I stand corrected You were prompted to have an image as a template (which was the common use at the time). But you could choose to go rogue and go without one! ... View more

Not only did the very first version of Illustrator have the template feature, in that version, it was required to have an image to start a new document. You were given a dialog to choose a bitmap image to use as your template when you first created a new document. Images came from the likes of MacPaint. At the time, the entire idea of Illustrator was not to create original art from scratch, but rather to digitize an existing piece of art. I don’t even think the idea of using the pen tool to do anything other than trace a jagged line and turn it into a smooth scalable line existed. Good times ... View more

Several years back, I wrote up this technique to create embossed text in Illustrator: http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2008/07/technique-emboss-text-effect.html Mordy ... View more

OK, well let's start from scratch here... Can you describe exactly what the error is? What does the dialog box say? Do you get the error with ANY file you try to save or is it specifically with one file, or just a few files? Please be as specific as possible. Mordy ... View more

For a video tutorial on how to do this, you might try reading this: http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2007/08/getting-pantone-support-with-kuler.html Mordy ... View more

Illustrator is, at its core, a PostScript interpreter. It's internal language is PostScript. So it's not all that difficult for other programs that do pretty much the same thing (FreeHand, CorelDraw, Canvas, Xara, etc.) to write an import filter to convert the content of a native .ai file into objects which are native to the importing program--and just throw away any Illustrator-specific stuff it doesn't understand. This was true up until the release of Illustrator 9. Since version 9, Illustrator's internal language is a superset of the PDF 1.5 language spec. PostScript has no support at all for many of the constructs that Illustrator now supports (transparency, etc). It's actually quite difficult for anyone -- even other Adobe teams for that matter -- to parse native .AI information since Illustrator 9. Since most Adobe apps don't need to access editable information -- they really just need an unflattened composite -- it's easier to just have Illustrator embed a PDF (1.5) version of the native Illustrator file which other apps can easily read and place. It's interesting to note that Adobe *IS* indeed started to include Illustrator's own graphics libraries into other apps, meaning that other apps WILL be able to parse Illustrator's native file format (think of these apps as having a built-in headless version of Illustrator). Adobe is doing this for apps where the editing of content would be important or necessary. For example, Flash CS3 and CS4 contains Illustrator's graphics libraries. Meaning that you can save your file from AI using the .ai file format WITHOUT checking the Include PDF Compatible File option, and Flash will be able to correctly parse the file. I believe that Fireworks can do this in CS4 (although I've experienced instability and constant crashes when doing so), and also, Adobe's new Flash Catalyst contains Illustrator's graphics libraries. At one time, the marketers at Adobe decided it clever to proclaim that "PDF is now Illustrator's native format." That ill-advised claim was mostly smoke-and-mirrors, and resulted in untold confusion among Adobe's customers. Hm. As I mentioned above, Illustrator's native file format IS indeed PDF -- but since it's a superset of the public ISO PDF language spec (it has to support things like Illustrator's 3D features, appearances, etc.), it's a version of PDF that only Illustrator itself can understand. But it's certainly PDF. There's no smoke and mirrors there. Also, as I mentioned above, the default behavior is that Illustrator embeds an unflattened composite of the file as a PDF file that CAN be read by other applications. This PDF is able to fully reproduce the art when printed (it's just not editable like the native version is). I don't think there's any confusion amongst customers. Most designers just place native .ai files into other Adobe apps and it just works. What Illustrator is doing "behind the scenes" really doesn't affect the average user at all. And designers like when things "just work". To specifically answer the original question in this thread, reading this article, What's In a File, should help. Mordy ... View more

I know that the change you refer to happened when AI adopted the newer text engine (in version CS), but I don't know WHY the change was made. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

This article might offer some additional insight: http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2006/08/ask-mordy-text-alignment-nuances.html 🙂 Mordy ... View more

Ray, if Smart Guides are turned on, you'll find that artboards do indeed snap. Unfortunately, there's no way to edit more than one artboard at a time. However, you might consider drawing regular rectangles, using all the align tools, etc. and then choosing to convert all those rectangles to artboards in one step (Object > Convert to Artboards). 🙂 Mordy ... View more

Awesome, Rob! Thanks! I'll give it a try. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

You don't have to extend the document size, er, artboard size at all, Wade -- in previous versions you had to, but not in CS4 -- that's because AI CS4 supports true bleed areas (finally). 🙂 Mordy ... View more

ah, ok, so this makes total sense. The Trim Marks command just draws lines -- nothing more than that. Just like drawing lines with the Line tool. The older Crop Marks command actually created Crop Marks in the true sense of the word. And that setting was translated into something meaningful in the PDF dialog. In reality, you can just turn on Crop Marks and specify a bleed setting as your PDF will be fine -- you don't need to do anything in the file itself -- it will all happen automatically when the PDF is generated. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

I think the artboards should not have fixed numbers, but should be numbered according to their position on the canvas. I don't agree. What about Hebrew, Arabic, or other languages that read right to left? Also, I don't always think of multiple artboards as multiple pages. Sometimes I want them numbered top to bottom. What I really want is a way to customize the order. Like you can set a tab order for fields in an electronic form. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

What version of Illustrator are you using? You'll need to make sure that your document size is large enough to include the crop marks. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

If you want to use the image in PowerPoint, export the file in the PNG file format -- which supports transparent backgrounds. 🙂 Mordy ... View more

You might take a look at some of the pattern brushes that come with Illustrator. You can find them by choosing Window > Brush Libraries > Borders. While the borders are interesting on their own, they are there specifically for you to reverse engineer and learn how to customize your own versions. There is an interesting scalloped brush -- more stylized in nature. 🙂 Mordy ... View more