One of my favorite tricks to use in Illustrator which I forgot to mention in my “favorite Illustrator tips” blog is Ctrl-D (Command-D), which allows you to duplicate your last transformation and is especially useful when you’re copying objects and want them to be spaced an exact distance apart. The command can be found under Object > Transform > Transform Again. In this example, I’ll make a postage stamp shape, using Ctrl-D to duplicate the circles that I’ll eventually cut out of the sides.
Start with a rectangle and a little circle on the edge of the rectangle. (I’m not too concerned with exact dimensions here, so I’ll resize the rectangle “to fit” the circles eventually.)
Use the black arrow tool to select the circle, then Shift-Alt-drag (Shift-Option-drag) the circle to the right to duplicate it (and constrain the movement to a straight line). Move it over as far as you think it will look good when cut out of the rectangle.
Now, don’t do anything else, but immediately hit Ctrl-D (Command-D). The circle will duplicate itself again, at the exact same distance as your original move! Keep hitting Ctrl-D until you have enough circles to fit the top of the rectangle.
Now, Alt-drag one of the circles to the side of the box to start the vertical line of circles. Shift-alt-drag that new circle down so you have two circles along the vertical side. Ctrl-D to duplicate that move several times until the circles line the vertical side of the box.
What I find is easiest now is to select the top row of circles, then Shift-Alt-drag them down to the bottom line of the box and create a copy. Then I select the vertical column of circles and Shift-Alt-drag them to make a copy on the other side. Finally, I end up with this:
In the Pathfinder palette, click the “Minus Front” button to cut the circles out of the rectangle to get this result:
And after importing this vector stamp shape into Photoshop, adding a picture, some text layers, and a drop shadow, this is what I get:
…
I’ll be out of town this next week… so have a great one!
Related posts:
- Drawing In Illustrator, Part 2: The Shape Tools Moving on to the Shape tools, Jennifer continues with her...
- Drawing In Illustrator, Part 1: The Line Tools This week we’re going to take a thorough look at...
- How To Manipulate Images With The Photoshop Clone Stamp Tool Jennifer demonstrates how to use one of the most fun...
- Drawing In Illustrator, Part 4: Pen Tool – Straight Lines Jennifer shows you there is nothing to be afraid of...
- How To Create A Tapered Line Brush In Illustrator Jennifer shows you how to easily create your own tapered...
Cool, I’ll use that one!
October 9th, 2004 at 12:32 pm
Nice, I’m saving up for Illustrator as you have really encouraged me to use it as I like the stuff you do with it.
October 10th, 2004 at 9:50 am
That’s really cool Corrie, thanks. Till now I’ve been just a Photoshop user but with the Illustrator tuts you are turning up, I think that I’ll start painting the town red in it. ;)
October 10th, 2004 at 1:15 pm
Illustrator is king and so are the tips! Thank you. And put the skills to good use at our site. We’re offering a free Wacom Graphire tablet for our Halloween contest.
October 10th, 2004 at 10:05 pm
great tips! thanks …
October 11th, 2004 at 12:59 pm
how did you import it? I saved this as EPS in illustrator 10 , then opened the EPS in Photoshop 7.
October 12th, 2004 at 12:08 pm
Nice & simple tutorial to recreate the edge effect. Spags, you either have to change your settings in Illustrator to ‘preserve paths’ and then copy it to Photoshop – OR – convert the object to a Compound Shape and Export to a PSD file. It will be in the file as a Work Path, so it’s much more flexible.
October 14th, 2004 at 1:04 pm
Good tip, well worth knowing for college project. Thanks
February 13th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Thank you for taking the time to post handy tutorials like this for people like. It is very much appreciated!
March 20th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Exactly what I needed today! Thanks!
April 13th, 2007 at 4:26 am