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Illustrator Trick #2: Tilde Fun

illustrator tilde trick


Many beginners may not have heard of the “tilde” key trick. It’s the ~ key just beside the number 1 keypad. By holding the tilde key, you can drag to create new shapes following your mouse direction. You can only use it with other shape tools in your tool palette. Combine it with Alt/Option, Shift/Command and spacebar to create new effects. Have fun with the tilde key, below are some experiments I have done with it.

tilde experiment

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About The Author: Tony Soh

Hi. I'm the founder of Vector Diary. Illustrator is my passion and I have written numerous tutorials on illustrator helping people learn illustrator. My most popular tutorial on learning illustrator in 30 days has been a hit. It makes learning illustrator so easy and has benefited more than 20,000 people worldwide. Also, I've revealed some of my secret techniques in the premium tutorials. So don't forget to check it out!

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w3feeds » Blog Archive » February - 2009 PART - 6 All latest news for web design ,development, open sources, techonoly and favorites | w3feeds » Blog Archive » February - 2009 PART - 6 All latest news for web design ,development, open sources, techonoly and favorites
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Illustrator Tip #14: Converging Points Together Using Average Function | Ouech.net | Illustrator Tip #14: Converging Points Together Using Average Function | Ouech.net
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:22 am

Illustrator Tip #14: Converging Points Together Using Average Function | e-szablony.eu - Tutoriale, Kursy | Illustrator Tip #14: Converging Points Together Using Average Function | e-szablony.eu - Tutoriale, Kursy
May 4th, 2009 at 12:38 am

+Add Comment26 Comments

  1. Gravtar for marizmendi
    marizmendi May 15th, 2008

    Excellent, Exactly what I’ve been looking for, thanks

  2. Gravtar for Jamie.G
    Jamie.G May 28th, 2008

    never ever heard of that technique.. really nice effect and so simple! I’ve been expirimenting with this technique for half an hour now and there are so many possibilities :D thanks for sharing!

  3. Gravtar for dev
    dev June 2nd, 2008

    hi dear friends
    i don’t know how to make this style pls teach to me and where is the “tilde” options.
    tnks.

  4. Gravtar for iStockdiary
    iStockdiary June 3rd, 2008

    The “tilde” key is right under Esc Key. Select the Circle Tool, hold down the “tilde” key and drag on the canvas to start drawing shapes. You can also try it with other shape tools.

  5. Gravtar for arly
    arly June 6th, 2008

    yay! fun to play with! thanks!

  6. Gravtar for mickey
    mickey August 5th, 2008

    hopefully i’ll get a reply?

    i was just wondering how i could add the gradient effect (as seen in your opening banner) to the lines? i’ve tried everything i can think of, but nothing seems to work!

  7. Gravtar for iStockdiary
    iStockdiary August 5th, 2008

    Hi Mickey, Go Object>Epxand to expand the lines into shapes. Select all and apply gradient to it.

  8. Gravtar for Steff
    Steff August 5th, 2008

    love it!

  9. Gravtar for pub
    pub August 16th, 2008

    well…i dont know this trick…f***m
    well if use a keyboard portuguese ur ~ key in this tut is “ç” key :d
    tks for the trick :d

  10. Gravtar for Per
    Per September 3rd, 2008

    For spanish keyboards is the “ñ” letter, thanks god i found it! Great trick!

  11. Gravtar for Anneke
    Anneke September 26th, 2008

    For French keyboards it’s the “<” key. Very glad to have finally found it! Cool trick

  12. Gravtar for Love Malhotra
    Love Malhotra October 3rd, 2008

    Hello dear friends
    I don’t know how to make this style pls teach to me and where is the “tilde” options.my email ID is love_malhotra2007@yahoo.co.in
    thanxs.

  13. Gravtar for dinesh
    dinesh October 6th, 2008

    cooooooooooooooool :) that’s really awesome, great trick. M Loving it. :) thanks for sharing.

  14. Gravtar for Gui
    Gui October 12th, 2008

    Hey!

    Great tutorial!
    I would like to know what is the bet way to paint inside the draw. I made something like the stars and i don’t know how to paint the “other inside” draws that i’ve made by the experiment. It’s to much work to paint one piece by one

    *sorry for my english haha

    thanks

  15. Gravtar for Vectordiary
    Vectordiary October 12th, 2008

    Go Object>Expand to expand the lines. Next select all lines and fill it with gradient. Pull and drag to set the direction of the gradient. You will achieve something like what I have done.

  16. Gravtar for Jan
    Jan October 20th, 2008

    Hi!
    Can’t get this to work…
    I have a Norwegian keyboard layout, and where the tilde / ~ symbol should be, I have ‘ and § instead. I have to press alt and ^ to get the ~ symbol. I can’t figure out how to do this trick..! :(

  17. Gravtar for Ranja
    Ranja October 25th, 2008

    Very good trick! Let me ask something. Which key replaces the mac’s option key, in the pc keyboard?

  18. Gravtar for Vectordiary
    Vectordiary October 26th, 2008

    The Alt key.

  19. Gravtar for Steven
    Steven October 29th, 2008

    Oh my god! Why did I not know this :) Awesome, thanks for sharing.. I’ll be using this alot from now on :)

  20. Gravtar for Steven
    Steven October 29th, 2008

    Btw. I have the new Mac keyboard with a danish layout. In case some of you can’t find the tilde key, you just need to press the key and go crazy :D

  21. Gravtar for Masum
    Masum December 13th, 2008

    that is really cool. thanks man.

  22. Gravtar for Amanda
    Amanda January 31st, 2009

    Nope, this jsut does not work for me. My tilde is above the right shift key and shares space with the #. Even with shift ~ and drag, there is no effect. The line segment will twirl around anyway (even without the shift ~) but I get no duplicates. This is annoying, as I suspect it is an important part of Illustrator

  23. Gravtar for K.W Grippen
    K.W Grippen March 19th, 2009

    Amanda: I have the same keyboard as you do. Instead of the tilde key, hold down the @ key. You’ll get the same effect.

  24. Gravtar for goldbraun
    goldbraun March 27th, 2009

    german keyboard: use ö instead of tilde

  25. Gravtar for hind al hussaini
    hind al hussaini June 11th, 2009

    I was wondering how do you make the lines with different colors. Like the one shown above.

  26. Gravtar for bem69
    bem69 June 15th, 2009

    This is a great find, thanks for sharing!

    hind al hussaini - the method is here

    Vectordiary October 12th, 2008

    Go Object>Expand to expand the lines. Next select all lines and fill it with gradient. Pull and drag to set the direction of the gradient. You will achieve something like what I have done.

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