Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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- Why is this valuable to you?
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4548 results found
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Preview artboard on my smartphone
A feature where I can i.e. sync my artboards to my smartphone when designing mobile interfaces.
4 votes -
Mobile Creations
In the 2015 version of Illustrator, when opening the app, there was a Mobile Creations section where I could open any of the drawings I had made on my iPad. While I was only able to open these if no other Illustrator files were currently open, it was at least easy to access tese items when needed.
Currently, there isn't an option for this and I have to install the older version after mine updated automatically.
It would be helpful to be able to access these mobile items easily from the landing page in Illustrator and from a customer Open option in the File menu. While I recognize that I can "send" these items to Illustrator if needed, my results with that flow are wonky at best and it's sensible to have a way to pull up ALL my documents in CC, not just computer-based files.
In the 2015 version of Illustrator, when opening the app, there was a Mobile Creations section where I could open any of the drawings I had made on my iPad. While I was only able to open these if no other Illustrator files were currently open, it was at least easy to access tese items when needed.
Currently, there isn't an option for this and I have to install the older version after mine updated automatically.
It would be helpful to be able to access these mobile items easily from the landing page in Illustrator and from a customer Open…
4 votes -
Double Click last point to close a shape with the pen tool.
When making a shape with the pen tool, double clicking the last point made should close the shape, instead of having to go to the first point manually.
4 votes -
Zoom to selection disable button please
A simple disable button for this new feature, i've been using illustrator for over 20 years and this is one of my most used key commands and i'm being driven close to madness. Thanks
4 votesCompleted (Comments Open) ·AdminNeeraj Nandkeolyar (Sr. Product Manager, Adobe Illustrator) responded
This option is available in the latest shipping version 22.0.
It is present in Preferences > Section & Anchor Display > Zoom to Selection -
Randomizer
We've all come across a time when we needed to repeat an element, but it needs to be transformed slightly different in each instance, whether that be position, rotation, reflection, scale or shearing. So, I propose a randomizing tool/function that you could use to make that happen. First you draw the elements you wanted to be randomly affected, then draw a shape to enclose them all. Select "Randomize" and they become something like a group.. You select one, and they're all selected. You could transform one, and the amount that you transformed it would be the limit any of them could be transformed.
So, if you had 20 circles and you wanted them all to be slightly sized differently, you could Randomize them all, then select the "group" and transform the scale to increase to 105%. This would make them increase anywhere from 100.00% to 105.00%, since they're already at 100%
It would be fun and useful!
We've all come across a time when we needed to repeat an element, but it needs to be transformed slightly different in each instance, whether that be position, rotation, reflection, scale or shearing. So, I propose a randomizing tool/function that you could use to make that happen. First you draw the elements you wanted to be randomly affected, then draw a shape to enclose them all. Select "Randomize" and they become something like a group.. You select one, and they're all selected. You could transform one, and the amount that you transformed it would be the limit any of them…
4 votes -
Ability to customize menu bar commands (hide, as in Photoshop) and reorder
You've added all sorts of stuff to Ai menu that I don't use.
Let us remove Bridge, Stock icons, GPU from topmenu.I'd love to edit the left toolbar as well.
Thanks,
-e4 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 be done by having a 'create opacity mask' live effect, with the 'clip' and 'invert mask' options available, that I could then place additional strokes and fills within.
Alternatively there might be a way to say 'this fill/stroke goes in the opacity mask' - probably also a live effect.
Multiple strokes/fills set to go into the opacity mask should all end up in the same mask.
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 -
Reinstate The Functionality Of The Swatches Panel In CS 5.5
I’d like to see the functionality of the Swatch panel that was in (Windows) Ai CS 5.5 reinstated. Specifically, when the panel was opened, I used to be able to toggle through the Color Modes by holding Shift and clicking on the color square (thumbnail). If I held Cntrl, it would toggle to the color compliment. These were two great features that were eliminated with CS 6 through to the current version of CC 2017. Bring these back!!
4 votes -
Give us the option to buy the software, not rent it
You say you're a company with integrity and you adhere to ethical standards, but there's nothing ethical about charging a monthly/yearly subscription fee rather than selling the software outright. It's a shady business practice and I will be finding another program for design work.
