Illustrator CS4 For Dummies- P3

Illustrator CS4 For Dummies- P3: Adobe Illustrator is the gold standard for creating exciting, color-rich artwork for print, the Web, or even mobile devices. Whether you’re stepping up to Illustrator CS4 or tackling Illustrator for the first time, you’ll find Illustrator CS4 For Dummies is the perfect partner. This full-color guide gives you the scoop on the newest tools, tips on color control and path editing, ways to organize graphics, and how to get your work into print or on the Web.
Nội dung trích xuất từ tài liệu:
Illustrator CS4 For Dummies- P3 Chapter 4: Shaping Up, Basically 81Seeing starsTo create a star, click and drag with the Star tool. After you release themouse button, a star is born. Stars are even more complex than polygons.Fortunately, you also have more keys for customizing options. To customizea star, use the following keys as you drag: ✓ Shift: Constrains one side of the star so that the bottom two points of the star are parallel with the bottom of the page. ✓ Up arrow/down arrow: Adds/deletes points of the star while you draw it. ✓ Command key (Ô; Mac)/Ctrl (Windows): Constrains the middle points (the inner radius) of the star; the outer ones still move. ✓ Spacebar: Moves the star while you draw it (instead of changing the size of the star). ✓ Tilde (~): Creates multiple stars while you draw.Clicking (without dragging) with theStar tool opens the Star dialog box,as shown in Figure 4-6. Stars havetwo radii that you can set here. Thefirst radius determines how closethe inner points of the star are tothe center. The second radius deter-mines how far the outer points are Figure 4-6: Choose quantity and length of starfrom the center. You can also set the points.number of points the star has. Afteryou make your settings, click OK tocreate the star you specified.After you create a star using theStar dialog box, each star you createby clicking and dragging uses thesame specifications, more or less.Regardless of each star’s size, it hasthe same number of points (unlessyou change them, using the up anddown arrows), and the first andsecond radii maintain the sameproportions, if not the same size.For example, if you enter 2 inchesfor the first radius and 1 inch forthe second, the second radius is 50percent smaller for every star youcreate after you establish the set-tings in the dialog box, regardless ofthe star’s size. Figure 4-7: The Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box.82 Part II: Drawing and Coloring Your Artwork Creating grids Use the Rectangular Grid tool, which shares a toolslot with the Line tool, to create grids of any size and configuration. Double-click the Rectangular Grid tool or simply click the tool on your Artboard (the area on which you draw) to access the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box, shown in Figure 4-7. Enter values for the size of the grid and the number of columns (Horizontal Dividers) and rows (Vertical Dividers). You can also enter a skew value that progres- sively increases or decreases the size of the rows and columns. When left unchecked, the Fill Grid option creates a grid without a fill; enabling the Use Outside Rectangle as Frame option surrounds the grid lines with a rectangle. The Polar Grid tool, located in the Line toolslot next to the Rectangular Grid tool, oper- ates in a similar manner as the Rectangular Grid tool. In the Polar Grid Tool Options dialog box, as shown in Figure Figure 4-8: The Polar Grid Tool Options 4-8, you find options for Size dialog box. and the number of Concentric Dividers (smaller circles that appear within the largest outer circle) and Radial Dividers (the lines that radiate from the center of the smallest circle to the edge of the largest circle). Using both radial and concentric dividers creates a spider web effect, as shown in Figure 4-9 (right). You also have the same Skew and Fill Grid options as for the Rectangular Grid tool. The Create Compound Paths from Ellipses option creates a polar grid where every other concentric circle is transparent. The effect creates a bull’s-eye target, as shown in Figure 4-9 (left). In addition to the grids created by the Rectangular Grid and Polar Grid tools, Illustrator can transform your background into electronic graph paper. Choose View➪Show Grid to show a grid behind all of your artwork. (Note that the grid itself won’t print; it’s just there for alignment and spacing purposes). Figure 4-10 shows a document with a grid behind it. Chapter 4: Shaping Up, Basically 83Figure 4-9: A polar grid with and without the compound paths option selected.Figure 4-10: A card from Ultimate Werewolf with a grid behind it.84 Part II: Drawing and Coloring Your Artwork To change the settings for the grid, choose Edit➪Preferences➪Guides and Grid. The Guides and Grid Preferences dialog box holds options for changing the color, style, and increments of the grid. If you choose View➪Snap to Grid, your objects snap to the grid corners whenever you move them or whenever you create new objects. When I say snap, I don’t mean the objects automati- cally jump to the grid corners. What happens is a lot more subtle: When you drag an object by using any selection tool, it sort of sticks a little when an edge of the object is over a grid corner. If you don’t want the object to reside at that point, you can keep dragging. The stickiness is just enough to help you align the object. Putting Together Shapes The basic shape-creation tools are grea ...