Week 5

Illustrator

Add Arrowheads – To add arrowheads to a path, select the path (or multiple paths) and go to Effect>Stylize>Add Arrowheads (make sure you’re choosing from Illustrator Effects). The size of the arrowhead is defined as a scale factor of the stroke weight.

Convert Anchor Point Tool – To make a straight line curved you have to convert its anchor points from corner points to curve or ‘smooth’ points. Beneath the pen tool in the main toolbar is the Convert Anchor Point Tool. When it’s selected your curser will become two-line arrow an open back. To convert anchor points, click on them and drag to the side. The line segments on either side will curve and the point will grow whiskers with which you can control the curvature of the line. To grab hold of the whiskers and edit the shape further use the direct select tool.

Compound Paths – These are useful for combining multiple paths to create a complicated clipping mask (for instance, the outline of the United States) or to make a hole inside a closed path with fill (i.e. a donut). Begin by drawing all the paths you want to include in the compound path. Select them all, and go to Object>Compound Path>Make. The paths will be converted to a single compound path in the Layers panel, and donut holes will be punched out from the interior of closed and filled paths. You can still select and modify the individual paths using the direct select tool, and you can always explode a compound path into its constituent paths by selecting it and going to Object>Compound Path>Release.

Appearance Panel – The Appearance Panel shows all of the attributes of an object, group, or layer that control how that object, group, or layer appears. Appearances applied to a group or layer will be applied to all objects within it. For instance, applying arrowheads with an entire layer selected will give arrowheads to all paths in that layer, but the arrowhead effect will belong to the layer, not the paths themselves. Any path added to that layer will automatically get an arrowhead. As such, it is very important to be aware of which objects, groups, or layers are selected when you apply an effect or otherwise edit appearances.

Besides allowing you to keep track of which appearances are applied to which objects, groups, or layers, it also allows you to edit these appearances. If you apply an effect (such as arrowheads) to a path you can edit this effect (i.e. change the style of the arrowhead) by selecting the path and double clicking on the effect in the appearance panel. You can also add multiple strokes or fills and reorder how strokes, fills, and effects are displayed.

Create Graphic Style – The eyedropper tool will only copy stoke and fill attributes, not effects. If you’ve added other effects (such as arrowheads) or changed other aspects of an object’s appearance and want to copy that appearance to other objects you need to create a graphic style. Select the object whose style you want to copy. Open the Graphic Styles Panel (Window>Graphic Styles) and click in the new style button at the bottom. A new icon will pop up with a preview of your style. To apply that style to another object (or many objects at once) select it (or them) and click on the desired style in the panel. WARNING: Graphic styles include line weight, so you should not apply a consistent graphic style to proportional or graduated lines.

Expand & Expand Appearance – Even lines have area. Typically this area is defined by stroke weight, but it can sometimes be useful to define a path around the perimeter of this stroke, converting a line to an area. To do this, select the desired path and go to Object>Expand. You have the option of expanding fill or stroke. I suggest choosing both. Your fill and stroke will be converted to separate objects and what used to be the stroke will be defined by a new closed and filled path.

If your object has effects or an otherwise complex appearance you may need to Expand Appearance (Object>Expand Appearance) before you can expand. This will separate arrowheads, drop shadows, and other add-ons from the paths they were once affiliated with.

Week 3

Week 2: GIS to AI workflow

ArcGIS architecture

ArcMap
ArcCatalog
ArcToolbox

Basic table management

• to change order of features in table: sort by attribute (rt-click feature>open attribute table> rt-click field name>sort)
• to select features displayed in table: select by attribute (select>select by attribute – choose feature layer and type SQL query, then rt-click feature>export)
• to add field: rt-click feature>open attribute table>options>add field
• to calculate length of features: add field (float)>calculate length: rt-click field>calculate geometry

Generalization: vector

• to remove boundaries when attributes are the same: ArcToolbox>dissolve, where dissolve field = attribute in common (if you want to dissolve all boundaries than leave blank) and statistics field = attributes to be aggregated by statistical operation (example area of sub-units)

Generalization: raster

• to select subset of attributes for a new layer: ArcToolbox>extract by attribute
• to generalize attributes (combine two attributes into a more general category): ArcToolbox>reclassify

