deselect Show Layer, and then click OK. To hide all but the selected layer, Alt-click the eye icon.

Note: The Layers panel can display thumbnails for top-level layers, nested layers, groups, and objects. You can reduce the number of thumbnails so Illustrator redraws the screen faster:

1. Choose Panel Options from the Layers palette menu.
2. Reduce the number of thumbnails:

• To remove all thumbnails from the Layers panel, select Small in the Row Size section, and then click OK.
• To remove thumbnails for specific elements in the Layers panel, deselect Layers, Groups, or Objects in the Thumbnails section, and then click OK.

Scratch disk

When you work with an embedded bitmap image and your system does not have enough RAM to perform an operation, Illustrator uses hard disk space as a scratch disk. Because it takes longer to access information on a hard disk than it does to access information in memory, using a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory can decrease performance. If you need more memory to work in Illustrator, Adobe Systems recommends installing more RAM.

By default, Illustrator uses the system drive as its primary scratch disk. You should change the Illustrator primary scratch disk setting to your fastest hard drive.

To change the scratch disk preference:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disk.
2. Choose a hard disk from the Primary pop-up menu. If you work with large images and have more than one hard disk, choose another disk from the Secondary pop-up menu.
3. Click OK and restart Illustrator.

Note: Adobe recommends that you use a disk utility, such as Disk Defragmenter, to optimize and defragment your hard disk on a regular basis. For more information, see your Windows documentation.
Illustrator startup files

Document Profiles contain the default patterns, gradients, graph designs, colors, and color libraries that appear in new Illustrator documents. These files also determine zoom level, window size, viewing preferences, and scroll position for new documents. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches and brushes from Illustrator startup files.

For instructions on creating custom startup files in Illustrator CS2, see Illustrator Help.

Templates

Templates let you create new documents that share common settings and design elements. For example, to design a series of business cards with a similar look and feel, create a template with the desired artboard size, view settings (such as guides), and print options. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches, symbols, graphic styles, and brushes from templates.

Templates offer a powerful alternative to creating custom startup files. You can create an unlimited number of templates. In addition, you can store and access templates anywhere, as opposed to startup files, which must have a specific name and location.

Linked files

Embedded bitmap images (for example, TIFF, BMP, or Photoshop EPS) can dramatically increase the size of an Illustrator document, causing slower performance. To improve performance, select Link in the Place dialog box when you place a bitmap image. The Link option references the placed image on the hard disk. (If a service buereu requires embedded images, then save a copy f the file and select Include Linked Files in the Illustrator Native Format Options or EPS Format Options dialog box.)

EPS previews

If a document contains linked EPS images that have high-resolution previews, Illustrator may redraw the screen slowly as you edit artwork. To enable Illustrator to redraw the screen more quickly, use low-resolution EPS previews: Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard, select Use Low Resolution Proxy For Linked EPS, and then click OK.
Show DCS Transparency Interactions option

The Links Panel Options dialog box includes a Show DCS Transparency Interactions option. If this option is selected, the Links palette displays a yellow icon to identify linked DCS EPS graphics that are transparent or overlap transparent objects. Because this option forces Illustrator to regularly determine if linked EPS files interact with transparency, it can reduce performance.

To disable the Show Transparency Interactions option:

1. Choose Palette Options from the Links palette menu.
2. Deselect Show DCS Transparency Interactions, and then click OK.

Navigator panel

The Navigator panel displays a thumbnail view of your current artwork for easy navigation. Depending on the complexity of your artwork, a substantial amount of processing time may be required to update the thumbnail each time you make a change. To improve screen redraw speed and performance in a complex Illustrator document, hide the Navigator panel by unchecking Navigator under the Window menu.

You can set up custom views to more efficiently zoom to particular areas of your document. See the Custom Viewssection of this document for more information.
Anti-Alias Artwork option

The Anti-Alias Artwork option smooths text and graphics by blending the color of an object's edge pixels with that of adjacent pixels. However, this process can cause slow screen redraw. To disable this option, choose Edit > Preferences > General; then deselect Anti-aliased Artwork and click OK.

Simplify command

The Simplify command reduces the amount of anchor points in paths and path shapes, reducing file size and increasing performance. To apply the Simplify command, select the desired path or object, and then choose Object > Path > Simplify.

