10 Tips for Adobe Illustrator

Hi Maps for Design users, this just came across our desk from
Shutterstock.com, the royalty free photo site. It is on 10 tips for
using Adobe Illustrator.

Including:
1. Learn the Keyboard Shortcuts
2, Copy in Place
3. Option/Alt and Shift Drag
4. Learn the Smart Guides
5. Flatten Transparency
6. Group Items to Move Them (I am always recommending this to our
customers, great tip)
7. Transform Again
8. Blend Shapes
9. Work with Text Boxes
10. Changing a Star to a Triangle

Check out all the info at:

http://www.shutterstock.com/newsletter/49/article3.html

Adding Cities to PowerPoint Maps

Question: I want to add several cities to one of your maps. The cities
are Madrid, Toledo, Avila, Segovia, Sevilla, Cordova, Granada,
Barcelona. How do I do this

Answer: Thank you for visiting our site and for your question. If you
are using our PowerPoint editable maps you can easily add in what ever
text you might need. The maps are completely editable. Just use the
text tool and type your city on the edge somewhere, format it to the
size and font that you want. Then using the pointer move it to the
correct location. I would also add in a little circle or square to mark
the city, For the cities you mentioned you could use the Europe map.

check out this link for map
http://www.mapsfordesign.com/shop/product.php?

productid=16257&cat=253&page=2

We also put together a video on this.
http://mapsfordesignhowto.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-add-text-to-

powerpoint-slide.html

Hope this answers your question
thank you.
bruce jones

How to Split a State in Half

We get this question all the time and just wanted to revisit the topic
and to highlight all of our How To Videos for customizing our
PowerPoint Maps.

We have produced a series of videos on how to customize your maps.
Please contact me if you are still stuck, and I will try to help. The
video covers it pretty well

Please click on the link below for How to Split a State
http://mapsfordesignhowto.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-divide-

powerpoint-clipart-map-in.html

Please click on this link for all of our How to Video
http://mapsfordesignhowto.blogspot.com/

thank you, bruce jones

USA Map to Track the Election

Question: I want to get a US map of the 50 states that I can download
and that I can color to show which states are likely to go Republican
in November, which are likely to go Democratic and which are "swing"
states. What do you have?

Answer: thank you for visiting our site and for your question. We have
two editable USA maps in PowerPoint that would work for you. The
difference is one has two letter state names and the other has the full
name. Both are fully editable with each state an individual element
that you can color using the fill bucket in the Drawing Bar. For the
swing states you can use the pattern fill in the paint bucket and
choose a two color pattern. Should work just fine. Click on the link
below to review the maps

http://www.mapsfordesign.com/shop/home.php?cat=249

Just register on the site and order the map. You will be able to
download it right after the order form processes.

Any questions please contact me and I can help
thank you, bruce jones

I wanted to know if you can create maps with only the states or countries you want?

Question: I wanted to know if you can create maps with only the states
or countries you want

Answer: Thank you for visiting our site and for your question. Yes you
can, wither you are working in PowerPoint or Illustrator you can create
a custom map. All of the states, counties or countries are individual
elements that can be customized, colored, deleted, moved around, what
ever you want to do.

If you wanted to set up just the Pacific Northwest say, just delete the
other states, move the remaining ones to the center of the screen and
there you go, a custom territory. All pretty easy.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have further questions.

thank you, bruce jones

4 New Customizing Videos for PowerPoint

Click on the How to Videos link in the upper left corner of this blog for 4 new customizing videos we released the weekend.

Two videos on some of our favorite customizing tips including Part 1, use of the shift key, grouping and ungrouping, and Part 2, enlarging and the Snap To Grid option.

A video on converting PowerPoint files to jpg graphics for your web site.

And finally look over our shoulder and watch us solve a customers complex customizing problem on a regional county map.

Send us your PowerPoint map questions and we might turn them into a video. Stay tuned more to come.

Is your total U.S. county map editable (meaning each county or the state in its entirety)?

Today's Question: Is Every US State and County Editable?

Answer: Yes every state or county in our map is an individual element that can be customized, colored, deleted, moved around. The counties themselves are grouped together by state to help you keep organized. But all elements are individual. If you are using Adobe Illustrator make sure you check out the layers features, it will help you a lot with keeping things organized.

thank you, bruce jones

USA Map with Capitals for Book

Customer Question: Can you supply a suitable map of the USA covering all states to use in a book covering a trip we did covering all the 48 lower US states. We would love it if the map showed state Capitols

Answer: We have a number of US maps that would help with your project. My recommendation is that if you are publishing a book you probably want to work in Adobe Illustrator so that you can produce the best and sharpest graphic.

