Macromedia Illustrator User Guide
List of topics
Menu commands
Toolbar
Index
How to use this guide
List of topics
Viewing and setting up documents
Moving and aligning objects
Viewing and Setting Up
Documents
Viewing modes
Previewing and printing patterns
and placed EPS images
Moving the view of a document
Magnifying and reducing the view
Creating custom views
Displaying multiple views of a
document
Using rulers
About the work area
Changing the artboard size
Aligning the artboard with the
printed page
Choosing tiling options
Moving the page boundaries
Setting up standard and custom
pages
Viewing modes
You have three views in which to display
your artwork on-screen: Preview view
(the default), Artwork view, and Preview
Selection view.
Preview view Preview Selection view
Artwork view
To change the view:
Choose one of the following options:
• Choose View > Preview to view the
artwork as it will be printed, filled with
as many colors and as much shading
and detail as your monitor is capable of
displaying. Preview view is the default
view when you open a new document,
and the most used view because it best
indicates what the finished artwork will
look like.
• Choose View > Artwork to view
objects in the artwork as wireframe
outlines, hiding the paint attributes
of the objects. Working in this view
can speed up the display when you
are editing complex artwork (such as
objects containing gradients or patterns)
that requires a long time to redraw
on-screen. Artwork view can also make
editing easier, because in this view
objects are not easily hidden by other
filled objects overlapping them.
Note: You can use the Artwork View
Speedup filter to speed up redrawing
and editing in Artwork view. All artwork
handles are displayed in black while
editing in Artwork View with the Artwork
View Speedup filter in effect. To use the
Artwork View Speedup filter, place it into
Illustrator’s Plug-ins folder and restart
Illustrator. This filter does not appear on
the menu, it is in effect whenever you
are in Artwork view.
• Choose View > Preview Selection to
view selected objects in Preview view
and display unselected objects in
Artwork view. Selecting other objects in
Preview Selection view displays the
newly selected objects with their paint
attributes visible. This view is useful for
speeding the artwork display when you
want to view the objects you are editing
as they will look when printed.
Previewing and printing patterns and
placed EPS images
Placed EPS images from other applications and objects that are filled with
patterns can slow performance when
previewing and printing artwork.
The Show Placed Images option in the
Document Setup dialog box lets you
choose whether placed EPS images
display a 1-bit preview when seen
in Artwork view. (For information on
placed images, see Opening and placing
artwork.)
The Preview and Print Patterns option in
the Document Setup dialog box lets you
specify whether patterns appear in your
artwork when you preview or print your
illustration. For information on patterns,
see About custom colors, gradients, and
patterns.
These options are on by default. Turn off
these options when you need to work
quickly—for example, when you are
editing nonpatterned parts of the artwork. You can then turn these options
back on when you want to view the
finished art.
To determine how placed EPS images
and patterns appear:
Choose File > Document Setup.
1
2 Choose any of the following options:
• Select or deselect the Show Placed
Images option.
• Select or deselect the Preview and
Print Patterns option.
3 Click OK.
Moving the view of a document
You can view different areas of a document using the scroll bars or the hand
tool.
Moving the hand tool around on an Illustrator document is analogous to moving
a piece of paper on a desk with your
hand.
To scroll with the hand tool:
Select the hand tool.
1
2 Move the pointer onto the document
and drag in the direction in which you
want the document to move.
Tip: To scroll quickly with the hand tool
while using another tool, hold down the
spacebar and drag with the mouse.
Magnifying and reducing the view
The zoom-in and zoom-out tools and
commands magnify or reduce the display of any area in the document up to
16 times. Zooming in and out changes
only the magnification at which you see
the document, not its actual size. (For
more on resizing objects, see Scaling.)
Two other commands provide shortcuts
to often-used magnification levels. The
Actual Size command lets you display a
document at 100% magnification, and
centers the document in the active window. The Fit In Window command centers and scales the artboard so that it
fits within the active window.
The current magnification level is
displayed at the top of the document
window.
To zoom in:
Choose one of the following options:
• Select the zoom tool (the pointer
becomes a magnifying glass with a plus
sign in its center) and click at the center
of the area you want to magnify.
Continue clicking until the document is
magnified as desired. When the document has reached its maximum magnification level of 1600%, the magnifying
glass appears blank.
• Choose View > Zoom In. Continue
choosing this option until the document
is magnified as desired. When the document has reached its maximum magnification level of 1600%, the command is
dimmed.
Tip: To choose the zoom-in tool while
using another tool, press Command+
spacebar. To chose the zoom-out tool
while using another tool, press
Command+ Option+spacebar.
