Introduction

This documentation is a brief introduction into the use of graphic styles for Illustrator ® (Illustrator styles, Illustrator effects etc). The manual shows how to install styles, how to use them, how to modify them and more. The styles mentioned in this document are all by graphicxtras.com but they could easily refer to your own styles or the styles that come with Illustrator ®

Illustrator ® is by Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Andrew graphicxtras.com

STYLES

Installation of graphic styles

PC Please place the graphic styles files (*.ai) in c:\program files\adobe\adobe illustrator CS4\presets\graphic stylesor the equivalent in 10 CS1 CS2 or CS3

** Also, the location is only a suggestion. You can browse for the files as well via other library com-mand

MAC OS X HD:applications:adobe illustrator CS4:presets:graphic stylesor the equivalent in 10 CS1 CS2 CS3

Install for CS4 (Alternative location)

PC: Please place the Illustrator styles files in your user folder [user] \ appData \roaming \ Adobe \ Adobe Illustrator CS4 settings \ en_US \ graphic styles changing the en_US to en_GB etc as required and the [user] to your username. You will then see the styles files appear in the preset browser dropdown for the styles panel.

MAC Please place the Illustrator styles files in the <user>: library : ApplicationSupport : Adobe : Adobe Illustrator CS4 : en_US : graphic styles folder. Again, depends on the username (Andrew, Maggie, Steve or whatever your current username is) and the en_US depends on the language so it could be en_GB etc en_JP etc

fig. Install folder for CS2 (graphic styles)found in the presets section

Gradients

If a gradients files has been included (generally indicated by the word gradient in the name of the file), these files should be placed in the presets gradients folder.

The gradients or styles can be accessed from any folder so this is only a hint to the location, it is not a concrete must place folder location, it just makes it easier to access the files via the styles or gradients menu dropdown.

Additional install notes

** Please note : the folder is styles and not graphic styles with version 10. The styles work slightly different in 10 as well (especially combined with the live effects)

** Please note: Not all the styles work in all versions. Scribble / sketch styles will not work in 10 as the live effect was only introduced with CS.

** Another note: Some styles sets are for CS4+ as they contain the new elliptical / aspect gradi-ents and transparency settings and they were only introduced with CS4. CS3 etc might be able to open the files but you won’t see any of the new features

** Permissions note: On Vista and OS X, you might need to enter your admin username and password to install the files in the program area. This is normal if you are using a basic account

fig. scribbled text style

Accessing graphic styles

Access the styles via the graphic styles palette, open the styles library using the right arrow

You can then add them to the current document styles palette by clicking the style in the library palette (otherwise they won't be saved with the document). If you select a path and then apply, the same thing will happen, the style will be saved to the document styles palette

The styles shown in the palette don’t always reflect the end result when applied to a path.

If you open a styles file, it will not contain anything - this is normal. You can only see the styles via the styles palette

1) Open existing or new document2) Select path3) window menu4) Graphic styles5) Styles palette appears or disappears (if it was already visible)6) Go to the right of the styles palette7) Select the styles file from the list (if in the presets folder) or browse via the other library option8) Select a style from the styles library (the style will now be added to the document's styles palette)9) Modify style as required

fig. Styles palette for the document and a styles library. The menu for the styles is on the right of the palette

Company address

Telephone UK 01622 688 375

Any questions, please let me know on the graphicxtras support account. http://www.graphicxtras.comsupport@graphicxtras.com

Additional items

A number of sets of plug-ins for 10 and CS1 and CS2 CS3 (also CS4 shortly) are available on the graphicxtras.com site. Also brushes for Illustrator 8 / 9.0.2 / 10 / CS1 / CS2 / CS3 / CS4 as well as swatches and also symbols

Other plug-ins

Plug-ins for Photoshop (that also work in Illustrator 10 and CS and CS2 CS3...) and other additions such as custom shapes and brushes. Some of these can be re-imported and used in Illustrator (such as the custom shapes as paths)

Serial number and backup

Please store any serial numbers for reference or future updates or just replacement copies etc., also please make a few backups of the styles, even if you have them on a graphicxtras styles CD.. always best to be safe

Support

If you have any questions about the styles, please let me know

Trademarks

Illustrator and Photoshop are registered trademark of Adobe. We have no connection whatsoever with them. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated. Mac and Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows, MS, Windows Logo, Microsoft, Windows XP are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and or in other countries.

