Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 204)

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Chapter 7: Selecting and arranging objects
Organizing and laying out your artwork in Adobe Illustrator is made easy with tools that enable you to select, position,
and stack objects precisely. Tools are available that let you measure and align objects; group objects so that they are
treated as a single unit; and selectively isolate, lock, or hide objects.
Selecting objects
Options for selecting objects
Before you can modify an object, you need to distinguish it from the objects around it. You do that by selecting the
object. Once you’ve selected an object, or a part of an object, you can edit it.
Illustrator provides the following selection methods and tools:
Isolation mode Lets you quickly isolate a layer, sublayer, path, or group of objects, from all other art in your document.
When in isolation mode, all nonisolated objects in the document appear dimmed and are not selectable or editable.
Layers panel Lets you quickly and precisely select individual or multiple objects. You can select a single object (even
if it’s in a group), all objects within a layer, and entire groups.
Selection tool Lets you select objects and groups by clicking or dragging over them. You can also select groups
within groups and objects within groups.
Direct Selection tool Lets you select individual anchor points or path segments by clicking on them, or select an
entire path or group by selecting any other spot on the item. You can also select one or more objects in a group of
objects.
Note: When in outline mode, the Direct Selection tool may select imported graphics that are near the tool’s pointer. To
avoid selecting unwanted graphics, lock or hide the graphics before making the selection.
Group Selection tool Lets you select an object within a group, a single group within multiple groups, or a set of
groups within the artwork. Each additional click adds all objects from the next group in the hierarchy.
Lasso tool Lets you select objects, anchor points, or path segments by dragging around all or part of the object.
Magic Wand tool Lets you select objects of the same color, stroke weight, stroke color, opacity, or blending mode
by clicking the object.
Live Paint Selection tool Lets you select faces (areas enclosed by paths) and edges (portions of paths between
intersections) of Live Paint groups.
Selection commands (located in the Select menu) Let you quickly select or deselect all objects, and select objects based
on their position relative to other objects. You can select all objects of a specific type or that share specific attributes,
and save or load selections. You can also select all objects in the active artboard.
To temporarily activate the last-used selection tool (Selection tool, Direct-Selection tool, or Group Selection tool) when
using another type of tool, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS).
For a video on selecting and manipulating objects, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0034 .
See also
“ Select paths, segments, and anchor points ” on page 67