You can create a new swatch based on the current paint style, which appears in the Paint Style section of the Tools panel, by clicking the New Swatch button along the bottom of the Swatches panel. If you press Alt (Option) when creating a new swatch, the New Swatch dialog box, as shown in Figure 7.2, opens. This dialog box allows you to initially name the swatch and set its color mode to either process color (CMYK) or spot color. Process colors are printed using a combination of the four standard printing inks — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Spot colors are printed using a special premixed ink that's exactly the color you want to print.

Under the Color Mode in the New Swatch dialog box, you can set Grayscale, RGB, HSB, CMYK, Lab, or Web Safe RGB. Most default process color swatches are set up with RGB. You can also create a new swatch by choosing New Swatch from the Swatches panel's popup menu, which you access by clicking the triangle on the upper-right corner of the panel.

Figure 7.2. The New Swatch dialog box lets you name the new swatch.

Double-clicking a swatch displays the Swatch Options for that swatch. The Swatch Options dialog box is exactly like the New Swatch dialog box, except that it includes a Preview check box. The Swatch Options dialog box has the following options:

In addition, you can select one or more swatches to edit, duplicate, or remove from the Swatches panel. Click a swatch to select it; a frame appears on the selected swatch.

You can select more than one swatch by pressing Ctrl (

If you want to sort the swatches manually, you can do so by selecting any number of swatches and then dragging them to a new location within the Swatches panel.

The Swatches popup menu, shown in Figure 7.3, also has other functions, some of which were already mentioned:

Figure 7.3. The Swatches popup menu provides additional options.

Figure 7.4. The five ways you can view the Swatches panel: small, medium, or large thumbnails (top row) or small or large lists

In addition to the standard Swatch Library panel, many other default Swatch Library panels are accessible from the Swatch Libraries submenu in the Window menu or from the Open Swatch Library submenu in the Swatches panel's popup menu, as shown in Figure 7.5. You can also create a new Swatch Library panel from any Illustrator document.

To view one of the other default Swatches panels, choose it from the Swatch Libraries submenu. You can't edit these swatch libraries; you can only add swatches from these libraries to your main Swatches panel. To add a swatch (or several selected swatches) to your main Swatches panel, follow these steps:

Otherwise, these swatch libraries work the same way as your main Swatches panel; you can choose colors for fill and stroke, sort the swatches by Kind or Name, and view the swatches by List, Small Thumbnail View, or Large Thumbnail View. Figure 7.6 shows three swatch libraries.

Figure 7.5. The Open Swatch Library submenu allows you to choose different swatch libraries.

Figure 7.6. Three swatch libraries: Fruits and Vegetables, Pastels, and Water

The Color panel provides basic color selection via the Color Ramp along the bottom of the panel and more precise control via sliders and percentage entries in Grayscale, RGB, HSB, CMYK, and Web Safe RGB. Most users of Illustrator use either RGB or CMYK color spaces. Heavy Web designers also use HSB and Web Safe RGB. If you're sure that you want to work only in black and white, choose Grayscale. Use the Color panel to add color to any object's stroke or fill. You can create any color to be used in an illustration by defining it in the Color panel, as shown in Figure 7.7. Access the Color panel by choosing Window

The Color panel has a popup menu (and arrowheads next to the panel's name) that allows you to toggle the display of the options and to choose from the available color spaces. The options are really the color-mixing sliders; I've never found a reason to hide them. In fact, the sliders take up such a small amount of space that after they're in view, you'll probably never hide them either.

Figure 7.7. The Color panel allows you to define colors precisely.

The color space options let you switch among the following:

As you drag a specific color's slider, the other sliders also change in color. This gives you sort of a preview for what would happen if you were to drag along the sliders. The icon to the left of the sliders shows the current color and whether you're adjusting the fill (solid box) or stroke (box with a hole). Instead of dragging, you can also just simply click a different location along the slider to change its value.

You can also change the slider values by typing values for each of the individual color channels (for example, Cyan is a color channel in CMYK). Press Tab to highlight the next text field or press Shift+Tab to highlight the previous text field.

