Adobe® Illustrator® CS4: Level 2

Course Specifications

Course number: 084049
Software: Adobe® Illustrator® CS4
Course length: 1.0 day(s)

Course Description

You probably used Adobe Illustrator to create simple illustrations and logos. However, you may need to create complex illustrations, print documents without any errors or color mismatches, or prepare illustrations for the web. In this course, you will create complex, robust illustrations that go beyond those you could create using Illustrator's basic tools.

Course Objective: You will create complex illustrations, manage color across a range of devices, work with graphs and variables, control how illustrations appear on print and the web, and preview them on mobile devices.

Target Student: This course is intended for designers, publishers, prepress professionals, marketing communications professionals, or people switching to a design job or taking on design responsibilities, who need to use Illustrator to create illustrations, logos, advertisements, or other graphic documents. They will have some previous experience with Illustrator.

Prerequisites: Before taking this course, you should complete the Adobe® Illustrator® CS4: Level 2 Element K course, or have equivalent knowledge.

Delivery Method: Instructor led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with structured hands-on activities.

Hardware Requirements

Platform Requirements

Software Requirements

Performance-Based Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Course Content

Lesson 1: Creating Complex Illustrations
Topic 1A: Create a Custom Shape Using Simple Shapes
Topic 1B: Create Compound Paths
Topic 1C: Offset Paths
Topic 1D: Erase Shapes


Lesson 2: Enhancing Complex Illustrations
Topic 2A: Create Symbols
Topic 2B: Organize Objects with Layers
Topic 2C: Create a Pattern Swatch
Topic 2D: Create a Mesh
Topic 2E: Create Custom Brushes
Topic 2F: Apply Color Using Live Paint
Topic 2G: Recolor Artwork


Lesson 3: Creating a Vector Version of a Raster Graphic
Topic 3A: Trace Artwork Automatically
Topic 3B: Adjust the Results of Tracing
Topic 3C: Create a Custom Preset
Topic 3D: Convert a Traced Object to Paths


Lesson 4: Creating Special Effects
Topic 4A: Apply Effects
Topic 4B: Create Masks
Topic 4C: Simplify Paths
Topic 4D: Create Blends
Topic 4E: Share Graphic Styles
Topic 4F: Create 3-D Effects


Lesson 5: Working with Graphs
Topic 5A: Create a Graph
Topic 5B: Format a Graph


Lesson 6: Working with Variables
Topic 6A: Create Variables
Topic 6B: Create Data Sets


Lesson 7: Outputting Documents
Topic 7A: Create an Artboard
Topic 7B: Set Up Color Management
Topic 7C: Preview an Overprint
Topic 7D: Apply Spot Colors
Topic 7E: Print a Composite Proof
Topic 7F: Create Color Separations
Topic 7G: Create an Adobe PDF File


Lesson 8: Exporting Graphics for the Web and Mobile Devices
Topic 8A: Convert Colors to Web-Safe Colors
Topic 8B: Work with Actions
Topic 8C: Export a File as an SWF File
Topic 8D: Create Slices
Topic 8E: Add Interactivity to an SVG File
Topic 8F: Preview an Illustration for Mobile Devices


Appendix A: New Features in Adobe Illustrator CS4


Appendix B: Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) Objectives Mapping