Creating stars
Next, you’ll use the Star tool (
) to create a few stars to decorate the lampshade you’ll create later. When drawing with the Star tool, you’ll use a few keyboard modifiers to get the number of points you want and to change the radius of the arms of the star (the length of the arms). Here are the keyboard modifiers you will use when drawing the star, and what each does:
- Arrow keys: Pressing the Up Arrow and Down Arrow adds and removes points from the star as you draw it.
- Shift: Straightens the star (constrains it).
- Command (Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows): Pressing the key and dragging while creating a star allows you to change the radius of the arms of the star (make them longer or shorter).
- Click and hold down the mouse button on the Polygon tool (
) in the Tools panel, and select the Star tool (). Position the pointer above the shapes already on the artboard. - Click and drag slowly to the right to create a star shape. Notice that as you move the pointer, the star changes size and rotates freely. Without releasing the mouse button, stop dragging and press the Down Arrow key once (to decrease the number of points on the star to four). Drag the mouse until you see a width of approximately 0.5 in and stop dragging. Release the mouse button.
- Delete the star you just created.
- Click and drag slowly to the right to create a star shape. Notice that it has the same number of points as the last star you created (four). Drag until you see a width of approximately 0.5 in, then press the Command (Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows) key, and continue dragging to the right. This keeps the inner radius constant, making the arms longer. Drag until you see a width of approximately 0.65 in and stop dragging, without releasing the mouse button. Release the Ctrl or Command key, but not the mouse. Hold down the Shift key, and ensure that the star has a width of about 0.8 in. Release the mouse button, and then release the Shift key, and you should see a star.
- Change the Stroke weight of the selected star, to the right of the word “Stroke” in the Control panel, to 0.
- Change the Fill color in the Control panel to the orange color with the tool tip “C=0 M=80 Y=95 K=0.” Press the Escape key to hide the Swatches panel.
- Select the Selection tool (
) and Option-drag (Mac OS) or Alt-drag (Windows) to create a copy of the star (see the following figure). - Change the Fill color of the copy in the Control panel to the red color with the tool tip “C=15 M=100 Y=90 K=10.”
- Choose Select > Deselect.
Next, you will create a few stars to get the hang of how it works.
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Next, you will create a star that is straight (constrained), and has arms that are a little longer. This requires that you edit the star you create using two keyboard modifiers.
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TIP
You can also click in the Document window with the Star tool () and edit the options in the Star dialog box instead of drawing it.
The next time you draw a star, it will have the same settings. If you want to practice creating another star, try using the keyboard modifiers you’ve explored. Remember, do not release the mouse button until you are sure you are finished drawing the star. If you do try a few more, make sure you delete them and then select the star you made in this step before moving on.
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