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66caseys
Known Participant
February 27, 2021
Answered

Patterns and swatches ?

  • February 27, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 1390 views

Hello! I apologize for the vague title. I have no idea how to describe this in a brief headline.

 

When I make a repeat pattern, I drag the pattern to swatches and it looks like the pattern I made. 

But when I pull it out of swatches, it changes some, all, or portions of the motifs to black or white blobs.

It has happened whether I design in Procreate, Ai for the ipad, Ai on desktop or upload an image I've designed into Ai.

It does not happen consistently, so I can't record what I do leading up to it to cause it.

I know it happens when I use the blob brush, but I can't remember if it happens with other tools.

Sometimes it will happen when I make the pattern, too, before I pull it out of swatches. 

 

I have been trying to figure this out for quite awhile now, almost a year, and I've been so far unsuccessful.

TIA,

Casey

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Ton Frederiks

Hi Casey, I had a look at your file.

Double clicking the pattern gives the clipping path warning, that happens when the old method (drag to the swatches panel with an invisible rectangle in the back) was used to create a pattern.

Double clicking the pattern in the swatches panel and clicking done seems to solve the problem.

I would recommend to use the pattern editor to edit your patterns.

4 replies

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
February 28, 2021

Hi Casey, I had a look at your file.

Double clicking the pattern gives the clipping path warning, that happens when the old method (drag to the swatches panel with an invisible rectangle in the back) was used to create a pattern.

Double clicking the pattern in the swatches panel and clicking done seems to solve the problem.

I would recommend to use the pattern editor to edit your patterns.

6
66caseysAuthor
Known Participant
March 5, 2021

Oh my gosh, Ton, that worked! Thank you so much!

You're right, I did use the drag method to make the pattern; I didn't realize it was "old." lol

I really appreciate your help with this. It has taken me so long to fix it and I couldn't find anyone who knew what I was talking about. It didn't happen consistently, so I couldn't record it, and then for instance in this ring pattern, it would look ok, and we'd think all was good, but then it would act up again after a few days! How weird is that? 

I'm so happy to know about this so I can fix any others I might still have! Hopefully by using the pattern editor it won't happen again, though. Is thte pattern editor up in Object>Pattern>Make ?

Thank you again, Ton, you've seriously made my day!

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 5, 2021

Good to hear that helped, Casey. Yes the drag method is "old" it was introduced in Illustrator 88 🙂

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 27, 2021

What happens if you double click the pattern in the Swatches panel instead of dragging it onto the artboard?

That will open the pattern maker for editing.

If you want to share a file, you can use WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google filesharing or similar services.

6
66caseysAuthor
Known Participant
February 28, 2021

Thank you for continuing this with me.

 

I'll give dropbox a try.

Here's what it looks like, though, when I double click on the pattern rather than dragging it out:

Does that mean anything to you? 🙂

 

6
66caseysAuthor
Known Participant
February 28, 2021

I hope this works, I'm sharing file access. I'm attempting it through CC.

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/077d8038-d70e-4f6d-6752-a4305c99f752

Thank you again!

6
66caseysAuthor
Known Participant
February 27, 2021

I just saw that someone else had a possibly similar issue with their pattern, and they said they needed to drag the pattern into a defined square. Then it didn't happen. 

 

Could that be the issue here? I've never heard of that before but I'm new to Ai, just started using it last year. 

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 27, 2021

Screendumps would help understand the problem (please use the insert fotos button).

6
66caseysAuthor
Known Participant
February 27, 2021

I know, it would definitely help to have a picture, but I don't think I have any. When it happens, I've remade the pattern until it doesn't happen anymore. I'm not sure I have any left. But I will check. Thank you 🙂

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