Adding the Images

You're going to split the banner into two sections. The animation that you'll create will alternate among the images and the tagline on the left, and the logo will remain on the right. Select the Rectangle tool and click once anywhere on your artboard to create a rectangle numerically. Enter 365 pixels for the Width and 60 pixels for the Height, and click OK (see Figure 15.3). Give the rectangle a black fill and no stroke (you'll choose a color for it later). With the rectangle still selected, click on the lower-left box of the proxy in the Transform palette, and enter a value of 0 for both the X and the Y coordinates. This positions the black rectangle perfectly on the left side of the banner (see Figure 15.4).

Figure 15.3. Drawing a rectangle numerically.

Figure 15.4. Using the Transform palette to position the rectangle.

Double-click on Layer 1 in your Layers palette and rename the layer Background. This rectangle will serve as the background for the banner.

Create three new layers in your document. Name them Image 1, Image 2, and Image 3 (see Figure 15.5).

Figure 15.5. Creating three new layers in the document.

Did you Know?

Using layers when creating web graphics that will eventually be animated is extremely important. By taking the extra few seconds to organize your art in Illustrator in the design stage, you can save a lot more time later in the animation and optimization stages.

Select the rectangle that you created earlier. If you look at the Layers palette, you'll see a dot appear on the Background layer. Dragging this dot into the Image 1 layer while holding the Option (Alt) key moves a copy of the selected rectangle to that layer. Use this method to copy rectangles to layers Image 2 and Image 3, respectively (see Figure 15.6).

Figure 15.6. The plus sign indicates that you're copying artwork from one layer to another.

Now you're ready to bring in the images, and you'll use Bridge help. Click on the Go to Bridge icon in Illustrator's Control palette and navigate to the folder of the stock photos you've using for all your projects. Because you've already rated your images, you should be able to filter the images to see the ones you've been using all along. Use the Thumbnail view mode in Bridge because it will be easier to see the images in this way. Click on the Switch to Compact Mode button in Bridge to put Bridge into Compact mode (see Figure 15.7). In this state, Bridge acts much like a floating palette when you switch back to Illustrator (see Figure 15.8).

Figure 15.7. Putting Bridge into Compact mode.

Figure 15.8. In Compact mode, Bridge acts much like a floating palette.

Select the image of the beach with the trees, the couple in the yoga pose, and the couples walking along the beach, and drag them all into your Illustrator document. You can now close or even quit Bridge. In your Illustrator file, you'll want to move the images onto their correct layers and set up masks as wellyou can do all this directly from the Layers palette.

Click on the disclosure triangles for each of the layers you created to view the contents of the file. Drag each of the images so that they all appear on a different layer, each beneath the rectangles you created (see Figure 15.9). I placed the image of the beach on the Image 1 layer, the couples walking on the Image 2 layer, and the yoga pose on the Image 3 layer.

Figure 15.9. The Layers palette indicates the hierarchy for the entire Illustrator file.

Now you'll resize and position the images. Select the image of the beach and click on the Lock icon in the Transform palette, which constrains the proportion when scaling. Specify 356 pixels for Width and press Enter. Click on the lower-left box of the proxy in the Transform palette, and enter a value of 0 for both the X and Y coordinates (see Figure 15.10).

Figure 15.10. The beach photo, after being scaled and positioned.

Click on the Image 1 layer in the Layers palette to highlight that layer, and then click on the Make/Release Clipping Mask button at the bottom of the palette (see Figure 15.11). You'll notice that the rectangle now becomes a mask for the photo in that layer. You can move the image vertically to get the best cropping for the image (see Figure 15.12). Hide the Image 1 layer (by clicking on the eyeball) to make it easier to see and work with the next layer. Repeat the same steps to resize, position, and mask the images on the Image 2 and Image 3 layers.