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Option to export to clipping mask boundaries

When exporting assets to raster formats, it would be a huge time saver if we had an option to use the boundaries of clipping masks as the edge of the exported artwork. I created three triangles and used a circle as a clipping mask in the attached image. You can see that the exported file has a lot of padding around the artwork because the outer edges of the triangles are used as the boundaries of the file.

If there was an additional option to use the clipping mask boundary as the edge of the exported raster file, it would mean that I wouldn’t have to open every exported file in Photoshop to then crop to the edges of the artwork and re-save the file.

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Michael Stephens shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Completed (Comments Open)  ·  AdminVarun Sharma (Sr Product Manager, Adobe Illustrator) responded  · 

Hi Everyone,

The fix has been rolled out and is available in our latest release build – 24.1.1 for Win and 24.1 for Mac which is available worldwide now.

What’s new in 24.1: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/whats-new.html

You can update to the latest release using Creative Cloud desktop App: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/creative-cloud-updates.html

Thank you for all the feedback.

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  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I had about these Problem Communication with adobe, it cost me 4 month till they gave me an answer: This is a bug, and do not fix that.
    After nearly 40 years of computergraphic, i can not believe that. They dont care about he programs for good selling customers. So bye bye adobe, hello Affinity!

  • Gerald commented  ·   ·  Report

    I have masked artwork that clips part of an image. Export using screens as png shows the masked artwork.

    Export as Using Artboards does as well.

    Export as (not with artboard) shows the proper export I was expecting but not the size artboard size.

    MORE INFO ON THIS THREAD (hard to explain and already explained it)

    https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2586197

    - gerald

  • Loren commented  ·   ·  Report

    I share this brain dead issue. My png exports are all trimmed where there should be white space border around art. This bug has apparently contaminated Photoshop CC as well, dating back to 2018, possibly earlier. Never used to happen in shrink-wrapped Adobe products. et's go, geniuses! This is an unwelcome BUG.

  • Corinne Cohen commented  ·   ·  Report

    I do not think that this should be merged with the feature request because this really is a bug. It is not a feature add to export things properly and as expected.

  • Evan Burgess commented  ·   ·  Report

    Once limericks are written about it, you know the problem is bad

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    There once was an asset export.
    And 'twas flawed, I am sad to report.
    An asset quite small,
    Could cover a wall -
    For clipping masks had no support.

  • Court Knee Wooster commented  ·   ·  Report

    Yeah illustrator WTF?! its almost you dont give a **** about your paying customers and what they require / expect. Renting us broken software WILL NOT fly forever.

  • Evan Burgess commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is a perpetual issue with my workflow for digital assets in Illustrator and should have been fixed long ago.

  • Luís Camacho commented  ·   ·  Report

    Steps to reproduce:

    1. Create a new file
    2. Add a new artboard close to the initial artboard
    3. Add objects that overlap both artboards
    4. Create a rectangle covering the whole of the first artboard
    5. Create a layer clipping mask with the "Make / Release Clipping Mask" button in the layers panel
    6. Add a new layer AND MOVE IT BELOW the initial layer (that now has a clipping mask)
    7. Add object to this layer, but contained in the second artboard
    8. Use the Export for Screens function, Artboards export section, notice how artboards look correct, the clipped objects from the first artboard do not show in the second artboard.
    9. Export the images, review them, notice how the objects that should not be showing in the second artboard images do actually show!
    10. Go back to the file, move the layer WITHOUT the clipping mask, ABOVE the layer with the clipping mask
    11. Do the Export for Screens again, notice the final output images now look correct.

    Seems like the order of the layers influences the Export for Screens accuracy. This may be a bit hard to follow, so I'm attaching a few images showing the issue.

    Thanks!

  • Luís Camacho commented  ·   ·  Report

    Steps to reproduce:

    1. Create a new file
    2. Add a new artboard close to the initial artboard
    3. Add objects that overlap both artboards
    4. Create a rectangle covering the whole of the first artboard
    5. Create a layer clipping mask with the "Make / Release Clipping Mask" button in the layers panel
    6. Add a new layer AND MOVE IT BELOW the initial layer (that now has a clipping mask)
    7. Add object to this layer, but contained in the second artboard
    8. Use the Export for Screens function, Artboards export section, notice how artboards look correct, the clipped objects from the first artboard do not show in the second artboard.
    9. Export the images, review them, notice how the objects that should not be showing in the second artboard images do actually show!
    10. Go back to the file, move the layer WITHOUT the clipping mask, ABOVE the layer with the clipping mask
    11. Do the Export for Screens again, notice the final output images now look correct.

