styles vrs swatches....

[davidwa@adobeforums.com]

Newbie question for ya...

Can someone tell me what the main difference is between styles and swatches
in Illustrator and when it would be preferable to use one over another.

[davidwa@adobeforums.com]

Newbie question for ya...

Can someone tell me what the main difference is between styles and swatches
in Illustrator and when it would be preferable to use one over another.

[James_Talmage@adobeforums.com]

In simplest terms, think of Swatches as "kinds of paint" you apply to fills and strokes. Think of Styles as COLLECTIONS of fills and strokes(and Effects) which you apply to whole objects. So in a sense, you can think of Swatches as some of the "building blocks" of Styles. It's not an "either/or" situation; you use both.

To elaborate:

Swatches are usually simple "color chips." They can also be Gradient fills. (The Gradient can be built of colors dropped into the Gradient either from the color mixer or from other Swatches.) Swatches can also be like "wallpaper": Drag a whole object to the Swatches Palette and it becomes a Pattern Swatch, which can then be applied to either strokes or fills.

But remember, an AI path can have MULTIPLE strokes and fills, each of which can have different Swatches applied to them. But Swatches are not the ONLY building blocks of Styles. Styles are not limited to strokes and fills; they can also include live Effects, such as transparency, blur, drop shadows, shape distortions, Brushes, etc.

This does not mean that Styles are necessarily complicated. Quite the contrary. My Default Style contains a single stroke (.25 pt. black) and a single fill (none). It is by far the Style I use most often. On the other hand, I also have a cheezy "chrome" Style which contains several strokes, several fills, a Gradient, transparency, a Brush, a Round Corners Effect and a drop shadow. Even a 3D Effect can be included in a Style definition.

It generally goes like this:

You draw a path. Every path has a stroke and a fill, even though either of them can be defined as "none." (If you're inclined to question this, look at the Appearance Palette. Even if the current stroke and fill are both set to None, a stroke and a fill are listed in the Appearance Palette, and you cannot delete them.)

You apply Swatches to the fill and/or stroke. You COULD just apply colors to the stroke or fill directly from the color mixer or Gradients (only on fills) directly from Gradient Palette. But storing them in Swatches is a convenience, so you don't have to remember them or re-create them in the future.

You optionally apply ADDITIONAL strokes and/or fills to the path, using the Add New Stroke and Add New Fill commands of the Appearance Palette's flyout menu. As you add strokes and fills to this one object, they create a stack in the Appearance Palette. Any time you wish, you can re-arrange the stacking order.

You optionally apply Effects to individual strokes or fills in the stack, OR you apply Effects to the whole path (or group, or image, or text...). Effects cannot go into the Swatches Palette (except as part of whole objects contained in a Pattern Swatch). So you select the specific stroke or fill you want to affect with the Effect (like that?) and apply the Effect from whereever its particular interface is.

So you can build quite an elaborate set of fills, strokes, and effects onto a single object. After you've got it just the way you want, you don't want to have to go through all that again to apply the same look to other objects. So you drag the whole stylized object onto the Styles Palette. Thereafter, you can apply all that stuff to other objects with one click.

Clear as mud?

JET

[James_Talmage@adobeforums.com]

In simplest terms, think of Swatches as "kinds of paint" you apply to fills and strokes. Think of Styles as COLLECTIONS of fills and strokes(and Effects) which you apply to whole objects. So in a sense, you can think of Swatches as some of the "building blocks" of Styles. It's not an "either/or" situation; you use both.

To elaborate:

Swatches are usually simple "color chips." They can also be Gradient fills. (The Gradient can be built of colors dropped into the Gradient either from the color mixer or from other Swatches.) Swatches can also be like "wallpaper": Drag a whole object to the Swatches Palette and it becomes a Pattern Swatch, which can then be applied to either strokes or fills.

But remember, an AI path can have MULTIPLE strokes and fills, each of which can have different Swatches applied to them. But Swatches are not the ONLY building blocks of Styles. Styles are not limited to strokes and fills; they can also include live Effects, such as transparency, blur, drop shadows, shape distortions, Brushes, etc.

This does not mean that Styles are necessarily complicated. Quite the contrary. My Default Style contains a single stroke (.25 pt. black) and a single fill (none). It is by far the Style I use most often. On the other hand, I also have a cheezy "chrome" Style which contains several strokes, several fills, a Gradient, transparency, a Brush, a Round Corners Effect and a drop shadow. Even a 3D Effect can be included in a Style definition.

It generally goes like this:

You draw a path. Every path has a stroke and a fill, even though either of them can be defined as "none." (If you're inclined to question this, look at the Appearance Palette. Even if the current stroke and fill are both set to None, a stroke and a fill are listed in the Appearance Palette, and you cannot delete them.)

You apply Swatches to the fill and/or stroke. You COULD just apply colors to the stroke or fill directly from the color mixer or Gradients (only on fills) directly from Gradient Palette. But storing them in Swatches is a convenience, so you don't have to remember them or re-create them in the future.

You optionally apply ADDITIONAL strokes and/or fills to the path, using the Add New Stroke and Add New Fill commands of the Appearance Palette's flyout menu. As you add strokes and fills to this one object, they create a stack in the Appearance Palette. Any time you wish, you can re-arrange the stacking order.

You optionally apply Effects to individual strokes or fills in the stack, OR you apply Effects to the whole path (or group, or image, or text...). Effects cannot go into the Swatches Palette (except as part of whole objects contained in a Pattern Swatch). So you select the specific stroke or fill you want to affect with the Effect (like that?) and apply the Effect from whereever its particular interface is.

So you can build quite an elaborate set of fills, strokes, and effects onto a single object. After you've got it just the way you want, you don't want to have to go through all that again to apply the same look to other objects. So you drag the whole stylized object onto the Styles Palette. Thereafter, you can apply all that stuff to other objects with one click.

Clear as mud?

JET

[latchet_mcbride@adobeforums.com]

Hi Jet

Would you like to share your "cheezy" chrome style? I have been trying to create one but cant get one I am happy with.

Thanks

Latchet

[latchet_mcbride@adobeforums.com]

Hi Jet

Would you like to share your "cheezy" chrome style? I have been trying to create one but cant get one I am happy with.

Thanks

Latchet

[James_E._Talmage@adobeforums.com]

Latchet,

No guarantee this will be one you are happy with either, but this PDF from another recent discussion may give you a couple of ideas:

<http://www.IllustrationETC.com/AIBuds/QnDChrome.pdf>

JET

[latchet_mcbride@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Jet

Note exactly what i was after but still a good varient to use in the future. Chrome is proabbly not what I'm after (poor word choice on my behalf) more a brushed metal look.

Have you got more of your tutorial pdf's - that was excellent and a good learning experience for me.

Cheers

Latchet

[davidwa@adobeforums.com]

Thanks James, appreciate your help!