Pathfinder operation are really fun to work with.
Ctrl+Shift+F9 is short cut key to bring up the pathfinder operations.
the two modes that you would see here are different.
The shape mode is dynamic in nature - which essentially means that the changes are live in nature. They will happen on the fly.
The pathfinders option is static in nature - meaning its kind of hardwired.
Now what the First "Add to shape area" does is that it unites the shapes. Not to mention that this is all happening Live, on the fly! :)
Now this will result in a compound shape - look in your layers pallette. Wondering what is a compound shape - well the object that results from any of the Shape operations converts two or more shapes into a compound shape.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Color Basics
What is HSB? How does it work?
This question has been haunting a lot of my colleagues and students. Allow me to take this opportunity to answer this question in the simplest possible way.
H- Hue i.e. the rainbow color available in the pallette
S-Saturation i.e. how vivid or how gray a color is.
B- Brightness i.e.how light or dark the color is.
Tip 1- Shift click on the color bar at the bottom to cycle through the different color modes viz-a-viz RGB, CMYK, HSB, etc
Tip 2- If you press X on the color palette then you can switch between which is your foreground, stroke or fill. But if you press Shift X then you swap the colors. :) i bet you din know that one!
Tip 3- If you just eye drop a color from the color band at the bottom - then that would pick up the color and assign to the foreground option. But if you alt click on that band it provides that color to the opposite option- in this case background or vice-versa.
This question has been haunting a lot of my colleagues and students. Allow me to take this opportunity to answer this question in the simplest possible way.
H- Hue i.e. the rainbow color available in the pallette
S-Saturation i.e. how vivid or how gray a color is.
B- Brightness i.e.how light or dark the color is.
Tip 1- Shift click on the color bar at the bottom to cycle through the different color modes viz-a-viz RGB, CMYK, HSB, etc
Tip 2- If you press X on the color palette then you can switch between which is your foreground, stroke or fill. But if you press Shift X then you swap the colors. :) i bet you din know that one!
Tip 3- If you just eye drop a color from the color band at the bottom - then that would pick up the color and assign to the foreground option. But if you alt click on that band it provides that color to the opposite option- in this case background or vice-versa.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Illustrator tips
Tip 1: try experimenting with the modifier keys* down while using the arc/line/polar grid/rectangular grid tools. its lot of great control on your finger tips. A huge time saver!
Tip 2: Also if you ctrl click on the layers eyeball...it converts only that layer to an outline view...great time saver!
Tip 3: While dragging the ruler guidelines press and hold alt key to change the respective default direction the opposite. This means if you press alt while dragging a horizontal guidelines - it converts to a vertical guideline.
Tip 4 : While drawing any shape (circles, rectangles, etc.) press and hold alt key to draw it from the centre outward.
Tip 5: While drawing any shape press and hold shift key to constrain the shape to its proper dimensions without distorting it. This means that to draw a perfect circle you would press and hold the shift key to draw a perfect circle and not an ellipse.
Tip 6: If you press ctrl while drawing a perfect circle - you will draw from arc to arc. A great tip to be precise while working.
Tip 7: While specifying dimensions of a shape in the shape specific dialogue box- if you mention one field (height) and click on the word (width) it would automatically copy the numbers from height to width field. A great time saver!
Tip 8: If you press and hold alt key and click on a layer - it selects the contents of that layer.
Tip 9: While drawing polygons, you could - after you have decided on the dimensions of the polygon, finesse the in point and out point by holding down ctrl key and draggingat the mouse. Try it!
Tip 10: Ever wondered how to draw rectangles or for that matter anything inside of illustrator at a certain angle - well go to Constrain Angle in your preference settings and specify the angle. The world of Illustrator changes from 0 degrees to whatever angle you specify. Sweet Trick! :)
Tip 11: If you have made a group of objects - and you want to select one of them then you could select white arrow tool and press and hold alt key and then select the object. Your object in the group will be selected. Time saver!
Tip 12: This one is a pretty wacky trick! Press and hold tilde (~) key while dragging your mouse to draw any shape. Go figure! ;)
Tip 13: Double click on the Black arrow tool and see the magic unfold. It gives an option to move your graphics by numbers, if you will! :)
Tip 14: When you click and start drawing with the pen tool and reposition your next point by pressing the space bar. Wicked trick!
A note on Miter Limit: Miter limit is the distance that the stroke will extend past the point on a corner. If you have a very acute angle and a hard corner setting on the stroke you have to raise the miter limit so the point will extend all the way instead of coming to a flat stop
*for those who are wondering what they are its the ctrl, alt and shift keys
C ya!
Tip 2: Also if you ctrl click on the layers eyeball...it converts only that layer to an outline view...great time saver!
Tip 3: While dragging the ruler guidelines press and hold alt key to change the respective default direction the opposite. This means if you press alt while dragging a horizontal guidelines - it converts to a vertical guideline.
Tip 4 : While drawing any shape (circles, rectangles, etc.) press and hold alt key to draw it from the centre outward.
Tip 5: While drawing any shape press and hold shift key to constrain the shape to its proper dimensions without distorting it. This means that to draw a perfect circle you would press and hold the shift key to draw a perfect circle and not an ellipse.
Tip 6: If you press ctrl while drawing a perfect circle - you will draw from arc to arc. A great tip to be precise while working.
Tip 7: While specifying dimensions of a shape in the shape specific dialogue box- if you mention one field (height) and click on the word (width) it would automatically copy the numbers from height to width field. A great time saver!
Tip 8: If you press and hold alt key and click on a layer - it selects the contents of that layer.
Tip 9: While drawing polygons, you could - after you have decided on the dimensions of the polygon, finesse the in point and out point by holding down ctrl key and draggingat the mouse. Try it!
Tip 10: Ever wondered how to draw rectangles or for that matter anything inside of illustrator at a certain angle - well go to Constrain Angle in your preference settings and specify the angle. The world of Illustrator changes from 0 degrees to whatever angle you specify. Sweet Trick! :)
Tip 11: If you have made a group of objects - and you want to select one of them then you could select white arrow tool and press and hold alt key and then select the object. Your object in the group will be selected. Time saver!
Tip 12: This one is a pretty wacky trick! Press and hold tilde (~) key while dragging your mouse to draw any shape. Go figure! ;)
Tip 13: Double click on the Black arrow tool and see the magic unfold. It gives an option to move your graphics by numbers, if you will! :)
Tip 14: When you click and start drawing with the pen tool and reposition your next point by pressing the space bar. Wicked trick!
A note on Miter Limit: Miter limit is the distance that the stroke will extend past the point on a corner. If you have a very acute angle and a hard corner setting on the stroke you have to raise the miter limit so the point will extend all the way instead of coming to a flat stop
*for those who are wondering what they are its the ctrl, alt and shift keys
C ya!
Illustrator - Metallic text Effects
Here is a good tutorial on making nice metallic text effects!
Do let me know, about your questions!
Enjoy!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Hey
Hi this is my first post.
Today Dr. Roop's film for an international film festival to be held in US got finalized. We all are looking forward to it.
Animatics is done!
Concept finalized
Pre-Production started!
cya.
Today Dr. Roop's film for an international film festival to be held in US got finalized. We all are looking forward to it.
Animatics is done!
Concept finalized
Pre-Production started!
cya.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)