Illustrator® CS4 For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Introducing the World of Illustrator

In This Chapter

• Getting a look at how graphic artists use Illustrator

• Becoming familiar with the Illustrator interface

• Noting some Mac and Windows differences

• Creating new documents

• Saving your artwork

• Printing Illustrator documents

• Bailing out of a document (and Illustrator itself)

The first time you run Illustrator, you'll probably think that Adobe Intimidator would be a more appropriate name than Adobe Illustrator. The program's dozens of tools, hundreds of commands, and more than 30 panels can transform confident, secure individuals into drooling, confused, and frustrated drones.

The situation doesn't have to be that way, of course. Sure, all that stuff is scary. Even more frightening to some is the prospect of facing the giant white nothingness of the Document window — the endless possibilities, the confusion over where to start. This chapter helps you get past that initial stage and move forward into the mystical state of eagerly awaiting (instead of fearing) each new feature and function.

From Humble Origins to Master of the Graphics Universe

As its box proudly proclaims, Adobe Illustrator is the "Industry Standard Graphics Software." The software didn't always enjoy that standing, though. Illustrator evolved from a geeky math experiment into the graphics powerhouse it is today.

A brief history of Illustrator

Until the mid-1980s, computer ...