Texture Tool

As the Texture tool has several keypresses which can add or change its functionality, we suggest installing the free Astute Graphics plugin Astute Buddy, which creates a panel that dynamically updates to inform you of the various keys which can be pressed in the tool’s current context.

The Texture tool allows a Texture live effect’s parameters to be changed using an on-screen, annotated widget. All selected art objects with Texture live effects will display this widget (centered above the art’s bounding box) when the Texture tool is active, but only one of them will be “targeted” and displayed in color (red, by default) rather than gray. This texture is indicated on the Texture panel as the “current” texture.

Texture Targeting Annotations

The annotated widget consists of multiple controls. For all controls, the texture will update after the mouse button is released.

Texture Annotations

1. Rotation arm and control

Dragging the rotation control changes the angle of the texture. The texture’s current angle of rotation is displayed next to the cursor when hovering over or close to the rotation control:

Texture Rotation Display

Doubleclicking the rotation control will bring up a dialog in which the texture’s angle of rotation can be specified numerically:

Texture Rotation Dialog

2. Scale Slider

Dragging the thumb changes the scale of the texture (keeping its center stationary), from 10000% at the outside end of the slider to 1% at the inside end. The texture’s current scaling and effective resolution is displayed next to the cursor when hovering over or close to the scale slider:

Texture Scale Display

Doubleclicking the scale slider thumb control will bring up a dialog in which the texture’s scale can be specified numerically, either as a percentage or by specifying the desired effective resolution, in pixels per inch:

Texture Scale Dialog

The default Scale setting can be set in the preferences dialog (see Texture: Preferences). Textures are always scaled the same in the horizontal and vertical directions.

3. Opacity Slider

Dragging the thumb changes the opacity of the texture, from 100% at the outside end of the slider to 0% at the inside end. The texture’s current opacity is displayed next to the cursor when hovering over or close to the opacity slider:

Texture Opacity Display

Doubleclicking the opacity slider thumb control will bring up a dialog in which the texture’s opacity can be specified numerically:

Texture Opacity Dialog

4. Position Mode Menu

Chooses the mode of positioning the texture. In Relative mode (the default), the texture’s center is positioned relative to the center of the bounding box of the art; if the art is moved, the texture will move along with it. In Absolute mode, the texture’s center is positioned at specific coordinates on the artboard; the texture will not move when the art is moved or its bounding box is changed (unless Auto-Cover is enabled; see below).

5. Blending Mode Menu

Controls the blending mode of the texture. It consists of the same sixteen blending modes that are available in the native Transparency panel, plus a special mode: Knockout. In Knockout mode, the darkness of the texture controls the opacity of the art to which it is applied; solid black areas make the art completely transparent (“knocking it out”) and therefore allowing art below it to show through.

Texture Blending Mode Examples

In the Texture Manager, each texture may be assigned an Initial Blending Mode, which is the mode given to the texture as a default (see Texture: Texture Manager).

6. Autocover Button

Toggles the Autocover parameter of the texture. When enabled, indicated by an undimmed “AC” icon, nonrepeating textures will be automatically moved and/or enlarged such that they always completely cover the bounding box of the artwork (plus any specified padding). The default Autocover setting can be set in the preferences dialog (see Texture: Preferences).

7. Invert Button

Toggles the Invert state of the texture. When enabled, indicated by an undimmed icon, the color of the texture is inverted.

8. Center control

Clicking the center control of an untargeted texture targets it.

When dragging a control on the annotated widget, the following keypresses apply:

• Shift: Constrains the control’s value to a “nice” value. For Rotation, this is angles that are multiples of 45° away from the general constrain angle. For Opacity, this is steps of 10%. For Scale, this is integer percentages.

• Command/Ctrl: Enables “Slow-Drag,” which moves the control as if all cursor movements were reduced by a value specified in the tool preferences (with a default of 10), allowing for finer control.

• Space: Temporarily hides the tool annotations.

• C: Changes the annotation color.

In addition to the annotated widget, the bounds of the targeted texture are displayed as a gray rectangle:

Texture Bounds Annotation

This bounds annotation may be manipulated with the Texture tool in several ways:

• a. The inside of the rectangle may be dragged to reposition the texture (hold Shift to constrain the movement); doubleclicking inside it allows the position to be specified numerically.

• b. The edges and corners of the rectangle may be dragged to resize the texture; by default, this is done keeping the opposite edge/corner stationary, but holding Option/Alt will resize it from the center.

• c. Hovering the cursor just outside one of the corners of the rectangle allows rotation of the texture, either by dragging (similarly to rotating an art object using its bounding box, with Shift constraining the angle of rotation) or by doubleclicking to set the rotation numerically.

If the texture is repeating, the rectangle annotation’s borders are drawn with a dashed line.

While the rectangle bounds of the texture updates in real time when rotated or resized, the actual texture will not be updated until the mouse button is released.

When nothing is selected, the Texture tool can be used to select artwork, by either marquee-dragging over it or by clicking on it.