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Illustrator

Illustrator

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  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
      5. GPU performance
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Create documents
      3. Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
      4. Accelerate workflows using the Contextual Task Bar
      5. Toolbar
      6. Default keyboard shortcuts
      7. Customize keyboard shortcuts
      8. Introduction to artboards
      9. Manage artboards
      10. Customize the workspace
      11. Properties panel
      12. Set preferences
      13. Touch Workspace
      14. Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
      15. Undo edits and manage design history
      16. Rotate view
      17. Rulers, grids, and guides
      18. Accessibility in Illustrator
      19. View artwork
      20. Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
      21. Files and templates
    3. Tools in Illustrator
      1. Tools at a glance
      2. Select tools
        1. Selection
        2. Direct Selection
        3. Group Selection
        4. Magic Wand
        5. Lasso
        6. Artboard
      3. Navigate tools
        1. Hand
        2. Rotate View
        3. Zoom
      4. Paint tools
        1. Gradient
        2. Mesh
        3. Shape Builder
      5. Text tools
        1. Type
        2. Type on a Path
        3. Vertical Type
      6. Draw tools
        1. Pen
        2. Add Anchor Point
        3. Delete Anchor Point
        4. Anchor Point
        5. Curvature
        6. Line Segment
        7. Rectangle
        8. Rounded Rectangle
        9. Ellipse
        10. Polygon
        11. Star
        12. Paintbrush
        13. Blob Brush
        14. Pencil
        15. Shaper
        16. Slice
      7. Modify tools
        1. Rotate
        2. Reflect
        3. Scale
        4. Shear
        5. Width
        6. Free Transform
        7. Eyedropper
        8. Blend
        9. Eraser
        10. Scissors
        11. Dimension
    4. Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
      1. Generate scenes, subjects, and icons using text prompts
      2. Generate vector patterns using text prompts
      3. Generate vector shape fills using text prompts
      4. Recolor your artwork using text prompts
    5. Quick actions
      1. Retro text
      2. Neon glow text
      3. Old school text
      4. Recolor
      5. Convert sketch to vector
  3. Illustrator on the web (beta)
    1. Illustrator on the web (beta) overview
    2. Illustrator on the web (beta) FAQ
    3. Troubleshooting issues FAQ
    4. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the web (beta)
    5. Create and combine shapes on the web
    6. Add and edit text on the web
    7. Apply colors and gradients on the web
    8. Draw and edit paths on the web
    9. Work with cloud documents on the web
    10. Invite collaborators to edit on the web
  4. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
      3. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad
      4. Manage your app settings
    3. Documents
      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
    4. Select and arrange objects
      1. Create repeat objects
      2. Blend objects
    5. Drawing
      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
      1. Apply colors and gradients
  5. Cloud documents
    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Share and collaborate on Illustrator cloud documents
      3. Share documents for review
      4. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      5. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  6. Add and edit content
    1. Drawing
      1. Drawing basics
      2. Edit paths
      3. Draw pixel-perfect art
      4. Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
      5. Draw simple lines and shapes
      6. Draw rectangular and polar grids
      7. Draw and edit flares
      8. Trace images
      9. Simplify a path
      10. Symbolism tools and symbol sets
      11. Adjust path segments
      12. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      13. Create and edit a perspective grid
      14. Draw and modify objects on a perspective grid
      15. Use objects as symbols for repeat use
      16. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
    2. Measurement
      1. Measure and plot dimensions
    3. 3D objects and materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
      3. Map artwork over 3D objects
      4. Create 3D Text
      5. Create 3D objects
    4. Color
      1. About color
      2. Select colors
      3. Use and create swatches
      4. Adjust colors
      5. Use the Adobe Color Themes panel
      6. Color groups (harmonies)
      7. Color Themes panel
      8. Recolor your artwork
    5. Painting
      1. About painting
      2. Paint with fills and strokes
      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
      5. Brushes
      6. Transparency and blending modes
      7. Apply stroke on an object
      8. Create and edit patterns
      9. Meshes
      10. Patterns
    6. Select and arrange objects
      1. Select objects
      2. Layers
      3. Expand, group, and ungroup objects
      4. Move, align, and distribute objects
      5. Align, arrange, and move objects on a path
      6. Snap objects to glyph
      7. Snap objects to Japanese glyph
      8. Stack objects    
      9. Lock, hide, and delete objects
      10. Copy and duplicate objects
      11. Rotate and reflect objects
      12. Intertwine objects
      13. Create realistic art mockups
    7. Reshape objects
      1. Crop images
      2. Transform objects
      3. Combine objects
      4. Cut, divide, and trim objects
      5. Puppet Warp
      6. Scale, shear, and distort objects
      7. Blend objects
      8. Reshape using envelopes
      9. Reshape objects with effects
      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
      14. Live shapes
      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
    8. Type
      1. Add text and work with type objects
      2. Reflow Viewer
      3. Create bulleted and numbered lists
      4. Manage text area
      5. Fonts and typography
      6. Convert text within images into editable text
      7. Add basic formatting to text
      8. Add advanced formatting to text
      9. Import and export text
      10. Format paragraphs
      11. Special characters
      12. Create type on a path
      13. Character and paragraph styles
      14. Tabs
      15. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      16. Arabic and Hebrew type
      17. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      18. Creative typography designs
      19. Scale and rotate type
      20. Line and character spacing
      21. Hyphenation and line breaks
      22. Spelling and language dictionaries
      23. Format Asian characters
      24. Composers for Asian scripts
      25. Create text designs with blend objects
      26. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    9. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Appearance attributes
      4. Create sketches and mosaics
      5. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      6. Summary of effects
    10. Web graphics
      1. Best practices for creating web graphics
      2. Graphs
      3. SVG
      4. Slices and image maps
  7. Import, export, and save
    1. Import
      1. Place multiple files
      2. Manage linked and embedded files
      3. Links information
      4. Unembed images
      5. Import artwork from Photoshop
      6. Import bitmap images
      7. Import Adobe PDF files
      8. Import EPS, DCS, and AutoCAD files
    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
    3. Save and export
      1. Save artwork
      2. Export artwork
      3. Create Adobe PDF files
      4. Adobe PDF options
      5. Use Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
      6. Collect assets and export in batches
      7. Package files
      8. Extract CSS | Illustrator CC
      9. Document info panel
  8. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
    2. Printing
      1. Overprint
      2. Print with color management
      3. PostScript printing
      4. Print presets
      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
      7. Trapping
      8. Print color separations
      9. Print gradients, meshes, and color blends
      10. White Overprint
  9. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  10. Troubleshooting 
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues
    3. Crash issues
    4. Recover files after crash
    5. Safe mode
    6. File issues
    7. Supported file formats
    8. GPU device driver issues
    9. Wacom device issues
    10. DLL file issues
    11. Memory issues
    12. Preferences file issues
    13. Font issues
    14. Printer issues
    15. Share crash report with Adobe
    16. Improve Illustrator performance

