Vector Graphics Overview

Classmates Project

Assembling Components

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• Today's goals:
  • Share files
    • In this session you will share your biography and photograph with the other students in the class, and collect in turn the material about them.
  • Design layout
    • Experiment with different layout solutions for your prototype page (in a later session, each student's bio and photo will be given a separate page)
• Access the class folder through the lab network:
  • Set up storage on your computer
    • In the Finder, use File-->New Folder to create a folder on the desktop of your computer. Call this folder "Classmates Project".
  • Log on to the Server
    • Apple-->Chooser; click "AppleShare" in the list on the left; double-click "ACG" in the list on the right. Click on <Guest>. Click <Connect>. If not selected, select the name of item "ACG_FILE". Make sure that the checkbox to the right of "ACG_FILE" is not checked (otherwise it will cause problems to other users). Click <OK>. Close the Chooser.
    • Double-click on the server icon. Find the folder with the name of the instructor. Open it, then open the folder for this class.
  • Copy your files to your folder
    • If your files from week 1 were saved to the file server, find them in the folder "forTheOnesWithoutDisks" and drag them to your folder on the desktop. Otherwise, copy the files from your Zip disk to your folder, then eject and set aside the Zip disk.
• Exchange bios and photos with other students through the class folders:
  • Upload
    • Copy to the server, into the "Classmates-PutInHere" drop folder, the text file with your bio and the picture file with your photo. No other files are needed on the server.
      • When you drag your files to the drop folder, you will be notified that you have limited access to the folder. This is normal--it's meant to protect your work from accidental mishaps. In the dialog box, click to proceed.
      • Your files will not appear immediately in the "Classmates-TakeFromHere" folder, since they must be transferred manually by the instructor after checking that they are of the right type. Some delay is to be expected.
  • Download
    • As they become available, copy from the server the files from all other people in the class, found in the "Classmates-TakeFromHere" folder.
      • Store both photos and bios in your "Classmates Project" folder.
      • Check back from time to time to get additional files, but don't wait to get them all before moving on to the following steps--you can easily add new material later.
• Combine all bios and photos in your own class file:
  • Set up a new FreeHand document
    • Launch FreeHand (in the Drawing folder on the startup drive). Create a new document using File-->New. Use File-->Save As to name this file "YourName-classmates" and save it as a FreeHand Document in your "Classmates Project" folder. Use File-->Save every five minutes or so afterwards.
    • From the Magnification pop-up menu (first from the left at the bottom of the document window), select 25%
    • Select Text-->Size-->12 and Text-->Font-->Times Roman. These will become the defaults for the text you will import.
  • Repeat the following steps for each person in the class (yourself included):
    • File-->Import. Select and open the student's bio file. Click and drag to draw a text block on the pasteboard (outside the outline of the page in the document window).
      • If the bio does not mention the student's name, add it now by clicking an insertion point at the beginning of the text block using the Text tool (the "A" in the Toolbox).
    • Use File-->Import again for the student's photo file. Place it near the corresponding bio so you'll remember who it belongs to.
  • Continue to add the rest of the photos and bios
    • Make sure to leave the page entirely empty (all the text and picture blocks should be on the surrounding pasteboard). This way you will have room to work with its layout.
    • After importing them in the classmates document, do not trash photo and bio files--you will need them later.
      • NOTE: it is very important to have your FreeHand layout document and all the photos in one folder before you reopen the FreeHand layout--otherwise you will be faced with a time-consuming series of error messages as the program tries to locate each image file.
• Design the overall layout of the classmates document:
  • Adjust layout settings
    • Use Window-->Inspectors-->Document to display the Document Inspector palette
      • Click the middle Pasteboard Magnification icon (to the right of the Options menu). Make sure Letter size, Tall orientation, 300 dpi Printer Resolution, and 0 Bleed are selected. Double-click the Page 1 icon (in the center of the palette) to display the entire page in the document window.
