- I started using Illustrator when I was 25,
which was here, let me do the math.
Carry the one, a hundred years ago.
Our friends say it's cute to see us together,
Illustrator actually finishes my sentences.
So if you were to ask me,
what's your favorite feature in all of Illustrator,
it'd be like me asking you to choose
your favorite thing about your spouse or your grandma.
I mean, you know what you like, you know what you don't
but your favorite, which is why I say without hesitation,
the topic of this chapter, dynamic effects.
Why, because they allow you
to apply temporary non-destructive adjustments
using numerical parameters.
They pile up in the appearance panel
so you can change your mind any time you like.
You can apply them to big things like entire layers
or little things like a single stroke.
And you can heap multiple applications
of a single effect onto anything,
which means that we can take this tiny circle,
that's it just a dinky purple circle
and turn it into this with the application
of just a few dynamic effects.
The addition of another circle gets us this effect here.
Then we'll spike things up again entirely dynamically
to achieve these origami petals.
And finally, we'll swap out the colors
to impart this fall time flavor.
Put simply, they're effects,
meaning amazing object modifiers,
and they're dynamic,
meaning that everything happens live on the fly
and subject to your ever-changing moods.
But that doesn't tell the whole story.
In fact, if I were to tell you the whole story,
it goes something like this.