Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 366)

359 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Creating special effects
Rough Pastels Makes an image appear as if stroked with colored pastel chalk on a textured background. In areas of
bright color, the chalk appears thick with little texture; in darker areas, the chalk appears scraped off to reveal the
texture.
Smudge Stick Softens an image using short diagonal strokes to smudge or smear the darker areas of the images.
Lighter areas become brighter and lose detail.
Sponge Creates images with highly textured areas of contrasting color as if painted with a sponge.
Underpainting Paints the image on a textured background, and then paints the final image over it.
Watercolor Paints the image in a watercolor style, simplifying details, and using a medium brush loaded with water
and color. Where significant tonal changes occur at edges, the effect saturates the color.
See also
“ Effects quick reference ” on page 357
“ Use texture and glass surface controls ” on page 363
Blur effects
The commands in the Blur submenu in the Effect menu are raster-based and use the document’s raster effects settings
whenever you apply the effect to a vector object.
Gaussian Blur Quickly blurs a selection by an adjustable amount. This effect removes high-frequency detail and can
produce a hazy effect.
Radial Blur Simulates the soft blur created by a zooming or rotating camera. Choose Spin to blur along concentric
circular lines, and then specify a degree of rotation. Choose Zoom to blur along radial lines, as if zooming in or out of
the image, and specify an amount from 1 to 100. Blur quality ranges from Draft for the fastest but grainy results to
Good and Best for smoother results, which are indistinguishable except on a large selection. Specify the origin of the
blur by dragging the pattern in the Blur Center box.
Smart Blur Blurs an image with precision. You can specify a radius, a threshold, and a blur quality. The Radius value
determines the size of the area searched for dissimilar pixels. The Threshold value determines how dissimilar the pixels
must be before they are affected. You also can set a mode for the entire selection (Normal) or for the edges of color
transitions (Edge Only and Overlay). Where significant contrast occurs, Edge Only applies black-and-white edges, and
Overlay Edge applies white.
See also
“ Effects quick reference ” on page 357
Brush Strokes effects
The Brush Strokes effects are raster-based and use the document’s raster effects settings whenever you apply the effect
to a vector object.
Accented Edges Accentuates the edges of an image. When the Edge Brightness control is set to a high value, the
accents resemble white chalk. When it is set to a low value, the accents resemble black ink.
Angled Strokes Repaints an image using diagonal strokes. The lighter areas of the image are painted in strokes going
in one direction, while the darker areas are painted in strokes going the opposite direction.