So why don’t more people use Illustrator?įor one, it’s not cheap. Furthermore, it can easily re-arrange/re-align graphics and create beautiful vector schematics, with far more flexibility than hard-coded options or PowerPoint. Using Illustrator to set things like font size, marker color, and line weighting is often far more intuitive and time-efficient than trying to do so programmatically. Want more Adobe Illustrator how-tos? We have tool guides, tips and tricks, and tutorials to help you get acquainted with this powerful design application.As has been covered somewhat extensively (see here, here, and here ), we are a lab that really appreciates the flexibility and ease with which one can use Illustrator to compile and annotate hard-coded graphical data elements to create figures.
Check out this primer on the Shapes tool for using these techniques on multi-angled shapes and paths. Use Live Corners to make an outline that undulates uniformly instead of haphazardly. Use it also to create patterns with uniform and interlocking edges, or compound shapes for iconography. Using these techniques you can build more elaborate shapes to use in your designs. A menu pops out and you can click each field representing the four corners of the shape to choose the shape you desire. You can access these options by clicking on Shapes in the control menu. Tired of round? There are two other preset shapes in this handy tool: Chamfer (diagonal angles) and Inverted Round (think border on a certificate or picture frame mat). Or, you can click to select the corner, then use the Corner Radius field in the Control bar at the top to enter a value, as in the above section. Instead of dragging the corner, thus uniformly adjusting the curve on all corners, click once on the corner you want to change, then click-drag to your preference. With the shape selected, hit A on the keyboard for the Direct Selection too (white arrow). This is a very handy option for custom shapes in flat designs and illustrations. Sometimes you want to round off only certain corners, or you want different radii for different corners. Simply enter a value or use the arrow keys on the keyboard to increase or decrease the radii by 1/10″ increments (.1 inches).
In addition, you can select the shape, hit A on the keyboard to activate the Direct Select tool (the white arrow), and then change the numerical values of the Corner Radius in the Corners sections of the Control bar. Use this to eyeball how your shape will look when you’re done. When you do this, you’ll see a blue preview outline. While it’s still selected, click and drag one of the corner handles (the blue dots inside the corners of the shape). To round the corners of a shape all at once, start by creating your shape. In this easy guide, I’ll show you how the use Live Corners to quickly make rounded shapes. Once you get familiar with it, it becomes one of those go-to techniques you wonder how designers lived without for so long. then repeat for the rest of the corners. Not real fun stuff.Ī few years ago, Adobe gave us a quiet gift called Live Corners. Likewise, you could have used the pen tool to add anchor points and draw a curve, then work on it for an hour, tweaking and blinking at it. Take control of your curved edges to make custom shapes with perfectly smooth corners.īack in ye olde days, if you wanted a shape with round corners, you would choose the rounded-corner box and just accept it as-was. Use this easy guide to get familiar with the Live Corners tool in Adobe Illustrator.