Illustrator CS5 - save small PDF files

Often when using Illustrator you need to create a PDF copy of your illustration. You may need to share it with colleagues or a customer, perhaps for their input. The resulting PDF file can be very big and difficult to e-mail. You could of course use Skydrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or similar. But you can also reduce the size of the PDF substantially - here's how:

1. Open your Illustrator .ai file (always keep this file safe, it's your master file)
2. Click File | Save a Copy
3. Change 'Save as Type' to Adobe PDF
4. Click Save
5. Change 'Adobe PDF Preset' to Smallest File Size
6. Click Save PDF

In my tests I found that with the Default setting I had a 6MB file. With the Smallest File Size setting I had a 110KB file!!! That's a small fraction of the file size.

  

IMPORTANT!!!

The Smallest File Size PDF will be great for on-screen viewing. However, for printing the quality will NOT be perfect. Change it back to the Default setting if you want high quality for printing.

Illustrator - move an object to another layer

In Adobe Illustrator CS5, if you accidentally created an object in the wrong layer, it is easy to move it:

1. In the Layers window, find the object you want to move.
2. Click the object in the Layers window so that a small coloured square appears.
3. Position the pointer over the small coloured square, click and drag to the destination Layer.

For more detailed instructions please see:
http://www.rdesignonline.com/design/illustrator-tip-shortcut-for-moving-an-object-to-a-new-layer/
(last accessed November 2011)

OR

You may find this alternative easier:

1. Select the object (or objects)
2. In the Layers window, click to select the destination layer (where you want to move your object(s) to)
3. Click Object | Arrange | Send To Current Layer

Reference:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-62d2a.html
(last accessed November 2011)

Illustrator - duplicate and reflect an object

In Adobe Illustrator CS5, there are often times when you need to copy an object and reflect it (as if its in a mirror). For example, if you are drawing a face then often you need it to have symmetrical features - you might draw one eye and want to duplicate it and flip it to make the second eye. The following steps will help you do this:

1. Select the object (or select more than one object and click Ctrl-G to group them)
2. Press O (the letter "o" for Oscar - or click the Reflect button from the toolbar)
3. Carefully position (do NOT click!) the mouse pointer on the axis of where you want the reflection to be. For example, if you selected one eye, you'd position your pointer in the middle of the face, on or over the nose.
4. Press Alt and keep it pressed, click the usual left mouse button
5. The Reflect dialogue box will appear - click to enable the Preview
6. Click Horizontal or Vertical, on the page you can see what happens, whether your image has been reflected in the direction you need or not. 
7. Click Copy (not OK) for your object(s) to be duplicated and reflected.

More information can be found here:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-62dca.html#WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-62daa  (last accessed November 2011)