      • From the Units pop-up menu (last from the left at the bottom of the document window), select Inches.
    • View-->Grid-->Edit. Set the size to 0.25.
    • Make sure View-->Grid-->Show and View-->Snap To Grid are checked (select them from the menu if they are not). You may also want to check the View-->Page Rulers command.
  • Set up prototype layout
    • Your design goal is a consistent design which minimizes the faults of the source material (poor quality photos), and accommodates both large and small amounts of text.
      • Look through the text blocks you placed on the pasteboard to find the shortest and longest. Use these as guides in copyfitting.
        • Before comparing text blocks, make sure all their attributes in the Type inspector (font, size, style, etc.) are still the same (unless you made changes, they should all match the default settings).
        • Next, set each text block's width (= column measure) to be the same (use the 'w' field in the Object Inspector).
        • Click the button next to the 'h' field in the Object Inspector so that the height of the block automatically matches the size of the text. The 'h' field will now tell you how many column-inches of type are in the text.
      • Likewise identify the largest and smallest photos (you may consider resizing down the largest photos--resizing up is not an option because of the low resolution).
    • Use any of the drawing tools covered in the lectures to create additional graphic elements.
    • Printing is not required by the project. However, if you intend to print a copy for reasons of your own, leave at least a quarter-inch margin all around the page to fit within the printer's imaging area.
• Optional refinements to your prototype page:
  • Link together text blocks to continue long stories.
    • Use the arrow tool to select the first block to be linked. Drag from the small square hanging below the block to the next text block that you want to link.
    • To separate a text block, use the arrow tool to drag away the linking symbol (a double arrow) from the small square below the text block to be disconnected.
  • Create a frame for the photograph.
    • Placing the prototype photo in a frame will make it easier to keep the layout consistent from page to page.
    • Start by drawing the frame. A frame can be any closed shape you create with the drawing tools. Basic shapes such as rectangles and ovals work well for this purpose.
    • Next, drag the photo (using the arrow tool) so that it overlaps the frame.
    • While the photo is still selected, use the Edit-->Cut command to move it to the Clipboard.
    • Use the arrow tool to select the frame.
    • Use the Edit-->Paste Inside command to retrieve the photo from the Clipboard and place it inside the frame. Any parts of the photo that do not fit in the frame will be cropped (= hidden from view).
    • You can adjust the way the photo is cropped by using the arrow tool to drag the cross-shaped handle in the center of the frame.
  • Create runarounds for pictures (photos or other graphics) overlaying text.
    • Select the picture with the black arrow tool. If the picture is inside a frame, selecting the frame selects the picture as well.
    • Drag the picture so that it overlaps the text. If the picture is in a frame, make sure to drag the frame--instead of moving the picture inside the frame.
    • If the picture appears behind the text, use Modify-->Arrange-->Bring To Front while the picture is still selected.
    • While the picture is still selected, use Text-->Run Around Selection.
      • A dialog appears. Click the top-right button. You can control the distance between the picture and the type by changing the standoff settings. Click 'OK' to exit the dialog.
  • Review your work
    • Try to arrive at a complete design in preparation for next week's session (which involves duplicating the prototype page as many times as there are students). Any changes can now be made in a single location, while later they would have to be repeated for each page
• Next session's goals:
  • Advance the project
    • You will complete the document by adding enough pages to accommodate all the students, one to a page.
  • Learn more about FreeHand
    • You will learn additional commands to manage multi-page documents.
• Before leaving:
  • Quit FreeHand
  • Back up your files
    • Make sure to copy to your Zip disks the entire contents of your "Classmates Project" folder, containing your FreeHand layout and all the photo and bio files.

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This document originally at <http://www.sanedraw.com/LEARN/EL_ILLST/CLSMTS2/INDEX.HTM> Copyright 2001 by Sandro Corsi. Created 1999-01-24. Last modified 2001-02-04.