Drop shadow trouble-blur feature is gray and not selectable 1

[alliemeister]

I am trying to apply a drop shadow to an object from the Effects menu in Illustrator 10. I can't adjust the blur because the option not available (grayed-out). This is a new problem because I have been able to do it in the past... I have other objects with the shadow so I tried to use my eyedropper tool to get around the problem but the shadow is not visable on the new object but does show up in the Appearance Window. When I try to make a new Style from an object with a shadow, the object loses its shadow...Is this making any sense? Can anyone help me?

 

[MarcusStringer]

Can you make the drop shadow from the Filter menu instead??

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[alliemeister]

Alas, I have tried using the Filter menu instead and the blur feature is still grayed-out. Any other ideas?

Alliemeister

 

[signal49]

In PS some filters only work in RGB, not CMYK. Not sure if this applies in Illustrator...

 

[MarcusStringer]

This is odd, because the Blur feature works in both RGB and CMYK for me.

Umm, have you deselected whatever it is you're tring to dropshadow, then with the white arrow select the object, and try again.

Other then that, maybe someone else has an idea??

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[alliemeister]

I have deselected and the selected with the white arrow - nada. Hmmm, is it possible that Illustrator has become corrupted and a re-install is in order? A drop shadow has always been such an easy task untill now . . .

 

[MarcusStringer]

Yeap, try reinstalling

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[alliemeister]

Thanks Marcus. I've got my fingers crossed on this one . . .

 

[fixumdude]

I'm having the exact same problem, did reinstalling do the trick?

 

[jmgalvin]

By any chance did you add any layers - and maybe the correct layer isn't selected?

 

[JohnKgreek]

This is a known issue with Illustrator CS and the cause is corrupted preferences.

Delete your preferences.

Shortcut to deleting preferences in CS.

Command+Option+Shift (Control+Alt+Shift for Windows) when the application is started. (must be done before the splash screen and answer yes)

 

[TXAviator]

JohnKGreek: Thanks! Your advice above was dead on. I repaired my AI 10 installation and lo and behold, the blur feature is back and available in the drop shadow.

By the way, when I blew away my preferences, I got a message stating that both the RGB and CMYK drop shadow aip files were missing.

'Splains it.