Illustrator

Illustrator Essentials

Getting to Know the Work Area

• Understanding the Workspace
• Working with Panels
• Using Panel Menus
• Resetting and Saving your Workspace
• Viewing Artwork
• Using the View Commands
• Using the Zoom Tool
• Navigating Multiple Artboards
• Arranging Documents
• Document Groups
• Using the Navigator Panel

Selecting and Aligning

• Using the Selection Tool
• Using the Direct Selection Tool
• Creating Selections with a Marquee
• Using the Magic Wand Tool
• Grouping Items
• Working in Isolation Mode
• Selecting Similar Objects
• Aligning Objects
• Distributing Objects

Creating and Editing Shapes

• Creating a Document with Multiple Artboards
• Working with Basic Shapes
• Outlining Strokes
• Working with Line Segments
• Joining Paths
• Using Live Trace to Create Shapes

Transforming Objects

• Transforming Content
• Working with Rulers and Guides
• Scaling Objects
• Reflecting Objects
• Rotating Objects
• Distorting Objects

Drawing with the Pen and Pencil Tools

• Creating Straight Lines
• Creating Curved Paths
• Building a Curve
• Converting Curved Points to Corner Points
• Splitting a Path
• Drawing Curves
• Converting between Smooth Points and Corner Points
• Editing Curves
• Deleting and adding Anchor Points
• Drawing with the Pencil Tool

Colour and Painting

• Understanding Colour
• Colour Modes
• Understanding the Colour Controls
• Building and Saving Custom Colour
• Editing a Swatch
• Creating a Spot Colour
• Using the Colour Picker
• Creating and Saving a Tint of a Colour

Working with Type

• Working with Type
• Formatting Type
• Changing Font Size
• Changing Paragraph Attributes
• Saving and using Styles
• Creating Text on Paths and Shapes
• Creating Text Outlines

Working with Layers

• Creating Layers
• Moving Objects and Layers
• Locking Layers
• Viewing Layers
• Pasting Layers
• Creating Clipping Masks

Understanding the Printing Process

• Understanding Printing Devices
• Halftone Screens
• Screen Frequency
• Output Device Resolution
• About Colour
• RGB Colour Model
• CMYK Colour Model
• Spot colours
• Colour Separations
• Previewing Colour Separations
• Printing Colour Separations
• Specifying the Bleed Areas
• Saving as Adobe PDF

Illustrator Advanced

Blending Shapes and Colours

• Working with Gradients
• Creating and Applying a Linear Gradient
• Adjusting the Direction and Angle of a Gradient blend
• Creating a Radial Gradient
• Changing Colours and Adjusting a Gradient
• Applying Gradients to Multiple Objects
• Adding Transparency to Gradients
• Working with Blended Objects
• Creating a Blend with Specified Steps
• Modifying the Blend
• Creating Smooth Colour Blends

Working with Brushes

• Working with the Blob Brush Tool
• Drawing with the Blob Brush Tool
• Editing with the Blob Brush and Eraser Tools
• Merge Paths with the Blob Brush Tool
• Working with Brushes
• Using Art Brushes
• Drawing with the Paintbrush Tool
• Editing Paths with the Paintbrush Tool
• Using Scatter Brushes
• Changing Brush Options
• Applying a Scatter Brush to Paths
• Changing the Colour Attributes of Brushes
• Changing the Brush Colour using Hue Shift Colorization
• Changing the Brush Colour using Tints Colorization
• Using a Fill Colour with Brushes
• Using Calligraphic Brushes
• Using Pattern Brushes
• Creating Brushes
• Creating Swatches for a Pattern Brush
• Creating a Pattern Brush from Swatches
• Painting with the Pattern Brush
• Applying the Scribble Effect

Applying Effects

• Using Live Effects
• Applying an Effect
• Editing an Effect
• Creating a Banner Logo with the Warp Effect
• Creating the Logotype
• Stylizing the Banner and Logotype
• Creating the 3D Cylinder
• Using the 3D Extrude & Bevel Effect
• Applying a Symbol as Mapped Artwork
• Creating a Revolved Object
• Changing the Lighting
• Mapping a Photoshop Image

Applying Appearance Attributes and Graphic Styles

• Using Appearance Attributes
• Editing and Adding Appearance Attributes
• Reordering Appearance Attributes
• Adding an Additional Stroke and Fill
• Using Graphic Styles
• Creating and Saving a Graphic style
• Applying a Graphic Style to an Object
• Applying a Graphic Style to a Layer
• Applying Existing Graphic Styles
• Adding to an Existing Graphic Styles
• Applying an Appearance to a Layer
• Copying, Applying and Removing Graphic Styles

Working with Symbols

• Working with Symbols
• Using Illustrator Symbol Libraries
• Creating Symbols
• Spraying Symbol Instances
• Editing Symbol Sets using the Symbolism Tools
• Editing Symbols
• Updating a Symbol
• Breaking a Link to a Symbol
• Replacing Symbols
• Storing and Retrieving Artwork in the Symbols Panel
• Mapping a Symbol to 3D Artwork
• Symbols and Flash Integration

Combining Illustrator CS4 Graphics with other Adobe Applications

• Working with Adobe Bridge
• Combining Artwork
• Vector versus Bitmap Graphics
• Editing the Artboard
• Placing an Adobe Photoshop File
• About Layer Comps
• Editing and Duplicating a Placed image
• Applying Colour Edits to a Placed Image
• Masking an Image
• Applying a Clipping Mask to an Image
• Creating Compound Paths and Opacity Masks
• Editing an Imported Mask
• Sampling Colours in Placed Images
• Replacing a Placed Image
• Exporting a Layered File to Adobe Photoshop
• Placing Illustrator Files Adobe InDesign
• Integrating Illustrator and Adobe Flash