Adobe Illustrator uncovered

In this article we analyse and explore various versions of Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Professional artists are increasingly doing their work in computer software, even if they can conceptualize art by hand. That is where Adobe Illustrator comes into play and is helps graphic designers worldwide create stunning graphics. Illustrator is a vector graphics program that can be used with print media, online media as well as mobile application development. There are various versions of Adobe Illustrator.

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Downloadable

Adobe Illustrator

The number of downloadable resources that Adobe Illustrator Software has is considerable. You can download files to use with a large number of different types of illustration software.

For example, the Illustrator software has:

  • Brushes
  • Styles
  • Samples
  • Symbols
  • Plug-in

Anyone who has tried to make a digital illustration using their computer could tell you that the more individual drawing tools you have, the more range precision and attention to the detail you will be able to create within digital scripts.

Each individual item within the software is rated 5 stars so you can determine how other users view that tool. The software also has tutorials available to help you learn any software or technique in the illustration category. Plus, scripts and samples can make it much easier to illustrate any project you are working on quickly and efficiently. This is because they tend to reliable than other methods due to public supply. It makes more sense to trust large numbers of users like you, rather than review sites that may or may not be biased. It is also an effective way to ensure that any particular tool is legitimate and in no way dangerous.

Access

One of the key benefits of the software is a large amount of access you have access to. For example, there are many featured downloads that give you many different options.

An example of this is a blank t-shirt templates that allow you to print any design you want. There are also world templates that allow you to make your own designs and use them freely for whatever purpose you deem necessary.

World maps are one template and can be very useful for teachers. For example, they could use them in lessons, on tests and quizzes, or in any other way of teaching students.

Various licenses

Adobe Illustrator

The software and tools available have different types of licenses, depending on what you need. Some of them are completely free for as long as you like. It is important to have software that is free to use in any situation since some situations really require it. Teachers, for example, will use the software in the public sphere and need a completely free option to avoid paying additional license fees.

There are more advanced options for the software and various tools that give you access to skills that you would not otherwise have, even if just for a demo or shareware.

Templates in Adobe Illustrator

An example of something you can find in the software is a free dog silhouette. These are shaded representations of various types of dogs and a dog walker and are found in the featured section of the site. They are available for Mac and Windows.

Chances are you’ve heard of Adobe Illustrator Creative Cloud or older versions such as Illustrator CS6 and understand that it can be an incredibly powerful tool. In fact, many professionals are discovering that in their adobe training courses, this software can give them the power to do things that previous versions of the software have been unable to do.

What version of Adobe Illustrator do I need?

Adobe-Illustrator

How do you know when the time is right to invest in the upgrade for Adobe Illustrator?

Illustrator CS3

A good starting point will be those who are considering upgrading their CS3 version software to Adobe Illustrator CS6. The changes you’re going to find are monumental and worth the investment.

If you plan to do something with web, video, and mobile devices, you will find that CS3 is unable to handle these tasks for you. There are a limited number of performance and productivity tools in this much older version, with no output tools.

If you are ready to take your Adobe training to the next level, you’ll want to upgrade to CS6 or Creative Cloud and have the ability to take your projects and add new life to them.

Illustrator CS4

Adobe Illustrator CS6 will make CS4 look like a basic application. The reason is that there are a limited number of creative tools available that can help you take your project to the next level.

You will also find that CS4 has no drawing improvements and the number of video and web design options are minimal. That will mean that if you want to be effective and increase productivity, you will need to take the next step and upgrade all your version of Adobe.

Illustrator CC

Adobe Illustrator

If you already familiar with Adobe software, your training has probably taught you is that CS5 is not a terrible program. In fact, for some time, this was the best software for many professionals and that is one of the reasons why it remains close and dear to the hearts of many.

It creates files in manageable sizes for users to then work with and the good things are that Illustrator works on almost any computer system.

Besides the advantages of creating great print graphics and web graphics. Adobe CC Illustrator offers a steep learning curve. It provides a helpful user interface.

It allows for in-panel editing. Finally, the software is completely scalable. If it still meets your needs, you may not want to jump into an upgrade to CS6. However, you should understand that there are some features in the latest version of Adobe (Creative Cloud) that you would be missing. Some of these features will be exceptional.

  • Strokes have gradients
  • Image tracking
  • Ability to create patterns
  • Adjustable UI brightness
  • Improved control panel
  • Online edition

Of course, there will be other features that you can take full advantage of. It will be important for you to look at the current version of Illustrator you are working with and determine what your needs are and if it meets all your needs. Otherwise, it will be time for you to upgrade to the latest and most powerful Illustrator CS that is available on the market.

