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I need to move/resize the artwork which includes an opacity masked object, in which both the mask and the object being masked are different Gradient Mesh objects.

In the Transparency panel, no matter if the mask and the object have the link icon between them turned on or off, moving them simultaneously simply does not work, it only moves one of the two, not both. Of course I make sure to Select All prior to moving.

In my Preferences I tried both checking and unchecking 'Object Selection by Path Only'. The only way to circumvent this is to turn every such opacity masked mesh object into a Symbol. Not very elegant solution though.

Edit: Confirming it is a local issue on CS6 and it occurs exclusively if the object that is being masked is a mesh object. The issue can be circumvented by simply turning the mesh object into a group prior to masking it. Edited the question title.

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In the Transparency panel... you have clicked the art thumbnail so it's active, right?

You can tell the active thumbnail by the colored border around it in the Transparency Panel.

If the mask thumbnail is the active thumbnail (meaning you are working on the mask) then ONLY the mask will move, regardless of the chain icon.

Basically, if the mask is active only the mask will be altered, and that includes moving it.

This has nothing to do with meshes specifically.

Here's a heavily dithered animation of a mesh masking a mesh using Illustrator CS6:

enter image description here

Note this is how AI has always treated Opacity masks.. but I can't test in CC2020 at this time. It could be possible there's some bug in CC2020 which is unknown to me.

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  • Yes, in Transparency panel, it is impossible to have both the thumbnail of the Mask and thumbnail of the object clicked as active (coloured border around thumbnail). So can it be confirmed that it is not possible to move both? Please see screencast for better understanding of the issue: drive.google.com/file/d/1SUYA6-npJfQTQYNscp-RZW7gsJBlCjUC/view
    – Gordan Karabogdan
    May 4, 2020 at 13:13
  • @GordanKarabogdan Correct you can not highlight both thumbnails simultaneously. That's standard. Please re-read what I've written above. In order to move the artwork and mask together, you must have the artwork thumbnail highlighted in the Transparency Panel. Your video would allude to a problem or perhaps bug. The thumbnails show things moving, but clearly on the artboard the art isn't moving.
    – Scott
    May 4, 2020 at 17:15
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    i.e. I agree.. your video shows you have some odd, non-standard, issue. Perhaps try it on a new document to see if it works correctly. What version of AI are you using?
    – Scott
    May 4, 2020 at 17:19
  • It is CS6. Thumbnails in Transparency Panel showing movement is more like actually showing zooming in/out according to the bounding box of both objects and relative to the highlighted one. With more distance between the two, the frame zooms out to show them both. It seems like it shows movement of both, but it is not. Tried in new document, same occurrence.
    – Gordan Karabogdan
    May 4, 2020 at 19:43
  • @GordanKarabogdan Okay well I can test CS6 here (I actually prefer CS6) and I don't get that behavior at all. I would start with some genreal troubleshooting.. reset prefs, relaunch app, etc. See the gif animation I've added to the answer. That's what I see in CS6. Note how your thumbnails move at all times as if the mask is always highlighted. I'm not seeing that when the art thumbnail is highlighted in CS6 here.
    – Scott
    May 4, 2020 at 20:02

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