shadow play

[grenadi]

In Illustrator CS3 is there any way of making the shadow distinct from the shape? I.E like real life where shadows do not always appear to touch their object.

Does that offset box do it if I give it certain settings?

Xara does distinct shadows. Coreldraw does it I am told.

[Albacore]

Because Illy treats shadows as vectors you have much more control over your shadows. Expand Appearance of your shadow, Un-group and then use the Transform Tool to get the effect that you want. Much more accurate than the others that you have mentioned and it is still vector.

[grenadi]

Well, if this attachment is not too large, it's about as far as I get with fancy shadow effects in Ilustrator. I still can't see how to make the shadows distinct from their parent objects.

I like all of the programs of 2D that I have tried except Coreldraw which has the most sickly colour scheme and the clunkiest extrude tool.

It's too large. One critique that I have of AI is that it produces very large document files.

[grenadi]

I produced a AI file today that was 27 MB without trying.

I can't load the shadow one. It is 966 KB after deleting some stuff.

[handrawn]

try this :

select your [ a copy of] your object with shadow

go to object menu and click on expand appearance

then deselect all

then with the direct selection tool click on the shadow and that should be selected by itself

this should work in CS3 - at least with a vector object

[grenadi]

That works! Sweet!

[handrawn]

I have only just got my hands on CS3 in the last four days - 3 months of working with someone elses CS2 persuaded me to download the CS3 trial - now I only have to justify the cost to my other half should [sorry when] I decide to buy...

[Albacore]

Hi Steve,
The thing that got me to upgrade was the extension of Smart Objects and the Rubber Tool nothing else. The smart objects is a real boon to the work flow as you whiz into PS do some work, save and it updates the illustrator file as well but on a smart layer.

[handrawn]

Hi Peter

After working with CS2 since March I have come to value the live trace and particularly the Live paint, which do the sorts of things I need to do a lot easier, and yes quicker [usually] than I was used to before.

Illustrator still handles transparency like a juggler with no thumbs, but xara is there both for that, and when I need it, the shape editor tool.

As you say - smart objects in PS/CS3 look really good and the node eraser tool is a 'sculpters' delight.
'Little things' like being able to select by fill color unqualified [imported - no problem] or level of transparency speed my work flow too.
The live color I have not got into yet.

No holiday for me this year [again]