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Author Topic: Illustrator driving me nuts....  (Read 3036 times)

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caykroyd

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Illustrator driving me nuts....
« on: April 22, 2003, 11:42:46 am »
I'm trying to draw an outline of my T-shaped control panel in Illustrator.  I tried making a rectangle then adding some points in the top corner so I can "collapse the top two corners (to make it t-shaped).  I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it.  When I try to move these lines around, how do I keep them vertical and horizontal?  And is there a way to snap to grid?  After this "simple"task then I get to tackle making 4-way and 8-way directionals.  Thanks for the help.  A tutorial for simple lines and shapes kind of like Frostillicus' for character drawing would be a great idea.

Frostillicus

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2003, 01:44:09 pm »
do you not have the help files, too?  I'd try there.  or look for some basic drawing tutorials on the web.

Smittydc

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2003, 02:46:05 pm »
In general, holding down the shift key when moving or resizing a selection will constrain it to horizontal and vertical.

For a T-shaped object, I'd probably draw it with the pen tool, or group together 2 rectangle shapes.

I'd really recommend picking up one of those "Illustrator Bible" or similar books and browsing through the chapters.  You'll find working with Illustrator is actually fun afterwards, versus near constant frustration before.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for a night.  Set a man on fire, he's warm the rest of his life.

caykroyd

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2003, 03:13:04 pm »
thanks for the advice smitty.  On the book front.  Does anyone have any recommendations on which book(s) to buy?

caykroyd

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2003, 03:53:17 pm »
Found an online tutorial that might be of some help to fellow Illustrator novices.

http://www.sketchpad.net/illustrator.htm


Dartful Dodger

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2003, 04:13:06 pm »
Using the pen tool you can put down eight points to make the general  T shape:

*------------*
|                 |
*----*   *----*
       |     |
       *---*

Then select the top two with the Direct Selection Tool (A) or the white arrow by clicking above and to the left of the left most point, then dragging down and to the right, until you've encompassed the right point.

*------------*
|                 |
*----*   *----*
       |     |
       *---*

After you have those two selected go to the menu Object>Path>Average....
Then select Horizontal
This will average out the two top points, making a straight line across the top.

Do the same to the bottom, and the middle points.

*------------*
|                 |
*----*   *----*  -- select all four of these
       |     |
       *---*

For the four sides, do the same, but select "Vertical".

I don't know any good books on this, but the tutorial is pretty good, you'll learn what you need to know with it.

Zapper

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2003, 08:50:33 pm »
Check out The Illustrator Wow! Book by Sharon Steuer, an excellent book to learn Illustrator with.
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Frostillicus

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Re:Illustrator driving me nuts....
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2003, 09:40:40 am »
Another good book is the Illustrator Visual Quick Start Guide - the one with the running rabbit on the front.  That's a good book - they also make different books for just about every graphics app out there.
We used them in college.

Smittydc

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