Illustrator :: Saving PDF With Opacity Masks In CS3?
Jul 31, 2013
I'm having trouble exporting an Illlustrator CS3 file to PDF. I have two layers in the the .ai file that have opacity masks applied. When I save the file as a PDF, the two layers with opacity masks seem to disappear (or they are flattened down to white/100% transparency.) They do not show on screen nor when printing. I've tried opening the saved PDF in Illustrator to investigate, and the layers are still there, but with no opacity mask. Where am I going wrong? I've tried a new file with a simple shape and a simple opacity mask, and it exports fine to PDF. So something is wrong with my file set up, but I can't pinpoint what! I have also tried exporting to various versions of PDF, and nothing works.
Screen cap from Illustrator:
Screen cap of PDF:
Correct (Illustrator) with subtle starburst effect:
Is there a setting or preference that I can change so that my gradients with transparency set in them do not change to opacity masks after saving and closing?
I have been using photoshop for a long time now. Yesterday I tried to create a .png that originally contained two layers. Layer 1 was a fill with it's opacity set to 75% and Layer 2 was a centered image.
In the past I have been able to save this as a .png and retain the opacity of Layer 1. For some reason now when I save this the opacity is not being saved. I tried going into "Save for Web" and using the png-24, I even looked at the preview of the saved image which clearly showed a semi-transparent Layer 1. But the final saved .png always has an opaque fill. WTH? This has never been an issue before.
I am having trouble with using my layer masks. I can use the masks that are hidden (shown with black screen) and apply them with the white brush, but I cant get white or shown masks to be taken off with the black brush. Sometimes, not always I have trouble adjusting the opacity of white masks. I was playing around with actions I downloaded and after applying three actions to a photo, elements froze on me. I read about trashing preferences, I dont know what that does or means but I tried to hit cntrol alt shift when photoshop was opening and nothing happened. When it first opens it shows I can install the new inspiration browser ( i dont know what that is either) thinking it was a required update I tried to update and it gave me an error message, something about the installer has been mis-configured.
It does it every 4-6 times which is really really often since you brush about 10 times every 3 seconds or so when digital painting especially when shading, lighting, blending, etc with brushing.
Why does it do this? I cant recall when it started doing this but I think it was either when I updated from CS4 to CS6 or maybe it just randomly kicked in. I already updated my drivers and re-installed my tablet.
I have a few files that I need to flatten clipping masks on and for some reason they just won't flatten. It either keeps the mask after flattening or just blows it out completely as if no mask was created. I can't seem to pinpoint what is causing it as sometimes it works and other times it does not. I'm trying to attach to show an example but I'm getting an error of doesn't support property or method?
After creating a mask for an object, i draw an opaque shape (or paste a pre-drawn shape) in to the mask, and it has no effect on the object being masked. It does not show my shape in the mask thumbnail, and the object being masked has no appearance change. Also the blending, knockout, and opacity knockout options do nothing.
how they got this texture onto their art? Ive tried cliiping masks of images but that just makes the file size so big and i know that's not what they did.
In the animation I am working on, I need an object to instantly go from 100% opacity to 0% opacity. The problem is, even if you use the opacity of the layer as a keyframe, the object will not instanlty vanish, even if it is only on for the timeruler for a quick amount of time.
I need a tool that will drop from 100% opacity to 0% instantly.
I'm designing a new logo for a client and I would like a rectangular form on the background. There is a C-formed shape in the rectangle which should be clipped in the final version. (so if used on black background for example, there's only the regular form on the background with the C in it, but not the shape of the C outside the rectangle on the left and right of the rectangle).
Clipping could be an option but it gives me those fine strokes...
The first image is the ideal result (but not clipped so with shapes of the C outside the box on a coloured background). The 2nd is the result when clipped. Note the small lines where the C-shape touches the borders of the rectangle on the left, right and bottom of the rectangle.
When I open up previous versions of Illustrator files (i.e. CS5), why are all of my paths messed up. Every object is embedded in a Clipping Mask, paths are compounded and in most cases type on a path is expanded into multiple non-editable objects. This causes complete redesign.
I am using masks inside symbols in Illustrator. When I save a PDF, it displays fine in Chrome, IE and in my Windows Acrobat. But all masks fail in Firefox.
I am using Illustrator CS6, Firefox 20.0.1 (most recent), and PDF Plug-in for Firefox Adobe Acrobat version 11.0.2.0.
I'm working on a project that is going to have a lot of differing line weights. I outlined everything, and started using the width tool around the eye and noticed it scaled the width proportionately. The iris sits inside of a clipping mask because it would seem most efficient to be able to adjust the points later down the line if I need to. I would like to avoid having to have the iris, a clipping mask with no stroke, and then the stroke placed on top of everything. Is this possible?
how can you make swatches with different opacity? For example, I want to have 6 swatches of one blue, but the difference between each swatch is the opacity (i.e. 10%, 20%....)
