Work around for FHMX's "unexpectedly quit" problem? You decide...

[carrmichael webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Pappy, could you elaborate on the known problem? I do not frequent these forums so if there has been previous discussion, I've missed it. Presently, I am about hurl my laptop off the roof because of Freehand 10's unexpectedly quits.

My previous research found suggestions that this was related to Freehand being sensitive to font corruption which my own experience does not bear out. I'm more inclined to believe it has something to do with Paste Inside.

BTW, the Macromedia tech I spoke with acted as if he had never heard of this problem.

carrmichael

[Pappy]

Carrmichael,

Macromedia should know of this problem, I sent them a file to show them this very issue. John Nosal, please pipe up on this, since I sent you the file.

As best I can determine, it is very easy in FHMX to generate a paste inside that will partially corrupt the document. This partial corruption will cause FHMX to "unexpectedly quit" whenever you try to click on the clipping path or the clipped path or some combination thereof.

In the method I lay out, once an offending part of the illustration is made and cannot be selected, you can select it by a "back door" method. Make sure that the pointer tools are set to be contact sensitive, then drag a selection marquis across only a portion of the clipping path and it will be able to be selected without the "unexpectedly quit" business. You can then attempt repairs on the paste inside by cutting the contents or just drawing it again. (heh...yeah just draw it again...thats pleasant)

This will keep you from having to export the document as an FH10 file and reopen it in FHMX. That process will convert several types of fills into blends and other ooky business you dont want to contend with. However, doing that conversion will also eliminate any paste inside problems.

Hope that explains it a little better.

Pappy