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denzelellis
denzelellis
Participant
April 5, 2017
Question

Tracing Mode Shortcut?

  • April 5, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 2376 views

Hey there,

So I'm a Illustrator novice and have this question about this shortcut, since a while back I had accidentally discovered a shortcut (or I believed I discovered one), however, I can't remember what the shortcut is.

I don't remember if it was a single [button] shortcut or a [button]+[button] style shortcut, but what it did was make the current shape which I was editing with pen tool and which had a shape fill color with 100% opacity, it made the fill color of that shape red and partially transparent, so that you could see what you where working on underneath as you manually fitted the shape to the JPG reference image below. I don't remember if it also made everything else opaque as well, but it was the handiest thing to recreate JPG designs with vector shapes. When I hit the same shortcut, it would cause the fill color to revert back from red to it's original color and with full opacity.

Does anyone know what this shortcut / mode is? I thought it was Isolation mode or outline mode, but neither makes the current / selected shape your editing it's fill partially transparent (and red). So it should be some other mode.

Anyone know? Hopefully this was indeed a shortcut and I wasn't dreaming because it was so useful.

Thanks in advance if anyone knows.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

rcraighead
rcraighead
Legend
April 5, 2017

Once you've assigned the Appearance it can be saved as a "Graphic Style" for quick access in the future.

    denzelellis
    denzelellisAuthor
    Participant
    April 5, 2017

    The Graphic Style however only assigns a style to the shape you currently have selected right? Cause the shortcut changed the fill color to red, lowered the fill opacity and made the all the other shapes and images opaque in one shot. Nevertheless, saving it as a graphic style makes it easier indeed. Thanks!

    rcraighead
    rcraighead
    Legend
    April 6, 2017

    Your description sure doesn't ring a bell and I've been an AI user since '88.

    As for Graphic Styles, they can be assigned to objects, groups or layers. Target a layer by clicking the round dot on the right hand side of the layer in the Layer panel. Styles can replace or be ADDED to the current appearance. To add to the current appearance target the artwork then Option/Alt-click the Graphic Style icon. The new appearance attributes will be added in the element in the Appearance Panel.

      Myra Ferguson
      Community Expert
      Myra FergusonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 5, 2017

      I don't think it has a default keyboard shortcut, but it sounds like you might be talking about the Layer Option to Dim Images to [whatever%]. You get there by double-clicking on the layer and checking that option.

        denzelellis
        denzelellisAuthor
        Participant
        April 5, 2017

        Thank you for your reply. It did indeed dim the image, but it also made the current active shape i was editing it's fill partially transparent (and red. I dont know if it's because the current layer I was working on was red. If the layer color was yellow it might as well have made it yellow. I can't remember this). This is what made it so beautiful, because with the shape being red and somewhat transparent, you can clearly see how well you are covering the image underneath you want to recreate. And it had to be a shortcut of some sort because I did it by accident. There weren't any menu's involved or UI buttons. With just an accidental click of one or two buttons on my keyboard, I had done this. =)

        rcraighead
        rcraighead
        Legend
        April 5, 2017

        Don't think this is what you have described, but are you familiar with "Template" layers and "Outline" mode? Any layer can be converted to a "Template" by using the Layer Flyout menu or double-clicking the layer and clicking "Template". If the layer contains raster images they will always be visible, even when working in "Outline" mode. It sounds like this solution would work in your case.

        PS: A similar feature to what you describe IS available in Photoshop by typing "\". The mask channel becomes red.

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