Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
134 results found
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Overhaul of Illustrator's 3D capabilities.
Illustrator's 3D effects are hugely outdated. Something that matches or even exceeds After Effects would be a would boost to the program.
Heck, even something that allows you to easily rotate and move the shapes around in 3D space like AE would be great. Illustrator's current 3D tool are clumsy and cumbersome.
4 votesIllustrator introduced a new panel for creating 3D shapes in October 2021 — '3D and Materials'. Older effects are still available as 'Classic 3D'.
If you want to give feedback about this feature, you can do it here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/938463/suggestions/44254299
or log in a separate report/request
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Layer style effects - Bevel & Emboss, Drop Shadow, Outer glow...
Illustrator needs a panel for object effects similar to ID and PS.
Especially bevel and emboss effects. Affinity Designer has this option.4 votes -
Ability to create Folder-like Groups within Appearance panel and apply Opacity and effects at this Group level.
Using the Photoshop model of layer folders, provide the ability to group fills and strokes within the Appearance panel. These groups could then have opacity, effects, etc. applied at the Group level.
E.g. a complex stroke pattern could be built within a group using multiple styles, and then that pattern could be "embossed" onto another underlaying style using Overlay or Hard Light. The overall effect could then be contained within a single path and could be saved as a single Graphic Style.
4 votes -
Separate "Random" checkboxes for every parameter of the transform each command and effect.
Seperate "Random" checkboxes for every parameter of the "Transform Each" command and effect.
This would allow the user, in one step, to randomize only the selected parameter, (say the vertical scale) but still transform the other parameters (maybe rotation and number of copies) uniformly.
4 votes -
Effect/Filter parity with Photoshop/Indesign/After Effects
Many of the effects in Illustrator seem to be only half implemented (in comparison to PS/AE/etc). Illustrator's glow/shadow/etc effects only have a few options compared to the same effects in other Adobe apps, which makes them less adaptable & powerful. Please beef up the effects (and add new ones, such as directional feather/gradient feather/inner shadow) in Illustrator so that they match the offerings in Adobe's other apps.
4 votes -
4 votes
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Color Halftone with various pixel sizes and/or LPI
In "Color Halftone" we only have the option of setting one pixel size for the dots, that will later be applied to all 4 channels. However, in printing, it is common for each color channel to be printed with a different dot size, to prevent moiré and create more solid patterns. It would be great if in Illustrator one could set a different pixel size for each color, the same way it is possible to vary the angle.
Also it would be amazing to have this setting done in LPI rather than pixel dot size.
4 votes -
Advanced User Defined Variable - Step and Repeat Transform Live Effects
I think I'm getting at a broader idea that includes some requests already posted - Advanced user defined variables to duplicate or step and repeat objects any number of times. This would allow users to either or conform or randomize copies of a Transform for advanced effects. I saw this idea some years ago by a Russian guilloche pattern product called Excentro ( http://www.excourse.com/excentro/index.html ) screenshot attached, that does just that.
Perhaps this is a third party plugin, or a separate Adobe product, but I think it would be great to take this on as an Illustrator feature. You can…
4 votes -
Pixel brushes
It would be awesome to add pixel brushes in Illustrator as well as an easy way to paint inside objects, it's really not a ideal workflow to jump to Photoshop and even working with Affter Effects to keep those textures. Maybe something like Astute's Texturino or Affinity Designer's pixel layer.
4 votes -
Auto-generate an opacity mask from the Appearance palette
I've been experimenting with ways to create soft edges and stylized natural textures in my work. I find myself wishing for this to be able to quickly and easily create, say, an erratically faded and mottled edge to a filled path by giving it an opacity mask made up of a jagged white-to-black fade pattern brush, plus some black spots from a scatter brush.
I would like to be able to add strokes and/or fills to a path via the Appearance palette, and have these paths show up in an auto-generated opacity mask for the path instead.
Possibly this might…
4 votes -
Let us set the default color for effects
I know this was changed in a recent release, but instead of just setting the default color for drop shadow to 100%K, let us choose what we want the default to be. Some of us might want rich black instead - or a different color. And please do this for all effects that use colors (Outer Glow, Inner glow, etc..)
3 votes -
I'd like the ability to import .spsm files to Materials.
When taken from Illustrator to a community-created assets page, there are tons of .spsm files and only a few .sbsar files. The .spsm files are the ones that I like, but I can't use them in Illustrator.
3 votes -
Toggle Scaling fonts
i would like to see a toggle so that when i set a text size on path or text box i can scale the box or path without scaling the text within and without direct selecting the path or box
this way i know my format is un interrupted
also the scale effect and strokes and text needs to be in the top tool bar at all times so they can be toggled3 votes -
Transform with negative numbers
It has become a real frustration when using Illustrator that I can't use negative numbers for the Transform/Move... tool or for the Transform effect. It seems like such a simple thing that I'm surprised it has not been added yet. Please address this in an upcoming update. Thank you.
3 votes -
Add custom shape/image in appearance panel
Now one only can add rectangle/circle shape in apperance panel. It would be very useful to be able to add custom shape/image/symbol there also.
3 votes -
Live effects
I hate drawing comparisons between applications because I believe it's utterly unfair in most cases. This is not one of those cases. I believe wholeheartedly that we've reached a stage of computing where we can get rid of the "Preview" button in the effects panels. Let's do it. I've not seen a solid step forward in how effects are created, previewed, edited, and handled since I began using Adobe apps in CS4. Affinity is doing this. And it's buttery smooth. And I'm both jealous and confused that Adobe doesn't have this. It's the sort of thing that you remain blissfully…
3 votes -
Opacity and tint/shade options for Transform effect
In EFFECT < DISTORT & TRANSFORM < TRANSFORM, it would be really great if you could have a way to fade out the shape's opacity when making copies. Other options, such as fading it to specified tint or shade, would be really great as well. You can approximate this in the blend function, but it cannot generate the fractal-like structures that the transform effect can, so it would be nice to further the artist's capacity to manipulate a single shape.
3 votes -
3D & Materials: separate colour/material for extrusion
Please introduce the ability to apply separate colour and material to the extruded part of a 3D shape. There are multiple examples where such a feature would immensely help recreating real world objects. For example: laser cut plywood (burned edges, parallel to the surface), slice of bread, etc. Basically, any cut object which interior is different to its surface.
2 votes -
Custom Icons to Simplify Size Identification and Improve Efficiency
I work with various sizes occasionally, if not always, and it's really challenging to identify the sizes I use because all the icons have a similar appearance. To make it simpler to find the right size, it would be nice if we had more custom icons in this section. Humans read easier and faster through images.
2 votes -
Some way to control the mesh density of generated 3D objects?
I'm using Illustrator to turn some 2D drawings into 3D objects which I export as OBJ/GLTF to other software. The process is really quick and simple, and produces very smooth and clean mesh objects, however... I'm having trouble with the total lack of control over the geometry density/resolution of the generated 3D model.
I've experimented with increasing the number of anchor points and size of the drawing to see if I would get a 3D model made of more polygons and vertices, but had no success.
It would be amazing if there was a proper way to control the generated…2 votes
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