Part III: Mastering Illustrator 556 FIGURE 17.13 The User Interface section of the Preferences dialog box enables you to specify how bright the UI appears. Customizing the File Handling & Clipboard The File Handling & Clipboard preferences let you change how files are saved with extensions and links and how to handle the Clipboard files. You set these preferences in the File Handling & Clipboard section of the Preferences dialog box, as shown in Figure 17.14. The File Handling preferences are used when saving and updating files. Click the Use Low Resolution Proxy for Linked EPS check box to display a low-resolution image for a linked EPS to save file space. You can also set how links are updated; choose from Automatically, Manually, or Ask When Modified in the Update Links drop-down list (popup menu). The Clipboard is another area that can be altered in preferences. When you copy and paste, the Clipboard holds that information. Objects copied to the Clipboard are PDF files by default. You can change that to AICB (Adobe Illustrator Clip Board), and you won’t have any transparency support. Under the AICB option, you can select Preserve Paths or Preserve Appearance and Overprints. All the AICB options enable you to do more with editing but also take up more file space. 23_584750-ch17.indd 55623_584750-ch17.indd 556 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 557 FIGURE 17.14 The File Handling & Clipboard section of the Preferences dialog box enables you to specify file sharing and the Clipboard options. Setting the Appearance of Black Options In the Appearance of Black section of the Preferences dialog box, you have two options for control- ling how Illustrator displays and prints black. In each case, you can choose to accurately depict black or make black into a deeper, richer-appearing color. Figure 17.15 shows the Appearance of Black section of the Preferences dialog box. FIGURE 17.15 The Appearance of Black section of the Preferences dialog box enables you to control how Illustrator treats black sections of your documents. 23_584750-ch17.indd 55723_584750-ch17.indd 557 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Part III: Mastering Illustrator 558 Altering Placement and Tools Panel Value Preferences Most Illustrator users take many preferences for granted. But if Illustrator didn’t remember certain preferences, most Illustrator users would be quite annoyed. Panels (including the Tools panel) remain where they were when you last used Illustrator. Illustrator remembers their size and whether they were open. Values in the Tools panel are still whatever you set them to the last time you used a specific tool. For example, the options in the Paintbrush/Eyedropper dialog box remain the same between Illustrator sessions. Adding Keyboard Customization Longtime users of Illustrator have noticed keyboard shortcut changes. Although they may be frus- trating, there’s a method to Adobe’s madness. It wants to make working between programs seam- less, and that means making keyboard shortcuts the same throughout its programs. If you liked a certain keyboard command, you can always customize the keyboard to what you like. Choose Edit ➪ Keyboard Shortcuts to access the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, as shown in Figure 17.16, where you can change and save your own settings. After you start to edit the Keyboard Shortcuts, Defaults changes to Custom. Next time you start Illustrator, your custom set- tings are available under the Illustrator Defaults drop-down list (popup menu). Note You can’t use Ctrl (Ô), Alt (Option), or function keys with other keys for shortcuts. Knowing What You Can’t Customize Several things can’t be customized in Illustrator, and they can be annoying: l Type information always defaults to 12-point Myriad Pro, Auto Leading, 100% Horizontal Scale, 0 Tracking, Flush Left, Hyphenation Off. l Every new document begins with only one layer. It’s called Layer 1 and is light blue. l When you create new objects, they always have a 0% Black fill and a 1-point stroke. l The Selection tool is always the active tool when you first launch Illustrator. 23_584750-ch17.indd 55823_584750-ch17.indd 558 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 559 FIGURE 17.16 The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box allows you to set up your own set of shortcuts. Using Actions Adobe has brought the same technology from Photoshop into Illustrator to ease repetitive tasks. The tasks of applying color, object transformations, and text functions are easily automated using the Actions panel, shown in Figure 17.17. Illustrator comes with some prerecorded actions, and you can create your own. In the Actions panel, the box on the far-left side toggles an item off or on. The next box toggles the dialog box off or on. The buttons at the bottom enable you to record your own actions. Using a Default Action Accessing Default Actions requires little effort. To activate a Default Action, click the action to highlight it and then click the Play Current Selection button. 