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Category Archives: Tips and Tricks
Adobe Illustrator CS4 Review
I have been working with the new Illustrator CS4 everyday for the past week. To test out the functionality and new features of CS4, I worked on logos, illustrations, web designs and more. There are some great improvements in the CS4 version of Illustrator. What are the new functions? How do they work? Is it worth it to upgrade? I’ll answer these questions in my review of Illustrator CS4!
Illustrator CS4 Announcement Round Up
I’m sure you know by now that Adobe has announced Creative Suite 4. Most important to me is Illustrator CS4. I was going to write a comprehensive breakdown of all the new features, but found others have done it better. Instead, I rounded up the best articles and videos I’ve found about the launch of Illustrator CS4. I am going to wait until I have CS4 in my hands to do a comprehensive review.
10 Free and Extremely Useful Illustrator Scripts
Illustrator has a plethora of tools at you disposal. Even with all these tools, there is always going to be something missing. This is where scripts and plug-ins come in to help. With scripts and plug-ins you can perform tasks that Illustrator cannot complete on it’s own. There are a great deal of resources out there and in this post you will find 10 free and useful scripts for Illustrator!
Wacom Settings In Illustrator
I have been using a 6×8 Wacom Intuos3 for the past 4 months, and can’t live without it. It has become a important tool in my Illustrator work. Not only is it more natural using the Wacom compared to a mouse, Illustrator has some tool features you can only use with a pen tablet. With some tools you can set how the tool responds to the Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation of the pen. Continue reading
Simultaneously Expand When Creating Compund Shapes
This is a quick tip, but anything that helps productivity is worth mentioning. With the Pathfinder Panel you can create different compound shapes by pressing the desired button. You expand the shape by pressing the Expand button in the panel. Instead of pressing the expand button, hold Alt /Option when pressing the button to combine these two step!
Utilizing the Magic Wand’s Tolerance Levels
Illustrator has many great selection features, as I talked about in a previous post Save Time With Save Selection. Another selection option that I use regularly is the Magic Wand Tool (Y). With the Magic Wand Tool (Y), you select an object and the tool will select every object with similar attributes. The real benefit of using the Magic Wand Tool (Y) comes when setting the tolerance levels.