Working with Panels in Adobe Illustrator CS4

This chapter is from the book 

The other panels illustrated

Align panel Shift-F7

Buttons on the top two rows of the Align panel let you align and/or distribute two or more objects along their centers or along their top, left, right, or bottom edges. Buttons at the bottom of the panel let you redistribute (equalize) the spacing between three or more objects. Align buttons also appear on the Control panel when multiple objects are selected.

Appearance panel Shift-F6

Appearance attributes are an object’s fill color, stroke color, Stroke panel settings, effects, and Transparency panel settings. The Appearance panel lists every appearance attribute and its specific settings for the layer, group, or object that is currently targeted on the Layers panel. You can use the panel to edit or remove existing attributes, add extra fill or stroke attributes, apply effects, and edit the attributes of a graphic style (in conjunction with the Graphic Styles panel).

The new in-panel editing feature lets you edit attributes quickly. For example, if you click a link (blue underlined word), a related panel opens temporarily: Click Stroke to open the Stroke panel, Opacity to open the Transparency panel, or the name of an effect to open its dialog. You can also click the stroke or fill color square, then click the thumbnail or arrowhead to open the Swatches panel, or Shift-click it to open the Color panel.

Attributes panel Cmd-F11/Ctrl-F11

The “catchall” Attributes panel lets you choose overprint options for an object, show or hide an object’s center point, switch the fill between color and transparency in a compound path, change an object’s fill rule, choose a shape for an image map area, and enter a Web address for an object to designate it as a hot point on an image map. Click Browser to launch the currently installed Web browser.

Brushes panel F5

Four varieties of decorative brushes can be applied to paths: Calligraphic, Scatter, Art, and Pattern. You can do this either by choosing the Paintbrush tool and a brush and then drawing a shape, or by applying a brush to an existing path.

To personalize your brush strokes, you can create and edit your own brushes. And brushes are live: If you modify a brush that’s being used in a document, you’ll be given the option via an alert dialog to update the paths with the revised brush. Brushes on the Brushes panel save with the current document.

To open a temporary Brushes panel, click the Brush thumbnail or arrowhead on the Control panel.

Character panel Cmd-T/Ctrl-T

Use the Character panel to apply type attributes: font, font style, font size, leading, kerning, tracking, horizontal scale, vertical scale, baseline shift, character rotation, underline, and strikethrough. The panel also lets you select a language for hyphenation. To choose values on the panel, see the sidebar on page 35.

When a type tool is selected, the Control panel also provides some basic type controls (see below), and a temporary Character panel opens if you click Character on the Control panel.

Character Styles panel

A character style is a collection of character settings, including font, font style, font size, leading, tracking, and kerning. Unlike paragraph styles, which apply to whole paragraphs, character styles are used to quickly format small bits of type—such as bullets, boldfaced words, italicized words, or large initial caps—to distinguish them from the main text. When you edit a character style, any text that it’s associated with updates accordingly. The Character Styles panel lets you create, apply, edit, store, duplicate, and delete styles. (Compare with the Paragraph Styles panel on page 50.)

Color panel F6

Use the Color panel to remix global process or spot color tints, choose Web-safe colors, or switch between the current fill and stroke colors. Choose a color model for the panel, such as RGB or CMYK, from the panel menu. Quick-select a color, black, white, or None from the spectrum bar at the bottom of the panel. To open a temporary Color panel, Shift-click the fill or stroke color square or arrowhead on the Control panel or Appearance panel.

Color Guide panel Shift-F3

Use the Color Guide panel to generate variations (harmonies) of the current color. As is the case with the Swatches panel, you can click a color variation to apply it to selected objects. You can also save variations from the Color Guide panel as a group to the Swatches panel.

Document Info panel

Like the Info panel, the Document Info panel is noninteractive. It merely lists information about artwork in your document, depending on the category chosen on the panel menu: Document (all data), or individual Objects, Brushes, Gradient Objects, Fonts, Linked Images, or Embedded Images, etc. With Selection Only chosen, the panel lists only data pertaining to the currently selected object.

Flattener Preview panel

Artwork that contains semitransparent objects will require flattening before it is output to print. Using the Highlight options in the Flattener Preview panel, you can preview which objects in your document will be affected by flattening, adjust the flattening settings, then click Refresh to preview the effect of the new settings in your artwork.