Smart Guides

Smart Guides allow you to create, align, edit, and transform Illustrator objects relative to other objects. If you have a large number of objects in your artwork, Illustrator will require more time to display Smart Guides. To disable Smart Guides, uncheck Smart Guides under the View menu.

Windows resources

The following websites provide troubleshooting tips and general information about Windows.

Adobe Customer Support: www.adobe.com/support/

Microsoft Knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com

Optimize performance (Illustrator CS4 on Windows XP) - Part 2

Optimizing your hardware configuration

The hardware you use affects the performance of Illustrator: the faster the processor or hard drive, the faster Illustrator can process information. Other hardware enhancements, such as installing additional RAM, using a multiprocessor system, or optimizing and defragmenting drives, can also improve performance.

Processor speed

The speed of Illustrator is limited by the speed of your computer's Central Processing Unit (CPU). Since Illustrator manipulates large quantities of data and performs many calculations, its speed is greatly dependent on the processor's speed. Using a computer with a faster processor will increase Illustrator's speed.

Installed RAM

If Illustrator has insufficient RAM, it uses hard disk space (that is, virtual memory, scratch disk, or both) to process information. Illustrator is fastest when it can process information in memory, without having to use a hard disk.

Hard disks

As you add, delete, and move files on a hard disk, available space is no longer a single, contiguous block. If the system does not have enough contiguous space, it saves fragments of a file to different locations on the hard disk. An application requires more time to read a fragmented file than one saved to a contiguous location. You can test your hard disk by using ChkDsk. You can defragment files and optimize available hard disk space by using Disk Defragmenter. For more information on these tools, see your Windows documentation.

Since Illustrator reads and writes information while working on a file, the faster the access speed of the disk containing the file or the Illustrator scratch disk, the faster Illustrator can process file information. To improve the performance of Illustrator, work on files saved on drives with fast access speeds, such as an internal hard drive, rather than those with slow access speeds, such as a network server (a network drive) or removable media (for example, Zip drive, or floppy disk). Removable media often have slower access times and are more easily damaged than internal hard drives.

When you want to save an Illustrator file to a network or removable drive, Adobe recommends you first save the file to an internal hard disk, and then close the file and use Windows Explorer to copy the closed file to the external or network drive, or save the file to the network using Adobe Version Cue.

Printer language

For best results when printing from Illustrator, use a PostScript printer. Most non PostScript printers rely on display information, host computer resources, and proprietary printer drivers to relay print information to the printer, so they may take much longer to print than a PostScript printer.

Adobe Customer Support: www.adobe.com/support/

Microsoft Knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com

Optimize performance (Illustrator CS4 on Windows XP) - Part 1

Optimizing Windows
The performance of Adobe Illustrator depends on several factors, including the options you select, your workflow, and the operating system and hardware configuration. The performance improvements listed below are most noticeable when you work with larger files. Optimizing the operating system and hardware configuration improves performance in other applications as well.

Before you perform the steps below, make sure to install the latest version of Illustrator or any Illustrator updates to the version you are using. Illustrator updates often include performance-related fixes or enhancements. Current version information and updates are available on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com.

Note:The Windows XP procedures in this document are based on the default interface. If the interface is customized, then some procedures may vary. For example, a commonly encountered difference is the navigation to Control Panel from the Start menu: You may navigate Start > Settings > Control Panel instead of Start > Control Panel.

Optimizing Windows

By configuring your system to run efficiently, you increase the amount of memory available to applications and ensure that they run smoothly. Increase the amount of memory available to Illustrator, quit applications you are not using, or disable nonessential startup applications or fonts to improve the performance of Illustrator.

Virtual memory

Virtual memory allows the system to use hard disk space to store information normally stored in RAM. Because it takes longer to access information on a hard disk than it does to access information in memory, using a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory can decrease performance.

Windows XP manages virtual memory using a paging file; you define the minimum and maximum size of this file. Illustrator performs best when the paging file's maximum size is at least three times the amount of installed RAM.

To create a paging file with a maximum size of three times your amount of installed RAM:

Note: You need Administrator rights to change the size of your computer's paging file.

1. Quit all applications.
2. Choose Start > Control Panel and then double-click System.
3. Access the Performance Options dialog box:
* Click the Advanced tab, click Settings in the Performance section, and then click the Advanced tab.
4. In the Virtual Memory section, click Change.
5. Uncheck the box for "automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
6. From the Drive list, select a hard drive that has at least three times the amount of your computer's installed RAM. For example, if your computer has 64 MB of RAM, select a hard drive that has at least 128 MB of free space. For best performance, choose a hard drive not used for the Illustrator scratch disk.

