Before you get started using Adobe Illustrator CS6, you may be asking yourself, "What exactly is Illustrator?" In this video, you'll learn what makes Illustrator tick and how it differs from other programs.
In this chapter you'll be introduced to Adobe Illustrator - what it is and what it does - and get an overview of what will be covered in this course. You'll also be taken on a tour of the new features in Illustrator CS6.
Introducing Illustrator CS6
Before you get started using Adobe Illustrator CS6, you may be asking yourself, "What exactly is Illustrator?" In this video, you'll learn what makes Illustrator tick and how it differs from other programs.
This section looks at some of the added and enhanced features in the CS6 version of Illustrator, which offer new ways of working with patterns, gradients, tracing, and Gaussian Blur.
What's New in Illustrator CS6
Among the many improvements and additions in Adobe Illustrator CS6 is the modernization of the program. In this video, you'll see how Adobe has modernized Illustrator to make it a better application for you to work in.
Creating patterns in Illustrator 6 is easier and more powerful than ever! In this video, you'll learn how to create a pattern from scratch and see how the new Pattern Editing mode works.
Applying gradients to strokes in Illustrator has always been somewhat tedious, but in this video, you'll learn how Illustrator CS6 allows you to quickly and easily apply gradients to the strokes of an object.
This video looks at Image Trace, a brand-new tracing functionality to help you vectorize raster images. It gives you cleaner tracing paths and better color recognition than in Live Trace.
Illustrator CS6 has improved the Gaussian Blur function so that it performs faster than ever. In this video, you'll see for yourself how the new Gaussian Blur function works, and also how Illustrator CS6 deals with blurs created in previous versions.
This chapter explores two concepts that are crucial to an understanding of how Illustrator works: the difference between bitmap (or raster) images and vector images, and the concept of paths.
Illustrator Fundamentals
This video will explain the differences between bitmap images (or raster images) and vector images, helping you understand the value of working in Illustrator.
Paths are the foundation of everything you will do in Illustrator. In this video, you'll learn the basics of creating paths and gain a better understanding of the different types of paths and the components that make up a path.
In this chapter you'll learn how to work with important elements of the Illustrator interface like panels, the Application bar and frame, artboards, and workspaces.
Exploring the Illustrator Interface
Panels in Illustrator let you do a lot of things with your artwork, but they can also get in your way sometimes. In this video, you'll learn how to manage panels efficiently to avoid wasting time when working in Illustrator.
The Application bar and Application frame control the appearance of Illustrator's background and provide tools for working with multiple documents. In this video, you'll learn how get the most from these features.
Artboards provide a foundation for the artwork that you draw in Illustrator. In this video, you'll learn how to work with multiple artboards and how to customize their properties.
Workspaces help you to stay organized by managing all of the panels found in the Illustrator interface. You'll learn how to use workspaces and how to save your own workspaces in this video.
Being able to easily move around your documents and see them in different ways can be a big help in your work. This chapter will explain how to navigate in Illustrator CS6 and use the different viewing and screen modes.
Navigating and Using Views in Illustrator
Illustrator provides several ways for you to efficiently navigate your documents. In this video, you'll see how easy it is to navigate your documents and learn some shortcuts for doing so.
Illustrator has two different viewing modes that can make it easier to view and work with complex artwork. In this video, you'll see how to view your artwork in the different viewing modes and learn the benefits of doing so.
Screen modes let you view your artwork without all of the Illustrator interface elements getting in the way. In this video, you'll learn how easy it is to toggle between the different screen modes in Illustrator CS6.
Creating custom views can help you quickly navigate to different areas of your artwork. In this video, you'll see how easy and powerful it can be to create views for your own artwork in Illustrator CS6.
Illustrator CS6 makes it easy to temporarily hide and show portions of your artwork to make it easier to focus on specific areas. This video will demonstrate how it works.
This chapter shows you how to efficiently create, modify, and view documents. You'll learn how to use templates, guides, grids, Adobe Bridge, and more.
Working with Documents
Illustrator lets you customize the appearance of a new document based on profiles that you save and create templates based on specific artwork that speed up the process of document creation. You'll see how easy it is to do in this video.
