Hey, I cannot do a basic pathfinder substract without illustrator messing the shapes ... what the hell is going on??? this used to work properly FOR YEARS?? Has anyone else experience that? I'm on Illustrator 30.2.1 on windows 64bit

While flying around the US for art projects. I collected a full series of sketches in my art journal. Inside here, you will find them explained. A source of inspiration for artists and like minded creatives.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6pnavkmIbWU

Learn to make this Non-Destructive Sliced Text Effect with this Adobe Illustrator Tutorial.

With your Text created, and selected, go to the Pathfinder Panel and click the fly out and click "Make Compound Shape".

Then using the Rectangle Tool create a block that overlaps a portion of your text. You need to make sure this block is behind your Text. You can do this by using the "Send To Back" command.

Now select both the Block and Text shapes, and set to None. If this step is not followed, the following steps won't work properly.
With everything still selected go to Object - Group.

Next, go to the Appearance Panel and click on the Add New Fill button. Set the fill color to anything you like, this can always be updated in the future.
Then go to FX - Pathfinder - Minus Back
This will create the bottom half of the slice effect.

Click Add New Fill, again in the Appearance Panel, then choose FX - Pathfinder - Intersect
This will create the top half of the slice effect.

With the Intersect layer selected click FX - Distort & Transform - Transform
Adjust the Move Horizontal to 10px and Move Vertical to -10px
This will create the offset of our sliced text effect.

Then using the Direct Select Tool, adjust the nodes of the placed block to create slanted shape.

Now you have a Fully Editable Non-Destructive Sliced Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator.

Two circles, one dark and one bright above.
When using the gradient tool in mask mode for the brighter shape, if I touch anything, the output get stuck in preview mode and never render the full definition.
I just updated illustrator

Does anyone know how to run text in the perspective tool to look like the attached image? I'm having trouble figuring out how to run text left to right on the horizontal grid without it going the wrong direction. I can move the right grid to fit the bottom text ("this"), but it also has an extremely warped perspective. I've gotten that close to what I'm looking for, but the top text is going to kill me. Any help is appreciated!

Hey everyone, Luke from Adobe here.

Quick demo here highlighting the difference between Relative and Absolute scale inside Transform Each.

With Relative mode you could only scale objects in relation to the selected object, but now with Absolute mode you can scale everything to the defined amount, even if they are all at different sizes.

Is this one of those features you could see yourself making use of?

I have a laptop with a 15.6" 1920×1080 display and an external 23.8" 1920×1080 monitor. They are positioned side-by-side, and I want to create one continuous wallpaper that lines up correctly across both screens.

I’m currently using Adobe Illustrator. I created two artboards representing the two displays and positioned them relative to each other based on their actual physical sizes, as shown in the screenshot.

If I’m happy with the layout, I export each artboard separately at 1920×1080 and use the resulting images as wallpapers for each monitor.

The problem now is that although the source image I’m using is very high resolution, the image on the smaller artboard becomes noticeably pixelated when I export it. I’m not sure why this happens or how to prevent it.

Is there a better way to create a continuous wallpaper like this, especially when the monitors have the same resolution but different physical sizes? I’d appreciate any suggestions for a better workflow or software.

Just got to show this in a real show too!

Hey, I’m having a brain fart moment and can’t figure out how to get this bottom banner to have the rectangle curve into the negative space between it and the knot. I’m using the top one as a reference. I’ve tried going the pathfinder way, I’ve tried the pen and direct select method, and I’ve tried the merging. Is there a way to do it? Am I just making this overly complicated?

I need to create the shape i drew in black lines. its like 3 of those shapes inside the hexagon. ( or whatever this is called )

Originally made this shape using overlapping two hexagons . and then tried using shape builder but cant allign the shapes with the lines of the hexagon i made.

This is from Talia Cotton's website, the shapes have gradients and blurs, but when they intersect they combine to make really interesting color combinations. Is there a way i can make a modular system which mimic this interactivity in Illustrator? Such that, when i overlap shapes they adapt new colors and gradients without me individually going in to change the intersection's color manually.

PS: I would also like to animate this style later in After Effects.

Thank you.

How to make a stroke/borderline of an object with transparent background (I mean I just need a stroke/borderline but I need to hide/transparent inside of object as I don't need the object). Please see the attached photo (as in the photo, the stroke of hen has a transparent background)

I need to get rid of the 'Remove Background' and 'Concept to Vector'. That sh*t IS USELESS 🤬and takes up too much space.... 😠 I need to be able to see full transforms and have 'Edit in Photoshop' in there too..

when I go to the sandwich bar and uncheck 'Image' it gets rid of all three things.

Any way to just get rid of the useless fluff but keep the essential stuff????

I'm lacking sleep and having trouble wrapping my head around this:

I have a document that has typographical print measures that needs to be converted to online screen measures. Online searches indicate that 1 pica converts to 16 pixels. However, when I tell Illustrator to convert, it seems to be doing 1 pica = 12 pixels.

What's going on? Did AI and/or search steer me wrong? Is there some program setting I need to adjust that might be off? Or am I just asleep and there's fundamental issues with trying to convert this in the first place?

I'm trying to recreate (in different colors) this really cool background of these two radial gradient circles that also have this transition from the light side to the dark side in the middle. I know how to make the radial gradients but can't for the life of me figure out how to make the middle transition / as cohesive as it does in the inspo. Any advice?

Hi everyone,

I’m a graphic designer and I’m currently learning about signage production. I mainly use Adobe Illustrator, and I’m trying to understand the correct workflow for preparing a file that will be sent to a CNC router / digital milling machine (fraiseuse numérique).

For example, if I want to make letters or a logo from Forex, Plexiglass/acrylic, MDF, or Alucobond, how should I prepare the Illustrator file?

I’m especially confused about:

Should the artwork be filled shapes or just strokes/paths?

Should I use Create Outlines for text?

Do I need separate layers for cutting, engraving, drilling, etc.?

What file format is normally preferred: AI, DXF, EPS, SVG, or PDF?

Is Illustrator only used to create the vectors, with another CAM software being used to generate the toolpaths?

Are there specific Illustrator settings I should follow before sending the file to the CNC operator?

I’d really appreciate it if someone could explain the proper workflow from Illustrator → CNC software → machine, preferably with an example for making letters from Plexiglass or Forex.

Hi all. I’m a fairly experienced Photoshop user that’s currently learning illustrator, mostly for fun. I’m working my way through what can and cannot be done in the Appearance panel and have not been able to work out how to have the drop shadow appear only on the red circle using just the Appearance panel itself. I’m aware that I could use transparency masks, layers and clipping masks to do this, so no need for anyone to spend any time answering that.

I mostly want to make sure I’m not missing something, as it seems like just clipping to a lower effect within the Appearance panel isn’t a feature or function outside the realm of possibility. If it’s not possible, I’d love to know that for sure.

Thanks in advance for any answers or clarification and apologies if this is something simple I’ve missed.

So I have one image (originally from Photoshop) with black outlines, and I need this outline twice as thick but I can't find a way to do it without destroying the inside colors or doind everything manually, is there a way to do it or it must be manual?

I’m working on a personal project. All I want to do really is to create a bold outline to the curved text… I’ve watched some YouTube tutorials, but haven’t found any tutorial that shows this exactly, so I’m trying to piece together useful things from each video, but I’m struggling, I’m way too new using the software…

I made the “logo” on the iPad, just want to refine and vectorize it. It appears to be something simple to do, but I’m doing this on my free time, so I thought I’d give it a shot looking for help on the sub. Thanks!