Basic terrain representation: raster

• to make hillshade: ArcToolbox>hillshade

Basic terrain representation: vector

• to make elevation profiles: create 3d shape (3d analst toolbar>convert features to 3d)>create elevation profile (select feature> click elevation profile on 3d analyst) >export>data>svg
• to show fewer contours, because contours might be too much info, both to compute and see: find min/max (open attribute table>rt-click ‘elevation’ field>statistics), and select a coarser interval: select by attribute, SQL query, export

AI Tools

type on a path – Write text along a curved path. First, draw a path with the pen tool. While the path is selected, click on the Type tool and then click on the path. To flip the text direction and change other options select the text object and go to Type > Type on a Path > Type on a Path Options.

Type on a Path in Adobe Help

character styles panel – Character styles are templates for text styles, which include font, font size, character spacing, and other options. The character styles panel (Window > Type > Character Styles) stores a list of all character styles used in a document. To create a character style, edit a text object so it is a model for your new style. While the text object is selected, click on the new style button (the little square with a corner folded up) at the bottom of the character styles panel. A new style will appear in the list. To apply a character style to a text object, select the object (you can select a whole layer of text objects at once) and click on the character style you want to apply. If you edit a style (double click on it to open the character style options dialogue) all text objects with that style will automatically update.

Character Styles in Adobe Help

symbols panel – Symbols are a path or collection of paths defined as a single graphic object. If a symbol definition is updated, all instances of that symbol in your document are automatically updated. The Symbols panel stores all the symbols you have defined in a given document. To create a new symbol select one or more paths and drag them into the Symbols panel. You can name the symbol anything you like, but make sure to set the registration to centered (select the dot in the center of the matrix). To place an instance of a symbol just drag that symbol out of the panel onto the page. To edit a symbol definition, double click on any instance of that symbol on the page (or in the Symbols panel). The symbol will be displayed isolated from other page objects. Make your edits and click the back arrow in the upper left corner to exit isolation mode. All instances of that symbol will be updated to reflect your edits.

Symbols in Adobe Help

AI Procedures

replace symbols script – Replaces ‘dumb’ point symbols exported from ArcGIS with ‘smart’ Illustrator symbols. Make sure all your ‘dumb’ symbols are in the same layer and are not in a group with a clipping mask. Select that layer and Insert a ‘smart’ symbol anywhere on the page – it should now be the top object in the layer. Select the entire layer. Run the script at File > Scripts > findAndReplaceGraphic_Centered_v2. Depending on how many symbols need to be replaced it may take up to a few minutes for the script to run. All ‘dumb’ symbols in that layer should now be converted to ‘smart’ symbols, and the extra ‘smart’ symbol you added will have been deleted

This script, which is an add-on to Illustrator, can be downloaded at http://kelsocartography.com/blog/?p=325.

ungroup by dragging and dropping – Useful for ungrouping paths exported from ArgGIS and moving them out from under the automatically generated clipping mask. Select all paths in an ArcGIS export ‘clipping group’ (do not select the clipping mask) and drag them above the group in the layer hierarchy. They will remain in the sublayer, but are no longer grouped. To delete the group (and the clipping mask it contains) drag it to the trash bin at the bottom of the Layers panel. Now all the paths, which have similar symbology, can be selected and edited together.

Week 1: Intro to Adobe Illustrator

Objects and attributes

path – A line made up of one or more segments. A path can be closed (e.g. a square), or open, with distinct endpoints (e.g. a wavy line)
fill – A path’s interior color or pattern. Change color at the bottom of the main toolbar.
stroke – The color and width of a path’s boundary. Change color at the bottom of the main toolbar. Change width in the stroke panel (Window à Stroke).
anchor point, vertex, node – All these are synonymous, the points that make up a path. Handles define  the curvature of a curved path.