4 votes -
Density pixels and screen pixels unit to include to design mobile apps
Always as designer we have to calculate or check the calculation in other sites for dp or sp to px. It will be helpful if you include these units in adobe illustator.
4 votes -
Change the layer an object is located on
If you have a large artboard with multiple objects and layers it is really time consuming to organize your layers when all you can do is drag and drop. I think it would be useful if you could right click on an object and "move to layer" like you can in muse.
4 votesThere is a way – let us know if this works for you.
- Select the object(s).
- Highlight the layer you want the selection to go to.
- Object menu or right-click > Arrange > Send to Current Layer -
Local Artboard Editing Mode
Illustrator already notionally works on one artboard at a time... the one that's zoomed to with Cmd-0, or pasted to with Cmd-V...
Perhaps there could be a mode switch, similar to the 'Draw Inside' mode where all operations are confined to objects on the current artboard. Useful for Cmd-A for example. This would override unlocked artboards of course!
This mode of operation is already familiar in InDesign where only current spread-object appear in the Layers.
3 votes -
Lock Highlight (Unlock) mode
I've always wanted some kind of Lock Highlight feature:
Much like editing a Group after double-click (which grays out all other artboard objects while you edit only that grouped object), I'd like to be able to see a grayed out preview of all the locked objects.
With a keyboard shortcut (e.g. Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Click), you could Unlock individual elements, then exit Lock Highlight mode and keep working.
That would keep you from needing to go back around and relock other elements you didn't want to disturb.
3 votes -
Add Black and White color chips in Color Picker dialog in Color Models mode
For some reason, the Color Picker dialog is the default way of setting a color in several color induced effects: Drop Shadow, Inner and Outer Glow.
Most of times these effects are used, we need to toggle between black and white. These are more or less OK to pick quickly, if we change the mode of the dialog to Color Swatches.
But each time this dialog is called when editing a color for the effect, the dialog open in the first mode, Color Models.
And to set black or white in this mode we need to click the spectrum field and drag the point into a corner. You get accustomed to this, and realize you can move the mouse beyond the the dialog, making the precision gesture 'infinite' — and this is what MANY users do, if you watch tutorials or timelapses.But this is bullshit. We just need black and white, without fiddling with the spectrum. More of it, in a CMYK document setting black like this would make it rich black, and not K100 — which one would have to set manually, by typing it.
Since there is a request about adding Recent Colors, perhaps into Swatches or Color (http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/44772598), perhaps we should be given an option to see these in Color Picker as well (a lot of users prefer it to Color+Swatches panels). In this case, just make Black and White always there, as a fixed choices.
Another solution would be just to display the same 'Color UI' used for any other place in Ai, the Swatches + Color Mixer (minus Gradient and Generative Pattern, obviously).
For some reason, the Color Picker dialog is the default way of setting a color in several color induced effects: Drop Shadow, Inner and Outer Glow.
Most of times these effects are used, we need to toggle between black and white. These are more or less OK to pick quickly, if we change the mode of the dialog to Color Swatches.
But each time this dialog is called when editing a color for the effect, the dialog open in the first mode, Color Models.
And to set black or white in this mode we need to click the spectrum field…3 votes -
Force swatches when directly opening an image
When we drag-n-drop / open an image into Illustrator, a new document is created with an artboard created to fit the image (when possible), and the image is put there.
The Swatches panel in this case is empty (as well as Brushes, Symbols, Graphics Styles).
While it makes sense (image have no presets stored within), for some users it’s extremely irritating — they treat this workflow as a way to quickly create a new document based on an image, with the fitting document profile used (even though if they have no idea about document profiles — thanks to the modern New Document dialog, concealing this aspect pretty well).
Perhaps Ai should allow importing default swatches: RGB for an RGB image, and CMYK if it happens to be in CMYK.
I can assume people might need to prefer their own swatch sources also.I doubt it should apply to other presets (styles, symbols, etc.), but perhaps someone in comment could argue.
