Hi, Ton! Sooner or later, one of us is bound to get around to it. ... View more

  In that case, select the object to be surrounded, go to Object menu > Text Wrap > Make. Place the object in front of the text that is to do the surrounding. You will probably need to go to Object menu > Text Wrap > Text Wrap Options to turn off the Invert Wrap function and/or adjust the Offset value.   Peter ... View more

You must select an object before selecting the Free Transform Tool, as Ton said. Then the small panel will open to give you the choice you are looking for. Your video shows no evidence that an object is selected.   Peter ... View more

Hi, Belinda,   I am not saying that you do not have actual visible differences in the colors; indeed, the background with the dark text appears to be a bit darker, but my results on my machine from the images you have provided show differences so small as to be nearly undetectable.   I made clips of the same area of both the left and right labels of both colors and added outlines and text with colors sampled from your images. I am showing here the results of the green labels. I took color readings, to the best of my ability, of the same pixel in each image. While not identical, they are so very close as to be visually indistinguishable. So I am unable to confirm a problem. Sorry.   Peter ... View more

Please explain your exact process when you've "transferred the pattern from my Swatches palette". I think what you are trying to do is to apply the pattern to the rectangle, but instead you are opening the pattern for edit in the Pattern Options panel.   If you already have the pattern in the Swatches panel, just select the rectangle and click once on the pattern swatch.   Apologies if I've misunderstood.   Peter ... View more

Hi, Carol,   Convert to Shape has nothing to do with converting type to paths. It is about generating "Live Shapes" (see Help files) from common paths and only applies to paths that were, or could have been, created with certain specific Illustrator drawing tools.   I suspect that Ton's suggestion is the direction you want to go.   Peter ... View more

There does appear to be differences in color in the mock-up on the stool, but I think that's a lighting difference from one bag to the other.   In the screenshot of the artboard, you are dealing with an optical illusion. The upper pair is slightly different from the lower pair, but each member of each pair matches its partner.   Yes, there is a change of contrast between the lettering/outline and the background color, pretty much by definition, when you change from black to white, but the background color does not change.   Peter ... View more

Are you talking about these features? Just click on them.   Peter ... View more

Go to Preferences > Performance and deselect GPU Performance.   Peter ... View more

It is precisely what I get when I hover the Pen Tool over the edge of the artboard with Smart Guides active.     Peter ... View more

Hi, Barbara,   I'm glad that you're able to move ahead. There are several ways that the panels can connect, including as tabs on a unified panel.   And we all have snafus!   Peter ... View more

@michelew83603738 Thanks for weighing in on this—I got busy.   Hi, Barbara. From your description I'm guessing that your setup looks something like this: To add to what Michele said, you can, if you wish, collapse the color and swatches panel by clicking the icons indicated by the arrows. And you should be able to pull the panels apart by clicking and dragging anywhere in the areas enclosed in the rectangles.   Michele's suggestion to reset seems like sound advice.   Peter ... View more

You should be able to click anywhere on one of the icons except the dark bar at the top, and drag them apart. You can then drag one icon onto the other to connect vertically. When you see the horizontal blue glow, release to join them.   Peter   ... View more

Go to the Object menu > Transform > Move… and, under Options, make sure that both Transform Objects and Transform Patterns are checked. That should allow the pattern to be moved along with the object.   Move Tile with Art in the Pattern Options panel only affects the behavior of the art and tile while the panel is open to create or edit a pattern, not the behavior of the pattern swatch that is created when you are done.   Peter   ... View more

To expand on Kurt's observation about "real layers," it is unfortunate that, back in the Paleozoic, the decision was made to call it the Layers panel, giving rise to the popular, but mistaken, impression that anything that appears in it is a layer. An impediment to understanding and discussion, But Hey! — with a little team effort, we can get through almost anything! And thanks, Kurt.   Peter ... View more

Yes, Opt+click on a layer's eyeball icon hides all other layers (or shows them if they are hidden). Cmd+click on the eyeball icon puts the layer into Outline mode (or Preview mode if already in Outline).   Peter ... View more

Most of the fundamental functionality of Illustrator is not about pixels at all, but paths. As Monika points out, you have "fat strokes", which are actually a 15pt round brush in conjunction with a 15pt stroke. The Eraser Tool will only affect the path itself, not the appearance (brush and stroke), so you only see a result when the eraser reaches the path in the middle of the shape. The indent you see is caused by the rounded ends of the now-two paths where the eraser crossed and severed the original path.   You can get closer to "pixel-by-pixel"-like behavior by going to Object menu > Expand Appearance or Object > Path > Outline Stroke, which will give you a path to interact with on the outside of the shape.   If this isn't clear, please feel free to ask more questions. The functioning of this tool is not complicated, but understanding it can be difficult if you are used to working in a pixel-based environment.   Peter ... View more

Are you using the Direct Selection Tool (white pointer)? Are your paths locked?   Peter ... View more

What happens if you go to View menu > View using CPU?   Peter ... View more

Edit menu > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork…?   Peter ... View more

If the PDF was created in Illustrator, the content is vector, and it was saved with Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities selected, then you probably can. Otherwise, probably not. Certainly not in a simple, straightforward manner, and more than likely not a satisfactory one. Without more detail or access to the file it's difficult to say for sure. Can you share it?   Peter ... View more

Double-clicking on the Paintbrush Tool or the Pencil Tool in the Toolbar opens a panel that, among other options, allows you to adjust the accuracy or smoothness of paths created after the adjustment of the tool.   Peter ... View more

And for my part, you're welcome, Vered.   Peter ... View more

Yes! I take great delight and appreciate the knowledge to be gained in seeing the variety of approaches to problems simple or complex. And the people aren't so bad, either!   Peter ... View more

And, just for grins, if the stroke widths permit, you can use a single path with multiple strokes and different width profiles:   Peter     ... View more

A couple of options: 1) Draw the line through the circle. 2) With the Scissors Tool cut the line where it intersects the circle 3) Select and recolor the appropriate line segments 4) If you wish, bring the circle to the front. Alternatively, if you want to maintain a single line segment you may: Draw the line and construct a two-color gradient adjusted to have the color changes match the intersections with the circle.   Peter   ... View more

If you are creating lettering using Illustrator drawing tools or Image Trace applied to a scan or photo, you cannot use Create Outlines from the Type menu because it is not type.   If it's an Image Trace, and you have expanded it, you may want to ungroup a couple of times before working on individual parts.   In any case, Create Outlines is not the appropriate feature to use unless you have used a font to create lettering in a Type object.   Peter ... View more

The item you have selected shows in your Layers panel as a linked file. The first thing to do would be to embed it: You should find an Embed button in the Control panel or the Properties panel. Once you've done that, the Layers panel should tell you whether you have editable Illustrator paths or a raster image. If the former, you should be able to edit shapes and colors as if you had created them; if the latter, you'll need to do an Image Trace or recreate the paths with Illustrator drawing tools.   Peter ... View more

Thank you, Kurt. My guess was far closer than I dared hope. ... View more