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Adobe Illustrator Help

Cutting machines are driven by vector images, not bitmap images.  If you have a design that’s in a bitmap image, it will need to be ‘traced’ and converted to a vector image. 

Adobe Illustrator is a popular vector graphics editor and design software that’s installed on all of the computers in The Makery. It’s a good option for designing things to be cut using the Cricut, cutter/plotter, and laser cutter. Additionally, the cutter/plotter is driven by a plugin within Illustrator.

In order to use any of the cutting machines in The Makery, you should familiarize yourself with how to accomplish basic tasks in Illustrator.

This page contains some information to help get you started, including how to trace an image, tracing text, and a quick reference guide to commonly used tools; you’ll also find information specific to the Cricut, Cutter/Plotter, and Laser Cutter on their respective pages.

Staff at The Makery regularly hold workshops on how to use Adobe Illustrator.

Vector vs. Bitmap

Vector graphics are a form of computer graphics that are made of simple shapes, polygons, curves, and mathematical relationships instead of individual pixels. They are used in graphic design, animation, and architectural planning (among others) as visual elements, but can also be used as the basis for controlling the movement of various CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines like laser cutters or plotters.

Raster/Bitmap Graphics

  • Raster graphics are a collection of dots, or a map of bits: rows and columns of pixels, each one holding some color information. 
  • Most images viewed on a modern screen are raster—photographs, screenshots, etc. 
  • Great for reproducing color information, but are rendered for a specific size 
  • When enlarged or when zoomed in, individual pixels are visible 
  • Different applications require different DPI (dots per inch), which is pre-defined in the file 
  • Raster editing programs like Photoshop make adjustments to the actual pixels 

Vector Graphics 

  • Vector graphics are a collection of instructions: draw a line this long, turn 90 degrees, draw another line that long… 
  • Lines and curves are continuous and not stepped, though they may appear so on a standard monitor 
  • Because the relationships are constant, vectors are infinitely scalable – they’re not pixelated as you zoom in / scale up, because they aren’t a collection of pixels. 
  • File sizes are smaller because the amount of data needed is less 
  • Vector graphics work best for simple, bold shapes and gradients; they are not able to easily reproduce photorealistic looks without dozens or hundreds of shapes, and basically reproducing a raster 
  • The basic filetype is SVG, but there are others for other use cases: AI, DWG, etc. 
  • EPS and PDF are capable of handling raster and vector graphics 
  • Vector paths are the basis for controlling many machines, including our cutter/plotters and the laser cutter. 
  • Tool heads or other parts travel along a vector path to cut, plot, or engrave 

Introduction to Adobe Illustrator 

Getting Started  

Create an account or login using a Google account. 

If you already have a file ready, you can download it onto The Makery computer by emailing it to yourself or using a thumb drive. If the file is saved to the Adobe cloud, you can open it from there. 

When you first open Illustrator, you will be greeted with the home screen. There are a few presets to choose from, a list of recently opened files, an open button, and a new file button. Click on the “Open” button in the top left and either search the computer or cloud files to find your design. 

If you do not already have a file, searching for an image is an option. You will start by creating a black document to work from. Click on the “New File” button and choose “Letter.”  

Tracing an Image 

Images that are complex and have multiple colors are harder to get a clean image out of. Images that are not too complex, have clean lines, do not overlap with each other, and have one color are easier to manipulate.  

If you’ve created an image on paper, use our flatbed scanner to digitize it, then open the file in Illustrator.

If you want to search for an image online, some helpful search terms are “clipart” and “silhouette” to get nice simple art styles that are easy for the computer to trace. Once you have found an image you like, you can right click and copy the image, then go back to Illustrator.

Open the image file, or paste the image into the workspace by right-clicking and hitting “paste” or by using the shortcut “Command+V.” If the image is giant after pasting it, do not worry! Just resize it using the following steps: 

  • Hold down the space bar to reveal a dragging tool that allows you to pan around the workspace without moving the image. Alternatively, use the sliders along the edges of the workspace. Pan to find the corner of the image. 
  • Be sure to be in the main Selection tool. Hover over the corner until the mouse becomes a diagonal bar. This means that it is ready to resize. Always be sure to hold down shift when resizing to make sure the image does not warp.  
  • If the image does warp, do not worry! Anything can be undone by either hitting “Command+Z” or going into the top bar and selecting “Edit,” and then “Undo.” 

