Accessing the CC Libraries Panel in Illustrator for Importing Assets

Working with the CC Libraries panel in Illustrator. Accessing the CC Libraries panel in Illustrator for importing assets. Learn how to work with the CC Libraries panel to import items from the library. Discovering what can and cannot be imported into Illustrator.

In this segment I will continue to work in Illustrator, this time using the Libraries panel to add assets to an Illustrator project. I will keep the same workspace, Essentials Classic, and the additional panels as in the last segment. Open the file poster underscore page underscore assets underscore from underscore library underscore to underscore start dot AI found in the CC underscore Illustrator project folder.

To preserve the original, I file saved as or save a copy to create a copy of the original. You can see that this is a very similar project to the one we looked at in the last segment. However, this time, many of the assets have been removed.

Also, I’ve included the dot CC Libs Creative Cloud Library file poster page ILL in the project folder. If you want to follow along from the library’s panel, choose Import Library. Locate the library you want to import. In an upcoming segment, I will talk about importing and exporting libraries using Bridge. Otherwise, feel free to use your own assets as you follow along.

Let’s begin by looking at color assets. From the Libraries panel, make sure you are looking at the color asset. As well, make sure you are using the Selection tool and the Layers panel is visible. You should be on the boxes layer and select the upper white rounded rectangle with the drop shadow.

To apply a color, select the blue color asset in the Libraries panel. Then right click and choose Set Color. This will add the color to the rectangle. Likewise, right click on the color while the Swatches panel is visible, and choose Add Color to Swatches. This will add directly to that panel.

Now let’s look at color theme assets. Color theme assets can also be added to the Swatches panel if you need them for another Illustrator project. You can either add them as a separate swatch, or as a color group. Make sure no objects are selected with your selection tool by clicking off of the art board.

In the Libraries panel, right click on the color theme, and first choose Add Color to Swatches. This adds only the color that was right clicked upon. Now right click and choose Add Theme to Swatches. This creates a whole color group folder with all five swatches.

Moving onto graphic assets. Next, we will add a graphic asset for the background. Go to Layers panel and select the Graphic Layer. Returned to the Libraries panel, and right click on the Graphic Asset Artwork 5. It is a raster JPEG image of many rocks and stones.

Choose Place Linked. The place gun tool appears with a 1 1 icon. If you have multiple graphics from your assets to place, you can use the place gun to do this. Click on the art board to place the graphic, and move it to the center of the page, like this.

If you check out the Linked panel, you will see that is linked to the Creative Cloud library. You’ll know this because of the Cloud icon. As in Photoshop, when artwork is linked to the library, if the graphic is right clicked upon and you choose Edit to open it up in the application it was created in, once saved, any document containing that link graphic will be updated while it is open. In some cases, this may not be what you want to happen in a specific document. So it is a good idea to embed the image in the Illustrator file.

You can do that in two ways. First, right click on the asset and choose Place Copy. And then click somewhere on the art board with your place gun. This embeds the JPEG directly into the Illustrator file. It is no longer linked to the Creative Cloud library, and can only be altered in this file. Or if the linked file is ready in the document, you can select the image from the Links panel menu, and choose Embed images.

If you find this leaves your graphic without a name, I recommend embedding the graphic right away when you first select it from the library. Either way, you can re-link the graphic back to the Libraries panel, use the Links panel in the menu, or at the bottom of the panel, click the button Re-link from CC Libraries. You will be asked to select a graphic. Select it and choose re-link at the bottom of the panel.

As a side note, keep in mind when working with graphics, that before you delete the assets in a library– right click Delete– make sure they are not being used in other documents. When I de-select, the Links panel will display a small warning icon by the file name anytime the link is missing. And you will need to locate and relink the file. While Illustrator files are open, any edited linked library asset will auto update. And then you must save your file to confirm the update.

As mentioned, graphics can store gradients as well as patterns. We will look at the Adobe in-capture pattern shortly. First, we’ll finish off the topic of graphics. Return to the Boxes layer. If you want to add a graphic asset to your document that contains a pattern or a gradient, you can either right click on the graphic in the library– in this case, artwork 4— and choose Place Linked or Place Copy from the pop-up menu.

In this case, I choose Place Copy because I may want to alter the vector shape in some way in this document. And then place the graphic by clicking with your cursor place gun tool on the art board and drag into place. If I go to inspect my Swatches panel, I will find that a gradient and a pattern were added to my panel automatically.

Symbols can be added to the Symbols panel in the same way. Select the graphic symbols layer in the Layers panel. And know right click on the gemstones artwork 2 in the Libraries panel. And choose Place Copy. Click on the art board somewhere with your place gun tool.

Automatically, the gemstone symbols are added to the Symbols panel, as well as to the Graphic Styles panel. If a graphic contains a vector brush, it can be added to the Brushes panel. With the Selection tool, select the top wavy line that is found in the graphic brush layer, and hit the Backspace key on your keyboard to remove it, as it was only there for placement.

