ChrisP

Ok, I was playing around some more. No effect on this at all, yet when I open the PDF in Preview and zoom in, the upper text and stroke below are pixelated. The rest is crisp. Still confused. Ideas?? Is it because I used a mask to clip the bottom part of the text inside the shape? I've attached PDF and AD file.

Thanks MEB. I was just playing around some more and added a very thin stroke (0.4) around my base layer and that seemed to work pretty well.

Thanks for the fast response MEB. Ok, I understand. One thing thou, I recreated the same flame in AI using same layers and effects but the PDF is not pixelated. It's crisp. Any work around in AD to get crisp PDF, other than saving at 2x or 3x size?

Just checked out your website and work. Very impressive stuff - and very inspiring!!!

I was just playing around with some layers to make a flame. I exported as a PDF and when I enlarge, it's pixelated. Any ideas? I'm using Preview to view. I've attached the PDF and AD file. Flame.pdf Flame.afdesign

Love the workflow also. It reminds me a lot of Von Glitschka's techniques. I learned a lot from his book and videos.

That's a good question - probably one for the developers. I don't quite understand it either.

I downloaded the file and it seems you did not have the rectangle and triangles really up against (touching) or snapping to one another, therefore the line. Here's a quick demo on how to eliminate that issue using both the Geometry>Add and Boolean Add methods. My snapping preset was set to "Object creation" - perhaps that was the issue? http://youtu.be/dZsW0Qr8Gos

Great news! Thanks MEB!

Saw an AI tut on something like this. Thought it would be interesting to try without a gradient mesh shading tool. I just used some booleans and blur. The first image is a screenshot of the PDF and there is something wrong. The 2nd pic is a jpeg and everything looks fine (except a little pixelated). Anyone have any ideas why the PDF is not sharp?

Is there going to be another issue(s) of the magazine? It's a great resource and very well done.

Some CC information. Just shows people complain but sign up anyway. Hopefully this will change. Momentum Continues with Accelerated Creative Cloud and Adobe Marketing Cloud AdoptionSAN JOSE, Calif. — Dec. 11, 2014 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 ended Nov. 28, 2014. Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights Adobe achieved revenue of $1.073 billion, near the high end of the targeted range of $1.025 billion to $1.075 billion. Adobe added 644 thousand net new Creative Cloud subscriptions in the quarter. Creative Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) grew to $1.676 billion, and total Digital Media ARR grew to $1.947 billion. Adobe Marketing Cloud revenue was $330 million with record bookings in the quarter. Diluted earnings per share were $0.14 on a GAAP-basis, and $0.36 on a non-GAAP basis. Cash flow from operations was $400 million. Deferred revenue grew to a record $1.155 billion, and unbilled backlog grew to approximately $1.7 billion. 66 percent of Adobe’s Q4 revenue was from recurring sources, compared to 44 percent of Q4 revenue in fiscal 2013. The company repurchased approximately 1.8 million shares during the quarter, returning $127 million of cash to stockholders. Fiscal Year 2014 Financial Highlights Adobe achieved revenue of $4.147 billion and generated $1.288 billion in operating cash flow during the year. The company reported annual GAAP earnings per share of $0.50 and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.29. Creative Cloud subscriptions grew by more than two million to 3.454 million. In addition, Adobe grew net new Digital Media ARR by more than $1 billion during the year. Adobe Marketing Cloud achieved a record $1.170 billion in annual revenue, with record annual bookings that is above the company’s target of 30 percent. The company repurchased 10.9 million shares during the year, returning approximately $689 million of cash to stockholders.

Thanks Evtonic!

So again, I got up, got my cup of coffee and for the pure enjoyment (and amusement) I started to read this lengthy thread. Wow, a lot of opinions for sure. Hmm..should I add my 1 12 cents? Ok...my coffee is making me but I promise when I'm done with my coffee I'll stop typing. This thread reminds me of the requests for features. We all want what we want which is basically AD to be AI but cheaper, and on all platforms. Personally I switched to Macs in 2008 and haven't regretted it once. PCs dominate for more business reasons than artistic/creative IMO (and if your opinion differs I respect that - so respect mine...which is based on the past 25 years). At my office I still run PCs for the business part but the creative is all MAC. Yes there are other ways to go about this but some business software I use is Windows only. I do what I have to do and don't worry or complain about it. Ok, maybe I complain a little. For instance, I have a 130K CAD/CAM Windows system at my office. There is no MAC version. I hate it personally. I get more hang-ups and crashes than I have ever got on a MAC. The funny thing is most of the developers of the software are on MACs that have Windows installed. Pretty funny but that's life. Am I saying MACs are better then Windows systems - no, maybe, sometimes. It all depends. I know this thread is mainly about addressing some concerns about Serif's "bad business decision" to not go for the PC market. I get it but it's their business. Your opinion is fine but it is not law, nor is mine. If you would rather go to Adobe, god bless. It just really stinks that when I cancel I have no more software, nor way to open my files. Perhaps that is what other developers need to focus on - being able to open Adobe product files as well as AD opens up AI files. Hmmm...let's think about that one :) I think most here actually still maintain the Adobe subscription, I know I still do. There are still things I need like AE that make the subscription model still viable for now. My subscription is due to renew in Jan 2016. Hopefully by then I can cancel and stop using Adobe products because I resent the subscription model. Then again, one of my friends who is a popular motion graphics artist loves it and recommends it. His audience is bigger than mine so he wins and so does Adobe :( What we have to be careful of is the possibility of more companies going to the subscription model. If they do, we are all screwed and held hostage. The only way these companies will reconsider is if financially they are hurt. That would take a lot of people canceling at once, and companies also. Banning together is the only way to reverse this monopoly. I won't hold my breath...and ooooops... my coffee is done. I have to go reboot my PC....lol

I am looking to add some grunge (texture) to a logo like in the image below. I am switched over to the Pixel from the Draw persona but I am kind of lost. Can anyone help? Also, can this just be done in the Draw (vector) persona? Thanks

I did convert the text to curves but I kept grouping the text AND the pattern objects. That was causing the problem. Thanks again MEB!

Thanks Matt - totally agree. I lessened the shadow a lot and it looks a lot better.

I created some text, no stroke, just black fill. I then created a pattern of random black dots (and grouped them). I placed this pattern on top of the text and then wanted to create a compound shape where the areas of overlap will be punched out. I tried converting text, etc... but nothing seems to work. Any ideas? Here is an example of what I am trying to do in AI - the black bird shapes punch out the areas where they overlap with the black text with the compound shape command (Object>Compound Path>Make)

Check out this link - it's for Illustrator but no problem to do in AD http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-realistic-vector-bubbles--vector-3417

Thanks MEB!

Top shelf all the way!!!

Hi all, I know this might be a dumb question but how do you make the bezier handles continuous so when I pull one out (extend), the other moves out accordingly. I tried holding down the Opt, Cmd, and Ctrl keys but it doesn't seem to work. Thanks

For my son's middle school

Thanks MEB!

Hi, I am trying to add a sun highlight to a group of buildings I made, but I can't figure out how to do it. This is what I'm doing: 1. Make shape for sun highlight. Use "cut" command (Cmd+X) 2. Select building group and go to Edit>Paste Inside The screen shot is what I get. Any ideas? I guess the issue is pasting inside of groups right? Thanks