illustrator@kreativsolutions: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

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

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

Sunday, January 18, 2009

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.

Monday, January 12, 2009

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.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Creative tools bring you the power to design - Part 2

Advanced typography

Character and Paragraph styles
Apply formatting to individual characters, lines of type, or entire paragraphs with a single click.

Paragraph composition
Optimize line breaks throughout an entire paragraph with minimal hyphenation and better word and letter spacing.

Text underline and strikethrough
Easily apply underlining and strikethroughs to any line of text, section of text, or text element.

Transparent text effects
Expand your typographic options using ghosted text, transparent drop shadows with soft edges, and other effects for transparent text.

OpenType fonts
Simplify cross-platform font management and take advantage of alternate glyphs and extended character sets with more than 80 included OpenType® fonts.

Automatic kerning and optical alignment
Adjust the space between letters using automatic kerning, and hang punctuation outside the edges of a text box using optical alignment.

Smart quotes and ligatures
Add polish to your designs with automatic smart quotes and proper ligatures.

Alternate Glyphs panel
Quickly access and apply alternates from an OpenType font's extended character set.

illustrator@kreativsolutions

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Shortcut and time-saver tips to share

Practical Smart Guides

Powerful selection tools

Isolation Mode advances

New Document Profiles

Graphic styles

Templates

Sunday, January 18, 2009

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

Actions on the artboardChoose 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 exposedUse 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 panelsGet 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 viewWork 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 panelDiscover 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 workspaceIncrease 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 workspaceProof 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 workspacesWork 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 panelOrganize 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 supportControl the visibility of layer comps in linked, embedded, or opened Photoshop files from within Illustrator CS4.

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

Adobe Bridge CS4Use Adobe Bridge to efficiently browse and preview your creative assets, run automation scripts, access new Adobe services, and more.

Wacom tablet supportTake 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.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Using gradients and transparency effect

Transparency in gradientsCreate 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 gradientsSet 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 transparencyExpand your design options with blending modes and transparency effects similar to those in Photoshop, including transparency controls within gradients.

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

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Creative tools bring you the power to design - Part 3

Live ColorExplore, 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.

Live PaintEasily 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 stylesCombine 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 demystifiedWork 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 distortionWarp, liquify, and distort artwork any way imaginable with envelopes and live distortion tools. Easily access envelope options from the Control panel.

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

3D effectsTurn 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 grayscaleAssign 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.

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

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

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

Graphing toolsCommunicate 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.