question for Illy users

[Marlene]

I get files from designers all the time that are just a pile of lines and a total mess to work with. in print, they may be able to hide the bones of the design but in the sign world not so much. attached is an Illy file from a customer showing a simple outline drop shadow combo. what a freaking mess. not only are there a ton of lines but also strokes all over the place. the other is from Omega where I had to make sense of the mess. my question is can the same be done in Illy? if so, what is it called? welding? connecting? when I get a file from a pro, I want to be able to request it from them as they seem never to do it.

thanks,

 

[SIGNTIME]

united or merged

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I get files from designers all the time that are just a pile of lines and a total mess to work with. in print, they may be able to hide the bones of the design but in the sign world not so much. attached is an Illy file from a customer showing a simple outline drop shadow combo. what a freaking mess. not only are there a ton of lines but also strokes all over the place. the other is from Omega where I had to make sense of the mess. my question is can the same be done in Illy? if so, what is it called? welding? connecting? when I get a file from a pro, I want to be able to request it from them as they seem never to do it.

thanks,

Strokes really shouldn't be used when the wireframe of a design is important. Depending on the situation, welding, simplifying, even just offsets would be what I use, it just depends on what is trying to be accomplished in the final production. Those 3 that I mentioned work to setup a file for digitizing. All of those can be accomplished in Ai. You probably have someone that isn't used to designing for production other then digital (web etc) or print.

 

[d fleming]

Yeah try to resize that sucker for a banner and see what happens.

 

[omgsideburns]

The STROKES have been converted to outlines before they sent it to you. It's standard procedure so that they don't get scaled or rendered incorrectly. But yes, it makes a bit of a mess to work with if you need to make adjustments later.

 

[ucmj22]

Everything wild west said. at our shop we used Ai, and its just a different process to designs for cut vinyl, silkscreen, or embroidery that unless someone is aware of the process and challenges, there is no way they could design for it properly. The first thing I would have done with that file is to outline the strokes, object>path>outline strokes, then used the "pathfinder" controls, window>pathfinder, to begin merging the necessary items.

 

[PRS Bryan]

The STROKES have been converted to outlines before they sent it to you. It's standard procedure so that they don't get scaled or rendered incorrectly. But yes, it makes a bit of a mess to work with if you need to make adjustments later.

True Story.

Tell the originator of the document to make any adjustments. They should have a version that far easier to deal with.

Personally, I don't mind receiving nauseatingly specific instructions for files I send out. Even if you have the program and skills to adjust it, I know exactly how it was built and can make adjustments to any of the six versions of the file that I have quicker than anyone else.

 

[Signed Out]

Shape builder tool in illustrator is pretty helpful as well.

 

[boxerbay]

explain to the designer that the file is not in proper condition and if they could send a proper file as to your specs if not they will incur art fees to clean up the file.

 

[Marlene]

thanks for the replies. I wanted to make sure that it was possible to set this up in Illy. this job will be back sprayed so it needs to be ready to have masks made and I sure couldn't do that with that mess.

 

[TammieH]

Sometimes its easier to make a duplicate layer/s for a guide/template, make your template layer a transparent, group, then lock your template layer.

Then using the basic art (getting rid of any unnecessary lines and outlines) recreate what the designer using whatever Illustrator knowledge/skills you have.

I am sure that does not make sense, but its what I do.

 

[MikePro]

Sometimes its easier to make a duplicate layer/s for a guide/template, make your template layer a transparent, group, then lock your template layer.

Then using the basic art (getting rid of any unnecessary lines and outlines) recreate what the designer using whatever Illustrator knowledge/skills you have.

I am sure that does not make sense, but its what I do.

+1
usually when I get a mess like this, and have to separate the objects for vinyl/mask layering, I just break it down into layers. grouping the original artwork, and then double-clicking a path you want to isolate & set into a new layer to lock and repeat.

 

[Rick]

I design the way the designer here does, it's easier to size my
strokes visually instead of going back and forth with offset path
then convert my strokes to outlines/pathfinder.

When I was a production monkey, I had to deal with this all the time.
Most of my employers would have me send the file back if it took too
long but most of the time the designer was not qualified to make a
cuttable/useful vector file so it was still up to me. I have something I
used to send over to explain the process but I can't find the file

As mentioned before, EXPAND or STROKE OUTLINES and PATHFINDER
are the tools of choice here.