Intertwine unknots in places on Expand Appearance and PDF Asset Export
In Illustrator 28.5 (macOS 14.5, intel)
• Create intertwine from paths with 2 strokes (lower is black and greater weight)
• Either use Object > Expand Appearance or use Asset Export to create PDF
• Several crossings reverse on some Intertwine objects.
Steve Laskevitch
shared this idea
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Steve, thanks for the report.
I see what is happening.
The thing is — Intertwine is NOT an appearance-based thing, it is a special kind of group with dynamic parameters — similar to Blend, Envelope Distort , etc. — a 'plugin object', handled by its own module.
All of these have their own dedicated 'Expand' commands, in their respective menu groups... all, except for Intertwine (and Repeat)!
Therefore this request exists. 'Add Expand command for Intertwine objects' — https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45845557
And a similar one for Repeats — https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45845557So there is no dedicated Expand.
What is happening when you try to Expand Appearance instead?
The doubled strokes you styled for you path get converted into TWO sets of paths! And Intertwine’s order, basically based on the counting of objects used, gets shifted! And you get it all jumbled.The very same thing happens if you try to Expand Appearance for blended objects, before applying Blend's own Expand — Illustrator starts blending expanded attributes individually, and all intermediate steps can become a mess.
The only difference is that native Object > Expand is just disabled for Intertwine objects :(What you should try then, until this is resolved by the team, is to force Ai to expand the intertwine WITHOUT expanding the live appearance — and this happens automatically if you apply ANY live effect to this object. Try to apply something like Effect > Path > Outline Object (or literally ANY other effect) — Ai will throw 'Intertwine Object Expanded' notification and convert it into the a of clipping groups. Open the Appearance panel and remove the temp effect.
Another workaround is to go for Object > Flatten Transparency, put the Vector balance to 100, uncheck 'Convert All Strokes to Outlines ', and commit.
Finally, you can just leave the object as it is and just export a PDF — Intertwine is stored fine and looks consistent, thanks to some clever trick with aliasing they used. Why do you try to expand it in the first place, I wonder?
Please comment back. Does it makes sense?
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Steve Laskevitch
commented
Now, an illustrator file:
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Steve Laskevitch
commented
here's a screenshot
