4
You could drop some guides, and using the Add Anchor Point tool (+), add two anchor points to the circle to intersect with the guides.
Select and delete the two segments using the Direct Selection tool (A)
Set Round Caps in the Stroke panel
Another possibility is to draw a shape on top, then use the Shape Builder tool while holding down Alt to delete a ...
4
Double-click the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel to bring up the Layer Options. You can change the highlight color there.
3
I can't comment on the overall workflow without a full understanding of it... which I'm not going to get via small comments here.
My point in my comment was... I, myself, tend to hesitate to mix applications merely because one aspect of one design is taking time to render. It seems to me that you are creating more work merely because AI can be slow to render....
3
I would do like this:
image30% + image100% on top of each other. text on top of images. select text and image100% and ctrl/cmd+7 ("Object>Clipping Mask>Make" or "right_click > make clipping mask").
If you need to have text outlined or so I suggest duplicate the text layer before clipping.
3
Create your pattern inside the pattern workspace instead, then you can see it tile as you work. Start with a square or rectangle, create the pattern from that shape, delete the shape, then draw your organic shapes.
Example
3
Another option is to use the Knife Tool to cut the circle. Then use the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) to select and delete the extra anchor it creates. (this breaks the circle).
Then use the Eraser Tool to just remove pieces by brushing over them. The bracket keys ( [ and ] ) will change the size of the eraser.
(Thick stroke with rounded end caps.)
A ...
3
An easy method....
Draw your circles...
Select all the circles ...
Run the MetaBall Script... (which is a simple javascript file, not a plugin. And it's free)
Then simply delete what you don't want and alter any coloring and stacking order as necessary.
Took me maybe 30 seconds.. drawing the circles took longer than creating the connectors.
The script ...
2
The selection indicator color of an object depends on the layer where the object is. The color can be changed in Layer options. You find it for ex. in the panel menu of the Layer's panel. Create a new layer there and you can input directly the wanted selection color. An example:
Layer 1 has the default color (=blue). I created Layer 2 and set its color to ...
2
I will separate my answer into several parts.
You are asking about the quality of the glow. But in the workflow you describe, it seems that you are rasterizing not only the glow but also the shapes that are generating it.
Depending on the process, the colors, the intended output, etc, you can, not only lose the ability to edit your main shape, but also have ...
1
This may be somewhat of an X/Y problem. I think there may be something, which you are unaware of, that is causing your issues or there is an unfamiliarity with how pattern tiling works.
Note I'm not using the "bleeding edge" version of AI here, so it is feasible that there may be issues with that version. I wouldn't know. If any of the below fails ...
1
If you aren't concerned about the stroke remaining a "stroke"...
Expand the stroke, via Object > Expand so it's a shape. Then Pathfinder operations will function as expected.
Pathfinder doesn't really do much with strokes - Pathfinder needs shapes not stroked paths. In fact, I think divide is really the only Pathfinder operation which will use ...
1
To further explain previous answers-
The Knockout Group is great for this if you want to keep your objects separate. You can move them or reshape them as separate objects and maintain the tranparency.
In your case I think that simply expanding the white stroke shape and using Pathfinder Minus Front will get the results you want.
Pathfinder does not do well ...
1
Group the items
Mark the group as a knockout group in the extended options of transparency panel.
Make the stroke transparent in the appearance panel, but not the fill.
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