23_584750-ch17.indd 55923_584750-ch17.indd 559 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Part III: Mastering Illustrator 560 FIGURE 17.17 The Actions panel helps you automate Illustrator. Toggle item on or off Stop Playing/Recording Toggle dialog box on or off Collapse item Expand item Begin Recording Play Current Selection Create New Set Create New Action Delete Selection 23_584750-ch17.indd 56023_584750-ch17.indd 560 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 561 Creating a new action If the numerous default actions aren’t enough, you can create your own actions. To start recording a new action, you need to create a new action. Click the Create New Action button at the bottom of the Actions panel or choose New Action from the Actions panel’s popup menu to open the New Action dialog box so that you can name the action. After typing a name (I prefer to give it a descriptive name so I know what action it does), click Record and then start doing your action. After you finish, you can move the order or delete parts of your action. Caution Not everything can be recorded. If an action can’t be recorded, Illustrator displays a warning dialog box. Creating a new set When you create a new action, it’s put into a folder with a set of actions. You can have multiple actions in a folder or just one. A new action needs to be a part of a set (or in a folder). It can be an existing set or a new set. Think of actions as packages. To create a new set, click the Create New Set button at the bottom of the panel or select New Set from the Actions panel’s popup menu. What is recordable? In Illustrator, not everything is recordable. As with anything, there are limits. The following actions are recordable in the Actions panel: l File. New, Open, Close, Save, Save as, Save for Microsoft Office, Save a Copy, Revert, Place, and Export l Edit. Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste in Front, Paste in Back, Clear, Select All, and Deselect All l Object. Transform Again, Move, Scale, Rotate, Shear, Reflect, Transform Each, Arrange, Group, Ungroup, Lock, Unlock All, Hide Selection, Show All, Expand, Rasterize, Blends, Mask, Compound Path, and Cropmarks l Type. Block, Wrap, Fit Headline, Create Outlines, Find/Change, Find Font, Change Case, Rows & Columns, Type Orientation, and Glyph Options l Effects. Colors, Create, Distort, and Stylize l View. Guides-related only l Panels. Color, Gradient, Stroke, Character, MM Design, Paragraph, Tab Ruler, Transform, Pathfinder, Align, Swatch, Brush, Layer, and Attribute l Tools panel. Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, Star, Spiral, Move (Selection tool), Rotate, Scale, Shear, and Reflect l Special. Bounding Box Transform, Insert Select Path, Insert Stop, and Select Objects 23_584750-ch17.indd 56123_584750-ch17.indd 561 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Part III: Mastering Illustrator 562 Duplicating and deleting an action You can duplicate an action when you want to modify an existing action but don’t want to record the whole darn thing again. To duplicate an action, first select an action in the Actions panel and then choose Duplicate from the Actions panel’s popup menu. This makes a copy of the action. To change the name of the action, double-click the action to open the Action Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 17.18. You can change the name of an action this way but not the name of the action set. You can also see which set the selected action is a part of. Assign a function key here, especially if it’s an action that you use repeatedly. You can also change the color of the action but- ton listed in the Actions panel. Deleting an action is pretty easy. Select the action that you want to delete and then drag it to the trash icon at the bottom of the panel or use the Actions panel’s popup menu. FIGURE 17.18 The Action Options dialog box enables you to rename or assign a shortcut key to an action. Starting and stopping recording To start recording, do one of the following: l Create a new action set and action. l Select an existing action and then click the Begin Recording button at the bottom of the panel. l Activate an action and then select Start Recording in the Actions panel’s popup menu. To stop recording, do one of the following: l Click the Stop Playing/Recording button. l Select Stop Recording in the Actions panel’s popup menu. 