Setting up Illustrator

Astute graphics for plugins.

 

Setup all of your windows in a configuration that works for you, close ones you never use and open up most common ones. When opening swatch palletes etc. go to the drop down menu in the window and select 'Persistent', it means the window will stay in place when closing and re-opening Illy.
Once happy save your workspace layout so you can always revert if it gets messed up!
Pen tool mastery...

• Hold the space bar with left click mouse held down to move points as they are drawn
• Once a 'node' is drawn with control arms, re click it before next point to reset the exit curve
• With left click held down to change curves on a point hold Alt to change exit curve arm - or Ctrl to change the length of one arm

Space bar for panning (can be used mid-use of another tool too) and scroll wheel on mouse with Alt to zoom in on where your mouse is placed.

Few little pointers!

 

Don't use Illustrator to make signs. Corel Draw is way faster and easier.

 

Why do you even bother?

 

To save people headaches. I've had graphic artists come in here with way more experience than I have and I still bust stuff out 3X faster. Also have dealt with a few companies who are always messing up their files and I have to fix them.

 

CADTools plugin by HotDoor is a MUST have for illustrator.

 

I agree..... Corel is a far superior software program in all respects. Therefore, sam must be wrong, if he agrees with me. Carry on with Illy.

 

One of the first things I do when updating Illustrator or installing it on a new computer is disabling the very annoying Double-Click to Isolate function. It's an old Flash-like behavior. But it gets in the way of the object alignment functions. If you're aligning objects to a key object you have to shift-click the objects into a selection and then click again on the object that needs to remain in its fixed position. If you click too fast you'll wind up in that object isolation mode. Some people might like it, but I can't stand it. Bring up the General tab in Preferences (Ctrl-K) to turn the feature on/off.

I personally use the Essentials Classic work space as a starting point and add whatever palettes I need to it.

+1 on the Astute Graphics plugins. They have some great stuff.

I've been using CorelDRAW for nearly 30 years and Adobe Illustrator for almost that long. And I don't agree with your blanket, generalized statement. Both have their own strengths, weaknesses and unique features. I do much of my sign design work (large signs, shop drawings, etc) in CorelDRAW. But I defer to Illustrator (and Photoshop) for large format printing designs and to utilize certain features CorelDRAW lacks.

 

Bunch of oldies and their love of Corel! I only use it if my customer uses it but I was brought up on Illustrator. Adobe did a much better job getting into schools and making it the mainstream software for design. I don't use Corel enough to know the differences but the experienced guys seem to like it.