In this Illustrator tutorial I will share some Illustrator tweaks and customizations that you may find useful.
Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can be learned by observing the key combos in the menus and tool tips. Adobe has even included a way to write your own keyboard shortcuts. Just navigate to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Command + Alt + Shift + K), which will open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box.
Choose Menu Commands in the drop-down menu. Open the triangle drop-down for the Select menu. Click in the Inverse row in the blank space of the Shortcut column, which the cursor is pointing to in the image below. Type Command + Shift + I (for Inverse).
For editing, choose the one you want to edit. Invoke your new Select Inverse command, and hide all else temporarily by hitting Command + 3, or lock it all with Command + 2. Edit it and when you’re done, hit Command + Alt + 3 (or Command + Alt + 2) to show (or unlock) everything.
When you have made a collection of shortcuts you like, save that set and give it a name. It will be available in the Sets dropdown at the top of the dialog box.
Mac users can put it in the User Library > Preferences > Adobe Illustrator CS3 Settings, as shown below (This is also where you place Workspaces as well). Windows users can try Documents and Settings > User > Application Data > Adobe > Adobe Illustrator CS3 Settings. It’s got a few more shortcuts for things like changing case, selecting by fill colour, and exporting.
Creating Custom Workspaces
When you have all your palettes, then navigate to Window > Workspace > Save Workspace. The screenshot above shows where that file gets stored. One more tip – if Illustrator ever starts acting weird, delete the "Adobe Illustrator Prefs" file in the same Settings folder. Then quit and relaunch. The program will revert to its factory defaults,
Creating a Custom New Document Profile
In Illustrator you can create your own default new document. You can follow the directions given below to create one:
3. Do any of the following:
• Make any colours, patterns, and gradients you want, and save them as swatches. You can also import swatches using the Swatch Libraries command and then move the swatches you want in the Document Profile file into the default Swatches panel.
• Save any graph designs that you want available in your files using the Graph Design dialog box.
• Make any graphic styles you want and save them to the Graphic Styles panel.
• Create any brushes you want and save them to the Brushes panel.
• Form any symbols you want and save them to the Symbols panel.
• Select the options you want as default settings from the following: View preferences (from the View menu), ruler origins, page origins, print settings (in the Print dialog box, File > Print), and actions.
Adobe CS programs are all scriptable. This extends Illustrator’s capabilities beyond what came in the box.
One such Illustrator script is Round Any Corner. Put the script in your Applications folder. It will then become available in Illustrator’s Scripts menu.
To use the script, choose the point(s) you want rounded and navigate to File > Scripts > Round Any Corner. Don’t forget to note the radius in points.
This script is installed by default at Applications > AICS3 > Scripting > Sample Scripts > AppleScript > Collect for Output. This script collects all of an AI doc’s linked files into one folder for sharing with your client, printer, or service bureau.
This one doesn’t work from the Script menu. Instead, you drop a file or folder full of files onto the icon. It’ll ask you to point to a new folder where it’ll dump everything.
Navigate to Window > Adobe Labs > kuler. You can add this custom colour palette to your personal workspace.
Clicking the little triangle next to the name launches a browser window to the online kuler portal. By clicking the icons at the bottom you can add the chosen palette to your Swatches.
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