Selecting multiple objects in Illustrator is essential to productivity. Illustrator has some great selection features: Select Same, Select Object, Magic Wand, and so on. One selection feature that I always use is Save Selection. I usually save selections early on in a illustration to easily come back to them even though the stroke, fill, and other attributes have be modified.
This trick is similar to the Compliment Color trick, but I use it so much, I had to share it. I use specific color modes for different projects, and found myself more comfortable mixing certain colors in certain color profiles. A quick way to switch between profiles in the Color Panel is to press Shift and Click on the Color Ramp. You can easily swap between CMYK, RGB, HSB, Grayscale and Web Safe RGB.
There are a great deal of vector tutorials, freebies, tricks, and tips out there on the web today. I would love to share some of the sites that I come across, but think a single post would be overkill. So I decided to create a Twitter account for Vectips. Follow Vectips to get some quick links of vectors around the web. You can also follow my Rype Arts account if you want.
I love the results you can get when working with meshes, but sometimes I don’t love trying to edit them. When a path is converted to a Mesh Object, it is no longer a Path. This can get frustrating if you want the original path for other purposes. To extract the original Path, select the Mesh Object, go Object > Path > Offset Path and enter 0. Now you have a copy!
I’ve made some changes to the site. Probably most noticeable, is the advertising. I have started using BuySellAds.com, check them out for more info on purchasing ad space. I really want to keep the advertising to a minimum, but still need some revenue to keep the site running. I have also added Email Subscriptions to the feed and added Related Posts for better browsing.
I love using the Brush Tool (b), but hate trying to change the direction of them. Finally I found a quick way to change the direction of a single brush stroke without affecting other strokes associated with the same brush. First, select the path and then click on a endpoint with the Pen Tool (p), creating a new direction toward that point. Sadly, this trick only works on open paths.
In Illustrator, it’s easy to pick a complement color of the current Fill or Stroke in the Color Panel. From the Pop-Up Menu of the Color Panel select Complement. If you are keyboard shortcut freak, like me, you can change to the complement color by Command Shift-clicking (Mac) or Ctrl-Shift-clicking (Win) on the Color Ramp at the bottom of the Color panel.
