David Karlins - Adobe Illustrator CC For Dummies

Web designers may ask you for SVG files, which retain Illustrator editing capability (see Chapter 18). More likely, web designers will ask you for web-compatible PNG or JPG files. I explore export options for those formats in Chapter 17.

Print designers may be able to work with your Illustrator files. Or they might require TIF or other print-only raster images. In those instances, get the specs for the exported files from your print partner.

You export files by choosing File ⇒ Export ⇒ Export for Screens or File ⇒ Export ⇒ Export for As (for print). Options vary depending on the output format. And, again, I’ll repeat a mantra that runs through this chapter and any discussion of output in this book: Ask the person to whom you are handing off the file what options he or she prefers.

When you save or export Illustrator documents with multiple artboards, you can choose to export or save any set of artboards.

For example, if you're exporting a document to PNG output for screens, the Artboards tab (shown in Figure 2-12) allows you to define which artboards to export.

FIGURE 2-12:Exporting selected artboards.

Today, print shops can turn Illustrator artwork into anything, from a poster to a coffee mug, a t-shirt to a message printed on glass. Each project has its own requirements, and the trick is to communicate effectively with your printer from the beginning.

I asked Lydia Ochavo from UpPrinting.com, a widely used online print service, to share advice applicable to just about any print project in Illustrator. Here are some of her tips. Refer to the beginning of this chapter for notes on how to define documents to meet these specs:

Print shops provide templates for frequently used output. Download and use them before you begin your project. UpPrinting has templates at www.uprinting.com/print-templates .

Although Illustrator vector files are scalable, it’s safest to submit files to the printer sized to the actual output size.

Most printers require a 1/8" bleed around your artwork. Make sure that all printable content is inside the bleed.

Set raster resolution to at least 300 dpi.

Use CMYK color mode because professional print shops print only in CMYK.

Many print shops prefer PDF format to Illustrator AI files.

When you need an exact color match and your printer supports the use of Pantone color, use Pantone colors. Pantone colors are available from Swatch panels in Illustrator. You can use a Pantone color book to preview how a color will print. Those color books are available from your printer.

Chapter 3

IN THIS CHAPTER

Managing artwork from other Illustrator files or outside Illustrator

Integrating artwork from Adobe Draw

Tracing sketches, photos, and other raster art

Cropping graphics with Illustrator

Not everything that ends up in an Illustrator project begins life as an Illustrator object. The genesis of an Illustrator project might start with a raster image, such as a photo. Or an Illustrator project might start with a hastily sketched drawing on an Android or iOS mobile device using Adobe Draw.

Sometimes you'll bring objects into Illustrator as rasters and convert them to vector graphics. Other times you'll bring objects into Illustrator as rasters and they will stay in the project as rasters. Illustrator vector-based graphics are often hybrids, a mix of raster and vector objects.

In this chapter, I explain how to bring all kinds of files into an Illustrator file and describe the essential choices you have when integrating those files into an Illustrator project.

In Illustrator, place refers to bringing files into an existing document. Placed files can be embedded in a document or linked from an external source and included in an Illustrator document.

When files are linked, changes to the original file are reflected in the Illustrator document. When files are embedded in an Illustrator document, the umbilical cord, so to speak, is cut, and changes made to the original file are not reflected in the Illustrator document.

To embed or link a file in an open Illustrator document, follow these steps:

1 Choose File ⇒ Place, navigate to the file in the dialog that opens, and click the file, as shown in Figure 3-1.By default, the Link option is selected. If you know you want to embed the file, not link it, deselect the Link option. If you’re not sure, leave Link selected (because it’s easier to change a linked object to an embedded one than vice versa). FIGURE 3-1:Selecting an object to place.

2 Select or deselect Link.

3 To place the object in your document full size, simply click with the icon that appears. Or click and drag to size the placed object, as shown in Figure 3-2.

When a linked file is selected, it appears with a big X on the Illustrator canvas. The file can be transformed, moved, or sized like any object, but as long as it is linked, it can’t be edited.

FIGURE 3-2:Locating and sizing a placed object.

You manage the status of linked files in the Links panel. A number of options for managing the status of a linked file are available, but the most important and widely applicable is updating the connection when a linked file has been changed so that the latest version of the file appears in your Illustrator document.

When a linked file has been updated outside Illustrator (for example, when a photo is touched up in Photoshop, or replaced with a different photo using the same filename), a warning icon appears next to the file in the Links panel. To update the placed content, click the Update Link icon in the Links panel (to refresh the link), as shown in Figure 3-3.

FIGURE 3-3:Updating a placed object.

If you placed a file as a linked file but decide you want to edit it in your Illustrator document, you can easily convert the file from linked to embedded.

After you break a link and embed a placed file, any changes to the original file will not be reflected in the Illustrator document.

To change a placed object from linked to embedded, select it and choose Embed from the Links panel menu, as shown in Figure 3-4.