The Color Ramp is the bar along the bottom of the Color panel. It looks like a rainbow of colors. The Color Ramp allows you to quickly pick a color from the current color space. Resting your cursor above the Color Ramp area changes the cursor into an eyedropper.

When you change to a different color space, the Color Ramp along the bottom of the panel also changes to show the rainbow of colors in that particular color space.

Click any portion of the Color Ramp to select that color. Illustrator provides large rectangles of black and white to make choosing black or white easier. The Grayscale and Spot Color Ramps have large areas for both 0% and 100% to make selecting those percentages easier. You can also drag over the Color Ramp, watching the large square in the top of the Color panel (if Options are showing) to see the color you're dragging over. If Options aren't shown, look at the active Fill/Stroke icons in the Tools panel to see the color you're currently positioned over. (This works only when the mouse button is pressed as you pass across the Color Ramp.)

If you choose certain colors, a little icon appears in the center left of the Color panel, as shown in Figure 7.12. This icon indicates that the current color is out of gamut with the color space. Therefore, the particular color you chose isn't within the range of colors that can be displayed or printed for the selected color space. This issue is generally important only if you plan to print the document using CMYK process colors.

If you plan to use the image on-screen, such as in Web or multimedia publishing, whether the color is in gamut doesn't really matter.

Figure 7.12. The In Gamut indicator appears when the current color can't be accurately displayed or printed.

The best way to reset the current color is to click the In Gamut icon. The RGB or HSB values change so that the resulting color is well within CMYK color space. Another way to change the current color to CMYK color space is to choose CMYK from the Color panel's popup menu.

If you want to change the color space of several objects — or perhaps your entire document — to CMYK, select the objects that you want to change and then choose Effect

Spot colors are colors in Illustrator that aren't separated into process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) when printed. Instead, they're printed on a different separation. A commercial printer uses special ink (commonly Pantone) for this spot color. Spot colors are indicated in the Swatches panel in Small Thumbnail and Large Thumbnail views by a white triangle containing a black dot in the lower right of the spot color swatch. The List view mode shows a square with a circle inside of it (a spot) on the right edge of the swatch listing. In List view mode, both the color space (grayscale, RGB, or CMYK) and Process/Spot status are indicated to the right of the color chip and name.

You can use as many spot colors in an illustration as you want, although it isn't usually practical or desirable to have more than four in one document. (Because CMYK printing can duplicate most colors, process colors are often a better choice than four spot colors.) Illustrator's default Swatch libraries, accessible by choosing Window

Now you know how the panels work, but how do you change the color of paths to what's in the panels? The easiest thing to do is to select the path you want to change the fill or stroke (or both) of, change the focus (if necessary) of the Fill/Stroke icons, and select a color from either the Color or Swatches panel. Press X to change the color for the other (fill or stroke).

The key here is selecting. If you have selected paths, any changes you make affect those selected paths.

When you create a new path, Illustrator uses the fill and stroke that are currently displayed in the Paint Style section of the Tools panel.

To apply colors to text, you can either select an entire text area with a Selection tool or select individual characters with a Type tool.

The Eyedropper and Paint Bucket tools are lifesavers for those who constantly use self-stick notes to jot down the percentages of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) in one path so that those same amounts can be applied to another path. A good reason to use the Paint Bucket and Eyedropper tools is to ensure that your colors are consistent throughout an illustration. So, for example, if you used a custom color somewhere that you want to use again somewhere else, you don't try to duplicate it with a CMYK mix that may not be an exact match. With a couple of clicks or keystrokes, you can easily transfer the color properties of one object to another. The tools work with paths, objects, type, and placed images.

The Eyedropper and Paint Bucket tools work similarly to the other tools in Illustrator in that their properties stay the same until you change them — in this case, by clicking a new path or object with a different color. The Eyedropper tool sucks up color from where you click. Use this to see the breakdown of a color in the area you clicked. The Paint Bucket tool fills in an area with the active color in the Color Swatch. Just click the Paint Bucket tool on the shape you want to fill with color. To give you more control over what the tools can pick up and apply, Illustrator gives you an exhaustive list of properties to select in the Eyedropper Options dialog box. Double-clicking the Eyedropper tool displays this dialog box, as shown in Figure 7.13, where you can select or deselect options depending on what attributes you want to apply. So, for example, you can have the Eyedropper tool pick up the color and stroke weight of a path without transferring the path's transparency properties.

