Fixing problem legacy patterns

In this movie, I'll show you how to fix problems associated with archival patterns. That is patterns created in older versions of Illustrator. So the deal is this, the current pattern generator that we've been working with throughout this chapter, was first introduced in Illustrator CS6. So anything you created in Illustrator CS6 or later is going to work just fine but anything you created in Illustrator CS5 or earlier is going to be a problem. So for example I showed how to create this elaborate pattern in my Illustrator CS5 one on one course.

From this distance it looks just fine, but there are problems. And the best way to see these problems is to press the control and space bar keys, or the command and space bar keys on the Mac, so that we get the zoom tool. And then drag around this area that includes this purple hand and then this yellow head. So right around here like so. I'm not sure if you can see my marquis. But the purple hand and the yellow head are enclosed, and then I'll go ahead and release so we're zoomed in on this area. And notice these seams. Right there's a very obvious seam, and we have another one right there on the edge of the purple hand.

Now originally I thought, what gives? I'll go ahead and zoom in a little further, so we can see just how bad it is. I thought upon looking at this that I have made some big mistake. Problem is everything look just fine in Illustrator CS5 and you can make it right in the latest version of Illustrator as well. To do so, go on to the swatches panel and notice this final swatch inside this document called Troglodytes Go ahead and double click on it to open the pattern generator and you should see this message that tells you that a clipping mask was created around the patterned tile to preserve its appearance.

Well the clipping mask is actually the problem and we need to get rid of it. So go ahead and click OK. And you can go ahead and hide the pattern options panel as well because we'll be doing all our work in the layers panel. So I'll go ahead and close that panel and then you want to twirl open this Troglodytes item. And notice this very first item at the top of the list here. In my case it starts off CL and then it's truncated. That's the clipping path. To select it, go ahead and click on its circular meatball, and you should see the words Click Group on the far left side of the control panel in the upper left corner of the screen.

Now, go up to the Object menu. Choose clipping mask, and then choose release. And that will get rid of the clipping mask. Now you're not going to see any difference on screen, because we're not looking at the right portion of the artwork. Now, notice that Illustrator reveals this series of objects here. Various path outlines that are required to create the artwork. Go ahead and scroll back up the list, and you'll see that the very first path is a rectangle. Go ahead and click on its meatball to select it independently and you should see that it's a path up here in the control panel, and that both the fill and stroke are transparent.

Now, this is a rectangle that formally served as a clipping path. We no longer need it, so go ahead and press the backspace key here on a PC, or the delete key on a Mac to get rid of it. And then you can just go ahead and press the escape key in order to exit the pattern generator. And now you can see a much better scene. And just to give you a sense for the difference, and this is a little awkward, But I do want to show you the before and after. I'll press Ctrl > z or Cmd > z on a Mac that takes me back into the Pattern Generator. I'll click Cancel this time so we can see the previous version.

It's way off. We've got bad registration problems and then if I press Ctrl > Shift > z Or Command Shift Z on the Mac in order to re-enter the pattern generator and then I press the Escape key I know it really doesn't make any sense but this is the way it works, in order to re-apply the change we see the better registration. Now you may still see a scene. That's just a function of the screen redraw. Again, if you print this image, it's going to look just fine. And that, friends, is how you fix problems associated with archieval patterns, that is, patterns created in Illustrator CS5 and earlier.

The culprit is the clipping mask.