Create columns and rows of text easily in Illustrator by using the Area Type options.

1.If the text area is no longer selected, use the Selection tool () to select it now.

2.Choose Type > Area Type Options. When the Area Type Options window appears, you see many choices that include settings for not only rows, but columns.

3.For this example, check Preview and change the Number text field under the heading of Columns to 2, and click OK.





Result

4.Choose File > Save. Leave this document open.

that's all mate....

Problem: The image looked great in Photoshop, but now that you've converted it to CMYK, saved the file as a TIFF, and placed it into QuarkXPress, InDesign, PageMaker, etc., the image looks awfulway oversaturated and totally whacked.


Reason: The preview of CMYK TIFFs just looks like that, so don't freak outif it looked right in Photoshop, it should print fine. Okay, what if you saved the file as an EPS, and when you place the image into your page layout app, the color of the image looks okay, but it's not crisp and clear, but pixelated.

Reason: By default, the preview embedded within EPS images is a lame 256-color preview.

Solution: In the EPS Options dialog, under Preview, choose JPEG. That way, it sends a 24-bit, full-color preview, rather than the lame 256-color preview.

Now that Photoshop CS can really give you type in a circle, getting a perfect circle that you can add type to is not as obvious as you'd think.

To get this perfect circle, click on the Shape tools in the Toolbox and choose the Ellipse tool from the flyout menu. Then go up to the Options Bar, and in the second group of icons from the left, click on the middle icon, which creates a regular path, rather than a Shape layer or a pixel-based shape.

Then, hold the Shift key, and drag out your circle (the Shift key constrains the shape to a perfect circle). Now you can move your Type tool over the circle, and it will change into a Type on a Path cursor. Click on the circle, and get to typing.

If you're using the Pen tool, and you've created multiple paths within your document, these paths are totally separate, and are moved independently of one another.

However, if you want these paths to move as one unitcombine them. Just switch to the Path Selection tool, then go up to the Options Bar and click on the Combine button.

Now when you move one path, all the combined paths move right along with it.

USE YOUR LAST SETTINGS AND SAVE TIME

This is a tip that will save you time when you're making tonal adjustments using Levels, Curves, Color Balance, etc. (most anything that appears under the Adjustments menu under the Image menu). When you bring up one of the tonal adjustment dialogs, it always displays its default settings, but if you hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) when choosing it from the Adjustments menu, instead of coming up with the default settings, it will display the last settings you used in that particular dialog. You can also add the Option (PC: Alt) key to the keyboard shortcuts. For example, the shortcut to bring up the Levels dialog is Command-L (PC: Control-L), but if you add Option (PC: Alt) to those keys, the Levels dialog will open with your last-used settings.

Although there's no way to set a default size for your New document dialog (outside of creating an action to do it for you), there's a pretty cool little-known tip that lets you open a new document using the last settings you manually input. Just press Option-Command-N (PC: Alt-Control-N) and the New document dialog will appear using the last settings you input (rather than using the clipboard data to determine the new document size).

OPENING AN IMAGE AND CLOSING THE FILE BROWSER

Want to open multiple photos at once and have Photoshop close the File Browser for you? Just Command-click (PC: Control-click) on all the photos you want to open, then press Option-Return (PC: Alt-Enter). All the selected photos will open, and the File Browser will close.