Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Getting Started — A 1-day course

 Open Public Course Closed In-House Course

Synopsis

This Adobe Illustrator course is a blended Illustrator training learning course that combines 1 days of instructor led classroom based Illustrator training with hours of additional online learning content covering a range of topics suitable for beginners.

Publicly scheduled dates, locations, and prices

Course Contents

General Interface

• How the panels work
• Docking
• Panel groups
• Document tabbing
• Creating/Saving workspaces
• The Application bar
• N-up display
• Canvas Rotation
• Basic shortcuts

Using the Appearance Panel

• Hide/Show attributes
• Editing multiple object characteristics
• Same appearance attribute
• Copy and paste attributes

Setting up your document

• New Document Settings
• Multiple artboards
• Creating a Custom Workspace
• Defaults

Creating shapes Part One

• Using the pen tool
• Drawing from scratch
• Editing a selected shape
• Corners
• Drawing basic Shapes with the Shape Tools
• Drawing paths with the Pencil Tool
• Creating shapes from letters
• Editing Objects
• Manipulating Objects - Transformations

Colour

• Colour and Kuler
• Swatches
• Gradients
• Transparency
• Stroke/Fill

Creating Shapes Part Two

• Pathfinder commands
• Duplicating Objects
• Repeating transformations
• Applying Graphic Styles
• Blob Brush tool

Layers

• Layers and sub-layers
• When to use them
• Layer options
• What to do with layers when exporting

Using Type

• Apply Gradients to Type
• Type in a shape
• Type on a Path
• Apply an Envelope to Type

Using graphics

• Placing a Graphic
• LiveTrace - Basics
• Expanding a LiveTraced graphic
• Editing the resuting expansion

Symbols - basics

• What is a Symbol
• How to use the Symbol sprayer tool
• Basic symbol manipulations
• Symbol libraries

Illustrator Effects - Basics

• Distort and Transform
• Stylize
• Warp

Tool options and Smart Guides

• Tool options
• Smart guides and Smart Guide preferences
• Gradient Controls

Managing Assets with Adobe Bridge for Illustrator

• Exploring the Adobe Bridge Environment
• Applying Metadata and Keywords

Illustrator Skins for Flex

• Designing a skin
• Exporting and using within Flex

Using Illustrator for Flash Example

• Creating a simple Illustration
• Setting up the layers properly
• Setting up the symbols
• Exporting to Flash
• Using the file within flash
• Finished result

Illustrator to PDF

• Creating and using layers
• PDF output options
• PDF presets