An Introduction to Illustrator
As its name implies, Adobe Illustrator is an illustrative tool, much used by graphic designers. If you want to create some original art work, ready for incorporation into documents such as those produced by InDesign or Microsoft Publisher (which will subsequently be printed at high-quality by commercial printers), Illustrator is the tool for you. The program is versatile and can also be used to create art work for web pages at any desired resolution. An example of its 'web' capability is shown below; we have used Illustrator to make a logo for an aquaculture group.
Q. Why not use a paint program to create graphics?
Many users who are relatively new to computers try to use pixel based paint programs to produce illustrations for their documents, often because programs like Paintbrush and Paint come free with Windows and no additional software needs to be purchased. Although these pixel-based drawing programs can indeed be used to create graphics, images produced cannot be scaled up while still retaining high quality (resolution). A magnified Paint image (a bitmap) will consist of individual 'blobs' and so is not a versatile image, especially for desk top publishing work.
In contrast, artwork produced in Illustrator does not suffer this limitation because it is a vector based drawing program and the images produced can be easily scaled up or down according to need without loss in resolution. In addition, the Illustrator file can be passed to a variety of other tools such as
- Software used to maintain web sites,
- Software used by commercial printers and sign writers to produce very large prints,
- Embroiderers for application to corporate clothing etc.
In short, designs that you produce in Illustrator are very versatile. Some examples of web graphics produced in Illustrator are set out below.
Graphic to indicate that our company is striving to become a carbon neutral company.
More examples
Logo for CAD software web site
Illustrator produces ready to use - 'drop in' art work
If you use the desk top publishing tools from Adobe - InDesign, Illustrator is a natural companion. Images created in Illustrator can be 'dropped' directly into an InDesign document, scaled up and down and cropped without loss of resolution, all without any need for file conversion.
Artwork 'smarts'
Illustrator contains many tools which makes the creation of artwork a simple, intuitive process. You have control over line work (continuous, dashed, dot dash etc.), flood and fills (both in colour and black and white), text (control over placement, size etc.).
Click here to download and play one of the movies from the course. If the movie works well on your computer, then your equipment is suitable for distance learning.
Cost of courses
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Online learning via broadband
The most popular option is to take a course as an online learning student. Our online broadband learning courses features rapid enrolment, many multi media instructional movies, online forums, multi-choice reviews, questionnaires, submission of assignments, email support etc. This is an enhanced learning experience at an affordable price. Click one of the broadband online learning sites above and click on the blue information button to sample a course. Visit http://www.softwaretutor.net now and enrol. The course cost is $AUD75.00 for >30 hours of high quality training. You can pay by PayPal which accepts direct deposit and credit cards and start immediately or send us an email requesting an enrolment. We will enrol you and post out an invoice. Payment can then be made by direct deposit. Our bank details will be on the invoice. We do offer reduced rates for students from the same organization.
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One-on-one training (Adelaide or Canberra - in our offices or yours).
We can provide face-to face, one-on-one training. Each course takes one day and costs $AUD550.00. We do require some information about what it is that you or your organization hopes to achieve by training so that we can prepare appropriate materials in advance of the course.
Each participant in one-on-one full day courses is automatically enrolled at no extra cost in the broadband learning version of the matching course (at either softwaretutor.net or landscapetutor.net). This would normally cost an additional $75.00 per person. In this way, students get a double benefit - personal tuition and the ability to access any of the written instructional materials online, replay any of the demonstration movies, download sample files, log questions, take quizzes and submit assignments for review.
Printing materials
We continue our drive to reduce our carbon emissions by using digital delivery of course materials. If you do need to a paper print of part of the course notes (say to print the steps in an operation), we encourage you to print just the web page you are currently viewing rather than the whole module. This can usually be done through the preview option in the print facility of the browser you are using, and selecting print the current page. Another option is to press the Shift PrntSc key combination which puts a copy of what you are viewing onto the Windows clipboard. Then start your word processor Microsoft Word or WordPad (available in everyone's computer) and paste the clipboard contents into the page and print from Word or WordPad.
