Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
- or
4358 results found
-
Proportional Grid like After Effects
Make the standard grid setting in preference allow specification of height AND width. After Effects has a similar feature. Just tried to set up a proportional grid using Make Guides and illustrator almost crashed. Sometimes I don't want the Grid to be square.
9 votes -
New Document dialog should not be so slow to appear or react to input
Creating a new doc via the keyboard is so slow that several other commands can unwittingly be executed before the dialog/settings panel appears. The fact that this clunky panel was introduced relatively recently as a "feature" is even more irritating.
Alternately provide an option to create a new document from default or current settings so that I can adjust it later when I need to.
9 votes -
Select non-default eGPU for hardware acceleration
We use external GPUs as provided to us by Apple in the External Graphics Development Kit and want to use these eGPUs instead of default GPUs built into the MacBooks.
9 votesWe have the fix available in the latest release. Please update Illustrator using Adobe Creative Cloud application to the latest build for version Illustrator CC 23.0.
Please refer to our knowledge base FAQ – https://illustrator.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1844590 if you face difficulty in update.
Or get in touch with us at any of the other support channels – https://helpx.adobe.com/support.htmlWarm Regards,
Ashutosh Chaturvedi | Sr. Quality Engineering Manager – Illustrator
Adobe. Make It an Experience. -
Illustrator - PDF Export Cropmarks
Illustrator really needs a usefull cropmark export option in the pdf export dialougue. just like InDesign. I mean it looks similar to InDesign but its simply not working! who needs cropmarks up to 15 mm long?? why cant i edit the length, width.. etc?. Please make this function usefull!! asap
9 votes -
Make Illustrator inform users about the live shape nature of the path used for area type and provide associated controls for it
Currently, when we use a live rectangle as a path for an area type, it secretly stays live shape inside, and it allows us to scale the object with the round corners honored. If we round corners for a rectangle-looking path (not live shape), corners will get stretched.
However, there is no way to distinguish these two cases with UI, or to convert a rectangular path used for the area type into live rectangle shape, or to have shape-sepcific controls.
Please refer to the discussion in comments for the details.
This request is based on the original declined bug report below. Full text is given below.
Area type rounded corners distort when resizing.
Is it possible to make the corners remain live so they don't distort? See attached image.Currently, when we use a live rectangle as a path for an area type, it secretly stays live shape inside, and it allows us to scale the object with the round corners honored. If we round corners for a rectangle-looking path (not live shape), corners will get stretched.
However, there is no way to distinguish these two cases with UI, or to convert a rectangular path used for the area type into live rectangle shape, or to have shape-sepcific controls.
Please refer to the discussion in comments for the details.
This request is based on the original declined bug report…
8 votes -
Add an option to allow to snap to and by linked art, a similar one to Snap to Glyphs option
Could it be possible to get some help to align to a graphic imported? Something like "Snap to Glyph"?
It could help a lot to work precisely, without "embedding" the placed artwork...Originally by Jean-Michel Le Goff
8 votes -
Display artboard captions when exporting artboards
Every time when i have multiple artboards and hit Save As, Ii don't know exactly which artboards i want to include, cause i don't know the specific number.
So i go back out of the save as dialog, pick the Artboard Tool and save again, now able to see which numbers i want to include. I would be less time consumption if it would show the numbers of the artboards always no matter which tool is selected, when there is a save as or export dialog started.8 votes -
Press Shift to constrain the angle of a radius / diameter dimension
Shift is universally used to constrain a drawn art to 0-45-90° angles when using a tool. This applies to lines, rectangles, other shapes, anything that can be clearly oriented.
The Dimension tool breaks the paradigm — we can’t hold shift to constraint the angle of the drawn dimension line when creating radii or dimeters.
Some standards require us to have these lines too use integer steps, like 15° or 30°... this is very hard to comply now.
Please either make the tool to respect angles set in Preferences > Smart Guides, or make it a separate setting in the tool’s options.
Shift is universally used to constrain a drawn art to 0-45-90° angles when using a tool. This applies to lines, rectangles, other shapes, anything that can be clearly oriented.
The Dimension tool breaks the paradigm — we can’t hold shift to constraint the angle of the drawn dimension line when creating radii or dimeters.