Glyphs panel

By using the Glyphs panel, you can find out which character variations (alternate glyphs) are available for any given character in a specific OpenType font and insert glyphs from that font into your text (including those that can’t be inserted via the keyboard).

Gradient panel Cmd-F9/Ctrl-F9

Use the Gradient panel to apply, create, and edit gradients, which are soft blends between two or more colors. You can adjust the amount of a color by dragging its stop, choose a different color or opacity value for a selected stop, click below the gradient slider to add new colors, move a midpoint diamond to change the location where two adjacent colors are mixed equally, reverse the gradient colors, or change the overall gradient type or angle. For a radial gradient, you can also change the aspect ratio to make the gradient more oval or more round.

Graphic Styles panel Shift-F5

The Graphic Styles panel lets you store and apply collections of appearance attributes, such as multiple solid-color and pattern fills, multiple strokes, transparency and overprint settings, blending modes, brush strokes, and effects. Like paragraph styles for type, graphic styles let you apply attributes quickly and with consistency. To open a temporary Graphic Styles panel, click the Style thumbnail or arrowhead on the Control panel.

Info panel Cmd-F8/Ctrl-F8

If no objects are selected in the current document, the Info panel lists the horizontal and vertical location of the pointer in the document window (for most tools). When an object is selected, the panel lists the location of the object relative to the ruler origin, its width and height, and color data about its fill and stroke. When a type tool and type object are selected, the panel displays type specifications. The Info panel opens automatically when the Measure tool is used and lists the distance and angle the tool has calculated.

Layers panel F7

The indispensable Layers panel lets you add and delete layers and sublayers from a document. You can also use this panel to select, restack, duplicate, delete, hide or show, lock, unlock, merge, change the view for, create a clipping set for, or target a layer, sublayer, group, or individual object. When your artwork is finished, it can be flattened into one layer, or objects can be released to separate layers for export as a Flash animation.

Links panel

When you place an image into an Illustrator document, you can either embed the image into the file (and thereby increase the file size) or merely link the image to the file. The Links panel lets you monitor the status of linked images, relink to a missing image, open a linked image in its original application, update a modified image, and convert a linked image to an embedded one.

You can also embed a linked image by clicking the Embed button on the Control panel, or edit it in its original application by clicking the Edit Original button.

Magic Wand panel

The Magic Wand tool selects objects that have the same or similar fill color, stroke color, stroke weight, opacity, or blending mode as the currently selected object. Using the Magic Wand panel, you can choose parameters for the tool. The Tolerance is the range within which the tool selects objects containing that attribute. For example, if you were to check Opacity, choose an opacity Tolerance of 10%, then select an object that has an opacity of 50%, the tool would find and select objects in the document that have an opacity of 40%–60%.

Navigator panel

The Navigator panel has two functions: It lets you move an illustration in the document window, and it lets you change the document zoom level. In addition to using the zoom controls at the bottom of the panel, you can also drag or click in the proxy preview area to move the illustration in the document window, or Cmd-drag/Ctrl-drag in the proxy preview area to zoom that area into view.

OpenType panel Cmd-Option-Shift-T/Ctrl-Alt-Shift-T

Among the Roman OpenType font families that ship with Illustrator, the fonts that contain an expanded character set with a large assortment of alternate glyphs are labeled “Pro.” By clicking a button on the OpenType panel, you can specify which alternate characters (glyphs) will appear in your text when you type the appropriate key(s), such as ligatures, swashes, titling characters, stylistic alternates, ordinals, and fractions. You can also use the panel to specify options for numerals, such as a style (e.g., tabular lining or oldstyle) and a position (e.g., numerator, denominator, superscript, or subscript).

Paragraph panel Cmd-Option-T/Ctrl-Alt-T

Use the Paragraph panel to apply specifications that affect entire paragraphs, including horizontal alignment, indentation, space before or after paragraphs, and automatic hyphenation. Via the panel menu, you can also choose hanging punctuation, justification, hyphenation, and composer options. (The Left, Center, and Right alignment buttons are also available on the Control panel when a type object is selected.) To open a temporary Paragraph panel, click Paragraph on the Control panel.

