Every Effect in Adobe Illustrator Explained

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Adobe Illustrator has over 24 different effects, so if you ever wondered what all these effects do, here's the answer!
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:47 - 3D and Materials
2:12 - 3D (Classic)
3:55 - Convert to Shape
4:32 - Crop Marks
4:46 - Free Distort
6:26 - Pucker & Bloat
6:58 - Roughen
8:00 - Transform
9:00 - Tweak
10:32 - Twist
10:06 - Zig Zag
11:54 - Offset Path
12:55 - Outline Object
13:52 - Outline Stroke
14:37 - Pathfinder
16:38 - Rasterize
17:48 - Drop Shadow
19:21 - Feather
19:52 - Inner Glow
20:20 - Outer Glow
20:37 - Round Corners
20:55 - Scribble
22:57 - SVG Filters
23:55 - Warp
24:35 - Flower Tutorial

[@AndyTellsThings]

See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/andytellsthings with code andytellsthings 🗻✨

[@maly1995]

Thank you for this video. I needed something like this on youtube, especially at this time when I'm just starting getting used to the Illustrator. You are definitely one of the best channels I have found on my learning journey.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thank you for the kind words! Super glad to be helpful :) cheers!

[@chasebros4948]

This is by far the most compressive video I have ever seen explaining all the effects in Illustrator. Great job! My favorite effect is Transform. There are so many possibilities with it such as creating Spirograph art. The ability to stack effects on top of each other is really powerful. I have made a realistic eyeball and flower from a single anchor point using multiple effects. You just use the convert to shape effect first and then go from there. It’s a fun challenge.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Didn't think of starting with just an anchor point. Damn! Hahahaha that's impressive :)

[@amirwagih4797]

Dude, I cannot empathize how much this series is so valuable. your explanation is very straightforward and easy to understand. Thanks so much for your effort and keep up the good work.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@aurorapaisley7453]

*emphasize

[@joanaclemente2955]

Absolutely love this. All details explained in one video, in an entertaining way. Thank you so much! :D

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you enjoyed it, Joana :)

[@rahimizontar8802]

Thank you sp much for your amazing work !! so easy to understand, love it

[@AndyTellsThings]

Hahahaha thanks 😂😂

[@DayByeDayChristine]

Love the tutorials!!! Please keep them coming!!! ❤❤

[@luisalmeida9204]

Amazing tutorial and explanations!! Thank you so much Andy!!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you liked it!

[@danielleshelbourne220]

Thank you so much for this outstanding video, I learned so much. I love the way you present information, absolutely perfectly paced and your illustrations support your teaching perfectly. I’m officially your biggest fan now. I truly appreciate all the time and effort you put into creating this awesome content, I’m deeply grateful and slightly shocked that I didn’t need to pay hundreds to learn so much. 😊

[@AndyTellsThings]

I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it was helpful! Thanks for commenting :)

[@meaganthemarionette4899]

Man this video is great! Saved it to my Art/design tips and tricks playlist. Thank you for making this list of all the cool stuff Ilustrator can do, I gotta keep those 3D effects in mind!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@rahulujjal8245]

Appreciate the clarity and presentation style. Earned a like and sub!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks! Glad to help 😊

[@dormaettu302]

Really good video, thanks. The flower design at the end is amazing

[@AndyTellsThings]

Can't say I'm not proud of that one! Hahaha thanks for the feedback, and glad to be of help!

[@renlaidao]

Thank you for this video, it help me know more

[@danilo352]

5 minutes into this video and I was already unlocking a new reality. Everything I’ve know up to this point has been fake.

[@user-mh2gi9gi2c]

I can't describe how your videos are helpful for me! This is an incredible job, and as someone says before, you have considerable skill in explanation! They are short and clear. Even your shorts show me more than some courses 😅❤

[@AndyTellsThings]

Happy to hear that! :)

[@kh4ff]

This is exactly what I need! Thanks for your work!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Happy to help!

[@BigMoosePrinting]

Great video! Thank you so much for making it. Can't wait to dig into your other vids👍👍

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks! Have fun!

[@mattkaz9604]

Good video. I thought I knew all about the effects but there were some great new ideas in this. Thanks.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@revco196]

Great summary. Have been using Illustrator since 1988. Nice to be reminded of some of the effects I'd forgotten about.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@pettycooper3996]

My Free Distort window only had one dashed line so I had to improvize with the leaves a bit but OH MY GOD ITS THE BEST VIDEO ive ever watched to teach myself any skill. I actually feel like Ive learned the software, and not how to do one particular thing, thank you so much!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Wow, that's so awesome and kind of you! Glad you enjoyed it. Keep on! :)

[@abdellahazzaye3515]

Thank you for the infos!