New Features in Adobe Illustrator CS6?

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator CS6 is new in Adobe’s line of high-performance vector image editing programs. This newer member of the Illustrator family provides greater speed, precision, and stability when working with complicated or large files. It also makes use of a range of new tools and features to help you create beautiful vector images, whether they are clean, sharp, and traditional looking, or use Illustrator’s wide range of pictorial effects.

Adobe Mercury Performance System in Illustrator

The Mercury Performance System offers a new, faster, and more flexible way of working in Illustrator. It offers native 64-bit support, allowing you to preview and work with complex files without suffering a slowdown or stopped workflow. This engine is designed to make everything in Adobe Illustrator CS6 feel more responsive.

Creating patterns

Adobe Illustrator

The CS6 version of Illustrator also enables seamless mosaic vector patterns using the new pattern creation tool. It will allow you to use a range of new types of repeating patterns, editing them at any time. That means much less work and more flexible designs.

Improved image tracking tool

Image tracking is one of the most useful options for Illustrator, as it allows you to easily convert raster images to vectors for editing and resizing. The new image crawling engine in Adobe Illustrator CS6 allows you to get precise fit, reliable strokes, and clean lines without the need for complicated dialogue controls. The whole process has been simplified.

Gradient strokes

Adobe Illustrator

Image tracking is one of the most useful options for Illustrator, as it allows you to easily convert raster images to vectors for editing and resizing. The new image crawling engine in Adobe Illustrator CS6 allows you to get precise fit, reliable strokes, and clean lines without the need for complicated dialogue controls. The whole process has been simplified.

Online edition

Adobe Illustrator CS5 and earlier versions required you to edit names and other information in dashboards through an intermediate dialogue. This could be tedious and distracting. Illustrator CS6 places this task on panels where it belongs, reducing the number of visuals you have to deal with and simplifying the entire process.

Enhanced effects

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator CS6 also brings improvements to Gaussian blur and other effects. The Mercury engine enables you to apply glow, drop shadow, blur, and many other raster effects faster and more efficiently than in previous Illustrator versions. You can also skip the preview in the dialogue: the effects appear directly on the artboard.

Panel enhancements

The new design allows faster and more convenient access to expanded colour spectra, the scale panel, the type the panel, and many others. Additional steps have been removed, and the most frequently used tools are ready for use.

Attachable hidden tools

Adobe Illustrator

Previously hidden tools, such as pencil and shape tools, are now offered as dockable options. While they still prefer their hidden location, artists who use these tools regularly can “pluck” them from the main toolbar and dock them in a convenient location for a more efficient workspace. The dock works both vertically and horizontally, allowing you to adjust your space as you like.

Learning Illustrator

Illustrator users develop skills through learning to proficiently use the software, its operations, and tools. At Blue Sky Graphics we teach Creative Cloud and older versions of Illustrator.

Important skills must help beginners, and advanced users of Adobe Illustrator can include converting text to editable outlines, creating bevel effects, designing seasonal designs.

Check the software version

Adobe-Illustrator

Designers should know which version of Adobe Illustrator they have installed on their computers. Find this information by clicking “Help” in the main menu and then the “About Illustrator” option. This opens an information window showing the version number. Use the chart to interpret this information for Creative Suite versions of Illustrator.

  • Version 11 = Illustrator CS
  • Version 12 = Illustrator CS2
  • Version 13 = Illustrator CS3
  • Version 14 = Illustrator CS4
  • Version 15 = Illustrator CS5
  • Creative Cloud

The software evolves, making tutorials obsolete. Capabilities have changed with the release of all the new versions of Illustrator. This means that the procedures above procedures can refer to discontinued tools and not to mention new tools that make the illustrator’s job easier.

Designers should look for Illustrator how-to guides that match their software version. Tutorials using newer software versions may refer to tools and features that are not available to designers with older software. Similarly, tutorials geared towards earlier versions of Illustrator can reference outdated tools.

Read between the lines

Not all skills come in a separate Adobe Illustrator instruction guide. A well-documented procedure will often contain useful information for Illustrator users. The procedures that show how to use the Pathfinder window contained in that tutorial could save the day.

The New Features in Adobe Illustrator CS5

Adobe Illustrator

It is the newest in the Adobe Illustrator line. The previous version offered great features, but what does the CS5 do? Look at the features in Adobe’s graphics and illustrations program.

The only thing that stands out from the first moment is the function of multiple work tables. This new feature allows you to take any existing artboard and combine it into one document. You can edit them the way you want, just like you can as layers. Up to 100 artboards can be used in a document, and you can also add, edit, delete, and resize them. 