Note:To determine the amount of space available on a drive, click the drive letter; the amount of space available appears in the Paging File Size for Selected Drive section.

7. In the Initial Size box in the Paging File Size for Selected Drive section, enter a value equal to the amount of your computer's installed RAM plus 300 MB.
8. In the Maximum Size box, enter a value equal to three times the amount of your computer's installed RAM.
9. Close the System Properties dialog box:
1. Click Set, and then click OK.
2. Click OK in the Performance Options dialog box
3. Click OK in the System Properties dialog box.
10. Click Yes in the System Settings Change dialog box to restart Windows.

Display drivers

Some display drivers offer advanced settings for accelerating or modifying graphics display. Sometimes these settings can adversely affect screen redraw performance in Illustrator. Try disabling driver-specific features to determine the best settings for use with Illustrator. For more information, see the documentation for your display card.

Fonts

If you install only the fonts you need, then you will improve system performance and the performance of applications that access fonts. Each installed font increases the amount of RAM used by the system, which decreases the amount of RAM available to open applications, and increases the amount of time applications take to display font menus. Use a font management utility to help you manage many fonts.
Startup applications

Applications that start automatically with Windows compete with Illustrator for available RAM. You can prevent programs from starting automatically with Windows by doing the following:

To remove programs from the StartUp folder in Windows XP:

1. Quit all applications.
2. Start Windows Explorer.
3. Disable startup applications that are specific to the current user by moving all icons and shortcuts from the Documents and Settings\[current user]\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder to another folder.
4. Disable startup applications that are common to all users by moving all icons and shortcuts from the Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder to another folder:
5. Restart Windows.

To close applications that are specified to start automatically in the registry:

1. Restart Windows.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
3. Click the Applications tab.
4. Select an application name, and then click End Task.
5. Restart Illustrator. If performance for Illustrator improves, then contact the application's manufacturer for help in permanently disabling it from starting automatically. Repeat steps 2-5 for each remaining startup application.

Adobe Customer Support: www.adobe.com/support/

Microsoft Knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com

Creating simple 3D box with illustrator

Vector drawing. Is that simple? Let's watch...

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Photoshop CS4 & Illustrator CS4 New Features by lynda.com

Cool vector ribbon creation

Amazing rendering technique with Adobe Illustrator

Amazing vector heart drawing techinique expose

Create Intricate Patterns in Illustrator

Design a logo from rough sketches to digital artwork execution

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Let's create iPhone Icons with Illustrator CS4!

Easy steps show you how to vectorize photos by using Live Trace

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Amazing techniques - Rendering a spacegirl

Creating text effect in using Illustrator

Vector Swirls, Swooshes, and Florals: Illustrator Tutorial

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Deep dive by David Macy

Transforming scratch to digital vector art by CheeZhing

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Broad-based file format and platform support

Support for the latest hardware and software
Enjoy native, universal binary support for Intel® based Macs and support for Microsoft® Windows Vista® systems.

PDF/X support
Create reliable, press-ready layouts using ISO-standard and ANSI-standard PDF/X.

Industry-standard graphic file format support
Work with almost any type of graphic file — including PDF, EPS, Photoshop (PSD), TIFF, GIF, JPEG, SWF, SVG, DWG, DXF, and more.

XMP support
Make your graphics easier to track in Adobe Bridge, other asset-management applications, and network publishing-savvy tools by automatically embedding customized metadata such as fonts, color swatches, and printing plates.

Computer-aided design (CAD) file support
Import AutoCAD 2004, 2005, 2006, DWG, and DXF files with reliability, preserving original drawing shapes.

Microsoft Office integration
Easily export Illustrator artwork with the Save For Microsoft Office command to display and print graphics in applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

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Integration with all Adobe design applications

Adobe Photoshop CS4 integration
Preserve layers, layer comps, transparency, editable text, and slices when moving files between Photoshop and Illustrator. Use Smart Objects in Photoshop to edit Illustrator content, and use Edit Original in Illustrator to edit placed Photoshop images.