In the Libraries panel, right click on the colorful gemstones artwork 3, and choose Place Copy. And then click Place them behind the text on the graphic brush layer. You can always scale it later. This adds the brush to the Brushes panel. And now, you can select the lower wavy line, and apply the new vector brush by clicking on it. Keep in mind that you cannot import brushes, styles, or gradients that were created in Photoshop.

Now we’ll look at pattern assets. Pattern assets that were created in Photoshop with the Adobe capture in-app can also be used in Illustrator for pattern backgrounds. Their default is a PNG file, which is a low resolution of about 72 pixels per inch. In the Layers panel, be on the pattern graphic layer. I’ve locked some of the layers and turned off the graphic layer so that you can see the next steps better.

In the pattern graphic layer, draw a square shape with the rectangle tool. And then right click on the Capture Pattern, and choose Apply Pattern. This applies the pattern to the shape, as well as to the Swatches panel, as a vector pattern. If I right click and choose Place Bitmap Pattern Tile, and click on the art board– this just places a bitmap version of the pattern on the stage. But it is often a low res, large, and not very useful for this project.

So I will select it with my Selection tool, and click the Backspace button on my keyboard to delete it. As a side note, the pattern can now be edited if you double click on it in the Swatches panel, where you can go to pattern editing mode and use the pattern options panel to edit the pattern further. The focus of the segment is not about pattern editing.

However, if you would like to learn more details on the panel and pattern making in Illustrator, refer to this video’s summary, where I mentioned my book, which has a chapter which goes into more detail about this useful panel. To exit this area, click on the arrow Exit Pattern Editing Mode in Illustrator in the upper left. With the election tool, you can scale or move the shape to a new location, lock the layer, and turn off the layer for now.

Moving on to character and paragraph style assets. When working with text, you can apply character and paragraph styles that come from the library. In an earlier segment in Photoshop, you saw how this could be done with styles that were imported from that program. However, when working with these styles that were created originally in Illustrator or InDesign, it is much easier.

However, keep in mind that if someone has supplied you with a font family style that you do not have on your computer, you may get a warning or a missing font alert, and may need to replace that style with a different font family. First, I will apply the character style. Use the Zoom tool, if you need to get a closer look at the text. Make sure you are on the Text layer in the Layers panel. And with the Type tool, highlight the first letter in the word precious, the letter P.

Go to the Libraries panel and right click on the yellow character asset, and choose Apply Character Style. This added the style to the letter, as well as to the Character Styles panel. If you just wanted to add the style to the Character Styles panel without applying it to the letter, right click and choose Add to Character Styles.

You can do the same steps for a paragraph style. Use the Type tool to highlight the paragraphs you want to apply the style to. Go to the Libraries panel, and right click on the paragraph style asset, and choose Apply Paragraph Style. The style is now added to the text and the Paragraph Styles panel.

Or you can right click and choose Add to Paragraph Styles. And the style will only be added to the panel, but not the selected text. I zoomed out to Control or Command 0 on your keyboard to highlight the other paragraphs with my Type tool, and apply the paragraph style to them, and to see the final result. Let’s see what the text asset has to offer. In the Layers panel, select the graphic textile layer.

And then lock and turn off the I on the text layer. We will now look at text assets. If someone has already formatted the text with words and styles, text assets can really save you a lot of time. Right click on the Text Asset in the Libraries panel to see the options. Place Copy will add the exact text, while Place Without Styles will just add plain text without additional styling added.

In this case, I will choose Place Copy. The place gun cursor loads. And I will click somewhere on the art board. To scale the text box, use your selection tool to scale it to the correct width and height. You can also drag it as well like this.

Here I am scaling. If I had additional text, with my Type tool, I can place my cursor somewhere in the text box and then return to the Libraries panel and right click again on the text asset and choose Place In Line. And more additional text will continue from that spot. I will edit undo the last step. With the graphics layer back on, before I show one more asset, with the selection tool, I will click off the art board to deselect the text box.

Remember, as with graphics, you can also add graphics that contain text. In the Libraries panel, right click on the graphic asset Artwork 1, and choose Place Copy. And then once it loads, click somewhere on the art board. This will retain any pattern, gradients, or effects that were applied to the text. And I can move it into location.

Finally, we’ll look at the brushes assets. While Illustrator has vector brushes, you cannot directly add the vector brush as an asset to the CC Libraries from Illustrator. However, you can acquire this asset from another Adobe app called Animate. Lock layers you do not want to add the brush to.

To add a vector brush to the Brushes panel, locate the vector brush. It is the one that is not grayed out. Right click on it, and choose Use in Document. It is now added to the Brushes panel.

You can then select the line by targeting the vector brush layer in the Layers panel, and click on the brush in the Brushes panel to apply it. So you can see it better, use the control panel to give it a fill of black and a stroke of white. Save and close your file– File, Save– as we have completed the project of adding assets.

You can see my final work by opening the file poster underscore page underscore assets underscore from library underscore 2 dot AI. In part three, we’ll be looking at the CC Libraries panel in Adobe InDesign. Much of what you have learned here in Photoshop and Illustrator, can be applied to this desktop app.