Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
575 results found
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Contextual Pie-menus, like Radiant menus by Wacom
creating a contextual "shortcut" menu overlapping layer to access quickly Tools. This is a kind of Radiant Menu developed by Wacom on their tablet for example or Alias marking menu. This should really improve workflow ergonomics.
7 votes -
Pressure Sensitivity added to Pencil Tool
Variable width strokes are great! What would be even better would be to have variable strokes simply by drawing them in with a pressure sensitive device.
7 votes -
Use Key Object to allow precise control for in-back and in-front level changes
Allow Key Object to define which object is moved and which object is used to define movement. If I select two objects and then highlight one as a key object, it would be nice to use the same hotkeys for "send to back" and "send to front" and have it only work in relation to the two selected objects, putting the keyed object either directly in front of or behind in the layer order of the other object.
As it is now, the hotkeys either work too much by sending objects all they way to the back or front, or…
7 votes -
Retain length of handles when modifying curves and length of path when moving anchor points.
I'd love an option to retain the length of a handle for an anchor point. It would be nice to keep the curvature equal on both sides of an anchor point. There are many times I would have liked this option to create symmetrical graphics.
Similarly, I'd also like the option to retain the length of a path when moving an anchor point. Sometimes I use lines/paths as arms of characters. If I need to change the position of an arm there ends up being a lot of guess work modifying the path.
7 votes -
Populate in Illustrator, like you do in Adobe XD
I can tell that many designers would love to have that function. Creating an item info like Image, Name, Info about the item, and then multiplying it on a page, like a flyer, or a poster - and populating the image and text, just by dropping a text file and a set of image you have in a folder to populate the design. Here is a visual example.
6 votes -
Add Axis Constraints, to restrict transformations to a chosen axis
Some 3D editors allow to limit moving to a chosen axis/axes.
3DS Max has a dedicated floating panel with buttons, and Blender allows to hold a key to force it: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/scene_layout/object/editing/transform/control/axis_locking.htmlIn Ai we can hold Shift, but the axis chosen depends on the position of the cursor, and it’s not the same.
Please make it possible to use X/Y keys (similar to the recent E key for Enclosed selection Mode) to actually choose a preferred axis. Perhaps Z can be used for 45°? :)Original idea by Junior Rocha
6 votes -
Configurable Trim Marks
TL/DR: It would be incredibly helpful and relatively simple for AI's developers to let users configure the parameters of auto-generated trim marks.
I've been using AI for three decades and somehow, even though I have been doing this the hard way that entire time, it never dawned on me until today to request this: configurable Trim Marks, both in Object: Create Trim Marks and Effect: Trim Marks. This is similar to the following request except that that one doesn't include the why that I feel is important:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/41926273-set-the-size-and-offset-of-effect-crop-marks-whiAI specifically creates trim marks in one very specific way: .5" .3pt…
6 votes -
Add an option for Curvature tool to prioritize the currently selected path
Curvature is one of the more recent tools Illustrator introduced (well, in 2014... time flies). Unlike older tools, it tries to be smart. One of this 'smart' behaviors is an ability to both select and edit paths. It prevents us from placing the next point of the currently selected path right above an existing unselected path — the tool treats it as an attempt to select the latter.
There is an existing request to tweak the continuation tolerance, similar to what Pencil has: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/34578331
But to be fair, I’d love more options for the tool in general. So far it…
6 votes -
Add a 'Single Midpoint Anchor' Tool in Illustrator
Request: Add a tool or command that allows users to add a single anchor point precisely at the midpoint of any selected path segment without affecting the entire shape.
Why It’s Needed: Illustrator currently lacks an intuitive way to place an anchor point exactly between two existing anchor points. The "Add Anchor Points" command applies to all segments, and the Smart Guides often fail to indicate an accurate midpoint. Manually calculating coordinates is impractical.
Suggested Implementation:
A new "Add Midpoint Anchor" option in Object > Path that works on a single segment.
