Adobe Illustrator is the premiere program for graphic and motion designers, and there's more to the menus than you may think.
Navigating an Illustrator document seems like a trivial task, but it can be surprisingly difficult if you’re not familiar with all of the available tools. That’s why we’re dedicating an entire article to Illustrator’s View menu.
The View menu has a lot of really great features for switching up how you view and work with vector paths in Illustrator. We’re going to take a look at these three valuable additions:
- Outline View
- Pixel Preview
- Smart Guides
Using Outline in Adobe Illustrator
With stacks and stacks of overlapping objects, editing those vector paths can be a pain. Switch to Outline Mode by going up to View > Outline to view unstyled vector paths, making it a lot easier to see the structure of your assets.
This x-ray view can give you a good perspective on how complex or simple an illustration really is, and it makes it easy to adjust paths that would normally be hidden by other objects in the standard view.
Pixel Preview in Adobe Illustrator
Another super helpful preview mode is the View > Pixel Preview mode. While Illustrator is a vector design environment, everything on your screen has to be rasterized to view it, and any assets that’s exported out of the program will also have to be rasterized. Switching to the Pixel Preview mode will give you a live rasterized view of your document so you can know exactly how it’ll look in any raster program.
Smart Guides in Adobe Illustrator
If you’re not using Smart Guides, you’re gonna have a bad time. Head up to View > Smart Guides, and work live you’ve never worked before. Paths now snap to each other, objects align easier, drawing paths have helpful guides. You’ll never turn back.
The ability to switch to a less-detailed view of your vectors can sometimes make paths a lot easier to look at while editing. Working in a vector environment, it’s important to realize that your illustrations are going to look different once you’ve exported them into a raster format, which is why the Pixel Preview is so helpful. And smart guides is something I couldn’t even imagine not having access to when creating things in Illustrator. Take these three tools from the View menu and keep making awesome work!
Ready to learn more?
If this article only roused your appetite for Photoshop knowledge, it seems like you'll need a five-course shmorgesborg to bed it back down. That's why we developed Photoshop & Illustrator Unleashed!
Photoshop and Illustrator are two very essential programs that every Motion Designer needs to know. By the end of this course, you'll be able to create your own artwork from scratch with tools and workflows used by professional designers every day.
Dive into real-time 3D with our Unreal Engine beginner's course by Jonathan Winbush. Master importing assets, world-building, animation, and cinematic sequences to create stunning 3D renders in no time! Perfect for motion designers ready to level up.
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Rev up your editing skills with After Effects! Learn to use it for everyday needs and craft dynamic templates (Mogrts) for smarter teamwork. You'll master creating animated graphics, removing unwanted elements, tracking graphics, and making customizable templates.
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Stand out with Demo Reel Dash! Learn to spotlight your best work and market your unique brand of magic. By the end, you'll have a brand new demo reel and a custom campaign to showcase yourself to an audience aligned with your career goals.
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Revolutionize your Premiere workflow with customizable AE templates! Master creating dynamic Motion Graphics Templates (Mogrts) in After Effects to speed up your team's work. By the end, you'll craft easily-customizable templates for seamless use in Premiere Pro.
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Not sure where to start?
If you’re a beginner, here are some great courses to help you get started:
After Effects Kickstart
Dive into the fundamentals of motion design with our most popular (and recently updated) After Effects course.
Photoshop + Illustrator Unleashed
Master the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator and gain invaluable insights in this introductory level course.
Design Kickstart
An introduction to the design principles behind all great work.
More Advanced?
If you’re a more advanced student looking to up your game, here are some great options:
Animation Bootcamp
Learn the art and principles of creating beautiful movements in Adobe After Effects.
Design Bootcamp
Learn to design for motion in this intermediate-level, project-based course.
Cinema 4D Basecamp
Learn Cinema 4D from the ground up in this exciting introductory C4D course.
Now is the time to learn the skills you need to advance in your motion design career:
