1 00:00:00.05 --> 00:00:02.08 - In this movie, I'll show you how to reorganize 2 00:00:02.08 --> 00:00:04.09 Illustrator's network of panels, 3 00:00:04.09 --> 00:00:07.08 so that you can get to the program's most important options 4 00:00:07.08 --> 00:00:09.03 anytime you like. 5 00:00:09.03 --> 00:00:11.03 And I'll also show you how to save the result 6 00:00:11.03 --> 00:00:13.09 as what's known as a workspace. 7 00:00:13.09 --> 00:00:16.04 Now as you're probably aware, Illustrator is 8 00:00:16.04 --> 00:00:18.09 one of the most complicated programs out there. 9 00:00:18.09 --> 00:00:21.06 And it contains thousands of options, 10 00:00:21.06 --> 00:00:24.00 some of which are absolutely essential, 11 00:00:24.00 --> 00:00:26.02 that are found in panels. 12 00:00:26.02 --> 00:00:29.07 And these panels are indicated by these icons 13 00:00:29.07 --> 00:00:32.02 in this vertical strip over here on the right hand 14 00:00:32.02 --> 00:00:33.05 side of the screen. 15 00:00:33.05 --> 00:00:35.03 And it's a little deceiving, I think, 16 00:00:35.03 --> 00:00:37.05 the way we currently have things set up 17 00:00:37.05 --> 00:00:41.03 because these icons end up looking very similar to the tools 18 00:00:41.03 --> 00:00:44.07 over here on the left hand side of the screen. 19 00:00:44.07 --> 00:00:47.04 But they actually work nothing like them. 20 00:00:47.04 --> 00:00:50.03 So for example, if I click on this first icon 21 00:00:50.03 --> 00:00:52.04 in the top right corner of the screen, 22 00:00:52.04 --> 00:00:55.00 I bring up a panel of Color Options 23 00:00:55.00 --> 00:00:57.04 that will allow me to select a color 24 00:00:57.04 --> 00:01:00.02 just by click on this colorful rail. 25 00:01:00.02 --> 00:01:02.03 Problem is, even though these panels 26 00:01:02.03 --> 00:01:04.07 are really, really necessary, 27 00:01:04.07 --> 00:01:06.09 the way they're set up now you can only see 28 00:01:06.09 --> 00:01:08.04 one panel at a time. 29 00:01:08.04 --> 00:01:10.03 So if I click on this icon, 30 00:01:10.03 --> 00:01:12.06 which represents the Layers panel, 31 00:01:12.06 --> 00:01:14.03 then I'll bring up the Layers panel 32 00:01:14.03 --> 00:01:16.02 and I'll hide the Color panel. 33 00:01:16.02 --> 00:01:19.00 And by the way, your panel may be much shorter, 34 00:01:19.00 --> 00:01:21.07 and if it is, you can always make it taller 35 00:01:21.07 --> 00:01:26.00 by dragging on the top or bottom edge of the panel 36 00:01:26.00 --> 00:01:28.02 as you see me doing here. 37 00:01:28.02 --> 00:01:30.03 So for my part, what I like to do 38 00:01:30.03 --> 00:01:32.09 is see the contents of more of these panels 39 00:01:32.09 --> 00:01:34.06 on the right hand side of the screen, 40 00:01:34.06 --> 00:01:37.06 and I also like to bring up a few more panels. 41 00:01:37.06 --> 00:01:39.09 Because if you go up to the Window menu, 42 00:01:39.09 --> 00:01:42.02 you'll see a long list of panels, 43 00:01:42.02 --> 00:01:44.07 many of which are essential to getting work done 44 00:01:44.07 --> 00:01:46.06 inside this program. 45 00:01:46.06 --> 00:01:49.08 And so what I'm asking you to do, is trust me on this one, 46 00:01:49.08 --> 00:01:52.09 and set up your panels the same way I've done 47 00:01:52.09 --> 00:01:56.04 based on essentially half a lifetime of experience 48 00:01:56.04 --> 00:01:58.06 working inside Illustrator. 49 00:01:58.06 --> 00:02:00.04 And in the end, we're going to come up 50 00:02:00.04 --> 00:02:02.05 with this organization here. 51 00:02:02.05 --> 00:02:04.09 So we'll have a column of expanded panels 52 00:02:04.09 --> 00:02:06.08 on the right hand side of the screen, 53 00:02:06.08 --> 00:02:09.09 as well as a column of icons. 54 00:02:09.09 --> 00:02:11.07 Alright so here's how it works. 55 00:02:11.07 --> 00:02:14.06 I want you to start by going up to this Workspace menu 56 00:02:14.06 --> 00:02:16.05 in the top right corner of the screen, 57 00:02:16.05 --> 00:02:18.08 and choosing Essentials Classic, 58 00:02:18.08 --> 00:02:20.08 which is a good place to start. 59 00:02:20.08 --> 00:02:22.07 And then just to make sure that you and I 60 00:02:22.07 --> 00:02:26.00 start from the same place, click that option again 61 00:02:26.00 --> 00:02:29.00 and choose Reset Essentials Classic 62 00:02:29.00 --> 00:02:31.04 and that will restore the factory defaults 63 00:02:31.04 --> 00:02:34.07 including this super huge Properties panel. 64 00:02:34.07 --> 00:02:37.06 Now I ultimately respect the Properties panel, 65 00:02:37.06 --> 00:02:40.01 and when the black arrow tool is active, 66 00:02:40.01 --> 00:02:41.08 as it is right now, 67 00:02:41.08 --> 00:02:43.07 the panel offers access to options 68 00:02:43.07 --> 00:02:46.04 that are otherwise strewn all over the program. 69 00:02:46.04 --> 00:02:48.07 But when any other tool is active, 70 00:02:48.07 --> 00:02:50.08 then this panel is no more helpful 71 00:02:50.08 --> 00:02:55.01 than it's much smaller cousin, the unobtrusive Control panel 72 00:02:55.01 --> 00:02:57.02 up here at the top of the screen. 73 00:02:57.02 --> 00:02:59.07 And so I'm going to hide the Properties panel 74 00:02:59.07 --> 00:03:03.02 by right clicking on its tab and choosing close. 75 00:03:03.02 --> 00:03:07.00 Not close tab group this time around, just close. 76 00:03:07.00 --> 00:03:08.01 And don't worry, 77 00:03:08.01 --> 00:03:10.09 you can always bring back the Properties panel later 78 00:03:10.09 --> 00:03:12.08 by going to the Window menu 79 00:03:12.08 --> 00:03:15.06 and choosing the Properties command. 80 00:03:15.06 --> 00:03:18.06 Now that leaves us with the Libraries panel. 81 00:03:18.06 --> 00:03:21.02 I want you to grab that Libraries tab 82 00:03:21.02 --> 00:03:24.01 and drag it and drop it onto the bottom 83 00:03:24.01 --> 00:03:26.03 of this little icon group here 84 00:03:26.03 --> 00:03:29.08 below these two pages that represent the Artboards panel 85 00:03:29.08 --> 00:03:31.08 that we saw on a previous chapter. 86 00:03:31.08 --> 00:03:34.06 So make sure you see the icons outlined in blue, 87 00:03:34.06 --> 00:03:36.06 at which point drop the panel 88 00:03:36.06 --> 00:03:38.04 and you'll see it represented 89 00:03:38.04 --> 00:03:40.09 by a little creative cloud logo. 90 00:03:40.09 --> 00:03:42.06 Now you can bring up more panels, 91 00:03:42.06 --> 00:03:44.06 by going up to the Window menu 92 00:03:44.06 --> 00:03:48.03 and choosing a command, starting with Actions. 93 00:03:48.03 --> 00:03:50.07 And so I'll go ahead and choose the Actions command 94 00:03:50.07 --> 00:03:54.06 so that you can see that we have a free-floating panel 95 00:03:54.06 --> 00:03:57.01 and we actually have two panels living next door 96 00:03:57.01 --> 00:04:00.01 to each other, Actions and Links. 97 00:04:00.01 --> 00:04:02.01 If you want to move these panels together, 98 00:04:02.01 --> 00:04:05.02 then just drag this horizontal bar above 'em. 99 00:04:05.02 --> 00:04:07.09 And so I'm just going to drag 'em off to the side here. 100 00:04:07.09 --> 00:04:09.01 That's not where I'm going to leave 'em, 101 00:04:09.01 --> 00:04:10.08 we'll come back to those later. 102 00:04:10.08 --> 00:04:14.02 Next I want you to expand this column of panels 103 00:04:14.02 --> 00:04:17.02 by clicking on this double arrow icon, 104 00:04:17.02 --> 00:04:19.05 near the top right corner of the screen. 105 00:04:19.05 --> 00:04:22.08 And that goes ahead and expands all of those panels 106 00:04:22.08 --> 00:04:25.05 so that we can see their contents. 107 00:04:25.05 --> 00:04:28.07 Now I want you to notice how big these tabs are, 108 00:04:28.07 --> 00:04:31.09 such as Color and Swatches and so forth. 109 00:04:31.09 --> 00:04:34.06 Adobe make them big for tablet users, 110 00:04:34.06 --> 00:04:37.08 specifically folks using Microsoft Surface Pros. 111 00:04:37.08 --> 00:04:40.06 But if you're working on a desktop computer as I am, 112 00:04:40.06 --> 00:04:42.00 or even a laptop, 113 00:04:42.00 --> 00:04:44.01 then you can save yourself a lot of space 114 00:04:44.01 --> 00:04:46.02 by making the tabs smaller. 115 00:04:46.02 --> 00:04:49.03 And you do that on a PC by going to the Edit menu, 116 00:04:49.03 --> 00:04:52.06 on a Mac, you go to the Illustrator CC menu, 117 00:04:52.06 --> 00:04:54.09 then you want to drop down to the Preferences command, 118 00:04:54.09 --> 00:04:57.04 which is not nearly so low on the menu on the Mac, 119 00:04:57.04 --> 00:05:00.03 and finally go ahead and choose User Interface 120 00:05:00.03 --> 00:05:01.07 from the sub-menu. 121 00:05:01.07 --> 00:05:04.01 And notice this check box right here. 122 00:05:04.01 --> 00:05:05.04 As soon as you turn it off, 123 00:05:05.04 --> 00:05:08.04 you will see your tabs shrink on screen. 124 00:05:08.04 --> 00:05:11.00 And so notice when I turn that checkbox off, 125 00:05:11.00 --> 00:05:12.09 our tabs get much smaller. 126 00:05:12.09 --> 00:05:14.00 Now if you don't like that, 127 00:05:14.00 --> 00:05:16.01 go ahead and turn the checkbox back on. 128 00:05:16.01 --> 00:05:19.04 But I'm going to leave it off, at which point I'll click OK. 129 00:05:19.04 --> 00:05:21.06 Alright now I'm going to expand the Color panel 130 00:05:21.06 --> 00:05:23.09 by clicking on its tab right there, 131 00:05:23.09 --> 00:05:26.06 and notice that makes the panel much larger, 132 00:05:26.06 --> 00:05:28.03 we'll take care of that in a moment. 133 00:05:28.03 --> 00:05:30.06 And now I want to move some panels around. 134 00:05:30.06 --> 00:05:32.03 Starting with Swatches. 135 00:05:32.03 --> 00:05:34.01 So I'll grab that Swatches tab, 136 00:05:34.01 --> 00:05:36.03 and I'll drag it and drop it into this group 137 00:05:36.03 --> 00:05:38.09 that includes Color and Color Guide. 138 00:05:38.09 --> 00:05:42.01 And then I'll click on the Color tab to switch back to it. 139 00:05:42.01 --> 00:05:44.08 Now I want to move the Brushes and Symbols panel 140 00:05:44.08 --> 00:05:48.01 in order to create a new column of icons. 141 00:05:48.01 --> 00:05:50.06 And you can move both panels at the same time 142 00:05:50.06 --> 00:05:52.06 by dragging in this empty area 143 00:05:52.06 --> 00:05:54.05 to the right of the world symbols. 144 00:05:54.05 --> 00:05:56.06 So I'll go ahead and drag that area. 145 00:05:56.06 --> 00:05:58.08 And then I'll drop it when I see this thick, 146 00:05:58.08 --> 00:06:00.04 vertical, blue line. 147 00:06:00.04 --> 00:06:04.07 At which point I end up with another column of panels. 148 00:06:04.07 --> 00:06:06.09 Now I want these panels to appear as icons, 149 00:06:06.09 --> 00:06:09.03 so I'll click on this double arrow icon 150 00:06:09.03 --> 00:06:11.04 to collapse the panels like so. 151 00:06:11.04 --> 00:06:13.05 You can always make this column wider, 152 00:06:13.05 --> 00:06:14.09 by the way if you want to, 153 00:06:14.09 --> 00:06:16.05 by dragging this left hand edge, 154 00:06:16.05 --> 00:06:19.08 at which point you can see the names of the panels. 155 00:06:19.08 --> 00:06:21.06 I don't really have room for that however, 156 00:06:21.06 --> 00:06:23.08 so I'm going to go ahead and drag that left edge 157 00:06:23.08 --> 00:06:25.04 back where it was. 158 00:06:25.04 --> 00:06:27.07 Alright now I'm going to take the Graphic Styles tab 159 00:06:27.07 --> 00:06:29.08 and I'm going to drag and drop it 160 00:06:29.08 --> 00:06:33.03 onto the bottom of this little icon group 161 00:06:33.03 --> 00:06:36.07 so that all three of these icons are grouped together. 162 00:06:36.07 --> 00:06:38.04 Alright now I'll click on the Layers tab 163 00:06:38.04 --> 00:06:40.00 in order to expand that panel, 164 00:06:40.00 --> 00:06:44.00 and I'll switch to the next tab over, Asset Export. 165 00:06:44.00 --> 00:06:45.06 The thing about this panel, 166 00:06:45.06 --> 00:06:49.09 even though it's very useful as we'll see in chapter 15, 167 00:06:49.09 --> 00:06:52.07 is that it takes up a ton of room, 168 00:06:52.07 --> 00:06:54.05 which is why I think it's better off 169 00:06:54.05 --> 00:06:56.08 expressed as a free-floating panel. 170 00:06:56.08 --> 00:06:58.09 So I'll go ahead and grab that tab 171 00:06:58.09 --> 00:07:01.08 and I'll drag it and drop it any old place 172 00:07:01.08 --> 00:07:03.02 inside the document window, 173 00:07:03.02 --> 00:07:06.07 and then I'll just go ahead and close that panel for now. 174 00:07:06.07 --> 00:07:09.04 Bearing in mind, of course, that we can always bring it back 175 00:07:09.04 --> 00:07:11.02 by returning to the Window menu, 176 00:07:11.02 --> 00:07:14.03 and in this case choosing Asset Export. 177 00:07:14.03 --> 00:07:16.06 Alright I'm going to go ahead and press the Escape key 178 00:07:16.06 --> 00:07:18.01 in order to hide that menu. 179 00:07:18.01 --> 00:07:20.03 And now I'll grab this Appearance tab, 180 00:07:20.03 --> 00:07:22.09 and I'll drag it and drop it into this group 181 00:07:22.09 --> 00:07:25.00 that includes the Libraries panel. 182 00:07:25.00 --> 00:07:29.00 And then I'll go ahead and drag the tab to the left, 183 00:07:29.00 --> 00:07:33.00 like so, so that it's right next to the Layers tab. 184 00:07:33.00 --> 00:07:37.02 So we now have Layers, Appearance, Artboards and Libraries. 185 00:07:37.02 --> 00:07:39.08 All of which are exceedingly useful panels 186 00:07:39.08 --> 00:07:41.06 inside Illustrator. 187 00:07:41.06 --> 00:07:44.02 Alright I'll go ahead and switch back to the Layers tab. 188 00:07:44.02 --> 00:07:46.05 And now we need to bring up some more panels. 189 00:07:46.05 --> 00:07:48.08 And I'm going to start by going to the Window menu 190 00:07:48.08 --> 00:07:50.08 and choosing the Align command, 191 00:07:50.08 --> 00:07:52.09 which brings up these three panels right here. 192 00:07:52.09 --> 00:07:55.02 And then I'll drag the horizontal bar 193 00:07:55.02 --> 00:07:59.06 and drop it in order to create a new icon group. 194 00:07:59.06 --> 00:08:01.06 And now I'll return to the menu, 195 00:08:01.06 --> 00:08:05.01 and then I'll go all the way down here to the bottom, 196 00:08:05.01 --> 00:08:07.00 and you may have to scroll through the menu 197 00:08:07.00 --> 00:08:08.05 as I'm doing as well. 198 00:08:08.05 --> 00:08:12.01 And then choose Type followed by Character 199 00:08:12.01 --> 00:08:15.04 to bring out the Character, Paragraph and Open Type panels. 200 00:08:15.04 --> 00:08:17.09 And I'll go ahead and drag that horizontal bar 201 00:08:17.09 --> 00:08:20.06 and drop it into this spot right here. 202 00:08:20.06 --> 00:08:22.03 Now I'll return to the Window menu, 203 00:08:22.03 --> 00:08:25.07 choose Type once again, followed by Character Styles. 204 00:08:25.07 --> 00:08:28.03 And I'll go ahead and grab both of these panels 205 00:08:28.03 --> 00:08:30.00 and drop them into place. 206 00:08:30.00 --> 00:08:32.06 And then I'll return to the Window menu, 207 00:08:32.06 --> 00:08:35.02 and this time I'm going to choose the Info command. 208 00:08:35.02 --> 00:08:38.02 Which brings up two totally unrelated panels 209 00:08:38.02 --> 00:08:41.05 inside Illustrator, Navigator and Info. 210 00:08:41.05 --> 00:08:44.01 I'm going to grab the Info tab by itself, 211 00:08:44.01 --> 00:08:47.00 and start a new icon group right here. 212 00:08:47.00 --> 00:08:49.01 And then I'll return to the Window menu 213 00:08:49.01 --> 00:08:51.04 for believe it or not, the last time, 214 00:08:51.04 --> 00:08:54.03 and I'll go ahead and I'll choose Document Info 215 00:08:54.03 --> 00:08:56.07 in order to bring up these two panels, 216 00:08:56.07 --> 00:08:58.07 Document Info and Attributes. 217 00:08:58.07 --> 00:09:00.09 And I'll drag this horizontal bar 218 00:09:00.09 --> 00:09:03.04 and drop them into that same icon group 219 00:09:03.04 --> 00:09:05.07 that includes the Info panel. 220 00:09:05.07 --> 00:09:08.01 Now I'll grab the Navigator tab, 221 00:09:08.01 --> 00:09:11.05 and I'll just go ahead and drop it into its own icon group 222 00:09:11.05 --> 00:09:13.06 because it's a pretty special panel. 223 00:09:13.06 --> 00:09:15.04 It's not really like any of the others. 224 00:09:15.04 --> 00:09:18.07 And then I'll go ahead and grab the horizontal bar 225 00:09:18.07 --> 00:09:21.05 associated with the Actions and Links panel 226 00:09:21.05 --> 00:09:23.06 and I'll drag them and drop them 227 00:09:23.06 --> 00:09:26.05 in order to create a new group as well. 228 00:09:26.05 --> 00:09:29.02 Alright so that takes care of the organizational steps 229 00:09:29.02 --> 00:09:30.08 where the panels are concerned. 230 00:09:30.08 --> 00:09:31.07 In the next movie, 231 00:09:31.07 --> 00:09:33.09 I'll show you how to save off your panels 232 00:09:33.09 --> 00:09:35.08 as a custom workspace.