To zoom out:
Choose one of the following options:
• Select the zoom tool while holding
down the Option key (the pointer
becomes a magnifying glass with a
minus sign in its center), and click at the
center of the area you want to reduce.
Continue clicking until the document is
magnified as desired. At the document’s
maximum reduction level of 6.25%, the
magnifying glass appears blank.
• Choose View > Zoom Out. Continue
choosing this option until the document
is magnified as desired. When the document reaches its maximum reduction
level of 6.25%, the command is dimmed.
To magnify by dragging:
Select the zoom-in tool.
1
2 Drag to draw a dotted rectangle,
called a marquee, around the area you
want to magnify. To draw the marquee
from the center, hold down the Control
key as you drag. To move the marquee
around the artwork, begin dragging a
marquee, and then hold down the spacebar while dragging the marquee to a
new location.
3 Release the mouse button.
To display a document at 100%:
Choose View > Actual Size, or doubleclick the zoom tool.
To scale the artboard to fit the window:
Choose View > Fit In Window, or doubleclick the hand tool.
Creating custom views
You may want to switch between several views while working on an Illustrator document. For example, you may
want to set one view highly magnified
for doing close-up work on some
objects and create another view not as
magnified for laying out those objects
on the page. You can create and store up
to 25 views of a document. When you
save a view, the current zoom level,
scroll position, layer options, and view
(that is, Artwork, Preview, or Preview
Selection) settings are retained and
named so that you can call up the same
view at any time.
200%, Preview view 400%, Preview view
To create a new view:
Set up the view that you want.
1
2 Choose View > New View.
3 Enter a name for the new view, and
click OK.
The view names, along with keyboard
shortcuts for accessing them, appear
at the bottom of the View menu. To
retrieve a view, select the name of the
view you want to use.
To rename or delete a view:
Choose View > Edit Views.
1
2 Select the view you want to edit and
rename it or click Delete.
Displaying multiple views of a
document
You can display several views of the
same document in separate windows.
For example, you can simultaneously
view several magnification levels of one
drawing. Because the windows are simply different views of the same document, editing artwork in any of the windows affects the artwork in all windows
at the same time.
To open a new window:
Choose Window > New Window.
A new window of the same size appears
on top of the previously active window.
The two windows are identical except
for their window numbers. The title bar
in the new window is highlighted, indicating that it is the active window.
Tip: Use the New Window command to
preview in one window while editing in
Artwork view in another.
Using rulers
Illustrator can display rulers, one along
the bottom and one along the right side
of the document window.
When you open a new document, the
rulers are not visible, but you can display them at any time. These rulers are
a tool for placing and measuring objects
in artwork accurately. As you scroll and
zoom around the document, the rulers
adjust accordingly.
To show or hide rulers:
Choose View > Show Rulers or View >
Hide Rulers.
See also
• Defining ruler units
• Automatically converting unit
values in text boxes
• Changing the ruler origin
Defining ruler units
The large tick marks on the rulers indicate the unit of measure (such as
inches), and the small tick marks indicate increments of the unit of measure
(such as 1/8 inch). When you magnify or
reduce the document view, the increments of the unit of measure reflect the
change in magnification.
The default units of measure for the rulers are points and picas. A point equals
1/72 of an inch; a pica equals 12 points,
or 1/6 of an inch. You can change the
unit of measure to inches or millimeters
using the General Preferences dialog
box or the Document Setup dialog box.
The unit of measure that you set for
the rulers applies when you measure
objects, move and transform objects,
and create ovals and rectangles. It does
not affect the units in the Character,
Paragraph, and Paint Style palettes,
which always display size, leading, vertical shift, line width, and line dash in
points. (See Setting type attributes for
more information on units of measure
for type.)
To set the unit of measure:
Choose one of two options:
1
• To change the unit of measure for
all documents, choose File > General
Preferences.
• To change the unit of measure for the
active document only, choose File >
Document Setup.
2 From the Ruler Units pop-up menu,
drag to specify the unit of measure you
want to use.
3 Click OK.
Automatically converting unit values
in text boxes
If you use other than the preset unit to
enter values, Illustrator converts it to
the set unit. For example, entering “3
cm” in a text box set to inches converts
the value to 1.181 inches.
You can also add, subtract, multiply,
divide, and perform other mathematical
operations in any Illustrator text box
that accepts numeric values. Illustrator
performs the calculation and uses the
result.
For example, when specifying the size
of a rectangle, you can type “72 pt +
2 pt” for the height. When you enter a
value in a text box, you must indicate
the units after each value (for example,
mm for millimeters, pt for points, and in
for inches).