A modified behavior in the Pen Tool (P)…
6 votes -
Allow to snap to points of a compound shape with Dimension Tool
It turns out Dimension Tool can’t snap to points of a live compound shape — the cursor displays a 'forbidden' icon and a click does nothing.
The tool should treat the shape as every other tool does and allow to snap to all points (including those to be removed on expand) and intersections, and stay live when the shape is modified (when possible, until the topology changes too much to maintain the connection).
Thanks to René Andritsch for the discovery.
6 votes -
Guided tracing brush (Snap to trace), similar to Photoshop’s Content aware image trace
The automatic full image tracing in illustrator often does not create useful results. The set of lines is too busy or doesn't line up with where a human would consider the edges to be.
As an alternative, a brush tool tool that snaps the lines to the underlying image layers would be more helpful. Human input shows the general location of a line, and illustrator can then snap the line to the nearest set of pixels that appears to be an edge, helping make smooth an accurate traces without excess lines.
While it would be a slower process, the creative…
6 votes -
Add option to create vector graphics from text
Add option to create vector graphics from text with firefly
6 votesThe feature is added in the latest builds of Illustrator. The development of it is not complete yet, and the team has more plans on making it better for users to help them with their creative projects.
If you have specific requests related to it, leave them in comments below or log separately.
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Allow Image Trace to create smooth gradient fills instead of banded areas
Allow Image Trace to create smooth gradient fills instead of banded areas
6 votes -
Scissors tool should be aware of stroke width profiles and brush tool data.
At present, if you use the Scissors tool on a path with a width profile, the resulting paths will both inherit the entire width profile. This always feels wrong; I would much prefer that the resulting paths had new width profiles that match the original look of the path.
6 votes -
Selection and zoom marquees should be able to be displayed orthogonally when a view is rotated
When dragging out a selection marquee on a rotated canvas with either of the Selection tools, the marquee is drawn aligned to the canvas instead of the screen.
The actual selection seems to be done in screen space - see the two attached screenshots, where my marquee was dragged from the lower left point of the marquee to the upper right, resulting in a displayed marquee that would select the sketch of hair above the eye, and an actual selection that only contains parts of the paths in the eye.
The expected behavior would be that the marquee was drawn…
6 votes -
Could the Width Tool scale Pattern Brush tiles proportionately instead of squeezing them down distortingly?
Greetings!
I'm not sure, if this feature is already there (would be grateful for a response if it already is!). I googled, didn't find anything. It's also too many keywords...
So. The width tool can varyingly alter the width of a stroke to which a pattern brush is applied to. What I have been struggling with, is that, the width tool only squeezes the pattern tiles perpendicular to the spine of the stroke, and thus distorting the proportions and original composition of the pattern tile itself.
Is there a way to perhaps, distort the tiles in a manner that they…
6 votes -
Direct Selection Tool to select only points
When using the Direct Selection Tool to move an anchor point IT SHOULD JUST MOVE THAT POINT without having to click on the point first. If I wanted to move the whole object I wouldn't be using the Direct Selection Tool, WOULD I?
6 votes -
Join Separate paths
If you have lots of separate, exploded lines (say from DWG/DXF import, then you should be able to use an alternative of Ctrl+J to join them back together without them trying to join end to end.
That is to say, if paths are adjacent to each other they are joined. But the ends of non adjacent paths aren't then closed up as well. Really basic idea, but somehow overlooked.
Sure, it's easy to Ctrl+J a few disparate, exploded paths. But for 20+, 50+, it's a joke.
6 votes -
Lasso select tool selection lines should be always be visible, even when selecting over black fills.
I often use the lasso select tool and often i am selecting over top of objects that are black filled, and the lasso line is invisible over these black objects.
Conversely, in photoshop, the lasso line is drawn so it always contrasts the colors behind it, so no matter what colors we are selecting over top of, the lasso line is still visible.
Illustrator desperately needs to replicate this functionality from photoshop
6 votes -
Stacked bar chart to support positive AND negative numbers in the same chart
Refer to https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2615233
This is the type of graph that I want to create, and be able to update it EASILY, and not manually moving bars from two different graphs.6 votes
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