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17. Tips for Exporting into Adobe Illustrator
Most of the time after finishing your map in GIS you will still want to do some formatting in Illustrator. However, sometimes the layers will not be imported correctly into Illustrator, they will be rasterized and grouped into a single layer. In addition, some of the characters might not be recognized. Here are some general exporting tips and some solutions to these problems.
1. Make sure that you’ve included all the necessary elements and layers in your map before exporting it. Once you have your map in Illustrator it is very difficult to bring in more layers and make them match. Also remember to include a scale bar, a north arrow and possibly a legend.
2. Make sure that you don’t have any transparencies before you export. If you want to use transparencies, you can always apply them in Illustrator. You can also change the color or the outline of any layer in Illustrator.
3. Make sure your layers are not nested in any group layers.
4. If you include any special characters such as a north arrow make sure you convert them to graphics before you export. Just right-click on the special character and click the “convert to graphics” option. You can also ungroup the scale bar or the north arrow here if that is something you want to do.
5. Make sure that the scale bar is in the right units. GIS will default to feet, which, for most maps is not adequate. You can do this by right-clicking on the scale bar and going to Properties/Units.
6. Finally, export your map in File/Export Map… Here, change the type to .ai (Adobe Illustrator). Under the Options menu adjust the DPI; 150-200 dpi should be fine if you are not planning on zooming in on your map. In the Format Option change the Picture Symbol to Vectorize Bitmap or Picture Symbol Fills. And check the Convert Marker Symbols to Polygons box.
7. If everything is alright you should be able to open up your file in Illustrator and access all of your layers. Illustrator will invariably say that some of the characters were not recognized and that you need to update them. Click yes. After this, you should be able to see your map.
8. However, if some of your layers have been converted to strips of rasters, you should go back to ArcMap and recheck all of the things mentioned above. A good strategy to find out which layers are causing problems is to only export some of them and see if they come up fine in Illustrator. This way you will be able to isolate the layers that are causing the problem.
9. Finally, if one of your layers has too many vertices, Illustrator will rasterize it no matter what. Unfortunately, there is no way around this.
10. Once in Illustrator you will notice that your layers will have been grouped and that a clipping mask will have been created for each one of them. You can always release the clipping mask, although this might cause some of the layers to go beyond the intended area of the map. In addition, you can go into the layer tree (past the clipping mask) and change the color or the transparency of the layer.
1. Make sure that you’ve included all the necessary elements and layers in your map before exporting it. Once you have your map in Illustrator it is very difficult to bring in more layers and make them match. Also remember to include a scale bar, a north arrow and possibly a legend.
2. Make sure that you don’t have any transparencies before you export. If you want to use transparencies, you can always apply them in Illustrator. You can also change the color or the outline of any layer in Illustrator.
3. Make sure your layers are not nested in any group layers.
4. If you include any special characters such as a north arrow make sure you convert them to graphics before you export. Just right-click on the special character and click the “convert to graphics” option. You can also ungroup the scale bar or the north arrow here if that is something you want to do.
5. Make sure that the scale bar is in the right units. GIS will default to feet, which, for most maps is not adequate. You can do this by right-clicking on the scale bar and going to Properties/Units.
6. Finally, export your map in File/Export Map… Here, change the type to .ai (Adobe Illustrator). Under the Options menu adjust the DPI; 150-200 dpi should be fine if you are not planning on zooming in on your map. In the Format Option change the Picture Symbol to Vectorize Bitmap or Picture Symbol Fills. And check the Convert Marker Symbols to Polygons box.
7. If everything is alright you should be able to open up your file in Illustrator and access all of your layers. Illustrator will invariably say that some of the characters were not recognized and that you need to update them. Click yes. After this, you should be able to see your map.
8. However, if some of your layers have been converted to strips of rasters, you should go back to ArcMap and recheck all of the things mentioned above. A good strategy to find out which layers are causing problems is to only export some of them and see if they come up fine in Illustrator. This way you will be able to isolate the layers that are causing the problem.
9. Finally, if one of your layers has too many vertices, Illustrator will rasterize it no matter what. Unfortunately, there is no way around this.
10. Once in Illustrator you will notice that your layers will have been grouped and that a clipping mask will have been created for each one of them. You can always release the clipping mask, although this might cause some of the layers to go beyond the intended area of the map. In addition, you can go into the layer tree (past the clipping mask) and change the color or the transparency of the layer.