Organization

layers / sublayers – Objects should be stored in a logical hierarchy of layers and sublayers. Available in the Layers panel (Window > Layers).
group – Group objects together so you can edit (select, move, scale, change colors, etc) them like a single object. (Object > Group; Object > Ungroup)

Data Formats

raster graphic– A rectilinear grid of cells, each with a defined color, constituting an image surface. Common raster formats are JPEG and TIFF. JPEGs are lossy, meaning that they take up less space on disk but image quality is compromised. TIFFs are lossless and have high image quality, but have large file sizes.
vector graphic – A graphic consisting of points, lines, and areas defined in coordinate space. Paths in Illustrator are vector graphics. Illustrator is primarily a vector graphics software.
dpi – Dots per inch. The standard unit for reporting pixel resolution. All raster graphics are saved with a certain resolution. 300dpi is the standard for printed graphics, while text should always be rasterized at 600dpi. 72dpi is the standard resolution of a computer screen, although some screens are 96dpi.
anti-alias – Aliasing is a rough, stair-stepped boundary between two areas of a raster graphic. Anti-aliasing blurs this boundary, making it look straighter to the human eye. But anti-aliasing can confuse automated raster-vector conversion, such as Live Trace.

AI Tools

selection tool – Select an entire object or group to move or scale it as one. At the top of the main toolbar.
direct selection tool – Select and edit part of an object (e.g. select one object within a group, or move one vertex of a path independently of others). At the top of the main toolbar.
select more than one object – Hold the shift key while selecting objects.
pen tool – Draw straight and curved polylines. Click and hold to curve the line. On the main toolbar.
delete – Drag objects in the layers panel to the trash bin in the lower-right, or just select them and press delete on your keyboard.
eyedropper tool – Copies styles, such stroke color, fill color, and stroke weight from one object to another. On the main toolbar.
type tool – Define areas for text. On the main toolbar.
character panel – Edit text characteristics, such as font, character spacing, and line spacing. (Window > Type > Character)
paragraph panel – Edit paragraph characterizes, such as justification and indentation. (Window > Type > Paragraph)
scale tool – Change the size of objects. Select object(s), click on the scale tool (on the main toolbar). Click and drag to make the objects larger or smaller around their center point. Change the center point by clicking once in a given place. To scale to a certain percentage, double click on the scale tool.
rotate tool – Rotate objects. Select object(s), click on the rotate tool (on the main toolbar). Click and drag to rotate around the center point. Change the center point by clicking once in a given place. To rotate to a certain angle, double click on the rotate tool.
smart guides – Snaps paths and vertices to one another, but can get in they way if you don’t want snapping. Turn on and off in the View menu (View > Smartguides).
artboard – The work area in an Illustrator file. It should be set to your final page size, although it can always be changed (use the Artboard Tool on the main toolbar). A single file can have more than one artboard, but this gets confusing, so it’s best to avoid unless you have a good reason.
pathfinder panel – Use to perform overlay functions that add or subtract path areas from one anther. (Window > Pathfinder)
rectangle tool – Draw a rectangle. Hold the shift key while drawing to constrain to a square. On the main toolbar.
align panel – Align objects and set their spacing. (Window > Align)

Procedures

paste in front / back – Paste the contents of the clipboard (what you’ve previously cut or copied) in its original location.
simplify – Remove vertices from a path to simplify its shape (Object > Path > Simplify).
join paths – Join the endpoints of two paths (Object > Path > Join).
clipping mask – Restrict the viewable portion of an object or set of objects. Good for neatlines. To make a clipping mask, draw or copy your desired neatline above the objects you want it to clip. Select all objects. Select Make (Object > Clipping Mask > Make). The top-most selected object will become a clipping mask and will, by default, have no stroke or fill.
export – Save your graphic in a format other than .ai (the Adobe Illustrator format) or PDF. Useful for exporting as a raster graphic. (File > Export)
live trace – Converts a raster graphic to vector paths based on myriad settings. Select the image you want to trace. Notice the Live Trace button on the top toolbar. Click on the down-arrow to its right and select either a preset option or Tracing Options at the bottom. Explore the settings before clicking Trace (the Preview feature can be handy, but might take a while to refresh a complex image). Once you have traced the object, be sure to click the Expand button on the top toolbar to create paths.
select same visual attribute – Selects objects based on visual attribute criteria. Useful for organizing objects based on legacy symbology. (Select>Same>attribute category).