The final step before we start making graphics in adobe illustrator, is to briefly go over some of the features of the panels such as the pathfinder panel, the appearance panel and others. This should be able to get you familiar with how and when to use them. For those of you familiar with these panels, go on to the next SimpleDoc to start making graphics.

Quickly let’s touch on the Align panel first. This panel is very useful in aligning our artwork to certain areas of the art board. I like to center a lot of my graphics when I’m working on them. To do this, choose the Align To: and make sure “Art board” is selected. Then just click the align to center and middle buttons in the Align Objects section. You’ll notice there are many other areas in which you can align your artwork.

The pathfinder panel is a very important panel. We use this is merge two shapes into a single shape, or cut a shape out of another shape. We can also use this to intersect shapes. All and all you must be familiar with this panel as we’ll be using it often.

The appearance panel is also very important. It saves us a lot of time when modifying or adding strokes and fills, and makes fast use of the effects menu. Learn to love it. It will be a huge time saver.