If you want to assign keyboard shortcuts to your menu commands or tools in Adobe Illustrator, this is how you do it:

Go to “Edit–Keyboard Shortcuts”

If you want to change or assign a keyboard shortcut to a tool, choose “Tools” and selct the tool. If it’s a menu command you want to change, choose “Menu Commnads”.

Find the Tool or Menu Command you want to change or assign, and select the shortcut area to type in your new keyboard shortcut.

When done, click “Save” and go to the tool or menu command to make sure that it is assigned the new keyboard shortcut.

To load one of these symbol libraries, go to Window–Symbol Libraries. Once you’ve selected a library, a palette will appear, allowing you to pull artwork directly from the palette, to your layout.

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CHOOSE A FONT

In a new Illustrator document, select a font you like and type in the copy you want to make chrome. The typeface I’m using is Gill Sans Ultra Bold.

LOAD GRAPHICS STYLE

Then, load the “Image Effects” graphics style library. When the Image Effects palette comes up, select your line of copy, then select the “Metal Silver” swatch. And Voila! You’ve got chrome type.

You can also get some other great effects too by clicking on some of the other swatches within the palette. Here are a few examples:

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To load a graphic style library, go to Window–Graphic Style Libraries. If you’ve never used the graphic style libraries in Illustrator, I suggest you open a new document, draw some shapes or outline some type, load a library and click away. You’ll be blown away from some of the effects you’ll get.

Below are examples of what you can do by simply converting type to outlines and applying an effect:

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To load a brush library, go to Window–Brush Libraries. There you will have a great selection of brushes to choose from.

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You can put type on any shape path, but in this example, I’ll put type on a circle.

First, draw a circle.

Then, select the Type on a Path Tool. There are many other type tools in this palette, so be sure you pick the correct tool.

Position the type cursor on the path of the circle and click on it. This will select path of the circle as the base of the type you will input.

Once you have the path selected you can put in your type.

After you’ve put in your type, you can adjust it by using the selection tool. By positioning the selection tool over the vertical lines on the type path, you will be able to “grab” and slide the type around the circle.

You can also use the Type on a Path options palette to make the type sit on the path in different ways (Type-Type on a Path-Type on a Path Options).

Select the object that has the Pantone color fill.

In the color palette, go to the options drop down menu and select CMYK. This will change the Pantone color to a cmyk mix.

If you have multiple objects in your document that have Pantone color fills, you can convert them all to cmyk at the same time. First, make sure your document is in cmyk mode (File-Document Color Mode-CMYK Color).

Then, select the objects that have Pantone color fills.

Then go to Edit-Edit Colors-Convert to CMYK. This will convert all of the Pantone color fills to cmyk mixes.

STEP 1

Create a new document in Illustrator. Make sure the document is set in RGB color mode (File-Document Color Mode-RBG Color)

STEP 2

Next, draw the shape that you want the button to be.

STEP 3

Add a color gradient to the button shape, with the color at the bottom a darker shade of the color at the top.

STEP 4

Select the button shape, copy it, paste it in the front (Edit-Paste in Front), add a stroke to it (about 2 pts) and send it to the back (Object-Arrange-Send to Back).

STEP 5

Next, draw an oval, centering it on the button shape and raise it so that the bottom of the oval is around the center of the button shape.

STEP 6

Select your button shape (the one without the stroke), copy, paste it to the front and then move the button shape to the front, above the oval (Object-Arrange-Bring to Front).

STEP 7

Next, select the oval and the top button shape and use the Divide action in the Pathfinder palette. After you have done this, ungroup the pieces, and delete all of the shapes except the shape created by the division of the oval and the top button shape.

STEP 8

Select the new shape and fill it with a gradient, going from white at the top to black at the bottom. Then select the shape and using the Transparency palette, set it to Screen, at 80% opacity.

Your button should have a nice gloss finish to it.

