✔️ What is Illustrator, exactly?
Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based design and drawing program for professionals. Illustrator may be used to create everything from single design components to whole compositions when used as part of a wider design workflow.
✔️ What exactly can Adobe Illustrator be used for?
Illustrator is used to produce logos, icons, charts, infographics, posters, ads, books, magazines, and brochures by artists and graphic designers. It’s even used by comic book illustrators. It’s the industry-standard software tool for anyone working with vector graphics from anywhere on the planet.
Working with Illustrator has the advantage of being resolution-independent, which means you can print your work at any size without sacrificing picture quality. For example, a logo created in Illustrator will seem just as sharp and detailed when printed on a business card as it will on the side of an airplane. While working with Photoshop normally necessitates beginning with an image, Illustrator’s great selection of tools and techniques allows you to create beautiful designs fast by starting with a blank canvas.
✔️ Adobe Illustrator’s Functions
Adobe Illustrator is used to produce cartoons, charts, diagrams, graphs, logos, and illustrations, among other digital and printed pictures.
Illustrator lets you import a photo and use it as a guide to trace an object in it. This can be used to recolor an image or give it a sketchy appearance. Illustrator also allows you to modify words in a variety of ways, making it ideal for designing postcards, posters, and other visual designs that combine text and pictures. Illustrator’s ability to wrap text around a curve comes in handy for logo designers. Illustrator is also used to create icons for applications and websites, as well as mock-ups that depict how the website will appear after it’s finished.
✔️ What is Illustrator CC, and how does it work?
Illustrator CC is the version of Illustrator that is available through Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which is a subscription-based cloud-based service. Illustrator CC was initially launched in 2013, with version 17 being the first version. Since then, each new version of Illustrator CC has been labeled Illustrator CC XXXX, with “XXXX” denoting the year of release. The most recent version is Illustrator CC 2020.
✔️ Free Trial of Adobe Illustrator
Adobe offers a free trial of Adobe Illustrator that covers all of the features and capabilities of the full edition. The free trial period begins when the user installs the software and begins using it and lasts for one week.
Below is a list of adobe illustrator keyboard shortcuts, you can always have the shortcuts you want for practically any application right in front of you, below are the link to download these shortcuts in PDF front
Illustrator CC Useful Keyboard Shortcuts: Windows
TOOLS | |
| V | Selection |
| A | Direct Selection |
| Y | Magic Wand |
| Q | Lasso |
| P | Pen |
| + | Add Anchor point |
| minus(-) | Delete Anchor point |
| Shift-C | Convert Anchor point |
| T | Type |
| \ | Line Segment |
| M | Rectangle |
| L | Ellipse |
| B | Paintbrush |
| N | Pencil |
| Shift-B | Blob Brush |
| Shift-E | Eraser |
| C | Scissors |
| R | Rotate |
| O | Reflect |
| S | Scale |
| Shift-R | Warp |
| E | Free Transform |
| Shift-S | Symbol Sprayer |
| J | Column Graph |
| U | Mesh |
| G | Gradient |
| I | Eyedropper |
| W | Blend |
| K | Live Paint Bucket |
| Shift-L | Live Paint Selection |
| Shift-O | Art board |
| Shift-K | Slice |
| H | Hand |
| Z | Zoom |
| X | Toggle between Fill & Stroke |
| Shift-X | Swap Fill & Stroke |
| D | Default Fill & Stroke |
| White fill/black stroke) | |
| < | Fill or Stroke w/Color |
| > | Fill or Stroke w/Gradient |
| / | Fill or Stroke w/None |
| F | Cycle through Screen Modes |
SELECTING AND MOVING
| At any time control to switch between selection and direct selection tools | Ctrl-Alt-Tab |
| To cycle through tools behind column tool | Alt-click tool |
| To make copy while dragging | Alt |
