Problem using Graphic Styles

[auguste_raffael@adobeforums.com]

I am having a problem using Graphic Styles. this problem was first discussed last week in a thread titled "Are graphic styles buggy?" i am still having problems reapplying the style to new objects. perhaps pictures will help clarify:



each of the countries in this picture use the graphic style on the right.



all the layers are now turned off except for Germany (It still has the graphic
style applied). The object on the left is pasted into it’s own layer. It is similar in size and complexity.



The new object with the saved style applied.



now, I hand draw a similar shape and then apply the graphic style to it



now the style seems to behave as expected.

[auguste_raffael@adobeforums.com]

this is true for all pasted objects regardless of the scale or the number of points

[Teri Pettit]

Auguste,

Where are these contours getting copied and pasted from? Does this happen even if you draw a circle, then cut and paste the circle, and assign your style to it?

The reason I ask is that it very much looks to me like in the "broken" case, the style is being applied to an open path.

Offset Path on open paths happens to be defined in a way that isn't very useful, probably because it isn't always clear what the inside or outside of an open path is, or which direction should be negative and which positive. Basically it traces around both sides of the stroke, regardless of whether the offset is negative or positive. So open paths can grow when you expected them to shrink.

[In my opinion even though inside/outside or plus/minus isn't always clear, it should still be able to come up with some interpretation that would be useful much more often than what it does now. But I didn't work on Offset Path, and it does what it does.]

Try an experiment, and draw a rectangle and apply your style to it, and then use the scissor tool to cut it somewhere. Does it suddenly look more like your bad case?

Try another experiment, and select one of your pasted paths, and try using the Join command. Does it bring up the Corner/Smooth dialog, or does it bring up the error dialog saying you must select two endpoints of an open path?

As for why your pasted paths might be coming out open, if they are originating from some other application or third-party plug-in, some applications assume that as long as the starting point is the same as the ending point, there is no difference between an open and closed path, so they don't bother setting the "Closed" attribute on the path.

By the way, very nice map!

[auguste_raffael@adobeforums.com]

BINGO!

Bless you Terri. The contours are coming from various map collections and none of the paths are closed. command J does the job.

thanks a million.

a