This technique can be applied to different shapes and can also be used in Photoshop.

Glossy button tutorial file:

When you’re ready to place your image, go to File-Place… in the menu bar. I have the “Place” command assigned to quick key Option-E, which saves me time by simply hitting two keys.

Find the image you want to place and select it. If you want to link the image to the document, select the “Link” box. If you want to embed the image, uncheck the “Link” box.

Select the “Place”  button and your image will be in your document.

Remember that if you do link your image, you must include the image file when you send the file out to be printed.

If you need to make a clipping mask around the image, take a look at my page on making a clipping mask.

First, place the image you want to mask into your Illustrator document (File-Place…)

After you’ve placed the image into the document, draw a path around the image you want to mask.

When you’re done drawing a path around the image you want to mask, select both the image and the path and make the path a clipping mask (Object-Clipping Mask-Make)

You’re image should now have a clipping mask.

Here are some important things to remember when creating a clipping mask in Illustrator:

The path you’ve drawn should always be above the image when creating the clipping mask.

Make sure the path is as tight as possible to the image to be masked.

If possible, create a bleed around your image in Photoshop so that there is no background

showing when you create the clipping mask.

You can also mask multiple images and objects in your layout  by selecting all of the items (including the path you’ve created) and create a clipping mask.

At one point in your design career you might need to create a die line or a die-cut in your layout. This is how you do it.

OUTLINE THE SHAPE

A die line or die cut is the area on a layout that will be cut to a specific shape, such as the one below. You will first need to create an outline of the shape to be die cut. The outline will be given a spot color stroke that the printer will use as a guide to make the die cut.

CREATE A DIE LINE “COLOR”

Once the shape is outlined, go to the swatches palette and create a new color swatch. Name this new swatch “Die Line-Do Not Print”, set the color type to “Spot Color” and in the color mode choose any color that you want. I usually make mine 100% magenta. But realize that the color magenta is only used to visually distinguish the die line, and does not pertain to what color ink is printed.

It is important that the color type for this new color is set to “Spot Color”, so that a separate plate is created for the die line.

SET THE DIE LINE ABOVE THE DIE CUT AREA

The die line you’ve created should be positioned over the area that will be die cut. When type is used in the layout, give .125″ to .25″ space between the type and the die line. This is to insure that the type is not cut off if the printed piece shifts during the die cutting process.

SET TO OVERPRINT

The last step, which is important, is to select the die line and go to the Attributes palette and select “Overprint Stroke”. If this is not selected, the die line color will knock out (leave a blank area) on the other color plates and that is not what you want to have happen.

ADD BLEED

Don’t forget to add bleed to your shape, as when the die cut is made you will need to have access color outside of the die line in case the the printed piece shifts during the die cutting process, which can happen when you have a long print run.

Here’s a sample file of the die line I used for this tutorial:

Now that you’ve learned how to create die lines in Illustrator, read my tutorial on creating bleeds in Photoshop.

]]> http://rubberspark.com/creating-dielines-in-adobe-illustrator/feed/ 9 http://rubberspark.com/pantone-colors-in-adobe-illustrator/ http://rubberspark.com/pantone-colors-in-adobe-illustrator/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:00:45 +0000 Joseph http://rubberspark.com/?p=126

How to load Pantone colors into Adobe Illustrator:

Go to Window>Swatch Libraries>Color Books, then select the PANTONE swatches you need.

When the swatch palette comes up you can switch it to the list view to see the names of the Pantone colors.

Make a new Illustrator file large enough to accommodate the trim size of your mechanical and about 1.5″ all of the way around. Use the rectangle tool to draw a shape in the exact size you would like the crop marks to trim off.

With the shape selected, go up to the “Filter” menu, select “Create”, then “Crop Marks”.

This filter will create crop marks that are precise and made with the registration colors. You can also create bleed and live area crop marks by duplicating your original shape and changing the size to the correct specifications needed for your layout.