WORK AREA

Welcome to Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator gives you an efficient work area and user interface to create and edit artwork for print, the web, and mobile devices. Workspace overview You create and manipulate your documents and files using various elements such as panels, bars, and windows. Any arrangement of these elements is called a workspace. When you first start an Adobe Creative Suite component, you see the default workspace, which you can customize for the tasks you perform there. For instance, you can create one workspace for editing and another for viewing, save them, and switch between them as you work. You can restore the default workspace at any time by choosing the default option on the Window> Workspace menu. Although default workspaces vary across Flash, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, andPhotoshop, you manipulate the elements much the same way in all of them. The default workspace is typical: The menu bar across the top organizes commands under menus. The Tools panel (called the Tools palette in Photoshop) contains tools for creating and editing images, artwork, page elements, and so on. Related tools are grouped together. The Control panel (called the options bar in Photoshop) displays options for the currently selected tool. (Flash has no Control panel.) The Document window (called the Stage in Flash) displays the file you’re working on. Panels (called palettes in Photoshop) help you monitor and modify your work. Examples include the Timeline in Flash and the Layers palette in Photoshop. Certain panels are displayed by default, but you can add any panel by selecting it from the Window menu. Many panels have menus with panel-specific options. Panels can be grouped, stacked, or docked. Default Adobe Illustrator workspace A. Artboard. B. Tools palette. C. Tear off panel with hidden tools. D. Menu bar. E. Options bar F. Window palette. G. Status bar About screen modes You can change the visibility of the illustration window and menu bar using the mode options at the bottom of the Tools panel: Maximized Screen Mode displays artwork in a maximized window with a menu bar at the top, scroll bars on the sides, and no title bar. Standard Screen Mode displays artwork in a standard window, with a menu bar at the top and scroll bars on the sides. Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar displays artwork in a full-screen window with a menu bar but with no title bar or scroll bars. Full Screen Mode displays artwork in a full-screen window, with no title bar, menu bar, or scroll bars. Using the status bar The status bar appears at the lower-left edge of the illustration window when you’re in Maximized Screen mode. It displays the current zoom level and information about one of the following topics: the current tool in use, the date and time, the number of undos and redos available, the document color profile, or the status of a managed file. Click the status bar to do any of the following: Change the type of information displayed in the status bar by selecting an option from the Show submenu. Show the current file in Adobe Bridge by choosing Reveal In Bridge. Access Version Cue® commands. Control panel overview The Control panel offers quick access to options related to the objects you select. By default, the Control panel is docked at the top of the work area. Options displayed in the Control panel vary depending on the type of object or tool you select. For example, when you select a text object, the Control panel displays text-formatting options in addition to options for changing the color, placement, and dimensions of the object. Control panel A. Hidden options. B. Link to another panel. C. Panel menu When text in the Control panel is blue and underlined, you can click the text to display a related panel or dialog box. For example, click the word Stroke to display the Stroke panel. Customize the workspace To create a custom workspace, move and manipulate panels (called palettes in Photoshop and in Adobe Creative Suite 2 components). Narrow blue drop zone indicates Color panel will be docked on its own above Layers panel group. You can save custom workspaces and switch among them. A. Title bar. B. Tab. C. Drop zone INTRODUCTION ARTBOARD OVERVIEW NEW DOCUMENT PROFILES VECTOR GRAPHICS