Interactive Painting in Adobe Illustrator is, among the infinity of tools of the Adobe Illustrator program, one of the most used. In this article, I will show you in a simple way how to use the interactive painting tool in Adobe Illustrator. In adobe illustrator you can create from shapes to almost any design, stay with us and learn how to use this tool better.
What is an Interactive Painting or vector graphic?
Adobe Illustrator is a famous program for making vector graphics. It was launched on the market in 1987, since then it has remained one of the main tools used by graphic designers, illustrators and artists; Currently, its latest version of Adobe Illustrator is CC 2018 (22.0.1.253), launched on October 18, 2017. It has an interactive painting tool.
There are two types of digital graphics or images; the best known are bitmaps; They are photo files, made up of pixels that have a fixed resolution (width and length) and those with the extension JPG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, among others.
What are vector graphics used for in Adobe Illustrator?
The main advantage of a vector graphic is its scalability, that is, the image will not lose its quality if we modify it, because they are not made up of pixels, so they always maintain their proportions regardless of size, which is perfect for prints of plans, billboards, decorative signs, among other things.
Therefore, Adobe Illustrator vector graphics are an ideal option for creating graphic and illustrative material, which are often used for the layout and publication of all kinds of products and services; and even they can also be used in the generation of images with 3-dimensional effect; to which we have an article on our blog that solves it.
How to convert text to path in Adobe Illustrator?
In Adobe Illustrator, the vector graphics that are drawn are made up of paths or guides, which have different segments, which can be both straight and curved, or may or may not have a contour. If you do not have them activated on your pc, you can look at this article to do it in a minute.
How to edit the Live Paint tool
Sometimes it will be necessary to convert a text to a path, so we can alter the shape of the letters and add custom features. This is a widely used practice in creating logos, slogans and other types of designs; We will explain how to do it below.
First, we must write our letters using the Text Tool, available in the Toolbar on the left side of the screen, then select the text box that contains them; then, we go to the menu option Text> Create contours or type the combination Shift + Ctrl + O.
We will see how the vectors and strokes that make up each letter are shown. From this point on, we can make any changes we want; using the Direct Selection Tool (Toolbar) or pressing (A) to select the vectors and change their position or make lines more straight or curved.
How to use the Interactive Paint tool in Adobe Illustrator?
The Interactive Paint Tool is one of the most used in Adobe Illustrator because any stroke or outline that we make will need a color or texture; For this, you must select the object you are going to paint, click on the Interactive Paint Tool button located on the Toolbar or press (K).
Having the Sample Tool displayed, located on the right side of the screen, taking into account that you can make the color selection with the mouse or also by pressing the arrows (left and right) on the keyboard, will increase the efficiency of this tool.
While using the Interactive Paint Tool, the cursor will have the shape of a paint can and will show 3 color swatches, the one in the center is the base color you are working with; this way you will be able to select the exact color tone you want to color the selected path or contour.