Illustrator refresher

I typed stuff up as we were being taught the other day. Thought I would share it. Hope it helps!

Pages = art boards

Vectors= no resolution = scale as big as you wasn’t

Outside page= paste boards

Inside page only what included in printed document

Drawing Tool

Paintbrush

Lines can have both stokes and fills

Laser cutter = uniform line type only .> can’t use varied line thickness like in graphics tablet

Laser cutter = round brush is best/ Give you uniform line width. 

If you are doing laser cutter engraving it can be any line type you want. Only if it is a cut do you have to choose uniform only.

Graphics tablet – for pressure settings must set maximum and minimum widths

In a vector programme you can edit lines to make changes to them

Up the spine of your line anchors appear. These will move your whole line not adjust them.

You need to use the direct selection tool ( hot key v) to edit lines. 2^nd one down

Click> Click& Drag to change shape of lines.

[ hot key Z - zoom – hold down alt for minus. }

TO ADD A POINT  (hot key +)           

Have lines selected so it has spine. Go to pen tool .> press and hold> in sub menu go to add anchor point tool. > using direct selection tool you can then adjust your path.

[ Hot key= double click on hand tool and it will zoom out to full page]

PEN TOOL ( hot key p)

Lick and drag = curves

Go back to selection tool (v) and you can then edit line type/ thickness/ colour etc

Adjustment Points – not the next point you are joining up.

Rotating a shape around a point

Draw line> select with selection tool> select rotate tool> hold alt + click point where you want to rotate shape around > will ask for angle > click copy> click cmd +d to duplicate copying shape

If you just click ok, it will only rotate the shape and will not duplicate

Clipping Masks

[Copy hot keys Alt + Drag = fast copy]

Go to shape tool ( for example use rectangle tool)

If the shape has a fill go to toolbar and select the white one with  a red line though it.

Select all (cmd+a)

Right click on the box you drew > select create clipping mask> this deletes everything out with the rectangle drawn

Converting Hand Drawings or other images into vecors for cutting or engraving

Bring image into illustrator >File> Place high contrast image into illustrator document.

Your page size must be the size of material you wish to engrave/ cut onto

LIVE TRACE-  

Select the image so there is a blue line around it >

Object> live trace > live trace tracing options > click preview box( if preview is unavailable it’s because your image is not selected) > change preset to a new setting> Play with threshold until image is what you want

·         For laser cutting use technical drawing- puts black outline around shape. Will not give engraving will only give and outline of your shape.

·         For laser engraving use black and white

When shape has regenerate you must click expand. This is in the tool bar at the top. This will give you a vector line.

If you want to colour in a live trace path- object > path > join

Need a higher threshold  (more points) other wise it will join up badly

0.025 line width for laser engraving or laser cutting  - When you go to laser cutter you have to import the file into Corel Draw you must select hairline in this programme.

Vector Engraving – in Illustrator

Go to object > Ungroup – this will make each vector individually editable – for example you could on a grid fill each square with a different colour to get a pattern of different engraved depths

Get rid of background by selecting all (cmd+a) and deleting the background vector path

Make sure image is resized in order to fit onto page

WHEN IN LASER CUTTER ROOM

Import into corel draw as an eps file

Image needs to be coloured. Each colour represents a different value on the laser cutter (different engrave depths)

Vector cuts or vector engraves you must ensure outline is a hairline and any colour are the RGB black

Do not set your colours until you are at the laser computer as the colour values will not correspond to the computers in the media labs.

0.025 line width for laser engraving or laser cutting  - When you go to laser cutter you have to import the file into Corel Draw you must select hairline in this programme.