Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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4767 results found
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Align is immune to Constrain Angle
If we change Constrain Angle in Preferences general, our grid gets rotated, all shapes get create as rotated...
Pretty powerful, right? Read more about it here, in the Rotate the x and y axes of a document:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/rotating-reflecting-objects.htmlHowever, even though it’s an old feature, it was never completed, it seems.
Align functions just ignore it, making alignment to an angle a rather cumbersome endeavor: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/39019732This also makes Rotate View pretty useless (which does not counter-rotate the Constrain Angle, unless you use free Direct Prefs plugin by Astute Graphics to handle it automatically, among other things) — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/44001624
While arrows indeed get fixed with the counter-rotation trick, Align is forever broken... as well as the selection marquee, which is also ignores both Rotate View and Constrain Angle altogether.
If we change Constrain Angle in Preferences general, our grid gets rotated, all shapes get create as rotated...
Pretty powerful, right? Read more about it here, in the Rotate the x and y axes of a document:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/rotating-reflecting-objects.htmlHowever, even though it’s an old feature, it was never completed, it seems.
Align functions just ignore it, making alignment to an angle a rather cumbersome endeavor: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/39019732This also makes Rotate View pretty useless (which does not counter-rotate the Constrain Angle, unless you use free Direct Prefs plugin by Astute Graphics to handle it automatically, among other things) — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/44001624
While…
9 votes -
Increase number of recent files
Please increase the maximum number of recent files from 30 to 50 or 100 like Photoshop (both in Home Screen and File > Recent).
Original idea by Junior Rocha
9 votes -
Make objects in Objects on Path to reposition relative to one set as a key object
Align and Distribute operations in Illustrator support picking a key object, by clicking on of the objects in a selection, so it get a thicker edge. This object stays in place, while every other in a selection aligns or distributes relative to it.
Sadly, this 'key object' paradigm is largely unloved in other areas, but it's also neglect in new Objects on Paths construct.
While it does not support setting a target path with it (requested here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/48988013), it also does not allow to 'fix' one object on path as adjust gaps relative to this fixated object.What we have now is an ability to hold Opt/Alt, to scale gaps relative to the center of the array... but with key object support it would be even cooler!
Original idea by Ton Frederiks
Align and Distribute operations in Illustrator support picking a key object, by clicking on of the objects in a selection, so it get a thicker edge. This object stays in place, while every other in a selection aligns or distributes relative to it.
Sadly, this 'key object' paradigm is largely unloved in other areas, but it's also neglect in new Objects on Paths construct.
While it does not support setting a target path with it (requested here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/48988013), it also does not allow to 'fix' one object on path as adjust gaps relative to this fixated object.What we…
9 votes -
Allow to convert a live blend into Objects on Path
Blends are cool to when you need to create intermediate objects or colors, but these sucks when you need to create a uniform distribution — Ai stupidly uses’ the spine’s curvature to control both the spine’s curvature AND the distribution (requested to get improved here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32403880)
But now we have Objects on Path, which can’t provide any other distribution except uniform one (yet, we hope).
But, as usual, two similar functions remain completely separated and non-ingedrated (we saw this before with Repeat Grid and pattern, and there is a request to allow conversion of one into another here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45233863 — along with 'why can’t we add these as swatches, here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/41686228)So it’s a similar one — allow to convert a live blend directly into Objects on Path. This would allow to solve the uniformity / acceleration for blends first, but then it’s just a question of cutting a corner between these two VERY similar tools.
Blends are cool to when you need to create intermediate objects or colors, but these sucks when you need to create a uniform distribution — Ai stupidly uses’ the spine’s curvature to control both the spine’s curvature AND the distribution (requested to get improved here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32403880)
But now we have Objects on Path, which can’t provide any other distribution except uniform one (yet, we hope).
But, as usual, two similar functions remain completely separated and non-ingedrated (we saw this before with Repeat Grid and pattern, and there is a request to allow conversion of one into another here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45233863…9 votes -
Display Move Locked and Hidden Artwork with Artboard option in Control panel and Properties while using Artboard tool / mode
The Move Locked and Hidden Artwork with Artboard option should be displayed when the user is actually in the "Edit Artboard" mode, using the Artboard tool. It is common problem when you want to duplicate an artboard and you have locked background. In most cases, I want to move my artwork with the background.
9 votes -
Highlight objects to unlock when choosing one from Unlock in context menu
Previously Illustrator introduced a way to unlock specific objects under cursor: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/34950421
See the screenshot for example.
However, when you have objects unnamed, this list doesn’t really help, and Ai does nothing to highlight the object in focus and help to distinguish from other locked ones.Ai should make the edge of the object to be unlocked with a thick line, similar to one we see on key objects, or a somewhat similar look it is used for Objects on Path picking mode (now in Beta).
Look how Figma highlights objects (see the attached video).
Why Ai can’t do the same?Previously Illustrator introduced a way to unlock specific objects under cursor: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/34950421
See the screenshot for example.
However, when you have objects unnamed, this list doesn’t really help, and Ai does nothing to highlight the object in focus and help to distinguish from other locked ones.Ai should make the edge of the object to be unlocked with a thick line, similar to one we see on key objects, or a somewhat similar look it is used for Objects on Path picking mode (now in Beta).
Look how Figma highlights objects (see the attached video).
Why Ai can’t do the…9 votes -
Arrange selection in Grid
I would like to be able to select multiple objects.. for example 50 circles. and hit a button to arrange these objects in a Regular Grid of rows and columns. where I can set the QTY per row and column and its spacing and it would move the objects into a grid formation. also the option for a hexagon or Honeycomb grid. would save a lot of time from doing it manually
9 votes -
Press Alt while creating a radius / diameter dimension to toggle these two mode on the fly
Currently Dimension tool requires you to orient your cursor when creating a radius or diameter: inside of the clicked shape to create a diameter or outside to make it a radius.
This is very nifty, sure.
But:The tool hardly tells you about it when you draw. The only hint Ai give us is a blue bar (that we all tired of seeing, because everything in Ai now pops and shouts and distracts — I’m speaking about use, Text To Vector!) — I attach the screenshot of it for those who blinked and missed it.
If I work with a tiny circle and I want to mark a diameter for it, I’d have to precisely aim inside of this little area — and this give me very little control over the angle of the line produced. Especially important, since you just ignore Shift to constrain the angle, which is respected by any other construction tool in Ai.
Here is a request about Shift, BTW: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47734580
So, for this request, please introduce a modifier key we can use to toggle radius/diameter as we draw, without moving the cursor in or out.
Opt / Alt will do.Currently Dimension tool requires you to orient your cursor when creating a radius or diameter: inside of the clicked shape to create a diameter or outside to make it a radius.
This is very nifty, sure.
But:The tool hardly tells you about it when you draw. The only hint Ai give us is a blue bar (that we all tired of seeing, because everything in Ai now pops and shouts and distracts — I’m speaking about use, Text To Vector!) — I attach the screenshot of it for those who blinked and missed it.
If I work with a…
9 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…
9 votes -
Multi page PDF import: needs to respect original document color space
Hi,
Now when selecting "All" for page range, Illustrator creates a document with default color space, e.g. now CMYK.
It would be nice if PDF importer was a bit smarter and could check and respect original PDF's color space, and set up the document in Illustrator to match.E.g. when importing an RGB pdf, it would use RGB color space; and CMYK for CMYK.
9 votes -
Add First Object Above / Last Object Below commands in Select menu
Illustrator provides two ways to access Next Object commands:
1. From Select menu
2. From the context menu, Select submenuAnd while the context menu provides four commands, the Select menu gives only two. First Object Above / Last Object Below — for no apparent reason — are missing, and we can’t assign hotkeys to these because of it.
