Maureen Neuringer | COMD 3711 | Section D030

02 Discussion

Each week you will need to respond to two questions posted. Your response should be a minimum of 150 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 –

What is the value of the Appearance Palette? How can you tell you have one shape?

Question 02 –

Describe two things you can do in the Appearance Palette.

22 Comments

  1. Tiffany Weintraub

    1- The Appearance Palette is an incredible feature of Adobe Illustrator. It is a powerful tool that gives you control over the effects that are applied to objects. The Appearance Panel makes it fairly easy to mange different properties of one object, without having to make multiple copies of it. It allows you to modify and add to the visual presentation of an object. The Appearance Panel gives you the ability to make changes to properties such as stroke, fill, color, opacity, texture, intensity, transparency, and blending, with professional level precision. You can stack and reorder appearance attributes to achieve unique and intricate effects.

    To tell if you have one shape, use the keyboard shortcut “Command + Y,” which will display the outline. You can also use the black arrow tool to select the objects and see the shape.

    2- Two of the most basic things you can do in the Appearance Palette are adding multiple strokes and fills to an object. The Appearance Palette is actually an index or contents page for every asset in your Illustrator file. Once you select an object and open the panel, you will see that it displays the stroke and fill information. It allows you to go in and directly edit strokes and fills, and other effects without having to create multiple objects and overlay them on top. With the Appearance Palette in Adobe Illustrator, you can create just one object and apply different effects to it. By working with each one individually, you can edit and change without having to go over and retrace your steps.

  2. Rezwan Haque

    The appearance pallet is a tool that allows you to create multiple strokes and fills to one shape. You can transform the different shapes and strokes individually from sizes to the way the shapes looks or is formed. I can say for sure that the appearance pallet allows me to be more organized with my layers and shapes

  3. Romual Germain

    The appearance palette in Adobe illustrator is very valuable especially towards designers like myself because it allows easier manipulation and creativity towards your artwork. The appearance palette allows you to change the stroke, fill , color, the shape of your object and also lets you use illustrator effects such as 3d, Distort and transform and Warp. These illustrator effects help you change the way your object looks. You can tell you have one shape when you are able to select the item and everything is grouped as one also with being able to move and manipulate it freely as one object. With the Appearance palette you are also able to use Photoshop effects such as the effect gallery that you normally use on photoshop, Blur and texture. With all these tools at your disposal your creativity isn’t limited and you are able to make anything with this tool which is a big reason why this tool is valuable to designers.

  4. Xiangyong zeng

    As we talk about the value of the Appearance Palette we first need to understand what it is, the Appearance Palette is a panel in Adobe Illustrator used to control the appearance properties of graphical objects. It allows you to add, edit and overlay various effects and styles without changing the basic shape of the object. I think the value of the Appearance Palette is that it makes us more productive. The Appearance Palette allows you to quickly edit and manage the appearance of multiple objects without having to modify each one individually, and you can modify the appearance of an object without destroying the original. This is very useful for designers because you can adjust the effect at any time without having to redraw or duplicate the object. But the most important thing is that every time we use the Appearance Palette we need to make sure that we click on the graphic and that the graphic is selected before we do the above.

    There are many things we can do with the Appearance Palette such as editing the appearance of an object. We can use the Appearance Palette to add, edit, and remove effects from an object. You can add shadows, strokes, fills, transparency, etc. to change the appearance of an object.

  5. Vivian

    Question 01 –

    What is the value of the Appearance Palette? How can you tell you have one shape?

    The appearance panel allows the designer to apply multiple fills, strokes, and effects onto one panel, allowing the designer to give a single object multiple attributes. This means that the designer does not have to create duplicates of a single object or sort through multiple layers in order to identify which effect is applied to which object on which layer. The designer can tell that only one shape was used to achieve the many attributes and effects by turning on outlines. This can be done by going into view > outline at the top of illustrator. Alternatively, the designer can also use the shortcut cmd+y (Mac) or ctrl+y (Windows).

    Question 02 –

    Describe two things you can do in the Appearance Palette.

    1. The designer can apply a drop shadow to an object in the appearance panel. This can be achieved by first selecting the object. Then, the designer would go to the appearance panel, click on effects (the third icon at the bottom left corner of the panel), select stylize and drop shadow. From there, a window will appear and the designer will be able to customize the appearance of the drop shadow through options like color mode, opacity, blur, etc.
    2. The designer can apply a texture to an object in the appearance panel. This can be achieved by first selecting the object. Then, the designer would go to the appearance panel, click on effects, select texture under “Photoshop Effects”, and select texturizer. From there, a large window will appear and the designer will be able to select the type of texture (brick, burlap, canvas, sandstone), change the scaling and relief of the texture, etc.
  6. Jacqueline Hernandez

    The value of the Appearance Palette is to create a shape mainly using the color fill and the stroke. A shape that is used can also use its opacity and its effects. It shows a lot of the effects of what can be done with one shape and can add a lot of layers to it. You can tell it’s a shape because when you select it with the select tool it shows in one shape. One of the things you can do in the Appearance Palette is use the effects to create a transform of the shape whether it’s the horizontal or vertical of the canvas and the scale of the shape can be changed. The second thing you can do is change the angles of the shape and make the design you can have it to be.