From Illustrator you can customized all you want and then export it as an .eps or .ai file for your desk top publishing program where you can lay out the book.

I have attached a black and white jpg file of one of the maps with capitals so you can see what it looks like. We also have this in color. All of our illustrator maps are completely editable, each state or block of text is an individual element. You might also want to use some of our individual states to give more detail when you are describing that place.

Hope this helps, please contact me if you need further info

thank you, bruce jones

Video on Coloring Land on County Map

How to Video on how to change a map color when it is part of a Grouped County Map.

1. Click on a single map say Ohio, Ungroup it, you will see that you now have two groups, text and land. Don't need to Ungroup any further.

2. Click in the ocean to De-Select the map

3. Click on just the Ohio counties to select the land and then choose a new color from the Drawing Tool Bar

4. Once the color has been changed, drag around the entire state with your pointer to Reselect the two groupings, the text and the land and Regroup them together, that will keep that state whole and a single unit until you are ready to do something new.

5. Do the process for each state. Ungroup, change land color, Regroup.

Are All of the Countries Represented in the World Maps?

> RECENT QUESTION: I noticed the domestic maps appear to be
> comprehensive. What are the world maps like? Are all countries
> represented, and can they be broken down in the same manner as the
> U.S. maps? Appears to be a great product.
Rego Park, New York

Hi and thank you for coming to our website and for your question. Yes
we do have several world maps with individual countries in them,
including a Mercator Projection and a Robinson project. One of the
Mercator maps also has country names on it. One of our favorites for
setting up world sales or product territories

Along with our world maps are regional maps with individual countries
that can be customized. We also have 42 major country maps with each
one broken down by administrative district. All of the countries,
states or country PowerPoint maps have individual elements that can be
edited and customized.

thank you for visiting, please let me know if you have additional
questions.

bruce jones

How large can your maps be printed without loosing clarity of the image?

Customer Questions: How large can your maps be printed without loosing clarity of the image? Tracy

Hi Tracy, thank you for visiting our site and for our question. If you are using our Adobe Illustrator maps then you can blow them up as large as you want. Illustrator files are vector files. If you are looking for nooks and crannies then they will get less but the quality of the line will remain sharp and clear.

If you are using our PowerPoint maps they are also vector and can be blown up. We have customers that enlarge them to make larger maps for presentations.

Our JPG maps are bit mapped and do loose resolution at they enlarge.

As always the quality does depend on the printer. We also have lots of samples that you can download and test.

thank you again for stopping by
bruce jones

Question on Using Maps on a Web Site

Question on inserting a part of a map into a web page?

Do you know how I can insert one part of a map into a web page. Each state has 3 parts, full map with names, map, and just names. I only want one page in my web. Any ideas? I am very new to power point.
Tammy

Hi Tammy, Each of our PowerPoint Maps come with a least three slides, Text and Land, just Land and just the Text, this gives you a lot of options. What I would do is to customize which ever map works best for your project. Then delete the other slides. You can do this under the EDIT pull down menu, select DELETE on the slide you want to delete, and then save the file as a JPG file-this is one of the options available to you in the SAVE AS command under the FILE menu. You will now have a jpg file that can go into your web page or into Photoshop to be saved as a GIF file for your site. You just want to watch the size of the file, but this is how you can get a pretty decent map out of PowerPoint. You can also give me a call and I can try walking you through the process.

Give us your questions, we love to help.

Question on Coloring a Country?

A recent question on coloring a country:

Okay, dumb question here. I have a county map and I changed some counties to no fill (white) and I need to change them to another color, it won’t let me highlight county now. Help!
Tam

Hi Tam,
You should be able to select them by clicking on the border of the country with your pointer. Then you can fill using the paint bucket fill in the pop up menu in drawing bar along the bottom. You might also have to send the county that is next to it to the back because it is actually sitting behind that one. The arrange function for SENDING TO BACK is in the DRAW popup menu all the way to the left on the drawing bar. You should now be able to click on the line of the county that you want and give it some color.

Please contact us with your questions, glad to help

How to Add Text to a PowerPoint Map Slide

How to Video showing how to add text to a PowerPoint clipart state or county map slide.

