[Spencer Sy]

Like Greg’s advise, I would go for the classic Mac Pro tower for a lower cost and will still be good for the next 3+ years. I’ve had some experiences in using both the classic Mac Pro and the new Dark Vader black Mac Pro. There is not much speed difference with both machines in terms of heavy graphic design and After Effects editing. I don’t use Premiere Pro so I could not comment on that area.

Another consideration is some New cylinder Mac Pro users are having problems with rendering using Premiere Pro https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1422947?start=0&tstart=0 and some are having GPU crashes or freezes that they had to take the computer to Apple to replace the GPUs https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-late-2013-gpu-driver-issues.1860297/

I upgraded my 2010 5,1 Mac Pro’s CPUs from 8 cores 2.4ghz to 2.93Ghz 12 cores. The prices of the Westmere Xeons making the upgrades cheaper. have gone down And added a blade PCIe Samsung SSD XP941. There is a newer Samsung SM951, this blade is similar to the one being used on the new Dark Vader Mac Pro and MacBook Pros. Here is a lab test of the Samsung SSD blade on the classic Mac pro https://barefeats.com/hard200.html I also added a USB 3.0 card and upgraded the Video Card to a flashed Nvidia 770GTX 4G vram.

When buying a used classic Mac Pro, make sure to verify with the seller if the cMac Pro is a 4,1 2009 model with the firmware upgraded to a 5,1 or a Genuine 5,1 cMac Pro from 2010 to 2012. The price of an upgraded 2009 should be cheaper. The link you gave on a sale ad at KSL.com is actually a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro with an upgraded firmware. You can tell by looking at photo no. 4 showing a screenshot of the hardware overview, the SMC version is 1.39f5. A genuine 5,1 2010-2012 cMac Pro will have a SMC version of 1.39f11. I am not saying don’t buy a 2009 upgraded cMac Pro. It’s best the seller discloses about the model in the sale ad. Note that 2009 cMac Pros uses Delidded CPUs without the heat spreader. The 5,1 2010-2012 Mac Pros uses lidded CPUs.

Here are some eBay ads offering for sale with CPUs upgraded cMac Pros. The first link discloses the machine to be a 2009 cMac Pro.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mac-Pro-5-1-8-Core-3-46-GHz-32GB-1333-Ram-250GB-SSD-4Port-USB3-Yosemite-150916-/271993101835?hash=item3f540d5e0b:g:uiUAAOSwFnFWAGbg
https://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-MAC-PRO-MID-2010-MINT-12-CORE-3-33Ghz-64GB-480GB-OWC-PCIe-HD5770-/151877946042?hash=item235ca18aba:g:s-sAAOSw9r1WEBuk

Some sellers may offer a 30 day warranty. Another way to find out is if the seller provides the serial number, you can check the model and year here https://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php Hope you get to your upgrade path.

Graphic Designer Illustrator
https://www.spencersy.com/

[Spencer Sy]

Hi Ilona. Can you try selecting the object then go to Object and select “Expand” so the artwork becomes more editable. Then try to Ungroup and select the parts you want to turn to black. I am not an expert but hope this helps.

Graphic Designer Illustrator
https://www.spencersy.com/

[Spencer Sy]

Hello. I think a high percentage of creative people have their own side gigs for various reasons. I know any employer would be worried on his staff having side gigs that may affect performance and fatigue from the staff. My work involves managing a team of graphic designers and screening new designer job applicants. Almost all of the designers I’ve worked with have their side/freelance jobs. Part of my responsibility is to ensure the design team completes the tasks on time and I sometimes have to deal with absences or tardiness. So I can understand the point of view of an employer or business owners. Some of my school mates are now employers and sometimes they talk about similar problems.

I also do my own side gigs for reasons of covering monthly expenses for my kids as nowadays, 2 jobs are needed to make ends meet. Second, the side gig is my backup in cases of unexpected job layoffs due to global economic slump. However, i avoid side gigs that directly compete with my employer’s line of business and I strictly do the side gigs at my home using my own resources. And I also note that my performance does not go down. My boss permits me to do side gigs using his computers and other resources but I always made it my practice to do the side gigs at my place. This is also to protect the confidentiality of the projects and files misplacement. Also, if my officemates see me doing the side gigs at the office, this may be a negative precedent. I think you can’t go wrong if you do things at the right place and time. 🙂

Graphic Designer Illustrator
https://www.spencersy.com/

[Spencer Sy]

Hi Alina. Hope this solves the problem. First select the brush stroke. Then Try going to “Object” then click on “Expand Appearance”. Then apply the desired gradient from the swatches panel.