Illustrator CS6 Essential Training

I was given a text document with a list of videos to watch on Lynda.com pertaining to learning how to use Illustrator. There were 3 different chapters of videos for our class to watch, and overall there were 10 videos that were several minutes long that I ended up watching.

The first chapter was entitled:

• Getting Started

From the videos in this chapter, it talked about the differences between using programs like Illustrator versus that of programs like Photoshop. Not being entirely new to what Illustrator is ( I took a course that taught me how to use Illustrator from the CS3 series), I was already familiar with some of the differences and uses.

Where Photoshop is resolution dependent and works in pixels, Illustrator is resolution independent and works in vectors. To state it simply, vector images retain their ability to be modified through scaling, etc., without losing its crisp shape. Photoshop images can't do this. They can be modified within the parameters of their resolution and tend to lose their shape and properties along the way depending.

The videos also gave a tour of the programs interface or the bars, icons and tabs littering the program. Since I'm familiar with Photoshop the set-up isn't anything new to me and a few minutes of clicking around here and there get me settled into anything I didn't previously already know.

I did get a lot of new key combination shortcuts from these videos I didn't know previously.

The second chapter was:

• Working with Documents

Being very familiar with Photoshop helped me in regards to these videos again. Working with grids, rulers, guides, and the snap features are essentially the same in Illustrator as they are in Photoshop. However, I was surprised to find how exact you can be using the grids and rulers, placing things to exact pixels in order to avoid the nasty effects of anti-aliasing.

The snap feature when moving things is very helpful when you're trying to line one object or group of objects up with another on the grid of screen, but become a serious pain when you're simply trying to nudge something into looking right to you personally. Thankfully you can turn this option off.

While turning this option off, you can also modify how the grids, guides and snaps look to your through Illustrator's preferences. You're able to modify the colors of grids and guides there in order to make it easier to see on your document. This can be found under the Edit menu on the bar at the top of the program for Windows, or I believe they said under the program's name on a Mac. Either way, customization is very handy and helps keep strain off the eyes.

It also talked about how the hide artwork in the document. Another thing I was already aware of. It's a useful tool when you want to look through the individual layers or even test whether or not something looks better with or without that particular element attached to it. All you need to do it click the little eye icon in the Layers window and voila~, things can be hidden and seen. You're like a digital magician in a way when you're using it.

Locking and unlocking objects is just as easy and hiding and revealing them, the only difference being one function makes something disappear from sight while the other doesn't allow you to move that particular object and/or group of objects.

The only thing I wasn't versed in was the Artboards, which the presenter said is apparently a new thing to come out with CS6. I admittedly really like this feature. It's a nice way of having multiple documents in one space, especially when you're sitting there doing color variants of a particular logo or graphic of some sort.

That segment showed how to arrange artboards on a particular document when the document was created and how to resize the individual artboards in the document (which admittedly made grin ear to ear). It's somewhat akin to how Microsoft Excel added tabs to the bottom so you could do multiple spreadsheets at once without having a crap-ton of documents. Saves time, saves HD space.

The third chapter was:

• Selecting and Transforming Objects

Something I'm very practiced in once again because of my time spent using Photoshop.

Several of the videos essentially went over the ways in which someone can select an object, or a group of objects, turn those objects in a singular group of objects in which you can move around and transform them back into individual objects. This also included the different selections tools, their purposes and importance when using them to select and group objects.

Also touched on was how to resize images, rotate images and align images using the alignment tools inside the program. All of those are things I'm very familiar with because of using Photoshop so heavily.

Resizing allows you to scale down or blow up an image to whatever proportions to desire, or if you want a uniformed scaling, allows you to do a constrained resize which has things resize parallel to all parts and sides. Basically it means it gets bigger or smaller equally all over.

Rotating is just as it sounds, you rotate the object, groups of objects, and/or entire piece to your will. Upsided down, 35 degrees to the right, however you want to rotate it, it can be done. Pretty simple to do.

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Most of these videos were just re-hashes for me with the exception of what Artboards are and how they work. It's nice to get refreshers anyway, because without constant use the knowledge and memory of how something worked slowly begins to dissipate until you can no longer recall it. So hopefully I won't have too hard of a time re-acquainting myself with this program.

Also, I took tons of key combinations shortcut notes. Tons.