Adobe InDesign CS4 integration
Bring Illustrator artwork into InDesign layouts, including files containing multiple artboards, and edit it using InDesign tools. Transparent Illustrator artwork is preserved and interacts with elements in the InDesign layout.

Adobe Acrobat 9 integration
Save Illustrator artwork as single-page or multipage PDF files, complete with layers that are fully compatible with the latest features of Acrobat 9 and free Adobe Reader.

Adobe Flash CS4 Professional integration
Import native Illustrator files, including files with multiple artboards, into Flash CS4 Professional, or copy and paste artwork from Illustrator to Flash, with Illustrator file properties preserved.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 integration
Work efficiently between applications with the Illustrator CS4 Save for Web and Devices command to quickly generate and replace images in Adobe Dreamweaver® CS4 site directories.

Adobe Fireworks CS4 integration
Easily import native Illustrator artwork into Adobe Fireworks® CS4 software to take advantage of vectors when creating, editing, and optimizing images for the web.

Adobe Flex 3 integration
Export visual assets in native Adobe Flex® format with new Flex Skin Design Extensions for Illustrator CS4. Define named Illustrator symbols with 9-slice scaling behavior that can be used in Flex component skins, and load exported SWF files at runtime into Flex applications.

Adobe After Effects CS4 integration
Import native Illustrator vectors into After Effects with layers, masks, gradients, and effects intact. Create paths from raster images using Live Trace, and then bring small vector files into After Effects for animation.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 integration
Import Illustrator files into Adobe Premiere Pro and then use the Edit Original command to open the artwork in Illustrator, edit it, and see your changes automatically incorporated into your video project.

Adobe Encore CS4 integration
Bring Illustrator artwork into Adobe Encore® CS4 software to create chapter graphics, titles, and menus.

Motion and effects tools

Multiple artboards for motion and effects
Use multiple artboards to define up to 100 working areas in one file that are specific to your video aperture, complete with safe-area guides. Easily export artboards automatically to multiple files, or export them as a single, multipage PDF file.

New Document Profiles for motion and effects
Select prebuilt profiles that include video color profiles, pixel aspect ratios, transparency grids, and aperture settings. Save profiles with custom parameters.

Live Color for motion and effects
Use Live Color to explore, apply, and control color variations for effects. Quickly change colors in your artwork and automatically see the update in Adobe After Effects® or Adobe Premiere® Pro software.

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Prepress and desktop print tool's tips sharing

Separations Preview
Avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted overprinting, overprints that don't overprint, white overprinting, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files.

Support for bleeds
Quickly set up your artboards for bleeds with the new Bleeds document attribute. You can choose to work with bleeds when you open a new document or add them later in the Document Setup dialog box.

Live Color for print and prepress
For reliable spot color printing, use Color Reduction tools in the Live Color panel to quickly find and convert colors in your artwork to a defined number of specific colors.

DeviceN colorspace
Place duotone or separated Photoshop images in Illustrator and preserve the file's native color space with DeviceN support. Use multicomponent and HiFi color, raster effects, transparency, and gradient meshes with confidence that your artwork will separate correctly.

LAB spot colors
Create LAB spot colors and use predefined spot colors from the Toyo, PANTONE®, DIC, and HKS libraries.

Separations
Print color separations using either host-based or in-RIP options and optimize output directly in the application, controlling screen angle, ruling, and dot size for each plate.

Intuitive printing interface
Enjoy consistent results with an intuitive, comprehensive printing interface that provides optimized presets for a wide variety of devices.

Page tile overlap control
Easily and reliably print oversize documents to standard desktop printers by controlling the overlap between tiled pages.

Fit To Page command
Print large designs on standard paper sizes using the Fit To Page command or custom scale options. Scale dimensions with precision to three decimal places.

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Web and interactive tools

Integration with Adobe Flash
Import native Illustrator files into Adobe Flash® CS4 Professional software, or copy and paste artwork from Illustrator to Flash, with paths, anchor points, gradients, clipping masks, and symbols intact. Layers, groups, and object names are also preserved.

Live Color for web and interactive
Quickly explore, apply, and control color variations for web and interactive designs. Easily create multiple versions for any web prototype or interactive design.

Symbols for Flash
Use Symbols to animate repeated objects while keeping file sizes small. Define and name symbol object attributes, and preserve these properties when you take the artwork to Flash CS4 Professional for further editing.