Once the image is back to a manageable size, if you would like to further crop some of the extra things in the picture out, you can use the following steps: 

Select the “object” option and then “crop image.” Drag in the sides to isolate the image as much as possible. Hit the ‘return” button on MacOS or “enter” on Windows/PC to finalize. 

Click on the image to select it. You will know when your image is selected when there is a blue edge on the border of the image. Look to the right-hand task bar under the “Properties” tab to find “Image Trace.” There are a couple of different options that may work depending on the image, but “black and white” or “silhouette” are the ones that usually works best.  

If the image trace does not successfully trace around everything properly, there are ways to adjust it. This can often happen when the original image has a textured background rather than a blank one. 

When cleaning up the image trace, we want to adjust the threshold. Adjusting the threshold changes how dark a color needs to be before it gets included in the silhouette. You can adjust by using the slider or typing a number into the box to the right of the slider. Once the image is clean, finalize it by hitting “Expand.” The image is ready to use once you see blue lines trace along the outline of every shape in the image. These are better known as “paths.” Paths are what the machine later reads and cuts out. If there are any extra piece’s leftover that could not be cropped out, here is how to get rid of them: 

  • Go to the Direct Selection tool, which can be found underneath the main selection tool. This allows you to select smaller selections of an image, rather than the whole.  
  • Click on any of the leftover pieces and hit “Delete” until it is gone. 
  • To double check that only the paths are left, you can hit “Command+Y.” This will hide everything except the paths and show if there are any extras that you cannot see. To get back out of this view, hit “Command+Y” again. 

Tracing Text 

Start by selecting the Text tool. 

While in this tool, every time you click on the page it will create a new text box. If you make too many, hit “Command+Z” to get rid of them.  

To type, double click inside the textbox or highlight the stock text and start typing. 

To change the font, highlight the text and go over to the “Character” section under the “Properties” tab in the righthand task bar. 

TIP: Specifically, when using heat transfer vinyl, which is the kind that is used to make iron-on patterns for shirts and other fabric projects, the thicker the lines of the image or text, the better it sticks to the fabric.  

To resize or move the text, go back to the main selection. This will create a box around the text that allows you to resize and move it just like any other image. 

Text in Illustrator is already image traced. Therefore, you will only need to finalize the paths by clicking on “Object,” then “Expand” in the top taskbar. 

Designing/Modifying Images for a Cutting Machine

Every line that shows up in Cutting Master will be a cut.  Every line that shows up in the Glowforge app will be a cut, score, or engrave.

If there are more lines than expected, go back into Ai and revisit the design. If you hover over a shape with the mouse and it reveals a line that you didn’t realize was there, that means the shapes are not grouped together so Cutting Master / Glowforge still sees them as separate shapes… Go to Window > Pathfinder. The Pathfinder tool has a lot of different options for grouping items together. Select the appropriate objects and try out the different options. Depending on how you want it to look, you may use “Trim” “Merge” or any of the other options in the Pathfinder box. If it doesn’t do what you wanted just hit Edit > Undo, and try again! The best way to learn is to try it! 

Cutting Master will cut everywhere there is a stroke (what lines are called in Ai) BUT the thickness of a stroke will not affect how Cutting Master views it. If you want it to cut on either side of a line, make sure there is a stroke on either side of the line, don’t just make the stroke thicker. 

The Glowforge app will allow you to choose whether to cut, score, or engrave various parts of your design. You can streamline this process by making all elements you want cut to be one color, scored elements another color, and engraved elements yet another.

Additional Information on Common Tools in Illustrator 

Selection Tool 

Select an object using the Selection tool 

The Selection tool lets you select, move, and resize an object or a group of objects. 

Use the Selection tool to drag and move an object 

  1. Click the Selection tool or press V. 
  2. Click an object to select it. 
  3. Drag to the move selected objects to a preferred location. 
  4. To change the size of the object, drag the edges of its bounding box. 
  5. To select multiple objects, Shift + Click objects one at a time or drag a marquee around multiple objects. 

Direct Selection Tool 

Reshape a path using the Direct Selection tool 

The Direct Selection tool lets you select, move, or modify specific points or path segments in a path or a shape. 