Please add them there.
Also consider this request, to be able to select ALL objects above or below the current selection: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/34306246-select-objects-above-below-current-layer-objec
Note that this one is basically about 'select those who intersect', while we are also interested in 'select those which are above below in stack'.
Finally, here is a bug report about Select Next Object commands in context menu (and only these, not their main Select menu analogs) not working at all: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/46742011-select-next-object-commands-in-context-menu-are-br
Illustrator provides two ways to access Next Object commands:
1. From Select menu
2. From the context menu, Select submenuAnd while the context menu provides four commands, the Select menu gives only two. First Object Above / Last Object Below — for no apparent reason — are missing, and we can’t assign hotkeys to these because of it.
Please add them there.
Also consider this request, to be able to select ALL objects above or below the current selection: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/34306246-select-objects-above-below-current-layer-objec
Note that this one is basically about 'select those who intersect', while we are also interested in 'select those…
9 votes -
Show the exact location where snapping to grid occurs
Snap to Grid is underrated. Illustrator makes everything to make it uncomfortable to use: no constantly available indicator, clashing with Smart Guides, the general lack of customization (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/32403847-make-center-point-visible-while-dragging-art)...
And also it does not give enough feedback on WHERE the moved / transformed object snaps to, to which exact gridlines’ intersection.
Something just happens!
Look at the GIF — this 13.25×13.25 magenta square feels like it’s lagging, also I’m just trying to position it.Look at the second GIF, from Affinity Designer. Can you spot the difference? We can clearly see which point it snaps to, no problem. Well, almost clearly, lines get drawn too late and too pale to my taste... but at least they exist!
Hello, Illustrator?
Snap to Grid is underrated. Illustrator makes everything to make it uncomfortable to use: no constantly available indicator, clashing with Smart Guides, the general lack of customization (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/32403847-make-center-point-visible-while-dragging-art)...
And also it does not give enough feedback on WHERE the moved / transformed object snaps to, to which exact gridlines’ intersection.
Something just happens!
Look at the GIF — this 13.25×13.25 magenta square feels like it’s lagging, also I’m just trying to position it.Look at the second GIF, from Affinity Designer. Can you spot the difference? We can clearly see which point it snaps to, no problem. Well,…
9 votes -
Be able to create a finished vector repeat tile from Pattern Editing Mode.
Currently, the only way for a designer to get a final tile from a repeat pattern created in pattern mode is a clunky workaround involving dragging the fill swatch art from the swatches panel to the artboard and then working with the bounding shape to create a cropped, repeatable tile for export. We need a button to click inside pattern mode that creates a tile from the artwork inside pattern mode that is perfectly cropped (could be a clipping mask) but will retain all the live content that typically gets expanded when you exit pattern mode. This option should allow you to generate a half-drop tile based on the tile edge or a tile based on the swatch bounds. I'm sure most designers would prefer to be able to use live content (brushes, freeform gradients, and tools like the Eraser in Pattern Mode) but barring that, we really need finished vector tiles with content that's not expanded. And, we need those tiles without the clunky fill swatch bounding shape workaround.
Currently, the only way for a designer to get a final tile from a repeat pattern created in pattern mode is a clunky workaround involving dragging the fill swatch art from the swatches panel to the artboard and then working with the bounding shape to create a cropped, repeatable tile for export. We need a button to click inside pattern mode that creates a tile from the artwork inside pattern mode that is perfectly cropped (could be a clipping mask) but will retain all the live content that typically gets expanded when you exit pattern mode. This option should allow…
9 votes -
Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color
'Select Same Fill & Stroke' command from Select > Same menu also includes stroke weight. But sometimes we need to ignore it and search only by colors.
So basically we have no 'Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color' command...
....no wait. We do have this command!
It is just well hidden.For some reason it is available only as an option in the dropdown menu for the Select Similar Objects button — but not in the menu. Please make these two sources match and combine both lists.
