Feather Scaling Issues

[Scott_Fahy@adobeforums.com]

A client sent me their logo, which she told me took her 150hrs to create, in Illustrator for use one a full print front table cover. I was relieved that it was in illustrator, until I tried to scale it up. She had used the feather effect on 65% of the illustration. It looks pixely at the original size she sent it to me as, but when I blow it up, not only is still pixely (I expected that much) but the effect isn't scaling as well. I've got the pref for scaling effects and strokes on, and no luck. On a whim, I deselected that preference, and the effect scaled (still pixely), but the strokes on some of her elements did not (which I also expected).

So, anyone out there got any hot ideas for me? Is the pixelation in her illustration due to some sort of rasterization setting on her end when she made the drawing? How can I scale the whole thing up in Illy and not have that pixely thing going on, or am I pretty much done for?

One additional note: I'm taking this file into a Photoshop file that I've created. I thought about using the blur tool on the affected areas, but it really didn't help much (no matter how hard I pushed down on my wacom tablet ;-) so if there's anything I might try in there, I can.

Thanks Much
Scott

Tech info: G4, 877Mhz 1GB RAM, OS 10.3, AI 10 and PS 7

[Mordy_Golding@adobeforums.com]

Hey there Scott!

Admittedly, this can get a bit confusing. First of all, the feather effect in Illustrator is a Live Effect. It's an effect that gets rasterized upon export or output and the resolution that is used is determined by the Document Raster Effects Settings in the Effect menu. So your first step will be to adjust that setting to 300 dpi for print (by default it's set to 72 for performance reasons).

Secondly, you will probably notice a slight change in appearance overall because of the increase in resolution. Not as much because you used the Feather command. Other effects however, like the Gaussian Blur effect, rely on the pixel resolution setting making a drastic change to the resolution setting (72 up to 300) will result in a huge shift in appearance.

Anyway, with regards to the scaling issue, the scale strokes and effects setting in preferences is a general application preference, but it's overridden by the setting in the scale dialog (I'm not sure how you're scaling your art -- are you using the transform palette? the free transform tool? etc...) In either case, double click on the scale tool and make sure the Scale Strokes and Effects button is checked and scale your objects that way.

Let us know if this is helpful in any way.

:) Mordy

[Dee Holmes]

Mordy, I was reading this and also wondering if grouping everything and just scaling with the bounding box (with Comand/Option/Shift) would work?

What's your thoughts?

[Mordy_Golding@adobeforums.com]

Again, it depends on whether the last time you scaled, if the scale strokes and effects setting was on or off.

:) Mordy

[Scott_Fahy@adobeforums.com]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, tried upping the resolution to 300, but the effect changed drastically. I've got some screen captures, but I can't post them anywhere, email? All my scale setting are set to scale effects. I've tried every method of scaling that I know, scale tool, menu scale, grabbing the handles and pulling, and I get the same thing each time.

I've contacted my client, and she's going to take a look for me. Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Scott

[Mordy_Golding@adobeforums.com]

If the changes are drastic, are you sure the effects are feathers and not gaussian blurs?

:) Mordy

[Scott_Fahy@adobeforums.com]

Yep, they're feathered, I've checked most of them individually. I also checked with my client, and she confirmed that she used the feather effect.

[Scott_Fahy@adobeforums.com]

Just trying to pick this thread back up. I haven't been able to scale that artwork after tryin a whole slew of different options and whatnot. Coming up on my deadline for printing, too.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott