Transfer blend modes with .aix export

[wayfaringrob]

Currently, one has to manually select features and re-apply each blend mode once in Illustrator to achieve the same effects present in ArcGIS Pro on export. It would make sense if blend mode information came along with the export - at least those with an Illustrator equivalent.

[MadhuraPhaterpekar]

We are looking into supporting this. Thanks for logging this as an idea @wayfaringrob 

[NicoleSulzberger]

@MadhuraPhaterpekar  do you also plan to support exporting Masking settings to AIX? That would be really useful for our customers!

[XingdongZhang]

@wayfaringrob Blend mode is now supported in ArcGIS Maps for Adobe version 3.2. Please refer to the release note for details.  

[MadhuraPhaterpekar]

@NicoleSulzberger apologies for the delay. Could you please share some more context about the masking setting? If you are able to share a Pro map package with the masking setup that would be tremendously helpful. Since this is a separate idea please create a new community post with information about your map so our developers can look into it. Thanks again for reaching out.

[wayfaringrob]

@XingdongZhang  I am still experiencing issues with this in 3.2. Layers with blend modes applied appear to be converted to raster images when exported. It actually appears to be converting whole maps into raster. In the below example, I have two maps, one of which was entirely outputted as raster and the other as a partial vector. The vectors are the layers that do not have blend modes applied.

Map in Pro:

Map in Illustrator - removing the raster image portions, you can see that the bottom right map is entirely raster in the output, and layers with blend modes in the inset are also raster:

[XingdongZhang]

Hello @wayfaringrob 

In ArcGIS Pro blend modes, there are a few exceptions that are not available in Illustrator. Could you please check if the blend modes you applied in ArcGIS Pro fall in the highlighted list below? Unsupported blend modes could trigger rasterization and end with an image rather than vectors. If that is the case, you try a supported blend mode to avoid this issue.

* Visual effects-When you apply a blend mode in ArcGIS Pro that's also available in Illustrator, it's preserved in the exported AIX. If you apply a blend mode that doesn't have an Illustrator equivalent (such as Linear Dodge, Linear Burn, Linear Light, Pin Light, and Vivid Light), the applicable layer is rasterized (with all layers beneath it) and flattened into a single image in the .ai file.

Hope this helps,

Xingdong

[wayfaringrob]

@XingdongZhang  Thanks for the tip! I am using linear burn in one layer in both the inset and main map. I switched the layer to multiply and reduced the transparency to achieve a similar visual effect. The layers in the .aix now appear properly (though type and labels appear jumbled, shifted, stretched, or truncated).

I was having similar issues with PDF exports as well, and it appears linear burn was also the culprit there. Is that a documented limitation of PDF exports as well? If not, it seems it should be. I was having all sorts of issues with my PDF export ranging from the main map not appearing at all to rasterization of layout elements and map layers.

It would be great if, when exporting, an alert appeared notifying the user of incompatibility, similar to the warnings that occur when packaging a project or sharing to AGOL. I would have had no idea what was happening here if I had not posted. I have had a similar issue in the past with a faulty PDF export, and now I suspect it may be related to blend modes. Technical support did not suggest that that was the issue, though, and was unable to resolve the issue.