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1. Re: remove what is behind
Scott Falkner Mar 12, 2011 5:12 PM (in response to plutonak)For Bog’s sake why? See how much space you would save with this feature; drawing those two shapes, Save, delete the hidden shape, Save As, then compare file sizes. If every byte is so precious why would you use such an inefficient format as EPS, which saves your graphic in three separate formats within the file?
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2. Re: remove what is behind
Mylenium Mar 13, 2011 8:39 AM (in response to plutonak)I agree with Scott - if file size is really such an issue, EPS is the last format you should be using. And even then, what do you hope to achieve by removing data of the size of perhaps 0.1 kBytes in your example? Makes no sense whatsoever, at least for simple vector art. Size of such a file is merely dictated by the number of paths and points in such paths and it will only grow considerably, if you use tons of paths or features like gradients, art brushes etc. that would get expanded when saving to EPS, creating another gigazillion of extra paths in the process. Other formats like PDF are self-optimizing with options set respectively, so use that, if necessary. Everything else makes absolutely no sense, much less in the day and age of 2 Terabyte harddrives and reasonably fast Internet connections...
Mylenium
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3. Re: remove what is behind
plutonak Mar 13, 2011 8:48 AM (in response to Mylenium)I understand your points but the red and blue squares configuration was just an example. I write pdf reports that I want to put online and thus I want them to be of minimal size (for download purposes). I work with meshes (used in Finite Element Analysis) and when I have to include them (in a vector format), it really makes sense to remove what is not visible as in the figure below. You can argue that this should be done by the application that exports the figure but still, such feature in Ilustrator, which is somehow similar to the "flatten transparency" feature, is relevant.
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4. Re: remove what is behind
Mylenium Mar 13, 2011 8:54 AM (in response to plutonak)I work with meshes (used in Finite Element Analysis) and when I have to include them (in a vector format), it really makes sense to remove what is not visible as in the figure below.
Then don't! Again, this makes no sense. Rendering those elements could consume considerable performance on the clients viewing the data and cause delays every time they scroll or zoom. Aside from that, you don't give your CAD data to people in your shopping mall, do you? So why should you make it easy for anyone to reverse-engineer your information from native vector data? If it's just for download, converting all this stuff to pixel information is just okay and if there will ever be a requirement for printing this natively from vectors, I'm sure you can establish a circle of trust with your cooperation partners by signing NDAs and transferring your data using otehr ways than a public web site.
Mylenium
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5. Re: remove what is behind
plutonak Mar 13, 2011 9:30 AM (in response to Mylenium)I'm not talking about private reports to be read by a few colleagues, I'm talking about phd dissertations in the public domain accessible to anyone online. This kind of documents should be thought to minimal in size and I just want to be able to provide the lightest full vector images by removing what's not visible. I dislike raster images other than photographic pictures. As you say :
Rendering those elements could consume considerable performance on the clients viewing the data and cause delays every time they scroll or zoom.
this is true when the not visible object are embedded, but not true otherwise. The reverse engineering and shopping mall things are not relevant here.
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6. Re: remove what is behind
Jacob Bugge Mar 13, 2011 9:33 AM (in response to plutonak)plutonak,
In connexion with partially shown objects, it may be (far) more complicated if at all possible, and therefore require (far) more code/space for saving, to delete the hidden parts and keep the visible parts with unchanged appearance.
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7. Re: remove what is behind
Mylenium Mar 13, 2011 11:35 AM (in response to plutonak)I dislike raster images other than photographic pictures.
You may, but they are the solution here. As Jacob already pointed out (and as I was trying to explain with regards to performance issues), a native vector file could be much heavier than the JPEG data in a PDF. There is no rational reason here to insist on using it other than your own preference and distaste for pixel data. That would be even more true, if you attempted to embed the color info for the surface curvature and stress zones - they would make an insane amount of extra paths and points, wheres it has only minor influence on JPEG size. And Jacob is also right about the work you would have to invest to clean it up - unless your PDF printer/ export in your analysis tool/ CAD program has no culling of obscured items built-in based on the software's view engine, you are facing many extra hours. I really don't follow you here - I'm regularly downloading scientific publications for my own geek pleasure or technical documentation from our clients (machine manuals mostly) and the larger part of their illustrations are pixel data without anyone ever complaining...
Mylenium
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8. Re: remove what is behind
Wade_Zimmerman Mar 13, 2011 1:49 PM (in response to plutonak)Layers panel select one or all of the blue paths
and hit the trash can at the bottom of the panel.
That way you only hve to see them in the layers panel.
If they ae the only objects that are blue then select on in the pAnel go to Select>Same>Same Fill and the hit delete
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9. Re: remove what is behind
JETalmage Mar 13, 2011 2:50 PM (in response to plutonak)The Merge command in the Pathfinder palette auto-unions contiguous regions of same color, auto-punches overlaps, and removes completely hidden areas.
Like most of Illustrator's half-baked path combination routines, it is fill-oriented and handles strokes poorly (in this case, removing them). So if you can tolerate strokes being converted to fills in the sample you've shown, apply Object>Path>Outline Strokes before applying the Merge Pathfinder.
JET
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10. Re: remove what is behind
Larry G. Schneider Mar 14, 2011 9:56 AM (in response to plutonak)How are the non-visible paths rendered? If you select one, are they given no fill/no stroke designation? If so, it would be possible just to select all objects with that appearance and delete them.
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11. Re: remove what is behind
[scott] Mar 14, 2011 5:28 PM (in response to plutonak)plutonak wrote:
In this example image, assuming the underlying objects are gradient meshes, there is no way to remove what's hidden by the top object without receating the meshes to align with the top object edges. Essentially, with meshes, you can't subtract portions. The best you can do is hide them via clipping masks or beneath other objects. So, if you do not want overlapping objects, you need to construct your artwork so it does not overlap.