Overcome the blank canvas syndrome. While creating a document, choose from a wide variety of templates from Adobe Stock and blank presets.

While creating a document in Illustrator, instead of beginning with a blank canvas, you can choose from a wide variety of templates, including templates from Adobe Stock. Templates include assets and illustrations that you can build on to complete your project. When you open a template in Illustrator, you can work with it just as you would work with any other Illustrator document (.ai). 

In addition to templates, you can also create a document by selecting one of the numerous presets available in Illustrator.

Templates and presets

Templates provide rich, inspirational, and reusable content for your documents. You can download templates from Adobe Stock that include quality graphics and illustrations right within Illustrator. You can then build on these templates to easily create documents that share common settings and design elements. Illustrator also provides blank templates with predefined dimensions and settings for common tasks, such as designing business cards or brochures. Templates open as .ai files in Illustrator and generally include multiple artboards.

Blank Document Presets are blank documents with predefined dimensions and settings. Presets make designing for specific device form factors or use cases easier. For example, you can use a preset to quickly start designing for the iPad Pro. Blank document presets have predefined size, color, mode, unit, orientation, positioning, bleed, and resolution settings. You can modify these settings before creating a document using the preset.

Templates and presets are categorized into these sets:

  • Recent
  • Saved
  • Mobile
  • Web
  • Print
  • Film & Video
  • Art & Illustration
  • Free Templates

Overview: New Document dialog

To access the New Document dialog, launch Illustrator and select New File.

Among other operations, the New Document dialog lets you:

  • Create documents using selected templates from Adobe Stock across several categories: Recent, Saved, Mobile, Web, Print, Film & Video, Art & Illustration, and Free Templates
  • Search for more templates on Adobe Stock and create documents using them.
  • Quickly access files, templates, and items that you've had recently accessed (Recents tab).
  • Quickly access templates that you've downloaded from Adobe Stock (Saved tab).
  • Create documents using Blank Document presets for multiple categories and device form factors. Before opening the presets, you can modify their settings.
Options in the New Document dialog
Mobile tab | New Document dialog box

Create documents using presets

  1. In the New Document dialog box, select a category tab: Recent, Saved, Mobile, Web, Print, Film & Video, Art & Illustration or Free Templates.

