Is there a way to change the canvas color?

[Stokestack 31]

30 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Then I don't understand, why you're talking about them!

Because other people suggested them as a workaround to not being able to change the color of the canvas! It's in the title of this thread.

[Pšenda 478]

4 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

Because other people suggested them as a workaround!

No, you use them in your first post.

[Stokestack 31]

18 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

No, you use them in your first post.

So what? I listed the things I had already tried, in order to head off ineffective suggestions and save time. I also mentioned the document setup, but for some reason you're ignoring that:

Quote

I can't find any way to do this. The artboard background grey level doesn't appear to do anything. I did find "transparent background" in Document Setup, which helps a bit.

Translation: Here are two things I tried, and they didn't do the job.

More importantly: Why are you quibbling about that, when the title of the post tells you everything you need to know?

[R C-R 3,823]

8 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

More importantly: Why are you quibbling about that, when the title of the post tells you everything you need to know?

Hasn't that been already been answered? What more do you want?

[Pšenda 478]

20 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

So what?

Unfortunately, you still do not understand, that the Artboard can change the color directly - so what in the title of the post you require. And it doesn't matter if there are one or more of them in the document.

But do it the way you want, like "practical" inserting rectangles.

[Lagarto 255]

7 hours ago, Stokestack said:

Non-printing layers are basic functionality for an app like this. Having to go and disable it, then re-enable it after every print is ridiculous and pretty much guaranteed to waste lots of paper and ink as you forget to do this once per session.

I completely agree with you of the need to be able to specify that a layer (or group, or "Layer" layer) is non-printing, but didn't you read my most recent post where this is simulated by making the bottom rectangle as non-exporting? When combining this feature with a transparent background, you should be able to work with non-white "canvas", which would never be exported, and use whatever background color or texture etc. you wish there, and by toggling the visibility state of this layer, also view the artwork against transparent background. I think a non-exporting layer object would still print, but if you always print via a PDF then this would not be a problem. This is of course only the second-best thing, but I think this is a workable solution. It would operate pretty much similarly as the Background feature in CorelDRAW (which can be marked as non-printing and non-exportable), or using a non-printable and locked layer as the bottom layer in Illustrator.

As for artboards, you do not need to use them if you do not need them, but they help you to organize your work and e.g. print and export only parts of your project similarly as slices.

[Stokestack 31]

10 hours ago, R C-R said:

Hasn't that been already been answered? What more do you want?

No. People are still floating ideas for workarounds, and then discovering that they might not work after all. I can't control the process that other people undertake.

I didn't say I wanted anything; I was answering a question from someone else.

[Stokestack 31]

4 hours ago, Lagarto said:

didn't you read my most recent post where this is simulated by making the bottom rectangle as non-exporting?

Actually I did, but then after reading other posts hurriedly, I couldn't remember which ideas panned out and which didn't. I will try what you suggest.  Thanks again!

[R C-R 3,823]

7 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

People are still floating ideas for workarounds, and then discovering that they might not work after all.

Which of the suggested workarounds don't work for you?

[Stokestack 31]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Which of the suggested workarounds don't work for you?

This, for one:

Quote

Preferences > User Interface > Artboard Background Grey Level
 

And then Legarto discovered that his suggestion didn't work after all.

The others that involved drawing objects behind the others weren't what I was asking for either.

In the end, the artboard color strikes me as the best one; but it still requires you to use artboards.

[Stokestack 31]

On 10/24/2019 at 7:08 AM, Pšenda said:

Why not change artboard color directly?

That does seem like the best workaround so far. Thanks.

[Chris Hawkins 0]

Sorry unclear - how do I add color to the background or canvas, (now like a PNG, transparent?)  Sorry, coming from a Fireworks background, seems there ought to be a place for that.  Creating a white rectangle seems silly..

[Pšenda 478]

Document Setup, untick Transparent background.

[haakoo 590]

1 hour ago, Chris Hawkins said:

Creating a white rectangle seems silly

Simplicity is never silly just simple

[Stokestack 31]

Ah, platitudes. So helpful.

[haakoo 590]

No, it's Occam's razor applied.