A – Direct Selection Tool (white arrow)
Shift+Cmd+A – Deselect All
Z – Select Zoom Tool – Use Alt to switch from Zoom In / Zoom Out – also drag mouse to left and right to zoom.
Cmd + – Zoom In
Cmd – – Zoom Out
Cmd + 0 – Fit artboard
Cmd + Click – Select Item
Multi Artboards
Cmd + Option + 0 – Fit all Artboards on screen
Cmd + Option + A – Select all on single Artboard
Cmd + 1 – Actual Size
H – Select Hand Tool (for moving artboard around)
X – Switches Swatch + Fill in Tool Bar
M – Rectangle Tool – use shift when dragging to make a square
L – Elipse Tool / Polygon Tool – use + and – when creating shape to add and subtract the number of sides
Star Tool – as with Polygons, Stars are created from the centre outward\ – Line Tool – use shift to constrain lines to 45 degrees. Alt + Shift starts line from centre
Polar Grid Tool (Round Grid) works the same as the grid tool
N – Pen Tool
T – Type Tool
Shift+T – Touch Type Tool – for cool text transformations
B – Brush Tool
R – Rotate Tool
o – Reflect Tool
S – Scale Tool
Shift+W Width Tool – change width of strokes and objects
Cmd + Y – Show / Hide Vector Lines
Shift + o – Select Artboard Tool
Cmd+Shift+ P – Selects Place Image to open file window to select image
Cmd + G – Group selected items or objects / Group
Shift + Cmd + G – Un-Group objects – Use Isolation mode to work on specific areas (double click item or group to select this mode
Cmd + D – Transform again – this repeats last transformation.
Cmd + F Paste In Front – creates copy on top of existing object..
Cmd + R Rulers On and Off – to switch on Artboard Rulers go to View / Rulers / Artboard Rulers
Illustrator CC – Tips and Terms
Navigator Panel – Window / navigator panel
Navigation & Workspaces
Workspaces – Window / Workspace / New Workspace – to create a new workspace
Artboard
1. Create and size artboard – for example the artboard could be the background of a business card.
Layers
1. Create a layer for each element of a design
2. You can select specific elements of a layer via the layer panel (on the right)
3. Layers can be hidden and locked via the layer panel. (Lock layer is right of the eye symbol)
Gradients and Fills
Under the Fill and Stroke bit in the tool bar, you can select solid, gradient or none
G Gradient Annotator – for applying gradient effects
Stroke
Can be applied centre (default) inside and outside a vector shape.
You can also add dashes, rounded ends and arrows to strokes.
To change a stroke to a shape – Object / Path / Outside Stroke
Transforming Objects
Moving – With object selected press return for the move dialog box. You can also copy from this box.
Rotate – Press R to select rotate tool.
Reflect – Press o to select the reflection tool
Scale – Press S for scale tool.
Transform each – Object / Transform / Transform Each applies the same transformation to multiple items.
Cmd + 8 – Cut one shape out of another shape – Select two objects – use Object / Compound Path / Make
Cmd + Shift + F9 – Window / Pathfinder – This brings up several options to cut and crop two selected objects.
Text
Shift+Cmd+L – Left Align Text
Shift+Cmd+R – Right Align Text
Shift+Cmd+C – Centre Align Text
Images
Placing images use – Cmd+Shift+ P to open file window to select image
Image Trace – trace image then use ‘expand’ to convert tracing to paths (vector artwork)