23_584750-ch17.indd 56223_584750-ch17.indd 562 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 563 Inserting a menu item If you have either duplicated an action or want to add to an action, you may want to insert an item into the action. To insert a menu item, activate an action, start recording, and then select Insert Menu Item from the Actions panel’s popup menu. This allows you to record most menu items, such as File, Edit, Object, Type, Effect, and guide-related Views. Inserting a stop Record Stop enables you to stop the playback of an action at a point where you may want to make the action stop so you can add something to a certain area each time you replay it. During your recording, select Insert Stop in the Actions panel’s popup menu. You can have some fun with this one. You’re creating your own dialog box when you insert a stop, as shown in Figure 17.19. Put a message in this dialog box just for fun. Always allow the user to continue if he or she wants. That way, you continue with the rest of the action after the stop. This is great for using Actions to par- tially do the creation but pauses so you can type specifics in a dialog box. FIGURE 17.19 The Record Stop command lets you create your own dialog boxes. Action Options The Action Options are where you name or rename the action, move it to a set, assign a function key, or assign a color to the action. The function key option is a cool feature that lets you assign a function key to an action so you can just press F5, for example, and your action starts. Playback Options The Playback Options dialog box, which you access by choosing Playback Options from the Actions panel’s popup menu, lets you customize your actions even further. This dialog box is shown in Figure 17.20. 23_584750-ch17.indd 56323_584750-ch17.indd 563 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Part III: Mastering Illustrator 564 You can accelerate, step through, or pause your Actions as follows: l Accelerated. Plays the action all at once — and quickly. This is great for monotonous, repetitive actions, such as renaming figures or adding a tagline. l Step By Step. Plays the action one step at a time. This lets you decide whether you want to perform a step or add in-between steps. l Pause For. Stops at each step for the specified time. This is a good choice if you want to closely examine how something was recorded and want to stop the recording at a certain spot. FIGURE 17.20 Use the playback options to control how fast your recorded action plays. Inserting a selected path You can’t record the Pen tool or the Pencil tool, but you can record a path. Follow these steps: 1. Draw a path. 2. While the path is selected, start recording. 3. Choose Insert Select Path from the Actions panel’s popup menu. 4. Stop recording. You’ve just created an action to place a path. Selecting an object If you want to select an object to use later in your recording, you need to apply text to it and then select an object or path first. Follow these steps: 1. Select the object or path. 2. Select Show Note from the Attributes panel’s popup menu. 23_584750-ch17.indd 56423_584750-ch17.indd 564 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 565 3. Type the text you want to apply to the object in the bottom field and then click the Begin Recording button on the Actions panel to record the new setting. 4. When you need to select the object or path, choose Select Object from the popup menu in the Attribute panel to display the Set Selection dialog box, as shown in Figure 17.21, type the name you gave it in the Attributes panel, and then click OK. The object or path is now selected. FIGURE 17.21 You can use the Set Selection dialog box to select objects by name. Clearing, resetting, loading, replacing, and saving actions Whew! Even after creating a bunch of cool actions, you want more options. You can clear, reset, load, replace, and save actions. Now you can create, delete, load sets, and save to your heart’s con- tent by choosing the appropriate item in the Actions panel. The following describes what each option does: l Clear Actions. Deletes all the action sets in the Actions panel. l Reset Actions. Resets the panel to the Default Actions. l Load Actions or Replace Actions. Lets you navigate to a folder where the action sets are and lets you select one. You can find a ton of prerecorded actions and action sets on the application DVD. l Save Actions. Lets you save actions after you record them. You must save your new action just like a file if you want to use it the next time you launch Illustrator. Select Save Action from the Actions panel’s popup menu, and then navigate to where you want to save your action set (maybe the Action Sets folder within the application folder). 