Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics design program, installed on all The Factory iMacs.
Vector graphics is where a design is defined by anchor points and lines that join them called paths. The position of these is defined numerically, meaning that, unlike a standard image, you can zoom in as much as you like and your design will never become pixelated. This makes vector graphics very useful because your design is scalable, it can be used to cut a keyring or a billboard without any change in quality. The majority of our machines use vector graphics.
There is no official course or test for understanding vector graphics or learning illustrator and there are lots of tutorials on available online if you get stuck. At the top of the page you will find a tab labelled “Course Materials” on this you will find a number of worksheets to help you get to grips with Illustrator.
Click on a title to access the worksheet, it will open as a PDF in your browser. You can download the PDf using the download button in the top right hand corner
Intro to Illustrator: Navigation
Worksheet 1 - Create a name keyring
Worksheet 2 - Create a cut out vinyl stickerĀ
Worksheet 3 - Creating shapes through experimentation
Worksheet 4 - Learn advanced drawing by making a hot air balloon
Worksheet 5 - Learn to image trace: creating vector graphics from images