Parentheses are also allowed in expressions, and units can be added onto the
resulting expression, as in “(4 + 5) in”.
Also, expressions can be arbitrarily
complex, such as “((4 + 5) / 2) in +
16 in”.
Changing the ruler origin
The point where 0 appears on each ruler
is called the ruler origin. When you open
a document, the position of the ruler origin depends on the View option selected
in the Document Setup dialog box. Generally, if you have selected either the
Single Full Page or the Tile Full Pages
option, the default ruler origin is located
at the lower left corner of page 1.
When you change the ruler setting, the
new setting becomes the default for the
document whenever that document is
opened. You can change the origin for
the rulers at any time. For example, you
may be working on a 3-inch-by-5-inch
card that is centered on an 8.5-inch-by11-inch page. Setting the ruler origin to
line up with the 3-by-5-inch artwork
rather than the 8.5-by-11-inch page can
make precision editing easier for you.
Note: The position of the ruler origin
affects the tiling of patterns, as well as
the bounding box information for the
Separation Setup command. For more
information about the bounding box,
see Specifying the bounding box in the
separation.
To change the ruler origin:
Move the pointer to the lower right
1
corner of the rulers where the rulers
intersect.
2
Drag the pointer to where you want
the new ruler origin. As you drag, a
cross hair in the window and in the rulers indicates the changing ruler origin.
3
Release the mouse button to set the
new 0,0 point in the rulers.
16
8
0
160 88
About the work area
In Adobe Illustrator, the work area
occupies the entire space within the
Illustrator document window, and
includes more than just the printable
page containing your artwork. The work
area is made up of four sections:
• Imageable area
• Nonimageable area
• Artboard
• Scratch area
jump to art
Imageable area
The imageable area is the area within
the dotted lines representing the
portion of the page on which the
selected printer can print an image.
Many printers cannot print to the
edge of the paper.
jump to art
Nonimageable area
The nonimageable area is the area
between the dotted and solid lines
representing any nonprintable margin
of the page. This example shows the
nonimageable area of an 8.5" x 11" page
for a standard laser printer.
jump to art
Artboard
The artboard is the area within the solid
lines representing the region that can
contain printable artwork. The artboard
equals the imageable area plus any nonimageable area. By default, the artboard
is the same size as the page, but it can
be enlarged, as in the example shown.
The U.S. default artboard is 8.5" x 11",
but can be set as large as 120" x 120".
jump to art
Scratch area
The scratch area is the area between
the solid lines, and the border of the
document window represents a space
on which you can create, edit, and store
elements of artwork before moving
them onto the artboard. Objects placed
on the scratch area are visible on-screen,
but they do not print.
jump to art
The work area
Click on any option for information on that option.
Imageable
area
Nonimageable
area
Artboard
Scratch area
return to text
Changing the artboard size
The boundaries of the artboard define
the maximum printable area of your
document. By default, the artboard is
U.S. letter size (8.5 inches by 11 inches).
You can change the artboard’s dimensions using the Document Setup dialog
box.
To change the size of the artboard:
Choose File > Document Setup.
1
2 Choose any of the following options:
• Choose a preset size from the Size
pop-up menu.
• Choose Custom from the Size pop-up
menu, and enter the dimensions you
want in the Dimensions text boxes, up
to 120 inches by 120 inches. You can
change the units of the artboard size by
choosing a different ruler unit size from
the Ruler Units pop-up menu.
• Select the Use Page Setup option to
set the size of the artboard to match the
page size set in the Page Setup dialog
box. The size of the artboard then
changes any time you choose a new
page size in the Page Setup dialog box.
3 Click OK.
jump to art
See also
• About the work area
• Setting up standard and custom
pages
• Document Setup dialog box
Aligning the artboard with the
printed page
The artboard’s dimensions do not necessarily match the paper sizes used by
printers. As a result, when you print a
document, the program divides the artboard into one or more rectangles that
correspond to the page size available on
your printer. Dividing the artboard to fit
a printer’s available page size is called
tiling.
You define the page size by selecting a
page type in the Page Setup dialog box.
On most printers, the imageable area
is slightly smaller than the page. The
imageable area is surrounded by either
dotted lines or a gray rectangle. (This
area is usually centered on the artboard
by default; however, if an inkjet printer
is selected, the imageable area may
be displayed to the left and top of the
artboard.)
Note: The imageable area and page size
is not a limitation when printing to
imagesetters that handle large media.
Imagesetters can typically print to the
edge of the page. The page size used by
an imagesetter may be larger than
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