Need Help Is it possible to add bleed to a .ai or .eps file that has a lot of layers?

No, it is not right, it is dead easy in coreldraw (as i use it often and any version).
select all layers and group, then go to 'object' + 'shaping' + 'bounday'
it would create a single outline based upon the shapes and nature of layers.
select that boundary and then select 'contour' tool and 'outisde' and then increase the size as much you need to give a bleed.
break apart then the contour and delete the 'bounday' and you would be left with 'contour' to be used as bleed on your over all design.
you can select 'cut contoor' (pink spot colour to cut in roland) and apply as outline to bleed.
centralise with 'grouped' design and that's it.
hope it helps

 

Super simple, just added a bleed on this in less than a minute. I used Adobe Illustrator vs. Corel like KMSP but same overall concept.

 

Yes u can add bleed to any file. import in corel whether ai or eps.
Make sure the files are saved as "legacy" eps or a . Like version 8, because ai or eps saved as vector in illustrator carry lots of non recognised layers by corel. Hence the import would be corrupt or incomplete.
If u want to add bleed to an image, then in photoshop use same concept and bring in corel in layers not flat (the bleed layer only) , then convert into clipart by right click. Job done
And repeat same steps for mentioned above.

 

Did they actually use the word impossible? Sounds like your designer is either lazy or doesn’t know what they’re doing

 

Another reason it’s best if you have to reach to an outside designer it’s good to find one that understands the time reduction side of things as well. We find many struggle with the concept of how to make print/cut & bleeds work.

There are so many good designers out there but using those that don’t understand the full scope of making files work for production in our industry doesn’t usually work.

 

This actually goes for any production industry as well.

And it's really not the fact that they have to change the designs to be simpler (just being simple in of itself doesn't mean that it's still going to work). I see so many great designs that just don't translate well depending on what production method is desired.

 

Yeah, even the attitude to just plain call it impossible, even if she was incompetent you'd at least give a timescale instead of going right to impossible!

or maybe thats where I’m going wrong. Gonna try the impossible route next time I get a PITA job, I’ll keep you updated lol

 

How did you do it? For complex artwork like this, I normally just copy the artwork to a separate "bleed" layer and then apply Offset Path to it. However, that method does not work on clipping masks, and this artwork is full of gradients in clipping masks.

 

Not as simple as that. That's not a true bleed.
"Impossible"? No.
Time consuming? Yes!
But it can be done.

The design uses many different fountain fills. Using a single boundary around the shapes as a whole will not allow the needed gradients used.
In order to do it properly one would have to create contours on each individual shapes then fill those the same fountain fill as the orig shape then layered and segmented accordingly.

 

you can do a quick and dirty way with just the pen tool. It wont look nice to anyone looking at the file, or the print since it wont be an equal bleed.. but it'll work. Still a pain in the ***. And of course when you're bleeding 2 colors that intersect... if your cut is a bit off, it wont be that easy.

Personally I'd just offset the cut -.02 - .05" and be done with it... Unless you need it to be exact size, that should work ok with this design, and no one would be the wiser.

It'd be cool to find an addon that lets you add a .2" bleed by mirror the fill.. it'd come in handy sometimes, kind of like how in onyx you can add a 2" bleed and it just mirrors the image.... sadly I don't think anything like that exists.

So while your artist might have said it's impossible... Maybe he meant impossible within the time you want it done? Not that it'd take that long... but someone who isn't familair with adding bleed to multi colored objects like this might spend days doing it perfectly, not realizing spending 10 minutes making a mess out of pen tool would produce the same result.