Illustrator question re: exporting

[GAC05]

Illustrator does have a dedicated function built exactly for this. The Asset Export panel allows you to drag and drop any number of objects to queue them up for exporting. Then you choose your format and Export them all at once.

If you just want to export one object, you would instead go to File > Export Selection. This will open basically the same set of options as the Asset Export panel, but for the one object you've selected.

The only catch is you have to export to PDF, not AI. That shouldn't be an issue since any application that can import AI files should be able to import PDF files. Most apps that import AI files are actually reading an embedded PDF file that's saved inside AI files by default.

EDIT: if any of this isn't available in CS4, it'll be there when you upgrade to CC, which I'm assuming you would do if you were going to use Illustrator on a regular basis for opening client files.

Didn't know about this one.
Just tried it out. Looks interesting but seems it expands the art board out to the limits of any masked objects included.
Seems about the same amount of work as saving out the art boards but will need and action or something to fix the art board size.
Thanks for posting this up - learn something new here (almost) every day.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Bobby H]

I don't mind having to copy an object from an existing Illustrator .AI document over into a new one for exporting purposes. It's a fast process with keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste into the new document. It's certainly faster than deleting everything else in the existing document. I prefer this approach anyway since adjustments may be required to make the artwork export accurately to another application. There's no worries if you're exporting objects with flat fills. When gradients, gradient meshes, levels of transparency and other Illustrator-dependent effects are applied to the artwork porting the artwork to rival applications (like CorelDRAW, Flexi, etc) can be a real chore. CorelDRAW also has an annoying habit of importing compound paths from Illustrator with at least one pair of doubled up anchor points on each object. In order to avoid this the compound paths must be released in Illustrator before saving/exporting.

Exporting-importing PDF has its own pitfalls too. When saving PDF from Illustrator I always check the "preserve Illustrator editing capabilities" item. If this item is not checked and the PDF is re-opened in Illustrator (or imported in other applications) it can be riddled with all sorts of clipping masks and other junk that make the artwork a pain to manipulate. Any rectangular shapes might be converted into 2 point lines with pen strokes added. I get really annoyed with customers who use Illustrator and then supply PDFs without preserving Illustrator editing capability. More often than not I'll just tell them to send me the original .AI file (and be sure to convert any fonts to outlines).