Adobe Illustrator Tutorials - lesson 3

Lesson 3 - More Importing and Exporting

Once we have created Illustrator artwork, we can export it to a variety of other programs. Here are some of the possibilities.

1. Export as EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) -- this is a common format, supported by virtually all desktop publishing programs such as PageMaker, QuarkXPress, etc. In both of these programs, EPS files cannot be edited per se, but can only be resized and/or repositioned. EPS files only print correctly to a PostScript output device.
2. Save in earlier Illustrator format(s). Some programs, such as CorelDraw 3 and 4, can only load earlier versions of the Illustrator file format. So, Adobe provides the ability to save Illustrator files in earlier formats. Caution: earlier formats lose the advanced features that were introduced in later releases (see Section 1.3 for details).
3. Save as Illustrator or EPS and Open the file in Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop can "rasterize" an Illustrator file, converting it to a full-color bitmap. This can be handy for a number of reasons. Use your imagination!
4. Hold the Alt key as you Copy to the Clipboard. This embeds PostScript code into the Clipboard file, which you can then paste into a wide variety of applications that don't normally accept Illustrator files. (PostScript is not the native format of the Windows (or Macintosh) Clipboard and, as such, is not universally supported by word processors, databases and other programs that don't "officially" support the placing of EPS files. However, this trick often works. By the way, this trick also works with FreeHand.
5. Illustrator can also Print to a PostScript file. This is the recommended method for sending a file to a service bureau, as it will automatically have all the required fonts and graphics embedded, and will print without "font substitution" problems.
6. Illustrator can save files as PDF (Portable Document Format). You may find that printing the file to disk as a PostScript file, and then opening this file in Distiller is the best solution in Illustrator 5.5, as attempting to save a PDF file directly from Illustrator 5.5 sometimes fails. Illustrator 6.0 or newer does not seem to have this problem, although objects are sometimes relocated from their expected locations in imported PDFs. These files are readable by any of the Adobe Acrobat family of products, which include a free Acrobat Reader for Mac, Windows, DOS, and Unix-based computers. A free plug-in (included with and installed by Acrobat Reader) also allows the popular Netscape Navigator web browser to view PDF files over the Internet or on local drives. In other words, almost anybody can open and see your Illustrator graphic exactly as it was created -- complete with the actual fonts and resolution-independent PostScript graphics -- if you save it as a PDF and give them a free Acrobat Reader application.

Exercise 1

Try saving your Illustrator artwork in all of these formats

1. Export as EPS (encapsulated PostScript)
2. Save in earlier Illustrator format(s).
3. Save as Illustrator or EPS and Open the file in Adobe Photoshop.
4. Alt-Copy to the Clipboard.
5. Print to a PostScript file. This is the recommended method for sending a file to a service bureau, as it will automatically have all the required fonts and graphics embedded, and will print without "font substitution" problems. Try opening this file in Distiller, too.
6. PDF (Portable Document Format).

Another way to export data from Illustrator is related to #4, above, but exploits a special feature that Adobe built into Illustrator, Photoshop and Dimensions. Copying an Illustrator graphic to the Clipboard, switching to Photoshop and then Pasting the contents into your Photoshop page brings up a dialog with two intriguing choices:

• Paste as paths
• Paste as pixels

The first option pastes Illustrator's Bezier outlines directly into Photoshop's equivalent "paths," where they may be edited in a similar way and, eventually turned into a so-called Clipping path or a selection. Naturally, a full description of these Photoshop functions is outside the scope of this course, but briefly, here's how and why you might want to do this:

Exercise 2 - Saving a Photo with a Clipping Path

In Photoshop, scanned images are usually rectangular. It is, however, possible to save a "Clipping Path" around an object so that, for example, an image of a basketball is saved in a file with a circular path. In other words, when the picture of the basketball is placed into a DTP program like QuarkXPress, the text wraps around the shape of the basketball, not the rectangle of its background.

In Photoshop, this feature is called a Clipping Path; in Illustrator, the equivalent feature is called Making a Mask. Frankly, I like the Photoshop terminology better, but here's how it works in Illustrator.

1. In Photoshop or other photo-editing program, scan or create a bitmapped image.
2. Save the image as an EPS file (for compatibility with all versions of Illustrator), or JPEG, TIFF or Photoshop bitmap format (compatible only with Illustrator 6.0 or newer).
3. In Illustrator, place the bitmapped image. (File:Place...)
   
4. Draw an outline around the shape (as an alternative to drawing, see Lesson 4; exercise 1, below).
5. Make sure the outline ("the mask") is in front of the object that is to appear inside it. (It should be, but select the outline with the solid arrow tool and choose “Bring to Front” from the Arrange menu if you are not sure). Note that the keyboard shortcut for this command is Control =.
   
6. Object:Mask:Make
7. The object's background should disappear, as the mask becomes a "window frame" that hides everything outside the frame's perimeter.
8. That's it! Save, print, export as EPS, etc.

Exercise 3a - More Mask Making

Let's say you have to design a party invitation that features large polka dots (it’s a polka party). You can also use the mask function to clip the dots into the outline of the rectangle that defines the shape of your page, or even mask the dots into the words themselves. It's exactly like steps 4 - 7 above. Here's what we do:

1. draw a bunch of polka-dots or whatever pattern(s) your fashion sense fancies. TIP: Alt-drag an object to make a copy of it.
2. Draw an outline that will define your mask, say, a rectangle. For reasons we'll see in a moment, assign a fill and/or stroke color. (Control-i)
3. As before, make sure the rectangle’s outline ("the mask") is in front of the patterns that are to appear "on" the shirt. (If you draw the rectangle after drawing the patterns, it should automatically be on top.)
4. Object:Mask:Make
   
5. The rectangle should "clip" everything lying outside its perimeter, so that the pattern now appears only inside its perimeter. Notice how the rectangle's fill and stroke disappeared? For reasons known only to the designers of the program, Illustrator hides its "Fill and Stroke for Mask" command in a completely different menu. You'll find it under Filters: Create...
6. In order to set the "Fill and Stroke for Mask", you have to choose the fill and/or stroke and then choose the "Fill and Stroke for Mask" command. The rectangle should display the attributes you selected.

Exercise 3b

1. Let’s try a slightly more complex mask. Try making a design using any of the tools in the toolbox.
   
2. Select it and Alt-drag it several times to make several copies. Here, the star (created with one of the Plug-in Tools in Illustrator 6) has been rotated and resized, too.
   
3. Now, draw an outline of a t-shirt that partially overlaps your shapes
   
4. Make the T-shirt mask your objects as shown below.
   
   
5. As a final touch, set a fill and stroke in the Paint Styles palette (Control-i) and use the Filter Menu’s Create:Fill and Stroke for Make command, to set the fill and stroke.