At the bottom of the Eyedropper Options dialog box is the Raster Sample Size menu. From this menu, you can choose whether you suck up a Point Sample (samples the color from the point where you click), 3 × 3 Average (averages the color in an area of 3 pixels by 3 pixels), or 5 × 5 Average (averages the color in an area of 5 pixels by 5 pixels).

The Live Paint Bucket tool

You use the Live Paint Bucket tool to apply the current paint style to both paths and Live Trace images. You can also apply any attribute that's active in the Appearance panel. Using the Live Paint Bucket tool is a quick and painless way to apply a set style or group of attributes you like to other objects.

Note

For more on the Live Paint Bucket tool, see Chapter 14. For more on Live Trace, see Chapter 13.

Figure 7.13. The Eyedropper Options dialog box allows you to fine-tune the operation of the Eyedropper tool.

You can apply transparency to an object, group of objects, sublayer, or the entire layer. You can also apply transparency to symbols, patterns, type, 3-D objects, graphic styles, strokes, and brushstrokes. To define an object's transparency, select the object first and then drag the Opacity slider in the Transparency panel to the desired opacity. Figure 7.15 shows an example of changing the top object's opacity.

Figure 7.15. The R on top of the image was changed to 60% so you can see the picture through it.

You adjust the transparency in the Transparency panel by clicking and dragging the Opacity slider. You access the slider by clicking the arrow on the side of the Opacity box. As mentioned previously, opacity is how see-through the object is. Applying no opacity makes an object totally transparent. Applying any amount of opacity makes the object partially transparent. An opacity value of 100% makes the object totally opaque, which mean you can't see through it at all. If you check the Appearance panel, it shows you the amount of opacity applied to that particular object.

To apply opacity to a group of objects or to a whole layer, start with the Layers panel and follow these steps:

Within the Transparency panel, you find 16 blending modes similar to Photoshop's blending modes. Each mode creates a different effect when applied to the same object. Blending modes can totally change the look of the opacity applied to an object. Using blending modes lets you choose a variety of ways the colors of the objects blend when on top of another object. You create blending modes by combining a base color (the bottom object), the blend color (of the object on top), and the resulting color from the overlapping.

Illustrator supplies a variety of blending modes in the Transparency panel. Figure 7.16 shows the list of blending modes found in the Transparency panel's popup menu:

Figure 7.16. In the Transparency panel's popup menu, you see all the blending modes.

Isolating blending is a necessary evil when too many objects are involved in an illustration that has transparency. When patterns are involved, you may lose the clarity of your artwork unless you limit how far the blending goes with the Opacity settings. In the Transparency panel, there's a check box for Isolate Blending. Use this to pick and choose how far you want the opacity to affect the underlying objects.

Follow these steps to apply a blending mode to an object:

Along with Isolate Blending is the Knockout Group check box in the Transparency panel. Knockout Group does the opposite of Isolate Blending. That is, you use the Knockout Group option to block the view of objects under the group.

A clipping mask crops the objects behind the mask to the edges of the mask. An opacity mask is similar to a clipping mask. Instead of clipping away other objects, it clips the objects to the defined area (mask) to show transparency. The opacity mask in Illustrator is like the layer mask concept in Photoshop. Use the opacity mask to clip objects to the top shape and apply the opacity mask's luminosity to the underlying objects. Where the top mask is white, you can see the artwork underneath, and where the mask is black, it's opaque. Figure 7.17 shows a group of rectangles on a grid background. The rectangles were added, and an opacity mask consisting of a gradient was applied to the objects, as shown in Figure 7.18. Select Make Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel's popup menu to apply an opacity mask.

Figure 7.17. The artwork before (left) and after (right) an opacity mask was applied to the set of rectangles

After applying an opacity mask, the original shape disappears. If you don't believe me, check Outline mode. To get the shape back, simply release the opacity mask. You can release the opacity mask under the Transparency panel's popup menu. Choose Release opacity masks, and the objects return to their original state.

