The Effect panel and its options
If you are already familiar with Adobe Photoshop, then you will likely be familiar with the Filter menu in that application. If you are not, I would describe this menu as a list of options that will render visual adjustments to the selected item(s). Illustrator has something that is quite comparable to what you would experience in Photoshop. In fact, one of the biggest differences you may notice is the actual name. While the list of available options in this menu are filters in Photoshop, they are considered effects in Illustrator and are divided based on whether they process the object using vectors or pixels. Any third-party software you have installed will be in a third category. You will find all these categories in the Effect menu, located in the top menu:
Figure 5.12 – The effects categories within the Effect menu
In addition to dividing the effects into appropriate categories, the Effect menu also presents two...
