TEN MINUTE TECH


With Brian Fuelleman/Fontgeek “LAYERS”


In this set of lessons we are going to learn about “Layers” in Illustrator, but the basics also apply to Photoshop and to Corel Draw too. Layers were first introduced to Illustrator in Version 8, and


while the good people at Adobe have added a few new bells and whistles to their capabilities, the basics have remained the same over the years and various versions. First you need to understand what layers are and aren’t and why they are a good thing to have and use. Think of Layers as sheets of glass you can draw or paint on. They can be shuffled in their order, you can make layers not visible, and or not printable, much like taking a sheet of glass out of a stack of sheets or plates of glass, but unlike real paintings and/or drawings on glass, you can make the artwork on any or all layers appear as lines or outlines rather than areas filled with color(s). You can make layers with sets of guides that you want to use repeatedly without having to go through the hassle of making a new set of guides on each individual layer. If you have a basic layout or design that you wish to use or


try in multiple variations, Illustrator lets you duplicate whole layers, flatten or merge layers, or even keep a basic layout on one layer while creating artwork on layers above or below that let you make use of that original piece of artwork with- out making or risking any changes to the original artwork. You can place an imported or placed image in one layer and use that image as a template for creating vector artwork. Unlike actual layers of glass you don’t get distortion or dif- fusion from the layers like you would from actual panes or sheets of glass. You aren’t stuck with literally tons of glass to deal with, no broken piece or razor sharp shards to cut up your hands. While layers offer the artist up to 99 layers to use in


each document, they don’t let you casually pass or send off a single layer to someone (such as a commercial printer for doing business cards, postcards, or other printed materials, though you can hide all but the layers you want to send off to someone, and Select ALL, then Copy, then make a new docu-


ment and Paste. This will leave all of your original artwork in- tact in the original document, and give you a new document that has all of the artwork that was viewable in your original piece, but not in Layers. To find your Layers menu or pallet, go to your Window


pull down menu at the top of your screen, and pull down the menu to where it says Layers or Show Layers, the menu that appears will show the existing layers in your document, you can add or delete layers; you can name them as you wish.


If your document is not going to have many layers you


may choose to let the program give the layers names by de- fault, however, if your project is going to be complicated you may want to name each layer yourself to avoid any confusion in the heat of a busy work schedule. The color box that shows up when you create a new layer


tells you what color Anchor Points and Handles will show up as while you are working in that layer, it doesn’t affect the actual artwork or how it will print. While this option may seem trivial it lets you choose a color that will be easy to see and work with while you are working with items or tools on that layer by choosing a layer color that contrasts with the color of the object you are working on. As an example if I am working on a shape that is dark blue, having Dark Blue as my Layer Color would make seeing the handles and anchor points very difficult to see against the object color, so choosing red for my layer color would make it easier to see and work with, and again, the Layer Color doesn’t effect the actual artwork or how it prints, it’s strictly there for your convenience. You can change the colors of the layer in the layer pallet at any time. I used layers in a recent project for a customer for a set of custom made tickets for a masquerade ball where they needed to have the tickets numbered. Because of the low number of tickets and the costs of getting the tickets com- mercially printed and numbered would have been too high I laid out a page of the back (full-color) sides of the tickets, and a basic black and white page of the front sides of the


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