Adobe 65023809 - Creative Suite 4 Master Collection Printing Manual page 84

Ensuring correct imaging of raster-based effects
Illustrator CS4 offers stylized soft-edge effects such as Drop Shadow, Feather, and Inner Glow,
which are rendered as pixels during output. While these effects are live and editable, their resolu-
tion during output is governed by the Document Raster Effects setting (Effects > Document
Raster Effects Settings). By default, the Raster Effects setting in Illustrator CS4 is 300 ppi,
which should be sufficient for most printing needs. However, files created in earlier versions of
Illustrator may be set up with the previous default setting for Raster Effects of 72 ppi. The low
resolution may not be obvious on screen, but it will be apparent in most output. Because these
effects are live effects, rather than actual content, changing the Raster Effects resolution will
correct the resolution of the effects. Bear in mind that, if the artwork will be scaled during place-
ment in another application (for example, when placed into an InDesign layout), the final output
size should be taken into consideration. An Illustrator file that will be scaled at 50% can have a
Raster Effects setting of 150 ppi—scaling it at 50% will result in an effective resolution of 300 ppi,
and so on.
When most effects are applied to spot-color objects, the spot-color definition is retained; content
is not converted to CMYK or RGB. However, the SVG effects (Effect > SVG Filters) do not sup-
port spot color. If SVG filters are used, affected spot-color objects become CMYK or RGB (based
on the document color mode).
If you need to modify effect-created shadows or glows in an Illustrator file supplied by a cus-
tomer, open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), double-click the shadow entry in
the panel and modify the settings as necessary. If you need to change a filter-created shadow or
glow created in an earlier version of Illustrator, you must delete the existing content and create
a replacement. It may be easier to accomplish this by displaying the file in Outline view (View
> Outline). Use the Direct Selection tool (
delete or move it as necessary. If your customer cannot provide the settings originally used to
create the content, you will have to approximate the results. Consider replacing the filter-gener-
ated content with an effect-generated appearance instead, in the interest of future editability.
Editing warps and envelope distortions
Illustrator CS4 offers methods for distorting text and other objects, using a feature called
Envelope Distort. Select an object or text with the Selection tool, choose Object > Envelope
Distort, and select from the available options:
• Make with Warp: Lets you choose from the 15 default Warp shapes, including Arc,
Bulge, Flag, Fisheye, and others. Each Warp option offers controls over vertical and
horizontal distortions.
• Make with Mesh: Sets the number of rows and columns, and Illustrator creates an
editable mesh. Select the anchors and control handles to manipulation the distortion
manually.
• Make with Top Object: Lets you create any shape with the geometric tools (ellipses,
stars, and so on) or draw a shape (open or closed) with the Pen tool. Place the shape
above the text or other object you wish to distort (higher in stacking order). Select
the top object and the object you wish to distort, and Illustrator will distort the
object using the top object as a guide.
) to select the outline of the glow or shadow, and
Expanding Live Effects
A live 3D object (left) is a simple cross section under
the hood (center) . While this allows you to edit the
basic cross section shape (and thus the revolved
object), you cannot select individual, shaded areas
for editing, because they are not "real . " To convert
the live effects to editable vectors (right) expand the
object (Object > Expand Appearance) .
Effects and Spot Color
The original spot-color shape (upper left) retains its
spot-color definition when the Feather (upper right)
and Extrude (lower left) effects are used . However,
SVG effects such as the AI_BevelShadow effect (lower
right) convert spot-color content to the color mode
of the document . In this example, the bright Orange
021 of the beveled heart will print as CMYK, losing its
vibrance .
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide 82