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[Illustrator] - Can someone explain the rectangle?
Ok, ok...don't laugh. I am trying out Illustrator for 30 days...never used it before. I am sure this will seem silly, but I have to know...
When you start something new and the rectangle appears on the screen before you do anything...is that the actual size of an adult sized shirt? Is that the area I have to work with? I put the rulers on there, but those are confusing me more. I just need to know what area I am working with. I would hate to design something that is actually only 4" x 4". LOL
If I am wrong, can someone please explain how I figure the size of the design? Thanks.
The document opened is actually the default page size which is 8.5" x 11". If you wanna change the size to a T-shirt size of yours, first you would have to determine what dimension of T-shirt will be, let's say if you want it to be 12" x 12" instead, simply go to the menu under File and select New, a box will appear, and from there you type in the dimension of the document let's say 12"W and 12"H and click OK, then your actual document size will change to the size that you want.
Hope this help!
Best,
Zieben
Paranormal Tees
Last edited by zfigure7; September 14th, 2007 at 12:16 AM.
The rectangle is called the artboard. When you print the file, it's your printable area: everything outside of it won't print (which allows you to have colour chips, repeated elements, etc. sitting outside the artboard).
The artboard will be whatever size you specified when you started a new file.
What is the standard size/ dimintions of a design for an adult size shirt? Can I set the artboard to that size? Reason I am asking is because I have no idea what the size of the design will be just doing it on there...but if I know it measures 11" x 8" (or any other size) then I have a good idea of how big or little it is. Does that makes sense?
You can change the art board to what ever size you want. OK, I have a press that is 15 x 15 inches. So of course I will stay withing those boundary's. So most of my stuff is 12 x 10 art board size. Now if i was doing a sign with my vinyl cutter I may do an art board that is 20 x 48 inches. Then I send it to my sign software for cutting. I use Illustrator a lot.
I am in the same boat as you trying to figure out Illustrator. I have had a lot of success with published books aimed at teaching Illustrator. And being a cheapskate I was able to find about ten at the local library (or you can purchase them for $50 each). Me and my wife have been gradually going through them and learning as we go. These books were a lifesaver for the basics.
From there I have used the numerous tutorials on the web for the different effects that I am interested in creating. Half the time I have no clue what the tutuorial is referencing - but with the books as a reference I get it figured out and have been able to use what I learned.
The book will tell you what the tools do while the tuturials will show you how to use them. I am by no means a "graphic artist" but I have been able to wow myself with some being able to reproduce the logo of some of the clients we will market to with ease.
is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. From this definition, it follows that a rectangle has two pairs of parallel sides; that is, a rectangle is a parallelogram. A square is a special kind of rectangle where all four sides have equal length; that is, a square is both a rectangle and a rhombus. A rectangle that is not a square is colloquially known as an oblong.
Normally, of the two opposite pairs of sides in a rectangle, the length of the longer side is called the length of the rectangle, and the length of the shorter side is called the width. (Exception: For rectangular steel sheets, the rolling direction is called length, even if it is the shorter side.)
The area of a rectangle is the product of its length and its width; in symbols, A = lw. For example, the area of a rectangle with a length of 5 and a width of 4 would be 20, because .
In a rectangle the diagonals cross each others at their respective midpoints, under the same argument as for parallelograms. And unlike general parallelograms the two diagonals of a rectangle have the same length, the length of the diagonal can be found using the Pythagorean theorem.
In calculus, the Riemann integral can be thought of as a limit of sums of the areas of arbitrarily thin rectangles.
It looks like your rectangle/artboard question has been answered, but if you're interested in some great Illy tutorials check out this site. Illustrator | BittBox I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago, and I have learned a lot. Bittbox has a great way of explaining things concisely without leaving important steps out.
Also, I was recently talking to a graphics guy at a screen printer, and he swears by CorelDraw over Illy. He says its more "intuitive" and just works great for T-shirt design. I think if you go to the Corel homepage you can get a free 15 day trial if you want to compare the two. I haven't tried it yet myself, but I will when I get the chance.
WOW! Now my brain hurts!!! I will be sure to look into the library and that site Bob-O mentioned. I am so new at this, I don't even know how to change the size of the art board. Thanks everyone.
When considering art board size in Illustrator, it really wont matter if you design something 4x4 or 12x12, since Illustrator is a vector based program. The program works on a mathematical equation to increase or decrease images, so there is no loss of detail. For example when you zoom in or enlarge an image in a vector image, the borders of your design do not lose detail, where as when you zoom in on a JPEG, you eventually get a blurry image. So if you designed a 4x4 image, and later decided you wanted to increase it to 12x12, you could do so without losing any resolution. In Illustrator, you can actually increase it 6400 times...
Vector uses math, Raster uses pixels...or something like that...
To learn more about Adobe products, Total Training offers a good variety of DVDs. I usually play them on my computer and run the program I am learning at the same time. This allows me to watch the video and complete the steps the instructor is teaching all at the same time. If they go too fast, I just rewind a bit and do it all over again. The DVDs are pricey, but worth the time is saved me from searching for free tuts online.
Let me ring in on Total Training CDs. I have not used for Illustrator, but did use them for Photoshop CS2 and what a great product...easy to use, understand and can always review. Pricey yes...but what is your time worth and where else can you get such training to use and use over and over
When considering art board size in Illustrator, it really wont matter if you design something 4x4 or 12x12, since Illustrator is a vector based program. The program works on a mathematical equation to increase or decrease images, so there is no loss of detail. For example when you zoom in or enlarge an image in a vector image, the borders of your design do not lose detail, where as when you zoom in on a JPEG, you eventually get a blurry image. So if you designed a 4x4 image, and later decided you wanted to increase it to 12x12, you could do so without losing any resolution. In Illustrator, you can actually increase it 6400 times...
Thanks...I did know this about the images in illust. What I am wondering is, how do I know the size of the artboard? If I bring my design to the edges, is that 12x12 or what? If that doesn't matter, then if I send it to be made into a custom transfer do I just tell them the size I want it? If I am printing it myself, I definately need to know what the actual size will be when printed. Seems like there is a simple answer, but I can't find it.
I am not sure what version of Illustrator you are using, and if its on a Mac or PC. On my PC with CS2, you would go to File, then to New. At this point, you should see a small box titled "New Document" with a few different options to include name as well as "Artboard Setup" underneath the document name. Underneath that, you will see Size, Units, Width, Height, and Orientation options.
This is where you can setup your custom artboard size. I choose the following set up:
Size: Custom
Units: inches
Width: width of transfer
Height: height of transfer
Orientation: portrait
You can also choose color modes of CMYK and RGB at this point as well.
Once you get through this part, you will see the blank artboard waiting for your creation. The artboard is highlighted with a black box (the rectangle). You CAN go outside of this box, but nothing outside the box will be printed when you print. I usually keep all my extra stuff on the edge of my artboard and drag it onto the artboard when I need it, instead of hiding things in the layers palette.
If you want to check your artboard size in a document that is already open, go to file, then to document setup. You will see a menu very similar to the one mentioned above. You can change it as needed.
I hope this helps. Remember this is for a PC with version CS2.
Can someone explain the rectangle? 
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Re: Can someone explain the rectangle? 
Re: Can someone explain the rectangle? 