Web and mobile device export
Easily export using the Save for Web and Devices dialog box, which lets you choose from HTML, SWF, GIF, and JPEG formats, along with color count, compression, file size, mobile output, and more.

Adobe Device Central CS4
Create rich graphic content for mobile devices and deliver engaging experiences to billions of subscribers with Adobe Device Central CS4. Design, preview, and test mobile content with this innovative visual testing tool that you can find within the Save for Web and Devices dialog box.

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Tools for automation

Automated processing
Make tools like Live Trace even more efficient by automatically batch-processing images in Adobe Bridge while continuing to work in Illustrator CS4.

Actions
Save time by recording frequently performed tasks as actions, which you can manage in the Actions panel.

Industry-leading scripting support
Extend the capabilities of Illustrator to automate repeated production tasks, build your own feature capabilities, or enforce a specific workflow by writing custom JavaScript, AppleScript, or Microsoft Visual Basic scripts.

Dynamic, data-driven graphics
Quickly create custom artwork variations using scripts to connect graphic variables to unique data.

Ability to save selections
Streamline a range of production tasks by saving complex selections so you can quickly reload them later.

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Shortcut and time-saver tips to share

Practical Smart Guides

Use more intuitive Smart Guides, with an unobtrusive appearance and new behaviors such as alignment to objects on the artboard rather than to the cursor. Get immediate feedback with on-object readouts that show x and y coordinates when you move objects, and show the angle when you rotate objects.

Powerful selection tools

Select all objects that share an attribute using the Select Same command in the Control panel or Select menu. Select by same color or opacity, by similar Live Paint fills and strokes, and even by shared appearance.

Isolation Mode advances

Take advantage of new functionality in Isolation Mode, which now supports more object types, including clipping masks. You can add new art to a particular place in the stacking order and be free of the menu commands for arranging and pasting in front or back.

New Document Profiles

Start creating new artwork quickly by selecting prebuilt profiles for various types of media. Save custom profiles that specify setup parameters such as multiple artboards, artboard dimensions, styles, and color spaces.

Graphic styles

Apply attributes to multiple objects, groups, and layers using graphic styles that you can save and reapply. Apply styles additively and see the results with accurate previews on both objects and text.

Templates

Reuse designs by saving files as templates that include objects you want to reuse along with setup parameters such as layers and placeholder elements.

Keep an eye on my blogs:
http://www.kreativsolutions.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-indesign.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-photoshop.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-acrobat.blogspot.com

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To run your work smoothly and more efficiently

Accomplish more and stay in the groove by working directly on the artboard. Interact with tools and options more easily and complete your projects efficiently using a wealth of innovative, timesaving features and shortcuts.

Workspace and tool accessibility

Multiple artboards
Create files containing up to 100 artboards of varying sizes. Display the artboards any way you want — overlapping, side by side, or stacked. Save, export, and print artboards independently or together.

In-panel appearance editing
Edit object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel, eliminating the need to open fill, stroke, or effects panels. Work with shared attributes and control display for faster rendering.

Actions on the artboard
Choose options without interrupting your train of thought. Actions on the artboard provide contextual menus right where you're working so you can set options without moving your attention to panels at the edges of your workspace.

Gradients exposed
Use gradient stop controls for color and opacity that appear right on your object, and directly control the angle and position of the gradient. Set dimensions of a radial gradient to create an elliptical gradient of any proportion.

Spring-loaded panels
Get to your panels and options even more quickly with spring loading. Panels now expand automatically when you drag an object on top of the panel icon.

Tabbed document view
Work with multiple open documents in a tabbed view so you can bring windows to the front with one click. You can also arrange multiple windows in tiled or cascaded views for easy visual comparison and to click and drag objects across documents for copying.

Control panel
Discover more options faster and free up screen space by accessing anchor point controls, clipping masks, envelope distortions, and more from the context-sensitive Control panel.

Flexible workspace
Increase your efficiency using space-saving features and custom viewing options. View the toolbar in one column, dock self-adjusting panels as icons, set panel overlap just the way you like it, choose darker or lighter workspace color, and more.

Color-blind workspace
Proof your artwork to help ensure that your color selections convey information properly for viewers who are color-blind. Illustrator CS4 supports proofing for both protanopia and deuteranopia, types of red-green color blindness.

Custom workspaces
Work more efficiently using custom workspaces that display only the panels you need for a specific task. Save, share, or access any workspace at any time, or use workspace presets.