    • Tiffany Weintraub

      Hello Jackie,

      The easiest way for me to tell there is one shape is exactly what you said, by selecting it with the selection tool. We all explained there are other ways to find out, but for me this is the easiest and I feel like this way saves me time.

  7. Marianna D'Angelo

    The value of the Appearance palette in Adobe Illustrator is important because it allows you to create designs by doing several strokes, fills, changing the color, adding effects, graphics and changing the opacity, and it will make your layers easier. If you wanna know if you have one shape you can do command+y and it will show you the outline. You can also just select the object and you can tell if it selected one.

    • Vivian

      Hi Marianna,

      You make a good point about the appearance panel improving workflow in terms of layers management. Using the appearance panel allowed me to apply multiple attributes to the same base shape, so I didn’t have to tediously sort through multiple shapes, lines, or groups in the layer panel.

  8. Saria Tabassum

    The appearance palette in Illustrator contains significant values that will make life easier. It allows you to modify the appearance of the shapes or the text; you may add multiple fills, strokes, and effects to transform your design however you’d like in a single shape, avoiding the confusion of several layers. It makes it easy to combine multiple styles without requiring additional objects. You can make your design 3D by using appearance, and you can also pluck and bloat, which is my personal favorite since it allows you to create unique designs. Two things you can do in Appearance Palette is you can create multiple fills or strokes and you can transform each of the fill or stroke however you would like.

    • Saria Tabassum

      Pucker & Bloat in Distort & Transform***

      • Fahima

        Hi Saria,

        I actually enjoyed applying the pucker and bloat effects in the distort transform because they give different results based on the shape. Certain shapes may create effects that resemble flowers.

    • Marianna D'Angelo

      I agree i think the appearance palette makes it easier and lets you do a lot to create the best design you can do!

  9. HarryChen

    The appearance palette has many values as it allows us design a shape or object without needing to create multiple layers in the layers panel. In the appearance palette we are able to add multiple fill colors and strokes to our shape and change around the layer order all within the palette. We can also individually add effects (fx) to each fill color and stroke to create compelling design ideas. We can tell that we only have one shape if there is only one bounding box when selecting our shape.

  10. Sebastian Chapman

    It is important to have the appearance palette in adobe illustrator. With the appearance palette you can manipulate many aspects of a selected object, for example the size of the object, the color of both fill and strokes, it also lists any effects applied as well as the opacity of the object. It is also used for reference when looking to inspect an object’s dimensions or if any effects have been previously applied. Overall, the appearance palette is important because it is a one-stop-shop for many attributes regarding a selected object. To confirm that only one shape exists in the artboard, you can turn on the outlines view with (command+y) and it should reveal the original stroke of the objects and shapes within the artboard; this can help by maintaining graphics aligned and united without having to resort to manual movement or grouping various layers or elements together. Following these practices ensures that all graphics are accurate, aligned, and exist within one shape.

    • Romual Germain

      Hi Sebastian , I agree that the appearance palette is like a one-stop-shop for many attributes regarding a selected object because with the amount of unlimited opportunities you have being creative with the appearance palette, It’s a good thing that you are able to find everything that you need using it.

  11. Melissa

    The Appearance Panel in Adobe Illustrator holds significant value as it helps users control and manipulate the visual attributes of shapes and objects within their artwork. It works as a comprehensive tool for managing the appearance of individual elements by allowing users to apply multiple strokes, fills, and effects to a single shape without the need to recreate the entire object. With the Appearance Panel, users can create complex and visually compelling designs by stacking various attributes on a single object. This not only makes creating designs simpler but also allows you to experiment with various visual elements without changing the original shape.  

    To determine the number of shapes in your design, navigate to the “View” menu and select “Outline,” or alternatively, use the shortcut Command + Y on macOS. 

    • Saria Tabassum

      Hello, Melissa. I agree that stacking multiple attributes on a single object is helpful because as designers, we don’t need to stress over just creating multiple layers for a single design which is also time consuming. It saves time and is less stressful!

  12. Wei Ni

    I call it the Appearance Panel, and there are many different things you can do in it, you can change the opacity of the object, you can change stroke weight and change it’s color, you can also change the fill color of any selected object. You can also add effects to the shape which can distort, bloat, pucker, stretch the object and do various other effects. That’s to list a few of the options you have in the Appearance panel.

  13. Fahima

    Adobe Illustrator Appearance Palette is a design force that combines efficiency and creativity. Its importance is in the ability of combining design elements from one shape/object. By simply adding stroke and fill to a single shape, such as a circle, you may build a flower with multiple layers and petals. To know you have one shape, use the keyboard shortcut ‘command+y’, which will display the outline.

    The Appearance Palette, it allows us to apply many visual styles to a single shape, blending seamlessly; multiple fills, strokes, and effects (fx). This allows for expand and flexible for all of us without overwhelming the artboards with many layers/shapes.

    • Melissa

      Hi Fahima,

      You’re right. I often overcrowd my layers with too many shapes. Now, I’m confident that utilizing the Appearance Panel will help me stay more organized and navigate through my layers more easily.

    • Xiangyong zeng

      Hi Fahima,

      I think you have a great understanding of the Appearance Palette, which will help us a lot more than it would if we had to paint a flower one by one. It would save the designer a lot of time if flowers with multiple layers and petals could be constructed by simply adding strokes and fills to individual shapes. I think the greatest value of the Appearance Palette is that it offers more design options and efficient work.