Paragraph Styles panel

A paragraph style is a collection of paragraph specifications (including horizontal alignment, indentation, space before paragraph, word spacing, letter spacing, hyphenation, and hanging punctuation), plus character attributes, such as the font and font size. When you apply a paragraph style to selected paragraphs, the type is reformatted according to the specifications in that style. When you edit a paragraph style, the type it’s assigned to updates accordingly. Using paragraph (and character) styles, you can typeset text more easily and quickly, and they also enable you to keep the formatting consistent throughout your document. You’ll use this panel to create, apply, edit, store, duplicate, and delete paragraph styles.

Pathfinder panel Cmd-Shift-F9/Ctrl-Shift-F9

The Shape Mode buttons on the top row of the Pathfinder panel create nonoverlapping paths or editable, flexible compound shapes from multiple selected objects. (The buttons have new names and a new default function in Illustrator CS4.) The Expand button converts a compound shape into either a path or a compound path (the latter if the Pathfinder command produced a cutout shape). The Pathfinder buttons on the bottom row of the Pathfinder panel produce flattened, cut-up shapes from multiple selected objects.

Separations Preview panel

The Separations Preview panel lets you see how the C, M, Y, and K color components in a CMYK document will separate to individual printing plates during the commercial printing process. You can use the panel to check that a color is properly set to knock out colors beneath it in the artwork, or to check whether a color is properly set to overprint on top of the other colors. You can monitor the use of spot colors in the artwork and verify that any spot color is set to knock out colors beneath it. And you can determine whether a specific black is a rich black (a mixture of C, M, Y, and K inks) or a simple black comprised of only the K component.

Stroke panel Cmd-F10/Ctrl-F10

The stroke attributes affect how the path (edge) of an object looks. By using the Stroke panel, you can change the stroke weight, the cap (end) and join (bend) styles, and the alignment on selected objects, and you can also create dashed lines or borders. To open a temporary Stroke panel, click Stroke on the Control or Appearance panel.

Swatches panel

Use the Swatches panel to choose and store default and user-defined solid colors, patterns, gradients, and color groups to be applied to objects in your artwork. If you click a swatch, it becomes the current fill or stroke color, depending on whether the fill or stroke square is currently active on the Tools panel and Color panels.

Double-click a swatch to open the Swatch Options dialog, where you can change the swatch name or change the color type to global process, nonglobal process, or spot. Via the panel menu, you can merge swatches and perform other tasks. To open a temporary Swatches panel, click the fill or stroke square or arrowhead on the Control or Appearance panel.

Symbols panel Cmd-Shift-F11/Ctrl-Shift-F11

Using symbols (Illustrator objects that are stored on the Symbols panel), you can quickly and easily create a complex collection of objects, such as a bank of trees or clouds. To create one instance of a symbol, you simply drag from the Symbols panel onto the artboard; to create multiple instances quickly, you use the Symbol Sprayer tool.

The other symbolism tools let you change the proximity (density), position, stacking order, size, rotation, transparency, color tint, or graphic style of multiple symbol instances in a symbol set. When you use these tools, the link to the original symbol is maintained. If you edit the original symbol, all instances of that symbol in the document update automatically. Symbols on the panel are available for use in any document.

Tabs panel Cmd-Shift-T/Ctrl-Shift-T

If you want to create columns of text that align perfectly, regardless of the current font or font size, you must use tabs. By using the Tabs panel, you can insert, move, and change the alignment for custom tab markers (tab stops), as well as specify optional leader and align-on characters.

Transform panel Shift-F8

The Transform panel displays location, width, and height information about the currently selected object. You can use the panel to move, scale, rotate, or shear a selected object or objects from a reference point of your choosing. To open a temporary Transform panel, click the X, Y, W, or H on the Control panel (or click the word “Transform,” if those fields aren’t displayed). A reference point icon and X, Y, W, and H fields also appear on the Control panel when one or more paths are selected.

Transparency panel Cmd-Shift-F10/Ctrl-Shift-F10

You can use the Transparency panel to change the blending mode or opacity of any layer, group, or individual object. To open a temporary Transparency panel, click Opacity on the Control or Appearance panel.

The Make Opacity Mask command on the panel menu generates an editable opacity mask, which hides parts of a layer or group. This technique isn’t covered in this book.

You can also change the opacity of an object via the Control panel.