This video looks at rectangular and polar grids, which can be used to help you design your artwork. The Rectangular Grid tool creates rectangular grids of a specified size with a specified number of dividers; the Polar Grid tool also creates grids of a specified size with a specified number of dividers, but made up of concentric circles.
Adobe Bridge is an invaluable complementary application to Illustrator and other Creative Suite applications. In this video, you'll see how to use Bridge and what it can do for you.
Shapes are a very important part of Illustrator, and in this chapter you'll learn about the various tools available for creating and modifying shapes.
Creating and Working with Shapes
Shapes in Illustrator often become the building blocks for more complex artwork that you create. In this video, you'll learn about the different tools available for creating shapes and get some shortcuts to use when working with them.
The Line tools allow you to draw unique and interesting paths that can become the basis for other artwork. In this video, you'll see how these tools work and learn some useful shortcuts for getting the most out of them.
The Pathfinder panel allows you to create new shapes from existing shapes, while the Shape Builder tool puts some of those Pathfinder operations into a tool. In this video, you'll learn how to use both the Pathfinder panel and the Shape Builder tool to spruce up some artwork.
When you are working with shapes, there will be times when you want to separate them into two different elements. You can do this with the Scissors and Knife tools, as you'll see in this video.
The Blob Brush tool lets you create a filled compound path that will automatically merge with existing shapes with the same settings. You'll see how it works in this video.
One fun way of creating shapes is to use the Blob Brush tool in combination with the Eraser tool to create a sculpture effect. In this video we'll use both tools to give our skull drawing a more organic look.
You can do lots of things with the Eraser tool. This video will show you some tricks for using the Eraser tool in nonstandard ways to create repeating patterns.
Changing the font is sometimes not enough to achieve the look you are after. In Illustrator you can convert your text to paths (or outlines) so that you can manipulate it like any other path. In this video you'll learn how to create outlines and how they affect your documents.
A compound shape or path is just a path or shape made up from other paths or shapes. In this video you'll learn how compound shapes or paths are created, whether intentionally or not.
You can transform objects in a variety of different ways in Illustrator CS6. This chapter shows you the various methods that can be used to transform and modify objects, including how to use the Transform panel.
Transformations
Transforming objects in Illustrator is a fundamental skill that you'll want to learn. In this video, you'll see how the transformation tools work and learn some of the secrets behind using them effectively.
The Transform panel allows you to transform objects in a variety of ways and to do so precisely when needed. In this video, you'll learn how to use the Transform panel to accurately modify objects on your artboard.
Aligning and distributing objects in Illustrator is easy when you know how to use the Align panel. You'll learn how to quickly and easily align and distribute objects in this video.
This chapter shows you how to select and modify objects in Illustrator CS6 and explores the multitude of options you can use to create artwork. We'll look at saving selections, grouping items, layers and stacking order, and Isolation mode.
Understanding Objects and Layers
The selection tools are the tools that you'll use most often in Illustrator CS6. In this video, you'll learn how each of these tools works and how to use it.
Making accurate selections in Illustrator will make you much more effective in your work. In this video, you'll learn about the different tools and methods that are available for creating and saving selections in Illustrator CS6.
It's important to understand how the stacking order works in Illustrator; there is a stacking order within each layer and a stacking order of the layers themselves. That may sound a little confusing, but this video will make it clear.
Grouping simplifies your workflow, making it easier to select items and treat multiple objects as a single unit. This video gives examples of how grouping can keep your artwork organized - and keep you sane.
Drawing is at the heart of the work you'll do in Illustrator. In this chapter you'll learn all about the tools, techniques, and features related to drawing in Illustrator CS6.
Drawing
This is where it all starts - without paths there is no art in Illustrator. You'll learn about the many ways to draw paths in this important section.
Drawing Paths
The Pen tool is one of the most powerful tools in Illustrator, giving you the ability to draw creative and precise shapes with one tool. In this video, you'll learn how to use the Pen tool and get tips for using it effectively.
Every shape or line you draw in Illustrator will have fill and stroke properties. This video will give you useful tips and tricks for working with fills and strokes.