9 votes -
LAB Decimal values
Illustrator only supports integer values for LAB. It'd be amazing if there will be support for decimal values for LAB swatches.
9 votes -
Numbered List - Choose at which number we wish to start the list.
Hi, It would be great if we could rearrange the order of lists for Numbered List options.
You choose which "Levels" the numbering is but what if under that you would have the option to select at which number to start, 2...3...4 or whatever number we wish to insert.
9 votes -
Place embedded pdf Link with Option to Convert all text as outlines
When opening a pdf in illustrator, if the pdf contains fonts that are not installed on the system. it will ask to find the font. and substitute a system default. the vector data for that font is in the pdf. if you take the same pdf, place it as a link, then flatten transparency, you can select "Convert all text to outlines", I would like the option to select "Convert all text to outlines" when embedding a placed PDF, so all fonts will be outlines and show properly even if font is not shown. it would use pdf font data to outline.
When opening a pdf in illustrator, if the pdf contains fonts that are not installed on the system. it will ask to find the font. and substitute a system default. the vector data for that font is in the pdf. if you take the same pdf, place it as a link, then flatten transparency, you can select "Convert all text to outlines", I would like the option to select "Convert all text to outlines" when embedding a placed PDF, so all fonts will be outlines and show properly even if font is not shown. it would use pdf font data…
9 votesHello,
We have started working on the tech that allows us to enable the following:
- Ability to convert the outlined/expanded text back to live text.
- Ability to lock objects to a character/glyph of a live text, allowing users to change the text (properties) while the object stays locked into the character.
As we work through the complexities of handling different font families, font size, and other font properties, we would love to meet with you and share our thinking around it and understand :
- Your use cases and workflows that this feature will help you with.
- What is most essential for you.
- The workarounds that you currently use to achieve this.
If you are interested, please pick a time slot that works for you using this link. https://calendly.com/meetai/60min?month=2023-01
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Search / Filter option in Find/Replace Font dialog
Here is my problem. On InDesign when you do "Find/Replace font" you can select the missing font and then you can SEARCH and then replace the font. In Illustrator, the same method exists. BUT you cannot SEARCH... Why? Did I miss something?? Do I really have to scroll through the 4000 fonts to get to the one I want?
Could we have the same panel on Illustrator as in InDesign?9 votes -
Better grid settings
Inkscape 1.1 has great grid management.
It's embedded with the document: because grid needs vary a lot from a document from another
It's accessible on the lateral panel, while on AI you need to enter the general settings; all while snapping is in the view menu (go figure...)
There a two types of grid.
You can set several grids.
On this lateral panel, and for each grid, you can easily define there enable , visible and snapping status. (no menu spelunking)
You can set the grid origin with coordinates or by alignment to the page (on AI if you modify the canvas size, you take the risk of losing the rest of the work's alignment to the grid)What would be great:
Have a Grid window (the same way there is an Artboard window) that can be placed in the lateral panel or control bar) to easily and rapidly manage grids and there behavior (visibility, snapping, etc.). Also, have grid settings embedded with each file.Inkscape 1.1 has great grid management.
It's embedded with the document: because grid needs vary a lot from a document from another
It's accessible on the lateral panel, while on AI you need to enter the general settings; all while snapping is in the view menu (go figure...)
There a two types of grid.
You can set several grids.
On this lateral panel, and for each grid, you can easily define there enable , visible and snapping status. (no menu spelunking)
You can set the grid origin with coordinates or by alignment to the page (on AI if you modify…9 votes -
Inertia scrolling aka "flick panning"
Scrolling around artboards should adhere to the OS standards of having some momentum to scrolling, or at least the option to enable "flick panning" like Ps
9 votesBeta 29.1.0.93 now has Flick Pan option, enabled by default, located in Preferences > Performance.
At the moment it works only for trackpad and Hand tool, not for middle-mouse pan or Spacebar pan.
Please try it and comment back.
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