Using the Free Transform tool, you drag handles to scale, rotate, and shear a selected object.

The Shear tool skews an object on an angle that the user can specify.

You can type new values directly into the Transform panel to modify selected objects.

In the Transform panel, all values refer to the bounding box of an object only if the bounding box is visible. If not, the values refer to the object's center point.

With a transform tool selected, pressing [Alt] (Win) or [option] (Mac) and clicking the artboard defines the point of origin and opens the tool's dialog box.

The Outline Stroke command is useful for applying a gradient to a stroke.

When two overlapping objects are made into a compound path, the backmost object creates a hole in the object in front.

When multiple objects are made into a compound path, they function as a group; if you click one with the Direct Selection tool, all the objects will be selected.

Like a compound path, a compound shape is two or more paths that are combined in such a way the holes appear wherever paths overlap.

When you apply a shape mode button, the two overlapping objects are combined into one object with the same formatting as the topmost object in the group before the shape mode button was applied.

Multiple objects cannot be used as a single clipping mask without making them into a compound path.

The Shape Builder tool creates new closed paths from overlapping objects.

The Shape Builder tool is similar in function to the Unite pathfinder.

Case Based Critical Thinking

Now that his team has been using Illustrator regularly and getting comfortable with the software, Mark is excited to work with them on some of the more interesting features and to share with them some of his special techniques.

One of Mark’s designers draws a diamond shape, fills it with yellow, then applies a 12 point black stroke. She becomes frustrated though, when she realizes that she can’t apply a gradient to a stroke. Which of the following is her best option?

Mark and his team are sitting down for lunch, and Mark is making a sandwich. Mark holds up a piece of Swiss cheese and tells his team that if they were to draw this in Illustrator, they’d need to use which of the following?

One of Mark’s designers is trying to make concentric circles with the Scale tool. Mark tells him to draw the smallest circle first, then to use which of the following techniques to create perfect concentric circles.

Mark is talking with his team about clipping masks. Some of the junior designers are having trouble with the concept that there’s more to the masked art than you can see, so Mark tells them that the best analogy for a clipping mask is which of the following?

Mark asks his designers to picture two circles set apart from one another, then to picture a third circle added between them, positioned so that each of the outside circles overlaps the middle circle. He then asks them to picture a line - drawn with the Pen tool - that crosses horizontally through all three circles. If you were to select all three circles and the line, and then apply the Divide pathfinder, how many objects would be created?

Mark draws a red heart shaped object on the art board. He then creates a gold star that is larger than the heart object and positions the star over the heart. He selects both then applies the Intersect shape mode. What does he now see on the art board?

When transformed, the default point of origin for an object is what?

When transforming an object with the Free Transform tool, the object can be transformed from which of the following?

The ____ button on the Pathfinder panel creates a single, merged object from the area where two or more objects overlap.

Which of the following letters would be an example of a compound path?

When two objects are made into a compound path, a hole appears where?

Which command "uncompounds" a path, returning it to its component objects?