Other choices under the Transparency menu are to unlink or relink an opacity mask. An opacity mask is automatically linked to the object that it's masking. To unlink the opacity mask, click the link symbol between the opacity mask and the object or choose Unlink Opacity Mask in the Transparency panel's popup menu. When you unlink the object from the mask, you can move the object(s) around under the opacity mask, and the mask stays put. To relink the two back together, click the link between the two thumbnails or choose Link Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel's popup menu.

Figure 7.18. The Transparency panel shows the opacity mask used in Figure 7.17.

You can disable an opacity mask, and Illustrator removes the mask from its masking task but doesn't delete the objects you used to make the mask from the file. To get the mask back, choose Enable Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel's popup menu.

You can edit opacity masks if you click the thumbnail of the mask in the Transparency panel. Use Illustrator's editing tools to change the mask shape. Other options in the Transparency panel for the opacity mask are to make the opacity mask act as a clipping mask with the Clip option. Select this to have the mask clip the area around the selected mask (like the clipping mask function). You can also use the Invert Mask option. Selecting this option inverts the dark and light, which reverses the original opacity.

Now that you're getting into this whole transparency thing, you may find it hard to see which objects have transparency applied to them. To see these transparent objects, you can enable the transparency grid. This grid shows up as a gray-and-white checkered pattern positioned behind all other objects.

To view the transparency grid, choose View

Using these options, you can set the Grid Size and change the Grid Colors. A preview of the grid is also shown next to the color selection boxes. The Simulate Colored Paper option shows you what your objects look like when printed on colored paper. At the bottom of the Document Setup dialog box are options for setting the Transparency Flattener Settings.

Figure 7.20 shows an example of several objects as they appear above the transparency grid. Objects that are opaque completely block the view of the transparency grid, while those that are partially transparent allow the grid to show through.

Figure 7.19. In the Document Setup dialog box, you can change the transparency grid.

Figure 7.20. Opaque objects (the figure) block the transparency grid, while transparent ones (the R and its drop shadow) allow it to be seen.

Flattening is a process that removes transparency from objects and substitutes objects that have a similar appearance — only without any transparency. Flattening happens when transparency is not supported by other applications. Flattening actually creates more pieces of the objects. Flattening also changes your transparency. You lose transparency, and instead, a color is applied that reflects the opacity color. If you have two objects overlapping and you flatten the image, a third object is created where they overlap.

For more precise control over flattening, you can use the options that are available in the Flatten Transparency dialog box, as shown in Figure 7.21. To use this option, select the object(s) you want to flatten and then choose Object

Figure 7.21. The Flatten Transparency dialog box provides more precise control over flattening.

You can set these options in the Flatten Transparency dialog box:

Now that you have the basics, let's delve into using transparency on objects. You can create a plethora of different effects using transparency. The following sections cover just a few of the amazing things you can do with transparency.

Transparency is not limited to objects. It's also fantastic to use on type. Take some text and then give it a three-dimensional feel by choosing Effect

Transparency is useful with many different types of objects. Use it in a brushstroke, creating fills, styles, multiple fills, and more. If you choose to flatten the transparency, Illustrator actually cuts it into sections. To flatten transparent objects, first select them and then choose Object

Figure 7.22. Text and transparency create some fantastic effects.

Transparency is not limited to basic objects. You can use transparent effects on symbols, effects, patterns, brushstrokes, and 3-D objects. Figure 7.23 shows three-dimensional gears with different opacity settings. Anything you can do in Illustrator can have transparency applied. The Symbol tool has a Symbol Screener tool, which applies transparency in a brush-like fashion. You can also apply opacity to the whole group of sprayed symbols using the Transparency panel.

Figure 7.23. Three-dimensional gears with different transparency effects applied

Using type with brushstrokes and transparency can also result in some eye-catching effects. To create embossed type, follow these steps:

This creates an embossed stroke effect. Add a background, and the text lets the background shine through. Figure 7.24 shows an example of this embossed effect.

Figure 7.24. This type was embossed using the previous steps.