About our courses & methodology
Experience over many years has taught us that adults learn best by progressing through a course of study at their own pace and at times that suit them. Wherever possible, they like to learn by working on their own materials, rather than work through long unrelated practice exercises. Our courses are specifically designed so that this can occur. We introduce a topic, provide a movie showing you how to do the task with your software and then give detailed step-by-step instructions for you to follow.
Locations & times - face to face group training
Courses may be taken at our training facility at Regency Park, South Australia, in Canberra in your offices or in hired facilities. If a course is taken 'in-house' in our offices, it normally runs for a whole day with a break for lunch. Starting time is 9.15 am and finish time around 4.15 - 4.30 pm. We provide tea & coffee and a light lunch.
Credit card payment
We use PayPal, an organization which takes all credit cards using a secure Internet facility. PayPal is a partner within the eBay system. We have chosen PayPal because it is independent of us, allows us to hold money in trust until we have delivered the course. Paypal is now operational in Australia. We will provide a tax invoice on receipt of payment in addition to the PayPal receipt if requested.
When you have finished this course
Please remember to build on your knowledge of Illustrator after you complete this course. We strongly recommend that Illustrator be used quite intensively after these early stages of learning. You will lose a lot if you let new-found skills ‘wither on the vine’. Practice is the key to learning sophisticated software. The key to success is to complete your first real project as soon as possible.
Philosophy
Here is a link to background material on the philosophy behind our course design.
Prerequisites
An understanding of basic computer operation including the ability to create, save and locate files. We would expect that you have used a computer with the Windows or Macintosh operating system for some time and perhaps developed reasonable facility with a word processor such as Microsoft Word.
Syllabus:
The course is organized as a series of modules which you work through in turn.
Title |
Description |
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Illustrator Process |
We open an Illustrator file and print a design - one of the sample files delivered with Illustrator. Next an Illustrator document is created by importing a WMF image (of a map of Australia) into the Illustrator environment. Various Illustrator tools are then used to modify the map, adding some colour. Finally some unique artwork is created - a company logo - by adding some text above the map. We apply some effects to the text and reduce the transparency. As an extension exercise, maps from several other countries are built by importing data in DXF format into Illustrator rather than using the WMF format. |
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Interface |
Exploring the Illustrator environment. The work area and pasteboard. Drop down menus, opening, closing and combining palettes. The toolbox palette, selecting tools. Tiling a design when the printer is not large enough to print the whole document. Object selection and using the ZOOM tool. |
|
Creating simple illustrations |
Understanding colour spaces. The RGB and CYMK environments. Drawing basic shapes. Using the line segment command. Using the ALT and SHIFT overrides. Entity properties. Interrogating the drawing database to determine the length of lines. The magic Wand and Lasso tools. The pen, Type and Paintbrush tools. Using the Pencil, Rotate and Scale tools. Modifying objects, using brushes and symbols. |
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A small project using the line tool |
Creating a graphic of an Australian native Eucalypt using the line tool. Manipulating layers in an illustration. using the symbol palette. Spraying patterns into an image. |
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Preliminaries |
Installing Illustrator. Setting Illustrator preferences - display resolution, units used, grid spacing etc. Installing fonts. Installing a graphic tablet. |
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File Formats |
Opening files from foreign formats. Illustrator is a versatile tool as it can directly read and write many different vector file formats. Open an AutoCAD 2000 DWG file, a Corel Draw file |
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Drawing paths |
Using paths, using the pencil tool, using the pen tool. |
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Working with colour |
Changing the fill and stroke colours, manipulating stroke options, using the eyedropper and paint bucket tools |
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Gradients |
Applying a gradient to a simple closed shape (a simple tick mark). Linear gradients radial gradients. |
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Applying and manipulating text |
Using text tools, using the type palette, purchasing and installing Postscript fonts, editing text. |
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Working with layers |
Using the layers palette. |
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Creating artwork |
Building some artwork by tracing around and over portions of bitmapped images. |
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Printing Illustrator designs |
Installing PDF writer, handling Distiller options. |