Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tip - The Outer Limits of Strokes

 
 

A reader emailed recently to ask about the maximum Weight of a Stroke in the Stroke panel, so I decided to take this as an opportunity to discuss all maximums and minimums in Illustrator. The fastest way to find a maximum or minimum for any feature is to specify a ridiculous amount. With Strokes, I started by typing 1000 pt in the Stroke panel for the Weight of a selected path. Hmm! My path now had a Stroke of 1,000 points. When would I ever need such a heavy Stroke? Probably never! But I still did not have an answer. So I specified a 10,000 point Stroke Weight and an error message appeared on my screen, which read: "The value must be between 0 pt and 1000 pt." So 1,000 points is the maximum Stroke Weight that you can specify in the Stroke panel. But is that the maximum Stroke Weight possible? It would seem so, but a little experimentation proves otherwise. To see what I mean, select a path with a 1,000 point Stroke and double-click on the Scale tool. Specify a Uniform Scale of 200% with the Option for "Scale Strokes and Effects" selected and press OK. Hmm! No error message. But the Weight in the Stroke panel is still 1,000. But if you check the Weight in the Appearance panel (Window>Appearance), it's 2,000 points. So what's the maximum Stroke Weight possible? The answer is, it really does not matter. In my experimentation, the maximum is much heavier than the size of Artboard (227.5 square inches) can possibly contain.

 
 

Adobe InDesign CS3 Tip - An Easy Way to Work with a Horizontal Page in a Vertical Layout

 
 

I was walking through a friend's studio, when I noticed one artist working with his head tilted to his left. Once I realized that he wasn't suffering from some unusual medical condition, I decided to take a closer look at his screen. After a quick glance, I decided to help before he hurt himself. I said, "I see you're working on a horizontal page in a vertical layout." In response he joked, "Yes and it's a real pain in the neck." I answered, "It doesn't have to be." Now that I caught his attention, he looked up from his work. I continued, "Set up this horizontal page in a separate document, and Save it as an InDesign file. Then open your original layout, go to File>Place, select your horizontal layout and Place it on the correct page. Then Rotate it 90° in the Control panel and move it into position with the Selection tool (V). Placing one InDesign file in another is new in CS3 and it can be a real lifesaver." He questioned, "But what if changes need to be made on the horizontal page?" I answered, "Make the changes in the horizontal file and because it's been placed in your original layout, you can just update it in the Links panel (Window>Links) by clicking the Update Link button."

Adobe InDesign CS3 Tip - Take Total Control of Effects

 
 

With the new Effects panel in InDesign CS3, you can choose to apply Effects to an entire Object, or its Stroke or Fill or even just the Text in a text object. Simply select the appropriate listing and choose the Effect desired from the "fx" popup menu at the bottom of the panel, before specifying your settings and pressing OK. You can even apply different combinations of Effects to multiple listings in the panel. Just select a listing from the Effects panel, choose the first Effect you'd like to apply from the popup menu, and in the window that opens, specify your settings, and check Preview to see the results. You can also apply additional Effects to that same object listing by clicking on the Effect in the Transparency section of the window. You can even add Effects to other parts of your object, under the "Setting For" popup menu, before clicking OK to apply all Effect to each part of the object. So if you'd like your headline text to have a Drop Shadow in a color-filled Frame that fades to transparent toward its right side with a Stroke that fades in exactly the opposite direction, no problem. The Effects panel is your window to taking total control of any combination of Effects you can think of.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tip - The Mystery of the Missing Artboard

 
 

The other day I got a logo from a new client and opened it in Illustrator to check it out. Something immediately bothered me about the file, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me! "There's no Artboard," I said to myself. It was just 227.5 square inches of Scratch Area with a tiny logo in the middle. No page! "Could the Document take up the entire Scratch Area? Yes, but not likely," I answered my own question. I put my theory to the test, by going to View>Fit Window. With this, the View zoomed in and the logo almost filled the entire document window. "Hmm! There is a Artboard. I just can't see it," I reasoned. Then it occurred to me, "A lot of what you can and can't see in a document is controlled under the View menu." With a quick look, I had my answer. I selected Show Artboard under the View menu and the Artboard reappeared. Mystery solved!

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tip - A Question of Geometry

 
 

Is there a quick way to figure out the circumference of a circle in Illustrator without being a math wiz? Sure but only if you know the secret place to find the information. Click with the Ellipse tool (L) to open its Options window, and type in "1 in" for the Width and "1 in" for the Height and click OK. You end up with a circle with a 1/2" radius (1" diameter). But how can you find the circumference? With the circle still selected, open your Document Info panel (Window>Document Info) and select "Objects" from the panel's Option menu. The circumference information is revealed in general information in the very first listing in the panel – "Paths: 1 (0 open, 1 closed, 4 points, length = 3.142 in)" The Length of the entire path (or its circumference) is 3.142. I'm sure all of the math wiz's out there are about to put this information to the test using a variety of different sized circle. To give it a try, use the geometric formula for circumference (2∏R) or 2 X 3.142 X the Radius (1/2 the Width of the circle).

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tip - Swash Lettering Made Easy

 
 

When you open the OpenType panel (Window>Type>OpenType), the unparalleled power of OpenType, is a click away. As an example, format a headline using Adobe Garamond Pro Italic (which comes with Creative Suite), and to see what Swash alternates are available, select the headline with the Type tool and click the Swash button (fourth from the right) at the bottom of the OpenType panel. Make note of the alternates that you'd like to use and click the Swash button again to turn all Swashes off. Now select each individual character you'd like to replace with its Swash alternate and press the Swash button to turn it on.