Drawing modes can save you time by providing quick ways of drawing behind and inside shapes. In this video you'll learn how each drawing mode works and how to apply them to existing artwork.
There may be times in Illustrator when you want to turn a stroke into a closed path, such as simple line with a thick stroke that you need to unite with another path - but you can't. Unless you convert the stroke using the Outline Strokes function, which is covered in this video.
The Offset Path feature makes it easy to create a new shape from an original path with a specified offset. Watch this video to see some examples of how you might want to apply the Offset Path feature in your own artwork.
This section will explore a group of related drawing tools that you may find helpful: the Pencil, Smooth, and Path Eraser tools.
Drawing with Other Tools
Like the Pen tool, the Pencil tool is very useful but requires a little practice to get comfortable with. In this video you'll get a chance to play around with this tool.
This section will look at Illustrator's powerful and versatile brush tools. You'll learn how to use the various tools and brushes to create really interesting artwork.
Drawing with the Brush Tools
You can find a bunch of really interesting brushes in Illustrator CS6's Brushes Library. In this lesson you'll see how easily they can be applied to any path.
In this video we'll explore how you can use the Paintbrush tool to take your artwork to a higher level by using pressure and adjusting the size of the brush.
You can create your own brushes for a totally artistic, custom look. Or maybe you just want to edit a brush that Illustrator already offers. Either way you'll learn how in this lesson.
The Bristle Brush tool creates brushstrokes that look like they were drawn with a natural brush with bristles. In this video you'll get an example of a good use for this tool, which is drawing hair.
In CS6, creating a seamless, repeating vector pattern in Illustrator is a whole lot easier. In this video you'll learn how to create a picture frame around your artwork and make an artistic background.
Perspective drawing is a technique used by artists to create a feeling of depth in a drawing. In this chapter you'll learn how to add perspective to your artwork in Illustrator.
Perspective Drawing
In this video you will learn the principles of perspective and how they apply to your work in Illustrator.
The power of the Perspective Grid tool becomes apparent when you start placing artwork into it. In this video, we will place our superhero character into a scene.
Symbols are a handy feature in Illustrator, and in this chapter you'll learn how to create them, move and rotate them, adjust their size and color, and apply graphic styles.
Using Symbols
In this video you will learn how to use the Symbols library to build a creative scene. You will see how easy it is to change repeating elements as a group.
Color makes a big difference to the appearance of your artwork. In this chapter you'll learn how to work with color-related features in Illustrator like the Colors panel, swatches, gradients, Live Paint, and more.
Color
This video looks at the Color panel, which has been improved in CS6 with enhancements including an expandable color spectrum.
Spot colors help to ensure color integrity when you print a mixed ink color. In this video, you'll learn how to apply spot colors to your artwork to make sure they print as expected.
The Swatches panel in Illustrator lets you have fun by adding patterns and swatches to your artwork. In this video you will learn how to create a new swatch and save the colors you used in your document into a library.
Gradients allow you to apply a transition between two colors in Illustrator. In this video, you'll learn how to create and apply gradients and see how you can apply gradients to the stroke and fill of an object in Illustrator CS6.
Sometimes the hardest part of a new project is choosing colors. Recolor Artwork, formerly known as Kuler, gives you many options for assigning colors to your artwork. In this video you will learn how to use the color wheel to change saturation and brightness and link colors together.
The Color Guide panel is a power tool that can provide color inspiration when you create your artwork. It's a great way to manipulate colors by adjusting tints and shades, as you'll see in this video.
In this chapter you'll learn how to add text to your documents, format that text, create styles, and more.
Typography
Type can be created in two different ways in Illustrator: as point type or area type. In this video, you'll learn the differences between these two methods of creating type.
Illustrator makes it very easy to thread text from one text area to another. In this video you'll learn how to do this and how to divide a single text area into multiple columns.
In this video we will look at text creation and formatting. You'll learn how to create area type and save character and paragraph settings as styles for later use.
Character and paragraphs styles allow you to save commonly used formats and reapply them to other pieces of text. This video will show you how styles can make your typography workflow a lot easier.
If you want your text to do more than just sit on a baseline, you'll want to know how to put that type on a path. This lesson will help you learn how to apply text to the path and work with it to get the look you're after.
