To make the granularity go away, save the illo as:

Version 10 tiff (8 bit color) Transparency include doc thumbnails and fonts (otherwise, the .eps won’t remember and the fonts will get substituted upon viewing) CMYK postscript Level 2

characters Arial, 9pt size, regular

ctrl -/+ zoom in/out

snap to point Always work with it. It is free flowing, meaning when I grab a point and move it to another point, they will snap together. Rarely is it a problem.

white arrow Work primarily with the white arrow (not black one)

		  Grabs a line or point:
 
		    Blue dot = object moves
		    White dot = object reshapes
		  
		  Single or double click the object. Hold
		  Shift and grab the white dot to resize a
		  line proportionally. 

                      The + sign appears while pressing the alt
                      key. The + signs means it'll grab
                      everything.

draw a box around image Group select. To deselect portions of the object, unclick different blue lines.

ctrl [ Send to back

ctrl ] Send to front

ctrl t Text properties box. Font changes.

ctrl j joins to lines (good for arrow heads)

ctrl i Line Thickness properties box

ctrl z Undo

ctrl d Duplicates the last operation on a newly selected object. Ex: Apply the same rotation angle on a new entity.

stroke tool Create a dashed line. Select the line to convert into a dashed line. Choose Window:Stroke:Show options. Then check “Dashed Line” and specify a point size.

scale tool Draw a box around everthink that is to be scaled. Then select the scale too. The next click is the point where the object will head to. Shift will keep the object in proportion as you resize it.

		  For precise resizing, hit Enter after the
		  first point. The Scale dialog box appears. 
		  Enter the scale percentage.

		  Beware. Rescaling character text auto
		  changes the point size. For example, 9pt
		  might now become 9.72. To fix it, globally
		  select all text, hit ctrl t, select the new
		  point size.

alt + sign. Means power key. Pressing alt while you select an object will make a copy of it.

		  To move an object, press alt during select,
		  but let go of alt while moving the object in
		  transit.

shift Keeps things in proportion. A good habit to use, especially in combination with the alt key.

rotate tool It’s a 2-step process. Select object, then click the rotate too. Your next point will be the rotation point at which the object revolves.

		  Trick. Pressing alt during the second point
		  brings up the Angle Rotation dialog
		  box. Selecting "copy" will copy the element
		  instead of moving it.

shear tool To get any arror to be at the right angle. Skews and rotates object on an axis to look just right. It’s for tricky touch up.

lining things up Two ways to go:

		  1) 
		  Copy an existing line that matches the angle
		  I want. Scale up and extend the line, so it
		  can be used as an edge guideline (to be
		  deleted later on). 

		  2)
		  Draw an edge line with the pen tool. Select
		  the tool. The first point/click is the start
		  of the line. The next point is the tail-end
		  of the line. See "locking".

		  Tip: Maintain a scrap file containing
		  guiding lines at the perfect angle: 45s,
		  90s, 33s, ...

locking Select an object then press ctrl 2. Now I cannot select the object. Advantage: now I can select and stretch up/down some of the objects (no all).

		  ctrl alt 2 unlocks all the locked objects.

		  Tip: Sometimes an object seems to not be
		  selectable. In reality, it is being
		  selected. Verify View:Show Edges is
		  enabled.

curved lines Best way to draw is with elipses. Select elipse tool, draw elipse, select scissors tool, click point on one line side of elipse, click second point on elipse, select black arrow, draw box around unwanted half of elipse, delete.

arrow keys Use to nudge an object in a specific direction. Need to first select the object.

arrow heads Two ways to go:

		  1)
		  Draw manually. Create 3 points with pen
		  tool. To vertically allign, select the
		  2 endpoints with white arrow and press "ctrl
		  alt j". Average dialog box appears. Then
		  vertically allign. Next, select all with
		  white arrow. Choose Reflect Tool and click
		  the center point at which to reflect
		  on. Then fold over the 3 points while
		  pressing Shift (keeps proportion) and alt
		  (makes a copy). Next, "ctrl j" the points of
		  intersection to join both halves
		  together. Fill the arrow head with
		  black. Then, use the shear tool to adjust
		  the arrow head to the correct angle. Then,
		  use scale tool to resize the arrow tool.

		  2)
		  Select the line, go to Effect:Stylize:Add
		  arrow heads.

color Select object with black arrow. Go to color dialog box. To change the outline color of object, click on the black square with a small square inside it, now pointer changes to eye dropper, select a color. To change the fill color of object, click the solid box above the other box.

line angles 30 and 60 are the common isometric (ISO) line angles. Most artists work in this format. Object/Transform/Rotate/30 (or 60)

weird shapes Experiment with the path finder: Window/Pathfinder