[@vitoriaamim2059]

Amazing video!! Thanks for the hard work

[@AndyTellsThings]

Obrigado 🤗

[@rudyderose4301]

The bounding box effect can be interesting when aligning text with other texts or objects. The align to bottom function usually fails when the box is away from the physical limits of the text

[@danic2409]

There is a fix for this! In the alone panel under the hamburger menu, you can click to align to text edges for both point and area text (so the bounding box effect is still a bit useless)

[@msalphaplayer5214]

This is the video which is looking for. The best!

[@StevenRud]

Excellent video!!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge 😎😎👍🏻👍🏻

[@AndyTellsThings]

My pleasure! :)

[@Roosterhoot2024]

very clever, love the hexagon flower demo. what a great video

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks so much 😊

[@lobsterbush4563]

You my friend, are an absolute legend! Thank you!

[@AndyTellsThings]

YOU are the legend!

[@berjalancepat3496]

awesome,Thank you for share

[@jean-lais]

I picked a lot. Thank you for your time. Nice content

[@AndyTellsThings]

You’re welcome 😊

[@ahmedfahmy9740]

Thank you so much

[@AndyTellsThings]

You're very welcome!

[@mdshibli1009]

Brilliant tutorial

[@HalinaViGet]

I really liked the video! Thank you very much! Opened up new opportunities. The flower turned out 🏵☘😀👍👏

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@saturdayafternoonbeer4720]

thank you

[@zahranazfar5304]

Great what a tutorial 💓 Awesome 💯😎

[@tedimustofa7232]

Thanks for the explanation sir...

[@AndyTellsThings]

Always welcome

[@moviemellon]

Oh look! A new video by Adobe‘s best unofficial tutorial channel!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Hahahaha you're too kind, friend

[@effortcivilengineersinteri3784]

​@@AndyTellsThingsyou are that great

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​@@AndyTellsThingsdo u think think that this effects will get lost if i import them into after effects?

[@AndyTellsThings]

​@@jirehla-ab1671 I'm pretty sure yes. A lot of things don't work when importing an .ai into AE, like editable text, images, transparency, blending modes... so I'm 99% sure effects don't as well.

[@nareshchennam8356]

Tons of Thanks Andy, Very informative and handy tutorial for neophyte like me 🤓

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@samahesamahe9057]

that was amazing

[@vovaparhaev72]

Спасибо тебе огромное мужик, так взять и предать всей информации структуру дорогого стоит. Вся ясно и понятно объясняешь.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Спасибо, мой друг! :)

[@vamboo8918]

Thanks, your such a wizard!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad to help! :)

[@abdelrhmanmorsy6008]

thanks a lot

[@RuhulAmin-dt2qb]

Nice explain!!!!!!

[@lastyhopper2792]

Very nice

[@gemini1q]

What we forget about Illustrator, this KZbin video always reminds us of what we need. Only in one condition, we mustn't forget this video. 😅

[@AndyTellsThings]

Hahahahaha good point!

[@38christ83]

that was perfect

[@TheNewDawnLeadership]

I was so excited for the first effect as I thought Illustrator and photoshop no longer had 3D features. All the features are fantastic to know about, but I am most excited about the one you were least excited about; the outline. I am not an illustrator, but I a doing animation and creating puppets and landscapes from bits and pieces I find from a vector subscription. Sometimes you just need outlines and I was just thinking, I am going to have to draw them all, but not now thanks to you including that feature!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Not sure I follow exactly what you're doing. Which effect are you referring to: "Outline Object" or "Outline Stroke"? And when you say "sometimes you just need outlines" ou mean actually outlining the object or using strokes? Because "outline" and "stroke" are totally different things in Illustrator, but people sometimes refer to strokes as outlines - hence why I found your comment a little confusing.

[@TheNewDawnLeadership]

Thank you for that clarification. I'm pretty new to all this and somehow I got the stroke effect, but went through "path". Testing now, I see the differnce, never the the less, you helped me with finding this, shadows and 3D effects for me to start with, thank you. @@AndyTellsThings

[@user-lh1dk8dm1m]

wooow, good explanation 💫💫

[@AndyTellsThings]

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks!

[@BlueshooterIB]

The flower is beautiful!