    Seems like the order of the layers influences the Export for Screens accuracy. This may be a bit hard to follow, so I'm attaching a few images showing the issue.

    Thanks!

  • Luís Camacho commented  ·   ·  Report

    Steps to reproduce:

    1. Create a new file
    2. Add a new artboard close to the initial artboard
    3. Add objects that overlap both artboards
    4. Create a rectangle covering the whole of the first artboard
    5. Create a layer clipping mask with the "Make / Release Clipping Mask" button in the layers panel
    6. Add a new layer AND MOVE IT BELOW the initial layer (that now has a clipping mask)
    7. Add object to this layer, but contained in the second artboard
    8. Use the Export for Screens function, Artboards export section, notice how artboards look correct, the clipped objects from the first artboard do not show in the second artboard.
    9. Export the images, review them, notice how the objects that should not be showing in the second artboard images do actually show!
    10. Go back to the file, move the layer WITHOUT the clipping mask, ABOVE the layer with the clipping mask
    11. Do the Export for Screens again, notice the final output images now look correct.

    Seems like the order of the layers influences the Export for Screens accuracy. This may be a bit hard to follow, so I'm attaching a few images showing the issue.

    Thanks!

  • Luís Camacho commented  ·   ·  Report

    Steps to reproduce:

    1. Create a new file
    2. Add a new artboard close to the initial artboard
    3. Add objects that overlap both artboards
    4. Create a rectangle covering the whole of the first artboard
    5. Create a layer clipping mask with the "Make / Release Clipping Mask" button in the layers panel
    6. Add a new layer AND MOVE IT BELOW the initial layer (that now has a clipping mask)
    7. Add object to this layer, but contained in the second artboard
    8. Use the Export for Screens function, Artboards export section, notice how artboards look correct, the clipped objects from the first artboard do not show in the second artboard.
    9. Export the images, review them, notice how the objects that should not be showing in the second artboard images do actually show!
    10. Go back to the file, move the layer WITHOUT the clipping mask, ABOVE the layer with the clipping mask
    11. Do the Export for Screens again, notice the final output images now look correct.

    This may be a bit hard to follow, so I'm attaching a sample file with the issue already in place.

    Thanks!

  • Luís Camacho commented  ·   ·  Report

    Steps to reproduce:

    1. Create a new file
    2. Add a new artboard close to the initial artboard
    3. Add objects that overlap both artboards
    4. Create a rectangle covering the whole of the first artboard
    5. Create a layer clipping mask with the "Make / Release Clipping Mask" button in the layers panel
    6. Add a new layer AND MOVE IT BELOW the initial layer (that now has a clipping mask)
    7. Add object to this layer, but contained in the second artboard
    8. Use the Export for Screens function, Artboards export section, notice how artboards look correct, the clipped objects from the first artboard do not show in the second artboard.
    9. Export the images, review them, notice how the objects that should not be showing in the second artboard images do actually show!
    10. Go back to the file, move the layer WITHOUT the clipping mask, ABOVE the layer with the clipping mask
    11. Do the Export for Screens again, notice the final output images now look correct.

    This may be a bit hard to follow, so I'm attaching a sample file with the issue already in place.

    Thanks!

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    We shouldn't have to do a workaround for this. Nobody wants the image to be the original size of the contents of the mask. This is why we are using a clipping mask in the first place.

  • Gökhan Eser commented  ·   ·  Report

    Please now fix the **** program. There is something not going right. I can't even edit and select on the Export Screen.
    Also very slow, and bulky. It's getting worse every update. I hope you don't lose leadership.
    Where is that old illustrator??
    I'm waiting six seconds even when I open a New File. This program needs speed and practice, absolutely.
    I'm really sorry.

    Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017
    3,6 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
    Radeon Pro 560 4096 MB

    Illustrator 23.0.1

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    use artboards does not do the same thing

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Choose checkbox "Use Artboards" in the export dilog (at the bottom, under "File Format").

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    There is a command line tool for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android OS that also has an API for Pearl, C++, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby and many others languages. Its called ImageMagick
    If you have Mac with Homebrew or MacPorts is very easy to install, and your just run a command like:
    $convert a1.png -trim a1.png
    And voila! In a blink you get rid of unnecessary, unwanted, useless borders that Adobe has not been able to do until now and is claiming is too difficult with a simple tool that has been out for almost 20 years.

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