23_584750-ch17.indd 56523_584750-ch17.indd 565 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM [...]... measurement units for Illustrator l 566 The different preference areas can be changed in Illustrator Use the Actions panel to streamline repetitive tasks in Illustrator Part IV Getting Art Out of Illustrator IN THIS PART Chapter 18 Understanding PostScript and Printing Chapter 19 Creating Web Graphics Chapter 20 Illustrator Workflow CHAPTER Understanding PostScript and Printing U ntil the mid- 198 0s, computer... catch on Desktop publishing was pushed to a level of professionalism in 198 5 by a cute little software package called PageMaker With PageMaker, you could do typesetting and layout on the computer screen, seeing everything onscreen just as it would eventually be printed Well, almost Aldus was the company that created PageMaker In 199 4, Adobe swallowed Aldus Problems aside, PageMaker would not have been a... licensed PostScript from Adobe for use on its first LaserWriter, and a star was born Installed on every laser printer from Apple were two things from Adobe: the PostScript page 5 69 IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding PostScript Understanding the difference between composites and separations Determining when to use process color instead of spot color separations Printing separations out of Illustrator Understanding... Pathfinder Trap Trapping after you create an image in Illustrator Part IV: Getting Art Out of Illustrator description language and the Adobe base fonts, which included Times, Helvetica, Courier, and Symbol PostScript became fundamental to Apple computers and laser printers and became the standard To use PostScript, Apple had to pay licensing fees to Adobe for every laser printer it sold Fonts were PostScript,... printers can produce only 256 different shades for each color This limitation of the equipment (not PostScript) drops the number of available colors to 2564, or 4, 294 ,96 7, 296 , which is about 4.3 billion colors — only 1 billionth of the colors that Illustrator can specify This limitation is fortunate for humans, however, because the estimate is that we can detect a maximum of 100 different levels of gray... software programs, incorporate colorseparation capabilities These programs usually allow you to import Illustrator files that have been saved as Illustrator EPS files 587 Part IV: Getting Art Out of Illustrator When you produce color separations from other software, ensure that any custom colors in the Illustrator illustration are present and accessible in the document that the illustration is placed...Part III: Mastering Illustrator Summary You can customize and automate Illustrator to make the program work the way you want In this chapter, you learned about the following topics: l l You can customize many preferences, including keyboard shortcuts,... lose detail A 300-dpi path at twice its original size becomes 150 dpi Those jagged edges become more apparent than ever If you create a 1-inch circle in Illustrator, you can enlarge it to any size possible without losing one iota of resolution The Illustrator circle stays perfectly smooth, even enlarged to 200%, because the circle’s resolution depends on the laser printer or imagesetter that prints... time-consuming proposition either way Illustrator s solution is to scan the logo, trace it either in another software tracing program or with the Live Trace tool, and then allow you to touch it up and build your design around it Afterward, output the illustration to a printer that can handle that size poster There’s no loss of quality; instead, the enlarged version from Illustrator often looks better than... then anything entirely outside the edges of the artboard is cropped off when you print the illustration through Illustrator Any objects that are partially on the artboard print Figure 18.1 shows how you can use the Artboard tool to change the artboard size 571 Part IV: Getting Art Out of Illustrator FIGURE 18.1 When the Artboard tool is selected, you can change the artboard size of your document (represented . button. 23_584750-ch17.indd 5 592 3_584750-ch17.indd 5 59 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Part III: Mastering Illustrator 560 FIGURE 17.17 The Actions panel helps you automate Illustrator. Toggle item. PostScript page 25_584750-ch18.indd 5 692 5_584750-ch18.indd 5 69 6/3/10 8:03 PM6/3/10 8:03 PM Part IV: Getting Art Out of Illustrator 570 description language and the Adobe base fonts, which included. tool when you first launch Illustrator. 23_584750-ch17.indd 55823_584750-ch17.indd 558 6/3/10 8:02 PM6/3/10 8:02 PM Chapter 17: Customizing and Automating Illustrator 5 59 FIGURE 17.16 The Keyboard