Use the Direct Selection tool to select anchor points and change the shape of an object 

  1. Click the Direct Selection tool or press A. 
  2. Select the object to view its anchor points and path segments. 
  3. Click an anchor point to select it, or Shift + Click to select multiple anchor points, path segments, or both. 
  4. Drag the anchor point, handle, or path segment to change the shape of your object.  

Pen Tool 

The Pen tool lets you manually draw freehand lines, shapes, and straight or curved edges. You can modify these paths and shapes with anchor points and handles. 

  1. Click the Pen tool or press P. 
  2. Click anywhere on the artboard to set the anchor point. Move the pointer and click again to draw a line or Shift – Click to constrain the angle of the segment to a multiple of 45°. 
  3. Draw a curve: 
    • Drag the Pen tool on the artboard and release it to create direction handles of the anchor point. 
    • Drag again to set the slope of the curve segment and then release. 
  4. Complete the path by closing the path or leaving it open: 
    • Close the path: Position the tool over the first (hollow) anchor point and click. 
    • Leave the path open: Position the tool away from the object and press Command + Click (macOS) or Ctrl + Click (Windows). 

Curvature Tool  

Draw intuitive paths and shapes using the Curvature tool 

The Curvature tool lets you draw and edit paths and shapes using smooth and anchor points. 

  1. Click the Curvature tool or press Shift + ~. 
  2. Click anywhere on the artboard to set the first point. Click again to create a second point. A line segment is created. Now, move the pointer to preview the resulting path. 
  3. Click further to add points and create a shape. Close the path to complete the shape. 
  4. To draw straight lines by adding corner points, press and hold Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows) and click. 
  5. Edit smooth and corner points: 
    • Click anywhere on the path to continue adding points to the existing path, or click the point and press Delete to remove it. 
    • Drag the point to move it. 
    • Double-click any point to toggle between a corner point and a smooth point. 
    • Press Esc to stop drawing. 

Rectangle Tool 

Create squares and rectangles using the Rectangle tool 

The Rectangle tool lets you create rectangular and square shapes in your artwork. 

  1. Click the Rectangle tool or press M to select it. 
  2. Drag on the artboard to draw a rectangle. Press and hold Shift while you drag to draw a square. 
  3. Press and hold Alt while you drag to draw a rectangle from the center.  
  4. Press and hold Shift + Alt (Windows), Shift + Opt (macOS) to draw a square from the center. 
  5. To specify dimensions in points, select a rectangle and enter height and width values in the Rectangle section of the properties panel. 

Type Tool 

Add text with the Type tool.  

The Type tool lets you add text to your designs. 

  1. Click the Type tool or press T. 
  2. Point type: To add text at a point, click where you want the line to begin and start typing. 
  3. Paragraph type: To create a rectangular container for longer text like paragraphs, drag to make a bounding box. 
  4. Area type: To use a closed object’s shape as a type area, click its path with the Type tool selected. 
  5. To add a line break, press Return (macOS) or Enter (Windows). 

Shape Builder Tool 

Create complex shapes using the Shape Builder tool.  

The Shape Builder tool lets you create complex objects by merging and erasing simpler objects. 

  1. Click the Shape Builder tool or press Shift+M to select it.  
  2. Click the selected region to extract the parts of the shapes you need to merge. More anchor points are introduced where the shapes break up. 
  3. To merge paths and create a shape, drag along the region with the additional anchor points and release the mouse.  

Zoom Tool  

You can Zoom in and out on the canvas using the Zoom tool.  

Magnify and reduce your view of artboards and the canvas with the Zoom tool. 

  1. Click the Zoom tool or press Z to select it. 
  2. Click the area you want to zoom in to one or more times or drag to select an area.  
  3. To zoom out, hold Alt and click the area or press Ctrl + 0 (Windows), hold Opt and click the area or press Command + 0 (macOS). 

TIP: If you are using macOS, you can select either “Command +” or “Command –” to Zoom in or out.  

  • (+) means Zoom In 
  • (–) means Zoom Out 

Image Trace 

Converts image into a simplified version (tracing objects) that may be expanded into paths.

Expand 

Coverts the tracing object into paths so that the vector transformation is complete.