Have you been missing out the Illustrator Effects? Did you know it is a powerful tool for creating symmetrical shapes or adding texture to vector paths? For example, with just one simple effect, you can turn a polygon path into a flower shape. You can also make paths look sketchy with the Scribble effect. Read this tutorial to learn how to save time by using Illustrator Effects and work more efficient.

Arrowheads

Let’s start with a basic effect, the Add Arrowheads. Use the Pen Tool or Line Segment Tool to draw a straight line. Go to Effects > Stylize > Add Arrowheadsand choose a style.

Appearance

The great thing about using Illustrator Effect is the ease of changing its appearance. In the Appearance palette, click on the Add Arrowheads layer, now you can easily change the result by selecting different arrow style. This effect is very useful for drawing diagrams.

Without The Effect?

Without the effect, the arrow shape will get distorted when the line is stretched. With the effect, I can easily adjust the length of the arrow without distorting it.

Round Corners

Draw a rectangle shape, go to Effects > Stylize > Round Corners and enter a radius value.

Without The Round Corners Effect?

Round Corners is one of my favorite effects. It is my essential tool for designingicons. Not only it can prevent the round corners to be distorted when I stretch the object, it also saves me a lot of time. Could you imagine how long it will take to draw these perfect round corners without the effect?

Zig Zag Effect

Draw a straight line, go to Effects > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag and enter a value for Size and Ridge Per Segment.

Wavy Line

Draw a straight line, apply the Zig Zag effect, select Smooth Points, and you will get a symmetric wavy line.

Badges

Draw a circle and apply the Zig Zag effect with the setting as shown and you will get a badge shape.

Play around with the Zig Zag options and you may get these shapes:

Pucker & Bloat Effect

Draw a circle, go to Effects > Distort & Transform > Pucker & Bloat, enter -55% (Pucker), and you will get a diamond shape.

Draw a polygon shape, apply the pucker effect, and you will get this shape:

With the same object, change the Pucker & Bloat option to 70%, and you will get a flower shape.

Transform Effect

The example below shows how I can duplicate 12 copies of the object (in increment of 30 degree angle) with the Transform effect.

Play around with the shape and Transform setting, you may get the following:

Roughen Effect

With the Roughen Effect, I can make the trees look more realistic.

Scribble Effect

The example below shows how you can create a sketchy effect combining the Scribble and the Roughen effect. First apply the Scribble effect (Effects > Stylize > Scribble) and then apply the Roughen effect as shown.

Sketchy Icons

If you are constantly using the same effect, it is wiser to use the Graphic Styles to save time and maintain consistency.

After you’ve done the inital sketchy style, drag the object to the Graphic Styles palette to create a new Graphic Style.

Now, select the object(s) where you want to apply the styles. Then, click on the Graphic Style that you’ve just created. Change the fill and stroke color if you want. Don’t forget you can also apply it to text, which remain editable.

Conclusion (There Are More…)

I’ve only showed the basic Illustrator effects. There are actually more cool and useful effects. Don’t be afraid to explore the effect menu and experiment with the other effects such as the Warp and 3D.

Tips For Using Illustrator Effect

• Graphic Styles - save time by using Graphic Styles.
• Scale Strokes and Effects - you can toggle Scale Strokes and Effects option via the Transform palette.
• Appearance Palette - you can turn effect layer on/off or remove it. Double-click on the effect layer to open the option dialog.
• Press D to quickly remove all effects.
• Expand Appearance - if you want to expand the appearance into paths, go toObject > Expand Appearance. Note: once the effect is expanded, it will become ineditable.

Download The Source File

You may download the Illustrator file (CS2) that is used in this tutorial for your learning purposes.

source: http://www.webdesignerwall.com

Do you want to create fancy headings without rendering each heading with Photoshop? Here is a simple CSS trick to show you how to create gradient text effect with a PNG image (pure CSS, no Javascript or Flash). All you need is an empty tag in the heading and apply the background image overlay using the CSS position:absolute property. This trick has been tested on most browsers: Firefox, Safari, Opera, and even Internet Explorer 6. Continue to read this article to find out how.

Demos

Demo ZIP

Benefits

• This is pure CSS trick, no Javascript or Flash. It works on most browsers including IE6 (PNG hack required).
• It is perfect for designing headings. You don’t have to render each heading with Photoshop. This will save you time and bandwidth.
• You can use on any web fonts and the font size remains scalable.

How does this work?

The trick is very simple. Basically we are just adding a 1px gradient PNG (with alpha transparency) over the text.

The HTML markups

<h1><span>span>CSS Gradient Texth1>

The CSS

The key point here is: h1 { position: relative } andh1 span { position: absolute }

h1 {   font: bold 330%/100% "Lucida Grande";   position: relative;   color: #464646; } h1 span {   background: url(gradient.png) repeat-x;   position: absolute;   display: block;   width: 100%;   height: 31px; }

That’s it! You are done. Click here to view my demo page.

Make it work on IE6

Since IE6 doesn’t render PNG-24 properly, the following hack is required in order to display the transparent PNG (add anywhere in between the tag):

This is why we hate IE 6!

jQuery prepend version (for semantic lovers)

If you don’t want to have the empty tag in the heading, you can use Javascript to prepend the tag. Here is a sample using jQuery prepend method:

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js">script>  <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function(){    //prepend span tag to H1   $("h1").prepend("<span>span>");  }); script>

More samples

Want to make Web 2.0 glossy text?

Literally, you can apply this trick on any solid background color (as long your gradient color is the same as your background color).

Pattern / Texture

You can also apply this trick with a tile background image. Look, here is an example of zebra pattern. So, be creative!

Limitations and more…

• This trick is only suitable for solid background color elements. Your gradient color (PNG image) must be the same color as your background color.
• IE PNG hack is required if you want it to work on IE 6.
• If your gradient image is taller than the heading, the text will not be selectable.