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Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests

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252 results found

  1. "[Paper]" or "[Transparent]" Swatch

    Add a "Paper" (or "Transparent") Swatch to the swatches like the one in InDesign that, like [None] or [Registration] cannot be removed.

    Adding this would make it FAR easier to knock out parts of complex artwork WITHOUT forcing the user to destroy the layer structure of their files.

    In the attached image, for instance, I wanted to have rounded corners on the bottom of a header graphic, and this meant I need to use a clipping mask, which requires all the elements it contains to be on the same layer. While there are workarounds, such as placing AI files within…

    27 votes
    5 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  2. Ability to change the default swatches

    I'd really like to open up a new document with a predetermined default swatch selection. I know this can be done by saving swatches and saving your workspace but if I want to add new colors, I can't to the saved swatch window.

    26 votes
    5 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  3. Identify and name color swatches with human-readable names

    There is a very handy tool in Yandex.ru search engine, named 'Колдунщик' (literally 'Sorcererer', with triple 'er').
    The way it works with colors is briefly described there (in Russian):
    https://yandex.ru/blog/company/94762

    What it does is binds color names with color values. Some are quite standard, 'light blue', some are familiar, like 'bordeaux' (but every man think of different shade or even tone, speaking of it), some are very uncommon, like 'The color of the thigh of a frightened nymph' (it is a real color — https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisse_de_Nymphe).

    What if AI could name colors in a same way, when swatch is created…

    25 votes
    2 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  4. Copy/paste color values as text

    I often need to list color values in RGB, CMYK, hex, etc for brand guidelines and printing. It would be helpful if there was an easy way to copy all color values as text. Right now you can only select one value at a time which is very tedious. I know there are scripts that exist to do something similar but it would be nice if it was a built-in feature!

    23 votes
    11 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  5. USE of .CXF FILES within adobe cc

    As >cxf files will soon be the future of colour communication why do x-rite and adobe not integrate .cxf files with each other. The idea of a .cxf file is to help stabilise colour across various substrates, regardless of background hue, it allows the use of a spectrophotometer to read the colour and match it against a dE tolerance to make sure the colour is within specified range.
    Hence pantone live was born as every pantone book differs in colour, however a .cxf file never changes.

    So pantone want you to use pantone live, which is fine until the colour…

    21 votes
    0 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  6. Allow to see and edit colors in a selection, just like with Selection Colors in Figma

    Figma displays a full list of colors used in a selected art in its right sidebar: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042553434-View-and-adjust-colors-in-a-mixed-selection
    It allows quickly evaluate the selection, edit colors right there, even swap — without the need of using bulky Recolor. Illustrator can't offer the same quick tool, neither in Color panel nor with the Properties.
    Please make this possible in Ai, and make it better.

    20 votes
    3 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  7. Allow Custom Brick Offset Values in Pattern Maker

    The 9 fractions included in Brick Offset are not always enough to align patterns properly. When bricking a pattern, to achieve the acquired random look of a pattern, paths may need to be repeated just so it evenly fits within one of the fraction presets. The fractions are sometimes only off by a slight degree, that would be perfectly symmetrical if one were allowed the ability to adjust their own decimal chosen. Part of the confusion may also stem from complex patterns where they are difficult to update, as well as sorted fractions where Illustrator otherwise uses decimals. By size…

    16 votes
    2 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  8. RAL Swatch Library

    RAL Swatch library. We don’t need this for print or screen, but it is necessary to mark a plastic or metal with RAL colour when documentation is sent to manufacturing. Do something about it.

    15 votes
    1 comment  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  9. Discard all Overprints

    I work specifically in digital prepress for POP displays, and never use overprinting at all. Removing overprinting from a document can be a hassle as I work with documents that almost always contain a mix of solid objects, linked raster images and other things. I consider myself extremely lucky when I find a document that I can easily remove all overprints from in one go

    Illustrator already has a "Discard white overprints" in the document setup (although I rarely use this menu). We should either have a menu option to remove all overprints from a document, or at least an…

    14 votes
    0 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  10. Add persistent Swatch libraries to Workspace settings + maintained across upgrades

    Allow swatch libraries selected as persistent to be stored as part of a workspace (including palette group & position), and make them persistent across upgrades. I'm tired of having to recreate my palettes every **** time there's some minor 'agile' upgrade.

