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[Illustrator] - Turning off masks in Illustrator????
Ok...I've got a question that my Graphic Designer can't figure out and I don't have enough knowledge to even know where to begin.
So.....I figured it would be a good question to throw out to the experts if I can even describe what it is that we are having problems with.
Here it goes:
Everytime we send an Illustrator CS2 file over to our local signshop to have some thermoflex vinyl cut he "complains" (he is a friend of ours so it is really not complaining) about all the "masks" and not being able to turn them off in is program.
I'm not sure what program he was referring to but I've seen him use Flexisign if that mean anything to anybody. But, he maintains that it comes over to him from Illustrator CS2.
Does anybody have any idea what I am talking about and...even better...can tell me what we need to do to correct this problem??
Thanks for any and all input.......
__________________ Big Daddy Screenprinting -Affordable contract Heat Press Services & Low Volume Screen Printing up to 4 spot colors with no setup or screen fees
To reply to the title of this thread, select your object that has a mask applied to it and click "Object" / "Clipping Mask" / Release (from the menu bar). Or you can just use the shortcut keys by pressing "Ctrl-Alt-7" simultaneously.
To avoid using masks all together (eliminating your friends problem) take whatever objects you want to be masked and create the shape you would normally mask the object with (make sure these are on the same layer), fill it with color and send it to the back (right click over the object and select "Arrange" / "Send to Back). Once the object is in the back (still selected), select the items that you wanted to mask (shift click to make multiple selections) Once you have all of the elements selected get your path finder open (Menu - "Window / Pathfinder) and click the minus back button. It'll be the button on the bottom right of the pallet. That should actually just cut the image instead of you having to mask it.
Usually you have to set up a mask in illustrator to have them. Are you importing raster images into illustrator? Or is it all vector?
If I'm not mistaking, he is actually drawing the image in Illustrator so it should be all vector......
__________________ Big Daddy Screenprinting -Affordable contract Heat Press Services & Low Volume Screen Printing up to 4 spot colors with no setup or screen fees
To reply to the title of this thread, select your object that has a mask applied to it and click "Object" / "Clipping Mask" / Release (from the menu bar). Or you can just use the shortcut keys by pressing "Ctrl-Alt-7" simultaneously.
To avoid using masks all together (eliminating your friends problem) take whatever objects you want to be masked and create the shape you would normally mask the object with (make sure these are on the same layer), fill it with color and send it to the back (right click over the object and select "Arrange" / "Send to Back). Once the object is in the back (still selected), select the items that you wanted to mask (shift click to make multiple selections) Once you have all of the elements selected get your path finder open (Menu - "Window / Pathfinder) and click the minus back button. It'll be the button on the bottom right of the pallet. That should actually just cut the image instead of you having to mask it.
Hope that made some kind of sense.
-Tim
Thanks Tim!! I will send your response to my Graphic Designer and let you know how it turns out.
__________________ Big Daddy Screenprinting -Affordable contract Heat Press Services & Low Volume Screen Printing up to 4 spot colors with no setup or screen fees
To reply to the title of this thread, select your object that has a mask applied to it and click "Object" / "Clipping Mask" / Release (from the menu bar). Or you can just use the shortcut keys by pressing "Ctrl-Alt-7" simultaneously.
To avoid using masks all together (eliminating your friends problem) take whatever objects you want to be masked and create the shape you would normally mask the object with (make sure these are on the same layer), fill it with color and send it to the back (right click over the object and select "Arrange" / "Send to Back). Once the object is in the back (still selected), select the items that you wanted to mask (shift click to make multiple selections) Once you have all of the elements selected get your path finder open (Menu - "Window / Pathfinder) and click the minus back button. It'll be the button on the bottom right of the pallet. That should actually just cut the image instead of you having to mask it.
Hope that made some kind of sense.
-Tim
Tim....
Below is the response I got from my Graphic Designer to your suggestions. I"m wondering if there is something going on in the conversion process to EPS or Illustrator 10??
"John, thanks for looking into this issue of mine. If you could respond to them with this. The most recent work that was sent to our friend over at the sign shop was created using nothing but Illustrator CS2. The entire work was done by using circles, lines and text. All work was done in Illustrator and nothing was imported from Photoshop. Before sending him the work I created outlines around the text by right clicking on the text and selecting "create outlines" I used no mask of any kind but when our friend at the sign shop recieved the work there where mask all over the place, mask he had to remove. He asks us at times to save the files that we send him as a EPS or a Illustrator 10 files. I am not sure if saving the files as EPS or Illustrator 10 is creating mask somewhere but I just need to figure out where the mask are coming from and how to turn them off. "
Upon further questioning, he responded.....
"It would if there was something there to release. When I select my items, go to object, to realse mask there is nothing there to release. I don't know if the program that Jason is using is creating the mask. I guess it would help to find out exactly what program he is using and see if somone on the forums knows that program and see if there is some kind of conflict with that program that is creating the mask. I know the guy up in New Jersey / New York that you get to cut some of the thermoflex told me to go to the view tab and select outline. Once I did that I would be viewing the document the way his sign making program sees it. When I do select that option it shows me the cut paths but no mask are visable. I see what it should show me but Jason somehow gets mask. Thanks for checking into it for me, just let me know what you find out.
Thanks for your help.....
__________________ Big Daddy Screenprinting -Affordable contract Heat Press Services & Low Volume Screen Printing up to 4 spot colors with no setup or screen fees
This sounds like the sign shop is using something different than Illustrator, Maybe Corel? The other hunch, without seeing the file, is that there is maybe gradients or something else in the file. The other program maybe reading them differently and creating masks with the effect in them. Some programs will take a gradient and break it down into segmented bars of color. Are the colors flat (no shading, graident, etc.)? Are there any effects in it (glow, shadow, etc.)?
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So you’re using Illustrator CS2 and your printer is using Illustrator 10.
If your not using any masks, then the only possible thing that I could think of is that when your saving to an older version of illustrator (Ill 10) and/or the .eps that it must be creating the masks... just as your designer thought. If that is the case there is no way for him to "turn the masks off" because they are being created by whatever other formats they are being saved in, at least to my knowledge.
Don’t really know what else to say.
Not sure if it would be feasible to bring the design into Photoshop and rasterize at a really high resolution or not, but that may be something you could try. I don’t have any experience with vinyl so not sure how that process works.
Other than that my only suggestions would be to recreate the art in Illustrator 10, have your printer upgrade to Illustrator CS2, or possibly contact Adobe.
Turning off masks in Illustrator???? 
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