Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide -- Panels
- The Illustrator panel icons
- The Tools panel
- The Control panel
- The other essential panels illustrated*
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
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In the preceding chapter, you learned how to arrange them onscreen. Here you will see what the individual panels look like and be introduced to their specific functions—from choosing color swatches (Swatches panel) to switching among artboards (Artboards panel) to editing layers (Layers panel). Note: In-depth instructions for using specific panels are amply provided throughout this book.
You can read through this chapter with or without glancing at or fiddling with the panels onscreen, and also use it as a reference guide as you work. The panel icons are shown on the next page to help you identify them quickly. After that, you’ll find instructions for using the Tools panel, a brief description of each tool, an introduction to the Control panel, then finally a description and illustration of the other Illustrator panels and their features (in alphabetical order). The panels open from the Window menu.
Choosing Values in a Panel or Dialog
- To change a value incrementally, click in a field in a panel or dialog, then press the up or down arrow key on the keyboard.
- To access a pop-up slider in a panel or dialog (e.g., to choose an Opacity percentage from the Control panel), click the arrowhead. To close a slider, click anywhere outside it. If you click an arrowhead to open a slider, then change your mind, you can press Esc to close it and restore the last setting.
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The Illustrator panel icons
Identifying the panel icons
Each panel in Illustrator has a unique icon.A If you keep the panels collapsed to conserve screen space, you can identify them by their icons. To identify a panel icon, use the tool tip.
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Using the Context Menus
When you right-click* in the document window, depending on where you click and which tool happens to be selected, a menu of context-sensitive commands pops up onscreen. Many panel thumbnails, names, and features also have related context menus. If a command is available on a context menu (or can be executed quickly via a keyboard shortcut), we let you know in our instructions, to spare you a trip to the main menu bar.
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Entering Values in the Illustrator Panels
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Apply a value and highlight the next field |
Tab |
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Apply a value and highlight the previous field |
Shift-Tab |
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Apply a value and exit the panel |
Return/Enter |