- [Instructor] In this movie, we're going to take a look at a recent addition to Illustrator CC and that's the start screen, which provides you with access to recently opened files. Now, I should mention that from this point on, I'll be recording these movies on the PC. However, as you Macintosh users saw in the previous movie, the experience is the same on both platforms. Alright, so notice that I have just one document open. I'll go ahead and close it by clicking on this X that appears on the right side of the title tab here on the PC.
It appears on the left side of the Mac, but it works the same. And notice as soon as I have no files open, I see the start screen, which by default is listing my recently opened files, starting with he most recent file up here at the top. You can also click on this thumbnail view icon in order to view your illustrations as thumbnails, like so. Now, for some reason one of your documents doesn't show a thumbnail, it's because the file format doesn't support it, as in the case of SVG, or it may be that you haven't opened the document in the most recent version of the software.
And now all I need to do in order to open one of the documents, is click on its icon like so. Alright, I'm going to go ahead and close this file, because I want to show you a couple of more things. Notice these next options right here. They've been in a state of flux lately. So, you'll have to check them out on your own. But currently, if I select CC files, I'll see a list of any files that I've synced to the creative Cloud. And if you want to learn more about that, then just go ahead and click on the Learn More button. In this version of the software, we also have Mobile Creations, which allows you to sync with apps that run on mobile devices, including Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch and Adobe Comp.
And again, you can learn more just by clicking on one of these buttons. Notice we also have New and Open buttons. If you click on Open or press CTRL+O or Command O on a Mac, then Illustrator will bring up the standard Open Dialogue box, which allows you to open any compatible file, whether you've recently opened it or not. I'll just go ahead and cancel out. You can also create a new document by clicking on the New button. And that's going to bring up this revamped New Document dialog box, about which we'll learn more in the very next movie.
But for now, I'll just go ahead and click on Print and then select a letter sized document, and now to create that file, you can either click on the create button in the bottom-right corner of the dialogue box or you can just press the enter key here on the PC or the return key on the Mac, and that will display in this case a single-page document and once again hide the start screen. Now, I imagine many of you will find this start screen to be very helpful. But if for whatever reason it's getting in your way, then you can hide it by going to the Edit menu, this would be the Illustrator menu on the Mac.
Go ahead and drop down to the preferences command, which isn't nearly so far down the menu on the Mac, and then choose General, which has a keyboard shortcut of CTRL+K or Command K on the Mac. Now, initially that shortcut might not make much sense, but here's the way I think of it. This is the first and foremost keyboard shortcut you'll need, which is why it's CTRL+K or Command K on the Mac, the K being for Key. Also worth noting is that the shortcut works the same in Photoshop and in Design.
Alright, so I'll go ahead and choose the command and then notice these two checkboxes right here. Show The Start Workspace When No Documents Are Open and Show The Recent Files Workspace While Opening A File. If you want to hide the start screen, just go ahead and turn this checkbox off. And then for the sake of demonstration, I'll turn the next checkbox on and I'll click OK. And now notice if I close this new document that I no longer see that start screen. But you can still bring it back if you like. By clicking on this workspace option, which by default is set to Essentials, and then choosing Start from the menu, and that's going to temporarily hide the toolbox over on the left-hand side of the screen, as well as the column of panels on the right-hand side, and bring back up the start screen as we're seeing right here, at which point I could once again click on the word Recent and then click on Welcome.ai in order to open up that file.
Alright, now let's say that I want to open a different document, I could go up to the File menu and choose the Open command, again we have that standard keyboard shortcut of CTRL+O or Command O on the Mac. However, because we selected that checkbox, instead of bringing up the standard Open Dialogue box, I've brought up the Recent Files panel instead. And notice we're once again seeing a list of the recently opened files. If you want to see thumbnails instead, just go ahead and click on the thumbnail view icon like so. And if this list doesn't contain any of the files you're looking for, then just go ahead and click on the Open button in order to once again display the standard Open Dialogue box.
Alright, I'm going to go ahead and cancel out. And now you can close this panel either by clicking on the word Close or just pressing the escape key. And so just remember, if you want to switch things around, so that you can see the start screen or the recent files panel, then just press CTRL+K or Command K on the Mac to bring up the Preferences Dialogue box and change these settings as you like. In my case, I'm going to go ahead and turn both of these checkboxes off and then I'll click OK. And that way, if I close the open file, I can still see the toolbox over here on the left-hand side of the screen, as well as this column of panels over on the right.
