Set Transparency with Layers

One of the most powerful ways to give depth and dimension to an illustration is to have objects appear through other objects ”in effect, having the uppermost objects be transparent to some degree.

You can control the transparency of layers in Illustrator by using the Transparency palette. To view the Transparency palette, choose Window Transparency or press SHIFT-F10 . This action is a toggle: it will turn on the palette if it s not visible and turn it off if it is visible.

To change the transparency of a layer, select the layer by clicking its name in the Layers palette, and then change the Opacity setting in the Transparency palette, as shown in Figure 20-13.

Figure 20-13: Making all of the objects on the background layer 50 percent transparent

Tip	For a full discussion of transparency and opacity, see Chapter 17.