Exporting many assets at once with Asset export
The Asset export panel in Vectornation by Zaweba collects objects from a drawing and exports each one in several formats in a single step.
Icon sets, sticker sheets, interface graphics and logo variations all share a problem. They are drawn together, side by side, but they have to leave as separate files. Exporting them one at a time is slow, and it is easy to miss one or export another at the wrong size. The Asset export panel in Vectornation by Zaweba, at Window > Document > Asset export, is built for exactly this.
You collect the objects you want into the panel, and each one is exported in several formats in a single step.
Why draw everything in one file
Designing related graphics side by side keeps them consistent. Line weights match, corner radii match, colours match, and you can see at a glance when one icon is heavier than the rest. Splitting them into separate drawings throws that away.
Asset export lets you keep the shared drawing and still deliver separate files.
Collecting assets
Add the objects you want to export into the panel, and they are collected there as a list of assets. If an icon is made of several parts, group them first so the icon behaves as one object. Name things clearly in the drawing as you go, because a developer or colleague receiving the files will be looking for the search icon, not for Group 47.
Several formats at once
The same graphic is often needed in more than one form. A web team may want SVG for crisp icons and PNG as a fallback. A print colleague may want PDF. Choosing several formats in the panel produces all of them for each asset at once, so nothing has to be done twice.
Where it fits
Asset export sits beside Vectornation's other ways out. Image export is for a single picture of a selection, an artboard or the whole drawing, with full control over ppi and background. Export for screens is for screen graphics. Optimised web image squeezes a single image down for the web. Asset export is the one to choose when there are many separate pieces in one drawing.
For repeated work across many drawings, the Batch command in File > Automate plays a recorded action over a folder of files, and that can include exporting.
Habits that pay off
Draw icons on a consistent grid and size, so they export at matching dimensions. An icon set where one file is a few pixels bigger than the rest causes small but annoying problems in a layout.
Name assets as you go, not at the end. It is easier to remember what each one is while you are drawing it.
Keep the export folder tidy. Export into a fresh folder, or clear out old files first, so that a renamed or deleted asset does not leave a stale file behind that someone uses by mistake.
Mistakes worth catching
Leaving stray objects inside a group is the classic one. A hidden guide shape or a background rectangle left in a group gets exported with it, which shows up as an odd size or a box behind the icon. Check each asset's bounds before export.
Exporting before outlining or checking text can be another. If an asset contains live text, make sure the people receiving the files will see it as intended, especially in formats where the font has to be available on their side.
