Introduction to Ai Toolbar and Cell Drawing Techniques

Adobe Illustrator, abbreviated as Ai, is an industrial-standard vector illustration software used for publishing, multimedia, and online images. It is also frequently used in scientific illustration. Let’s learn about the toolbar in Ai and master the drawing techniques for various types of cells through practice!

1. Introduction to Ai Toolbar

Adobe Illustrator, abbreviated as Ai, is an industrial-standard vector illustration software used in publishing, multimedia, and online images. The software is primarily used for print publishing, poster and book layout, professional illustration, multimedia image processing, and web page creation. It also provides high precision and control for line art, making it suitable for producing anything from small designs to large complex projects.

Here are the commonly used tools in the Ai software toolbar (for more detailed demonstrations of tools, refer to the video above this post):

① Selection Tool: This is one of the most commonly used tools, used to select an object for customization, manipulation, and movement around the window, etc.

② Direct Selection Tool: Used to select specific anchor points and handles in a path or object, especially suitable for manipulating individual components of groups or compound shapes without affecting the entire shape.

③ Pen Tool: A drawing tool that creates anchor points and draws straight or curved lines.

④ Curvature Tool: Used to adjust anchor points; the curvature tool makes it easy to draw curves or adjust curves.

⑤ Shape Tool: Creates rectangles, circles, ellipses, and other shapes of any size.

⑥ Brush Tool: A freehand drawing tool that applies various calligraphic attributes and brush styles to stroke paths.

⑦ Text Tool: Can create horizontal and vertical text, fully editable and path text tools.

⑧ Rotate Tool: A tool that rotates objects to any angle.

⑨ Eraser Tool: A drawing tool used to erase any object dragged by the cursor.

⑩ Shape Builder: A tool used to merge or separate selected shapes and frequently overlapping shapes.

⑪ Gradient Tool: Typically used in conjunction with the gradient panel, this tool can edit the shape, size, and blending of gradients.

⑫ Eyedropper Tool: Samples the color, appearance attributes, effects, or type of an object and applies that selection elsewhere.

⑬ Width Tool: Changes the stroke width, affecting only the stroke path; dragging the mouse on both sides changes it simultaneously, while holding the ALT key changes one side.

⑭ Magic Wand Tool: Selects objects, paths, etc., with similar attributes, allowing batch style changes.

⑮ Artboard Tool: Allows editing of artboard size or creation of additional artboards.

⑯ Zoom Tool: Also known as the magnifying glass, it can be used to zoom in on the canvas (holding the ALT key + mouse scroll can also zoom in and out of the view).

⑰ Blend Tool: A convenient tool that creates transitional transformations between selected objects (including colors and/or shapes).

It is worth mentioning that the arrangement of tools in Ai’s toolbar can be defined by the user, allowing everyone to choose different tool arrangements according to their preferences. Once familiar with the toolbar’s usage, we will practice the drawing techniques for various types of cells.

2. Cancer Cells

The basic drawing method for cancer cells in Ai is to draw the shape with an ellipse – select the shape and open the effects menu (distort and transform – roughen) – draw the nucleus and cytoplasmic details.

(For detailed drawing demonstrations, refer to the video above this post)

3. Dendritic Cells

The basic drawing method for dendritic cells in Ai is to first draw the outline shape – use the transform tool (set the intensity to a higher value) to draw the dendrites – and then refine the details.

(For detailed drawing demonstrations, refer to the video above this post)

4. Macrophages

The basic drawing method for macrophages in Ai is as follows:

① Draw the outline shape with an ellipse.

② Use the transform tool – set the intensity to a moderate level, draw the spikes (or choose the pencil tool, double-click to select smooth in the pencil tool, and draw the spikes on the path).

③ Draw the nucleus and cytoplasmic details.

(For detailed drawing demonstrations, refer to the video above this post)

5. Insights

Finally, I would like to share my insights on Ai drawing.

1) The various tools in the Ai toolbar are powerful, and mastering them can accelerate drawing.

2) There can be multiple drawing methods for the same shape, so it’s best to think ahead before starting to draw.

3) Determining the structure to be drawn and then focusing on learning can yield better results with less effort.

In summary, Ai is a powerful software for scientific illustration, and mastering the usage of various tools in its toolbar can make our drawing much more efficient.

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In Closing

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• Literature Download – Medical Monk

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• ggplot Visualization – Medical Monk

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• TCGA Mining – Medical Monk

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