Lynda.COM Illustrator CS4 One-on-One: Fundamentals

Deke McClelland

Software works on:

Mac and Windows

Topics include:

• Creating continuous arcs and looping spirals
• Building with geometric shapes
• Selecting, placing, and scaling type
• Creating spine curves with round corners
• Using the new Blob brush to quickly draw and merge paths
• Working with flattener and raster effects
• Saving illustrations for the web

1. Making a Document
Welcome to One-on-One           01:58
The Welcome screen           03:02
Creating a new document           05:06
Advanced document controls           04:43
Saving a custom New Document Profile           08:46
Changing the document setup           04:21
Special artboard controls           04:58
Accepting artboard changes           02:19
Saving a document           04:33
Closing a document           02:21
01:00:37 2. Opening and Organizing
Adobe Bridge           00:56
Opening an illustration           04:45
Modifying an illustration           06:27
Saving changes           04:58
Introducing Adobe Bridge           08:41
The all-important file type associations           03:20
Navigating inside Bridge           04:23
Previewing and collecting           05:55
Using workspaces           06:41
Customizing a workspace           06:14
Cool Bridge tricks           08:17
01:04:55 3. Setup and Navigation
Preferences, color settings, and workspaces           00:35
Keyboard increments           05:12
Scratch disks           03:48
Changing the user interface and setting Appearance of Black           04:14
Best workflow color settings           09:17
Synchronizing settings across CS4           03:02
Working inside tabbed windows           07:14
Organizing palettes           05:04
Saving a custom workspace           04:12
Zooming and panning           04:19
Using the Zoom tool           03:03
Navigating the artboards           05:05
Nudging the screen image           03:03
Scroll-wheel tricks           02:08
Cycling between screen modes           04:39
01:22:08 4. Basic Line Art
The Wedjat (or Eye of Horus)           00:55
The line tools           02:57
Introducing layers           05:10
Creating ruler guides           06:18
Creating custom guides           05:16
Snap-to points           05:25
Organizing guides           05:43
Making a tracing template           03:42
Drawing a line segment           04:29
Drawing a continuous arc           05:28
Drawing a looping spiral           06:05
Cutting lines with the Scissors tool           06:20
Joining open paths           07:31
Aligning and joining points           06:34
Drawing concentric circles           04:41
Cleaning up overlapping segments           05:34
01:04:02 5. Geometric Shapes
The anatomy of a shape           01:01
Meet the shape tools           03:05
The traceable Tonalpohualli           02:52
Drawing circles           04:38
Enhanced Smart Guides           04:01
Aligning to a key object           04:29
Creating polygons and stars           05:04
Using the Measure tool           03:47
The Select Similar and Arrange commands           03:56
Rectangles and rounded rectangles           06:08
The amazing constraint axes           05:26
Grouping and ungrouping           03:35
Flipping and duplicating           04:12
Combining simple shapes into complex ones           05:24
Cutting and connecting with Scissors and Join           03:31
Tilde-key goofiness           02:53
01:41:45 6. Fill, Stroke, and Color
The ingredients of life           00:54
Fill and Stroke settings           04:22
Transparency grid and paper color           05:47
The None attribute           05:04
Color libraries and sliders           03:39
Industry-standard colors           04:38
Using CMYK for commercial output           06:39
Using RGB for the web           07:23
Color palette tips and tricks           07:18
Creating and saving color swatches           04:35
Trapping gaps with rich blacks           06:46
Filling and stacking shapes           05:38
Dragging and dropping swatches           05:00
Paste in Front, Paste in Back           04:54
Filling shapes inside groups           05:28
Pasting between layers           04:41
Joins, caps, and dashes           06:50
Fixing strokes and isolating edits           07:12
Creating a pattern fill           04:57
01:50:12 7. Editing and Transforming
The power of transformations           01:20
From primitive to polished art           02:42
Using the Blob brush           05:46
Resizing the brush and erasing           04:15
