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Applying color by dragging and dropping
An easy way to paint an object is to drag a color directly from the Fill box or Stroke box in
the toolbox, the Color palette, or the Gradient palette and drop the color onto the object,
or to drag a swatch from the Swatches palette and drop it on an object. Dragging and
dropping lets you paint objects without first selecting them. You can also drag and drop
colors from the Swatches palette to the Fill box or Stroke box in the toolbox, the Color
palette, or the Gradient palette.
When you drag, the color is applied to either the object's fill or stroke, depending on
whether the Fill box or Stroke box is currently selected. (For example, if you drag a red
color to an unselected object when the stroke box in the toolbox is selected, the object's
stroke is painted red.)
Using the Stroke palette
Stroke attributes are available only when you stroke a path. These attributes, available in
the Stroke palette, control whether a line is solid or dashed, the dash sequence if it is
dashed, the stroke weight, the miter limit, and the styles of line joins and line caps.
Use the Stroke palette to select stroke attributes, including the thickness (weight) of the
stroke, how the stroke is capped and joined, and whether a stroke is solid or dashed.
To set stroke attributes using the Stroke palette:
1 With any selection tool, select the object with the stroke attributes you want to change.
2 Click the Stroke box in the toolbox to select the object's stroke.
3 Choose Window > Stroke.
4 To specify a stroke weight, enter the desired weight in the Weight text box or choose a
value from the pop-up menu. You can enter a value in inches (in), millimeters (mm), centi-
meters (cm), or picas (pi), and Illustrator converts it to an equal value in points.
The stroke weight determines the thickness of the stroke, in points. Illustrator strokes a
path by centering the stroke on the path; half of the stroke appears on one side of the
path, and the other half of the stroke appears on the other side of the path.
If you enter a weight of 0, the stroke is changed to None.
5 To see other options, choose Show Options from the Stroke palette menu; then select
from the following options:
Butt Cap for stroked lines with squared ends.
•
Round Cap for stroked lines with semicircular ends.
•
Projecting Cap for stroked lines with squared ends that extend half the line width
•
beyond the end of the line. This option makes the weight of the line extend equally in
all directions around the line.
6 Select one of the following options:
Miter Join for stroked lines with pointed corners. Enter a miter limit between 1 and 500.
•
The miter limit controls when the program switches from a mitered (pointed) join to a
beveled (squared-off ) join. The default miter limit is 4, which means that when the
length of the point reaches four times the stroke weight, the program switches from a
miter join to a bevel join. A miter limit of 1 results in a bevel join.
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