Each week you will need to respond to two questions posted. Your response should be a minimum of 300 words for both questions. You should also include at least one response to your fellow students. The responses are a requirement for participation part of your grade.
Question 01 –
Why would you want to use the Appearance Panel instead of pasting shapes behind each other?
Question 02 –
If you changed your mind about the color and position of a stroke could you change it? How?
The appearance panel is a really valuable tool it allows you to change the properties of an object like the stroke, fill, and opacity. You would use this panel instead of pasting objects behind each other because it is efficient and contains less data. Also, while using the appearance panel you can adjust drop shadows/blur which is a fun element to elevate your design.
You can change anything in Illustrator color and stroke position included. There are multiple ways to change the color of a stroke, but the way that I find most efficient is selecting the stroke with my selection tool and using the appearance panel to click the fill option. Immediately, an array of colors appears for you to choose from. You can change the position of a stroke by using the selection tool and moving your closed pathed shape. Or you may use the scissor tool to change a stroke position in the shape. This manipulates the shape without having to use the pen tool to maneuver the object to a desired look. Using your direct selection tool you can open the shape creating an open path. Using the selection tool and selecting the object, you will have an option to join the path. This then closes the object and creates a new stroke.
I would use Appearance panel, because this panel gives ability to add fill, stroke and opacity faster.
If you need to change color and position of the stroke, you have to select this object and go to tool panel, where on the bottom you can see 2 squares, you need to select stroke fill one and choose different color. Also, you can find on the top panel color and stroke fill and change it. Another way to change a color of the stroke, go to the properties panel and change there.
There are also different options to change the stroke positing you can click “A”, and you will use direct selection tool, where you can change position of anchor points. It depends on the exact task (position of a stroke) because you may use pen tool and variation of this tool like to add or delete anchor points. Moreover, you can find eraser, scissor or knife tools on the panel tool. Those instruments are more specific for changing not only stroke, and also the whole shape (dividing shape – knife, dividing path – scissors, change the path with erasing it – erasing tool).
Hey Marharyta! I completely agree the appearance panel is super efficient in changing color/stroke. I would also add that pasting shapes behind one another may complicate the design because while selecting the shapes they may move too much. So you might change the color or stroke to a shape you didn’t mean to.
Appearance Panel would be a good source while you are in illustrator because you can change the color of the stroke while designing. Just change the opacity of the stroke. If you find out that the stroke color that you put in isn’t your style, you can change it in the swatch color selection.
Using the Appearance Panel offers several advantages over pasting shapes behind each other. Firstly, it allows for non-destructive editing, enabling you to easily modify properties such as stroke, fill, and effects without altering the underlying shapes. This results in a more flexible and efficient workflow, especially when experimenting with different designs.
If you changed your mind about the color and position of a stroke, you can easily modify it using the Appearance Panel in design software like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. Simply select the object with the stroke, then open the Appearance Panel. Within the panel, you can adjust the stroke’s color by clicking on the stroke type and choosing a new color from the color picker. To change the position of the stroke, you can adjust its alignment options within the Stroke panel.
Hi Esther,
I had not considered non-destructive editing in my own response. You’re completely right that being able to modify or remove effects without affecting the underlying shapes provides more flexibility during the design process. I learned that this also applies to live effects, such as shadows, glows, or distortions. These effects are dynamic and can be adjusted at any time without the need to recreate or rearrange shapes.
I would also add that When working with a complex design, using the Appearance panel helps avoid a cluttered workspace with numerous individual shapes. This can make your file more manageable and easier to organize.
The Appearance Panel on Illustrator includes options to add and modify fill, stroke, opacity, and effects on any selected path which makes it more efficient than stacking shapes in order to achieve the same result. One reason this efficiency is important as it will lead to faster load times online. Moreover, professional design studios will often have multiple designers working on the same project and following industry standards like using the Appearance Panel makes it easier for designers to follow each others’ work. As demonstrated in the video in Class 03 titled How to Use the Appearance Panel, this toolkit also makes it easy to apply changes to multiple objects and order how these transformations are applied. If multiple pasted shapes are used to achieve a similar effect then they would potentially have to be grouped, ungrouped, and individually changed depending on the desired outcome. In summary, the Appearance panel in Adobe Illustrator provides a more powerful and organized way to handle the visual attributes of objects, especially when dealing with complex and layered designs. It promotes efficiency and ease of management.
You can easily change the color and position of a stroke by first using the Selection Tool to click on the object with the stroke you want to change. Then, you can open the “Stroke” panel by going to Window > Stroke. In the Stroke panel, you can change the color of the stroke by clicking on the color swatch. This opens the color picker, and you can select a new color. Once you’ve chosen a new color, the stroke color will be updated on the selected object. Alternatively, you can adjust the stroke color from the color swatch in the Properties > Appearance panel. To change the position of a stroke, use the Selection Tool to click on the object with the stroke you want to reposition. Then, open the “Stroke” panel by going to Window > Stroke. In the Stroke panel, you’ll find options for aligning the stroke to the inside, center, or outside of the object. Use the alignment options to reposition the stroke as desired. Also, you can use the “Stroke” options in the Control Panel to change the stroke color and alignment depending on the type of workspace selected.
The Apperance Panel gives you full ability to change all components of the shape. It allows for users to change the Fill color,Stroke Color, Opacity,etc… If you simply copy and paste each shape, it will start to become redundant and it gives the user less flexibity to change the apperance of the shape. If you use the Apperance panel the user has full capabilities to change all aspects of the selected shape.
If you decide a certain color is not working for you, it is very simple to change the color. On the Right Hand panel, scroll until you see the Apperance section. Here you can change the Fill color or Stroke Color. Simply click on the tiny square located right next to the words Fill/Stroke. A pop up window will appear, here you can change the color.
Yeah, changing the color and position of a stroke is pretty easy, just by 1 or 2 steps. Nothing too complex at all.
One would want to use the appearance panel instead of pasting shapes because the appearance panel is handier. It gives the user full control of the depth of all the shapes in their art work. It also opens access to all other sorts of cosmetic changes a user can make to a shape.
This is possible to change by going into the properties panel. Both fill color and stroke color appearance can be changed here by selecting them (respectively) the color you wish to change. The stroke could be changed in the same way.
Most would want to use the appearance panel instead of pasting shapes behind each other because it’s simpler to use/create shapes. The appearance panel allows you to make the shape opaque or solid allowing you to see what’s behind the shape that’s in the front of it. When you paste the shape, you’re just putting that same shape onto the artboard without change in appearance. If you change your mind about the color and position of the stroke, you can change it using the appearance panel and selecting the fill color.
You would want to use the Appearance Panel instead of pasting shapes behind each other because the appearance panel allows you to see created the objects without having to paste. you also have more control on the shapes. You are working with when using the appearance panel rather than pasting the shape without being able to adjust as much.
If you changed your mind about the color and position of a stroke you could change it by, Using properties panel to change the appearance color or Position. The properties panel allows you to change the size of the stroke and adjust certain designs or aspects with your object.
The Appearance panel is useful because it helps you change the stroke, fill, and opacity of the object you select. It is basically more effective and practical than just pasting shapes behind each other, would just be repetitive depending on what you are doing.
Now if you decide on the color and position of as stroke you chose, you can simply change it by selecting the color or object that is on your screen right now. Then move your mouse towards the fill and stroke boxes on the bottom left and choose the color of your desire.