[@oloyedavid3252]

thank you. God bless

[@bhavana01123]

A quick bit of input/answer for your query as to what the 'tweak effect' might actually be used for: instead of just noising up the edges of a shape, as you showed, swap the fill and stroke, and apply tweak to the stroke only, it creates a terrific 'sketch effect', like an ink/pencil sketch. A practical example: create a letter, create 5 instances of your chosen letter, align and 'group' them, create two copies of the 'group' and set them aside. Apply the 'tweak effect' to the first group, with higher #'s in horz/vert you'll see the effect right away - adjust to taste. Then apply the effect to the other two groups in lesser/lower amounts each time, then align all groups and voila, super organic/natural looking line drawing/sketch. fyi. keep up the good work.

[@AndyTellsThings]

That's a great alternative! It actually does look quite good. :) Thanks!

[@ginielsangco9582]

It's very helpful, especially a beginner like me.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MusikMozaiK]

Thanks :)

[@AndyTellsThings]

You're welcome! :)

[@aravinth4745]

Good one.

[@user-to9ji6jt5l]

wooow, good explanation

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed 😃

[@oskarlinderoth]

Damn, really good ^^

[@AndyTellsThings]

Glad you liked it!

[@rabiarafiq8209]

Hello! Great video sir 👍🏼. I want to ask what you did at 26:32 after duplicating the fill and removing zig zag effect. Did you edited the transform effect or applied a new one. I am trying to do the same but it is ending up with different sizes of the three leaves if i scale it everytime i try. I didn't undertand the procedure clearly.

[@AndyTellsThings]

Hi! I edited the one that was already there. Make sure you're editing the first transform effect, since there's 2 on that object.

[@beruska007tecek]

Outline object - if that dog would have been without background as transparent PNG, it will make an outline around it. You need to add stroke in Appearance panel first. It's good for silhouettes or wrapping text around bitmap picture. And thank you for the video. :-)

[@AndyTellsThings]

Everyone is commenting little things and tricks for this effect, but I still find it so odd hahahahaha. Thanks for sharing!

[@rebecaarmus]

Sooo great❤

[@AndyTellsThings]

Just like you! ;)

[@hardstylerpsycho]

I need a video like this for Adobe After Effects

[@AndyTellsThings]

I believe Jake in Motion has a series on that! And he's far more capable than I am in AE anyways :)

[@ivanovmiroslav]

Outline object is used for files for print as the rasterize one. Applied on text objects will convert them to outlines in the pdf part or in exported pdf while keeping them live in ai file

[@AndyTellsThings]

Nice one!

[@dccd673]

This is going to my Illustrator tutorials playlist although I don’t have Ai yet 😅 soon tho, soon.

[@akonityn5827]

Cool vid! Is there any option to generate stroke from an object (sth opposite to outline stroke)?

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks! Yes, if you open the "Stroke" panel, you can simply select a stroke width and it'll automatically add a stroke to the object. Same with the "Color" panel, if you select a color for the stroke, it'll automatically add a stroke to the object.

[@akonityn5827]

@@AndyTellsThings I meant sth different. Lets say you have a path which length is X and width 2X and after using outline stroke you will get rectangle. Is it possible to do opposite action - to generate path from rectangle? Or from any more complicated object? Maybe there is some script which can do that?

[@AndyTellsThings]

@@akonityn5827 Gotcha, you want to convert a filled object into a stroke. No, that's not possible, I'm afraid. It's just like outlining text, you can go back to text after you outline it. :)

[@919gamerpubg7]

Dude upload some more videos of graphics designing ❤

[@user-nd5hw5xn2w]

ohhhhh beautiful and vvery help full

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thanks!!

[@cambelasben]

Damn you a legend

[@kubin.8]

17:29 how did you do the red shape and the mouth on the emoji? Those were such an odd shapes, i coun'd managed to recreate that :D

[@AndyTellsThings]

That was made a long time ago, I don't recall exactly. The red shape was probably a custom Illustrator brush to get a more organic brush, but you could just use a rounded stroke and change the thickness midways with the Width Tool. And the mouth I probably made a circle and edited the anchor points.

[@KaiBuskirk]

awesomE!!!!

[@ocaiobravo]

a-mazing! 👏

[@AndyTellsThings]

Thank you! 😄

[@007Yasir]

Very valuable, but moving to fast, I wish it’s a bit slower, I’m having to play it back and forth. Thanks. ❤

[@ruslandurahman]

Wow thanks.

[@AndyTellsThings]

You are most welcome!

