I've found a potential bug with the merge layer effect that I haven't noticed before. I've been trying to understand layer effects - especially path and pathfinder effects - for years. This bug? might be the reason why I've never been able to completely get my head around how the effects work. My way of testing the effects has been to apply them and then move them around in the appearance palette to see the results of the change.
In the example below I have a layer containing a path. The path has a stroke with a blue color. The layer has a orange fill which is moved below Contents in the appearance palette and the fill has a Merge effect applied to it.
If I move the Merge effect to the stroke, the effect is broken.
If I move the Merge effect back to its original position, one would expect the effect to be reapplied but it doesn't.
Should it not be possible to move effects around or do I have to apply the effect to the correct node the first time, every time? Or is it a bug?
Illustrator 2017.0.2 (64-bit)
1 Correct answer
Moving and removing Pathfinder effects used to work in earlier versions of Illustrator (for example in CS5).
The most recent versions are a bit stubborn. You will have to delete and then reapply the effect.
It can be called a bug.
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