Page 34 - CC2018_AI_Look_Inside

Import tEmplatE ImagEs
Many Illustrator projects require you to start with something that has already been
captured — a sketch, photograph, or low-resolution image (which is the case in this
project). In this exercise you will place existing digital files to use as templates for your
new artwork.
1. With icons.ai open, choose File>Place. Navigate to your WIP>Camping
folder and click picnic.jpg to select that file.

2. Macintosh users: If you don’t see a series of check boxes across the bottom of
the dialog box, click the Options button.
The dialog box button remembers the last-used state, so the actual options might already
be visible. We do not repeat the instruction to click the Options button whenever you
place a file throughout the projects in this book.

3. At the bottom of the Place dialog box, check the Link and Template options.
When you check the Link option, the placed
file does not become a part of the actual file
where you’re working; for the file to output
properly, Illustrator must be able to locate the
linked file in the same location (hard drive,
flash drive, etc.) as when you placed it. If the
Link option is not checked, the placed file
is embedded — it becomes part of the file
where it’s placed; the original external file
is not necessary for the artwork to output
properly. We will explore the details of
placed files in later projects.
In the case of this project, you are going Macintosh users: Click Make sure this
to delete the template images after you the Options button to option is checked.
create the artwork; it doesn’t matter if the reveal the actual options.
images are embedded.

4. Click Place.
When you place an object into Illustrator as a Template, it is automatically centered
in the current document window. In our example, you can see that the placed image
is mostly hidden by the background shapes; regardless of where your template images
appear, you will correct this issue in the next exercise.

The Control panel shows information
about the placed image.

Template images are
automatically placed in
the center of the
document window.

46 Project 1: Campground Icons