NEW DOCUMENT PROFILES

A document is the space in which you create artwork. In Illustrator, you can create documents destined for many different types of output. (For information on creating Illustrator documents for video production, see the Enhancing Video Production PDF at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ai_video. You start a new document by choosing a new document profile based on your intended output. Each profile includes preset values for size, color mode, units, orientation, transparency, and resolution. For example, the Video And Film Document profile uses pixels instead of points, and you can choose a device-specific crop area, such as NTSC DV Widescreen, to create a document in the exact dimensions required, with video-safe guides in place to help you lay out your design for optimal viewing. If you plan to output your file to a high-end printer, for example if you’re sending it to a service bureau, specify the Print profile to ensure your artwork and any effects applied to the artwork are set to the proper resolution. You can choose from the following profiles: Print Document Uses a default letter size artboard, and provides a variety of other preset print sizes to choose from. Use this profile if you plan to send this file to a service bureau for output to a high end printer. Web Document Provides preset options optimized for output to the web. Mobile And Devices Document Creates a small file size that is preset for a specific mobile device. You can choose your device from the Size menu. Click Device Central to open Adobe Device Central and view the document layout in a specified device interface. Video And Film Document Provides several preset video- and film-specific crop area sizes (note that the Artboard option changes to Crop Size for this profile). Illustrator creates only square pixel files, so to ensure that the sizes are interpreted correctly in video applications, Illustrator adjusts the Width and Height values. For example, if you choose NTSC DV Standard, Illustrator uses a pixel size of 648 x 480, which translates to 740 x 480 pixels in video-based applications. Basic CMYK Document Uses a default letter size artboard, and provides a variety of other sizes to choose from. Use this profile if you plan to send a document to multiple types of media. If one of the media types is a service bureau, you’ll want to manually increase the Raster Effects setting to High. Basic RGB Document Uses a default 800 x 600 size artboard, and provides a variety of other print-, video-, and web-specific sizes to choose from. Do not use this option if you plan to send a document to a service bureau or output to a high-end printer. Use this profile for documents that will be output to mid-level printers, to the web, or multiple types of media. Create new documents You can create new Illustrator documents from a new document profile or from a template. Creating a document from a new document profile gives you a blank document with the selected profile’s default fill and stroke colors, graphic styles, brushes, symbols, actions, viewing preferences, and other settings. Creating a document from a template gives you a document with preset design elements and settings, as well as content, such as cropmarks and guides, for specific document types, such as brochures or CD covers. You create a new document from the Welcome screen, or by using File > New or File > Device Central (for mobile device output). The Welcome screen appears whenever a document is not currently open. For a video on setting up new documents, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0031. About templates Templates let you create new documents that share common settings and design elements. For example, if you need to design a series of business cards with a similar look and feel, you can create a template with the desired artboard size, view settings (such as guides), and print options. The template can also contain symbols for common design elements (such as logos) and specific sets of color swatches, brushes, and graphic styles. Illustrator comes with a variety of templates, including templates for letterhead, business cards, envelopes, brochures, labels, certificates, postcards, greeting cards, and websites. When a template is selected via the New From Template command, Illustrator creates a new document with identical content and document settings as the template, but leaves the original template file untouched. Create a new template Open a new or existing document. Customize the document in any of the following ways: Set up the document window as you want it to appear in new documents you create from the template. This includes the magnification level, scroll position, ruler origin, guides, grids, crop areas, and options in the View menu. Draw or import any artwork you want to appear in new documents you create from the template. Delete any existing swatches, styles, brushes, or symbols, you don’t want to retain. Create any new swatches, styles, brushes, and symbols, you want in the corresponding panels. You can also import preset swatches, styles, brushes, symbols, and actions from a variety of libraries that come with Illustrator. Create any graph designs you want and add them to the Graph Design dialog box. You can also import preset graph designs. Set the desired options in the Document Setup dialog box and Print Options dialog box. 3. Choose File > Save As Template. 4. In the Save As dialog box, select a location for the file, enter a filename, and click Save. Illustrator saves the file in AIT (Adobe Illustrator Template) format. Open a file You can open files that were created in Illustrator as well as files that were created in other applications. To open an existing file, choose File > Open. Locate the file, and click Open. To open a recently saved file, choose the file from the Open A Recent Item list in the Welcome screen, or choose File > Open Recent Files, and choose a file from the list. To open and preview a file using Adobe Bridge, choose File > Browse to open Adobe Bridge. Locate the file and choose File > Open With > Adobe Illustrator CS3. Browse for files using Adobe Bridge Adobe® Bridge is a cross-platform application included with Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 components that helps you locate, organize, and browse the assets you need to create print, web, video, and audio content. You can start Bridge from any Creative Suite component (except Adobe® Acrobat® 8), and use it to access both Adobe and non-Adobe asset types. To open Adobe Bridge, do one of the following from within Illustrator: Choose File > Browse. Click the Adobe Bridge icon in the Control panel. Choose Reveal In Bridge from the status bar. From Adobe Bridge, you can do any of the following: Manage image, footage, and audio files: Preview, search, sort, and process files in Bridge without opening individual applications. You can also edit metadata for files, and use Bridge to place files into your documents, projects, or compositions. Manage your photos: Import and edit photos from your digital camera card, group related photos in stacks, and open or import Photoshop® Camera Raw files and edit their settings without starting Photoshop. You can also search leading stock libraries and download royalty-free images by way of Adobe Stock Photos. Work with Adobe Version Cue®-managed assets. Perform automated tasks, such as batch commands. Synchronize color settings across color-managed Creative Suite components. Start a real-time web conference to share your desktop and review documents. INTRODUCTION WORK AREA ARTBOARD OVERVIEW VECTOR GRAPHICS