Editing an item is as easy as clicking. Click the item you want to edit and then make your changes, and the object immediately updates to your edits. When you click an effect in the Appearance panel, Illustrator displays the dialog box for that particular effect.

You can click a stroke or a fill in the Appearance panel and then make edits in the miniature Stroke or Fill panel that opens, as shown in Figure 15.3. To edit a stroke or a fill, click one time in the Appearance panel to select the stroke or fill and then change the color of the stroke or fill and the stroke weight.

To edit the stroke weight and color by using the Appearance panel, follow these steps:

Figure 15.3. When you click a stroke or a fill in the Appearance panel, Illustrator displays a miniature panel for it.

Figure 15.4. Clicking and holding the dropdown arrow on the stroke allows you to quickly change its color.

Under the Appearance panel's popup menu is a menu item you can use to remove an item — such as the stroke or the fill — in the object's list. Click the item to select it and then choose Remove Item from the popup menu (or click the Delete Selected Item button at the bottom of the panel). The item is removed from the list and the object. Use this to edit a preset style to customize it.

You can also duplicate an object in the Appearance panel. Select the item you want to duplicate in the list in the Appearance panel and then choose Duplicate Item from the popup menu or click the Duplicate icon at the bottom of the panel. This comes in handy when you want to use some of the item's attributes but not all. Duplicate the item and then edit it as you want.

Clearing an appearance removes the effects and changes the stroke and fill to None. If there are multiple fills or strokes, all are reduced to one stroke and one fill. You find the Clear Appearance option in the popup menu.

Choosing Reduce to Basic Appearance from the Appearance panel's popup menu removes all but one stroke and one fill and all the effects. The remaining stroke and fill are assigned the default attributes (typically the bottommost stroke and fill color and the stroke weight of the bottommost stroke). If you didn't use a stroke, Illustrator reduces the object to the original fill color only. Similarly, if you didn't use a fill, Illustrator reduces the object to the original stroke color and weight. Figure 15.5 shows the object before and after applying Reduce to Basic Appearance. The end result looks a bit bland compared to the original.

Figure 15.5. The object on the left has all its graphic styles and attributes. The object on the right has been reduced to a basic appearance.

Clicking the eyeball to the left of any Appearance panel attribute, such as fill, stroke, opacity, and any applied effect, allows you to temporarily hide that attribute. Click it again to show the hidden attribute.

If you select the New Art Has Basic Appearance option (from the Appearance panel's popup menu), all art created afterward has a basic appearance of a white fill and a black stroke. If you don't select this option, as shown in Figure 15.6, all art created after using a style has the appearance of the last used style.

Figure 15.6. If the New Art Has Basic Appearance option isn't selected, all new art has the same attributes as the last style used.

In the Appearance panel, you have the option to view a small thumbnail of the selected object's style. The thumbnail appears in the upper left of the Appearance panel. If you don't want to see this little thumbnail, choose Hide Thumbnail from the Appearance panel's popup menu. To see the thumbnail again, choose Show Thumbnail from the menu. I can't think of a good reason to hide the thumbnail, but the option is available if you want to use it.

The Redefine Graphic Style option is available only when you apply one of the preset styles from the Graphic Styles panel. When you use the Redefine Graphic Style option, your new changes overwrite the original, and any objects that use that style immediately update to your new changes.

In order to redefine a graphic style, you must first select the style you want to redefine in the Graphic Styles panel. Then, select an object that has the characteristics that you want to apply to the style. Finally, choose Redefine Graphic Style from the Appearance panel's popup menu.

Click the New Graphic Style button to make your selected object's attributes into a new style in the Graphic Styles panel. You can also create a new style by choosing New Graphic Style from the popup menu in the Graphic Styles panel. To create a new style, follow these steps:

Using the Graphic Styles panel's popup menu, you can duplicate a style. Select a style in the panel and then choose Duplicate Graphic Style from the popup menu in the panel. This creates a duplicate swatch at the end of the list of graphic style swatches. Use this to alter and create your own custom style. You use Duplicate Graphic Style to duplicate a default swatch so that you don't overwrite the original swatch.

You can also take two different styles and combine them as one. Use the Merge Graphic Styles command found in the Graphic Styles panel's popup menu. To combine two or more graphic styles, follow these steps:

To delete a graphic style, select the graphic style in the Graphic Styles panel and then choose Delete Graphic Style from the popup menu. Alternatively, you can click the Delete button (the trash icon) at the bottom of the panel. A warning message appears asking "Delete the Style Selection?" Click Yes to delete the style or No to cancel the action.

You use the Break Link to Graphic Style option to break the graphic style from the object. The object still retains the appearance of the graphic style, but changes to the graphic style's definition no longer alter the object's appearance. A good use of this option is to find a graphic style that you like but want to change. Fill an object with that graphic style, click the Break Link to Graphic Style button, and then alter the object as you want. When you have an object as you like it, you can turn its attributes into a new style. Another good use for this option is when you want several objects to have the same basic style, but you want to make some subtle changes to some of them. If you break the link to the style for the objects that you don't want to change, you can quickly modify the remaining objects simply by modifying the style.

Choosing Select All Unused selects all graphic styles that aren't used in the document. You can then choose to delete the unused graphic styles from the Graphic Styles panel.

Sort by Name sorts the graphic style swatches alphabetically. You probably won't find this very useful unless you choose one of the list views.

In the Graphic Styles panel, you can choose how you view the graphic style swatches. Choosing Thumbnail shows you a swatch of the graphic style. Choosing Small List View displays a small swatch next to the name of the graphic style. The Large List View displays a larger swatch next to the name of the graphic style.

The Override Character Color option overrides the object's original color with the graphic style. If you want to retain the original color qualities, deselect the Override Character Color option in the Graphic Styles panel's menu.

The Graphic Style Options lets you name or rename a graphic style swatch. You may not want to rename the standard swatches because doing so makes it harder to remember if you have a particular swatch open when you're looking at the names in a library.

After you create a bunch of cool styles, you should save them as a library for future use. To save a Graphic Style Library, follow these steps:

Figure 15.9. Use the Save Graphics Styles as Library dialog box to save your graphic styles in your own library.

To open a saved library, follow these steps:

The Add Arrowheads effect is a boon to technical artists, sign makers, and anyone in need of a quick arrow. The number one complaint about the Add Arrowheads effect is that Illustrator offers too many arrowheads from which to choose. Some complaint!

Choose Effect

Figure 15.13. Use the Add Arrowheads dialog box to add markers to one or both ends of a path.

Figure 15.14 shows customized arrowheads created in Illustrator.

Arrowheads are grouped to the paths that were selected when they were created; it's sometimes necessary to rotate the arrowhead by either ungrouping it or choosing it with the Direct Selection tool.

The size of the arrowheads is based on the width of the stroke, but you can alter each arrowhead's dimensions in the Scale text field in the Add Arrowheads dialog box.

Figure 15.14. You can create many different types of customized arrowheads.

The Drop Shadow effect makes creating drop shadows for most paths a relatively simple task.

Selecting Drop Shadow affects both stroke and fill. In the Drop Shadow dialog box, as shown in Figure 15.15, you can specify the offset of the drop shadow by typing values for how far across the drop shadow should move (X) and how far up or down it should move (Y). Positive numbers move the shadow to the right and down; negative numbers move the shadow to the left and up.

You have these options in the Drop Shadow dialog box (among others):

To create a drop shadow, do the following:

Figure 15.15. The Drop Shadow dialog box allows you to quickly produce drop shadow effects.

The Feather effect adds a fade out to the selected object. Feather fades the object to transparent over a specified distance in points. To add a Feather effect to an object, follow these steps:

The Inner Glow and Outer Glow effects create a softened glow on the inside or outside edge of an object. Choose Effect

Figure 15.18. The Inner Glow dialog box allows you to create glowing effects in objects.

Choose Effect

In the Round Corners dialog box, as shown in Figure 15.19, you specify what the radius of the Round Corners should be. The larger the number you type for the radius, the bigger the curve is.

Figure 15.19. The Round Corners dialog box allows you to create smooth rounded corners where previously there were sharp ones.

The Scribble effect adds a sketchy quality to an illustration. You can choose from a variety of presets or create your own. The scribble effect can create a mass-produced, mechanical look or a loose, flowing, childlike scrawl. The breakdown of what Scribble does is that it converts an object's stroke and fill to lines divided by transparency. The Scribble Options dialog box lets you alter the line style, density, looseness of the lines, and stroke width.

You find the Scribble effect under the Stylize submenu of the Effect menu. Figure 15.20 shows a portrait with two different Scribble effects applied. Within the Scribble Options dialog box are options that you can choose to change or customize your scribbled art or to choose from preset Scribble effects.

Figure 15.20. Two different Scribble effects result in two very different portraits.

Using the Scribble presets

In the Scribble Options dialog box, you find a variety of preset options. Figure 15.21 shows the Scribble Options dialog box, which offers these presets:

• Custom: Remembers the last settings you typed

• Default: Applies 30° angled lines, with varying thickness to the fill and stroke

• Childlike: Applies 10° loopy angled lines that look very loose and as if a child had sketched them

• Dense: Applies very tight 45° angled lines, with little space between lines

• Loose: Applies very loose loopy −20° angled lines, with lots of spacing between lines

• Moiré: Applies tight −45° lines so close they actually create a moiré (wavy) pattern with the fill

• Sharp: Applies −30° angled lines tightly, with little space between lines (similar to Dense)

• Sketch: Applies −30° angled lines, with a thicker stroke for the lines but with little space between lines

• Snarl: Applies 60° angled lines tightly together, with loopy lines and a thin stroke weight

• Swash: Applies a figure eight loop to the object, with a thinner stroke weight and a symmetrical look to the lines

• Tight: Applies a 30° angled line, with tight lines and a thin stroke weight for an even, line-filled area

• Zig-Zag: Applies a −20° angled line, with a thin stroke weight for an even symmetrical look to the lines in the filled area

Figure 15.21. The Scribble Options dialog box provides enough options to create hundreds of very different scribble effects.