Create a line not a filled shape with Adobe Draw

[paulgirolamo]

Is it possible to create vector lines not filled shapes in  Adobe Draw and then export the drawing as lines to Illustrator?

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Paul,

Are you asking whether it can be done (by hand)? Or whether it's a feature of the app?

It's not a feature. But if you fill with lines and not the fill tool, when you send to Illustrator CC, each line (that's part of the fill) is a separate path. Although... it would be a pretty painstaking process to do it by hand.

Did I answer your question? Let me know if I didn't.

Sue.

[paulgirolamo]

Thanks for the response.

When I create a simple line drawing in Adobe draw on the iPad and send it to Illustrator on a computer the lines are thin shapes filled with color.

I want strokes that I can animate in after effects. When I animate the filled shapes the line goes up one side and down the other.

Is there a way to make the lines a single stroke?

Paul Girolamo

Paul Girolamo Associates Inc.

303 Saint Marks Avenue

Brooklyn NY 11238

212 267 3393 x 202

917 325 5813 m

This iphone message has been vetted by the NSA.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Paul.

Thanks for clarifying. Have you tried asking this question in the Illustrator forum? (It's tricky because you need someone who understands all three apps.) Give me a day; I'll ask around a bit internally. Maybe in the meantime someone who uses all three apps will respond.

Sue.

[Sue Garibaldi · Accepted solution]

Hi Paul.

I got an answer for you. Pasting it here word-for-word so nothing gets lost. Hope it helps.

Sue.

"Draw doesn’t create strokes, or single paths, but filled objects. Its drawing model is based on the Blob Brush in AI, which let’s you “paint” shapes. Not like using the Pen or Pencil tool in Ai, which creates a single path that you can then apply a stroke width or brush.

However, he COULD use Photoshop Sketch, which got the pen and pencil tools from Adobe Line. He can send the Sketch file to AI, select the drawing in AI, and from the main menu:  Object > Line and Sketch Art > Expand to Paths.

The Sketch drawing—if he sticks to the Pen and Pencil tools in Sketch—will convert to a single path with a stroke much like art created with the same tools in AI, and can be easily edited just like normal paths in AI."

[paulgirolamo]

Perfect, thank you. that solved my problem.

Paul Girolamo

Paul Girolamo Associates Inc.

303 Saint Marks Avenue

Brooklyn, New York 11238

212.267.3393 o

917.325.5813 c

paulg2@pgacreative.com

http://www.pgacreative <http://www.pgacreative/>.com

[Sue Garibaldi]

Great. Thanks for letting me know Paul.

Sue.

[Marjo Roos]

Thanks for sharing! It will make creating VideoScribe drawings so much easier!

[heatherlmartin]

This did not work for me. Followed it to a T but Expand to paths is greyed out/not an option. Please advise.

Thank you!

H

[Ko.Maruyama]

Heather,

Are you Sending it from your mobile device to your CreativeCloud application using the same account?

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Heather.

I just want to make sure I'm understanding... Are you referring to sending Draw work to Illustrator CC or are you referring to sending Sketch art to Illustrator CC (which is in the instructions I posted last year that no longer work since we added layers to Sketch in v3.4).

Let us know.

Sue.

[heatherlmartin]

Not sure what you mean by Sketch art. I am using iDraw in my iPad Pro.

Thanks!

H

Sent from my iPhone

Please excuse typos and brevity.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Heather.

I was just asking because my response to the original poster, suggested he might have a better chance of getting what he needed by using Photoshop Sketch. And it worked for him at the time.

About Draw and a single-stroke path when sending to Illustrator CC: The brush strokes in Draw are like an Illustrator blob brush and it's currently not possible to get a simple/single path down the middle of the stroke.

I still don't know whether I'm addressing the problem you're having... Let me know.

Sue.

[heatherlmartin]

When I draw a line, it becomes a filled shape. Which tool do you recommend to draw a line that will convert to a vector line and do you have an export recommendation?

If possible, can we discuss this over the phone? We aren't getting anywhere through email.

Thank you!

H

Sent from my iPhone

Please excuse typos and brevity.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Heather.

I'm sorry; I don't have a means to do phone support.

But, yes, that's exactly right. That is currently how Draw handles all strokes (it is the same algorithm that was used in Adobe Ideas); they become filled shapes, regardless of the drawing tool chosen.

Most people do the redrawing/clean-up by hand in Illustrator. I have, however, heard people recommend trying Object > Path > Simplify (How to edit and reshape paths in Illustrator) but I don't use Illustrator enough to know how much work it is to do.