    14 votes
    4 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  11. OKHSL Color Model Support - Better than HSL

    The HSL color model has a lot of issues with it and has been improved upon with OKHSL.

    See this article—once you see the OKHSL color wheel, you will be sold instantly! Looks way better.

    See attached images of HSL vs OKHSL.

    Full article: https://bottosson.github.io/posts/colorpicker/

    Would be great to have this in Illustrator.

    13 votes
    2 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  12. Allow to set Shades, similar to how Tints work now

    I'd like to see a Shade option added to global swatches. Currently, we have tint, which adds varying levels of white to the color until you reach 100% white. Shade would act in the opposite direction, adding varying levels of black until you reached 100% black.

    I would envision this working by letting users click the "T" next to the slider in the color palette and having it switch to an "S", with the gradient changing from white on the left to black.

    This would be helpful because I often find myself needing not only lighter hues to work with…

    13 votes
    1 comment  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  13. Display color values for named swatches when hovering

    Illustrator automatically names swatches by their color values and displays these names when we hover over swatches in panels.
    But if we rename a swatch, Illustrator displays just the name, but not the color formula.
    InDesign does the opposite — always shows the color values when we hover, but not the name.

    I’d like to see both. Yes, I know that for the automatically named swatches it’d mean both the name made of values will be displayed along with the actual values... but you can solve it with the InDesign’s 'Name with Color Value' option for swatches.

    12 votes
    0 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  14. Drop shadow can't use global color swatches

    Drop shadow's color can be set to global swatch, but is doesn't stick to the effect, it only got sampled. So when you change your global swatch, shadow remains colored with previous color.
    Please, make Drop shadow and other raster effects use global swatches for real.

    12 votes
    0 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  15. Find color in artwork

    Sometimes I have a stray color that I cannot find in the artwork. It would be nice if there was a way I could click on the swatch and say find color and it would highlight everything that color was used on.

    12 votes
    2 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  16. Add a swatch from a color inside a gradient in Adobe Illustrator

    When you are working in a gradient, you may customize your colors inside. However, there's no way to add this new color as a swatch - or even to be given a HEX code. Let's make this more functional!

    12 votes
    1 comment  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  17. Gradient Swatch includes angle and position, please!

    Currently a Gradient swatch only includes color and transparency. PLEASE build Illustrator so Gradient Swatches include angle and position!

    It's a pain to have to adjust the gradient angle, after a Gradient Swatch attribute has been applied to an object. If the angle were editable and save-able (in the swatch) it would be wonderful!

    11 votes
    2 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  18. Put eyedroppers on every color selection menu.

    I keep getting the request from my students that they want to use colors from their existing project. In color, color guide, color themes, gradient color menu, there's no good way to grab a specific color from the art boards. Putting eyedroppers on ALL the color sub menus would make it so convenient to grab the color of someones eye, various colors in existing blends. For example, if a student wanted to make a gradient of two different colors from her eye, she could not do so simply. Currently the eyedropper only appears to hover over a one inch rgb…

    11 votes
    1 comment  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  19. No ability to add Hex code in Swatch colours

    I don't understand why this has not yet been implemented in the 30 years Illustrator is active. What could've taken me 2 minutes to do, took me 10 minutes, and had to go the long way around of opening Colour Options, try to memorise the RGB values, and then go back into Swatch Options, and then add in the values.

    Please can you add the Hex Code field in the Swatch Colour options, so that we can just paste the code to get the RGB values? And also let those updated swatches automatically update the gradients that are applied to…

    10 votes
    5 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  20. Smart/Adaptive Cross-Colorspace Swatches

    It's industry standard to define brand colors in more than one colorspace. Usually you have at least PMS, CMYK and RGB definitions of each brand color you're deploying.

    I'd love it if Illustrator (or the whole CC suite, as a matter of fact) would help this routine, like this:

    Let's have a new swatch type: Cross-Colorspace Swatch. This special swatch type would enable the designer to define variations of the color in any/all color spaces, inside that one swatch definition.

    Instead of defining say three different swatches, you would define one, saying: "This is Brand color 1. In cmyk colorspace…

    10 votes
    6 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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