Using Illustrator Transform Effect feature to Step a Label

[mschilling]

Lately I've been using the transform effect to step a label 2 up foot to foot. I have a bounding box around the die cut and transform that group 180 degrees with a copy. When I edit the single label at the top of the screen, the changes are reflected in the stepped copy below it. The problem comes with trying add artwork by copying and pasting into that group. I would like to avoid ungrouping it, and add artwork by copying and pasting in front of another element in that group. Sometimes when I paste in front though, it won't go into the group, and won't get transformed. I've tried also using "isolation mode" to edit the contents of the group, but it doesn't seem to help much. Has anybody tried this with success? Also, sometimes the preview doesn't reflect the change without some refreshing. This is on a macpro with 8GB ram using CS3/13.0.2.

 

[phantasm]

Hi,

What you describe (and is covered in a Veerle tutorial) should work. It sounds like you done this, but make sure that you are applying your live Effect transformation to a single grouped object - not a multiple selection.

By double-clicking on the single group with the live Effect applied, you should then be able to paste the object in place within the group using the CS3/CS4 isolation mode.

One suggestion is to ensure that the option "Paste Remembers Layers" is unticked. This option can be found in the Layer's panel fly-out menu.

My other suggestion is to make the "base" artwork into a symbol and then apply the live transformation to the symbol. You can then easily edit the original symbol by double-clicking on it in the Symbols panel.

I hope this is of some help,

Nick

 

[mschilling]

Yes, I have investigated the Symbol feature and it is very powerful. When comparing the two features, to do the same thing, stepping, I have found some pros and cons. The good news with Symbols is that it doesn't have a problem including drop shadow effects within the stepped art. The shadows remain integral to the art, and do not change to respect the 0 0 point of the page. So, when you rotate a transformed piece of artwork using the effect feature, the included drop shadow can rotate incorrectly, or possibly 180 degrees out. But, the Symbol feature cannot handle linked images. This is where effects is superior. Effects transform can include linked images, both vector (UPC) and raster (psd), and the link pallet only shows the one placed image, which is helpful for QC of the stepped file to ensure the correct file was placed. Once expanded, there will be a link to each placed image in the links pallet. I'm thinking that I have a bug going on, as the problem seems to go away with a relaunch of Illustrator.