Copyright

All the styles and gradients are copyright Andrew Buckle 2004-2009 (depending on the styles set). They are royalty-free and can be used in many different commercial projects / hobby projects (please see the license and / or valid use file )

De-install the graphic styles

Please remove the AI files from the preset libraries folders. Once removed the styles will no longer appear in the styles drop down list. You can always, as mentioned, access the styles via the browse / open other library command.

Styles format

The styles were, unless indicated, (or they are worded such as a scribble or 3D style), saved in Illustrator 10 format for use in 10 and CS and CS2 and CS3 CS4

Styles specific for CS4 will not work in CS3 etc as they contain gradient transparency informa-tion and aspect / elliptical information

Some features of the styles are only available to later versions of Illustrator ® such as the scrib-ble is CS upwards. I have yet to notice any reverse direction issues with the styles where a style 10 will not work in CS2 say.

Merging styles

Styles can be merged, perhaps not always successful as this depends on the style

1) Create a path

2) window > style

3) Apply a style

4) Hold down shift or ctrl (depending on indi-vidual styles to select or a row etc)

5) Multiple styles should now be selected

6) Styles palette menu

7) Merge

8) Enter a new name for the style

The result depends on the fills, effects etc as some settings might just create a blank black style or a total mismash of designs and colors. Does require some trial and experimentation (and perhaps some understanding of the color settings and combinations and blending modes). It can result in some truly stunning styles though

fig. A single style applied

fig. Another style applied

fig. Combined stylesvia the merge commandSome work better than others.

fig. Merge command via the styles palette

Document mode / CMYK / RGB

Some of the styles will not work well in CMYK without some modification. In particular, gradient styles that use the differ-ence blending mode (these will appear as black or a single color). If the set is marked as CMYK then this should not be an issue. This does not affect all the styles, only some.

1) Open a CMYK document2) Open a RGB styles set via the graphic styles palette3) Select a path4) Select a 'black' style5) Go to the window > appearance palette6) Select the blending mode - likely to be difference7) Go to the transparency palette (via window > transparency)8) Change to a different blending mode such as 'multiply' or 'overlay'

OR

8) Select the gradient in the appearance palette (one of them)9) Go to the gradient palette (via window)10) Select a stop11) Go to the color palette 12) Change the K setting to something other than 100%

The same for the patterns, the difference blending mode is the issue.

fig. Graphic styles palette in CMYK mode showing black stylesThe style is there but as they were for RGB, the K setting at 100%is causing an issue with the difference etc blending modes

Styles or graphic styles?

The name of the file type was changed with CS, it now seems to be graphic styles and not styles... I guess to avoid confusion with Photoshop styles??

With the latest version, it is definitely Graphic Styles.

fig. The graphic styles menu via thewindows menu

Styles use

To use, please load via the styles libraries or graphic styles menu. Apply the styles to paths and text. Some path types may or may not accept a style or may apply the style in its own particular way (such as compound paths).

fig. A basic linear graphic style combinationof multiple gradients.

fig. The same style but without the style after the creation of a new path. The style is not ‘copied’ overto the new path, you have to re-applythe style

fig. Here is a compound paththat rejects the idea of the same style opposite. Samecan happen for some text

Document size issues

To minimize size issues on closing/saving files with styles and swatches, please remember to use the delete all used styles and swatches feature, please consult the manual for this.

Paths

To use the styles with paths, just select a shape, text etc and apply as native graphic styles. The styles are generally contain only the fill and not the stroke (though this depends on the style and set). If there is no stroke associ-ated with the style, you will have to add a stroke manually (or vica versa). Additional settings can be added via the appearances palette To apply a gradient, just select a path and click a gradient swatch, then use the gradient tool to further manipulate the gradi-ents (a useful set of plug-ins to manipulate further the gradients, changing colors, light-ness, slant, angle, matrix properties etc. please check out the pack 3 'gradient plug-in' set from Abneil software ltd)