Finally, there is a similar request about native .ai files, generated with non-native applications:
Global Swatches for Imported Files
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/33527599I’d advise to treat them togehter.
When we drag-n-drop / open an image into Illustrator, a new document is created with an artboard created to fit the image (when possible), and the image is put there.
The Swatches panel in this case is empty (as well as Brushes, Symbols, Graphics Styles).
While it makes sense (image have no presets stored within), for some users it’s extremely irritating — they treat this workflow as a way to quickly create a new document based on an image, with the fitting document profile used (even though if they have no idea about document profiles — thanks to the…
3 votes -
All Inputs / Panels Follow Dimension Tool Scale
I want to be able to create and edit all of my art in scale.
Example
I would like to be able to make a 2" rectangle in 1:2 scale and have it illustrator draw me a 1" square on the page.
This would be very powerful for things when expanded to the object info box to get area and path dimensions, being able to make a font 3' tall in the character panel.
Every place that you can control shapes with math, it would be amazing to be able to do it to scale in the program without having to exit to do math elsewhere to get your conversion.I want to be able to create and edit all of my art in scale.
Example
I would like to be able to make a 2" rectangle in 1:2 scale and have it illustrator draw me a 1" square on the page.
This would be very powerful for things when expanded to the object info box to get area and path dimensions, being able to make a font 3' tall in the character panel.
Every place that you can control shapes with math, it would be amazing to be able to do it to scale in the program without having…3 votes -
Scale tool with value input and custom anchor
I'm not necessarily looking for a script—I’m just curious if a tool could be developed to enhance Illustrator’s Scale tool. Specifically, I’d love the ability to input a custom scale value (e.g., uniformly 125%, 100% height, 20% width, etc.) while also being able to position a custom anchor point, as currently available in the Scale tool.
I understand that the Transform Each function allows users to select individual objects, input values, and place an anchor point. However, this feature has limitations:
The anchor point can only be placed within the object's bounds.
To uniformly scale multiple objects, users must group them first, apply scaling, and then ungroup—adding unnecessary steps.
I see a clear opportunity for improvement by integrating Transform Each features directly into the Scale tool. A simple checkbox allowing users to scale objects individually from their centers would make the tool significantly more powerful. Of course, I say "simple" without knowing the underlying complexities of Illustrator’s scaling system—perhaps that’s why these tools are separate in the first place.That said, I rarely use the Scale Options panel because Transform Each is generally more useful. The only reason I still use the Scale tool is its anchor feature. An additional note and one quite important, since Transform Each is only accessible through the right-click menu, many newcomers might overlook it, assuming the side panel contains all available scaling options.
Would love to hear thoughts on whether this kind of enhancement would be feasible!
I'm not necessarily looking for a script—I’m just curious if a tool could be developed to enhance Illustrator’s Scale tool. Specifically, I’d love the ability to input a custom scale value (e.g., uniformly 125%, 100% height, 20% width, etc.) while also being able to position a custom anchor point, as currently available in the Scale tool.
I understand that the Transform Each function allows users to select individual objects, input values, and place an anchor point. However, this feature has limitations:
The anchor point can only be placed within the object's bounds.
To uniformly scale multiple objects, users must group…3 votes -
Allow to snap to points of a symbol with Dimension Tool
Is there any chance to make it works with symbols? Using multiple instances of a symbol is a basic workflow in many industries (especially in the fashion industry). Unfortunately you can’t work this way because the Dimension tool is not compatible with symbols.
Thanks to Daté Tetegan for the idea.
3 votes -
Show/Collapse Option for the Right-Click Menu Items
The Right-Click menu is getting too long. How about making an option to collapse or send to a fly-out window from the right-click menu, the least used tools/commands? Or, the ability to roll-up (or keep unrolled) the sections in the right-click menu? And the next time AI is started, the settings appear as they were from a previous session.
3 votes -
Allow to name new artboard copies by incrementing numbers in their names
I often have to make documents with many artboards. And every time when I copy it, Illustrator add " copy" to name.
Common, I name it like "name 01".
I want to in this case the copy of this artboard named "name 02" ...3 votes
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