Adobe Illustrator CS3 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques

Chapter Nine. Transparency, Filters, and Effects

Filters and effects apply a wide variety of attributes to distort paths. They are really nothing more than sets of transformations applied to an object’s path and fill, changes you could tediously make individually with tools and fills. The advantage of using filters and effects is that they combine and package sets of stroke and fill changes, allowing you to quickly assign changes ranging from drop shadows to arrowheads to paths.

The fundamental difference between filters and effects is that effects do not alter the underlying path of the object to which they are applied. Filters, on the other hand, alter the object’s path. Effects can be adjusted, changed, and removed.

While attributes such as ...