[ Music ]
>> Hello and welcome to this video tutorial,
brought to you by tastytuts.com.
In this video, we're going to take a closer look
at workspace panels in Adobe Illustrator.
In the last episode I gave an introduction
to the Illustrator interface where I touched on the panels.
In this video I'm going to show you how
to customize the panel layout
to create a more comfortable workspace.
Later on I will also be recommending my workspace
that I use, that I find really effective.
So here we are where we left off in the previous video,
with this document open.
To begin I just want to close this document
as I don't want anything to distract us here.
Okay so over here on the right we have a slim panel
that contains an array of panels
that are represented by these icons.
And as stated in the previous video,
these panels contain various tools
and properties regarding objects on the document canvas.
And if we click these we can reveal the panels inside.
What you will soon discover is that these panels,
like the control panel, are essential in order
to produce work in Adobe Illustrator.
In order to have a swift work flow in this program,
it will help to have a comfortable setup
of these panels.
Okay. So at the moment we are looking at the default setup
for the essentials panel setup.
Now if we look at the top right of our interface,
just above the control panel,
we can see we have the word essentials and next
to this is a drop down icon.
If we press this, we can see a list.
Here we have the layout, painting, typography and so on.
And as we start to select these,
we will notice the panel layout changes.
Now this is Illustrator attempting
to create an ideal workspace for a given task.
If you're using Illustrator for just painting, then by clicking
on painting, Illustrator will offer you an ideal panel setup
for painting in Illustrator.
If you're using Illustrator for just typography,
then by clicking on typography,
Illustrator will offer you an ideal panel setup for typography
in Illustrator and so on.
So I'm going to click back on essentials and we are back
to the minimal panel on the side.
Okay so at this time we are going to again come
to the top right and click on essentials, but notice this time
at the top, we have one called GD workspace.
Well if I click this watch what happens.
Just like earlier the panels have changed,
but this time they have changed to my personal setup.
And as you can see the panels are arranged slightly different
to the other panel setups.
In Adobe Illustrator you can customize your panel setup
and save them.
These panel setups are called workspaces
and should someone else use a different workspace,
then you can always come back to your workspace in future.
So this is my workspace and this is what I find works really well
for me.
I actually use a lot of the tools in Illustrator,
so I have arranged my panels in this way.
I have arranged the panels in a column, they are clearly visible
at all times and the various panels are arranged
in accordance to their context.
I have all my color panels at the top, I have my layers,
art boards and links just under this.
I have my object effect panel just under this.
Then my pathfinder and align and my text panels at the bottom.
So now I'm going to show you how you can create a workspace just
like this.
So before we begin I'm going to come back to the top
of my workspace setup and click on essentials.
This is going to put us at the default setup.
Okay. So what we're going to do is now click on a panel
to review the contents.
And then carefully click and hold the panel tab name
and drag it out like so.
What we just did there was separate the panel.
So I'm going to carry on doing this, clicking and dragging
out the panel tabs until I have no panels left on the right
and they're all scattered like so.
Now we can see they all exist in their own panels.
What I'm about to do next is join these panels together
in a particular order.
So I'm going to start with the layers panel.
So let's find the layers panel and here it is.
And next I'm going to find the auto panel.
Once I have found this, I'm going to click on the tab,
not the toolbar, but the tab.
Make sure of this, then I'm going to click and drag
into the layers panel like so.
And what you're looking for is the blue line inside the panel,
a blue line around the inside, not on the top, but inside.
On release you will notice the tab is now placed
into the layers panel and that is now
in essence one paneled group.
Great. So I'm going to do this again, but this time I'm going
to drag the gradient tab into the swatches panel,
drag the color tab into the panel and finish
by dragging the color guide into the same panel.
If I put my mouse cursor over the bottom right of the panel,
I can also click and drag out to expand this like so.
Then I'm going to drag the brushes tab into the stroke tab,
drag the appearance tab into this panel and finish
by dragging the transparency panel in as well.
And then simply click the x to close all other tabs.
So now we are left with just three panel groups.
So by clicking on the top bar of each panel group,
I am able to drag these into the middle like so.
This time I'm going to click and hold on the top bar of the layer
and art boards tab and begin to move it around like so.
But this time move this just over bottom
of the panel group containing the color panels,
being the swatches panel, gradient panel and so on.
What you are looking for is a blue line across the bottom.
When you see this release, this will then snap that panel group
to the bottom and they're now joined.
And if I click and hold the top bar of the top panel group,
you can see they move together.
Excellent.
And I'm going to do the same with the remaining panel group.
Click and hold the top bar and drag it over to the bottom
of the layers panel group, releasing
and binding them together.
So now I have a neat little panel group.
Next I'm going to click and drag the top bar
over to the top right hand side of the screen.
Now before we attempt to save this panel,
we want to add some more panels to it that we are going to use.
For example, let's come to the top main menu, click window,
scroll down to pathfinder,
what should appear is a panel containing the pathfinder panel.
Just like earlier I'm going to click on the tabs to drag
out and separate them.
In this case I don't want the transform tab,
so I'll drag this out and close it.
Just like earlier I'm going to click and drag this
to join the bottom of my other panels.
Next, I will come back and click window,
scroll down to type and select character.
What should appear is a new panel containing character
and paragraph panels.
Again I'm going to click and drag this
to join the bottom of my other panels.
Before we finish I'm going to come to window again
and select links and image trace
and we should see these panels appear.
Next just like earlier I'm going to click on the tabs to drag
out and separate them.
And close the panels I don't want.
And then drag the remaining panel tabs
into the panel groups I want like so.
Also if you wish to customize the order
in which your panels are arranged in each group,
you can simply click and drag the tab
to the left or the right like so.
Once you are happy with your panel setup,
come to the top menu, click window,
scroll down to workspace, then come across, scroll down
and click on new workspace.
Up will pop a window, I'm going
to call this workspace tutorial workspace and click ok.
Now if we come to the top and click on the other workspaces,
we can then come back again
and activate the workspace we just created.
Excellent.
So that is how you can customize a workspace
in Adobe Illustrator and save it.
So now we have a nice workspace we are ready to move on.
In the next video I'm going
to be talking a little more about art boards.
How they work in Adobe Illustrator
and why we would use them.
So see you in the next video.