Pattern swatch updating

I am just learning illustrator CS6 at the moment!
If I decide to make changes to a pattern I made, how do I make sure that it updates so when I use the pattern swatch in another file its the updated version?
Also is there a way to select a single pattern swatch and save as an .ase rather than saving the whole swatch library?

Updates to patterns will always only affect the file in which the update takes place.
You can only save the contents of the panel. If you want to save only one, you have to delete all the others.

Similar Messages

Updating pattern swatch just got harder compared to CS5

In CC (17.1) I find when I Option-drag artwork over an existing pattern swatch, the "hotspot" of the cursor has changed. Why? Instead of the hand being the hotspot, it's a little "+" sign to the right. It feels awkward and makes the update process less intuitive. Does anyone else experience this difference?

Updates to patterns will always only affect the file in which the update takes place.
You can only save the contents of the panel. If you want to save only one, you have to delete all the others.

Color swatch vs. pattern swatch

Whenever I try to create a new CMYK color swatch it automatically opens pattern swatch name panel. Why won't it let me create a color swatch?
WZ

Hi Larry,
Thanks for responding. I just started using Illustrator CC and I couldn't make a new swatch. When I dragged color blocks from the paste board to the color panel it would show up in the patterned swatches. I was trying to update some old files so instead I just opened new files and started over. It's working now but it would be easier to use the already formatted CS6 files. Hmmmmm
WZ
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Adjusting a created pattern swatch

Hello all,
I've been searching around for a solution to my problem, it seems so basic that i'm suprised i can't find anything on the subject (maybe i use the wrong therm's).
I have the following question, is it possible to adjust a pattern after it has been created ? So what i have done is made some artwork with vector graphics in a document, dragged it into the swatches pannel to create a pattern swatch of it. So far so good, i can apply the swatch to a rectangle f.e. and it will get filled with my artwork. But now i want to be able to adjust the fill color of my pattern, i haven't been able to adjust the pattern swatch itself, the only thing i can do now is adjust the original artwork, create another swatch and apply it again to my rectangle.
Is there a way that i can adjust the pattern instead of having to adjust my original artwork, and create another swatch of it ?
Any help would be very cool
Grts!, Samuel

Samuel,
You should be able to drag the pattern swatch into the Artboard, when nothing is selected ther, and modify (you may use the Direct Selection Tool to pick spefific parts), and drag it back to form a new pattern swatch or Alt/OptionDrag it back upon the original swatch to replace it.
You may search for Modifying patterns in the Help file to see updates to the way described.

Rotating a single pattern swatch

I am trying to work out how to rotate a pattern swatch without that rotation affecting all the other pattern swatches on my palette. I don't want the rotation to apply to just one instance of fill, I want to edit the actual swatch so that whenever it is used in the future, that rotation is applied.
I have tried the obvious - eg going to object, transform, pattern only... and it works, but it also rotates all my other swatches; and I can't work out if it's rotating it for just that object or if it's actually updating the pattern swatch orientation.
Additionally it would really help to be directed to some comprehensive and helpful tutorials on making patterns using the updated CS6 software - everything I've found so far just raises further questions for me. I'm talking about, for example, being able to change the width or rotation of a stripe within a pattern and have it still tile seamlessly.
I'm using CS6 on a PC. Thanks....

alas, this didn't work. here's what happened.

Pattern swatches are shifting when exported to PDF and viewed in Preview/GoodReader

I've tried for days to find an answer to this question, but haven't succeeded. Please also be aware that I'm a self-taught Adobe Creative Suite user. I'm working on a Mac with CS6.
I work for a small publisher that produces knitting books. The problem is this: our tech editor has created charts in Illustrator using the pattern swatches feature. (These are knitting charts. Each square contains a pattern swatch representing the knitted stitch.)
I am then placing these charts in their native .ai format into an Indesign file and exporting them to PDF. In Acrobat, the charts look fabulous. In the Mac Preview reader and in GoodReader, the charts do this...
... the pattern swatches shift around inside their squares. Each of those dots should be centered inside their squares. In Preview, when I resize the application frame, the pattern swatches move as I re-size the frame. Any ideas about what might be happening here?
I've tried saving the charts as PDFs and placing those into the InDesign file. Doesn't help. Exporting the charts as images (jpg or tif) works, but I have to make the resolution/file size ridiculously large to get the quality of the vector image. I'd rather place the .ai files into the .indd file if possible.

Try using File>Object>Expand on a copy of the original before making the PDF for placing.

Can InDesign CS6 handle pattern swatches?

I layout catalogs and production materials for a pajama company, and I use pattern swatches extensively to depict our pajama prints on illustrated garment blanks. I'm currently using CS3 (and trying to convince my boss to upgrade), and I have to do all my layout in Illlustrator because InDesign can't do anything with the pattern swatches. I know I can import objects that have a pattern swatch applied, and, while it looks pixellated, prints correctly. But where I can't alter them or re-apply the swatch or anything, it's too much of a hassle in going back and forth between the programs. So much so, that I haven't been using InDesign at all.
I'm fine with creating the swatches in Illustrator, but I need to be able to create a pattern swatch pallette for InDesign or something. Anything.

There are definitely some things which Illustrator is better at doing. Pattern swatches is one of them. In fact, Illustrator CS6 has a much improved method for creating pattern swatches.
See this Adobe TV video:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-design-center/adobe-illustrator-cs6-sneak-peek-pattern-cre ation/

Pattern Swatch From Pattern Maker Filter

Is there a way to copy a new custom Pattern Swatch that you create using the Pattern Maker filter? I have often created a pattern that worked perfect but could only apply it to a layer. I want to be able to save just the custom swatch that patterns correctly so that I can use it as a repeating background image on a website.
I know I should know this, but it's something that I've never been able to figure out, or find in the Help Menu.
Linda

> Well, you could always open a new file the same size as the pattern you created originally and load it from the Layer Styles > Pattern dialog.
For some reason it tiles right when I apply the pattern to a large background. But when I attempt to create a simple square tile, even the same size as I started with, and attempt to use it as a repeating background on a web page, you can see the tiling.
> Or how about after you make a new pattern in Pattern Maker and OK it, you have it load into an open Photoshop window, yes? You know the size of the tile the pattern maker made. How about making a selection the same size and use the arrow keys to move it into place and then copy/paste a new doc.
Sounds good on paper Welles. But I can't get it to work right. I still see the tiling when I save the file out this way and use it as a background.
I don't need this for anything urgent. And I know I can make something work for when I need it. The pattern I'm working with has a lot of texture so when it repeats outside of applying it in Photoshop, it just doesn't match up right. I had hoped there would be an easy way to capture the custom Pattern Maker Tile as a single image that could be used to repeat itself without seeing the tiling.
Maybe this would be a good feature request. Thanks for both of your input.

Pattern Swatch Colours

Hello
Has anyone experienced the problem where the colour of an object created from a pattern swatch is different from the colours that were used to create the pattern swatch in the first place.
This happens in CMYK and RGB documents, happens on several different computers (haven't had the chance to try a different printer) and happens no matter what colour management is used. We have tried all sorts of things to solve this, but each time the colour of anything using the pattern swatch is distincly different to the original colour used to make the pattern swatch.
It says the colour has the same values and on the screen it looks the same, but when it is printed out the original and the pattern are definitely different.
Any help and advice would be useful.
Thanks

I am having exactly the same problem.
The colours of a pattern fill print very differently when it is expanded.
All the colours in the pattern swatch are CMYK. They look identical on screen when the pattern fill is expanded.
When printed, the mustard yellow, the appley-lime green, and the purpley-grey look completely different.
I'm using CS6 Illustrator, FOGRA39. I'm wondering if this is a printer issue maybe?
This is really frustrating and very worrying as I use pattern swatches a lot, and colours need to stay the same as they are approved.
I've found this thread and another one from 2010 with what sounds like the same issue (Pattern Swatch Colours) but neither have been resolved.
Please help if you have any ideas!

Create Pattern Swatch from Placed Image in Javascript

I need to create a large number of pattern swatches from some .jpg file on disk. I've figured out how to script the insertion of the .jpgs into my AI document as placed images:
     // Embed the image into the document.
     file = new File("MyImage.jpg");
     var document = app.activeDocument;
     var newPlaced = document.layers["swatches"].groupItems.createFromFile(file);
     newPlaced.name = "MyImage_Placed";
This works fine and the item shows up in the correct layer as an embedded image.
Now I want to create a PatternSwatch (I think) from that Image.
To create a new swatch the code starts out as:
     newSwatch = document.swatches.add();
     newSwatch.name = "MyImage_Swatch";
but now I'm stuck! How do I associate the new PlacedItem with the swatch I just created? I can see the swatch in the palette so I'm partway there.

When you say you would drag the image itself into the Swatch Palette and it would show the image itself? How would then use this swatch? Can you give an example of what you would apply a jpeg to as a swatch? The only palette that I can think of off the top of my head that you can drag a jpeg into and have the icon appear as the jpeg is the Symbols Palette. Is is possible that you were using the Symbols Palette in the past and not the Swatch Palette?

