Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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4670 results found
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"Replace" automatically selected
Everytime I place an image I have to check if "replace" is clicked. If I have a picture selected and then "place", it means I want to replace it. Please fix this, it's very annoying and have been there for ages.
5 votes -
Recent files list - right-click menu with "Open folder"
In Illustrator (and also other Adobe apps): when the program is started but no document is opened there is a list with icons representing the recent opened documents. My suggestion: Add a right-click menu on those icons with an option to open the document's folder in Windows Explorer.
5 votes -
Presentation screen mode
Add presentation screen mode, similar to InDesign
5 votesIllustrator today offers dedicated View > Presentation Mode
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Locked files on SMB shares (macOS)
There is a weird file-locking problem when files are opened and saved from/to smb volumes mounted on macOS. If files are saved and closed there is still a locking on the files. So colegues are not able to delete/replace this files. There is no problem if the afp-protocol is used. For this reason we had to disable smb-sharing on our server, because macOS uses smb as default if available. (Illustrator 21.1.0 - but at least from version 19 on)
5 votesThank you for the information. i am moving this a feature request to support network drives.
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Dynamic link between Illustrator and After Effects
Please make it easier to make to have changes made to illustrator files reflected automatically in after effects instead of having to re-import.
5 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,
-e5 votes -
Brush Groups
I would like to be able to select several brushes in the Brush palette, then press a 'make brush group' button on the palette.
I would then be able to choose this brush group as if it were a brush. Drawing with this brush group would choose a different brush in the group at random for every new path I created.
I might have a 'brush group options' dialogue box wherein I could choose the relative frequencies of the different brushes in the group, switch it between random choice and cycling between brushes in order, give it a name, and... whatever other features seem to need to be in there once it starts taking shape, really.
Ideally, I would be able to have a brush in multiple groups. I would also be able to have brushes of different types in one group - if I wanted to mix an art brush with a scatter brush, for instance, I could.
And ideally, altering the brush group would alter existing paths drawn using the brush group. This might be a choice similar to how changing the settings of a brush that's in use asks if you want to apply the changes to all existing paths that use it.
I've been dabbling with a more 'natural media' look in Illustrator. For my purposes, art brushes seem to be working best, but I'll often start to notice the same repeated features of an art brush sticking out of my drawings. If I could make, say, ten "dry brush" brushes, and have Illustrator constantly swapping between them, this would make the illusion of real media a lot easier to keep up.
Similarly, I use a lot of scatter brushes for things like trees or grass. It would be useful to be able to have several different 'leaf' scatter brushes and just scribble in a few overlapping strokes that automatically pick between them.
I would also be able to create Graphic Styles that call for the use of a brush group on a stroke instead of a single brush.
I would like to be able to select several brushes in the Brush palette, then press a 'make brush group' button on the palette.
I would then be able to choose this brush group as if it were a brush. Drawing with this brush group would choose a different brush in the group at random for every new path I created.
I might have a 'brush group options' dialogue box wherein I could choose the relative frequencies of the different brushes in the group, switch it between random choice and cycling between brushes in order, give it a name, and...…
5 votes -
Layer freezing
When doing very complicated artwork, sometimes Illustrator's live preview starts to become impossibly slow. Distorted dense fill patterns, lots of art brushes full of translucent shapes, complicated high-res bitmap effects… I can do some stunning things with these but I’m reluctant to use them, because I need to have fast response time in my drawing tool.
Currently, layers can be locked, or unlocked. I would like to have a third mode: 'frozen', where the layer is locked, and a bitmap of the entire layer is cached. This bitmap is then used for rendering the preview, until such time as the layer is unfrozen.
I imagine this being invoked by shift- or control-clicking on the layer's visibility eye in the layers palette; the eye would be replaced by a snowflake or some other indication of it being 'frozen'.
Frozen bitmaps are not saved along with the rest of the file; they’re regenerated when you load it.
(This idea shamelessly swiped from the late lamented Expression, which let me play around with natural media effects at workable speed back around 2005.)
When doing very complicated artwork, sometimes Illustrator's live preview starts to become impossibly slow. Distorted dense fill patterns, lots of art brushes full of translucent shapes, complicated high-res bitmap effects… I can do some stunning things with these but I’m reluctant to use them, because I need to have fast response time in my drawing tool.
Currently, layers can be locked, or unlocked. I would like to have a third mode: 'frozen', where the layer is locked, and a bitmap of the entire layer is cached. This bitmap is then used for rendering the preview, until such time as the…
5 votes -
SQUARE blob brush would be great
The blob brush is a really great tool for an illustrator like me, but it would be so much more versatile if Illustrator would made available a SQUARE brush next to the round brush.
(CC Animate provides both round and square brushes and it is just great.)
It would allow us to easily draw by hand things with square angles like windows, buildings etc.
A square brush also makes it possible to draw in a woodcut style.
You would even make me happier if it would be possible to stretch and/or rotate the (both round and square) blob brush.Attached an example of a woodcut-style typography handwritten in CC Animate with a square brush (with pressure sensitive tablet pen).
Thank you!
The blob brush is a really great tool for an illustrator like me, but it would be so much more versatile if Illustrator would made available a SQUARE brush next to the round brush.
(CC Animate provides both round and square brushes and it is just great.)