Layers panel
Organize complex artwork using an unlimited number of layers, nested layers, and layer masks. Find selected objects quickly by displaying the layer selection color.

Photoshop layer comp support
Control the visibility of layer comps in linked, embedded, or opened Photoshop files from within Illustrator CS4.

Tool option quick access
Instantly access the options for tools, including the Brush, Eraser, Eyedropper, Graph, and Symbol tools, by double-clicking them in the Tools panel.

Adobe Bridge CS4
Use Adobe Bridge to efficiently browse and preview your creative assets, run automation scripts, access new Adobe services, and more.

Wacom tablet support
Take advantage of pressure-sensitive drawing and erasing with a Wacom tablet such as the Cintiq, as well as Intuous3 features like rotation, bearing, and tilt sensitivity. Enjoy even more pressure sensitivity and control in Illustrator CS4.

Keep an eye on my blogs:
http://www.kreativsolutions.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-indesign.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-photoshop.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-acrobat.blogspot.com

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Using gradients and transparency effect

Transparency in gradients
Create a gradient of many colors and define the opacity of any of the individual color stops. Create rich color and texture mixes using multiple layers, knockouts, and cover-up fades.

Elliptical gradients
Set dimensions of a radial gradient to create an elliptical gradient of any proportion. Gradient stop controls for color and opacity appear on the object, and you can directly control the angle and position of the gradient.

Unlimited transparency
Expand your design options with blending modes and transparency effects similar to those in Photoshop, including transparency controls within gradients.

Gradient Mesh
Simulate airbrush and watercolor effects by adding multiple colors and precisely controlling the transitions between colors.

Keep an eye on my blogs:
http://www.kreativsolutions.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-indesign.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-photoshop.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-acrobat.blogspot.com

Facebook link:
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Creative tools bring you the power to design - Part 3

Color and creative effects

Live Color
Explore, apply, and control color variations using Live Color, which lets you select any artwork and interactively edit or replace colors to see results immediately. Use the intuitive Color Guide panel to quickly choose tints, shades, or harmonious color combinations.

Swatches panel
Organize swatches in groups and view them in organized hierarchies. Automatically name them by their color values, or name them intuitively. Easily access swatch libraries from a pop-up panel menu, view swatches in Adobe Bridge, and share them with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and InDesign® CS4 software.

Live Paint
Easily paint any closed or partially closed area of your artwork with the Live Paint Bucket, which automatically detects and corrects gaps and lets you interactively select colors from the Swatches panel for faster filling.

Refined graphic styles
Combine styles for unique effects and increased efficiency. Apply styles to an object without disturbing its original appearance. Preview styles applied to selected objects and to text. Choose from an expanded library of prebuilt styles to jump-start your projects.

Clipping masks demystified
Work with masks more easily, thanks to new viewing choices for both masks and masked objects. See only the clipped area, or visible parts, of your objects during moves and transforms. Edit the masking object in Isolation Mode or by using the Edit Clipping Path option.

Envelopes and live distortion
Warp, liquify, and distort artwork any way imaginable with envelopes and live distortion tools. Easily access envelope options from the Control panel.

Live effects
Apply live effects without affecting the underlying artwork, so you can edit at any time without starting over.

3D effects
Turn 2D shapes into fully editable 3D objects by extruding and revolving paths. Add lighting and wrap images around 3D shapes to easily create objects such as packaging mock-ups, and separate spot colors applied to 3D artwork.

Colorized grayscale
Assign a spot color to a linked, embedded, or opened grayscale image, or even apply a spot color to a drop shadow, and be confident that artwork will separate properly when printed.

Blend
Morph one shape into another to create smooth shading, complex contours, and basic animations.

Adobe Photoshop effects
Achieve a wide variety of looks by applying nondestructive live effects from the Adobe Photoshop Effect Gallery.

Symbol spraying
Add design elements to your artwork by spraying, scaling, colorizing, and adjusting the transparency of repeated symbols while keeping file sizes small.

Graphing tools
Communicate data clearly using powerful tools that make it easy to produce visually compelling charts and graphs, including quickly applying harmonious color groups with Live Color.

Keep an eye on my blogs:
http://www.kreativsolutions.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-indesign.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-photoshop.blogspot.com
http://www.kreativsolutions-acrobat.blogspot.com

Facebook link:
http://www.tinyurl.com/elsontan