Let's share with you the top 10 most useful tools for the Illustrator software users.
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All the gains in this article. Therefore, we do not waste precious time. Let's start to enter the text.
10. Scale
Whether you need to accurately measure or know the position of different objects in your drawing board, I think it should not be called a tool because it is too practical.
This tool is hidden by default, but you can press Command-R (Ctrl-R) or view> ruler> Display ruler to open it.
Open it and you will see the ruler bar on the top or left. You only need to drag one or more reference lines in the ruler bar to easily measure or set the reference point.
Every time I use a ruler combined with a grid, it balances my work. They also make it easier to design this process, because I only need to click a few times to get the exact location.
9. Hybrid tools
Hybrid tools may take some time for people who are just using the software. In fact, this tool is not complex, but most people just don't know what it can do.
Like most tools in Illustrator, Hybrid tools are actually extremely versatile because they can be used to create duplicate shape patterns.
You can find it in the object> hybrid menu, and you can try various options (mixed options) to create some graphics you want to do.
For example, when I create two colors, but I'm not sure which of the intermediate colors works best. In these cases, I can use this tool to automatically generate the effect color value. As shown in the following figure, you can also set the number of objects you want.
If you want to use it to generate a color, the more steps you fill in, the more soft the color, this means that you cannot select a specific color. With a small step value, the tool will give you a clear color that you can use to create a palette.
8. Offset path
Do you want to create a larger object or copy a path to your shape without changing the center point to overwrite the original one.
You can find this tool in the menu> Path. The working principle of this tool is to expand the path of the selected object to the outside. Therefore, apart from the size change, the format and color will not change.
I like to use the offset path creation icon. Compared with the stroke path, the offset path makes it easy for me to implement a thicker profile, and you can select a diagonal corner.
7. Cut the mask
If you do not know the cut mask, I will explain it to you, that is, when two objects create a cut mask, only the overlapping parts of the two objects will be displayed, and the rest will be isolated. You can press command + 7 or use the object <cut mask to open it.
Generally, when creating complex shapes, you may think you must use the path finder tool, but have you found that you may encounter problems when you need to adjust the image, it may need to be done again. The cut mask retains the shape of the original image, and you can adjust the original image.
You can read this article to learn more about clipping masks. The most important thing is to give it a try.
6. Canvas panel
This feature allows you to create multiple artboards in a document and view them at the same time. In this way, you can create different images, try different styles, and compare them directly.
For example, when processing icons, you can create multiple artboards and assign one icon to each canvas.
5. Layer panel
If the canvas panel is a large folder, the layer panel is a small folder in a large folder. It helps you classify design elements, allowing you to easily identify and adjust your work, you do not have to worry about accidental deletion or selecting an element.
You can lock, hide, rename, and reposition each layer, or delete or hide it. It will make your design clearer and make your cooperation with others more efficient.
4. Path Finder
More specifically, it has four different shape modes, and the path of two or more objects can be changed through the shape mode.
You may think about it, because when I say that the cut mask is a better solution than the path finder in 7th cases. It should be noted that if you need to adjust the shape and add effects or other elements, the cropping area is always more effective. However, if you want to create a new shape using some simple rectangles, you still need to use the path finder.
The path finder can use merge, minus top layer, intersection, and exclusion to create new and interesting shapes.
By default, the panel is hidden. You can find this function in the <Path Finder "window.
If you want to know more about this tool, you can read this article, but it is better to give it a try, when I was a freshman in the factory, I had a course "plane composition" and basically used this tool to complete my homework. After finishing this assignment, I became familiar with this tool.
3. Align the panel
Whether you want to align objects or make multiple objects have a specific distance, alignment panel is the best tool. Easy to use and extremely fast.
By default, this function panel is also hidden, and you can open it through a window.
When you enable it, as shown in the following figure, you will have a new function called distribution spacing, which helps you to precisely specify the distance between two or more shapes.
There are several alignment methods that you can try.
2. Grid
You need to know that every graph created is on top of a grid, and you can customize the grid by default.
1. Align the grid/pixel grid
Grid itself is a powerful tool, but once you get involved in pixel-level work, you must use an aligned grid/pixel grid to make your work more perfect. Because when you create a graph or change a graph, each vertex of the graph will be on the grid, without the case of half pixel.
If you have never used an aligned grid/pixel grid, you can open it in the View menu.
Spend more time practicing. If you spend a few hours practicing every listed tool, I promise you will be able to use it quickly. These are the most commonly used tools that designers use every day.
All right, the above information is the top ten most useful tools provided by the mini-editor to the users of this software of Illustrator to parse and share all the content, as you can see here, I believe that everyone is very clear about it. I hope that the content parsed above will help you.
