Adobe Illustrator Intermediate (2023): Workflow and Interface

Name: Adobe Illustrator Intermediate (2023): Workflow and Interface
Author: Stephen Steinbach

Explore the project settings and file management in Adobe Illustrator 2023

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Stephen Steinbach and in these lessons we're going to look at file structure, file management and layer management in Adobe Illustrator 2023. So to begin, I want to show you a common error that you might get if you don't have good file structure. So here I'm just going to open up a file here and when I open it, I'm going to get an error that says, could not find the link file with the name of the file here. The reason why this happened is because I moved this file to a different computer, but I did not take the entire file structure, I just copied the AI file. So any of the linked files that are associated to this AI file is no longer working. The link is broken. Often too, you might go to another computer and the font that you actually used originally is not installed on that computer. So you'll get additional error messages. So a good file structure might look something like this here. So I have the name of the project, project one, project two, et cetera. And inside here, you'll have different folders that you'll create. And the first one would be the AI files itself. And here you can see I have project one and then I number them 001, 002, 003, et cetera. And you want to put the zeros out front for better organization. Here you also have your exports. So if you have a file that you want to export, you can see here that these are different formats. These could be JPEGs, PNGs, targets, et cetera. Coming back here, we actually have the font folder. So if you import a unique font, you might want to save it here as well. Any link graphics and most importantly here is the links folder. I have a couple of images here. So if I come back here to this folder, let me ignore this here, close this out. So if I have this and I want to associate that, if I go up here to file, place, then I'm going to come down and find that image. So I'm going to come to my folder here and look at Illustrator here and then to that links folder. And here I'm going to place it as a link right here and then I'm going to make this here. So this will work, but I got to make sure that if I save this, I need to save the entire folder structure. Now there's a couple other ways that you can embed this. You can do that right here under embed. You can also edit in Photoshop or come up to Windows, links, and you can see that there's a file here that's embedded here. And you can click on the options here and embed images as well as if you go to fonts.adobe.com and if you start to download some of these decorative fonts, you'll want to make sure that you save those in the font folder. So here if I place a second image here, place as a link, we can do that. So these are both linked here and I can embed it here by embed and you can see that that's no longer a link. The same thing here and embed images. So once you have all your files here, what you can do is go back to the original project, right click, and you're going to go to sin to compressed folder that will zip everything up under a project and you can copy that over to your client or to a different computer. In the next lesson, I'll show you a second option on packaging a Illustrator file. Thanks for watching.

Intermediate Provider : Stephen Steinbach 5 Lessons · 17m in English

Course Description

In this course on Adobe Illustrator Intermediate 2023, you will discover how to set up a project file structure in Illustrator. This includes how to package and export an Illustrator file to various formats. You will continue to organize and modify graphics using layers and clipping masks. By the end of this course, you will be able to set up, manage, and export a project folder to send off to a client. For graphic designers, learning how to organize folders for proper file management is an essential skill. In these lessons, you will learn how to package a file to avoid broken links or missing custom fonts. These skills also apply to exporting Illustrator graphics to various file formats, including JPG, SVG, and EPS. Another useful management skill for designers to utilize is the layers within your project. You will discover the difference between layers and sublayers, as well as how to duplicate shapes between layers. You will also understand how professional designers hide layers to compose their images, as well as how to import photos and images with the place tool. Finally, you will learn the importance of clipping masks to any graphic designer's workflow by customizing and modifying your own. This course will give you a professional outlook on file and layer management.

What You'll Learn

Organize project folders for proper file management in Illustrator
Package an Illustrator file to avoid broken links or missing custom fonts
Export Illustrator graphics to various formats, including JPG, SVG, and EPS
Navigate and move graphics in the layers panel, including layers and sublayers
Duplicate shapes between layers and hide layers to compose images
Create and modify clipping masks in the layers panel

Key Takeaways

For graphic designers, learning to organize folders for proper file management is an essential skill.
Packaging a file helps avoid broken links or missing custom fonts.
Illustrator graphics can be exported to various file formats, including JPG, SVG, and EPS.
Layer management covers the difference between layers and sublayers, duplicating shapes between layers, and hiding layers to compose images.
Clipping masks are an important part of a graphic designer's workflow and can be customized and modified.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

It is aimed at graphic designers who want a professional outlook on file and layer management in Adobe Illustrator, since organizing folders for proper file management is an essential skill for designers.

What does this course cover?

It covers setting up a project file structure in Illustrator, packaging and exporting files to various formats, organizing and modifying graphics using layers and clipping masks, importing photos and images with the place tool, and customizing clipping masks.

What skills will I gain?

You will be able to set up, manage, and export a project folder to send off to a client, package a file to avoid broken links or missing custom fonts, navigate the layers panel, duplicate and hide layers, and create clipping masks.

What file formats does the course teach you to export to?

It covers exporting Illustrator graphics to various file formats, including JPG, SVG, and EPS.

What topics are taught in the lessons?

The lessons cover Project File Setup, Packaging a File, Illustrator Formats: Exports, Layer Management for moving, hiding, and displaying shapes, and Layer Management with clipping masks.