Just upped Taito Space Invader CPO - comments and AI tips wanted!

[Ravage]

Hey!
In a bizarre mood I was up till 3AM tracing a Taito Space Invader Control Panel, which I've just uploaded to the  Library.

What I am chuffed about is that this is my first tracing using Adobe Illustrator rather than Paint Shop Pro (yep, version 9 pished me off so much I thought NOW was the time for the plunge). I think it looks very good. I've included a layer with the English text converted to outlines, but also the font based text as a hidden layer (shame I couldnt attach the TTF font though).... In time I'll can a japanese overlay and add the Jap text to the file so users can toggle between english or Japanese very Handy!


Having got to grips with the curves and anchor tool I was away in no time! Have  alook at the file - see what you guys think as I'm alwasy after a critique.

One thing though, and someone give me a pointers and tips how to do these things in AI:

ONE: Straight Lines

I know to hold <SHIFT> to get straight lines.... Lets say I'm doing a rectangle. I draw UP with shift in, I draw right with shift in, I draw down with shift in - nice straight lines so far.... Now when I close the the vector, with the shift line down I get a wonky line. Then when I start messing with the points even with SHIFT held in I can never seem to get 100% dead-straight 90 degree angles...

TWO: On the Same Row

Ok, a bit similar to 1 in a way, but is there a quick and easy way to get thing that you copy/paste or indeed draw to same at either the same row ro column point. I.e. I draw a circle. I do <COPY> <PASTE CTRL+V> now I have to shuffle it about to get it as lined up as possible. I did use Paste in front <CTRL F> allot so I could then move the new item froma  position where its already at the right column/row position.

THREE: TRACING FILLED Blinding Problems
Ok. I'm tracing a filled object shape, as I go round from the start point to thelast placed point it does the fill. But this often obscures the jpeg I'm tracing. In Paint shop pro, the easy was was to hide the layer and then you literally only get the thinnest like (i.e. no fill or stroke), the best I could achieve was to make the fill colour the stroke then when finished swap the fill/stroke... Perhaps theres a key to hide fill and strokes whislt drawing?

Other than that I'm a AI convert

Thanks for any comments or help,
Rav

[mahuti]

1. Draw squares with the "square" tool. For shapes that involve combination of square shapes, draw multiple squares then open the "pathfinder" and click on the icon that looks like a few shapes stuck together. Hit "expand" to finish the join.

2. Option click drag to duplicate shapes. Option click shift drag to keep it along the same vertical or horizontal axis. OR "paste in front" or "paste in back" then use the arrow keys to position it. There's also a method to "step and repeat" though I don't recall the method. You can use the align tool on the pathfinder to align objects horiz or vert, and you can also distribute based on outside bounds.

3. When I trace, I set the stroke color to bright-bright pink, and set the fill color to nothing. Then I set the colors on completion. (you just click the thing under the stroke & fill color in the main tool pallette that looks like a red slash)