fig. a selection of gradientstyles

Apply to text

1) Select some text

2) Go to the styles palette

3) Select style

You may wish to expand the text and ungroup etc the text and apply different patterns or gradient styles to each. Again, you can manipulate the style via the appearance palette and add additional effects such as blurs or punk / bloat

texttexttext

Appearance palette

Styles can be a starting point, so you can always take a style and re-modify the appearance settings. The appearance palette controls the style once it is attached to a path. The style can then be saved as a new style and stored in a new styles libraries file. The appearance palette is a useful utility. Additional fills and strokes and effects can be added, the fills and styles can be placed above the existing fill. Blending modes such as lighten and opacity / transparency can be added to the fills and stokes.

The appearance palette can also be useful simply to remove the previous style: reduce to basic appearance or clear appearance. You can also just delete the entries

fig. The style applied to a path

fig. The same style displayed in the appearance palette. To edit, click onthe fill or strokes etc. You can also duplicate entries or delete or changethe opacity. Clicking on the gradientallows you to edit that particular gradient (stops etc)

Add effects

Or add another filter/effect or another fill or a fill/effect and stroke effect and even merge a number of styles to create a new style.

Please remember to save the styles as required. Some live effects work better than others.

There are many combinations of settings that 'should' work but by the nature of the live effects / appearance, nothing appears to happen.

fig. The source graphic style

fig. The same style but with a liveeffect of a gaussian blur applied

Blending modes

Styles can be overlapped by addi-tional paths with the same style or a different style, the blending mode can be changed to difference / exclu-sion etc or the opacity changed. This doesn't change the individual elements of the style in the appear-ance, though the blending mode is added to the overall (you can also tweak the individual element blend-ing modes) The paths / styles can also be overlapped with a single change to the style. Simple transformations can be applied such as a rotate by 90 degrees (useful for buttons etc)

Or change the opacity

fig. Transparency settings: blending mode and opacity

fig. Original source style

fig. Opacity changedfig. Blending mode set to difference, style path layered above a basic bluepath

Applying / Modifying gradient styles

1) Window > graphic styles2) Go to the graphic styles palette3) Go to the right of the styles palette4) Select styles file from 'open' graphic styles5) Once opened, the styles will appear in their own graphic styles library6) Select path7) Select style (style will now appear in the document's graphic styles palette)8) Go to the appearance palette9) Select gradient parts of the style10) Select the gradient tool to further manipulate the gradient

With CS4, additional options are available to the gradient tool such as aspect, easy changing of the gradient and gradient stops. The gradient can be lengthened, the aspect changed, the angle as well as the type of gradient. Depending on the complexity of the style such as having more than one gradient, many different color effects can be cre-ated by changing the gradient and the combinations of the gradients included in the style. Also by changing the opacity of the gradients and the blending mode of the gradi-ents, additional color effects can be created. The changes can also be stored as a new style via the graphic styles menu

fig. Original style

fig. Basic change to a single gradient totally changes the style

Masks

The styles can also be used as a mask via the transparency dialog

1) Transparency menu2) Make opacity mask3) Select mask section4) Apply path containing graphic style or apply style to mask path

fig. Original path

fig. Style used in the opacity mask

fig. Path with opacity mask applied

Scaling of styles

Some of the styles can be modified (scaled etc) via the transform command. This can be effective or not depending on the elements included with the style. The scaling will not work with gradients etc but are useful with patterns.

Scribbles / sketch graphic styles - rescaling of styles

If the set includes scribble styles, the initial size of the document is a factor (whether it be 1000 x 1000 etc), you may need to re-scale and modify the scribbles for your size of document. What works well at 1000 x 1000 does not look as good with a small path in a 4000 x 4000 or a large path in a 100 x 100 document. Apply the style and then modify the setting via appearance panel. Also note, the scribble style only came in with later versions of Illustrator and will not work with version 10 etc.

