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M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
May 11, 2017
Answered

Copied vector with gradient pastes as bitmap

  • May 11, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 2981 views

I have a design, which I'm trying to copy from one AI document to another. However, whenever I paste it, AI pastes it as a raster image. It is bitmapped, and it shows up in the Links palette as an embedded image.

The 'File Handling & Clipboard' settings I believe are the default, which has 'Include SVG Code' and 'PDF' ticked, and the 'AICB' option not ticked. I've tried various permutations of those settings, and yet I always get the same result.

It so happens that this only seems to affect this one image. With other tests I've done using simple shapes (rectangle with a gradient fill), or clipart I've downloaded, I can't replicate the problem.

The source image is vector, and seems to be just a vector with a gradient fill. If I change the gradient to a solid CMYK color, I can copy and paste it without problem.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Antonio Cuamatzi. C

Quicksilver app is installed on my Mac. When Quicksilver Clipboard plugin is enabled, Illustrator rasterizes every object I paste that has an effect on it.

I turn off that plugin whenever I'll be working on AI.

4 replies

Antonio Cuamatzi. CCorrect answer
Participant
October 26, 2018

Quicksilver app is installed on my Mac. When Quicksilver Clipboard plugin is enabled, Illustrator rasterizes every object I paste that has an effect on it.

I turn off that plugin whenever I'll be working on AI.

M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
May 16, 2017

As an additional test, I tried copying and pasting to Affinity Designer (shhhh!), and opening in Affinity Designer and pasting back to AI. Both apps open the original file in vector format, but pasting across apps in either direction converts it to bitmap. However, pasting from Affinity Designer into a blank Affinity Designer document correctly pastes the file in vector format.

M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
May 16, 2017

I wonder if I would need to rename/delete all previous versions of AI preference files as well? I mean, if I change only the most recent, is it going to reimport old settings again from previous versions?

M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
May 11, 2017

I should have mentioned that this is using Adobe Illustrator CC 2017.1.0, on a Mac running macOS 10.12.4 .

Mike_Gondek10189183
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2017

Yes you clipboard settings are the default. Thanks for mentioning your OS & AI versions, so many forget to do that.

Can you post a copy of this gradient with dropbox or similar. Let us know how the gradient was created, especially if not with gradient tool, (e.g.: imported from Corel or unknown downloaded clipart. See what the appearance panel says when selected, may give a clue.

M Prewitt at IIW
Known Participant
May 11, 2017

Here is a link to part of the image: Dropbox - Sample TEST.ai

On my machine, the test image above has the same issue with copy and paste, as the full image does.

It was created by someone else, but the Appearance panel shows it as: