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Chapter 2. Discovering Illustrator CS5

In This Chapter

• Knowing when to use Illustrator

• Opening and creating documents

• Looking around the Document window

• Checking out the tools and panels

• Changing your view

• Zooming in and out

A dobe Illustrator goes hand in hand with other Adobe products but serves its own, unique purpose. Although Illustrator can create multiple-page artwork (with artboards), it isn't meant to create lengthy documents with repeated headers, footers, and page numbers. Those types of files are more appropriate for applications such as InDesign. Typically, you wouldn't create artwork from Illustrator that's made from pixels, such as images edited or created in Photoshop. Illustrator is generally used to create vector logos, illustrations, maps, packages, labels, signage, Web art, and more. (See the nearby "Vector graphics" sidebar for more information.)

This chapter gets you started with Illustrator and helps you understand when Illustrator is the tool best suited for creating your art.

Deciding When to Use Illustrator CS5

How do you draw a line in the sand and decide to create graphics in Illustrator rather than in Photoshop? By using Illustrator, you gain these benefits:

• Illustrator can save and export graphics into most file formats. By choosing to save or export, you can create a file that can be used in most other applications. For instance, Illustrator files can be saved as .bmp, .jpg, .pdf, .svg, .tiff, and even .swf (Flash) files, to name a few.

  Vector graphics

  Vector graphics ...