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Introduction to Computer Graphics – CGS-1586C

Spring Quarter 2011Instructor: Amanda DickinsonTues/Thurs from 6:00PM to 7:50 PM

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The main toolbar.

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Try making a few objects on the artboard.

Here’s a few interesting tips and shorcuts to make your life easier.

Helpful Tips in Illustrator

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

We use Macs in the lab. If you use a PC at home:

Cmd key = Ctrl key Option = Alt

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Zoom with your mouse Hold down the Option key and scroll the

mouse wheel to zoom around.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Change The Unit Setting Right click the ruler to change the unit

of measurement

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Duplicate Objects Select an object, hold down Option key

and drag to duplicate. Press Cmd+D to make more copies.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Need more/less sides on your shape? Make a star on the art board and while holding

down the mouse button, use the up or down arrow to add/subtract sides.

This works for Arc, Spiral, Rectangle Grid, Polar Grid, Polygon, and Flare Tool.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Need a fat/skinny star or spiral? Make a star on the art board and while

holding down the mouse button, press down the Cmd key and drag your mouse around to adjust the inner radius.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Straight Side Star While making a star, hold down the

Option key to make a star with straight sides.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Continuous Duplicates With any shape

tool, hold down the tilde key (~)while dragging will make duplicates based on your mouse movement.

This is fun to try and can make interesting art.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Draw Shapes with Options Select any shape tool and click on the

art board, it will let you draw a shape using the options menu.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Shortcuts for fill and stroke

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Flip between color profiles Hold down shift and click on the color

bar to toggle the color profiles. (Greyscale, RGB, CMYK, etc)

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Picking Gradients made easier Want a gradient color in the swatch

menu? Select a gradient stop (the square), hold down the Option key and click on the swatch.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Desaturate or saturate color Hold down Cmd key and drag the color

slider to desaturate or saturate a mixed color.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

Want to grab a color from a gradient or photo? Grab the eyedropper and shift-click the area on

the gradient or photo to pick the color.

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Helpful Tips in Illustrator

There are many, many more shortcuts that you will discover as you play with Illustrator.

The top menu has many shortcuts that are familiar and new, so take a look and make some mental notes.