Before we get started with actually making selections inside of Illustrator, I think it's important that we explore the basic selection preferences to get a better understanding of how selections are being made and how they work so that we can customize Illustrator to make our selection process as easy as possible. The first thing I'm going to do is show you how basic selections work inside of Illustrator. If you want to select something with the Selection tool, all you have to do is click on an object, like so, to make it selected. You'll notice that once it's selected, there is a bounding box that goes all the way around it which represents the controls you have over that object.
You can then use this bounding box to control the scale and rotation and all types of other things that are associated with this particular object. However, when we're in the normal Preview Mode like what you're seeing here, it's very easy to select an object just by pointing and clicking on it. But if we were to enter Outline Mode by pressing Command+Y or Ctrl+Y on our keyboard, you'll see that the selection process is actually very different. Let me zoom in on this same piece of artwork and I'll grab the Selection tool. If I click right in the center as I did before, I cannot select this object because I actually have to find the path in order to make that selection.
So depending on which Preview Mode you're in, it may be a little bit difficult to make selections, or you may find that this is actually a better way of making selections because it forces you to be precise on what you're wanting to select. If so, I'm going to show you how to tweak the preference settings to make it so that you have to click on the path each and every time. Now let's go take a look at some of the selection preference settings inside of Illustrator. In order to bring up my preferences, I'll simply hit Command+K or Ctrl+K on my keyboard and that will bring them right up. Once I have the Preferences open, I want to go to Selection & Anchor Display.
Once inside of the Selection & Anchor Display, you're going to see a lot of different things inside of here. Let's focus on the top section first. This is the Selection settings themselves. The first setting is Tolerance. This indicates how close to an object you have to be when you click in order to make that object selected. So in this case, the Tolerance is set to 3 pixels. So that means if I'm searching for an object on my artboard and I get within 3 pixels of it and I click, Illustrator is automatically going to select that object for me.
This is not as precise as some people like it to be, so you might want to back that down to 2 pixels or 1 pixel. Or if you're working on big chunks of artwork, you may want to beef that up to 5 or 6. The Tolerance is totally up to you, but just remember, taking it down makes it more precise, taking it up; you're going to make more loose selections. The second option is Object Selection by Path Only. This means with this turned on, if you're in normal Preview Mode, you cannot click directly in the middle of that object like I clicked on before.
So let's turn this on and hit OK. I'll exit Outline Mode by hitting Command+Y or Ctrl+Y on my keyboard and I'll click away to deselect this object. Remember, I've turned on that option where I have to click on the path in order to select the object. If I come here on this object and click in the middle, nothing happens. If I come to the side and find the path, I click on it and the object is once again selected. So again, this forces you to be very precise with your selections. So if you're dealing with small little pieces of artwork like I'm dealing with here, this might be a good option because it forces you to be precise and allows you to pick exactly the piece of artwork that you want.
If you want to turn this back off, simply go back in your Preferences, that's Command+K or Ctrl+K and then go to Selection & Anchor Display and then turn off Object Selection by Path Only. You can also choose to Snap to Point and Control Click to Select Objects Behind. This means that you will hold on the Ctrl key on your keyboard and then click an object which is behind another object in order to select it. Otherwise you're going to have to use something called Isolation Mode to get objects that lie behind other objects. Let's move down now to the second part of this dialog box, the Anchor Point and Handle Display.
This is a total personal choice but it's really handy. For instance, the anchor points; you can determine how big those anchor points are and you can also determine how big the handle points are and what they look like. So if you like your anchor points to be a little larger, you can pick this option to the right. If you like them to be smaller, you can pick this option to the left. The control handles are the same way. These are the handles that come off of an anchor point which allow you to control curves and corners. If you'd like for these control handles to be a little bit larger, then I'm going to pick the one in the middle, or if you like for them to be sort of an open circle and easier to see, you can the one in the far right.
Again, this is totally up to you and I'll leave it to you to make your own choice. You can also choose whether or not you Highlight anchors on mouse over. When you're dealing with complex artwork, sometimes it can be hard to determine exactly where the anchor points are. Turning on Highlight anchors on mouse over will automatically make the anchor point highlight momentarily when you hover over it to let you know that there's an anchor point there. This is extremely helpful and I always recommend leaving this checked on. However, if you find it a little bit distracting while you're working, you may want to turn it off. Again, totally up to you, but I recommend keeping it on.