Another new feature is the Shape Builder tool. You can use this tool to actually edit your images without relative ease. You can superimpose shapes, get rid of parts you don’t need, combine different shapes, and fill any area very easily. This feature is very useful if you are trying to design logos and advertising campaigns.

The third new feature is the drawing improvements that have been made. This feature allows you to draw within a shape or image. If any of your drawings go outside, it will automatically configure itself to remove any drawing outside the shape. 

The fourth feature is the exciting bristle brush painting. With the selected bristle brush, you can choose between different shapes and sizes. It looks like you have painted something by hand with a real wet brush. Create a totally unique look for your work, and you can imagine all the different designs you can create with the new brush.

The fifth new feature is the perspective of drawing tools. To get started, you can manipulate the grid and choose vanishing points. You have everything set up all the way; you can start using artwork and set it up at different points on the grid. 

For example, if you have a post on the grid of a building, it will look very different if it were on the outside edges than closer to the inside edges of the wall. What perspective does is change the image view according to distance, so you don’t have to create the original image relative to perspective.

It’s a huge list to go over. The 5 characteristics of this article are the ones that stand out the most in the CS5. The CS5 is sure to amaze designers with all the new tools available to them.

Adobe Illustrator CS4 Features Walk Through

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is the industry-standard vector graphics drawing tool and broadly defines the category. It has the usual characteristics of the vector drawing tool (being able to draw lines, Bezier curves, join line segments, make regular shapes, and define strokes and colours independently).

The use of those features is that it now shares the same engine type as Adobe InDesign. It gives you greater control over kerning (you can choose optical versus metric spacing between characters) and the ability to stream text between frames with many (but not all) of the same typographic techniques you are used to forming a layout—page program. Of course, it will render the fonts, and you can embed them. What you cannot do on your own is the font package for an offset printing house. In general, if you send something with type, it is still the best practice to select type objects and convert them to other outlines.

Live Trace replaces another product that Adobe used to use called ‘Live Stream.’ It would import a raster image and use graduations between colours to create vector objects, which could then be opened in Illustrator.

Live Trace combines that functionality in Illustrator, although it can be a bit difficult to find in the menu system. When you have converted the vector objects in the raster image, you can use the warp and colour tools in Illustrator to modify them like any another object.

You can run memory usage images if you do not flatten the colour space in the imported document or tell Illustrator to ignore certain grayscale elements. Live Trace is a lifesaver for graphic designers who need to scan a customer’s logo and convert it into a scalable vector image. It is also useful for photographers who want to use certain poster style effects or make a scalable image without getting pixelated locks on the final result.

Another feature that is rarely used is Illustrator’s fake 3D effects pack. (It is not really a 3D rendering tool like Lightwave or Maya). This allows you to make very simple three-dimensional projections within Illustrator by selecting points and line segments and using a three-dimensional filter.

This is a great tool for placing artwork on the front of a box or warping artwork onto a surface (such as a rendered sphere), and it still results in a scalable vector image. That said, this feature is still a memory and CPU issue; it will tax even modern computer systems. It also does not depend on doing true dedicated three-dimensional modelling; For that, you will want the true 3-D software modelling packages out there.

These features can save a graphic designer who works on a tight schedule and someone who needs an amount of functionality from something that would be a dedicated software package, real life. Illustrator is a very flexible and powerful tool; it can be difficult to find all the cool features. Most Illustrator professionals know where to look for things to see if Illustrator can, in many cases, yes.

Common Uses of Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator

It is becoming a popular program in the design world. The flexibility of this tool and the ability to export high-resolution illustrations have made it an excellent program for graphic designers. Lines, Colours, and strokes can be easily manipulated in Illustrator. Let’s see which designers are using this program for daily work.

Drawing icons

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator has a powerful system that makes it easy to draw accurate icon graphics. You can draw basic shapes like squares, rectangles, circles, and snap them to the grid. The snap function and alignment tools make it easy to draw and organize your shapes. To fill it with a colour, simply select the shape and choose the colour you want.

Drawing maps

The line tool and pencil tool make it easy to draw lines and shapes in Adobe Illustrator. The pencil tool will allow you to draw any possible shape. It can be difficult for beginners to learn how to use the pencil tool, but once you understand how it works, you will discover how easy it is to draw and edit any shape.

Drawing information graphics

Adobe Illustrator

Newspapers and magazines often use information graphics to show statistics and figures. Most of the drawing is done in Adobe Illustrator as it contains some useful tools for drawing charts and pie charts automatically just by entering the data figures.

