Legend

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How do I 'Flatten' an Illustrator file?

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I have a logo I've been working on with lots of layers, and sub-layers and now I would like to collapse or 'flatten' everything into one layer for use as a logo without the encumbrance of the many layers it took to make this artwork. I've tried 'flatten' but that still keeps the layers and sub-layers. I'm not sure what else to try. I want what is on top to appear and layers below to be sandwiched down so everything looks like it is on the screen. In Photoshop, I would just flatten and get the result I am looking for on one layer, but in Illustrator, it's not cooperating the way I would like it to. I have converted all type to paths, so that is done.

Where do I go from here to get the 'flattened' file I am after?

TIA,

Ken

How to

Salah FadlabiCorrect answer

Inspiring

Ken Nielsen wrote:
I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

Create File>new, then File>Place the logo file in the new document.

D

Dame Vigo

Participating Frequently

The best way to "flatten" the illustrator file is to export it as a jpg or png (if you need the transparency)
If you are bringing that logo into InDesign or another program for use, that's likely the simplest way to acheive the result you need. You could place link an that would also keep the file from bloating.

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Sorry, but that is bad advice. You place an image that way, reducing the scalability of vector files.

Just place the linked Illustrator file in InDesign.

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K´mo

Participating Frequently

There is a long discussion here but I go back to the original question.

If you don't want that all objects are showed in layers palette (the grouping is good enough in my opinion), you could make a symbol from your logo. Select all elements and drag it to Symbols-palette and create new symbol. Change the Export type to Graphic and name it Logo or something. Then you have only one element visible in layers. However, if you have trasparency included, I'm not sure how that will behave but you can try this.

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

K´mo schrieb:
There is a long discussion here but I go back to the original question.
If you don't want that all objects are showed in layers palette (the grouping is good enough in my opinion), you could make a symbol from your logo. Select all elements and drag it to Symbols-palette and create new symbol. Change the Export type to Graphic and name it Logo or something. Then you have only one element visible in layers. However, if you have trasparency included, I'm not sure how that will behave but you can try this.

Transparency won't be a problem and the Export type doesn't need to be changed.

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royd79955180

Participating Frequently

Getting rid of layers in Illustrator or "flattening" is completely unnecessary.

Turn that layers palette off and completely forget about it.

The only time you'll ever need to pay attention to layers is if you're using dielines or reference drawings, etc.

FORGET THE LAYERS. They mean nothing for your logo project.

Save your file as an .EPS and drop it into your project or send it to your client. DONE.

**********

ADDENDUM - For your reference, I find Photoshop to be the absolute BEST program for ad layouts. I've been doing this for over 20 years, and Photoshop is fluid, responsive and gives you realtime results. AND you can work in layers that you can understand. Just paste your logo into your ad as a "Smart Object" and you can scale it up and down forever as you're building your ad. Unless your ad has MASSIVE amounts of copy, stick with Photoshop for layout... you'll be so much happier and your work will go much much faster.

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

Photoshop is definitely not the best application for layouts.

Also: EPS is last century's file format. It might still be appropriate for exchanging logos with some excentric applications, but definitely not for delivering layouts for printing.

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royd79955180

Participating Frequently

Everyone has a different way of doing layouts, but if they're photo-based (as most single-page ads are), Photoshop is the IDEAL application. (It wasn't always that way, as Photoshop used to soften type, which is no longer the case). If you're talking multiple-page documents, InDesign is your thing. Illustrator is great for anything technical... logos, vector illustration and designs with dielines (such as packaging). My work environment is extremely fast paced, demands extreme attention to detail and has a lot of money on the line. My method for single page ads with minimal copy is Photoshop (flattened and dropped into Illustrator for crops and PDF). Feel free to experiment with what works for you. After 20+ years, I depend on this method for ultimate speed and quality.

And regarding EPS, I'm not sure what "eccentric" applications, you're talking about, but if a client wants their logo in vector format, 99.5% still want it sent to them in vector EPS format.

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Kris Hunt

Legend

Ken, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Illustrator works. Grouping the layers will get you the closest to what you're after, but you will never be able to get rid of all the sublayers, because Illustrator is object-oriented, which means your graphics are composed of objects with a stacking order, i.e., layers. Just close the disclosure arrow that reveals the sublayers and you can pretend they're not even there if they bug you.

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Ken NielsenAuthor

Legend

KrisHunt wrote:
Ken, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Illustrator works. Grouping the layers will get you the closest to what you're after, but you will never be able to get rid of all the sublayers, because Illustrator is object-oriented, which means your graphics are composed of objects with a stacking order, i.e., layers. Just close the disclosure arrow that reveals the sublayers and you can pretend they're not even there if they bug you.

And this is what I come up to as a conclusion to this whole informative and also entertaining discussion: Illustrator is an 'Object-Oriented' program and as such, layers have nothing to do with what I am trying to do. As you all have me seeing the light on this subject now I can see that if I want my 'finished' art to be on one layer, then I would need to re-construct the file and save as a new file where I, 'by hand' build the resulting one layer from elements needed from the other layers, with fills where there is color and just the most elemental paths that are needed to make the one-layer rendition work. Too much work for nothing as a result. Practicality is key in this discussion and a native Illustrator file can be brought into InDesign or wherever I need it. Or, if I need another file format, I can export to a suitable resolution bitmap file if that would be needed. As it is, A tightly cropped and grouped Illustrator file can be placed into another Illustrator file and is scaleable with no loss and is 'set in stone' as the logo - so no chance of unwanted alterations after the fact.

This has been a most invigorating and informative discussion and has awakened and enlivened some very essential information about Illustrator which should always be kept close at hand.

Thanks Again To All Whom Have Posted Here,

Ken

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Why worry about layers?

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Ken NielsenAuthor

Legend

Ton Frederiks wrote:
Why worry about layers?

I wouldn't, normally, but this has 'tons' of layers and bringing those into another file where I'm building an ad adds too much clutter. Would be nice to have one layer with the logo on it.

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

If you just Place the file as a link into another document, you will never see the layers.

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

In terms of the layers panel Illustrator is completely different from Photoshop.

Are all these shapes of the same color? In that case combining them into 1 shape might make sense. Otherwise: group them as has already been written

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Ken NielsenAuthor

Legend

Selecting all and converting to shape and the layers all remain as shown above. I would have thought that group would have done it. Don't tell me Illustrator is giving me strange behavior again... maybe time to shut down and restart the system?

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Jeff Witchel, ACI

Community Expert

As I said earlier,

"Select everything and go to Object > Group. Grouping everything will force everything to be the same Layer."

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Jeff Witchel, ACI

Community Expert

Select everything and go to Object > Group

Grouping everything will force everything to be the same Layer.

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Ken NielsenAuthor

Legend

When I select all, then group, here is what happens, still many layers left...

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Salah Fadlabi

Inspiring

Have you tried to place logo document file in a new illustrator document?

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Ken NielsenAuthor

Legend

I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

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Salah FadlabiCorrect answer

Inspiring

Ken Nielsen wrote:
I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

Create File>new, then File>Place the logo file in the new document.

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