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- Illustrator User Guide
- Get to know Illustrator
- Introduction to Illustrator
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
- Create documents
- Toolbar
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- Introduction to artboards
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- Touch Workspace
- Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
- Undo edits and manage design history
- Rotate view
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- Accessibility in Illustrator
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- Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
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- Tools at a glance
- Select tools
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- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Quick actions
- Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Illustrator on the web (beta) overview
- Illustrator on the web (beta) FAQ
- Troubleshooting issues FAQ
- Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Create and combine shapes on the web
- Add and edit text on the web
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- Work with cloud documents on the web
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- Illustrator on the iPad
- Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
- Workspace
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- Draw pixel-perfect art
- Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
- Draw simple lines and shapes
- Draw rectangular and polar grids
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- Image Trace
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- Design a flower in 5 easy steps
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- Work with Live Corners
- Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
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- Global editing
- Type
- Add text and work with type objects
- Create bulleted and numbered lists
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- Add advanced formatting to text
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- Tabs
- Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
- Arabic and Hebrew type
- Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
- Create 3D text effect
- Creative typography designs
- Scale and rotate type
- Line and character spacing
- Hyphenation and line breaks
- Spelling and language dictionaries
- Format Asian characters
- Composers for Asian scripts
- Create text designs with blend objects
- Create a text poster using Image Trace
- Create special effects
- Web graphics
- Drawing and dimensioning
- Import, export, and save
- Import
- Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
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- Printing
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- Troubleshooting
Learn how to transform objects in Illustrator.
Use the Transform commands and specialized tools or drag the bounding box to move, rotate, reflect, scale, and shear objects.
Transform an object, pattern or both
You can use the Transform panel to view the locations, sizes, and orientations of one or more selected objects. Type new values to modify the selected objects and their pattern fills, or both. You can also change the transformation reference point and lock the object's proportions.
Follow any of these options to transform patterns, objects or both:
- Specify the transform patterns by selecting an option from the Transform panel menu: Transform Object Only, Transform Pattern Only or Transform Both.
- Prevent patterns from transforming when using transform tools. Go to Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (macOS) and deselect Transform Pattern Tiles.
- Return an object's fill pattern to its original state by filling the object with a solid color and then reselecting the desired pattern.
- Use the Transform Again option in the Object menu to repeat a move, scale, rotate, reflect, or shear operation as often as you want until you perform a different transform operation.
A. Reference point locator B. Panel menu C. Lock proportions icon
Transform using the bounding box
You can easily move, rotate, duplicate, and scale objects by dragging the object or a handle of the bounding box.
- Select View > Hide Bounding Box to hide the bounding box.
- Select View > Show Bounding Box to show the bounding box.
- Select Object > Transform > Reset Bounding Box to reorient the bounding box after you rotate it.
Tips and tricks
- When you move, rotate, reflect (flip), scale, or shear a pattern-filled object, you can only transform the object, pattern, or both the object and pattern.
- Once you transform an object’s fill pattern, subsequent patterns to that object are transformed similarly.
- Beginning with the CC 2017 release, Illustrator features more predictable and precise functionality to draw art aligned with the pixel grid. See Draw pixel-perfect art for details.
- The reference point locator in the Transform panel specifies an object’s reference point only when you transform the object by changing the values in the panel. Other methods of transforming (such as using the Scale tool) use the object’s center point or the pointer location as the reference point.
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