Selection limits and methods of merging           06:39
Cloning and auto-duplicating           06:45
Customizing keyboard shortcuts           03:07
Moving by the numbers           05:15
Using the Reshape tool           07:47
Modifying, aligning, and uniting paths           07:14
Using the Offset Path command           04:43
Styling and eyedropping           05:28
Making a black-and-white template           02:27
Scale and clone           04:57
Enlarge and stack           05:46
Positioning the origin point           06:59
Using the Rotate tool           03:55
Using the Reflect tool           04:15
Series rotation (aka power duplication)           06:48
Rotating by the numbers           06:12
Transforming the tile patterns           07:52
02:04:08 8. Working with Type
Next-generation text wrangling           00:55
Placing a text document           05:38
Creating a new text block           06:01
Working with point text           03:57
Selecting the perfect typeface           05:48
Scaling and positioning type           08:57
Leading, tracking, and lots of shortcuts           05:54
Adjusting pair kerning           06:55
Eyedropping formatting attributes           03:54
Flowing text from one block to another           08:28
Creating and applying a paragraph style           07:39
Rendering the text in graphite           05:55
Creating a scribbly drop shadow           05:17
Advanced formatting and bullets           07:43
Setting Area Type options           04:57
Justification and the Every-line Composer           05:52
OpenType and ligatures           07:19
Fractions, numerals, and ordinals           09:07
Swashes and small caps           05:40
The amazing Glyphs palette           08:12
01:18:53 9. Using the Pen Tool
Points are boys, handles are girls           01:20
Placing an image as a tracing template           06:56
Drawing a straight-sided path           06:08
Moving, adding, and deleting points           06:50
Drawing spline curves with Round Corners           09:07
Smooth points and Be'zier curves           08:29
Defining a cusp between two curves           06:59
Replicating and reshaping segments           08:30
Converting anchor points           07:55
Deleting stray anchor points           05:01
Separating and closing paths           05:43
Eyedropping template colors           05:55
01:40:11 10. Selecting and Enhancing
Paths never rest           01:34
Exploring the Appearance palette           09:54
Snip and Spin           08:03
Adding a center point           04:12
Keeping shape intersections           03:42
Lifting fills and selecting through shapes           05:54
Saving and recalling selections           06:20
Rotating is a circular operation           08:32
Lassoing and scaling points           05:28
Using the Transform Each command           04:11
Using the Magic Wand tool           08:01
Eyedropping live effects           09:58
Merging strokes with a compound path           06:50
Selecting and scaling independent segments           07:59
Scalloped edges with Pucker & Bloat           05:16
Expand before you merge           04:17
01:26:06 11. Printing a Document
The new pleasures of printing           00:44
Outlines and artboards in CS4           07:35
Setting trim size and bleed           07:17
Creating custom dynamic crop marks           03:41
Working with the Separations Preview palette           07:42
Trapping an object with an overprint stroke           08:20
Placing multiple artboards into InDesign           05:17
Working with the Print Tiling tool           04:55
Setting the General Print options           06:09
Setting printer marks           05:16
PostScript-only output and graphics           09:10
The Color Management options           06:56
Adjusting the Flattener settings           07:32
Setting the Raster Effects resolution           05:32
01:32:48 12. Exporting to the Web and Elsewhere
Illustrator does pixels           00:51
Illustrator, PDF, and Save As formats           08:15
Saving an illustration for the web           06:13
Saving a continuous-tone JPEG image           10:01
Saving a high-contrast GIF graphic           06:26
The versatile PNG format           04:45
Saving a scaleable Flash (SWF) graphic           11:00
Opening and placing an Illustrator file in Photoshop           12:44
Exporting a layered PSD from Illustrator           12:57
Exporting to Microsoft Office and PowerPoint           07:24
Sharing with InDesign, Flash, and Photoshop           12:12
01:04 Conclusion
Until next time           01:04