Got an idea for Illustrator???

COLOR SEPARATIONS

Using ai for packaging, add a box (like layers) that lets me see the separations of each color (like Art Pro)

As a wysiwyg user and a lithograph/printer: if you put 30% spot color (transparent) on the top of the same spot color 20% ... it will turn 50% of that spot color...? but it's the same color ... I want it just 30% ...

photoshop DCS's embedded in ai!!! or linked but give me some resolution, I can't place them accurate!

I have an idea that involves saving artwork. When you save a file and go through to select illustrator v3 - v8 ---not v9--- and select if and how you want the preview, etc and hit "OK" it then takes you to another dialogue box that tells you if you really want to do this.<br /><br />I usually fly through the dialogues and sometimes forget to check or uncheck an option....<br /><br />The point is that it would be nice when the dialogue pops up telling you to go ahead and save or cancel saving that you guys might put a <back> button to go back to the previous window where we can reselect our options and THEN save the file. Otheriwse we have to go back to the drawing and do apple-S.<br /><br />I know its not a big thing but it would really add to an already elegant program.

A "Save As Copy" option is needed in the Save As dialog box (like Photoshop 6). I don't get why AI bucks the standard Mac logic by not updating an open document's name in the Title Bar when you "Save As." Rather, you must close the open document and open the newly Saved As document. One careless Command-S after a Save As, and you've contaminated the original. AI didn't used to do that. Drives me nuts. Thanks for the forum and a great product.

AI9 introduced the ability to export to cgm, but only version 1? This feature was almost obsolete when it was introduced!

Give us the capability to export (or "Save As") cgm 1 thru 4, including their different profiles (ATA, CALS, etc.)

I know cgm is not as good as postscript, but like it or not,the demand for it is growing (particularly in Europe).

I have trouble with compound paths. Take, for example the letter "B." It has three paths, two of which should be compounded with the outside path. When I open a file that has had compound paths released, then select letter "B" for example, only the top or bottom hole shows.

I must do a pathfiner->divide and then ungroup and delete the inside of the B to have the background show through.

More Robust Compound Features, please.

Feature?

Consideration for packaging companies. Many of the new features are fantastic but they do not print well. I know it's becomming a "web world" BUT all to many of those people want the WEB on their Label / Box / Etc. . .

I guess I am asking for more "time in the field" seeing WHAT EXACTLY people are using Illustrator for.

Although I know Illlustrator is not ment to be a typesetting program I think the tab function need to have the leader dots or periods. I'd hate to have to use Quark or Pagemaker for that one and only purpose.

So basically, what you're asking for is Apple's defunct OpenDoc, right?

Sigh.. I remember when Apple announced it... it was a dream come true (along with publish and subscribe, newton, copeland, etc...)

I agree though, the concept is truly wonderful. Although it is simply an engineering nightmare :)

:) Mordy

Well Said Ben...I'd like to see that far better than multipage documents

-Ben S

The debate rages on about whether or not to install multipage/layout technology in illustrator, more advanced illustration and photo-editing in InDesign, more vector capabilities in Photoshop, etc, etc... and at the same time to speed up ALL the programs!

I think the solution is to build ONE big-ass application that consists of dozens of modules that can be opened and closed AS NEEDED, to save memory and avoid too much complexity. Each module would be a seperate entity that could be run alone to perform certain tasks, and when combined with another module, both are enhanced. For instance, why do we need seperate (and less robust) vector tools in Photoshop, when we've got great tools in illustrator, already? If you could work on a layer in photoshop THROUGH ai, then you'd have a much more incredible tool on your side. Similarly, why do we have 3 completely different page setup and print procedures, when we could have ONE print module that handles them all? "Save for Web" (which already exists as a module much like I'm talking about here) shouldn't be three seperate modules for 3 seperate programs... just make it once, for all three. And the other big programs: Acrobat, Dimensions, Streamline, all could benefit from this as well. Imagine InDesign's layout tools being used in Acrobat? Or Streamlining a photograph without having to leave illustrator?

Filters and plug-ins are good starts for such a system, but applying a filter to an object in ai or psd is pretty much a trial-and-error, do-and-undo process. If each filter were, in effect, an application in itself, with it's own history, it's own documents... then you could work on an object (or layer) both places, using the tools from the "native" program as well as the filter, to fine-tune your work.

You could potentially have hundreds of modules, each independently updatable, each sold seperately or en masse. And, hopefully, third-party players could get into the game much like those that produce filters do now.

We don't need more memory-hogs on our systems. We need more efficiency.