It would allow us to easily draw by hand things with square angles like windows, buildings etc.
A square brush also makes it possible to draw in a woodcut style.
You would even make me happier if it would be possible to stretch and/or rotate the (both round and square) blob brush.Attached…
5 votes -
Select same fill colour selects text with same fill colour too. Tricky I know
When I hit select same colour and there is any live text box with multiple colours in it it does not select the text. Would be really handy if it did.
5 votes -
Allow the app to send projects to Sketch
If I want to outline a drawing in Illustrator Draw but color it in Photoshop Sketch, right now I have to save it to the creative cloud as PSD. There should be an option where I can open the full project in Sketch app, in both apps where in Photoshop Sketch I can choose to either import a project from Illustrator Draw, or while in Draw I can export a project to Photoshop Sketch.
5 votes -
Pinch to zoom for Illustrator while the free transform tool is active.
When I have something selected and I activate the Free transform tool, pinch to zoom no longer works, this is my primary method of navigation. This block forces me to go back to the selection tool and then zoom in and then return to the free transform tool then I had. I don't like that it's very inconvenient. I am on a laptop and have the latest version of Illustrator installed.
5 votes -
A lock for the current style (stroke weight, fill, color), but tool specific
When I need to adjust a filled object and then return to say, the pen tool. I first have to reset the color and stroke before I can go back to my line work. I would love it if there were simply a lock for this on the pallet so that while drawing I can lock it to a certain color, fill, and stroke weight/style. Perhaps a simple lock on the tool pallet under color. Gray out lock icon over color when I turn the pen tool back on would be a good indicator. So it is attached to that tool only, but easily unlocked when finished.
When I need to adjust a filled object and then return to say, the pen tool. I first have to reset the color and stroke before I can go back to my line work. I would love it if there were simply a lock for this on the pallet so that while drawing I can lock it to a certain color, fill, and stroke weight/style. Perhaps a simple lock on the tool pallet under color. Gray out lock icon over color when I turn the pen tool back on would be a good indicator. So it is attached to that…
5 votes -
Keyboard Bindings
I would appreciate being able to bind the ESC key to any shortcut I want, such as deselect. I use Full Screen with Menu Bar all the time and out of Photoshop habit, hit ESC to deselect. But every time, it boots me from full screen. I hate it.
Can you give us some love?
5 votes -
Change arrow cursor back to how it used to be.
I would VERY much like to be able to change the arrow cursor style back to how it was prior to the most recent update. I do not like the arrows no longer having a handle; perhaps I'm irrational, but it's really throwing me and disrupting my workflow.
5 votes -
Export quality for EMF or WMF
When exporting to emf or wmf formats to get editable vectors into PowerPoint the details in curves or small marks get all messed up. For example the details of a registered trade mark on a logo will be distorted or the curve of a letter o will become choppy. This is a huge issue for us and I'm hoping quality settings like the options provided for exporting and svg would fix the issue.
Thank You
5 votes -
Control which tool is activated by the eraser end of my stylus
I do all my work with a drawing stylus and have never found the native Eraser tool to be useful. Instead I use Astute's Opacity Brush, which lets you quickly paint opacity masks for the selected objects.
I'd love to be able to access it by flipping my stylus over and eraser-clicking, but that only gets the Eraser tool.
Before the Opacity Brush came up I've had other thoughts for this - how about assigning the eraser end of the stylus to your favorite selection tool instead of constantly hitting hotkeys to switch to and from it, for instance?
4 votes -
Display 'Save' in those History steps which were followed by saving, as Photoshop does it
It can be hard to navigate History, and when we do, we often need to see specific points of it.
Save operations are important turning points, and seeing 'Save' added to those operations that happened right before saving happened works great... in Photoshop, but not in Illustrator. Please add these.4 votes -
Set Custom Scale based on artwork for Engineering Plans Measurements
I need to add measurements for lighting layouts, outlets, smoke detectors and fans on electric plans. The current measurement tool has a custom option but it's difficult to figure out the scale when it's 1:98 or 1:49. Trial and error gets frustrating and it's not always 100% correct.
**I need a way I could calibrate a custom scale like in CAD/Bluebeam. So, clicking two points and telling Illustrator that space between equals 4ft so it sets the scale for me. This would be more efficient. **
I know there are other programs I could do this in but I don't have access to them at my job. We use illustrator for mostly everything in my department.
I need to add measurements for lighting layouts, outlets, smoke detectors and fans on electric plans. The current measurement tool has a custom option but it's difficult to figure out the scale when it's 1:98 or 1:49. Trial and error gets frustrating and it's not always 100% correct.
**I need a way I could calibrate a custom scale like in CAD/Bluebeam. So, clicking two points and telling Illustrator that space between equals 4ft so it sets the scale for me. This would be more efficient. **
I know there are other programs I could do this in but I…
4 votes -
A key to reverse "object selection by path only" while using selection tools.
Mostly I like to work with this setting off but there are times when it would really be nice to turn it on by holding down a key while clicking in the middle of a path.
I don't know what key to suggest, command swaps selection for direct selection (and vice-versa), alt widens the selection of the direct selection tool and does nothing for selection, shift adds to/subtracts fom the selection. Maybe `?
4 votes
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