I used to have this information buried at the end of another post but I keep looking for it and never finding it. So, if I have trouble finding it, you probably do too! So, here is a post dedicated to creating a rectangle the size of the artboard in Illustrator. If you have multiple artboards then each gets a rectangle.
I found the script over at the Adobe forums there is a short script from a user called moluapple which creates a rectangle the size of the artboard. It’s a great script and I use it just about every day.
To use the script, head over to the forum and copy the code from there, paste it into a plain text editor such as Notepad or WordPad and save it as a script file with the .jsx extension and a name that makes sense to you. Put it in the Presets/Scripts folder for your Illustrator installation. Restart Illustrator and you’re ready to go.
Just in case the forum thread one day disappears, here is a screenshot of the script which makes a rectangle the size of the artboard – that way, you can always type it by hand!
Also, here is a link to my Youtube video on scripting in Illustrator just in case you need some more help downloading and installing scripts:
So, now you are all ready to download, unzip, locate and run scripts in Illustrator and I have a post I can refer to anytime I need to do it too!
Instantly view the entire Illustrator Symbol collection
Illustrator comes with a lot of handy symbols but opening each set in turn looking for something usable is a major time suck.
If you think like me then you’ll love this blog post over at Tiny Tutorials’ Adobe Classroom which has a honking big image with all the symbols shown in it for your enjoyment.
Here’s a mini preview of what you will find there – go! click! savor the goodness! Tell them I sent you.
Unfortunately when Adobe changed how Kuler works with Illustrator CC they broke a great tool. Instead of being able to search for color schemes from inside Illustrator you now have to do this on the web and favorite a color scheme if you want it to appear in Illustrator. At least that’s the theory – in practice Kuler is very slow to update in Illustrator making it nearly impossible to use it in a meaningful way – unless you know how to force it to update.
While you should be able to click the Refresh button at the foot of the Kuler panel most of the time this is greyed out – so you can’t force a refresh. The only solution that reliably works for me is to sign out of your Creative Cloud account inside Illustrator then sign in again.
So, to force the update, go to Help and click to sign out – in practical terms you are deregistering your Adobe account on this computer for now. Now close Illustrator and restart it – when prompted to do so, log in to your Adobe account and voila! Kuler will update.
Seriously Adobe really should be more proactive in fixing this stuff when it breaks like this. It shouldn’t be too hard to do – just make the Refresh button do what it is supposed to do!
For what it is worth, the problems with Kuler occur with both the Windows and Mac version of Illustrator.
Harness the power of scripts to automate tasks in Illustrator
Where Photoshop has Actions, Illustrator has Scripts that help you automate complex and tedious tasks. You don’t need to know how to write code – just how to copy and paste it to harness the power of scripts to automate your workflow in Illustrator.
From scripts which make a rectangle the size of the artboard, which make metaball shapes and divide text frames you’ll find lots of practical use for scripts every day. I’ll show you how to find scripts online that you can use. I’ll show you how to find free scripts for Illustrator, how to download scripts and install them. I’ll even show you how to make a script file if you can find the code but it’s not in a downloadable format.
So you will learn to make use of .js and .jsx scripts and how to copy and paste script code from a web page and save it correctly so you can install it into Illustrator. I’ll also show you how to run the scripts you download.
Some of the scripts discussed include join reasonably which joins paths better than Illustrator does and a range of other handy scripts.
More complex than it looks, here’s how to make a Wave Pattern in Illustrator
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Learn how to create a wave pattern in Illustrator. You will see how to draw the starting shape and how to fill it. You will learn how you can test it to see how it will look and then adjust it if necessary before continuing.
You will use the Shape Builder tool to build the actual pattern starting piece and the new Pattern feature in Illustrator CS6 & Illustrator CC to make the repeating pattern swatch.
Learn to create cartoon style illustrations in Illustrator.
You will see how to make shapes using the line tool and ellipse tool in Illustrator then how to fill the shapes using the Live Paint tool.The process is simple to do and fun.
Because it uses simple shapes and does not require extensive use of the pen tool it is a great way to learn more about using Illustrator without needing to be able to draw or use complex tools.
Learn how to create curly frames in Illustrator – the sort that resemble curly brackets that you use in your word processor.
You will see how to take a bracket or brace character from a font, add it to an Illustrator file and turn it to Outline type so you can work with it. You will then break it apart to get the curly shape, copy it, rotate, reflect and join it to make a curly bracket frame shape.
You can then do with it anything that you can do with a regular shape in Illustrator.
This technique is handy for scrapbookers and graphic designers and it looks great on invitations including wedding invitations. It is a fun and easy to create effect.
If you already use Photoshop you’re well on your way to using Illustrator
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Designed specifically for people who already use Photoshop, this video is part 1 of a series on learning Illustrator. What makes this video different from most is that it uses what you already know about Illustrator from using Photoshop as a starting point.
The similarities and differences between Illustrator and Photoshop are explained and the video introduces you to the basic tools in Illustrator that you need to know to create designs.