Some standards require us to have these lines too use integer steps, like 15° or 30°... this is very hard to comply now.
Please either make the tool to respect angles set in Preferences > Smart Guides, or make it a separate setting in the tool’s…
8 votes -
Chained dimensions
New Dimension tool is designed to be good-enough, but not be way too complex to setup and use.
One of things we need to be a part of this 'good-enough' set of features it has should be a way to create consequential serialized dimensions, like the image attached demonstrates.
To do that now, we’d have to drag each segment one-by-one, and snap the dimensions line to each other (which in the current build just doesn’t happen even!). This method is generates doubled lines instead of only one, and won’t allow us to move all the dimension lines at once if needed.
Most plugins that allow dimensioning in Illustrator have this feature, including CADtools and BPT-Pro.
New Dimension tool is designed to be good-enough, but not be way too complex to setup and use.
One of things we need to be a part of this 'good-enough' set of features it has should be a way to create consequential serialized dimensions, like the image attached demonstrates.
To do that now, we’d have to drag each segment one-by-one, and snap the dimensions line to each other (which in the current build just doesn’t happen even!). This method is generates doubled lines instead of only one, and won’t allow us to move all the dimension lines at once if…
8 votes -
Make Shadow bounds for 3D and Materials to auto-match the actual shadow bounds
Please eliminate the shadow bounds for 3D objects, or make it infinite, or at least something more generous than 400%: 4000% perhaps? 40,000%
8 votes -
Allow new Smooth command (not the tool) to be a live effect also
New Smooth is quite handy to deal with rugged shapes. But it is also introduces the new 'dialog-less' approach, when we are basically given a dialog that auto-commits on dropping a selection. Once it is dropped, the change is applied. We will get accustomed to that.
But imagine I smoothed something, then get distracted, and returned to the smoothed path a while after. To undo and reapply this I’d have to go back in History (at least we finally have it).
What if we can apply this as an effect to an object, rather than a immediate filter? It means we can later go back to settings and change the value, and Expand Appearance of it when needed.
Both approaches are usable, so please add it as an effect also.
New Smooth is quite handy to deal with rugged shapes. But it is also introduces the new 'dialog-less' approach, when we are basically given a dialog that auto-commits on dropping a selection. Once it is dropped, the change is applied. We will get accustomed to that.
But imagine I smoothed something, then get distracted, and returned to the smoothed path a while after. To undo and reapply this I’d have to go back in History (at least we finally have it).
What if we can apply this as an effect to an object, rather than a immediate filter? It means…
8 votes -
Generate Proper Filenames and Layer Names Instead of Untitled-1 and Layer-1
We need Generate Name button for saving a file depending on its content, format and target project folder. Also layers could be named properly.
Also it seems obvious that, besides generating a new name, the system could also use information from the document's presets, such as the document type (e.g., web, phone, book, etc.), document size (e.g., A4, 291x210mm, 1920x1080px, etc.), and colour and bit depth (e.g., CMYK, RGB, LAB, 8-bit, 16-bit, etc.).
8 votes -
Don’t drop the current character selection in text when I switch between documents
If you select a portion of a text in Illustrator and switch to a different app and back — the selection stays in place.
But if I switch between Illustrator documents/tabs — the selection gets lost. This makes editing of two or more documents at the same time very inconvenient, effectively loosing my data about the selection made.8 votes -
Change the cursor for Artboard Tool when a click is going to create a new object-sized artboard
When using Artboard Tool, you can do several things with a simple click.
1. Select an artboard under the cursor
2. Deselect an artboard if there is no artboards under the cursor
3. Create an artboard which size is the same as the object you click — but ONLY if the object is inside of the already selected artboard OR if the place you click is not inside of any artboard.This #3 case prevents deselecting artboards efficiently in cases when you don’t have 'naked canvas' inside of the viewport. And clicking is the only way to deselect artboards, since Deselect All command does not conform the mode — you can see details and upvote the problem here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/47070349
And because of that (and not only that), we need Ai to signal a click is going to create an artboard. Ai should modify the cursor to indicate this — and now it does not, AT ALL.
