:: Whether you want to get involved with web design, creating logos, or simply creating cool designs for fun, Adobe Illustrator is a wonderful program to accomplish these tasks. To someone who has never used this program before Adobe Illustrator can seem daunting. Even to an experienced user, there may be additional uses of this program that he/she is not aware of. As with anything you plan on learning, you must begin with the basics, and then work your way up. Sometimes experienced users can forget some of the basics, so it cannot hurt to review them. Taking an Adobe Illustrator class is a great way to effectively learn how to utilize this multifunctional program. There are many things the class will go over, but here is an idea of the basic, but important things to know how to do.
1. How to make all strokes and effects scale proportionately. Have you ever changed the size of an object, but after you did that you realized a pattern or stroke changed size too when you intended for it to stay the same? The solution to this can be found by changing your scale strokes and effects options. To do this, select illustrator, then preferences, and click on general. Now you can check or uncheck the box based on what you desire.
2. How to make guidelines on an angle. If you want to draw a guideline on an angle, use the pen tool to draw the angle where you would like your guideline to be at. Then select view, guides, and click on make guides. This will turn any object or shape into a guideline.
3. Stretch a box with rounded corners without distorting the box or selecting individual points. This can easily be done by drawing a box with square corners and then clicking on effects, stylize, and rounded corners. On the other hand, if you do not plan on stretching the shape, you can use the rounded rectangle tool to draw your shape.
4. Reset the box around an object that has been rotated back to normal. Usually, when an object is rotated in Adobe Illustrator, the bounding box around it rotates it. In order to prevent this from occurring, select object, transform, and reset bounding box.
5. How to see a document in multiple views. Instead of having to zoom in and out frequently, this technique allows you to have multiple views of the document. If you would like multiple views to make the project easier, go to window and select new window. In the new window you can zoom in on any particular area and close the window safely when you are finished.
Aside from covering the basics, such as these simple techniques, the instructor will also go over much more. When selecting a course to take, research reviews first. If the class has gotten more bad reviews than good ones, find another course. A common complaint of the poor courses is not on the material presented, but on the teacher not communicating properly or efficiently. Many people are left confused and not fully understanding the information presented. Therefore, it is crucial to find a teacher who has gotten good reviews for giving enough one-on-one time to each student to help him/her completely understand how to use Adobe Illustrator. After all, what’s the point in paying for a class if the teacher barely communicates with you?
Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Mandi-Pralle-6459/adobe-illustrator-cs5-191851.php