1) Open document

2) Select a path

3) Go to the window menu

4) Graphic styles option

5) Go to the graphic styles palette

6) Select the scribbles library from the right menu

7) Select a scribble style

8) Apply

9) Go to the window > appearance palette

10) Double click the scibble entries

11) Modify the settings as required (in particular the stroke width and spacing)

To ‘save’ the path appearance, you might like to use the object > expand appearance command(combined with expand fill / stroke)

fig. Original style

fig. Scribble style re-scaled viathe appearance palette

fig. Scribble style changedvia appearance palette

Transformations and styles

Styles can create interesting 3D effects . Use the live effects trans-formations such as scaling and rotation to create many different designs. The transformations can be added to the graphic styles supplied and can be manipulated further via the appearance palette

fig. scale and rotate transforms applied

Frames

A style can be used as a frame (via a pathfinder intersect). Another approach. Apply a graphic style such as a gradient style to a path and then use the path offset command to create a new frame to the existing path. The frame will have a variant of the graphic style. The live effect version of the path offset doesn’t result in any difference in the style appearance. Combinations of paths and differ-ent graphic styles as well as different shapes of paths can create unique and interesting frame designs

1) Select a path2) object > path > offset3) Select both path and offset4) Pathfinder palette 'minus front'5) Go to the graphic styles palette6) Apply style to selected path

fig. Basic frame using a basic gradient style

Symbols and graphic styles

The styles cannot be used (easily) with a brush, but a good alternative is via the sym-bols palette. Add the styled path to the symbol palette and then use various symbols tools or the native symbol sprayer tool to create a scatter brush design

fig. Original path with style

fig. Symbol sprayer usedto spread the word aboutgraphic styles

Photoshop ®

Styles can be exported to Photoshop ®, simply apply to a path etc and then copy to Photoshop

Printing issues

Please consult the manual/your printers if printing styles as they can be complex for printing, an issue you should discuss with the printers, perhaps! They are the same as the styles/gradients that come with Illustrator but no guarantee can be given to their effectiveness for each and every task!

To re-size a pattern

The pattern was created using a particular size of path and document, this might not match your requirement so you will have to re-size (or rotate, if you wish) the pattern

1) Go to the appearance palette

2) Select a pattern entry by clicking the fill (if it includes a pattern)

3) Object > transform > rotate / scale etc

4) Set the option to only the pattern and not to scale or rotate the object

5) Set the size or angle etc

If you wish you can also select a different swatch from the pattern dropdown in the appearance palette

fig. Original pattern

fig. Style rotated viathe transform rotatecommand (remember tode-select the object)

fig. Transform scale applied to 20% (de-selecting object but not the pattern)

Modify styles

Modify styles via the appearance palette

1) Select path with style2) window > appearance3) go to the appearance palette4) Select individual parts of the style or duplicate or delete entries

You can also save this via the styles palette, new style. If you are in an existing document and not a ‘style’ file, then you might like to use the save command found on the right of the styles palette (I have issues with this in the past, so you might like to check the end result by re-opening the saved styles file as a styles library) before you exit or delete the style from the document’s styles palette

fig. Original style

fig. blue fill changed to red filland style is slightly changed, though not radically

Save modification to styles

The best way to edit the styles is to edit the source styles document. It is a basic AI file. Make a backup of the styles file first

1) Open styles document2) Go to window > graphic styles3) Create a path (anything)4) Apply style to path5) Window > appearance6) Change settings as required via appearance palette7) Go to the styles palette8) New graphic style (you can keep or delete the original style)9) file > save

Corrections

Please contact me if you find any mistakes in the documentation. The notes generally refer to the latest version (CS4) but most of the steps could easily be applied to earlier versions.

There are many ways to approach styles and perhaps some of those men-tioned are not correct or the best approach.

You might also find Illustrator WOW! book of interest as that contains addi-tional details about how to use styles.

My apologies upfront concerning some repitition of the details. This document is a combination of a couple of earlier documents and some sections repeat the same steps such as open styles, save the styles etc..

Additional examples

The following pages include many additional examples of the styles from graphicxtras.com applied to basic paths and text. The styles can be appliedto more complex designs as well but I didn’t want to weigh down this docu-ment with lots of complex designs which would add little to the overall over-view of graphic styles. All the graphic styles can be found on graphicxtras.com in the graphic styles section.

fig. scribble style pack

fig. Scribble style pack

fig. Pattern styles pack (3)

fig. Mixed styles from pack 2

fig. Radial styles pack 5

fig. Grid styles pack 6