When using Artboard Tool, you can do several things with a simple click.
1. Select an artboard under the cursor
2. Deselect an artboard if there is no artboards under the cursor
3. Create an artboard which size is the same as the object you click — but ONLY if the object is inside of the already selected artboard OR if the place you click is not inside of any artboard.This #3 case prevents deselecting artboards efficiently in cases when you don’t have 'naked canvas' inside of the viewport. And clicking is the only way to deselect artboards, since…
8 votes -
Option to allow to group a single group, making it nested
Sometimes we need to group a group. For example, for complex appearances, to nest graphics styles.
But Illustrator does not allow that — and in most cases it’s a proper cautious behavior. But perhaps it can be toggled somewhere?So far we have two workarounds for this.
1. Create a dummy object, select both it and the group you want to 'wrap', group them together, delete the dummy object.
2. Use a script 'Add Group Anyway': https://onthehead.com/ais/group003/ (it also can pull children form different groups into a new one — which is a thing we want too).8 votes -
Rotate with arrow keys. Hold R to turn nudge in to rotate.
I love being able to nudge the selected object with the arrow keys, I want a modifyer key that allows rotation in the same way. example: R key + arrow key rotates. Left and right arrows might be one degree increments. Up/ down could be 15 degree - which quickly gets people to the super common angles 30, 45, 60
8 votes -
Treat all objects as filled for selection tools (like in Corel Draw)
Corel Draw has an option, 'Treat all objects as filled', which allows select objects with no fills with just a click inside. While it’s 'not the Ai way' — this can be useful in some cases.
Just make sure it works properly in the Outline view( that is does not get applied at all).8 votes -
Allow Transform effect applied to an object to transform its the opacity mask also
If I apply Transform effect to an object with an opacity mask (to move or scale it parametrically, for example), only the object will be transformed — but not the contents of its opacity mask.
This is not consistent with the destructive method, when you actually move or scale this object...The workaround is to apply the same effect to the contents of the opacity mask, but it does not always have the same effect, since the contents can have different bounds, and the transformation points will differ.
There should be an 'Affect Opacity Mask' option in the Transform effect dialog.
If I apply Transform effect to an object with an opacity mask (to move or scale it parametrically, for example), only the object will be transformed — but not the contents of its opacity mask.
This is not consistent with the destructive method, when you actually move or scale this object...The workaround is to apply the same effect to the contents of the opacity mask, but it does not always have the same effect, since the contents can have different bounds, and the transformation points will differ.
There should be an 'Affect Opacity Mask' option in the Transform effect…
8 votes -
Intertwine with Live Paint objects
It feels like a rare thing to do, but no — this is exactly what I needed recently, and it is forbidden, of course.
I had to expand my Live Paint group :(Please make sure all special plugin objects can work with each other.
8 votes -
Make Layers show which operation a compound shape uses, like 'Compound Shape (Subtract)'
Compound shapes have 4 different modes, and sometimes it’s important to be able to see which one is used when you work with the resulting shapes in Layers — especially if you nest shapes in several layers.. But at the moment Illustrator just display all of them as just 'Compound Shape'.
Compare these two structures:
Compound Shape
...> Compound Shape
......> Rectangle
......> Ellipse
...> Compound Shape
......> Rectangle
......> EllipseCompound Shape (Unite)
...> Compound Shape (Subtract)
......> Rectangle
......> Ellipse
...> Compound Shape (Intersect)
......> Rectangle
......> EllipseDon’t you agree the one at the bottom is easier to navigate, when you need to make a change?
Compound shapes have 4 different modes, and sometimes it’s important to be able to see which one is used when you work with the resulting shapes in Layers — especially if you nest shapes in several layers.. But at the moment Illustrator just display all of them as just 'Compound Shape'.
Compare these two structures:
Compound Shape
...> Compound Shape
......> Rectangle
......> Ellipse
...> Compound Shape
......> Rectangle
......> EllipseCompound Shape (Unite)
...> Compound Shape (Subtract)
......> Rectangle
......> Ellipse
...> Compound Shape (Intersect)
......> Rectangle
......> EllipseDon’t you agree the one at the bottom is easier…
8 votes
- Don't see your idea?