To choose a preset gradient, select a path and then ensure that the Fill box is active in the Tools panel. In the Swatches panel, click the gradient swatch icon at the bottom of the panel. The four default gradient presets appear alone in the swatches. When you click a gradient swatch, Illustrator applies the gradient to the selected path.

The Gradient panel, if nothing else, is really neat-looking, with all sorts of nifty little controls at your disposal for creating and modifying gradients; it's shown in Figure 7.25.

Figure 7.25. The Gradient panel allows you to create your own gradients.

The Type list box (popup menu) at the top of the Gradient panel lets you select from Radial or Linear gradient types. Radial gradients move from that center location of an object radial outward in all directions. Linear gradients move in one direction across the object. If you choose a radial gradient, you can change the distortion of the gradient by editing the value in the Aspect Ratio field (it has a little oval next to it). The Angle field controls the angle of the gradient.

The bottom of the Gradient panel is where you control what colors are in the gradient and where the colors are in relation to one another.

The default gradient is black and white and moves from white on the left to black on the right. To add a new color to the bar, click below the bar where you want the new color to appear. This causes a color marker (which appears as a small square). The new color becomes a step between the left color slider and the right color slider. The Location percentage value defines how close you click to either end with 0% on the left and 100% on the right. In other words, the closer you click to the left end, the closer that color is to the left slider.

If you then click the square marker, it becomes selected. You can tell when a gradient marker is selected because the small triangle above it turns dark. When selected, you can change its color by selecting a new color in the Color panel. You can add up to 32 color stops between the two end colors. When a color stop is selected, typing a different percentage in the Location field on the right changes the color stop's position. When a color stop is selected, you can also change its opacity by typing a value in the Opacity field in the lower left of the panel.

The diamonds above the color bar show the midpoint between two color stops. By moving the midpoint left or right, you alter the halfway color between two color stops. When a diamond is selected, typing a different percentage in the location field below changes the diamond's position.

You use the Gradient tool to give a more 3-D look to an object by changing the angle and the starting and ending points for a linear gradient as well as the location of the center and edges of a radial gradient. The tool is also used to offset the highlight on a radial gradient.

Gradients are created with the Gradient panel and applied from the Gradient tool or panel. Follow these steps:

Figure 7.27 shows a gradient original and after changing the start position of the gradient.

Figure 7.26. The Gradient tool places a live gradient stop bar on your selected artwork.

Figure 7.27. The circle on the left has a radial gradient applied to it. The circle on the right has the same gradient, but it's positioned differently within the object by using the Gradient tool.

In Illustrator, you can automatically change gradients into blends by selecting the gradient you want to change and then choosing Object

Figure 7.28. The Expand dialog box can convert a gradient into a blend.

Selecting the Compatible Gradient and Gradient Mesh Printing option in the Print dialog box prevents most gradient problems from occurring. Choose File

Figure 7.29. Select the Compatible Gradient and Gradient Mesh Printing option in the Graphics pane to resolve printing problems with certain printers.

The Mesh tool, which is found in the Tools panel, looks like a rectangle with squiggly lines inside. The Mesh tool adds highlights or shading with the click of a mouse. Follow these steps to apply a mesh:

The Create Gradient Mesh dialog box, as shown in Figure 7.31, is accessed by choosing Object

Figure 7.31. The Create Gradient Mesh dialog box allows you to customize the mesh settings.

Clicking more than once on an object with the Mesh tool adds more blends to the object. Each click creates new horizontal and vertical axes. For this reason, the tool is called a mesh. The more clicks that are created, the more individual lines appear until the base object appears as a complex mesh of lines. Each intersection of lines is a point of color that can be changed. However, when you change a color, adjacent intersecting points aren't updated. The following steps give you an example of what happens when you add multiple highlights to an object:

You can create very complex mesh objects with just a dozen or so clicks. These objects are editable, but you need to somehow keep track of which points were the originals so that all the other ones update automatically.

The Mesh tool can be used to create realistic shading and some really impressive effects, such as the comic book cover shown in Figure 7.33.

Figure 7.32. A rectangle with a highlight in the middle and additional highlights at each corner

Figure 7.33. The Mesh tool was used to create this comic book cover.