selecting... I want to like Illustrator, please help!
Simon Gregory Jun 16, 2009 8:00 PMHi,
I've decided I need to learn Illustrator. I've used FreeHand forever, its like an old shoe as they say. Gotta move on sometime though.
So I'm trying to get to grips with Illustrator CS3, and the thing that bugs me most is selection. Selecting overlapping objects, underlying objects etc.
Here's an example. I draw a box, no fill, just an outline. I draw a bigger box that completely covers it, with a fill, maybe 50% opacity.
There appears to be no key command to drill down through Items below my cursor and grab them. I would have to use a long winded 'next object beneath' multi-key shortcut, or drag over both items and deselect the top one.
That may be OK, but what about when I have several things underneath that top box. I have never found a way way of selecting multiple things under another object. So if want to make the same change to them all, I have to change each one individually. This really make me resent Illustrator!
in FH, I could have multiple items completely obscured by something above them. Holding down 'control' and clicking would cycle between selecting what was under my cursor. Adding shift would make multiple selection of the hidden objects. Then holding shift alone and clicking in the top element would deselect it. Holding Shift and option and clicking will deselect other underlying objects, rather than reselecting the topmost item. So in a few simple clicks, using only modifier keys and mouse clicks, not multi-hand un-ergonomic keyboard shortcuts, I can select and deselect multiple elements that are beneath other elements. My brief experience with Illustrator CS3 seems to show its even worse than InDesign in this matter.
Is CS4 better? any help you can give me would be appreciated. I know Illustrator can do heaps more than FH could, but it surely needs to do the basics right? There are a couple of tricks FH had that would be good to put in FH. And unless I'm missing something, better selection tools would be one of those things.
Actually, I've just made a little video to show what I'm talking about... please watch FH selection in action! You'll see a big pink box over some other coloured boxes. I demonstrate how easy it is to select underlying objects, deselect the top one, select and deselect various items in the stack, resizing items etc. Obvioulsy this is not a real-world example, but I run into this kind of scenario frequently whenever I use Illustrator, and also Indesign which I use a lot. I SOOOO wish I could do this in Illustrator or Indesign. If I'm missing something, please let me know... I really do want to like Illustrator, but all the fancy painting, warping, texture, 3D tools etc are not that much use to me if I keep tearing my hair out with selections when trying to build a standard vector object like a logo...
I used a trial version of a program to make the vid, excuse the resulting 'demo limitation logo' bouncing around...




