Working with effects and filters, About effects and filters – Adobe Illustrator CS3 User Manual
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ILLUSTRATOR CS3
User Guide
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Hold down the Shift key and then the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key while clicking to add the
appearance attributes of an object to the selected object’s appearance attributes. Alternatively, click first, and then
hold down Shift and then Alt or Option.
Note: You can also click an unselected object to sample its attributes and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS)
an unselected object to which you want to apply the attributes.
Copy attributes from the desktop using the Eyedropper tool
1
Select the object whose attributes you want to change.
2
Select the Eyedropper tool.
3
Click anywhere on the document and continue to hold down the mouse button.
4
Without releasing the mouse button, move the pointer over the object on your computer’s desktop whose
attributes you want to copy. When directly over the object, release the mouse button.
Important: The Eyedropper tool only samples the RGB color from the screen when sampling anywhere outside the
current document. The Eyedropper tool indicates it is sampling RGB color from the screen by displaying a black-colored
square to the right of the tool.
Specify which attributes you can copy with the Eyedropper tool
1
Double-click the Eyedropper tool.
2
Select the attributes you want to copy with the Eyedropper tool. You can sample appearance attributes including
transparency, and various fill and stroke properties, as well as character and paragraph properties.
3
Choose the sample size area from the Raster Sample Size menu.
4
Click
OK.
Working with effects and filters
About effects and filters
Many commands for changing the look of objects are available in both the Filter and Effect menus. For example, all
of the commands in the Filter > Artistic submenu are also listed in the Effect > Artistic submenu. However, filters
and effects have different consequences, so it’s important to understand the difference in their use.
Effects are live, which means you can apply an effect command to an object and then continue to modify the effect’s
options or remove the effect at any time using the Appearance panel. Once you apply an effect to an object, the
Appearance panel lists the effect and enables you to edit the effect, move it, duplicate it, delete it, or save it as part of
a graphic style.
Filters change the underlying object, and the changes can’t be modified or removed after the filter is applied. But one
advantage to reshaping an object with a filter command is that you have immediate access to the new or modified
anchor points created by the filter. (When you use an effect, you must expand the object before you can access the
new points.)
For a video on using the Appearance panel and effects, se