Introduction to Illustrator CS2


When you first launch Illustrator, you're greeted with the Illustrator CS2 welcome screen (see Figure 7.1). The welcome screen is split into two sections. The top half offers quick links to learn about new features and to see some of the content that Illustrator comes with. The lower half of the welcome screen is more functional, in that it enables you to quickly create a new file, create a new file based on a template, or open an existing file.

Figure 7.1. The Illustrator CS2 welcome screen.


Did you Know?

Unlike the Photoshop welcome screen, which is purely informational, the Illustrator welcome screen gives you quick shortcuts for creating and opening files. Even so, you can uncheck the Show This Dialog at Startup box to keep Illustrator from showing the screen automatically at launch time. You can always access the welcome screen from the Help menu.


Taking a look at the screen when you first start Illustrator (see Figure 7.2), you have the standard menu bar across the top of the screen and, directly beneath it, Illustrator's new context-sensitive Control palette. Along the left side of the screen is the toolbox, which contains all of Illustrator's tools, as well as several other functions. The color proxy indicates the fill and stroke colors (you can also choose colors by double-clicking on them); the two icons surrounding the proxy enable you to set the colors to the default white fill and black stroke, and to swap the fill and stroke colors. Directly below the proxy icons are three buttons that can be used to quickly apply three kinds of colors: a white fill, a black-to-white gradient, and none. Under those are the different view modes, Standard, Full Screen with Menu Bar, and Full Screen (just as in Photoshop). You can toggle through the view modes by repeatedly pressing the F key on your keyboard (the letter F, not the Function key).

Figure 7.2. The Illustrator CS2 workspace.


Did you Know?

Some useful keyboard shortcuts to remember and get used to are the X key to toggle focus between the fill and the stroke, Shift+X to swap the two colors, and the D key to set the colors to their default settings.


Along the right side of your screen are some of Illustrator's palettes. We discuss what each of them does and how to use them as we go through this chapter.

Finally, the document window is where you work on your file. The black outline is your document size, or artboard. Illustrator lists the filename, the view percentage, and the color mode right in the title bar of each file. Along the bottom left of the window, you'll find a zoom indicator as well as the status bar.

Did you Know?

By default, the status bar displays the tool you currently have selected or the Version Cue status. You can display some other items instead by clicking on the status bar. For something a little different, press and hold the Option (Alt) key when clicking on the status bar (see Figure 7.3).

Figure 7.3. Yes, that's my home phone number listed in the status bar.



Illustrator's Control palette has several cool features built into it that make it extremely powerful and easy to use (see Figure 7.4). In the left of the Control palette, Illustrator indicates the targeted selection. You'll also notice that some of the words in the palette are underlined and are colored blue, almost like links in a web browser. When you click on these links, Illustrator opens the palette for that feature, giving you access to all of the necessary functions. For example, you can easily specify the width for a stroke in the Control palette, but you can also click on the word Stroke to open the Stroke palette and specify additional settings (see Figure 7.5). At the far right of the Control palette is the Go to Bridge button and a flyout menu that enables to you show or hide different functions in the Control palette itself.

Figure 7.4. The Control palette in Illustrator CS2.


Figure 7.5. Specifying additional stroke options by accessing the Stroke palette directly from the Control palette.




Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite 2 All in One
Sams Teach Yourself Creative Suite 2 All in One
ISBN: 067232752X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 225
Authors: Mordy Golding

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