A copy of the coursebook and the data files will be sent to you prior to the start of the class.
Adobe® Illustrator® CS6 software is the industry’s premier vector-drawing environment for creating graphics that scale across media. Capture your vision with shapes, color, effects, and typography while working efficiently and moving easily among Adobe creative applications. Experiment freely with perspective, image tracing, transparent gradients, patterns, brushes, and strokes—all driven by the Mercury Performance System so you can make fast work of your most complex designs.
Top reasons to upgrade to Adobe® Illustrator® CS6
Mercury Performance System
Work with precision, speed, and rock-solid stability on large, complex files due to native 64-bit support on Mac OS and Windows® with RAM and overall performance optimization.
Pattern creation
Easily create seamlessly tiled vector patterns. Experiment freely with different types of repeating patterns that can be edited at any time for maximum design flexibility.
Image Trace
Convert raster images to editable vectors with a completely new tracing engine. Get clean lines, accurate fitting, and reliable color results without using complex controls.
Efficient, flexible interface
Take fewer steps to accomplish daily tasks in a new, streamlined interface. Enjoy inline editing of layer names, precise color sampling, and user interface brightness that's smoothly adjustable to match other Adobe tools.
Gradients on strokes
Apply gradients to your strokes
along the length, across the width, or within the stroke itself
all with complete control over gradient placement and opacity.
Inline editing in panels
Efficiently edit names in layers, swatches, brushes, artboards, and other panels directly in the panels themselves without using intermediate dialog boxes.
Gaussian Blur enhancement
See that Gaussian Blur and effects such as Drop Shadows and Glows are applied significantly faster than before. To improve accuracy, preview directly on the artboard rather than in a dialog box.
Color panel enhancements
Sample colors faster and more precisely using an expandable color spectrum in the Color panel. And now, copy and paste hex values into other applications more quickly.
Transform panel enhancements
Quickly access the popular Scale Strokes and Effects option, thanks to its new availability in the Transform panel.
Type panel improvements
Use arrow keys to change fonts in context for selected text. Glyphs for caps, superscripts, and more can now be accessed in one place—from the Character panel.
Dockable hidden tools
Tear off and dock previously hidden tools, such as the Shape and Pen tools. Dock tools horizontally or vertically for a more efficient workspace.
Workspaces with rooms
Move fluidly from workspace to workspace with support for rooms. Achieve consistency across your work areas and maintain layout changes until you actively reset them.
Control panel enhancements
Quickly find what you need in a more efficient Control panel, now with consistency across options, anchor point controls, clipping masks, envelope distortions, and more.
Transparency panel improvements
Create and work with opacity masks more easily, thanks to the new Make Mask/Release button that now displays the masking functionality in the Transparency panel.
True white canvas color
Set your Illustrator CS6 workspace canvas to white for fast color sampling when you need to quickly grab a pure white.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
Q: What is Illustrator CS6 and who is it for?
A: Adobe Illustrator CS6 is the industry-standard vector graphics software, used worldwide by designers of all types who want to create digital graphics, illustrations, and typography for all kinds of media: print, web, interactive, video, and mobile.
Q: What are vector graphics and why are they important?
A: Vector graphics are one of the two most commonly used graphic formats in design, the other being bitmap (or raster) graphics. Vector graphics, like those created with Illustrator CS6, are resolution independent, which means they can be resized infinitely with no loss of quality. For example, the same logo design created with Illustrator can be used on a business card or an outdoor billboard, always maintaining the accuracy and detail of the original design.
Q: What's new in Illustrator CS6?
A: Illustrator CS6 adds the new Mercury Performance System that delivers native 64-bit support for both Mac OS and Windows,® so you can work with precision, speed, and stability on large, complex files. An updated interface streamlines daily tasks, and new creative options let you create and edit seamless vector patterns, leverage a new tracing engine, and apply gradients to strokes.
Q: Does Illustrator CS6 still support 32-bit operating systems?
A: Illustrator CS6 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems, but only supports 64-bit operating systems for Mac OS. The lack of 32-bit support does not affect the majority of Mac computers that use Intel® processors. The only Mac users affected by the lack of 32-bit support are those using Intel based Mac computers with Intel Core™ Duo (single-core) processors.
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