Pattern File Does Not Function Properly in Adobe Illustrator CS5

Question

So I learned Adobe Illustrator CS5 (Say 10%). I have these two files which I downloaded from the net. They are patterns files for animals skins.

The first file is named "Animals_skins.ai" and is taken from Link To Page and can be downloaded from the same page Link To Download and has 10 Animal Skins patterns. When I

1. Open the file directly in Adobe Illustrator CS5, I get the contents of the file as well as they are added directly to the "Swatches Panel" on the left. When I hover over the individual boxes/Thumbnails/rectangles in the Swatches Panel with the mouse, I get the titles like "Jagur" or "Tiger" telling me the name of the patterns.

2. The same is the Case when I load the file using the "Open Swatch Libary" > "Other Libary" and browse to the file and open it. Works perfectly. I can apply the patterns to any shapes and it works like a charm.

The Second file is named "skins.ai" and is taken from Like To Page and can be dowloaded from the same page Link to Download and has 35 Skins Patterns. When I

1. Open the file directly in Adobe Illustartor CS5, I get the contents of the file showing me the patterns. However they are not added to the "Swatches Panel" directly as the first file does. Insted I get some other colors in the swacthes panel and when I hover over the individual boxes/Thumbnails/rectangles in the Swacthes Panel with the mose, I DON'T get the titles.
2. The same is the case when I load the file using the "Open Swatch Libary" > "Other Libary" and brose to the file and open it. Does not work. I CAN't apply the patterns to any sahpes. Even If I select the patterns from the main windows by clicking, selecting and draging to the swatches panle and add there. When I apply the same to any shape it applies them but it's all messed up and lines appear around the single/individual pattern if the shape to which it is being applied is big enough.

Can't figure it out that why the first file works and the second files does not. I am new to Illustartor (How many times you have heard that?) and any solution would greatly aid me in my learning process. I need the patterns for a logo design.

I have another 3rd file which has Cow Patterns and it behaves exactly the same way as the second file. Opening it shows me the pattern in the main window but it does not get added to the swatches panle either by adding it using the mose or opening it using the browse libary method.

Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

The Animal_skins.ai file was saved as patterns. The textures were manually added to the Swatch Panel, Named, and then the file was saved.

The Skins_.ai file creator did not make the effort or take the time to drag the patterns to the Swatch Panel and name them. They simply created squares and saved the file. You can manually do this if you want the same behavior. Simply select each square and drag it to the Swatch Panel and let go. Then you can double click the swatch to name it. Once you have all the squares added, save the file. It will then open as the other file does.

The primary difference between the files is the extra 10 minutes of work the author of Animal_skins.ai put into his or her file.

Basically the file from Adobe is an appropriately created file for using Patterns in Illustrator. The Vector Open Stock file is a file in which the author didn't bother to finish constructing a pattern file for Illustrator. This could also be due to the fact that "vector" doesn't always refer to Illustrator and the skins_.ai file may have been constructed in a vector app other than Illustrator and the author was unable to create appropriate swatches for use in Illustrator.