Envelope Distort provides three categories of distortion that you can use to manipulate type and objects. In this video, you'll learn about all three of these distortion methods and how to control their appearance.
In this chapter, you'll learn how to place graphics and see all the tools Illustrator offers once they are there to help you get great results in your designs.
Working with Images
Graphics can be placed in Illustrator in two different ways: linked and embedded. And you can also embed linked graphics once they are on the page. This video will help eliminate the confusion by explaining the how and why.
As much as you might not want to, there will be times when you will have to rasterize some of your artwork in Illustrator. In this video, you will learn about some of the situations where you might want to rasterize your artwork or where Illustrator will rasterize your artwork on the fly.
You can't crop a photo in Illustrator...but you can mask it with a clipping mask. You can also crop Illustrator paths using this same technique. You'll learn how to use this important feature in this lesson.
Opacity masks allow you to mask artwork based on the opacity or tonal range of the object doing the masking. In this video you'll see how easy and powerful opacity masks can be.
Sometimes you may need to expand the appearance of an object to make sure it looks the way you want it to when you send it to someone else. This lesson will show you an example of how this is done.
With effects, you can apply a look to a path that doesn't alter the path at all. It will print like what you see on your monitor, but in reality, it's all just an illusion...a very powerful, editable, printable illusion that can be saved as a PDF, placed in Photoshop and InDesign, and more. You'll learn all about this incredible technology in this chapter.
Working with Effects
Live effects give you great control over your artwork by allowing you to apply effects and then go back and edit them later on. In this video, you'll see how easy it is to apply effects to your artwork in Illustrator CS6 and modify them later.
In this video we'll explore Illustrator's Appearance panel. This panel not only lets you make changes to properties like opacity, blending mode, stroke, and fill, it also gives you powerful control over the effects you apply to objects.
Graphic styles enable you to wield incredible control over the appearance of objects in Illustrator. In this video, you'll learn how to create, apply, and modify graphic styles in Illustrator CS6.
The Warp effect is a powerful tool that allows you to warp your text in many ways...without doing any permanent damage. You'll learn how in this video.
Illustrator lets you take simple shapes, including type, and give them depth with the 3D Extrude and Bevel effects. Who needs clip art when you can create your own art? You'll see how easy it is in this lesson.
The Revolve effect allows you to revolve a shape around an axis that you choose. In this video, you'll learn how to use this effect to create a billiard ball from scratch in Illustrator.
Transparency provides a way for elements to interact with one another visually. In this video you'll learn how you can adjust the opacity and blending modes of objects to create great-looking artwork.
Photoshop Effects in Illustrator allow you to apply Photoshop-like effects without having to open Photoshop at all. In this video, you'll learn how you can apply these Photoshop effects to vector-based artwork in Illustrator.
If you have information you want to convey as a graph or chart, Illustrator has the tool. The chart and graph tools in Illustrator aren't new, but they are very powerful and allow you to present data in a more interesting way, as you'll see in this chapter.
Graphs
Illustrator has many powerful graph tools to choose from. In this video, you'll learn how to create a graph based on data that you input into the data window.
Adding a design to a graph can really spice up what would otherwise be boring data. In this video, you'll learn how to add a design to a graph in Illustrator CS6.
Eventually there will come a time when you want to save your Illustrator work as a PDF or in one of the common web file formats, or output it for use in an animation. The videos in this chapter will show you how.
Beyond Illustrator
There will be times when you'll need to share your artwork with users who may not own the Illustrator application. In this video, you'll learn how easy it is to save to the Adobe PDF format for easy sharing of your artwork.
Illustrator makes it easy to save your artwork to common web formats. In this video you'll learn about the tools in Illustrator that can help you save your artwork for the Web.
With Illustrator, you can convert photographs into vector-based artwork with the greatest of ease. In this video, you'll learn how to use the Image Trace command to control how a photo is converted into artwork.
What an excellent course and reference tool. For years I have used Corel Draw - but because of the integration with other CS applications have finally made the jump to illustrator This course has not only provided me with the fundamentals - I use it regularly for refresher training. Comprehensive but well presented - I am very impressed. Many thanks, Pete
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