Illustrator CC Day 2: Pen Tool,Live Trace & Gradients

The Pen tool is the most powerful tool in Illustrator and an important part of Photoshop and InDesign. Many people, however, use it incorrectly or inefficiently. In this one-day class, you will learn from an Adobe Certified Instructor how to properly use the Pen tool to create graceful curves and complex paths that can be easily edited later. You will also learn how to use Live Trace, Live Paint and Live Color, as well as how to create and apply color gradients to objects.

Course Outline

Mastering the Pen Tool

• creating curves and straight lines
• tracing objects with the Pen tool
• modifying pen paths
• basic key commands
• tracing Photoshop images
• working with compound paths
• the Pencil and Eraser tools
• using the Width Tool to customize strokes
• the Join command
• PathFinder
• divide and unite
• ShapeBuilder tool

Live Trace and Live Paint

• tracing images and logos into vector shapes
• using the Links panel
• dynamic link between Photoshop and Illustrator
• exporting color swatches
• dynamically applying colors
• using the new Eraser tool

Live Color

• dynamically remapping colors
• Curvature tool

Gradients

• using the gradient and blend tools
• adjusting opacity and gradients
• rasterizing objects
• creating and viewing objects as pixels

Pre-requisite: This class is ideally suited for people who have attended Level 1 or who have more than six months of experience using Adobe Illustrator.