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Question

Grain distortion

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
August 29, 2025
3 replies
311 views

Dear Adbobe experts,

I have been running into an issue which I have attacked from many different angels and cannot see to solve it. I have an opacity mask grain effect that is applied to a graphic. The grain looks amazing on a large scale but when scaling down the whole image the grain becomes distorted and rigid. I understand this is just because the scale is so small that I cannot achieve a smooth grain effect but is there any work arounds or ways grain can be applied to small scales?

Best,

Seb

Tina_Irvine

Community Expert

You're welcome @sebastian_8172! I'm glad we could help 🙂

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Seb,

You find it here, Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings.

And you can read more here (also about other things, see the list to the left):

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/effects.html

With the raster effect settings, you set the resolution of raster effects in PPI.

When you scale down some artwork with a raster effect and zoom in deep, you can really see the individual pixels, so either abstain from zooming in, or increase the PPI.

The suitable raster effects resolution in PPI depends on the viewing distance, exactly like the image resolution in PPI.

S

sebastian_8172Author

Participant

Dear Jacob,

Thank you for specifying. The raster worked better than the flatten and it exports better too. I see what you mean about the pixels but my scale is already so small, zooming in further is not necessary. Thank you again (both)!

Seb

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

For my part you are welcome, Seb.

Tina_Irvine

Community Expert

Hi @sebastian_8172,

Have you tried adjusting your Document Raster Effects settings?

Or, to lock the appearance in, you could duplicate your image (so you have an editable copy), and try Object > Flatten Transparency.

S

sebastian_8172Author

Participant

Dear Tina,

Thank you so much for your prompt aid! I tried the flatten transparency and it seems to have worked (finally)! I cannot thank you enough!

When exporting it as a jpg even on highest settings it comes out a big pixelated.

Could you please specify what you mean with the rasterize settings (which settings and how - sorry not the most experienced on illustrator yet as I am sure you can imagine).

See attached the pixelated version for reference.

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