People new to Adobe Illustrator often say that they find the program complex and hard work. When we hold Adobe Illustrator classes in London, we acknowledge the need to help delegates get rid of the belief that Illustrator is a difficult piece of software to use. We have found that there are three main aspects to showing users that Illustrator is no harder or more annoying than any other application.
Firstly, we point out to people that they must be on the right tool in order to carry out a given operation. Secondly, we teach them to observe and interpret the rich visual feedback provided by the program as you carry out various operations. Thirdly, we always remind new users of the ease with which you can revert your drawing back to a state prior to the point where something has gone wrong.
Illustrator beginners will often hit a roadblock where they are unable to carry out a certain operation because Illustrator will not permit it at that point in time or under the current circumstances. For example, they might want to change the size of an object and they end up rotating or moving it around the page instead.
Avoiding this problem is simple. Always ensure that you are on the right tool. So, if you wish to manipulate an existing element, you must have the Selection tool highlighted. One of the first shortcuts that we teach people who attend our Illustrator training courses is that you can temporarily activate the Selection tool by simply holding down the Control key (or Command on a Mac).
Another thing that new users do is attempt to modify elements in their drawing without clicking on the Selection tool first. One example might be they draw a shape using, say, the Polygon tool and then, with the Polygon tool still active, they attempt to move or resize the polygon they have just drawn or click on the page to deselect the polygon. They then get annoyed and puzzled when tiny polygons keep appearing in their drawing or Illustrator's shape dimension window keeps on popping up.
Avoiding this problem is not hard. You just have to make sure that you have the right tool selected. So, if you want to manipulate an existing object, you just ensure that you have the Selection tool highlighted. One of the first shortcuts that we teach people who come on our Illustrator training courses is that you can temporarily activate the Selection tool by just pressing the Control key (or Command for Mac users).
If you have just started using a program like Illustrator, it is to be expected that you will make mistakes: things may go a little wrong or even get completely screwed up. The main thing is develop the "Undo reflex". For example, if you move an object by accident, don't try to manually put it back where it was, just choose Undo from the Edit menu or use the keyboard shortcut Control-Z (Command-Z on a Macintosh). If you Undo too much, you can use the Redo command to take you forward again. (The keyboard shortcut for the Redo command is Control-Shift-Z.)
If your effort to create a drawing has gone horribly wrong, the best thing to do is to bite the bullet and choose Revert from the File menu. This is a way of saying "OK, this isn't working. I give up!" The Revert command discards all of the changes you have made to the document since it was last saved and can be another useful way of avoiding unnecessary frustration.
Firstly, we point out to people that they must be on the right tool in order to carry out a given operation. Secondly, we teach them to observe and interpret the rich visual feedback provided by the program as you carry out various operations. Thirdly, we always remind new users of the ease with which you can revert your drawing back to a state prior to the point where something has gone wrong.
Illustrator beginners will often hit a roadblock where they are unable to carry out a certain operation because Illustrator will not permit it at that point in time or under the current circumstances. For example, they might want to change the size of an object and they end up rotating or moving it around the page instead.
Avoiding this problem is simple. Always ensure that you are on the right tool. So, if you wish to manipulate an existing element, you must have the Selection tool highlighted. One of the first shortcuts that we teach people who attend our Illustrator training courses is that you can temporarily activate the Selection tool by simply holding down the Control key (or Command on a Mac).
Another thing that new users do is attempt to modify elements in their drawing without clicking on the Selection tool first. One example might be they draw a shape using, say, the Polygon tool and then, with the Polygon tool still active, they attempt to move or resize the polygon they have just drawn or click on the page to deselect the polygon. They then get annoyed and puzzled when tiny polygons keep appearing in their drawing or Illustrator's shape dimension window keeps on popping up.
Avoiding this problem is not hard. You just have to make sure that you have the right tool selected. So, if you want to manipulate an existing object, you just ensure that you have the Selection tool highlighted. One of the first shortcuts that we teach people who come on our Illustrator training courses is that you can temporarily activate the Selection tool by just pressing the Control key (or Command for Mac users).
If you have just started using a program like Illustrator, it is to be expected that you will make mistakes: things may go a little wrong or even get completely screwed up. The main thing is develop the "Undo reflex". For example, if you move an object by accident, don't try to manually put it back where it was, just choose Undo from the Edit menu or use the keyboard shortcut Control-Z (Command-Z on a Macintosh). If you Undo too much, you can use the Redo command to take you forward again. (The keyboard shortcut for the Redo command is Control-Shift-Z.)
If your effort to create a drawing has gone horribly wrong, the best thing to do is to bite the bullet and choose Revert from the File menu. This is a way of saying "OK, this isn't working. I give up!" The Revert command discards all of the changes you have made to the document since it was last saved and can be another useful way of avoiding unnecessary frustration.
About the Author:
Author is a developer and trainer with TrainingCompany.Com, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Illustrator training courses at their central London training centre.
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