Category: Article

Chapter 18. Defining Default Measuring Systems 4:09

  • Be sure to open each new AI file each new lesson
  • File → Document Setup or menu up in top area or right click on ruler
  • Settings locations
    • For all documents via preferences
    • Per document
  • The genesis point of the measuring system 0,0
    • Unsure how to relate/use the object location to this point

Chapter 17. Controlling What You See 4:48

  • AI’s default setup is for print, not web or digital
    • Print is CMYK
    • Most other things are RGB
  • WYSIWIG, is not. There are too many variables.
  • View outlines rocks
    • See the paths
    • Not the fill
  • Pixel Preview shows what an object will look like rasterized
    • So cool!
    • For online icons and application icons
  • Over Print Preview shows how the object will look on a printing press
  • Proof Setup is fun to play with to see how each works
  • Begin with the end in mind and choose a proof view for the destination
  • Fun to swatch Color panel change as you switch between Proofs

Emacs: The Infinite Program or The Ultimate Interview

An Emacs’ configuration is an Emacs Lisp (Elisp) program. Whether you write it by hand or using the Easy Customization GUI it is still a program. Some of us write it once and never touch it for years. I’ve done that and it works well. Some of us make changes daily, even hourly. I’ve done that too and it works well. When non Emacsers hear stories about this never ending program they shudder in horror and I don’t blame them. Configuring a text editor for multiple years does sound horrible! What is really happening here though, are all Emacsers sadists?

No, not really. Instead they are creators, makers, writers, and weavers of that which can be easily represented as plain text. They are programmers, too. Of course, that is the easy one! Unfortunately, that is the one that instantly kills any conversation (in some contexts). What people miss out on though is that its not just programmers who use Emacs. So do composers. So do publishers. So do finite element analysts. So do pen testers. So do screenwriters. So do hardware designers. Every Emacs configuration is an opportunity to learn something about something totally new to you! What comes to mind here is where Emacs configurations might play a role in interviews.

One of the stories going around is that during job interviews you should be able to cite an open source project so your interviewers can review it. Great idea. Does it ever really happen? (I’m looking for your feedback here). My Emacs’ configuration is a labor of love. It contains perfection, neglect, and horror. It is all a trade-off. Every single line means something to me and I’d love to share with anyone interested why I did what I did there. It is fun to share because you always learn something new. Every single time you learn something new when you mutually share.

This is my story why Emacs’s is an infinite program that would reveal more during a job interview than any personality profiling test out there.

Chapter 16. Object Control With Grids And Guides 10:59

  • Option-Drag an object to create a copy
  • Grid
    • Configure line separation in pixels
    • Can snap to them
  • Guides
    • Use Rulers
    • Command R
    • Click-and-Drag from a ruler pulls out a guide
    • They are objects that you can delete
    • Shift-Options changes orientation of guide
    • Are guides for lining up symbols per keycap?
    • Can put them all in one layer
    • Can turn objects into guides
    • Strategy: Easily split objects using a guide
      • Drag down a guide
      • Position it
      • Turn the guide into a line via Release Guide
      • Keep the object selected
      • Object → Path → Divide Objects Below
      • Creates two new objects
      • Easily cut via any guide anywhere
    • Guides are more than aligning
      • Cutting
      • Maneuvering
      • Angling
  • Right click just about anything to find out what you can do with it
    • Sometimes stuff in lecture isn’t there in current AI

Chapter 15. Using View And Navigation Features 7:46

  • Had been watching every video twice just be sure. Switched to once otherwise this will take forever
  • Mastering AI is about making navigation muscle memory
  • Access tools via their single-key shortcuts
  • Option modifies the tool actions in an expected way
  • Double-clicking using the cursor will reset to the default state of the document
  • Additionally learn the shortcuts for menu-bar items
    • Zoom in and out Control plus and minus
  • Navigator panel rocks!
    • Helpful for navigating a keyboard template!
    • Box color is configurable
    • Art-boards are introduced in context of the panel
  • Getting where you want to go quickly and automatically is a big deal

Chapter 12. Working Toward Printing 4:42

  • Create documents with their intended destination
  • When your destination is a printing-press if you want graphics printed up to the edge of the final size of the paper you need to consider that printing presses can’t press up to the edge so you print to a larger sheet of paper that is cut down to the desired size. The bleed is the addition to the page size that will be cut down from.