Gear maker

FYI I tried this in AD and there is a big difference between 100 and 1000.

Butrflied, I tried using the dashed line. But it's hard to get the dots to line up. If that isn't critical, you want to try using a 0.05 in the first field will give a round dot. Then using a decimal like 1.8 in the second field. The phase can help try to get them to line up. I also tried creating a vector brush, but found the dots didn't maintain being round. Sorry.

Frequently I find that I have created an object added an fx then resized the object. Then adjusted the fx and finally find that I had forgotten to turn on the Scale with Object. When I then turn on the Scale with Object it immediately readjusts the fx for any resizing that has been done in the past. Which totally destroys the fx settings I have created. Can we have the fx made so Scale with Object is the default? Personally it's rare that I have an fx that I don't want scaled. Is there a way to set this as the default? Also, shouldn't it be that the fx settings at the time Scale with Object is turned on are the baseline settings for the scaling? Even fixing the fx on one item in a set then doing a copy and paste style (shift + cmd + V) doesn't always make an exact copy of the fx. Then there's always the case as shown in the attached video where the style doesn't look the same when Scale with Object is on and all of the other settings are the same as when Scale with Object is off. When I finish this project it is going to be scaled to less than 1% of it's current size when it's added to another drawing. So scaling is critical. fx.mov

In AD 1.3.2 when I do a ctrl-cmd-V on an object after doing a cmd-C on a FX containing object I am just getting a beep. What am I doing wrong? This would be extremely handy. Shift-cmd-V copies many attributes. But ctrl-cmd-V is just beeping.

How come when I drag the gradient mid point it will not go higher than 95% (or less than 5%)? To get it past 95% I have to go to the gradient panel to change it. Seems like if the gradient panel can change it then we should be able to drag the mid point on the gradient in the drawing.

jackamus, sorry for the slow response, just got back in town.

Dave, so this is normal to be locked out of the beta? :mellow: I've never had this happen before when a MAS update happened. I just set up my computer to open the beta when I double click a file, now I've got to change it back to the MAS. Is everyone having this problem of not being able to access the latest beta?

Is there a new version of the beta? I'm not seeing any posts, but when I try to run 1.2.1.26369 I get a message that the beta has expired and to download the new beta. But there isn't anything pinned except this string. MAS 1.2.1 loads fine.

griff13, in the recent versions of AD beta there is a menu selection New From Clipboard that should do what you want.

jackamus, a while ago I had been looking for a way to reset the bounding box, like the Reset Selection Box, but permanent. I found a process that I use as needed. I had placed it in the "Your favorite tip" post. Maybe this will help. Have you ever created a complex shape but when you finish it had been rotated a few times so the bounding box was all kittywampus. I had been trying to figure out a way to keep the shape in the proper orientation but get the transform to show 0 degrees rotation to have a straight bounding box. Found the easiest way is to draw a rectangle bigger than the shape and totally overlaps it. Then use the Intersect Operation. The resulting shape will be the same as you started with but with a zeroed out bounding box. The color will the same as whichever layer is on the bottom. Multi shape objects need each shape to be done separately.

evtonic3, thank you. That's some wild set of curves you have come up with. This looks great I hope you don't mind my using it. Thanks again. Mike

evtonic3, will you share a copy of the AD file? Love the effect you achieved. Thanks. Mike

Alex, much appreciated. I hadn't played with the Outline. The contour will come in handy sometimes.

I disagree that most application icons do not give the user any hint of what the application does. The Safari icon is obviously a compass and Safari is frequently used for searching. The pages icon a pen and ink bottle, what else would it be but used for writing. The numbers icon shows graphs. System preferences shows a gear, you see the inner working of OS by going there. iTunes is mainly for music which is shown by the note symbol. iBooks icon shows an open book as if you were reading. Google earth shows an Earth. Mail, Maps, Messages, etc. Most icons provide the uninitiated at least some idea of what the program does. In my opinion the good ones at least do. Then of course there are Adobe icons, but are we really trying to follow in the footsteps of Adobe? I hope not!

Thanks stokerg.

No problem. Been in your shoes several times. Most of us have. That's why we are able to help each other out so well with almost any problem.

Hi stokerg, From your video I can't tell if you were using the full screen or not. My file was so large I had to shrink it down a bit. It wouldn't let me upload a m4v which would have been smaller. It's still a big file. I wanted to show the full screen so you could see how the new image is small then I have to reposition the canvas, resize the canvas and zoom the document each time it is transferred. At the end you can see that there are 4 blank canvases open and one with my image. Thanks. Mike Transfer3.mov

dannyj, what I do for this is to do a cmd + C to copy the layer into the clipboard then a File->New from clipboard (opt + shift + cmd + N). It's two steps but easy to do.

Personally I do like the old better. The new have a much flatter and abstract look. The old I could guess that the AP logo having a lens has to do with photography. The old AD with pens has to do with drawing. The new AD logo makes me think it has something to do with pyramids or Egypt. The AP maybe mountains. But then I wasn't crazy about the way the icons looked when I switched from Snow Leopard to Yosemite. These new logos do seem to be more in the Yosemite fashion. Flat, lacking depth. Bottom line, once someone knows what they are then there will be recognition either way. I can live with either.

Am I doing this wrong? I have an image in AD, then I click File->Edit in Photo... to go into AP then I click File->Edit in Designer... to return to AD. Each time I do this a blank canvas is left behind in AD and the image returning from AP is in a new canvas. Plus AP leaves a blank canvas on screen. It also always enters the program in a small canvas, wouldn't it be possible to pass the canvas size and position to the receiving program so that the canvas doesn't have to be repositioned and resized following every transfer. There's just more cleanup than seems necessary with each transfer. Or is there a more correct way of doing the transfer? I am using Separated Mode version 1.2.1.25787 in both AD and AP.

brandbrilliance, isn't what is shown in the attached video basically what you are trying to accomplish? Mask1.mov

Maybe I'm not understanding the issue properly, but I don't find editing masked objects an issue. If I select the object in the layer panel any moves and resizing do affect both the object and mask. But if the mask is selected any moves and resizing affect the mask only. So my workflow when editing a masked object is to move and resize the object first (the mask is also changed). Then select the mask and do any moves and resizing of the mask last (the object is not changed). I don't have to unmask the object.

MEB great tip. I've never tried selecting the second object like you suggest, but when I do it gives so much more control over what and where the first object snaps to. Thanks for the tip it will be very handy.

Joost and Matt, Something I noticed 2 days ago on this which might also help. For some reason the current method of highlighting the selected object is non-consistent. On the 14th there was no highlight except for the actual layer. The upper left image shows that the parent group "Band" is not highlighted at all. When collapsed, as shown in the lower left image, there is no way to know a selection has been made of an object in the group "Band". Possibly this is also what Joost is seeing. Today in the same drawing, same version of AD (1.2.1.2787) the parent group "Band" is highlighted, not a lot but at least you can tell even when collapsed the group can be determined.

Ben, I guess I could have grabbed the shear handles sometimes when I tried for the rotation handles. So that makes sense. Thanks for the info. Looks like the best way to correct it is to remake the gradient.