Random extra lines generated along with results in 3D & Materials tool in vector mode.
I am working on a logo for a client - generating metallic text elements for part of it. The tool works quite well, but I'm having an issue where I cannot get it to stop drawing seemingly random vector lines around the generated element.
It seems to be persistent across EVERY setting. Bevel or inflate, raytracing or not, any quality, any DPI, any color space, reduce noise or not, it is independent of material - IDK what else to try. They are not selectable, I cannot do anything with these extra lines!
It does go away when you turn vector off, but I need this logo to remain as a vector, because it will be printed in various sizes from business card to large banners.
I'm kind of losing my mind here, I'm supposed to present this artwork to the client tomorrow and I don't think I can present it with these random lines!
Additional note, if I drag that element into the graphic styles tab, and then try to apply it to another copy of the same element, it draws the exact same set of extra lines.
Additional note 2: The extra lines don't seem to be present if I export the element as a 3D .usda file, but I can't seem to then reimport that to illustrator.
I just updated illustrator and no change.
I tried turning stroke off and generating an equivalent offset path to no avail.
popcapps
shared this idea
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Lucy L
commented
I'm sorry to hear it. I did discover that I can create clean shapes when I use existing fonts or when I use the shape builder tools and then manipulate those. It goes wrong when I draw something myself, even if it is a simple shape.
A friend of mine was able to get a clean vector from my drawing. When I opened her file and rendered it, I had the same issue as before. VERY STRANGE!
We are looking into why this happens and if I find a solution I'll let you know. -
popcapps
commented
Sadly, no. My client ended up going in a different direction after I was unable to get a clean result and I stopped pushing for answers.
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Lucy L
commented
Hi, this problem still occurs. Any updates from Adobe?
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Akshay Varshney
commented
USDA import inside Illustrator is not supported.
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You mean 'editable'? True, expanding these makes them into triangular meshes, which Ai treats as 'non-native art', since it does not have tools for editing these. However, these can be scaled, moved, transformed in general, so it IS vector, just partially editable. Acrobat and RIPs in general have no problems dealing with these objects.
Sure, this problem is definitely a bug, and I don’t offer the expand routine as a final solution, I just offer a workaround. Keep the original and share it when needed, with the instructions one needs to get rig of the pesky lines :( Until it is fixed — there is no other way I can think of.
The team is informed about this, but gave no comments so far.
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popcapps
commented
Okay, so that does help for the presentation, but that seems to make the metallic art non-vector. So when they approve this graphic and want a vector version, what am I supposed to tell them?
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Yes, I see the same exact lines in the test file. They stay if I remove the stroke form the objects you added to offset the outline.
I will make sure the team get informed about this case, thank you for reporting it!By 'expanding' I mean selecting the object and using Object > Expand Appearance command. This will 'bake' the live effect into basic objects. The weird lines will become actual lines, while the fill will be converted into a triangular-mesh type object — something Ai and PDF files can display alright (although Ai does not have ways to edit fully, thus it will name it 'None-Native Art'). So you can make a copy of your document, expand appearance and remove lines, for the presentation, no need to bloat the objects.
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popcapps
commented
I have removed all of the other elements of the logo from this AI file, because I'm sure my client wouldn't want me posting it in public.
It *feels* like it's an issue with drawing vectors around very tight corners.
I have since posting this discovered that if I scale the whole thing up about 6x, the lines are still there, but are almost unnoticeable, so I should be able to limp this through to my presentation tomorrow, at least. (3000px vs 500 or so)
When I try to ungroup the letters (which are outlines with a stroke, though the same thing happens if I just use a path) it deletes the 3D & Materials effect completely from all the letters that were in the group. I'm not sure what you mean by expanded result in this instance. I'm only familiar with that being used as part of trying to vectorize an existing image, vs generating this result in the new 3D & Materials tool. I'm not sure how to proceed with testing your option without removing the effect, and with it, all of the crazy extra lines.
Also, macOS seems to have NO IDEA how to preview any of this. I've only really successfully been able to export any of this as PDF with 'illustrator default' - the rest of the PDF export presets can't handle it any scale.
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If you unclip and ungroup the expanded result, you’d be able to select and delete these lines. Please see the screenshot attached.
However, having these not matching the shape is definitely a bug. Can you please share the original file for the team to investigate the problem? -
popcapps
commented
I just went back and tried over again to create this from scratch and it draws the EXACT same lines again even if I start over completely.
I'm stumped.
