Transcript:
Let’s create some arrows here inside of illustrator. Now I’ve created a few examples ahead of time and I will step you through how to create all of these from scratch in just a moment. I first wanted to point out. I will be working from the stroke panel in this video. If you’d like to work from the properties panel, if I actually select a path and click on the word stroke, you can see basically. The entirety of the stroke panel is temporarily available to you so again. If you like to work from the properties panel, stroke will help you out. I’m going to work directly from the stroke panel today, which you can find under window stroke okay now! These are all live vector paths. Actually, if I pop into view outline, you can see there’s the underlying paths just there. We’ll come back into preview and it’ll even go one better. If I grab the direct selection tool and select these endpoints, you can see I can happily move them around like so, so these arrows are indeed live effects on vector parts. Okay, let’s dive in and start creating some of these things, so I’m going to go and grab one of many vector drawing tools here within illustrator. Lets maybe start with the line segment tool, so I’m going to drag out a random line like, so I wanted to point out you can color these anything you like you can see. The arrowhead will pick up the same color as the actual line itself, and in this case, I have a stroke of 30 point, which I’ll reference in that. Just a moment I’ve drawn my path. I have it selected in the stroke panel. I’m going to come down to these arrowheads. Drop down just here and let’s say choose arrow. One fantastic. It’s given us a nice arrow head just here now. I have a stroke of 30 point. I’m now thinking that’s a little bit too thin. Let’s increase that to say 60 point. Now, let’s say I’m liking that line thickness, but now the size of the arrow head is way too big, so under the arrow heads drop down just here. Within the stroke panel, there is a scale factor currently set to 100 I’m going to click inside of there and I’m just going to use a nice shortcut Just here, hold down my shift key and use my up and down arrow keys to jump in 10 increments. So if I bring that scale down to something like say, 50 percent, that’s now visually, a much more pleasing arrow, So I’m pretty happy with that. Let’s look at the next drop down along. If I click on it, you can see the same list of arrowheads. Drop up! Drop down just here and you can see. I could, of course, pick a different arrow, but in this case, let’s make something more like a tail, so maybe arrow, 20 will look good again. It’s coming way too big, so it itself has another a scale factor just over here, so let’s bring that down dramatically and that’s looking pretty good around the 50 mark just there now. There is a couple little buttons just over here. I want to point out, Let’s say I wish to reverse the head and the tail just here. That’s what this little double arrow is just here. If I click on that, it will swap those two end arrow heads. And if I click it again, it will just swap them back again like so now. Let me bring the size of this tail down a little bit. Let’s say I was very happy with that. Look, just there you can see. The scale on the head is 50 and the scale on the tail is 30 If I want to be able to change one and have the other one relatively change as well. I can use this little link icon just here now when I activate that you can see if I click inside of one and adjust one of those, the other will change as well, so if you wish to link the head and the tail together, hit that chain link icon just there. I might just undo that for now. The align option just down here now by default, the arrow tips are within the length of the path. Now, if I change it to this other option just here, which allows the arrow tips to extend beyond the path. That’s the result that you get now. It depends on the way you design guys. One of these might be more appropriate than the other for you. I’m just going to put it back to what the default was. Okay, so that’s pretty much all of the arrowhead options. Just there, let me now work through these examples just here and I’ll point out a few extra things as we go along. So if I select the first one just here you can see. It’s got a stroke of 30 point. There’s the two arrow heads for the head and the tail. Just there, that’s a pretty simple example. Let’s move on to this next guy just here now. If I select this one just here you can see we have within our drop down. I have used arrow 37 Which is this hand just here? If I draw this from scratch, there’s a little thing that I want to point out. I’m just going to draw a nice vertical line and lets, uh, go and find that area 37 coming way too big. Of course, let’s scale that right down. It’s looking pretty good and the main thing that I wanted to point out for. You is see how we’ve got a square end just here, whereas this has this nice round end now the way we do that is with the path selected, that’s actually nothing to do with the arrow heads just here that’s actually to do with the cap options just up here so you can see the cap by default. It’s a butt cap. Third option is a projecting cap. The second one. Just there is the round cap, which gives us that nice round. Look, just there very nice, okay. This example just here now, um, again, I’m just using different heads and tails just here, but the main thing I wanted you to see is. This will happily work on a curved pile. So if I go and grab say the pen tool just here and I’ll just draw out a nice little curve like so select that. And then if we come and put a arrowhead on this again, let’s bring the size right down and, uh, you can see if I was to go and grab, say the direct selection tool and even change this in real time, that arrowhead is happily surviving like so very nice, This next example, just here again, Nothing special about the head and the tails just here. I did want you to see, though that you can have a path with multiple segments. So if I go and grab the pen tool, And if I go and draw a couple of lines like so and then let’s go and put a head on this thing again. Let’s bring this down dramatically now. In this case. Guys, let’s say I wanted this to be really, really large. Perhaps this alignment option might help me out just here fantastic. So when guys you have the head of an arrow very close to the corner In this example, changing that alignment might help you out as well. So like that, we can go that down just to touch there. Now again, guys. This is all a live effect, so I could, for example, go and grab the pen tool and continue that path and that arrow head will happily update along with the path If I go and grab the direct selection tool, make some changes. Everything is still nice and live fantastic. We’re pretty much there, guys. I just want to step you through this last example, which is kind of cool. Everything I’ve been showing you up until now has been a open path, but what if I go and grab something like the rectangle tool and drag out in this case, a closed path now? This arrowhead is pretty cool. I’m going to go and find it near the very bottom just here. I think it was, um, arrow. Now wasn’t 34 It was 33 that’s just putting the scissors on the outside, let’s dramatically! Bring the size of those scissors down! You see this gap? Just here, guys. That alignment option can help us out in this case just here so clicking on the first one. We’ll close that down, clicking on the second one. We’ll have that little gap just there, And how do we make that dashed line? Well, that’s what this little checkbox is just here. If I activate that, I can then start to mess with the dash and the gap just here. Actually, I’m going to say, come up to the round cap and put that back to a butt cup and maybe I’ll reduce the weight of the path way down. I’ll bring it down to something like 20 and I might change the color to a mid gray, and we are looking pretty close at this point. Just here, guys. Ah, another nice little trick to know when you’re doing dashed lines. Guys, check out this corner just down here. It looks terrible. Uh, within the dashed line section. You have two buttons just here. The second button will actually align those dashes to things like corners and endpoints, giving you a much more pleasing result. So, guys, that’s pretty much it. I showed you all the options for your arrowheads just there as well as a few for our dashed lines and some cap options, just up there. I hope that helps you with your arrow creation here inside of illustrator. Catch you later, you!