Claire Jarrett asked:


An object in an Illustrator document will have both a stroke and a fill. Strokes are lines (paths) that make up the outside edges of an object.

The stroke has a weight or thickness, which is measured in points, and a colour. Strokes can also have other attributes that affect their appearance, such as joins, caps, alignment, limits, dash styles and gap lengths. A stroke can be created by any of the tools in Illustrator that can create an object or line, or an object can have no stroke at all. Illustrator accepts stroke weights from 0.001 to 1,000 points.

To modify a stroke, open the Stroke palette. You may modify any attribute of the stroke from this control. Enter a new value in the Weight text box to change the weight of a stroke. Change the cap style to modify the appearance of the end of the line. A cap style can give the stroke a rounded, projected or butt end, provided that the stroke doesn’t create a closed path. If the stroke creates a closed path, no apparent cap style will be visible at the stroke’s end points.

The Stroke palette also controls the way Illustrator treats corners within a stroke. In Illustrator, an outside corner is known as a join and can appear in one of three styles. The mitred join creates a meeting point for the outside edges of two strokes. The Mitre Limit is a number that, when multiplied by the width of the stroke, determines how far the mitre can extend beyond the join. Illustrator uses a default value of 4.

Illustrator also provides a rounded join, which rounds the outside corners of an object, and a beveled join, which limits the join’s outer angle. Join styles do not affect inside corners. All inside corners appear to be mitred.

Illustrator CS2 offers a new control on the Stroke palette. Align stroke controls how the stroke and the path line up. A stroke can be aligned over, inside or outside of the path and offers more control than earlier versions of Illustrator did.

The dash pattern is the final control in the Stroke palette. The dash pattern for a stroke is normally solid, and creates an unbroken line. If you want to create a dashed line, however, activate the Dashed Line check box, which allows you to vary the dash length and the gap between dashes. You can set this control to accept up to three distinct dash-gap patterns.

If you want to change the colour of a stroke, use the Paint Style section of the tool palette. Select the stroke you wish to colour, and adjust it using the colour options at the bottom. You can also apply gradients to a stroke or remove the colour altogether.

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