  2. Select a preset.

  3. Click Create. Illustrator opens a new document based on the preset.

Note:

You can change the settings for the selected preset in the Preset Details pane on the right. See Modify presets to understand how.

Create and save custom document presets

Before opening a document using the preset, you can customize its settings in the right pane.

  1. Specify a name for the document.

  2. Specify the following options for the selected preset:

    Width and Height: Specify the size of the artboard. Select the unit from the pop-up menu.

    Orientation: Specify a page orientation for the document: Landscape or Portrait.

    Artboard: Specify the number of artboards in the document.

    Bleed: Specify the position of the bleed along each side of the artboard. Select   to use different values for different sides.

    Color Mode: Specify a color mode for the document: RGB or CMYK.

    Raster Effects: Specify the resolution for raster effects in the document.

    Preview Mode: Set the default preview mode for the document:

    • Default displays artwork created in the document in vector view with full color. Zoom in/out retains smoothness in the curves.
    • Pixel displays artwork with a rasterized (pixelated) appearance. It does not actually rasterize the content, but displays a simulated preview, as if the contents were rasters.
    • Overprint provides an “ink preview” that approximates how blending, transparency, and overprinting will appear in color-separated output.

    Use More settings to modify the preset further.

    Note:

    You can change the Preview Mode at any time using the View menu.

  3. Select   and then select Save Preset for future use.

  4. Select Create to open a document with the preset settings.

You can access the saved preset anytime from the Saved category tab in the New Document window.

Create documents using templates from Stock

Illustrator comes with a variety of templates from Adobe Stock, including templates for tablet illustrations, mobile illustrations, laptop illustrations, letterheads, envelopes, business cards, and many more. Templates with font layers use basic fonts or fonts that can be synced from Adobe Typekit.

To create a document using a template, follow these steps:

  1. In the New Document dialog, select a category tab: Mobile, Web, Print, Film & Video, or Art & Illustration.

  2. Select a template.

  3. Select See Preview to view a preview of the template. A preview is an image representation of a template that you can review and decide if you want to license.

    Select a template

  4. Select Download.

    Illustrator prompts you to license the template from Adobe Stock. For more information about licensing and related considerations,see Adobe Stock Help. After the template has been licensed using asset entitlements or credits in your account, you can open it as an Illustrator document (.ai) for you to work on.

    License the template
    Template licensing in progress

  5. Once the template is downloaded, select Open. While you open the template if you're prompted to sync some fonts from Typekit, select OK.

You can now work with the open document in Illustrator just as you would work with any other .ai document. Downloaded templates are added to a Creative Cloud library called Stock Templates. You can access this library in the Libraries panel.

Note:

Illustrator templates carry the .ait filename extension. However, when you open a template, an instance of it is opened as a document with the .ai extension. Changes made to that .ai document don't affect the original .ait template.

Search for more templates from Adobe Stock

Aside from the preselected templates from Adobe Stock, you can search for and download numerous other such templates directly from within the New Document dialog.

  • While working in the New Document dialog, enter a search string in the Find More Templates On Adobe Stock box. Alternatively, select Go to browse the full selection of available templates.

Illustrator opens the Adobe Stock website in a new browser window for you to explore. License and download the one that best meets your project's requirements. For more information about Adobe Stock, see Using Adobe Stock.

Search for more templates from Adobe Stock
Explore and license templates on the Adobe Stock website

Create documents using blank templates

Blank templates make designing common deliverables, such as brochures, business cards, CD covers, and T-shirts, easier. Do the following to create a document using a blank template:

  1. Select File > New From Template.

  2. In the New From Template dialog, open the Blank Templates folder.

  3. Select a template and select New.
    Illustrator creates a new document based on the selected blank template. You can work with it just as you would work with any other .ai document.

Use the legacy File New experience

If necessary, you may disable the latest New Document experience and revert to the experience that Illustrator provided by default in versions CC 2015.3 and earlier.

  1. Select Edit > Preferences > General.

  2. Choose Use Legacy File New Interface and select OK.

Preferences dialog to use the legacy file new experience
Enable the legacy experience (not recommended)

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