To add text select the TEXT INSERTION tool in the DRAWING TOOL BAR, usually located along the bottom of your slide window. Click anywhere on the slide and begin typing.

Use the FORMATING PALLET or the pull down menus at the top or your screen to customize with fonts, size, and color. Text blocks can be moved around the screen by clicking, holding and dragging on the grey box that surrounds the text. This box is visible after you have clicked on the text.

To delete a text box, select is with the pointer and then click on the gray box surrounding the type. Hitting the DELETE key on your keyboard will delete the text.

Our maps can be completely edited in PowerPoint. Every state, county, country or text block is an individual editable element. They can be colored, customized, move or deleted elements as you want. PowerPoint has a very nice collection of editing and drawing tools, located either along the bottom or along the side of your screen.

How to Divide a PowerPoint Map In-half

How to Video showing how to divide a PowerPoint clipart state or county map into two territories and color them differently. PowerPoint isn't really a drawing program but we have found a fairly effective way of doing this. Below are two ways to handle this.

The first is to copy the state and paste it right on top or on the side so that you can work on it. Go to the DRAW Pop Up menu in the Tool Bar and select EDIT POINTS, you will see all of the drawing points or handles. You then click on each point with the mouse pointer, while you hold down the Control key on the PC or the Option key on the Mac, the selected point will then disappear. You work your way nibbling around the area you want to delete. You end up at some point with a part of a state. Give it its own color and stroke or line and place it on top of the other map. And presto you have a state that looks to the viewer like you have cut it in half. But in reality is made up of two pieces, a full state and half state.

A second way is to use one of the line tools (I like the one that just uses straight lines) and zoom in to 400% and trace over the outline of the state with the drawing tools. Moving around it, tracing the shape of the state and just the part you want to keep. Give it a color and now you have again what looks like a state cut in half.

The drawing tools are located in the AUTO SHAPES pop up menu in the DRAWING TOOL BAR. In AUTO SHAPES select LINES, (we like the middle line on the bottom row, the FREE FORM LINE tool). With this line tool selected you can now trace over the map, making a complete closed path by clicking point by point around th edge. Bring the line back to the beginning point and give two quick clicks and you will have an object that can be filled with a new color.

To make this easier locate the Zoom Box in the upper right hand corner of the top tool bar and select 300 or 400% so you can really see what is going on. If you need to you can adjust the points by selecting the new object with your pointer and choosing EDIT POINTS from the DRAW popup menu on the far left of the tool bar. Also make sure SNAP TO GRID is not checked. This method isn't perfect but will work pretty well and allows you to set up the partial territories.

If you are using the EPS Adobe Illustrator version of our maps you can use the SCISSORS tool and cut the border and then re-join the lines giving you two halves.

How do I Enlarge or Reduce an Object in PowerPoint?

How to Video showing how to enlarge or reduce a group of clipart state, country or county PowerPoint map.

To enlarge several states or counties you need to GROUP them together.
1 Hold down the Shift key and using the pointer CLICK using the right button on the PC mouse and the regular click on the Mac mouse, on the states you want to enlarge together.

2 Once the states are selected click on the DRAW popup menu in the TOOL BAR along the bottom and choose GROUP.

3 You will now see just 8 handles on your selected group. Place your pointer over one of the lower left or right corner handles. Click, and hold down the mouse button and drag the handle in a diagonal 45 degree direction. This will enlarge the group. Release your mouse button when you have the correct size. Pulling out, the group will enlarge, moving in towards the center it will reduce. Holding down the SHIFT key will keep things proportional.

4 Text elements will need to be re-adjusted manually, they will move to the correct place but in PowerPoint they do not scale up or down. You may also need to UNGROUP them and move them where needed. The text can be resized using the Font Tools along the top of the screen.

How To Color a State, County or Country in PowerPoint

How to Video for coloring an editable PowerPoint clipart map .

Select the state or country with the pointer by clicking on it. On the PC use the right button of the mouse, on the Mac just click with the mouse. You will see 8 little handles appear around it, this tells you the object has been selected. Choose a color from the Fill Bucket in the Drawing Tool Bar usually located along the bottom of the PowerPoint slide.

Learn More About Our Maps

Editable MS PowerPoint and EPS clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes.

Each state or country is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, advertising, graphic design, building maps for websites, anywhere a royalty free map is needed

Visit our www.mapsfordesign.com website for more info

New Hampshire is the State for Today

Our future revolves around New Hampshire today, tomorrow it moves to South Carolina. Make sure you vote