| To add to a selection | Shift |
| Move Selection | Any arrow key |
| Move Selection 10 pts. | Shift-any arrow key |
| Lock selected artwork | Ctrl-2 |
| Lock all deselected artwork | Ctrl-Alt-Shift-2 |
| Unlock all artwork | Ctrl-Alt-2 |
| Hide selected artwork | Ctrl-3 |
| Hide all deselected artwork | Ctrl-Alt-Shift-3 |
| Show all artwork | Ctrl-Alt-3 |
PAINTING AND TRANSFORMING | |
| Eyedropper tool from Live Paint Bucket tool | Alt |
| Samples intermediate color from gradient, picture, etc. with eyedropper | Shift Sets center point and shows dialog Alt-click with Tool |
| Duplicates and transforms selection | Alt-drag |
| Transform pattern without transforming object | ~ (tilde)-drag |
| Scale proportionally with Selection tool | Shift-drag bounding box |
| Scale from center with Selection tool | Alt-drag bounding box |
| Move mesh point along path with Mesh tool | Shift-drag |
| Add mesh point with Mesh tool without changing color | Shift-click |
| Remove mesh point with Mesh tool | Alt-click |
SHAPES (WHILE DRAWING)
| Draw from center | Alt |
| Draw from center with dialog | Alt-click Constrain proportion Shift |
| Constrain orientation of polygons, stars, spirals | Shift |
| Move object while drawing | Spacebar Add/subtract sides, points, spiral segments Up or Down Arrow |
| Decrease inner radius | CTRL |
| Create continuous duplicates along mouse movement | hold ~ while dragging |
VIEWING & GUIDES
| Get Hand Tool (while NOT editing Type). | Spacebar |
| Get Hand tool (while editing Type) | Hold Control, then Space. (This will show the Zoom tool). Let go of Control so you see the Hand tool and IMMEDIATELY start dragging the mouse so you don’t end up typing spaces. Be sure to let go of the Spacebar while dragging so you again don’t type more spaces |
| Zoom In Tool | Ctrl-Spacebar |
| Zoom Out Tool | Ctrl-Alt-Spacebar |
| Zoom In to exact size | Ctrl-Spacebar-drag |
| Hide/Show all tools and panels | Tab |
| Hide/Show all panels except toolbox | Shift-Tab |
| Switch between horizontal/vertical guides | hold Alt while dragging out a new guide |
| Release Guide (turns it into a regular path) | Shift-Ctrl-double-click |
TYPE
| Decrease/Increase type size | Ctrl-Shift-< or > |
| Decrease/Increase leading | Alt arrow up or down |
| Decrease/Increase kerning/tracking | Alt arrow left or right Kerning/tracking |
| Decrease/Increase baseline shift | Shift-Alt arrow down or up |
| Baseline shift x 5 | Ctrl-Alt-Shift arrow down or up |
| Align type left, right, center | Ctrl-Shift-L, R, and C |
| Justify last line | Ctrl-Shift-F |
| Reset horizontal/vertical scale to 100% | Ctrl-Shift-X |
| Reset kerning or tracking to 0 | Ctrl-Alt-Q |
PANEL SHORTCUTS/FUNCTION KEYS
| Show/Hide Brushes | F5 |
| Show/Hide Color | F6 |
| Show/Hide Layers | F7 |
| Show/Hide Info | Ctrl-F8 |
| Show/Hide Gradient | Ctrl-F9 |
| Show/Hide Stroke | Ctrl-F10 |
| Show/Hide Attributes | Ctrl-F11 |
| Revert file | F12 |
| Show/Hide Graphic Styles | Shift-F5 |
| Show/Hide Appearance | Shift-F6 |
| Show/Hide Align | Shift-F7 |
| Show/Hide Transform | Shift-F8 |
| Show/Hide Transparency | Shift-Ctrl-F10 |
| Show/Hide Pathfinder | Shift-Ctrl-F9 |
| Show/Hide Symbols | Shift-Ctrl-F11 |
LAYERS PANEL SHORTCUTS
| Toggle layer between Preview/Outline modes | Ctrl-click on eye |
| Show layer while turning-off all others | Alt-click on eye |
| Select all items on layer | Alt-click layer name Copy |
| selected item to different layer | Alt-drag selection square in Layers panel to |
| create the new layer at the top of list | Ctrl-click |
| To create the new layer below selected layer | Ctrl-Alt-click |
COLOR PANEL SHORTCUTS
| Saturate/DE saturate current color | Shift-drag color slider |
| Change Color Mode | Shift-click color bar |
| Select compliment of current color | Ctrl-click color bar |
SWATCHES PANEL SHORTCUTS
| Create a swatch as a global color | Hold Curtly–Shift while creating |
| Replace a swatch with another | Alt-drag new swatch over old |
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