I hope that helps a bit.

Sue.

[heatherlmartin]

Thanks, that doesn't help at all. DoesnAdobe have any other apps that can draw vector lines?

I'm currently creating drawing on the iPad (easy to do with the pencil) then bringing into Illustrator to set type and give to clients. I produce several of these a week and not only have a team of people who do this, but an entire industry of visual practitioners.

I'm curious if you ever do user surveys for market segments. Graphic recording & sketchnoting is a fast-growing field. I started 5 years ago and there were a few hundred of us working professionally. Now there are hundred joining the field every week!

There are a few makers of apps that partially meet our live recording needs: work visual, sketchbook pro, Procreate --none of which fully satisfy the conversation map deliverable need.

I also have a software idea to solve graphic facilitators needs that could easily be scaled for education.

Is there someone at Adobe that I can talk to about these requests?

Thank you,

H

Sent from my iPhone

Please excuse typos and brevity.

[heatherlmartin]

Meanwhile, is there a way to save a brush settings in iDraw so I don't lose them?

Thanks,

H

Sent from my iPhone

Please excuse typos and brevity.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Heather.

Draw is Adobe's only vector drawing app. Sorry, I know the way Draw handles strokes is not ideal for some people. I do share this feedback with the product teams, so the Draw team is aware that people are looking for Draw to be able to export single stroke paths to Illustrator CC.

About saving brush settings: It's not currently possible but it is something the team is working on incorporating into Draw (and Sketch).

We don't, as far as I know, do "market surveys" but we do have a prerelease program for our mobile apps and it's where we get a lot of input from people who use our apps for specific functions in specific segments of the industry.  If you're interested, drop me a note either through Draw's in-app feedback  or direct message me on the forums so I can get your email address and also give you a bit more information. Adobe is shut down for the holidays until January 3 so I'm a little slower to respond than usual but I am checking in once or twice a day.

Have you seen Photoshop Sketch? It's our bitmap drawing app but I know a lot of people who do sketch notes use it. Here's a link: Adobe Photoshop Sketch on the App Store

Sue.

[thetopazkid]

I'm having some similar issues to everyone on this thread.  "Expand to Paths" is greyed out within Illustrator after importing the arwork.

Also I noticed, everyone says to use the Pen Tool in Adobe Photoshop Sketch.  I don't see anything explicitly labeled "Pen Tool".  There is Ink Pen, Marker Brush (Adobe Line), Graphite Pencil (Adobe Line), etc.  Do these qualify as the "Pen Tool" or am I confusing tools and brushes?

Either no method of importing the sketch file to Illustrator has resulted in converting anything to a single stroke.  I can create fills by going the image trace route but the Photshop Sketch>Illustrator>Object>Line and Sketch Art>Expand to Paths method remains to be greyed out.

Screen Capture Example

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Trev.

I've thought about pulling this post because the information in it is two-and-a-half years old, and quite outdated. Although this process used to be possible in previous versions of Illustrator, it's not possible to expand paths anymore. So there isn't a way to get a single path down the center of the stroke.

Regarding the "Pen tool" in Sketch, people are referring to the drawing tool, not the vector tool. It's one of the tools that used to work for expanding paths.

I hope that clears up the confusion.

Sue.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi All.

I'm locking this post because the information on it is outdated and no longer useful.

Sue.

[kdoersch]

Hi all,

I would also like to sketch on the iPad and edit paths on the computer later. Is there an updated answer of how to accomplish this? Going from adobe sketch on the iPad currently sends an image to Illustrator rather than paths. I was looking forward to using the iPad for better freehand sketching that can be incorporated into existing designs on the computer. The blob brush vectors just aren't that helpful. Does anyone have any current recommendations for apps to help this sort of workflow?

thanks! kd

[mollyc49593789]

I would also like an update.  I want to be able to draw freehand and bring the lines into Illustrator CC as vector lines not shapes. 

Or does anyone have an updated workflow for converting the shapes to lines?

[heatherl49856836]

I'd like an update also. I work primarily in Illustrator and just bought an iPad to work faster, but if I can't easily edit my work in illustrator it isn't going to help much. I tried using the pencil tool in Adobe sketch, opening it in Illustrator, but "expand to paths" is grayed out

[heatherl49856836]

I found this solution in a different thread ;

in Adobe Sketch, use the pen tool, open in Illustrator, select, image trace- line art, expand

but this was from sketch not Draw, the vector based program, so I can't combine it with filled shapes all in the same app like I'd hoped