Adobe Illustrator 8 Classroom In A Book help guide + CD

If you're looking for a thorough, hands-on guide to Adobe Illustrator 8, give this Classroom in a Book a close look. Developers at Adobe created the book's well-rounded exercises and explanations for beginning users who want to master the core features of this newly updated illustration program. Each chapter, or lesson, begins with a "Getting Started" section and ends with review questions and answers, so you can better evaluate what you've learned. A full-color section shows you the process or results of each lesson. First, you get a tour of the interface and learn how to work with the program's shape tools, color, patterns, gradients, lines, curves, and brushes. Next, you transform objects, manipulate type, blend shapes and colors, work with the Pathfinder palette, use layers, apply watercolor and airbrush effects, and draw 3-D cylinders and boxes with the illusion of depth. Finally, you're ready for output. You learn how to create color separations, prepare your work for the printer, work with Photoshop images, and optimize graphics for the Web. From beginning to end, the book is full of helpful hints for creating good-looking illustrations.