And that's how you take advantage, or if you prefer, dismiss the new start screen here inside the most recent version of Illustrator CC.
Author
Released
3/3/2017As Creative Cloud evolves, this course gets updated. Check back for new movies, new feature reviews, and new ways to work.
- Opening, creating, saving, and closing documents
- Working with artboards
- Zooming and panning
- Drawing lines, arcs, grids, and spirals
- Drawing shapes
- Creating compound paths
- Working in RGB vs. CMYK color modes
- Creating and applying swatches
- Adjusting the line weight of strokes
- Formatting text
- Building custom paths with the Shape Builder and Join tools
- Freeform drawing with the Pencil
- Painting and erasing artwork
- Painting with a tablet
- Drawing with the Curvature tool
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
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Introduction
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Welcome to One-on-One4m 21s
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1. Working with Documents
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Creating a new document5m 20s
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Saving your changes7m 46s
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2. Working with Artboards
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Using the Artboard tool8m 6s
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Undo, Redo, and Revert3m 16s
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Artboard tips and tricks4m 46s
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Autoarranging artboards6m 41s
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Artboards and rulers7m 26s
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3. Getting Around
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Zooming in and out5m 59s
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Cycling between screen modes6m 38s
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4. Drawing Lines
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Now, we draw44s
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Creating center guides8m 3s
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Using the Line Segment tool6m 55s
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Drawing straight lines5m 25s
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Duplicating and extending5m 19s
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Using the Move command5m 19s
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Joining your line segments5m 23s
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Using the Arc tool6m 45s
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Using the Polar Grid tool3m 29s
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Using the Spiral tool7m 31s
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5. Drawing Shapes
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Using the Ellipse tool7m 45s
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Live ellipses and pies4m 44s
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Creating compound paths7m 1s
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Using the Rectangle tool5m 40s
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Using the crazy Flare tool6m 19s
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6. Color and Swatches
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How color works1m 7s
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Working with global swatches5m 43s
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7. Strokes, Dashes, and Arrows
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Adjusting the line weight4m 42s
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Caps, joins, and miter limit6m 25s
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Dashes and arrowheads7m 24s
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Variable-width strokes5m 58s
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Combining multiple strokes4m 18s
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8. Creating and Formatting Type
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Text at its best1m 2s
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Setting up page margins7m 54s
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Placing and flowing text5m 34s
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Working with point type7m 4s
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Formatting display text7m 39s
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Formatting body copy5m 59s
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Creating a drop cap3m 39s
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Resolving widows and orphans4m 49s
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Redefining a paragraph style6m 48s
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Creating type on a path7m 47s
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9. Building Custom Paths
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Using the Join command6m 26s
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Using the Join tool4m 16s
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Creating an inset reflection6m 32s
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Drawing with the Shaper tool5m 31s
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10. Using the Pencil Tool
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Creating a tracing template3m 28s
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11. Painting and Erasing
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The best tools for painting1m 27s
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Merging selected paths4m 58s
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Releasing compound paths6m 7s
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Erasing and smoothing lumps6m 13s
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12. Using the Curvature Tool
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Drawing one point at a time1m 46s
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Curvature tool curiosities4m 32s
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Creating quick smooth shapes6m 29s
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13. Using the Pen Tool
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Creating corner points6m 55s
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How smooth points work6m 51s
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Drawing smooth points7m 55s
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Creating cusp points6m 34s
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Using the Anchor Point tool5m 32s
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Drawing perspective edges5m 48s
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Drawing a few distress marks10m 1s
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A preview of round corners9m 26s
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14. Drawing with Round Corners
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Making corners smooth1m 7s
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The round corner widget3m 44s
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Rounding off corner points4m 54s
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Changing the corner type3m 37s
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Rounding characters of type6m 15s
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Decorating an iPhone screen6m 37s
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Reshaping rounded paths9m 40s
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15. Making Screen Graphics
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Saving an 8-bit graphic6m 32s
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Saving a JPEG image5m 10s
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Assigning a copyright3m 7s
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Using the Asset Export panel4m 42s
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Conclusion
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Until next time1m 30s
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Video: The Start screen and Recent Files panel