Adobe illustrator 10 Manuale Utente

Appearance attributes are properties that affect the look of an object without altering its 
underlying structure. If you apply an appearance attribute to an object and later edit or 
remove that attribute, it does not change the underlying object or any other attributes 
applied to the object. Fills, strokes, transparency, and effects are all types of appearance 
attributes. 

A style is a named set of appearance attributes. The Styles palette lets you store and apply 
a set of appearance attributes to objects, groups, and layers. This gives you a fast and 
consistent way to change the look of artwork in documents. If the style is replaced (that is, 
if any appearance attributes that make up the style are changed and the new attributes 
are saved as that style), all objects with that style change to the new appearance.

Effects are a type of appearance attribute and are listed under the Effect menu. Most 
effects have the same function and name as commands found elsewhere in the appli-
cation. However, Effect menu commands do not change the underlying object, only its 
appearance. You can distort, rasterize, and modify any path using any number of effects, 
but the original size, anchor points, and shape of the path never changes—only the way it 
looks. The underlying object remains editable, and an effect’s parameters can be changed 
at any time.

The Appearance palette is your gateway to working with appearance attributes, including 
styles and effects. Because you can apply appearance attributes to layers, groups, and 
objects, the hierarchy of attributes in your artwork can become very complex. For 
example, if you apply one effect to a layer and another effect to an object in the layer, it 
may be difficult to determine which effect is causing the artwork to change. The 
Appearance palette shows you exactly the fills, strokes, styles, and effects that have been 
applied to an object, group, or layer.

The Appearance palette shows you the hierarchy of appearance attributes in your artwork. 
When you make a selection on the artboard or target an item in the Layers palette, the 
Appearance palette displays the attributes associated with the artwork. Fills and strokes 
are listed in stacking order (front to back); effects are listed in the order in which they are 
applied to the artwork.