Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design and Web Premium All-in-One For Dummies

Jennifer Smith, Christopher Smith, Fred Gerantabee

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781118168608
• eBook ISBN: 9781118239636
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Desktop Applications
• Index: Computer Science

The must-have book on the leading suite of software for graphic and web designers

Fully revised and updated this hands-on resource offers a one-stop learning opportunity through eight minibooks dedicated to each product inside Adobe's Design & Web Premium Suite. The minibooks include Adobe Creative Suite Basics, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks. The book contains information on new image enhancements to After Effects, 64-bit versions of Illustrator and Flash Professional, and a new tool, dubbed Helium, that will enable designers to create content using HTML5 and CSS3.

• Offers the depth needed by novices and long-time professionals
• Covers the key features and tools users need to master individual programs to their fullest capacities
• Helps designers to be more creative and productive
• Filled with tips and techniques for using the 8 design programs

This popular package gives designers a full review of the most popular design and development tools on the market.

Book III

Illustrator CS6

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: What’s New in Illustrator CS6

Chapter 2: Discovering Illustrator CS6

Chapter 3: Using the Selection Tools

Chapter 4: Creating Basic Shapes

Chapter 5: Using the Pen Tool and Placing Images

Chapter 6: Using Type in Illustrator

Chapter 7: Organizing Your Illustrations

Chapter 8: Using Layers

Chapter 9: Livening Up Illustrations with Color

Chapter 10: Using the Transform and Distortion Tools

Chapter 11: Working with Transparency and Special Effects Tools

Chapter 12: Using Filters and Effects

Chapter 13: Using Your Illustrator Images

Chapter 1: What’s New in Illustrator CS6

In This Chapter

Understanding the advantages of the new 64-bit processing

Exploring the new user interface

Tracing images like a pro

Using the new Pattern Options panel

Applying gradients to strokes

Adobe Illustrator has changed its look for the better and has added some important new features. This chapter shows you all the latest and greatest features in Illustrator CS6, from its new tracing features and pattern options, to applying gradients on strokes, and much more.

Taking Advantage of the Processing Upgrade

Adobe Illustrator CS6 is now available with a 64-bit implementation on Windows. This means that general processing is faster, and more RAM (Random Access Memory) can be made available to Illustrator, which reduces the occurrences of out-of-memory errors and allows you to work faster.

Keep in mind that all modern Macintoshes are 64-bit, so Mac users can take advantage of this increased processing speed immediately. Windows users will have either a 32-bit or a 64-bit installation and should take care to install the proper version.

Random Access Memory (RAM) is temporary memory that provides space for your computer to read and write data. It’s usually referred to as the computer’s memory. The more RAM you have in your computer, the better — more RAM reduces the number of times your computer must read data from your hard drive. Because RAM is many times faster than the memory on a hard drive, more RAM allows your computer to work considerably faster.

Working with the New User Interface

As with many of the other applications in the Creative Suite, Adobe developers improved the look of Illustrator by modernizing the style to create a new look and feel. First of all, note the new darker application interface, as shown in Figure 1-1. Note also that the text is much easier to read.

Figure 1-1: The new user interface in Adobe Illustrator CS6.

In addition, the new user interface now gives you the ability to change layer, swatch, and symbol names right in the panels, which takes redundant steps out of your workflow. Adobe developers have added several more improvements — we point them out to you as they arise in the rest of this minibook.

If the interface seems too dark for you, you can adjust the brightness by following these steps:

1. Choose Edit⇒Preferences⇒User Interface.

2. Select a brightness preset from the Brightness drop-down list or use the Brightness slider to adjust the brightness. (See Figure 1-2.)

If you’re a seasoned Illustrator user who prefers to leave objects off the artboard (main page), you may want to select the White radio button in the Canvas Color area. Selecting this option gives you better visibility of the objects that are off the live artboard.

3. Click OK.

Figure 1-2: With the Brightness slider, you can control the lightness or darkness...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Book I: Adobe Creative Suite 6 Basics
• Book II: InDesign CS6
• Book III: Illustrator CS6
• Book IV: Photoshop CS6
• Book V: Acrobat X
• Book VI: Dreamweaver CS6
• Book VII: Flash Professional CS6
• Book VIII: Fireworks CS6
• Cheat Sheet