{"id":1537,"date":"2011-06-23T14:21:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T18:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2011-08-18T09:19:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T13:19:17","slug":"tutorial-designing-geometric-smocking-plates-in-illustrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/?p=1537","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial: Designing Geometric Smocking Plates in Illustrator"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the third lesson in my series of tutorials on how to use Adobe Illustrator to create smocking plates.<\/p>\n

This geometric plate features some of the most common geometric smocking stitches, including cable, wave and trellis. \u00a0It also features a simple cross-over design to introduce working with multiple layers. \u00a0It seems\u00a0counter-intuitive\u00a0that creating a geometric design should be more difficult than making a picture smocked design in Illustrator, since the opposite is true when stitching, but geometrics are<\/em> more challenging because of their greater variability. \u00a0Stacked cables are stacked cables to a large extent but geometric designs are all different and so no two projects can be worked in exactly the same manner.<\/p>\n

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You need to be comfortable manipulating vector shapes, understanding how to get them aligned, distributed and sized and working from a blank slate, rather than taking away pre-existing stitches like we did in the earlier picture smocking tutorials.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t completed the first two tutorials, you’ll want to practice and complete them first before tackling the final tutorial on creating geometric plates, as I build on the basic skills from each of the earlier lessons. \u00a0You’ll find the first two tutorials and all related downloads here:<\/p>\n

Tutorial: Designing Smocking Plates in Illustrator<\/a>
\nTutorial: Multi-Coloured Smocking Plates in Illustrator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You will need a copy of Adobe Illustrator to work with these files. \u00a0It will work on either a Mac or a PC. \u00a0However, the shortcut codes here are written for a PC. \u00a0If you need the Mac codes, you will find them here.<\/p>\n

For tutorial 3, download the following file from Dropbox:<\/p>\n

tutorial3.ai<\/a><\/p>\n

Learning Outcomes<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this tutorial, you will learn how to manipulate geometric stitch symbols to create a nine row smocking plate. \u00a0You will learn how to modify and create original symbols. \u00a0You will also learn how to create custom colour swatches.<\/p>\n

Tools Used in Tutorial 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSelection
\n(Hotkey: V)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n

<\/td>\nDirect Selection
\n(Hotkey: A)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\nHand<\/p>\n

(Hotkey: Spacebar)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n

<\/td>\nZoom<\/p>\n

(Hotkey: Z)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zoom Out<\/p>\n

(Hotkey: ALT+Z)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\nText<\/p>\n

(Hotkey: T)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Note: This tutorial is written with PC shortcuts. \u00a0Many of the shortcut codes are the same on the Mac but for the complete list of Mac-friendly codes, click\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Open the Adobe Illustrator file tutorial3.ai<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Open Layers (Hotkey: F7) and lock the ‘row’ and ‘pleats’ layers. \u00a0Unlock the cables layer and highlight it so you can work on it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Open the Symbols window (Shift+Ctrl+F11\/Windows>Symbols) \u00a0and select the “cable pair”. \u00a0Drag it onto the artboard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Align the cable pair at the left edge of row 1 using the selection tool (Hotkey: V). \u00a0Zoom in (Hotkey: Z) to increase magnification to get an accurate alignment on the pleats.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Change the keyboard increment (Ctrl+K) to 4mm. \u00a0Tip: If your default setting is for measurements set to something\u00a0other\u00a0than millimetre, you can change the measurement setting by going to Edit>Preferences>Unit>General Measurements and selecting ‘millimetres’. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Hold down the Alt Key and tap the right arrow. \u00a0The cable pair will be duplicated exactly 4mm from the original. \u00a0Continue tapping the right arrow until the entire row is filled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Change the keyboard increment again (Ctrl+K) to 16mm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0Using the selection tool (Hotkey: V) highlight the entire row of cables.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

9. \u00a0Copy the cables by clicking the right mouse button>transform>reflect. \u00a0Select ‘horizontal’ and then ‘copy’ to create a mirror image of the row. \u00a0The new row will be directly on top of the original row and highlighted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0Hold down the Alt key and tap the down arrow. \u00a0The duplicated cables will move to the next gathering row. \u00a0Continue moving the reflected cables until they are on row 9. \u00a0Deselect the cables (Ctrl+Shift+A).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

11. \u00a0From the symbols window, select “Full Space Wave”. Tip: \u00a0All of the smocking symbols are labelled. \u00a0To see their title, simply hold the cursor over the symbol and its title will appear. <\/em>Drag the Full Space Wave onto the artboard, placing it between rows 2 and 3, directly below the row of cable stitches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

12. \u00a0Switch from Preview mode to Outline mode (Ctrl+Y).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

13. \u00a0Zoom in (Hotkey: Z) to 1200%. \u00a0Using the selection tool (Hotkey: V), align the full space wave with the gathering rows and pleats. \u00a0When it is aligned, zoom out by making the artboard fit the window (Ctrl+0). \u00a0Return to Preview mode (Ctrl+Y).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

14. \u00a0Change the keyboard increment (Ctrl+K) to 8mm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

15. \u00a0Making sure the symbol is still highlighted, duplicate the full space trellis across the width of the plate by holding down the Alt key and tapping the right or left arrow keys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At this point, the stitches will likely not align with the edges of the plate. \u00a0Don’t worry. \u00a0We will clean up the stragglers at the end of the design process, once everything is finalized. \u00a0For now, ignore any stitches that extend past the pleats.<\/em><\/p>\n

16. \u00a0Select the row of trellis stitches with the selection tool (Hotkey: V).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

17. \u00a0Copy the stitches by right clicking>transform>reflect. \u00a0 Select ‘horizontal’ and then copy. \u00a0The mirror image will be highlighted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

18. \u00a0Push the down arrow until the duplicated row is between rows 7 and 8.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gosh. \u00a0Looking at the plate, I see that those full space waves are just to big for the design. \u00a0I want to change them but I don’t want to have to start from scratch. \u00a0That’s OK. \u00a0I can substitute one symbol for another. \u00a0Here’s how.<\/em><\/p>\n

19. \u00a0Highlight the full space waves on row 2-3 and row 7-8. (Hotkey: V)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

20. \u00a0Next, click on the half space save in the symbols window.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

21. \u00a0With the full space waves still highlighted and the half-space symbol chosen, click on the dropdown menu in the top right corner of the symbols window and choose “Replace Symbol”.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/em>22. \u00a0In the workspace, all of the full space waves are now half-space waves. \u00a0Tip: \u00a0This substitution only works with symbols whose links haven’t been broken or otherwise changed from the original. \u00a0If you break the symbols link and then decide you want to change it, you will need to manually delete the revised element from the workspace and replace it from scratch.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

22. \u00a0Change the keyboard increment to 2mm (Ctrl+K) and move the half space waves to row 1 1\/2 and row 8.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

23. \u00a0Save your work as tutorial3yourname.ai. \u00a0 The second part of this tutorial can be found by clicking here<\/a> and we will tackle creating new symbols, tweaking existing stitches to fit new applications and how to work with layers.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the third lesson in my series of tutorials on how to use Adobe Illustrator to create smocking plates. This geometric plate features some of the most common geometric smocking stitches, including cable, wave and trellis. \u00a0It also features a simple cross-over design to introduce working with multiple layers. \u00a0It seems\u00a0counter-intuitive\u00a0that creating a geometric […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,1],"tags":[93,94,96,95,21],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorial","category-uncategorized","tag-adobe-illustrator","tag-designing-smocking-plate","tag-english-smocking","tag-geometric-smocking","tag-smocking-plate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairemeldrum.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}