You can also show the handles when multiple anchor points are selected. By default, inside of Illustrator when you have multiple anchor points selected that you'd like to modify, the control handles aren't being displayed for each anchor point. However, you can turn this on and then you select multiple anchor points and you'll see the control handles for each one. If you'd like to see that, you can check this box. If not, you can leave it unchecked. Once you've set up all your preferences the way you like them in here, you can simply hit OK and Illustrator automatically commits to those changes. No restart necessary. So now that you've seen how to control your selection preferences in Illustrator, you can begin to explore them on your own and determine just how you like them.
Once you've developed your preferences, just pop back into the Selection Preference dialog box and make the change. You'll be glad you did because making precise selections in Illustrator is going to go a long way for helping you improve your workflow.
Author
Released
5/7/2012- Understanding vector graphics
- Creating and setting up files for print or web destinations
- Selecting and transforming objects on the page
- Creating spot colors
- Applying fills, strokes, and gradients to artwork
- Adjusting appearances and effects
- Working with anchor points and paths
- Drawing with the Pen tool
- Creating text
- Managing layers
- Creating and using symbols
- Printing, saving, and exporting artwork
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: Where can I learn more about graphic design?
A: Discover more on this topic by visiting graphic design on lynda.com.
Related Courses
-
Illustrator: Drawing without the Pen Tool
with Mordy Golding4h 39m Intermediate
-
Adobe Illustrator
-
What is Illustrator?1m 15s
-
-
Introduction
-
Welcome55s
-
Using the exercise files1m 19s
-
-
1. Getting Started
-
Setting preferences9m 24s
-
Touring the interface9m 41s
-
Exploring the panels6m 54s
-
2. Working with Documents
-
Creating files for print4m 42s
-
Creating files for the web3m 36s
-
Managing multiple documents3m 25s
-
Navigating within a document5m 21s
-
Using preview modes3m 10s
-
Locking and hiding artwork3m 43s
-
Creating and using artboards7m 44s
-
-
3. Selecting and Transforming Objects
-
Using the Magic Wand tool5m 45s
-
Using the Lasso tool4m 9s
-
Grouping objects3m 7s
-
Using isolation mode4m 48s
-
Resizing your artwork3m 55s
-
Rotating objects2m 10s
-
4. Working with Color
-
RGB vs. CMYK1m 46s
-
Creating spot colors3m 40s
-
Using the swatch groups2m 33s
-
Working with color libraries3m 17s
-
Importing swatches4m 4s
-
Using the Color Guide panel3m 51s
-
-
5. Working with Fills and Strokes
-
Working with fills4m 58s
-
Working with strokes8m 46s
-
Using width profiles3m 31s
-
Outlining strokes3m 51s
-
6. Working with Paths
-
Understanding paths2m 41s
-
Understanding anchor points4m 20s
-
-
7. Creating Shapes
-
Understanding drawing modes4m 23s
-
Creating compound paths5m 15s
-
Creating compound shapes4m 11s
-
-
8. Don't Be Afraid of the Pen Tool
-
Exploring the Pen tool2m 39s
-
Drawing straight lines5m 12s
-
Drawing simple curves5m 23s
-
Your keyboard is your friend2m 14s
-
-
9. Using Type in Illustrator
-
Adjusting your type settings4m 10s
-
Creating point and area text3m 36s
-
Basic text editing2m 14s
-
Creating threaded text4m 59s
-
Using the type panels9m 48s
-
Creating text on a path5m 11s
-
Converting text into paths1m 43s
-
-
10. Adjusting Appearance
-
Applying multiple fills3m 1s
-
Applying multiple strokes4m 20s
-
11. Working with Layers
-
Exploring the Layers panel4m 18s
-
Creating and editing layers3m 27s
-
Using the Layers panel menu2m 42s
-
-
12. Working with Images
-
Exploring the Image Trace panel12m 14s
-
Tracing photographs8m 6s
-
Tracing line art4m 33s
-
Converting pixels to paths3m 49s
-
13. Creating and Using Symbols
-
What are symbols?2m 45s
-
Using prebuilt symbols3m 3s
-
Creating new symbols3m 50s
-
Breaking the symbol link3m 19s
-
Redefining symbols2m 5s
-
-
14. Drawing in Perspective
-
Defining a perspective grid4m 29s
-
Applying artwork to the grid3m 51s
-
-
15. Printing, Saving, and Exporting
-
Printing your artwork6m 16s
-
Saving your artwork2m 2s
-
Saving templates4m 19s
-
Creating PDF files5m 23s
-
Saving for the web4m 46s
-
-
Conclusion
-
Next steps56s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Setting your selection preferences