I have a simple, clean logo with a couple of compound paths (letters like the 'e', 'A'). There are no clipping paths. Everything works great in that file if I save it, re-open and edit it, etc.
If I "Place" or drag this file into a brand new, blank file, and then "Embed" the artwork, it creates 2 clipping masks the size of the artboard. More importantly, it messes up the compound paths so that I have to select them and use the 'Unite' shape mode to get it to function properly. I can see this by trying to add a stroke to the letters.. the stroke is broken until I use the Unite button. Even undoing the compound path and redoing it doesn't work. In the attached image, you can see how a corner is broken , as well as how neither 'inside' nor 'outside' is available for the embedded version.
I am running cs4, I have a picture of a hand holding a piece of paper, I want to put text behind the thumb and the forefinger. I'm thinking clipping mask, but I can't seem to get it to work right.
I am new to Illustrator and am currently attempting to learn it. I am creating a logo that has text and has a shape that goes through the text to make the text appear as if it has claw marks in it.
I have two layers. The layer with the shape "claw" marks, and a layer with the text. The shape layer is currently above and the text layer is currently below. If I select both layers and click on Make Clipping Mask it has the text displayed within the little claw marks, how do I reverse that? Because when I try to change the order of the layers it doesn't clip anything?
I use a simple opacity mask on some equally simple (but large) artwork. It slows down the screen rendering so much as to make the file almost unworkable with the preview turned on.
When I try entering a X/Y coordinate or enter the opacity number, when I try to type example 58, I type the 5 first then the 8 but it types it in as 85 putting the text infront
Also, when I type in the coordinates and want to delete the decimal place example, 23.756 to 24, I try clicking in the place and hitting backspace or highlighting the 3.756 and entering 4, it will hurry and highlight everything so when I backspace it delets all or when I enter the 4 it will highlight all and put the 4 so my object flys to another part of the art board.
So, I'm having trouble with CS6 Ai and the artwork link with the Opacity Masks...for instance, I have placed a black-white image that I am using as a "grunge effect" mask over a group within my artwork. The problem I am having is that when I do one of two things (move the artwork itself or copy/paste the artwork into another file) the mask does not remain. I have the little link selected on the opacity mask that says "Link to artwork". I also tried "Expanding" the artwork to no avail. Am I missing a setting or something that would allow me to "finalize" a piece of artwork that has an opacity mask applied so that I can use it elsewhere?
I opened Ai on my office computer and tried an opacity mask and it worked as far as moving the artwork around within the same artboard. But, if I copy and paste the artwork to a new Ai file, the mask does not remain. Is this normal?
I'm trying to change/access the opacity of a text object (Illustrator CC). In the documents, I found that it's represented by a text frame object, but it doesn't have opacity property. Text range and character attributes don't have it either, so I'm wondering: is there any way of accessing/altering the opacity of a text object using Javascript?
I'm having a repeating issue and I can't seem to find a proper answer on how to fix it. When I'm saving out a file in AI, all the objects that I want to show are at 100% opacity and it looks right. When I save out a PDF (High Quality Print - Don't keep editing capabilities) the object is repeatedly somewhat transparent.
Top image is the AI file and the bottom is what the PDF turns out. Lower quality with the PDF image since it's blown up so much.
I made a drawing of a stone floor excavation and I used 'draw inside' to delimit the excavation borders as below:
and this is what it looks like with edit contents selected:
I also wanted to carry on drawing in 'Live paint' mode to 'colour in' sections (the above is just a small section of a much larger drawing), but because 'draw inside' creates a clipping mask, this object is now incompatible with the 'Live paint' paradigm! So I thought I would 'expand appearance' to continue and this is what I get:
My question is, is there a way for me to successfully translate a 'draw inside' object to a 'Live paint group'? The above objects are just simple shapes with a single fill & stroke.
I created a pattern in illustrator, and then I created an object, and I wanted to fill half of the object with the pattern, so I used a clipping mask to do this.. however, now when i try to group everything together, the clipping mask in released and the pattern spills all over the artbaord... when i try to copy and paste into a new document, everything is pasted as white instead. When i try to merge the layers, the clipping mask is released...
How to keep the clipping mask from releasing.. Also, I tried rasterizing but that doesn't work either and it makes my shapes all rough and choppy!
I have included images of how it is inillustrator (with a gradient opacity effect) and how it is when I try export.I have tried multiple formats and had the same problem.
I'm trying to apply an opacity mask to multiple layers (which happen to be contained within a Layer Mask). When I make the Opacity Mask, it takes all of the stuff on different layers and compresses them to a single layer (see attached images). I would like to keep the data on their assigned layers for later editing. I've done this before, but I have a feeling I have a setting or pref de-selected somewhere. Could the layer mask be the culprit?