Draw realistic objects

Adobe Illustrator

Realistic product photographic drawings can be achieved in Illustrator. The Gradient and Mesh Tool are the common tools for creating realistic, smooth shading. The end result is a real object drawing that will amaze your customer.

Cartoon drawing

The flat colour look has made it a popular style for creating cute cartoons. The pencil tool makes drawing shapes and colouring so easy in Adobe Illustrator. In addition to the pencil tool, the gradient tool makes shading and colouring in Illustrator so easy. Even if customers reject your colour palette, you can easily change colours.

Logos

Most professional logos are made in vector programs as they can be easily exported and used in other media. The file EPS makes it easy to print sharp and attractive logo heads for company profiles and advertising materials. The isolated background makes it easy to place your logo on your advertising materials.

Adobe Illustrator Tip - How to Use Transparency in Gradients

Adobe Illustrator

One of the reasons that Adobe Illustrator is such a good program is that you can take advantage of its opacity masks to create gradients with transparency. This allows the user to use the gradient tool while changing the colour from a solid to a transparent one. This is very vital for extremely complex gradients, as everything must be visible for the image to look the way it should.

Graphics can be seen in colour and opacity. It makes it exceedingly difficult to visualize the final product because you cannot work on the colour chart, as you will not be able to see what you are doing. Therefore, you will be forced to work on the project in opacity mode and then stop when you want to see it in colour. However, with Adobe Illustrator, you can use the transparency tool to work on your colour chart, while still seeing the other tools you are using, which is a great tool to have. Most other programs don’t have this advantage, making Adobe Illustrator one step above all others in this industry.

The first type of gradient you can use with transparency is a single colour, which is a simple transition from solid to transparent colour. You will start by selecting a solid colour that you want to use in the gradient. This can be any colour you want and can be changed throughout the process. Then you can go to the transparency menu and select the option you want. There are a few different options to choose from, depending on the type of chart you are creating and the amount of detail you want to include. Here are a few different things to keep in mind, so make sure you know what type of chart you’re creating and how much more work you’ll have to do.

Once you have mastered the transparency tool for Adobe Illustrator, you will find that your graphics will be easier to create than ever. This is one of the best tools on the market, and it is completely changing the way people use their computers to create these charts. This program will allow you to create some of the most professional-looking graphics on the market, which can help if you are creating a project for work or school.

No matter why you are creating these graphics, you can rest easy knowing that Adobe Illustrator will make it easy as possible for you.

Tips for Enhancing Your Value as a Technical Writer by Drawing Great Labels in Adobe Illustrator

You can enhance all the value of your services as a technical communicator and writer by learning to draw labels.

Thousands of companies need labels to market their products.

While some of these labels are quite elaborate on the skills of a trained graphic illustrator, not all labels require that level of illustrator skill.

There are many companies in the industrial, manufacturing, and high-tech fields that require simple labels of the product name, number and description, the UL logo, a barcode, and similar basic information that you can create. And easily supply in the form of a label. I myself drew hundreds of labels during my career for satisfied clients, although I have no professional experience in graphic design.

Here are helpful productivity tips for creating basic labels in Adobe Illustrator

1] Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a precisely measured label box. Select the Rectangle tool from your toolbox and double-click on your artboard to display the Rectangle dialogue box. Enter the precise Width and Height measurements in the respective fields. When you click OK, Illustrator will create the exact rectangle described in the product specifications.

2] Use the tab (select Window> Stroke from the main menu, or Ctrl + F10) to determine the label border. To create a label with no more border weight, select the border-box you created and enter “0” in the Stroke Weight field. Then press Enter. To create a dashed line border, enter the appropriate values ​​in the Dashed Line fields and experiment.

3] Use the guidelines to align your box and its components. Select View> Show Ruler from the main menu to display the horizontal or vertical rulers. Then right-click a ruler and drag it down or to the right to create a ruler. Pull down to the desired position. Use the View> Guides menu to hide, block, or delete all guides.

4] Use the Align tab (select Window> Align from the main menu or Shift + F7) to align the visual components of the label. It is very useful when aligning label elements too small to align correctly with the naked eye, even when you zoom in using Illustrator’s navigation controls (Window> Navigator).

5] Use the Type tab (Window> Type or Ctrl + T) to easily control your font type, font size and style, paragraph alignment, starting line size, kerning, and other useful typographic features of the label text.

6] Always create a status log table for your tag and save and distribute your tag with it. This record should show the date the label was created, its version number, its product or file number (if applicable), the person who drafted it, the person who approved it (your customer or manager), the date or the UL certification number, and any other relevant information on the label. Such information is priceless to understand what has been done on the label when it is modified on a feature date. Create accountability and transparency.

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