There are two types of selection tools in Illustrator; the Selection Tool and the Direct Selection Tool. Let's do a little experimenting.
1. Open Illustrator and start a new image (File, New) which is 300 pixels in width and height.
2. Double click on the Fill Control on the left of the workspace. When the Color Picker dialog box opens, choose a green color for the Fill.
3. Click on the Rectangle Tool in the Toolbox. Draw three rectangles onto the Artboard.
The Selection Tool
1. Click on the Selection Tool in the Toolbox. Click somewhere outside of the image to deselect the image. You may also click Select, Deselect from the Menu Bar. Now place your mouse over one of the green squares. Notice that the cursor has changed. There is a small black square next to the arrow.2. Click one of the squares to select it. Notice that a bounding box has appeared. This bounding box has eight tiny white squares which are called handles. This indicates that the square is now selected. Any changes you make will be applied only to the square that is selected and not to the other squares in the image.
3. To select more than one object (in this case, more than one square) at the same time, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard as you click on the objects you wish to select. Try this. You will notice that the bounding box is now around both of the green squares that have been selected.
Click somewhere outside of the image to deselect the two squares. You may also click Select, Deselect.
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Adobe Illustrator CS2 Workspace
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