Illustrator Help adapting from Flash 8 to Illustrator

[Tristen Shaw]

Hey guys,

I've dabbled in flash for quite a while now, and I've always used Macromedia Flash Pro 8.

Just the other day I decided to give Adobe Illustrator a try and, while I love many of the tools and features it offers, I'm also finding it very hard to adapt to some of the other changes.

For instance, in Flash 8 I could easily manipulate a shape or line by clicking and dragging the edge to curve it, or holding alt and dragging to pull out a point.

This allowed me to quickly take a square and fill a space. But in Illustrator it seems to be a bit more complicated than that.

I currently can't figure out how to do what I described above in Illustrator, so I started to try and trace my sketch with the pen tool, but now I cant figure out how to continue a line that I ended on, if that makes sense. I can't really figure out how to word what I mean.

If you guys had any tips or advice I'd love to hear it.

Thanks guys!

 

[Tristen Shaw]

I was looking at a tutorial to help me and I find myself more frustrated than before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPfk-zwk1g

The way he uses the pen tool and the handles so smoothly to pull his lines right around where he wants them. He makes it look like it's easy.

I tried to do what he does and I end up with lines looping back on themselves, lop sided loops and all other manner of shapes.

I love the idea of the great things Illustrator offers but I'm just so frustrated trying to figure out how to do even basic things that were so easy in Flash. . .

 

[dv8_fx]

I don't use flash or illustrator much ....

During my learning phase with other vector applications, I encountered the same problems you have with the anchor points and tools - turning them inside out and in every direction. I couldn't figure out where to click them "just right" in order to "bend" them into place. Nowadays, it's like second nature to me. Same could be said of the tute presenter.....

Patience... you'll get the hang of it. Just keep at it. At eureka moments, you'll find yourself saying.."Oh.. that's all there was to it".

 

[ALB68]

I know your pain. I had used Corel Draw for years and years. I avoided Ai and had no interest in it,thinking what can I do with it that Corel couldn't. Being a avid Photoshop user, I signed up for the Creative Cloud. All of a sudden, I have access to all this great software, so I decided I would just download AI and make an attempt at using it. Turns out, it was just that, an attempt. Nothing worked like Corel, I was lost. So I signed up for this online course. It was so very helpful and by the time I finished it, I was getting pretty proficient with it. During this time, my laser cutting business got involved with a fund raising project that ended up making around 500 custom monogram pieces. Had it not been for Ai and the tools available there, I am pretty sure I would not have been able to keep up with the demand.

So, my point is, don't give up on it and find a good course like I did. Plus there are 1000's of articles, YouTube videos, Adobe TV videos etc for it. I have yet to not be able to answer a question about it using these resources. I will not elaborate on some of the things it does, nor some of the things it doesn't do, but bottom line is, it's great to have it. It interfaces flawlessly with Photoshop too.

 

[Tristen Shaw]

Thank you guys for the support!

It helps me a bit to know that people that are so good at what they do had the same problems that I'm having. At least I know I'm not just incompetent lol.

If you know of a site that is currently offering an Illustrator course I'd be very happy to check it out. Cheap being the order of the day. I don't have much money at the moment, which is why I'm using the trial of Illustrator lol.

But thanks again and I hope others might have tips and ideas as well.

 

[dv8_fx]

Rather than spend on an Illustrator Online course, why not get a book - the latest in the Adobe Illustrator Bible or Illustrator Classroom in a Book series? Or it doesn't have to be the latest since you are just starting and have to know the basics first. Even if you get a CS4 or even 5 Book (which for sure is sold cheap nowadays), you get to tackle the basics. Regardless what CS version book chosen, you can refer back to it at any time you wish.

Once you've gotten acquainted with basic knowledge, it's your choice whether to continue with a more comprehensive paid course. There might even be a chance you don't have to coz you've developed yourself to a point where you would need to know advanced tips and tricks which free video tutorials can offer. By then, it's even easier to understand what the tutorial presenters are talking about.

just me thinking.......

 

[ALB68]

Tristen,
I don't want to sound like I am promoting this site, as I have no interest in it other than having used it and know it to be very good. It works this way- for $25.00 you buy a month to month membership that you can cancel anytime you want to. On this site, there are multiple courses on all kinds of software. Ai is found under the Graphic Design heading. You can easily finish Ai in a few days. You then have access to EVERY course on there. You can take as many as you want in whatever time frame you want. If you want to cancel after the first month you can, otherwise they will debit your card for it. I intended to cancel, but I found the other courses so helpful I have done Ai plus 3 more Photoshops. You can also buy the course on CD for $99.95 but for that same $100.00 you can get 4 months of access to anything you want.
The link is http://www.infiniteskills.com/

Thank you guys for the support!

It helps me a bit to know that people that are so good at what they do had the same problems that I'm having. At least I know I'm not just incompetent lol.

If you know of a site that is currently offering an Illustrator course I'd be very happy to check it out. Cheap being the order of the day. I don't have much money at the moment, which is why I'm using the trial of Illustrator lol.

But thanks again and I hope others might have tips and ideas as well.

 

[Tristen Shaw]

Thanks guys!

I'll certainly look into those books, but one of the reasons I'm interested in an actually taught course is that I find I do best that way.

I've been looking up videos on youtube and such and they haven't helped me as much as I had hoped. A lot of the things I have trouble with are things they don't really tackle in the videos.

I don't know if it's all just in my head, but I find I work better when I'm actually working with someone that is teaching me personally, being given an assignment of some kind and having it looked at, getting feedback on how and what to improve etc etc, but I've found that it's hard to find someone that is willing to take that kind of time and interest without paying for a course.

But I will look into those books you mentioned.

And I appreciate the link to the site, I'll check it out!