[@007Yasir]

On the warp effect filter 23:59 , I applied an effect, but when it comes to separating colors to send to printer, I had fill and stroke together but can’t separate for spot colors if I ungrouped, it goes back to original shape, loosing my warp effect. What is the remedy beside drawing then manually my design was a banner?

[@AndyTellsThings]

Have you tried expanding the shape? This will "apply" the effects, causing them to not be editable anymore, but may be a solution to your problem. I recommend making a duplicate of the artwork and expanding the duplicate, so you still have the original in case you need it. You can expand shapes through the "Object" menu.

[@007Yasir]

Yes, I did, I remembered after I posted and it works like a charm, their should be some reference to the Expand feature in same effects menu column. Just like outline. Thanks for responding. I subscribed to your channel, great info.

[@anwarshabab7656]

WOW MAN

[@sodoffbaldrick]

13:43 "Quick tip: How and When to Use the Outline Object Effect in Illustrator" by Vectorgarten

[@essendoh_7592]

Does anybody know why the convert to image, when applied to text, turns it invisible?

[@stunner.0862]

make some video on photoshop with same topic

[@mdsorifulislam262]

dear, outline effect is used to keep uncommon language safe if file was transferred for printing

[@jakobgold3114]

Using the Pathfinder doesn't separate my objects like showed at 16:05.. What can I do?

[@AndyTellsThings]

They're probably just grouped. Right click on the artboard and click on "Ungroup" or press Ctrl+Shift+G :)

[@Cramondorf]

How do I do the grain effect so it's not low res?

[@AndyTellsThings]

I don't think you can, considering that the grain effect is basically just noise. It's just randomly painting each pixel a different color/shade of gray.

[@user-qd6we9vv3b]

Can you teach me photoshop like this .❤

[@emptyset9860]

Dude you rule :D

[@Creativedesign446]

😮

[@5even5eals]

Still waiting for true inner shadow effect for the last 15 years. Any moment now!

[@AndyTellsThings]

Coming soon... some day... eventually...

[@tanzidmahim2027]

free distort drop shadow not working like you , its sill same

[@usmanjameel2010]

in adobe illustrator 2022 i don't see the option (use preview Bounds) any body know how to see this option if any body knows plz tell me .

[@AndyTellsThings]

Hi! You have to go to Edit > Preferences > General, or use the shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + K. Should be the last option on the checkbox items list.

[@usmanjameel2010]

@@AndyTellsThings in my illustrator the last option is trackpad Gesture .

[@AndyTellsThings]

@@usmanjameel2010 which version of Illustrator are you using?

[@usmanjameel2010]

@@AndyTellsThings 2022

[@AndyTellsThings]

@@usmanjameel2010 is it up to date to 27.7? Isn't Preview Bounds just listed in another order?

[@p4thum]

Bro, May I know your PC specs

[@AndyTellsThings]

Sure thing. - MB: MSI Pro Series, chipset B650-P, socket AM5 - CPU: Ryzen 9 7900 - RAM: 2 sticks of 16Gb, 5600MHz, CL40, DDR5 Corsair Vengeance - GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 OC (6Gb), which hopefully will see an upgrade in the near future, since I'm starting to work with 4K videos - PSU: Gigabyte GP-P750GM, 750W, 80+ Gold, modular - Storage: a mix of HDDs, Sata SSDs and NVME M.2 SSDs - Other stuff: 5x 120mm fans, which are Corsair iCUE SP120 Elite + an RGB controller, which is the Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT - Case: a very old red Corsair Carbide SPEC-04. Keyboard and mouse are K55 and Harpoon, both from Corsair, and headset is a HyperX Cloud 2. I guess that's all LOL

[@p4thum]

@@AndyTellsThings Thanks man, just wanted to know how those 3D objects render so quickly when you change settings ❤️😌✌🏻

[@AndyTellsThings]

@@p4thum I don't recall exactly, but sometimes it can just be the editing. I tend to remove waiting times when they're too long. 3D is very intensive on my computer still.

[@p4thum]

@@AndyTellsThings Thanks for the response! Love ur content ❤️❤️

[@hammouchyusuf6772]

got here to see the effect in thumbnail (brush or chalk effect idk) but it's not in the video GRRRRRR

[@AndyTellsThings]

20:55. Thanks for stopping by.

[@jewelkhan4433]

what version of AI? 2023?

[@AndyTellsThings]

Yup! Always the latest.

[@bart_allen]

thank you andy 🤎

[@38christ83]

that was perfect