Can gradient start color be pattern swatch?

using CS3 on XP; Help indicates it's possible to begin a gradient via a pattern swatch (self-created) but I get the "not writable" icon. thanks for any suggestions

Jane:
Read up on Opacity Masks. Draw an area filled with your pattern swatch, then put an opacity mask over the top of it...
Bert

When I make a pattern swatch, it moves. How can I stop this?

I understand that pattern swatches sit relevant to where they are made on the artboard. So I thought I could create one over the spot I want to fill with it (and avoid making lots of clipping masks). However, when I create the swatch, the pattern moves, and I can't seem to get it to align.
Have tried using the ~ key as suggested elsewhere (although on my PC this is on the # key so probably doesn't have the same effect?).
So the pattern goes from this:
To this:
Each time I do it, it moves to another location. Doesn't seem to be any logic to it.
Would appreciate anyones wise input!

Whenever I apply the clipping mask, the shape contains no fill. Perhaps that is because it is a set of copy and a logo repeated in a line (this is a design for a lanyard). It's not that I am afraid to use it, I have tried and it doesn't work.
So if the pattern is relevant to the 0,0 position on the co-ordinate grid, how do you work that out? When you make it, the co-ordinates are relevant to the artboard, not the grid. Maybe I'm just missing something obvious.
Sorry if I seem stupid. Self taught etc.

CS6+ executeMenuCommand, pattern swatch

Hi all, I'm trying to create a Pattern Swatch out of the Selected Object, so I'm using
app.executeMenuCommand ('Define Pattern Menu Item');
this successfully adds the swatch to the swatches panel, but it also brings up the Pattern Options Panel and goes into "Pattern Editing Mode" where in the UI one could either click on "Cancel", "Done" or "Exit Editing Mode" buttons...
the problem is I can't exit out of the Pattern Editing Mode, has anyone discovered if there is a MenuCommand for it?
thanks

And prob not reliable enough in that case as you have no control over a clients computer.
would need many safe guards to make sure the ESC was only pushed if illustrator window active. in case another program takes focus in that split second... etc.
as far as I know AHK is PC only, there are other alternatives but would be different scripting language.
1 of the best scripts I have written with AHK changes the default program for pdfs from illustrator to acrobat and back. modifying the registry directly.
this allows me to open pdfs straight from outlook into ether program without saving file first. as outlook has no open with dialogue.
I also have another one ( not written by me ) called FixZoomBug. this allows the ALT+mouseWheel to zoom in illustrator without the file menus activating. I could not do without this...

Illustrator - Pattern Swatch / Clipping mask issue

I'm currently working in Illustrator CS6. I'm creating pattern swatches and have successfully created 20 - but 4 are giving me the following issue.
When I drag the perfect swatch tile into swatches it appears as so instead of the perfect tile:
"New pattern swatch 3" has a white space on the right. Which sometimes when I create the swatch takes up half of the 'swatch.'
When I go to create a shape and apply the pattern, I am left with an empty box.
When I double click to adjust the pattern I get this dialog box:
When I go to adjust the bounding box, to see where my pattern is - this crazy mess happens:
Further investigation and deleting items to see whats happening:
Bits of my pattern appear, but not sure why the other bars are there.
I'm having this issue with four very different patterns. But I have also succesfully created more complicated ones. Not sure why this is happening.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hey everyone,
I am in the same version, same file. I have also tried starting from scratch in another file just to make sure. Same issue.
I have templates of what i want my patterns to be, so I have tried to make the patterns both ways. Starting from my original art - expanding all shapes and making them so they will tile perfectly.
1. with clipping mask. 2. released mask, and expanded shape. 3. perfect tile.
from scratch, made to tile perfectly.
Same issue for both:
To make sure it wasn't only this one I tried a different pattern that was giving me the same error before hand.
I tried with original art which didn't work, so I quickly recreated with squares. Same tile, one time it was empty producing same issue as above. And second time it did this:
1. What tile is supposed to look like 2. Tile applied to shape - but the pattern swatch icon is empty?
Maybe this is a program bug?

Creating a new pattern swatch

I'm working on a script that should, among other things, create a new pattern swatch from a groupItem in the document.
I managed to create the new pattern swatch and name it using:
myNewPatternSwatch = app.activeDocument.patterns.add();
myNewPatternSwatch.name = <the_swatch_name>;
The only thing I can't figure out is how to get my groupItem into the new pattern swatch.
Any idea?
Your help will be appreciated.

I don't think you can… Sorry it's not very helpful… Patterns were the sure way to crash a script too although I have not tried in CS5…

Pattern swatch updating

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